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Thread
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What are you watching? (Kamen Rider Edition)
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07-02-2020, 05:33 AM
#
15946
Magnugiga
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 104
The stretch of
Ryuki 14-23
might represent the series at its absolute finest. Not that it jumped the shark afterward or anything like that, it remains very good to the end in my humble opinion, but this particular period feels to me like the most propulsive and purposeful the show ever was. It’s just so good, the way it features six very well-defined Riders bouncing off each other (IIRC this is the record high of Riders being active and alive at the same time throughout the series) and successfully navigates across some extreme tonal shifts (Reiko punking Kitaoka punking Shinji! Shinji in absolute despair, then turned in genuinely beautiful moment of relief with Goro! The juxtaposition of Ren being devastated for his inability to finish off Gai and Shinji being delighted at that very fact!)
Rider Design review: Gai belongs in the bottom tier of my ranking, which means it’s still pretty nice to look at (there are three tiers of suit design in Ryuki: “good”, “very good”, and “hell yeah franchise bests!!”). I like the way he input his vent in particular; that diagonal throw was so satisfying to watch for some reason. He uses his Strike and Confine vent in such a brutally effective and straightforward manner, and Shibaura plays his role well as a naïve and super unlikable chessmaster wannabe (even though his entrance scene and the whole ORE Journal takeover stuff felt a bit off to me).
Ouja… what else needs to be said? Simply the most iconic ‘Evil Rider’ design ever, barring Shadowmoon (if he counts). Everything about him just works, from the staff and ‘digital Arbok’ to Asakura’s whole mannerism and the power-up mechanism through absorption of other Advents. Basically, they totally nailed the escalation of Evil Riders from Sudou to Shibaura to Asakura.
Considering the amount of Rider vs. Rider stuff, it’s almost a miracle that the non-transforming human characters also got their ample time to shine! It feels like a testament to how this kind of characters can be utilized best when they constantly have something else to do beyond just gravitating around the MC and sheep along for whatever the main plot brings. I just adore the interaction and chemistry between the ORE Journal staff, while Goro’s awesome as always.
Unfortunately, while I don’t really mind the Mirror World and Shiro (as hilariously one-note as he can be) part of the plot, it’s still painfully obvious how much of a weak link Yui is among this group of characters. She just veers dangerously close into a Plot Device category through this stretch, and I think there’s a missed opportunity by not having her spend a longer time as a temp in the ORE Journal (the few scenes she had with Shimada were subtly hilarious!).
Finally, Tezuka’s exit and his lie is such a bittersweet moment. A perfect time too, narratively speaking, to have our first ‘Good Rider’ casualty. A pretty great character, and while I kinda feel the backstory about his friend should’ve been told sooner, I enjoyed all the moments and battle scenes he had—especially the one when he teamed up with Ryuki (that twin Strike Vents!).
Magnugiga
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