Kamen Rider Den-O (2007)

Satoh Takeru was absolutely amazing in this drama, playing so many characters at once, so many versions of Possessed!Ryoutaro. And in certain moments, it also allowed him to showcase his fighting skills, though rather rarely, true. I also have to praise all the suit actors who played the various Imagin!Ryoutaros because you really immediately knew who was in charge, which Imagin was at the wheel, just from their body language alone. That was so great!

But!

Despite all that, I didn't enjoy Den-O nearly as much as Build, my top Kamen Rider series. Why? Because even though Ryoutaro was the lead, the main storyline was not about Ryoutaro - at all. It was about Airi, Sakurai and finally Hana while Ryoutaro was, well, he was basically the pawn. Even Yuuto had a bigger role to play within the main arc than Ryoutaro, a red herring, sure, but for a big part of the story, Yuuto was the focus of the bad guys, so...

Sakurai was the mastermind, Airi the linchpin and then Hana the one it was all about while Ryoutaro... well, he fought. Sure, he made all of it possible but he wasn't the focus of the main arc. Compare that with Build where Sento and Banjo were the fighters and the focus of the main arc - and Sento even was the mastermind who went toe to toe with the lead baddie. It's basically the difference between action and reaction. Sento acted - Ryoutaro reacted. Sento played chess with Evolt - Ryoutaro was getting dragged along. Sento was Sakurai - Ryoutaro was Grease.

Also, I didn't understand why Ryoutaro gave up his train ticket at the end. I guess I must've missed something, it's possible because with all the time hopping and junctions and Singularity Points speak, I was getting a wee bit lost in how the rules of this world actually worked. Oh well... Maybe it gets explained in one of the movies? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Overall, a good series but for me personally, it doesn't top Build, not even remotely.

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