Looking at the photos, they specifically used the English word 'love' in the photos which has many implications (BFF love, platonic love, romantic love, sensual love, etc) so I wouldn't read too much into it. All my Instagram friends use 'I love you' when tagging their friends in group selfies.

I mean, you're still free to ship them but if there's anything I've learnt from ships, straight or not, you will suffer sheer mental backlash if you emotionally invest too much into them and it ends up never being confirmed or (worse) sinks.

That's my (potentially controversial) hot take.

I'm not gay, but...(swoons and faints)

For most people the big thing is that in the new one, "Love is Love" is always used in LGBT contexts coupled with the whole "Happy Pride" lining the sides. How could one not read that as a heavy possibility of the gayness that is those two characters? Even the newest episode has Sakura thinking about Aguilera. Obviously, I would never get my hopes up because it's Japan but Kamen Rider hasn't shied away from some LGBT themes in the franchise, even if they're not always great: such as the stuff in Rider Time: Ryuki or Uhr in Zi-O vs. Decade, but then you do have stuff like Naki being canonically agender and being played by a transman.

But I never get my hopes up for Rider ships because unless your name is Drive, your main story will not be romance.

Oh, I didn't know 'love is love' was widely used in LGBT context. Please forgive my ignorance, I try to stay away from social media.

But I stand by my stance on ships.

I don't even mind the ship... mainly because I don't know the characters, but man
I hope this isn't all the series winds up being remembered for.

Don't worry, there are other things Revice will be remembered for.

Like my man Hiromi here

https://64.media.tumblr.com/2cdcc66b...9570f269bd.jpg

I'll remember Revice for being a damn good show

I agree with this statement. Actually, I am this statement. :(

Yeah, this is precisely why I don't want the show to go in that direction. I understand that it's futile to argue with another person's ship, but I do want to make it clear why I'm against it. The thing about love triangles is, there's always collateral damage, the loser of the triangle. Someone has to get a sad ending to make a happy ending for two others. Narratively, there's potential in that for an intriguing plot. I mean, my favorite show is Faiz, you know. But it's important to consider the loser's feelings, instead of sweeping them under the carpet. The loser doesn't suddenly cease to exist or matter when the triangle is resolved.

In Julio's case, has he not suffered enough with the loss of Yosuke and Olteca, without someone else poaching his love interest? The way the show has minimized his character to comedy recently, in Episode 29 and 30, has me concerned that Hanta is treating him the same way Sanjo treated Yayoi from Kyoryuger. A sympathetic yet disposable character whose narrative purpose is to escalate romantic feelings between the "main ship". I was intrigued by the Deadmans trio since the start, so I would be seriously disappointed if the show ends on the point of Olteca being a literal Dead Man, Julio being friendzoned and Aguilera settling for an angsty teen with delusions of invincibility. That doesn't sound like a satisfying conclusion to me.

The main problem with that wasn't even the ship itself, but rather the terrible way that Geiz and Ora treated it as gross and a joke respectively. I'm an Inoue fan, so I hope he can figure out how to write better slash someday, since it's clearly something he wants to write.

I don't really see anything romantic between Aguilera and Julio personally and I don't really see why it would be unsatisfying for them to reach a conclusion of friends. If anything I think an important part of Julio's arc would be to step away from his hero worship of Aguilera and become his own person, which I feel has been happening at a good steady pace -- and which a romance between the two would imo undermine. I even see more of something between Julio and Sakura even though that one's not my thing

Heheh, yeah... Sure is a good steady pace...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP8UNVGa...jpg&name=large

SH Ranger hits the nail for me. I was all in on where Tamaki goes after the end of his arc, but I've just been sorely disappointed that it's just been him showing up to bawl his eyes out. Him disappearing for two episodes then coming back to cry for being left by Aguilera, then showing up again just to cry and hug Sakura, then showing up to get punched by Ikki for a gag, it's really off-putting.

Pretty much this. If Julio doesn't start making actual progress towards pursuing his interest in Aguilera, he's going to end up losing her and it'll be his fault.

Fair point about Julio learning to have more confidence in himself. I guess I wouldn't mind if Julio could find love with someone who sees him as an equal. Although I'd hope that part of Aguilera's development would be learning to respect him more anyway. Even if Julio gets shipped with someone else, I'd still want someone different for Aguilera regardless.