MASKED RIDER RYUKI EPISODE 13

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Feeling back in the zone for watching Ryuki, and it's nice to get to watch one as fun as this episode. Really getting back in a good groove, this show.

The direction on this one, man, worth calling out. A lot of very fun, different ways of staging scenes and transitions. Some don't completely work (that pre-dinner sequence, when it's half-faces and flashes of paintings, a little too avant-garde), but there's a bunch of fun new looks in this episode. The shots of Ren biking at night, there's this mix of speed and isolation and freedom and doubt, him processing what he needs to do alongside the bonds he's inadvertently formed. All of the pre-fight stuff with Ren and Kamen Rider Quarter, so pretty. (They want better names, they can say them on the TV show. Look, what is up with this show forgetting to name new Riders? We just now get someone calling Kitaoka "Zolda", like that's a thing anyone ever said on this show before, and now this guy doesn't even get to introduce himself to Ren. Big pet peeve of mine.) Those shots, with them not quite in each other's frame, spotlighting how incompatible their views are, how they can't convince one another of their perspective, they're doing such great work visually. It's all epic storytelling decisions, adding weight and gravity to sequences that could come off lacking momentum (Ren does not seem super engaged in anything lately) or a little rote. As it is, that stuff sparks, creating some of the most enjoyable parts of Ryuki yet.

And, obviously, some of that is down to the return of Goro and Kamen Rider Scumbag himself, Kitaoka. That shit, with Kitaoka being a creep to Reiko and her somehow managing not to roll her eyes completely out of her skull, and Shinji exposing Goro's weakness as a whistler (he's so bad at it!) before confusing Goro for Zolda, it's nearly perfect. The only that'd make it better is if it never ended, but we live in an imperfect world. I've made my peace with it.

The Kitaoka stuff, it's hilarious, but it ties into the Knight/Quarter stuff, where everything's about both the sad inevitability of combat (Ryuki, Quarter), and the death of idealism that comes with participating in Rider Battles (Knight, Zolda). It's neat to pair those that way, with Knight/Quarter feeling built around brooding archetypes, while Ryuki/Zolda have a more emotional, hot-blooded take on things. It's a neat idea for them to explore, and I like how there currently seem to be two bad sides and no good sides. Refusing to fight is untenable, but welcoming carnage is inhuman. It's a very complex bit of business they're mining, and I'm thrilled to see smart, funny Masked Rider Ryuki is happening again.

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I don't recall when they say his name, so I'll let you know it's Raia. He's a really interesting guy. Much more complex a character than poor Scissors. And as more Riders get involved in the war, the plot gets better and better

Kamen Rider Quarter it is!

Man, I dug Quarter's whole thing in this. I love the idea of someone who believes in the unerring accuracy of fate specifically so he can try and alter it. It's like believing in the impossible weight of a boulder in order to motivate you into lifting it. That is such a strong, intriguing premise. And it just, it provides so much clarity to what's happening in this story. Really smart writing with Quarter.

I don't remember the episode by episode happenings, so trying to figure out who the heck 'Quarter' is through context is like solving a mystery of it's own! Doesn't he still have a real human name though.

Tezuka. His name is Tezuka.

You’re getting to a fun part of the show, Die. A lot more Riders are going to start showing up and not dying after only two episodes.

For dinner scene, Shinji is portrayed as a good cook, I dunno why, Shinji's cooking skills are never discussed at all among the fandom. As a Rider, Ren doesn't want to get too close to others, as it seems by previous episodes, being a Rider in this series means detaching your humanity and going to psychopath territory (a stark opposite to traditional Riders!), especially one of them being another Rider that he should defeat. It's a shame that Ren wouldn't taste Shinji's cook, I want Ren to (be forced to) appreciate something about Shinji, for once, as the tongue never lies.

And Raia, for once, there's another morally upright Rider after a bunch of psychos. Another one who also wants to stop the fighting. Ren, someone who thinks goodness is naive (because he doesn't care much about others) must be internally banging his head after meeting certain one like that before, even at the beginning he thinks he's another psycho who only wants to challenge him to fight. I absolutely hate that Rider Time Ryuki (written by Inoue), turned him into yet another villanous (gay) Rider.

Yeah, Raia didn't introduce himself to Ren, but he asks Ren that he didn't introduce himself either??! Probably you should introduce yourself first for that! (though Ren wouldn't care either way, all Riders are just obstacles for Eri) As for Rider names like Raia, I already gotten them from video games like PS1 Ryuki so....

Even before Yui calling Kitaoka Zolda here, at ep. 3, Ren immediately refers to Shinji as Ryuki after contracting Dragreder, how do they both and later others know the Rider names?

The one case where, the male chasing after a female and got continuously rejected is someone perfect; charming attitude, good-looking, intelligent, rich, and famous, instead of a loser or average male. I guess douchebag attitude is not for everyone here as Reiko can attest.

And fuck you phone signal, creating unintentional miscommunitation, Shinji mistakes Yui's answer for "that lawyer's ..." due to signal making him thinking she hasn't finished her sentence, like continuing with "that lawyer's servant" or something. Now other than horrible signal, as I said before, Goro is a complete Rider material with his fighting skills AND also a henshin pose, which Shinji thinks so based on that 2.

I wonder Goro not responding to Shinji's speech was him being cold and uncaring (right after he compliments Shinji), or just him being confused (as he's not a Rider, but his master is, or he didn't know yet his master is a Rider?). And so it seems Goro isn't perfect skill wise, like whistling, when he does everything perfectly before, at least everything Kitaoka needs. I also wonder why Yui tried to prevent Ren fighting Zolda (she knows he's a rotten person and she's hostile to him in ep. 10, also Scissors in ep. 6 that Ren lied to her), sure we know that an encounter with him gave Ren head injury but, a monster can also give that technically, and him and Shinji both numerous times gets injured from monster fights.

How are Ryuki and Raia "no good sides"? And they should meet, ASAP.

It's also shown in this episode that Rider's Final Vents can be held back to not kill someone like Raia, only to show how painful and pointless fighting is. And probably even more painful to Knight that a pacifist, who tried to hold back not to kill his opponent, can still had him on ropes. Knight also prepares his Final Vent, and Raia somehow treats this move as reckless, dunno why.

But I have to say Raia's Final Vent is the most bland in the series, like he just rides on Evildiver and rams the enemy. My problem is that, what's the difference from Evildiver actual attack? Evildiver attacks by ramming itself to its enemy, the Final Vent also rams itself to its enemy only with Raia riding on it, but Raia didn't make a contact at all to the enemy. Do they treat Raia riding Evildiver as mass increase and make Evildiver ramming the enemy gave more force even if Raia doesn't make a contact to enemy?

And now Shinji seemingly committing his first murder here! But obviously unintentional, like Kouta and Sento. And he thinks it's Goro he murdered!

This shot between Raia and Knight is also gold. I feel bad here for someone with a fiancee here.
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Yeah, more love for morally upright characters! Usually they're dismissed as flat and boring characters while evil ones (well you compared him to Scissors) are considered interesting.

Not for another episode or two he doesn't! I even found it worth commenting on:

Miyuki's not exactly a master of social graces!

The Rider name thing, though, honestly I just think it's adorable how little the show cares? Everybody gets their name mentioned at least once eventually, but it's just not something that gets any priority. Which I think is great in that it lets you know just how important the human drama is. Again, going back to the contrast with the previous two shows, where the main Riders' names held story significance and got brought up constantly, here Ren is just like "oh you've got a dragon or whatever. I guess you can be called Ryuki for the five seconds before I kill you". It's so low effort and I love it.

Tezuka was definitely my favourite character as I was watching the show, and he probably still is. I'm much more into characters who are like, y'know, actually good people; and it's interesting seeing him as a contrast to Shinji.

I remember at the time Tezuka's debut was sort of a big deal amongst fans of tokusatsu. This is because Hassei Takano who plays Tezuka already made a name for himself in the tokusatsu genre as Fujimiya/Ultraman Agul from Ultraman Gaia in 1998. So it was cool to see him expand his toku credentials by appearing as a Kamen Rider next.

Then he went played Nigou in the First and the Next

I love Raia, he's great.