And apparently me too, for I elaborated the meaning of the episode for Shinji screwing destiny. Those are just your standard Shinji's attempts to stop the war, namely by changing the outcome.

Reiko have you learned something about dealing with people before (Akira) and not be no-nonsense all the time? You saw the photo about them being affectionate, how do you miss the fact that the man might be someone precious to her (even if you know him as Shiro Takami, his American identity and thought that he may not be her brother, but the photo should show that he's someone close)? Even Tezuka instantly figures it out! To her credit she backpedals although it's maybe too late, so I guess that's a yes. The one thing that brought up for the next part of the episode was Reiko's necklace which is similar to Mari Takeuchi's. Odin asks to keep tatakae but all the other Riders are totally stunned towards him.

I think the actual flaw of this episode is that Ryuki can travel to different mirrors to get Reiko and Shimada. Ryuki sends Sonorabuma (the kidnapper monster) to Mirror World and goes for Reiko and Shimada (in real world) through a different mirror he entered the Mirror World with. You can only enter/exit the Mirror World in one exact place!

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...224730/pch.png

• Shinji: The flip at ORE, relentessly attacks Reiko's "stalker" who turns out to be Goro, dreaming about Kitaoka and Goro with make-ups, feeling touched, hanging over a wall with Ren to check Shimada, forbidding Kitaoka getting close to Reiko, stomping Zolda's foot as a revenge, fighting over a binocular to Ren, stealing stuffs from Atori to sell as salesman (how someone like him can steal?!).
• Ren: Gets pincer attacked by Shinji/Kitaoka's quarrel, standing on Shinji's back to check over Yui, hanging over a wall with Shinji (these 2 moments giving them a weird nod), fighting over a binocular to Shinji, glasses, stealing stuffs from Atori to sell as salesman.
• Kitaoka: No time to be touched, pointing to Shinji that he's not Reiko's father, hits Shinji when preparing his Deck, "unreliable", calling Shinji/Ren while doing a handstand, in-character when introducing himself to Mari Takeuchi (the president), baiting Yui with the oyster.
• Shimada: Horned hairs, drunk.
• Goro: The one bringing flowers to Reiko (lol people would mistake you are the one having a crush instead!), though he disappeared from the episode afterwards, not even on the dinner at the last part.

Ren should've gotten revenge to Kitaoka for him mocking Ren being dedicated to Eri before, that Kitaoka is also dedicated to Reiko. Also, Reiko and Shimada are damsel in distresses in this episode and that... how were they only sleeping after captured (in real world, Shinji goes to real world)? They too, aren't in actual danger? It's also quite bizzare that Sonorabuma doesn't eat them, just kidnap them and send them to a certain place. Moreover, that monster didn't kidnap Yui even if all the girls are going on the same route (lowkey another one like ep. 14).

How did you forget looking for full sized human (Reiko/Shimada) in a freaking microwave, cupboard, or trash can (or you're actually looking for your brain you accidentally dropped in the can :p)? So here's Yui, wrecking apart a building again in a row after Shiro fight in Kanzaki household previously. Okubo (the one introducing marriage interview) was also angered by Shinji's notes previously btw. Any other ways can be used to make her joke apart from anger (because she was angered by a more trivial thing there, where she wasn't when Shinji lost Dragreder card)? Also as per Ren's words, she tried to be coy to Kurai Shinobu to "figure out his real personality", why did she try to be coy to the neighbor too?

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...53030/gblk.jpg

"People looking in too-small places while searching for something" is one of my favorite investigative-comedy tropes, so yes, I loved Yui looking inside a microwave for one-to-two women. The way Yui treats the whole thing as, like, adult Hide and Seek, instead of two women who are kidnapped, is adorable. It's a lighter side to Yui, which I think this show desperately needed, if only to make the dour stuff with her feel less one-note.

For the neighbor, when Yui's still in demure Date Mode, I think she's just trying to stay in character. She got really into the acting, and she's committing hardcore.

Sorry, but for "dour", do you refer that for her sorrows throughout the tragedies? Because the term "dour" IMO can encompass antagonistic and insensitive qualities too, like the misantrophic Ren or Nakamura. Besides regarding those 2 women ("treated as adult Hide and Seek"), previously Yui was overly concerned to Shimada, where when she went "BSOD" after merely typing, she had similar reactions to Shinji finding her kidnapped. A̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶e̶l̶l̶ ̶R̶e̶i̶k̶o̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶u̶r̶c̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶l̶e̶m̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶e̶l̶e̶s̶s̶l̶y̶ ̶r̶e̶v̶e̶a̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶b̶a̶d̶ ̶n̶e̶w̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶.̶

MASKED RIDER RYUKI EPISODE 30

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki30a.png

There's a moment in this episode, a beautiful, perfect moment in an absolutely batshit episode, that I think I'll remember forever. It's not the funniest, or the most insightful, or the most impressive fight sequence. But goddamn if it's not one of my all-time favorite Kamen Rider things.

Kitaoka's in a rowboat with the (gorgeous) Megumi. They're enjoying a romantic escape from everything, floating alone on a river. He leans in to kiss her, but pauses. Kitaoka senses a Mirror Monster, but has no way to change into Zolda without Megumi learning about it. So he tells her that a kiss needs to happen with her eyes closed. Once she closes her eyes, Kitaoka does a tiny, silent Henshin, where he mouths the word Henshin, and then he disappears into the reflection on the river.

That tiny Henshin, all in silence, wrecked me. Just destroyed me. It's so perfect: for the character, for the episode, for my heart.

This was, in case you've forgotten, another comedy episode. It's not really doing much character-wise, so it's a bit of a step down from last episode. I don't know that we really learn anything in particular about Kitaoka that we didn't already know, and the story's really got no space to develop anyone else. (Goro gets a bit of a look-in, but it's mostly just reiterating his protective feelings toward Kitaoka and the small ways he tries to get him to do the right thing.) There's not a ton going on under the hood of this one.

It's only consistently, insanely funny, so I guess that'll have to do.

Unlike last episode that spread around its gags to a bunch of different characters, the majority of this one is a two-hander with Kitaoka and Megumi. Megumi's actor does a great job of not going too broad with the comedy, grounding in a lot of the same ways Kitaoka does. There's a satirical edge to a lot of their scenes, playing it as romance while everything they're doing is ridiculous. And it's so ridiculous. Megumi's character is both an enormous liar and a total garbage fire of a person, yet I don't think I spent one second irritated by her. Some of it's that terrible things happening to Kitaoka is both funny and karmically warranted, but it's also how she's never malicious in this story. She's not trying to hurt Kitaoka, she's just a complete disaster. They've got great chemistry, comedically and romantically (everyone's gorgeous in this episode, total summer delight), and the whole episode sings because of it.

Shot real well, too. Lot of great weirdo angles for the proposal "flashbacks”, with garishly fake backdrops and flipped axes mid-dialogue. There's an awesome establishing shot, when Shinji goes to meet Megumi for the first time, and it's this super-high crane shot that lays out the whole beach. It doesn't tell a story, per se, but it's real nice to look at. This whole episode, though, it's beautiful, with the clear skies and blue waters. Delightful.

I really love that Masked Rider Ryuki spent an entire episode doing nothing but telling a romantic-comedy story about an asshole lawyer and a manipulative clutz. There's a monster fight, but only barely. (One and a half monster fights, if you count the monster being held at bay by a plate of food that got dumped on its head.) I'd be 100% into a Kamen Rider half-hour comedy with this as a template, and I'm not exaggerating at all. This was so much fun to watch. Completely insane and not even a little serious, but so much fun to watch.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki30b.png

Megumi: Shuichi?
Kitaoka: Yes my love?
Megumi: My hand's burning.

Best scene ever.:lolol

I've said it before, will say it again. Episodes 29 and 30 are the best filler eps of all time in Kamen Rider history.

I tend to agree with this statement. Whenever I think of Ryuki (as a series) I think about the great character work, the awesome Rider designs, the (I won't say until later cuz spoilers) ending, and those two episodes in about the middle of the series that are so hilarious it doesn't even matter that they are basically filler episodes. That silent henshin is gold.

Yeah, these two episodes... front-to-back hilarious. I think the first one's a little less of a filler episode, since it does address the closer working relationship of Ryuki/Knight/Zolda, how they aren't just going to try to murder each other constantly. (It zero percent addresses Kamen Rider Boss or Rider Battles or that stuff, so it's still sort-of a filler episode.) The second episode is just a relentless joke machine though, and it's better for it in some ways.

There's a freedom in the second episode to Just Be Funny, so much so that the pre-credit scene is the last 40 seconds of the monster fight from the previous episode, and then the post-credit scene is Shinji giving Kitaoka an apology gift. (That Kitaoka tells him he's going to throw away when Shiji leaves! And Goro takes one of the treats out and puts it in his pocket while Kitaoka isn't watching! Literally the first scene of new material is laugh-out-loud funny!) They aren't even trying to make it seem like this one isn't stand-alone. (I don't expect we'll see Megumi regularly, since most of this story doesn't seem built for continuity, but I'd be okay if she hung around.) With no need to serve the season-long arc and no goal besides Make Kitaoka Suffer Hilariously, there's a clarity of purpose that keeps anything from muddying the water. I seriously respect that the show carved out space to give this lunacy its moment.

Why didn't Kitaoka let Megumi know, what if Kitaoka lets her know? And even if Kitaoka's silent, wouldn't there be sound effects for the belt forming and Zolda armor appearing? Or the splash when he jumps to the water?

This is the episode I talked about when I talked about how Goro can stand up to Kitaoka for certain reason (shouting SENSEI! to make Kitaoka agree with Shinji & Ren), but agreed to do something more morally questionable in ep. 14. Shinji should've just take back the donut, better than wasting food.

OK sorry for this one but Megumi is the type of character I can't stand (I should always separate characters and looks). The type I meant is a character that is totally dumb and out of reality, yet won't pipe down (nor learn) and keeps ruining everything around them. Having no malicious intent by that can either make it better or worse (that they don't know what wrong they caused and keep doing that anyway). The type seen much in children cartoons such as Patrick Star (especially in post-movie episodes), Masha, Dog in CatDog, etc. Probably yeah Kitaoka suffering (you okay with this?) is karmically warranted, but would be grating for the other undeserving people.

Megumi knows the most about Kitaoka... surprassing Goro?! Were Megumi and Kitaoka closer than even Goro the very early time Kitaoka recruited her? And Megumi is merficul towards the thugs because she took off her slippers. Kicking them in the face with slippers on would be more painful AND that the bottom of footwears are dirty, giving more discomfort. Megumi's clumsiness actually saved her once against the monster with the hot spaghetti, though I wonder how can she hold up against Mirror Monsters with her fighting skills.

The mid-series comedy break is something that happened a few times in the early Heisei era. I don’t remember if Faiz has one, but Blade and Kabuto memorably went back to this well at around the same point (Hibiki didn’t get the chance, of course, what with it being cancelled at episode 29).

I mean, I don't want to take apart the joke, because that ruins it. This whole thing is like a cartoon, where any of the normal rules are thrown out the window.

But, to play along, I'll say:

-Kitaoka can't let Megumi know because something something too dangerous to know the truth. I hate this policy, but it's definitely one the show has clung to relentlessly.

-The chirping of crickets and lapping of waves, super coincidentally, is of an opposing frequency of the belt forming and the Zolda armor appearing, rendering that part of the transformation utterly silent. What a lucky break for Kitaoka!

-He doesn't jump into the water, he jumps into the reflection on the water. It doesn't make any sound, because he's not interacting with the water. It's also the reason why he's not wet when he gets back in the boat.

I don't think Shinji would take back a gift, even if the recipient would throw it away. And I definitely don't think Kitaoka would let him take it back, if only to make sure it goes to waste.

Admittedly, Megumi's not going to be for everyone! I can see her being frustrating for her cartoonishness. She's not a realistic, comprehensible person by any stretch. She's in this episode to be insane and torture Kitaoka. (I am always okay with torturing Kitaoka, because he both deserves it and seems to thrive on it. That dude likes to have something to overcome!) If you find her to be too much of a caricature, I wouldn't argue against it.

I liked how her obsession (?) with Kitaoka has made her a super-fan, though. I like that she does get Kitaoka on a deeper level than even Goro. If she'd just been ruining Kitaoka's life and making him crazy, I don't think a lot of the later comedy would've landed. Making her someone who does legitimately care for and understand him, it's a little touch that improved the episode for me.

Your mileage may vary, though!

Structurally, it's a really good time for it. The halfway point is a nice place to put, like, an intermission. There'd been some deep, heavy stuff going on, and the introduction of Kamen Rider Boss and his Turn Back(hand) Time Vent is a good place to pause the action.