Man, Toei is really cooking with Kamen Rider My-Th, and episode 8, “A Cornered Rat Will Bite a Cat,” absolutely delivered. It’s got that gritty, early Heisei era vibe that I’ve been missing for a while now. Seeing Sora get completely wrecked by Maou right out of the gate was a massive gut punch. Usually, these shows try to keep the protagonist looking effortlessly cool, but watching him taste the actual fear of death and get too paralyzed to even fight back felt incredibly grounded and real. It reminds me of the stakes we used to get back in the days of Ryuki or Faiz, where the heroes actually felt vulnerable.

The character work this week was where the episode truly shined. Tatsuomi trying to step up and head into the Fukashigi ambush to take Sora’s place showed massive growth, even if he ended up instantly cornered. What I really appreciated, though, was Yuna’s reaction. Instead of just being the standard, worried heroine waiting by the bedside, she’s actively digging into her research. It keeps her feeling like a competent partner who anchors the story rather than a plot device. The tension between Tatsuomi thinking Sora just ran away like a coward and Yuna having faith that he went looking for answers hit all the right dramatic beats.

My only real gripe, and maybe it’s just the old school fan in me talking, is how fast we’re burning through the power-ups with the debut of the Fire Flame form. I know Bandai has to sell their chest-belt egg gimmicks, but I would’ve loved another week of Sora sitting with that psychological trauma before he got his big rescue moment. Still, the action choreography was crisp, and the emotional payoff of a literal “cornered rat” snapping back makes this one of the strongest episodes of the season so far. If the writers keep this level of character focus up, My-Th is on track to be a classic.