Warning, long, opinionated, obviously spoiler filled post up ahead.
Kabuto, more than any other series I have ever seen, toku or not, is almost nothing but wasted potential. The series started off pretty stable, we had our fair share of mysteries, some pretty likable characters, Tendou wasn't a
total dick yet, Kagami wasn't that annoying and, for the most part, the series was going places. I'd like to think of the first 9 episodes of the series as the best that we were given. Episode ten is when it started going to Hell for me, but more on that later.
The first time I saw the promos, they gave me some very mixed emotions. Mainly because it meant that Kamen Rider Hibiki was coming to an end too soon and that we were more than likely going to get another series that was going to fall on its ass. That's the impression I got from Tendou's "After all, I am the strongest" line from one of the promos. That really is not the best mindset for the
main character to start out in. A rival? Sure. But someone who is supposed to represent a hero? Hell no. So I watched quietly as Kamen Rider Hibiki faded and was left thinking that no series would be able to top it in my eyes, something that I still think to be true.
I saw the first episode and was fairly impressed, though not on the level of Den-O. Kagami seemed like he would be a surrogate, more down to earth, main character in place of Tendou at times. I thought that angle was pretty interesting and I still liked Tendou. Within the first four episodes, I thought Tendou was written perfectly. Arrogant, but not to the level that would come later on in the series. The perfect example of this for me was in episode four when he told Kagami that he would kill his Worm!brother, no matter what, only to have him take a beating and not attack Kagami's Worm!brother until Kagami was able to accept the fact that his real brother was dead. I still consider that to be the best episode of the series. It represents everything that I wanted out of Kabuto.
After that, we got a pretty cool two parter when some more people found out who Kabuto was. Kagami started to seem like a bit of a nag, but I forgave that because his allegiance were being tested. Later on we got a glimpse into Hiyori's past, we all knew Tendou was that boy and for a while, I actually thought he killed her parents. Anywho, those episodes wrapped up and then we got our first real look at Kamen Rider TheBee.
Yaguruma was the perfect example of what I thought the perfect main character would be to me. Cool, confident but not arrogant and someone you could look up to. In the long run, this is what I thought Tendou should have been like, not what we ended up getting. I loved the interactions that Tendou and Yaguruma had in episode 7. At that point, I was slightly getting annoyed of Tendou, but I didn't care that much because I thought we were going to have a cool Rider like Yaguruma for the rest of the series. How I regret thinking that.
Kageyama comes along, gets hurt and then everything slowly starts going to Hell. Yaguruma, far too easily, fell from his path and Tendou couldn't care less. It was so irritating to see Tendou proclaim "you have strayed from your path". Was it true? Yes, but I hated that it was true. It was so out of character from what the previous episodes had given us. Yaguruma should not have strayed that easy. It just doesn't make any sense.
BUT! Kagami had finally become a Rider, so I thought, "Hey, something good came out of that train wreck!", and Tendou really started to become the character I've come to have strong contempt for in episode nine. I really enjoyed Kagami as TheBee. We finally had a more down to earth Rider than Yaguruma and Tendou, I was happy and then...the idiot gives up his Zecter. In my eyes, that is the single most pointless thing in the series, and I know others will agree with me on this. Kagami could still look for what was important to him and be TheBee. If this had happened with Gatack and Kagami eventually regained it or if that happened here, I wouldn't have minded, but with the way things played out, it was pointless. Nothing really came from it. To me, Kagami already had a reason to fight the Worm, there was nothing he had forgotten. Oh, I almost forgot, the tattoos, WTF were those? Did the other Riders have them? Was it only when a new Rider was chosen? If so, why was it only seen in Kagami's case?
The next ten episodes were a huge mixed bag for me. We got Daisuke, who would go on to become the biggest waste of a Rider, ever, actually, Dark Kabuto takes that spot for me, but with Daisuke close behind. At this point, I did not like Daisuke. Gon? She was cool, Daisuke was nothing like I had imagined Drake to be. So, I really was not liking the Rider set up at this point. We then get episode 13, which although it majorly screwed a favorite character of mine, was just a bad ass episode for Kageyama. He became TheBee and we finally had a real antagonist with a Rider face.
Lots of people think Kageyama was a bitch, and he was, but that's what made him such a great villain; going to any means necessary to get what he needs. Case in point, the Gon's Memories arc. The best arc involving Daisuke and it shows why I think Kageyama is truly one of the best Rider villains in a long, long time. He was sneaky, knew how use everyone like puppets, seemed like a nice guy on the outside but really, really wasn't. Overall, he was the least screwed over character and really was the only character I thought was written to a satisfactory conclusion.
Anywho, moving on. After that, we got Tsurugi, who seemed to be nothing more than a Tendou clone with a bit more of a personality. Then we found out about his sister and his nightmares and stuff and I thought that made him seem a lot more human than Tendou. Plus, we got Jiiya, who was just a bag of kickass.
Then we got Kagami becoming Gatack. I thought that played out pretty good, had good reasons to become Gatack and started to see that not all Worms were evil while Tendou continued to think that his way was the only correct one. That set up a pretty good rivalry between the two and we got a really good look into their head and ideals.
The next few episodes were great. Tsurugi's family's problems were coming to light, Area X was brought up and we got a look at the guy in the iron mask, who I thought would turn out to be Kagami.
Episodes 17~26 were all pretty good. Tendou was really annoying, but we had a lot of other characters so I didn't have to bother with Tendou all that much. Tsurugi was quickly becoming my favorite Rider, Kageyama continued showing why he was a good villain and Kagami was being Kagami.
27~30 were horrible. Daisuke really didn't need to come back, someone else should have just become Drake. It would have made more sense than to have another forced plot and basically ruin Gon's exit. Then we got that awful Dark Kitchen arc. I said it in the Den-O thread, but it bares repeating, those episodes emphasize everything wrong with Kabuto. Horrible character management and story that really went nowhere. But hey, we found out that Tsurugi was a Worm, that was interesting.
Over the next while, I started to form a more concrete opinion on just what type of series Kabuto would end up as. Basically just another series with some cool moments. Hiyori becoming a Worm was expected, but still a little surprising.
We then got the Hyper Zecter and Renge. Two of my most hated things about the series. The Hyper Zecter felt so forced, it had no real place in the series, other series were able to introduce the power ups either okayish or great, Kabuto though, it was just pointless, as was Renge. She really should have just died falling off that building. Have Tendou use the Perfect Zecter for the first time and use Hyper Clock Up and make the choice between saving Renge or Kagami. THAT would have given him some great drama and lead to good development later on.
Of course that didn't happen and we were stuck with a pretty useless character. Yaguruma then came back and I think no one was more psyched about that than me. We got the kickass that was Kick Hopper and Kageyama was due to become his partner once more. Kabuto seemed like it would be going great places with Tsurugi and his antics and the Hopper Brothers, it all seemed to be going good. Episode 36 when the Hopper Brothers beat the ever loving crap out of Tendou and Kagami was just perfect,
these were villains.
Then they and the show all basically went to Hell. Dark Kabuto came in and ended up as nothing more than a horribly misused character. The Brothers were relegated to comedy Riders who strayed too much. The toy whore that was the Perfect Zecter was introduced. Cassisworm, who seemed like nothing more than just a way to end Tsurugi's story failed, big time. He was supposed to be a kickass Worm warrior, but was taken out too easy in the end and only had two real interaction episodes with Tsurugi. It was pointless, but nonetheless, Tsurugi had an okayish ending. His character could have been handled a LOT better, but for a series like Kabuto, he came out okay.
But still, the late 40's were pretty good.
47 and 48 did an awesome job of building up what was supposed to be a huge finale, but the episode itself just let me down. I loved how episode 48 made it seem like all the riders were separated in their ideals and that they more or less had lost already. They were spread too far and Mishima and Negishi took advantage of that to turn them against each other.
I don't think I've been this upset with a finale in a long time. I loved the special opening sequence we got, but that's really about it. I was holding out in saying it would be a bad finale because the last few episodes had just rocked, I'm just really disappointed.
The Hopper Brothers, for everything they went through and their misuse, had a great ending. I still believe that both Yaguruma and Kageyama died and I'm happy with that because of how touching it was. Definitely one of my favorite moments of the series.
And coming to an end, the "one year later" thing. I hate those, the only time I've seen a pleasing one was in Hibiki because of what it did for the characters. It worked then, did the writers really expect that cop out of an ending to work more than once? Kagami, a police officer? Tadakoro, a DELIVERY man? That's pathetic, seriously, without a doubt this has got to be the worst ending so far in this generation.
Its first half was fairly entertaining and had some very good characters, the second? Not so much. Myself, I think Kabuto is exactly the opposite of where Kamen Rider needs to be going. I think it's overrated and I honestly don't see why so many people like it. In the end, opinions are opinions and I've got no problem with people liking and talking about Kabuto, but I know that I won't be rewatching it any time soon.
In terms of the more recent series
1. Kamen Rider Hibiki
2. Kamen Rider Agito
3. Kamen Rider Blade
4. Kamen Rider Kuuga
5. Kamen Rider Kabuto
6. Kamen Rider 555
7. Kamen Rider Ryuki
Out of ten stars, this series gets six from me. Good concepts, horrible, horrible, horrible execution.
Tendou didn't need character development, for the most part. He was already perfect. He needed only to acknowledge Kagami as a worthy partner (Kagami had to become worthy first, of course).
That was the biggest problem the series had. A main character who doesn't need character development, yeah, that's going to be
really interesting.
