It's funny that you think Shirou has more than one answer.

It feels nice to get mentioned by name in a thread where I wasn't expecting. Thanks Die! I need to watch ryuki so I can read this thread.

How dare you! Shiro has been shown to be conversant on a wide variety of topics:

1. Fighting
2. Dying
3. Mirrors
4. Yui
5. Cards
6. Probably the optimal trench coat for spring and summer in a Mirror World, just making assumptions off of visual cues
7. He's definitely got some opinions on David Foster Wallace, I mean just look at him
8. I wonder what sports Shiro is into
9. I mean, everybody's into some sport
10. I wonder if it's soccer
11. Or "football", whatever
12. He's got the general build for it
13. I hope it's something really weird, though
14. Like dude's encyclopedic on Jai alai
15. Just played a shit-ton of it at some prep school
16. And now he brings it up whenever people at a party talk about baseball or basketball, just a total dick about it
17. All this Rider Battle stuff is just him hoping someone'll bring up a sport
18. So then he can say, "Oh, I played a little Jai alai in prep school.
19. Do you know anything about the sport?"
20. Super condescending, and he's got no sense of when people don't care
21. What an asshole

So, there you have it! Fully twenty-one things that we've seen Shiro talk about on Ryuki. Check and MATE, Fish Sandwich, if that's even your real name.

I think I need to start watching it, too! People have been saying some interesting things about it.

Lol good, actually want more of this, though lately you seem to reply less... And jumping on that post too.

Dude actually I asked not to wank Asakura, with my emphasis of Survive form Riders easily beating him before. And did I already talk about his balance? He has only 1 weapon cards from each monsters, but he compensates with more Advents and Final Vents.

For this episode, Genocider's new trait seems to be explosive spits instead of corrosive ones like Venosnaker. Explosives can be more harmful, but corrosive has long-lasting effect as an advantage I guess. I think I don't really like his Evildiver Final Vent clashing evenly with Knight Survive's Final Vent here. Ordinary Evildiver's FV has standard 5000 AP, Knight Survive's one has 8000 AP.

Lol the above one is a funny complaint, because something later...

They should've played the scene where the monster continuously chases them and drive them to the hiding spot. O̶r̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶I̶n̶o̶u̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶u̶f̶f̶?̶

Why would Ren do anything there? Shinji was telling the other companion the same thing he told to Ren, which Ren disagrees heavily. If anything one thing he wanted to do in his mind was probably mock him again, which would ruin the situation (and kind of behavior she disapproves heavily).

I don't think it's random? It's connected with a previous episode where Kitaoka's illness started to affect him in Rider fights where Ren remarked that he's weaker. It's more than just Ren being an asshole for turning a compliment back to him, it's a plot point where irony starts to catch up to Zolda (be a Rider to cure his illness, but cannot go on due to his illness), the illness continues until Goro notices.

For Shinji, it seems like a recurring trait of Kobayashi protagonists (oh, Eiji for OOO, something you watched). They will try to act and help even if they don't have the answers. For Yui makes you think that she's genuinely sad a few episodes before, but she was only acting to you in that one time? I mean Goro is his servant, cleaning up is one of his main jobs.

A sad moment is that Kitaoka didn't get to try to taste Shinji's gyoza either, just like Ren previously, just to force Kitaoka to acknowledge Shinji in that too (Goro, an excellent cook, enjoys it). If I would take a page from Ex-Aid, it seems that Kitaoka can do good (protecing his guests so he wouldn't be suspected) if it's to benefit himself so manipulate him into doing good things like M did at the other doctor Riders fighting Graphite? Though it's actually morally grey people who do that.

Kitaoka manipulating Shinji even extends to them in a fight. The reaction of Ryuki is just priceless that all the weapons are given to Zolda even if Ryuki scanned them. I like when a "douche" is saying undeniable truths that has no ill intention but got to be taken hard by others like "my cards work for me". But Ryuki also shows his another unpredictable fight tactics here to strike back. Summoning Magnugiga, he knocks Zolda aside to use Magnugiga as Guard Vent (despite not being able to move at all, Magnugiga was unflinched by the attacks...), and keep hiding behind it to scan his Strike Vent card and finish his opponent. Zolda even acknowledges this part of him! But overall, what I like about that moment apart from being funny is that the series gives more explanations of how Advent Cards work here.

Well to be honest regarding Rider War, I don't really know what is the actually right and reliable way to stop it. One way I thought about was killing every other Riders, trying to win and use the wish to undo the damages of the War, but that's a huge risk for a probably futile extremist way, and it's also the lesson for Ren to detach your humanity to kill other people. Or just adopt a greyer look and decide that irredeemable bastards deserve to die. Rider War is filled with morally ambiguous people that were properly chosen by Shiro, where by that logic the only purely good Riders are Shinji and Tezuka, both weren't picked. Even aside from Asakura, changing other morally ambiguous people seems to be a generally impossible task (this series, various other series except by bad writing for easy solution, and real life) like to someone such as Ren, Kitaoka, etc. Shinji's clumsiness and naivety may be the cause behind this, but even Tezuka didn't fare any better than this (other than inspiring Shinji), so I just view the Rider War problem as a whole no matter who it is. Aside from all of that, the Rider War in nature forces everyone to keep fighting or die, if Shinji actually did manage to change the Riders to stop fighting, would it spell doom to them?

Sure, Shinji's aim is to save people. But the realization next is that he needs to save Riders too as they are also people, he wants to stop the Rider War because he wants to prevent people getting killed, that includes Riders getting killed by one another. His other dilemma is "Other people's choices are other people's choices" which would contradict his aim to save people including Riders. Though I guess, you shouldn't let a felon do anything bad they want because of their selfish desire under a mindset of "you cannot decide other person's life" like not arresting them, robbing them from their decision and activities.

His idealism and innocence is his actual strength in what he does. Though being an example (as in morality) would just get him labelled as weak, naive, and stupid perhaps by those psychos... But how his trait actually works will surprise you later on.

Yeah, for Ren I gotta give him credit for trying to spare the awful truth to Reiko when they left the scene by just saying Akira ran away, and using that as a proof that Asakura is an iredeemable monster (I agree with Ren this time to let him die like you treat a monster, though Shinji wants him imprisoned), though later he as usual, uses that proof to mock Shinji as being ineffectual. Ren wants Shinji to drop his morality (he sees it as weakness and tried to detach it from himself too), but it makes Shinji more determined. Same as Ren still an asshole before, Ren influencing Shinji this way (world's not black/white) also wouldn't change/corrupt Shinji's ways. They are primary-secondary Riders, but their roles in story are each as big as Shotaro-Philip. And speaking of ORE, at the end, so cameras can capture Mirror stuffs that is in the Mirror World (seen in reflection)?

I guess that's supposed to be the character development? Taking all the pain and hurt she has obtained, have a break down moment, but use that as a resolve to keep doing the mission. Speaking of "good mirror to Shinji", I will apply the talk about how Rider War seeming impossible to solve above for Shinji, to Yui here too, especially if you talk about how it feels optimistic, moreover with her lacking Rider's powers. Apart from topics like changing morally ambiguous person (Shiro) said above, I will also ask here how to fix the damages caused by Rider War? Already displayed before in an ill-fated cliffhanger Shiro has complete control over Riders and monsters to stop them, but he seemingly didn't have any non-offensive power yet (other than the wish, but the wish only can be granted by killing all other Riders).

Dunno if Shinji is the least-informed one, there are newer Riders than him like Ouja or something but probably they just don't care about informations for Riders, monsters, Mirror World, etc, they just want to fight.

Not sure how much of a spoiler this is, but this week’s attacking monster ended up gaining some notoriety a few years later, for reasons I’m sorely tempted to post a picture of, but I have too many scruples to do that. (That, and I don’t know how to Mark spoilers on forums).

I'm only one man! I'm doing my best!

I just read it as Ouja escaping in the explosion. But, yeah, tough to tell since the next scene is Ren driving away.

But I love it when Ren deflates a situation but saying something vaguely insulting and rude. That's one of his best attributes.

I don't know, for me, it felt like information for information's sake. "Oh, we should give Goro's origin now." The events that occur in the scene are a necessary part of the overall story for Kitaoka, but it felt like they were shoehorned into this episode. Maybe it's only something that bothers me? If you felt like it was more organic, that's totally fine.

hahahaha

It's definitely a strength of the show that, halfway through, there's no great way to stop the Rider Battles. There's a feeling that what they're doing is wrong, but everyone participates anyway. Narratively, it's a great cage for the characters, something where there's only bad options.

Man, to me, the meat of the episode and a huge turning point for Shinji's character is him deciding that "saving other Riders" has to be secondary. The more he tries to save Riders who don't want it, the greater the risk that he won't be there to save innocents. At a certain point, you have to decide how to do the greater good, and I feel like in this one Shinji decides to make stopping monsters and saving innocents his primary goal.

MASKED RIDER RYUKI EPISODE 27

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki27a.png

There's a bunch of little storyline things that happen in this episode (Yui and Shiro severing their familial bond, Kitaoka's worsening condition, Eri's fluctuating health, Shiro being a confirmed ghost, and a Brand New Rider at the end), but let's be real. This episode is 100% about how Kamen Riders aren't cool and you shouldn't enjoy their fighting because it's serious and dangerous and not cool.

Which, of course, is why this episode has an amazing sequence where Ren, in human form, cold cocks a monster so hard it falls down a flight of stairs:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki27b.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki27c.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki27d.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki27e.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki27f.png

Amazing. Amazing. I feel like, the producers, they wondered if Ren just being a Kamen Rider would be cool enough for this kid to be obsessed (hell yes!), and since they weren't certain they devised the goddamn coolest way for Ren to enter a scene. It's enormously bad-ass. No wonder this kid wants to be a Rider.

Takuya's story is a sweet little done-in-one, a way for the show to have its cake and eat it too. The Riders get to kick ass and be heroic, while also serving as a stern warning to Not Try This At Home. It's... variably successful. The ways that Shinji, Goro, and Ren all interact with Takuya are great. They've got nice chemistry, with Ren as a bemused older brother, Shinji as an overmatched babysitter, and Goro as the beating heart of the group. The comedy lands great, the kid's motivation is dead-on (didn't we all want to be superheroes as kids so we could be awesome?), and there's a nice progression to the story. It's protection, then caring, then the lesson. That lesson, that being a Kamen Rider is serious and not something you should want to be... man, I don't know. I get what they're doing. I get that they're trying to sell hideous stakes to a group of kids who are probably shouting FIGHT OR DIE at their TVs every week. You need to occasionally remind them that this is a series built around terrible choices and moral ambiguity, that no one in their right mind should want to be a Kamen Rider. But, of course kids should want to be Kamen Riders. They're heroes with special powers and cool costumes, and so much of what Shinji's about as a character is an object lesson for impressionable children: help each other, protect people, try not to murder your opponents. I feel like Takuya running away from the battle at the end... it's a bit much. I think there's a way to reinforce stakes without casting the show as a merciless abattoir. Gotta be a lower gear than that.

Oh, and one other thing about Takuya. I really liked how he's introduced trying to henshin in the mirror. I think that's (and I can't remember if we've talked about it) a positive bit of world-building Ryuki did, to make the at-home role-play part so easy for kids. I assume there were a ton of kids shouting HENSHIN into mirrors in Japanese homes, much to the chagrin of parents. That's cute, that kids could pretend to be Kamen Riders so easily.

I mean, not cute. Terrible, regrettable, horrifying. Kamen Riders aren't cool!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki27g.png

Yes, Riders are heroes who stand for virtuous ideals like human freedom, the value of life, and all kinds of other things... that this kid doesn't understand or care about one bit.

The point Ryuki is trying to make there, that I think it does quite well, is that "I'm good at action games!" is not proper motivation to be a hero. Worshiping violence is not a heroic trait. Shinji doesn't fight monsters because fighting monsters is "cool". He does it because he knows the weight a person's death carries, and wants to prevent that from ever happening. Ren, too, does what he does to protect someone who matters to him.

What Takuya perceives being a Rider as is something different than that entirely, and is arguably closest to how Asakura treats being a Rider. Something to do for fun. A hobby. The attitude the show presents Takuya with, I think is a really good recreation of the misunderstanding of what makes superheroes heroic that a lot of small children genuinely have, and that's what makes the episode work. That kind of tautological notion that heroes are people who beat up bad guys, and the bad guys are bad because the heroes beat them up. They don't look up to the chance to do good in the world so much as the status they believe comes with it. Heroes always win, and everyone loves them.

I think what Ryuki was doing above all else with that episode, which is a very Kamen Rider thing to do, is remind the kids at home that life ain't that simple a lot of the time, and it's a storyline particularly well tailored to Ryuki specifically, with its premise of morally grey characters fighting for causes that often seem hopeless.

I don't disagree! I think the message the show has in this story is valuable. I'd argue that the conclusion leans a little too heavily on the negative consequences of being a Kamen Rider, to the detriment of the visceral thrills of watching Kamen Rider. (That Ren punch! Come ON.)

There's a touch of miserablism to Shinji's speech to Takuya, where it ceases to be "being a Rider is about more than violence", and starts to be "behold our terrible burden, our lives are agony until a sudden, irrevocable end". (I'm paraphrasing.) I think there's a way the show could've shaped that scene a little better, to not have a child who idolized Riders run away in tears. You know? Shit, if I wanted to watch a Kobayashi show about how no one should ever want to be a Kamen Rider, I'd just watch Amazons again.

Like, and I don't know if I'm belaboring my point or what, there's a miscalibration to that scene for me. The lesson, it's valuable. Kamen Rider was changing, and, while I don't truck with Showa and might be misinformed here, the idea of Fighting Darkness With Darkness was something the franchise was sort-of evolving out of. (My take on Kamen Rider's theme going forward from Agito into what else I've seen in the Heisei era is The Value Of Empathy In A World Of Violence, but that's a better topic for the General Thoughts thread.) Spending some time to give weight to the consequences of being a Rider, to spotlight their goals and desires as more than just Fighting, especially in a show that's literally about them having to fight, yes. Making it seem like they've all been handed a death sentence, no.

It... the whole thing with Takuya, it's a Scared Straight ending that feels too dark for me. It's like he had a piece of cake for dessert, and then when he wanted a second one his parents gave him a 20-minute presentation on juvenile obesity and diabetic complications. Like, man, you can send a message without traumatizing children, can't you?

Why do you think that? I disagree as if anything this idea of taking the power of evil and using it for good has become more blantent than it ever has imo.