That's a really good way of putting it. There's an interrogation the show is doing, and it's a nice outgrowth of how the show started with Shinji. In the beginning, we were seeing a Kamen Rider built in real-time. The choices Shinji made, the things he learned, the definition of his heroism, we got to see it all come together. Now, in the next ten or so episodes, we get to see that construction tested, challenged. That earlier work, as fun as it was to watch... this is the pay-off. This is why you tell a story this way.

Riders fighting... I mean, I like it, it's fun. I like seeing superheroes and supervillains fight. I got simple tastes. But this, with Riders having fundamental but valid disagreements about the value of heroism, with Riders demonstrating the worthiness of self-examination and the difficult necessity of empathy... it's what I maybe watch Kamen Rider for?

Thanks! I did not get that meme! (My subs have him saying "pissed", which, way more natural to read, but way less funny.) It's a good meme, though. Thanks, AkibaSilver!

I know this is vexing (and l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶T̶e̶z̶u̶k̶a̶ I have predicted this scenario anyway from the beginning of your watch), but don't misjudge me, I talk about everyone as much as I can (and by chance there are deep reasonings about that last one), and also even little things from the episodes (well, you sorta kinda also do in your episode reviews). And for another is that I think you and your opinions may (so CMIIW) have a good influence on Tokunation board here (at least for Toku discussion) as an...KR expert?

What I meant for Shinji there, it's more like how some people find Shinji as utterly useless, incompetent, and unlikable for being (seemingly) utterly failing to actually stop the fighting where nobody listens to Shinji so far, Riders keep dying despite all he does, him being a pacifist even in a situation where he shouldn't be for constantly getting his ass kicked by other Riders, and being totally indecisive of what he does like you cover in ep. 21 here. They mainly blame Shinji's stupidity, naivety, and annoyingness for all of this and just prefer the easy way of solving the war by simply killing every other Riders (which Ren is in process of). I keep trying to get Shinji's good traits recognized like being the only one to deduce that Shiro only manipulates them and his performances vs Ouja before. What I find weird is that Tezuka doesn't get as much hate for this (he doesn't possess most of the Shinji qualities there, but he still like you said there, seemingly utterly failed to change the Rider's fate). And also more importantly, for something that happened later in the series.

Ren eventually opens up a bit and reveal his wish to give Eri full recovery, though his attitude and mindset wouldn't change much (at least on how he acts).

So this is a recurring trait for some of the other KR series eh...

So, Asakura's deck trait is that he has more than 1 Contract card. Like before where Raia has Copy Vent, and that Gai has Confine Vent. I think even when Ouja contracts other monsters, he still only has 1 weapon for each monster he contracted so it balances it out (Sword Vent for Venosnaker, Strike Vent for Metalgelas, like he doesn't have Guard Vent, Nasty Vent, etc. But Ouja can still compensate for that for more Advents and Final Vents though. I imagine though what if Ouja picks a better monster as a second contract when he just Final Vents Metalgelas who keeps seeking him for revenge), someone who gives more than just one weapon....that is REAL not looking good.

Also their battle, is one of the rare cases where someone's long time for henshin actually bites them in the ass. Let's talk about how Asakura smashes Shinji with a metal pipe while he's posing. So much that Ryuki is actually powerless to Ouja this one time. I have to also talk about Darkwing saving Ryuki from Ouja's Final Vent, didn't Darkwing get hurt at all? Or Darkwing hits Ouja's body instead of his legs (the attack)? Either way IMO this makes Ouja's Final Vent seemingly weaker. For Ren, your nickname for him should be "Unemployed".

Now yeah, here comes the REAL struggle for Shinji, someone who desperately tries to keep everyone alive. Like Shiro said in ep. 19 "No one has a right to stop that" because the Riders are figthing on their wish. He has a huge hesitation for trying to stop the "pointless fighting" or controlling someone's life like denying their wish. Aside from that I truly think that stopping the war is nigh-impossible in this setting, I mean Shiro specifically chooses morally ambiguous people to participate in the War, that talking them over is just impossible (they stomp on idealism mindset, and some are just irredeemable), and this is one thing I want to bring in; even if the characters stop fighting, they will be eventually eaten by their Contract Monsters for that, again indirectly killing them (either Shiro's choice or when Mirror Monsters are wiped out). Stopping the Rider War seemingly is fully Morton's Fork and a single most impossible task. But unfortunately people misunderstand that and just label Shinji as indecisive coward ._.

I feel like now that also rubs off to Tezuka, he doesn't know what to do (apart from ep. 19 where he told Ren just to give up on Eri).

Not the key to redeeming Ren, but it's more like Ren is already shown to have limits on his douchebaggery. Like remember when he constantly calls Kitaoka out for his behavior, calling him the biggest scum and being sick of him because of that? He feels the same for Asakura, he also feels that he's too much of a dick for even Ren. And him "helping" Shinji is also already shown before, when he agrees to help bail out Shinji from prison (even when he pretends not to care about him), and helping him out a bit after Gai steals Ryuki's card, to the point that Tezuka pretty much calls him a tsundere.

Other than that, he also thinks that Shiro is only manipulating the Riders and won't actually fulfill what they want. I mean he instantly deduces in ep. 5 that Riders fight to get a wish at the end. But understanding Ren more allows him to put aside that mindset? Were him telling Ren that Shiro is a liar stems from him not being that understanding of him?

I know you asked me to stop but will answer this one; I meant that you expect her to act like how you're supposed to act in that situation (which would mean, being in anguish? which is what you're against).

Yeah, it... I guess it's frustrating to me, to feel like I'm focussing so much energy on, basically, the one thing that isn't working for me. I feel like it's disproportionate. I don't hate Yui or her plots, it's that I feel like they're squandering some interesting ideas, and that the actor maybe is making some poor choices. There's not a part of these shows I don't like thinking about, or analyzing, but all of this Yui stuff... it was becoming a poison to me. I don't know. I'm absolutely still going to talk about Yui, don't get me wrong, but there was moment where I was like How Did This Become My Life. Just a minor freak-out.

Also, yeah, definitely put a question mark at the end of "KR expert". If I'm lucky, I can talk about this stuff in a way that gets smarter fans to chime in. Thinking I've got more to offer than that, I wouldn't dare. But thanks!

Huh. I didn't know that that was how Shinji was perceived by fans. Seems sort-of unfair? He's a guy that's trying to fight monsters and save lives while everyone else tries to kill each other. I feel like that makes everyone else in the wrong, not Shinji.

Yeah, and (this is really more of a next episode thing) that's smart of the show, to keep Ren still being an asshole. I don't want nice, smiling Ren, ever. Even in his pre-Rider flashback, he's an introverted asshole. I like the way the show balances his desire for friends, for connections, with him just being a surly misanthrope in his core. I like that this is the best Ren we'll probably ever get!

That was legitimately awesome. I'm not a huge fan of Kamen Rider trying to play with the reality of henshins, of calling out how long or elaborate they can be. I love elaborate henshins, even if the idea of them happening preceding/in the midst of a life-or-death battle is maybe too fantastical. So, no, I don't want people to interfere with henshins, generally. This time, though, it's funny and in-character enough that I dug it. I really liked Asakura jumping Shinji to get an advantage.

Yeah, I don't think Shinji has nearly enough information to say what Shiro is capable of doing for the winning Rider. I think it's a mix of his distrust of Shiro and his lack of experience that has him dispute Shiro's powers. If I got a deck of magic cards (not Magic cards, but powerful cards) from a mirror ghost and it allowed me to summon a monster and transform into a superhero and fight in a Mirror World... if that mirror ghost was like, I Also Grant Wishes, I don't think I'd doubt him? I think Shinji is being a little small-minded and a lot judgemental.

It's still cool to talk about this! I don't want to make any Ryuki stuff off-limits. Feel free to bring up whatever you want to talk about.

I think, in general, there's ways of mixing emotions to make the scenes feel real, to feel like there's something to explore in the performances. Every Ren scene is a mix of a ton of different emotions. Every Shinji scene has different places it goes to, from comedy, to drama, to anger, etc. Yui scenes... I get that she could be sad, I get that her life isn't great, but I feel like the monotony of Yui Is Sad doesn't have enough variations, either to it or to other types of things Yui gets to experience, to not feel like it's a letdown.

I'm not sure I'm answering your question? I don't know. Yui... there's a bunch there that's not working for me right now.

Can't believe we didn't turn this into a Dragon Knight thread for April Fools day. I have as much to say about that as I do Ryuki (that is, nothing), but would have been fun for the, like, one Dragon Knight fan I'm sure lurks here.

oh my god i totally should've posted about dragon knight episode 21 yesterday

that is such a good idea

i will never get a chance to do it again

oh my god

this broke my mind

i cannot believe i missed this chance

oh my god

i am so mad right now

god damn it

MASKED RIDER RYUKI EPISODE 22

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki22a.png

This is another one where I pretty much just want to talk about the direction. The story's solid, there's some good and some bad, but there's some incredibly dynamic compositions that I think are worth discussing.

Other than the direction:

-There's a What Everyone's Fighting For thing, the people in their lives that drive them and they want to protect, that whole thing is a huge part of the episode. We get Goro/Kitaoka, Reiko/Shinji, Yui/Ren, and Yuichi/Tezuka. That element, it gives a nice thread to tie in all of the various Riders' fears, how the Battles have collateral damage, how they mitigate that with heroism or with isolation. Thematically, it's a little downbeat (everyone's got something to lose/have lost), but it's a nice change from the last few episodes of Being Worried About Ren. This one spreads out the impact, making it feel more like an ensemble. It's a good change of pace.

-I'm that guy, I guess! Boy, Tezuka has just completely hijacked Yui's plot, hasn't he? All we get with her in this one is everyone declaring the need to keep her out of everything, and her insisting that she wants to stay in. Just... they are just giving her nothing...

But! The direction! It's so good. There're several scenes and shots that delivered something special, made the story pop.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki22b.png

Everything in the Tezuka/Shiro confrontation... oh, man. Every single shot leveraged the mirror setup to make things alternately infinite and enclosed. There's an endless array of Shiros and Tezukas, but there's also frames keeping them locked in place. It's not only a very fun way to have a largely repetitive dialogue scene (Why Are You Doing This Shiro straight into Fight Or Die) but it's a great way to enforce the stakes and rewards of the Rider Battles. You can have anything you want, but you've got no choice other than fighting. The direction is doing all of the heavy lifting in that scene.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki22c.png

Yui's dreams, with the melting/burning film, really interesting montage. I especially liked how the next Tezuka fortune-telling scene was with a match, linking together those visuals. Clever!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki22d.png

I didn't love the content of the Yui/Ren night time talk. It's Ren telling Yui to leave it alone, to leave it to the Riders. Yui's only real push back is a vague But I Can't. If ever there was a point for Yui to reassert her importance to the story, to be more than a damsel, this was it. She doesn't, and it's another missed opportunity for the character to feel vital. But! That whole scene is shot gorgeously, with the cool blue of the moonlight soaking the room, letting the emotions feel suffused, enveloped by stillness. The whole scene happens like a secret, with Ren's newfound peace feeling like an olive branch to Yui's desperation, a small moment where the two of them feel like close friends again. I hated what they were saying, but I loved how they said it.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki22e.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki22f.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki22g.png

This pullback, when Tezuka says that he's the next Rider fated to die! So great. A lot of the episode is built around Tezuka, his backstory, his motivation. It's a good time for it, with him being the hero Rider we know the least about. Ren's pretty much sorted, at least for now, so it's good to drill into Tezuka's story a bit. The big pullback shot, it's a nice touch, in that it uses the melodramatic language of Tezuka's story. He's... stoically theatrical, if that makes any sense. He's a very Big Concepts kind of guy. Capital letter feelings and ideas. Like, not fate, but Fate. If Shinji's hard rock, and Ren is metal (or, really, emo), then Tezuka is opera. Tezuka's the guy that is fighting the inevitability of fate. That's not a small thing to try and do! So, yeah, his story needs these big camera moves, the really stylish stuff. It's useful in giving his scenes an identity.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki22h.png

This last one, it's a little thing, but I really liked it. There's a point in the Goro/Asakura sidewalk standoff where a train passes by. It's all over a couple of shots, whizzing by over Goro's shoulder, in a reflection, shading Asakura. For a frozen moment, there's this motion, right in the buildup to a fight. It's all implied energy. It's a dynamic addition to that faceoff.

This whole episode, man, it's full of smart touches. Really had a good time just watching this one.

Hey if you ever decide to go do Showa Era Kamen Rider shows and specifically Black RX you can do an episode for Masked Rider for April Fools so it not a complete loss.

One of the things I really love about Shiro as a villain is that he's so convinced of his course of action that he literally cannot fathom any other points of view. The main reason he gives Tezuka the Survive card is because he assumes that the only reason Raia isn't Final Venting the other Riders left, right, and center is because he thinks he's too weak. So he gives Tezuka the card under the assumption that he'll use the power to start taking out the competition. Shiro just cannot wrap his head around the concept that someone in the game wouldn't want to murder all of the other players. I've always found that aspect of the character fascinating.

No, don't do that. Never watch Masked Rider, not even for an April Fools joke.

Ehhh, seems unlikely. I don't truck with Showa. This was the one time it could've happened and I blew it. So mad right now!

There's a way that the show plays with Shiro's focus that's interesting, where he's both bloodthirsty and cold-blooded. Every scene with him and another Rider is basically a How Can We Put You In A Murder Fight Today sales pitch. Some people, it's a reminder of their ticking clock. Some people, it's an appeal to their rage. Some people, it's a promise of a reward. Dude's a fan of Rider Battles, I guess.

If he is, it's news to me too. I don't generally hear Shinji talked about in a particularly negative light... or that often at all, I guess.

If sharing the pain makes you feel any better, it was around this time last year I realized I could've done a joke review of a Power Rangers Zeo episode in the thread for that week's Zi-O. I know it's hard at first, but you move on eventually. :lol

Than allow me to chime in that 22 and 23 are directed by Hidenori Ishida, just so we all know where the credit is due. Actually, I think I'm just going to keep bringing up names anytime you call specific attention to the direction, if that's cool? It's probably not the most exciting information in the world, but I feel like it's only natural to bring it into a conversation praising the visuals of an episode.