wow, all this talk about ryuki made me start watching it -_-

Only 45 more episodes and you'll be caught up with Let's Watch Wednesdays!

Good man.

problem is for some reason my computer wont download the episodes like it used to, now to watch sumthin i have to directly save onto my harddrive taking up even MORE filespace, is there like an instant watch site to see it like henshinfever

All this Ryuki talk makes me want to rewatch Dragon Knight. :p

That balance did make the show more interesting. I think the duo complemented each other pretty well. I think it gave viewers an option of who to latch onto more in the beginning too.

If you like a Rider who already knows what to fight for and already has the ambition, you'll probably like Ren.

If you are new to the series and want a Rider to parallel your viewing experience to that of the Rider himself exploring the Mirror World, Shinji is your pick.

It was definitely a yin/yang experience for the viewer, I wouldn't be surprised if fans ended up liking the other by the time the series was over, as they definitely grew over the series, but in different ways, since both had opposing views.

I think that set up, having the series follow Ryuki in lieu of Ren, was done on purpose. Having the story revolve around Shinji meant introducing the Mirror World to viewers just as Shinji was introduced to it, with that, the viewer could relate to Shinji, as if the viewer was in the Shinji's shoes, meeting all the Riders, Shirou, monsters, et al, experiencing the Mirror World as if completely new to it. Whereas Ren already knows about it, so by following him, there would be much less of an introduction.

I did find Shinji's naiveness to be annoying. For example, taking Sano-san in, et al. I was shocked that he apparently never figured out that Goro and Kitaoka tricked him. I mean hell Shinji is a grown man, no wonder Akiyama looked at him like an idiot in that episode. I don't hate Shinji however, he had noble goals and at least tried to stop the War til the end. The last episode where he died was pretty sad.

As far as Ren, I think he figured that in the Rider War, it's every man for himself but he was pretty much just fighting for Eri(but he even admits in the last episode that Shinji was the one that needed to live, not him). I think with Ren, he knew there was only going to be one and whether it was him or not, he wasn't going to give up.