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Episode #19: The episode that gave us our first real look at Sakurai Yuuto and Deneb, who manage to combine the "Supporting Rider", "Rival", "Goofy kid & his loyal sidekick/protector" and "Most masochistic friendship in the series" concepts into one package, and the result? It works pretty well as we see for the rest of the series. The confrontation between Deneb & Momotaros-possessed Riders is a high point.
Episode #20: The frantic conclusion to #20's storyline has our heroes battling with the Jelly Imagin. The final showdown between Zeronos (showing off his Vega Form) and the Jelly Imagin is a classic moment.
Episode #21: Hey, you know something? Ryuutaros is a bastard! Fortunately, Deneb's costumed antics save this one, which also boasts some of the most annoying Imagin ever.
Episode #22: Rod Form! And GiganDeaths! It's a bunch of old stuff we haven't seen in like, forever. Also, Hana gets a good moment when she takes a hit to stop the Gun Form/Zeronos fight, and there's a great moment at the end between her and Yuuto. Man... remember when the show thought that Hana was important?
Episode #23: Sieg's in the house, baby! Plenty of wacky Imazing hijinks ensue and you wonder once again why they let Ryuutaros run around without a leash. Also, Ryôtarô gets in trouble with the police again. Is there anything that doesn't happen to that guy?
Episode #24: The "movie-only" Wing Form makes an appearane in the show, and Sieg gets one heck of a lovely send-off. Although I will always think of Ryuki when I see the Imagin start fizzling away.
Episode #25, 26 & 27: These episodes really have to be examined together, as they make up what is essentially a "Precursor to the Movie Trilogy". They lead directly into and refer to the events of the movie, and if you ask me, quite right too! It's about time we had an in-series movie, and the build-up to it is all kinds of fantastic. There's some extra creepy villains, including Spider and Bloodsucker Imagins, and the movie's Molech even puts in an appearance. If you're watching the whole series again... yeah, you watch the movie after these three.
Episode #28: A wrap-up episode to the movie, which is a daring idea especially as it basically assumes that you went to see the movie (and if you were in Japan, you probably did) although it isn't entirely inaccessible to those who haven't. Although this one will probably best be remembered as the debut of Climax Form, and the one where the Imagin are all in danger of vanishing (one of the several times.)
Episode #29: A one-off episodes involving a haunted house attraction, every Imagin trying to possess Ryôtarô at once, and the indication that Zeronos' days are numbered. Check out the great scene where the various Imagin deal with the haunted house. I don't think any other Rider show would have been able to pull this off quite the same!
Episode #30: A character-driven episode revolving around Deneb, my favorite character in the series? Yeah, I think we all know how I feel about this one.
Episode #31: A decidely more serious affair with one of the nastiest Imagin yet (and his idiot brother.) Did anyone else think he looked kind of like Blade's Joker? Just a tad? And hey, Gun Form ain't all that anymore. Lousy latter-episode de-powerings.
Episode #32: The sense-shattering conclusion to last time, with some solid action scenes, Deneb coming through for his buddy once again, and an amazing final few scenes. Airi, who up until this point I hadn't been really big on, suddenly jumps leaps and bounds in the plot.
Episode #33: In a changeover which I don't think anybody really wanted, Hana becomes Kohana. Also, the Ramen cart owner from Agito wanders around playing an imaginary piano, and there's a Squid (Kraken) Imagin!
Episode #34: ...I miss Hana already. :(
Episode #35: A Zeronos-heavy episode which also introduces the Mole Imagin, and I think we all know how muh Toei loves those guys. It also features one of the few comical moments that involves the elder Sakurai, when Deneb pushes his time-travelling ass out of the Zero-Liner.
Meanwhile, Ryôtarô gets hammered by a Karate school. I think he needs to watch Kamen Rider Super-1 episode #2 to see how you handle that sort of situation.
Episode #36: A continuiation of the last episode, with big questions about the fate of the future and the true purpose of the Riders. Also, Liner Form shows up, and we all wonder why Climax Form was created in the first place. If you're one of those people who thought there wasn't enough plot in the early episodes of Den-O, than brother/sister, check this one out, it had my head spinning the first time through.
Episode #37: The introduction of Kai. Ryuutaros' betrayal. The Den-Liner's station. Retooled Zectroopers. Leo Imagin. A mother#$%&in' dance-off. This episode has everything!
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Episode #39: I think this one can be summed up by the following two sentences:
"The fate of time itself rests on the shoulders of Sakurai Yuuto." & "Female Ozaki & Miura."
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Episode #42: The conclusion to Deneb's ill-fated romance story. Yuuto takes a beating in this one, and there's tentacle-controlled weapons of mass destruction.
Episode #43: The Imagin are in peril again, and that Armadillo feller is bad news. There's also one of the biggest fake-outs in the series ever when the contents of the mysterious briefcase turn out to be... golden spoons. That's like Tendô & Kagami opening the door in Area X and finding the Dark Knife. (And sadly, that would have made more sense than what they did find.)
Episode #44: It's high drama as Momotaros fights Ryôtarô with the fate of the future once again at stake. Fortunately they sort things out by the end, but man, "The Imagin are in danger of fading away" becomes a regular plot device from here on out. The fact that this episode's title has the words "Single Action" in it make it automatically awesome though.
Episode #45: It's the most chaotic Christmas since V3 got crushed by a landslide back in the '70's. The Snowman Imagin (who looks suspiciously like a repaint of the Armadillo Imagin) kicks off an epic tale that ends with the destruction of, well, everything. The rift that Kai tears in space-time seriously should have started spitting out random stuff like Hyper Kabuto, movie-version Tachibana and half of the Ryuki cast.
Episode #46: In the lead-up to the final three, the elder Sakurai inexplicably turns into Zeronos Altair Form to save our heroes, and there's more revelations about Airi. The last shot, with requisite Revived Kaijin Army Out of Nowhere, is a kicker.
Episode #47: I think the big shock twist in this & #48 might not work as well once you've seen #49, but taken at face value, that's a pretty grand exit for Kintaros. Plus, there's so much fighting going on in this one that who cares about anything else?
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And that's a wrap. I think most of these have been (or will be) subtitled anyway, so you can fill in the holes there.
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