Dealing with duality is often what gets praise from wide array of people, of which I'd want to talk about the "opposite" thing here. It's to the point that some people will always forcibly impose the idea of duality in everything, that those think it's the only right way to write story/characters. As a Kuuga fan, what'd you say regarding this especially for perhaps being fans of characters like Yuusuke (of which, not Yuusuke himself ironically, but these kind of characters often get bashed for not giving those duality they seek).

I'd also say, the knight-like appearance of Live and Holy Live represents on how self-righteous he became later after Kagerou's death, fully convinced he's in the right and unwilling to hear anyone else out, believing that Ikki is just going to get more people killed by continuing to oppose Giff, getting a with us or against us approach. The trope of this self-righteousness is called knight templar types, he doesn't only embody this character type in personality but also literally.

Being a reminder too that 'pure' doesn't only mean being most heroic, or other virtuous and morally upright (so has little to no unheroic traits), of which the term is often used to refer to those (also used with 'cinnamon roll' as well). It also can mean having a mind free of distractions, unnecessary thoughts, doubts, or fallacies, refering to traits like hard work or determination. A philosophical concept of makoto. And that'd be Daiji being steadfast to save humanity by the easiest way he can think - giving up their freedom while ruthlessly opposing those who stands in his way. Not Daiji despite his turn on villainy, but it also applies on "pure evil" too (where some stories have the "only the pure" can wield something backfiring due to this).

Regarding his brief stint of opposing Akaishi within Fenix being without Kagerou before turning into Fenix crusader though, there are talks about Daiji being pure is about him becoming 'too good/heroic' (by recklessly throwing away his life to stop evil) without his evil side Kagerou. Which does give an impression that being heroic discards all forms of reason, thinking that self-preservation, thinking things through, etc. are terrible traits that turn you more unheroic (which is brought up in Die's thread). Don't really want for people to associate shortcomings like recklessness and impulsiveness as inherent traits of heroism, and discourage goodness by this to "get ahead" or encouraging cruelty (like perhaps those stupid neutral moves like balancing metaphorical checkbook) for "balance".

People'd likely overlook this regarding the view on Daiji, but to talk about something I appreciated during Revice's second half, I appreciated of how they mainly highlighted Daiji's tactical senses after his full personality is restored with Kagerou back, showing that he's no longer willing to succumb into hopelessness, and would look for another way to solve problems, and that it's also done consistently. I don't like people glorifying Kagerou as blameless good guy though, especially those who mocked Daiji in comparison to him, about how his "death" and return both benefits Daiji, or also framing his claims of tasting Sakura's food as tsundere only because he fought off Olteca, thus his actions produced a good outcome, evil vs evil (no pun intended) is a thing too.

Though admittedly George can be fun to watch either way for his first memetic and "relatable" parts and I think for second part in his laidbackness while being helpful, would still think that his change is sudden and abrupt in middle part of him being an actual helpful ally, especially with the excuses of him "just following orders" to Akaishi (not convincing to me, given him looking down on Hiromi's ideals), and later apparently having a devil, Chic, transfered to him (which also can make Masumi look so bad given that they're trying to have the audience forgive him, though I haven't watched the Chic movie yet). Then again, there are also another well-received character that I think the change is abrupt too, like Zack from Gaim suddenly becoming a nice guy and buddy-buddy in his first focused appearence (Knuckle debut), though he had very little presence before.

Wish I can that the new translations (that I got) didn't translate those. Though for Revice I really don't like those messages about "cruel to be kind" being validated (ep. 23 is all about that), which likely applies too for Vice's antics at that time, with it being clearer example to me than the Kyuun one to me, for Fredbob's post. A̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶a̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶K̶y̶u̶u̶n̶,̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶a̶r̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶u̶p̶p̶o̶r̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶R̶i̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶N̶e̶o̶n̶,̶ ̶I̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶r̶e̶c̶i̶a̶t̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶a̶r̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶s̶u̶b̶m̶i̶t̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶c̶r̶u̶e̶l̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶k̶i̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶r̶o̶a̶c̶h̶ ̶-̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶r̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶K̶y̶u̶u̶n̶ ̶e̶a̶r̶l̶i̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶,̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶c̶e̶n̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶e̶p̶.̶ ̶4̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶a̶i̶g̶h̶t̶f̶o̶r̶w̶a̶r̶d̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶e̶l̶l̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶K̶e̶i̶w̶a̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶f̶e̶c̶t̶e̶d̶.̶

Feels that this claim can apply to series like Ryuki too (and I bash neither Ryuki or Geats, though dunno if you'd take offense to this claim), where I also feel that the characters have an overall singular goal/identity there, with the characters praise coming from inherent complex and nuanced praise (feels more like people's taste) given to morally grey or worse characters (most prominently Kitaoka), as Ryuki intentionally has shitty people being chosen for the war.

Looking forward for said Reason to Fight Speech later, but though it seems that KR don't usually do this before, I personally like that Neon's trauma and issues aren't immediately resolved in that 2 parter and it's still being continued as another material for character arc, she gets her drive for self-preservance back, but it doesn't immediately resolve her self-loathing and inadequacy from her real status and a portion of her haters to still searching for what she belongs, currently having self-destructive path, especially with her warped view of likely not properly knowing what is love. Though it still depends, it can make more sense to take longer time to fully recover from that, than resolving it in 2 parter that while it can give warm feelings but still.

Overall regardless of the shows being "highly beloved", the only true ones that almost has no hate/criticism (CMIIW though) seems to be W, OOO, and Fourze (which actually suffered from some dislike earlier). Anything else can have controversial stuff, though seems less so for Build for people here. I'd also think that W isn't a perfect show, though it may be a hotter take.

Heh... actually she was a damsel in distress, in her being held hostage by untransformed Kagerou. Both surprised and expected that later, she has some combat and survival capabilities against Akaishi, though ofc it's futile for normal human (and weapon) like her.

Devils can't lie.

https://i.imgur.com/gM58LFe.png

In other words, Vice was never actually going to eat her. It was either part of his usual antics or a plot to try and keep Ikki from progressing the contract too far. This, combined with his antics as the show goes on and the other LINE messages shows time and time again that he's only out for Ikki's' best interest, and never at the expense of his family. Even when it comes to fighting Kagero, who is Daiji's' Devil...

https://i.imgur.com/xlgtMsb.png

So yeah, if you ask me, Vice's' character is pretty consistent while still having some rather natural development.

I mean, I love duality and split personalities and all that as narrative/character devices, but I wouldn't say the lack of them is inherently any lesser in any way. It's all in the execution, afterall. Revice having duality at the forefront is a plus. That it managed to explore it in a way I found entertaining is just moreso. Had I felt they done it bad, I'd be alot more upset(see: Kamen Rider Build).

Absolutely. Holy Live's' design is so good in so many ways because of stuff like this.

Fair point!

Yeah, as much as I love George, it definitely would've been better had his progression from chaotic neutral to neutral good were more naturally done, rather than suddenly with a explanation as to why later on. I will say though that, of the two options we got, I do much prefer the Devil explanation rather than the Just Following Orders one.

Yes, maybe, but why then he stop? Jamato kicked him in the groin?

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 15 & 16: "Holy Night Chorus Singer" & "Good Stands Against Evil"

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...743&height=418

Christmas episode! And it's an interesting one. We have the usual fortnightly Victim - he's an artist! He really doesn't like distractions! We get the next dollop of deep lore from Tachibana-San, whose latest attempt at mentoring a young person is going a lot better than when he tried to play baseball with Mutsuki. And we get a mysterious new Kamen Rider, who is able to beat a Horoscope by the sheer virtue of having actual martial arts skills.

The main story at play here is pretty standard Rider stuff, with a villain who just wants to follow his passion and is doing petty evil shit to do it, but it's pretty notable Gentarou manages to talk him down even while being petrified and drawing like a child. Probably also didn't help that Tachibana-san sent him straight to killing children. I do feel that, while "Gentarou makes friends" is going to be the signature theme of the show, we're 16 episodes deep, and the plotlines need to start stretching a little more than that. Probably why the writers are introducing the other thing. Not Yuki's singing career, the other other thing. Hayabusa-song is probably what Switchblade hears in their nightmares, alongside the second Hibiki OP.

Meteor! He's cool! He's still a blank slate here! I guess we'll get properly introduced to him next episode. God, it's weird to have Kamen Rider show with literally only two Riders. That's basically only this, Den-O and kinda-sorta-Double, right?

Uhhh I've not been following the entire argument but "Ace now has bigger problems meaning that he doesn't have time to flirt with random women hanging around near him" seems like the obvious shout. Like, its just a smaller part of him being a cocky bastard and the usual reduction in time Riders spend doing non-Rider stuff as these shows continue.

But they didn?t start from the third episode. Besides, Kurenai Otoya continued to flirt even while dying, so it didn't start from the third episode.
Personally, I think the explanation is that the writers realized that they didn't have the material for a love line with regular characters and didn't have the means to cast popular singers/extra models. But this just confirms my idea that the plot and characters change as the shooting progresses. Actually, the writers of the riders themselves have repeatedly admitted this, so I basically don?t understand what the dispute is about.

But still, the main characters of Ryuki are familiar to everyone. The idealistic Shinji, the conflicted Ren, the slippery lawyer Kitaoka, the psycho Asakura. With each of these, albeit not in such bright guises, a person has met at least once in his life (well, the lucky ones heard about those similar to Ouja in the news). And how often do we get types like Ace or Michinaga? Such characters simply need a deeper disclosure, but all his attempts on the show come down to self-repetitions. I mean, we're getting close to the end, can you tell me why Ace had to cheat on Keiwa in the second episode? Well, apart from the fact that it is necessary to explain to the audience that he is a liar.

I?m not sure the comparison to Otoya really works here at all considering that being flirtatious & a lady?s man is sorta Otoya?s whole thing early on plus his goal through out most of Kiva is to earn the love of a Woman so him being flirty most of the time makes perfect sense. This doesn?t apply to Ace though, his primary goal throughout the entirety of Geats is to find his mother, plus I?d argue his defining traits as a character is that he?s a show off, a trickster, & a liar which remain consistent throughout the entire show off (the flirting was more so a side effect of Ace?s cockiness rather than being a key aspect of his character like with Otoya). So I think the idea that he flirted 2-3 times so he has to do it most of the time to be a consistent character doesn?t make much sense at all.

Yes, but then the claim to Vice for the stated desire to eat Yukimi also does not make sense, because the character's goal is not to eat people. In principle, I initially cited Geats as an example, because this is the closest analogue that I remembered.
Also, in my opinion, any break from the "Ace says win/Ace wins" pattern is good for a character.
And:

This is our hero! I miss the "boring good guys". Also, it's funny that this description is equally suitable for both Ace and Kusaka, and the attitude towards the characters is completely different.

I finished watching Ex-Aid today, and while I'm not all that great at writing full reviews but I definitely enjoyed it; great premise, fun characters, fantastic action, designs that are goofy in all the right ways. I can see why this show is so popular. Still have the post show movies to watch next

And with that, I've finished every Heisei season. Only took about 4 years? I don't really have a post-watch analysis ready to go, (after graduating college I've turned off all my paper writing functions ) but the Rider and Toku content available were a great constant to have at my disposable during some up and down years.

I think a proper personal retrospective is in order later, but what are you guy's favorite Rider memories throughout the years?

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...O2E28&usqp=CAU
This is not forgotten.

I wasn't aware devils are unable to lie in Revice, that's reason enough to take your word on it for me.

As others have said, there are bigger things for Ace to worry about, not to mention that if he were to repeatedly flirt with women throughout the show, it'd be with Neon, the one woman who he regularly interacts with. Ace having bigger things to deal with than try to flirt with a woman who shot him down is hardly anything that requires more than half a minute of thinking about

Congrats! You managed it in 9 years less than me!

It took me little under two years.

Well, yes, because in the first episode, Ace wished to become a hikikomori;) I still tend to think that the show simply did not have enough space to reveal this part of it.

Neither Otoya nor Shotaro was deterred by this.

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 17 & 18: Impact Of A Meteor & The Gen Ryu Battle

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...743&height=418

He's here! Our next Kamen Rider, and he's not here for your ideals of friendship!

Lets deal with the negative first. In exchange for the Meteor plot, the Switcher side of this episode feels undercooked. It doesn't do anything to tie into Ryusei's deal, like other "New KRC member" stories. He just hates Kengo for being smart, is fully willing to go full Horoscope, and that's a story that I thought Fourze would excel at that, being set in a school. But no, he just gets detonated by Fourze without any fanfare - we don't even see the Switcher wake up. It's clear that's taking a big backseet to dealing with Ryusei's whole deal.

Ryusei, he's interesting. I don't want to say self-centered, but he's very focused on his own goal. He doesn't care who Lynx hurts, only so far as he stands a chance to turn into Aries. He takes the KRC for a bunch of losers who are utterly ineffective against Zodiarts because they don't take it as surface-level seriously as he does. He complains that Fourze is an idiot whilst helping a mysterious guy in a mask try to make the obvious villains more powerful. He's willing to help Gentarou fight them, but his "Anti-Zodiarts" stance as mentioned by Tachibana from Daft Punk seems to be second-fiddle to his goal of "Fix Jirou". He's an interesting addition, to add someone so dupilcitous to the cast. He's like JK in his debut episode but slightly more noble! Looking forwards to seeing how long he can maintain his deception until someone figures it out.

(Also, Gentarou only making friends with someone who is 'true' to themselves? Pretty good choice. Gentarou is 100% the kind of guy who would see your worst impulses, and say 'As your friend, I see you doing this, and will help you out!')

The base suit for Meteor is genius and whoever designed it deserved a raise.

I just got done reading through all of the Zero-One comic, and for as bad of a reputation its has, I just overall found it kinda Meh?

Like, don't get me wrong, most of the critiques you read about it are very valid(the worst being Fuwa being very out of character), but as an overall experience I could at the very least see what the people behind the story were gunning for. Sure, it's not executed in anywhere near the best way, but it's also not to the level of, say, Zero-One Others wherein it's like something out of an entirely different work. With an extra pass through editing, I could actually see this scenario as a sort of tie-in movie to Zero-One.

Outside of the mischaracterization of Fuwa though, I'd say the comic's' biggest weakness is the colorist they got for it, who overall did a terrible job. Most notably in coloring the Drivers for both Zero-One and Ragnarok(they somehow managed to make the Zero-One Driver red at one point!).

It has its good moments though, such as some very well drawn and composed panels interspliced throughout all four issues, and the flashback sequence featuring Aruto and HumaDad was like something directly out of Zero-One itself, of which I really dug. And while Ragnarok's' origin story is kinda lame, I can see what they were gunning for in terms of tying it into the Humagear plot of Zero-One itself.

But yeah, I give it a 2/6. Mediocre with some lost potential, but not without merit.

I am now up to episode 32 of Kiva where Taiga finally makes his introduction into the series.

EDIT: Just finished said episode and I decided to take a slight detour from the series itself to watch Kiva's own summer movie. I will come back to the series once I am finished with said movie.

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 19 & 20: The Matchless Steel Dragon & The Universal Magnetic Force

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...743&height=418

Friends fight. It's inevitable when you spend so much time with someone, that you're going to disagree. It's Relationships 101, be it romantic or platonic. The trick is in how you handle it.

Kengo is jealous. He feels Gentarou doesn't care about him, is happy to replace him with Ryusei, who gradated top of his science class as Jeet-Kune-Do academy, and isn't getting what he wants out of the friendship anymore - the feeling his advice is worth something. It's why he falls in with Egawa so easily. But he's not a selfish jerk who just wants to be seen as the smartest. His envy stems from seeing Gentarou get hurt, and still make the choice not to listen. It's painful to watch his friend reject him so thoroughly.

Gentarou wants to give Kengo an easier life. He sees his best buddy struggle so hard for him, push his nebulous illness to the limits, to give them all a fighting chance. So when Ryusei shows up, he both wants to scope out what the new guy can do for the team, and give Kengo a break. After all, Kengo is so good to him, it's the least he can do. And when Kengo rejects him, he knows he can't just throw out a half-assed apology. He needs to make things right, which in this cas means fixing the Magnet MacGuffin, because thats what Kengou would want... right?

All the stuff around this, it works to facilitate the Gentaro/Kengo plot. Draco is less of a character and more of an obstacle to work around, but he's very jealous of other running squad members having friends. Ryusei is feeling like a natural fit this week, the rest of the gang show their worth in keeping the KRC functional even without their resident tech geek, and honestly, it's nice to see Meteor's plan of "I'll beat up the Zodiarts unless they happen to be one I like, then I'll let them go" backfire on round 2. I was worried him and Fourze would have petty fights over it for weeks to come. And Meteor states, while I still think it looks very goofy in how bulky it is, it's cool. It has a big horseshoe magnet cannon, how can it not be?

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 21 & 22: A Misguidance Counseling Session & Kicking Your True Nature

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...743&height=418

Pretty simple two-parter this time round! We get introduced to Sonada's replacement while she's on holiday / permanent retirement in the dark dimension, and while I have no idea if we'll ever see Gentaro's new homeroom teacher again, it's a good one-and-done. I can relate to her problem pretty well, having a passion that I'm not sure I could ever make into a long term sustainable carer, and while Gentarou's advice of "You don't have to sacrifice either, you can do both" is a little simplistic... he's Gentarou. Man's not known for his brains. And I do like the switch of the student helping the teacher figure their path in life. Good lesson for the kids at home about how, no, just because somene is older than you, maybe even your authority figure, they're not done learning themselves.

The mystery at play here is fine. It only takes a vague knowledge of toku tropes to realise someone else is the Switcher and there's only been one other new character introduced, and the explanation for why someone would try and frame new teacher is a little flimsy, but hey, new Zodiarts!

Man, I miss the days when you could rely on Nao Nagasawa showing up in something pretty much every year.

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 23 & 24: Teaming Up With Swans & The Motivation For Heroism

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...743&height=418

Something I touched on a couple of times in early episodes, where the Kamen Rider Club members to be were the main focus and the Zodiarts were secondary, was the weird tension between the need for them to be a murderous villain, and the fact they often ended up being the more sympathetic one. It wasn't a major flaw, and the show has counterbalanced by making more recent Zodiarts either obvious bullies, or being groomed for evil by Principal Tachibana, but it's interesting to see the idea pop up again here. Can a Zodiart be good? In this case, it's literal heroism on the line.

The episode doesn't stop there. It also decides to take on cult behaviour (Yuki's kinda into it, oh no) with the Ugly Duckling Club. Maybe it's just me reading Star Trek discourse lately, but you could definitely make a commentary on fans of franchises like Kamen Rider holding up their ideals of heroism and doing good while really just wanting to feel part of something "good". Through that lens, the episode does not look good for the fandom, with the club very quickly going from a supportive group looking to Cygnus to inspiration, to a weirdly worshipful exercise group, to forcibly turning Cygnus evil because they can't cope without an idol. It's a bit rushed, and I feel the episode might have been stronger had it chosen to focus more on either just the cult stuff - as Tomoko says, it's very similar to 'her' debut episode - or the Fight Club esque Cygnus story, but it still manages to land both pretty well.

Speaking of Tomoko, we have a story that matches her with Ryusei, and they make for a fun duo. Ryusei is still in his "hiding everything" mode, but it's fun to have him bounce off the club's spookiest member. Ryusei is obviously very tired at having to deal with the club's eccentricities, but clearly he's growing fond of them. Or maybe, despite seeing it as growing soft, he's not heartless enough to let innocent people die for his own sake of justice, no matter how annoying they might be. Speaking of annoying, Cancer! It's refereshing having a villain the heroes can have banter with, given they know his identity, but while he's physically strong here, he does never feel like a real threat in the same way Scorpio did, or Virgo still kinda does. But that's fine, sometimes we need a comedy villain.

Another strong 2-parter for Fourze to be honest. Nice to see some diving into whether or not switchers are going to inherently use their powers for evil (answer: yes, because society), and some good laughs with Tomoko and the gang.

Watched Kamen Rider Geats: What the hell?! Desire Grand Prix Full of Men! I'm Ouja! Well, so far this HBV is my favorite of the Geats. Funny and, in some places, very self-critical. Sure, it's strange to watch this in the late stages of the show, gone into full Greek tragedy, but this little video is a little uplifting. Also, it seems to me that it is a reason to cross out Buffa from the candidates for the V-cinema, given that he is the main character here, even if his character reminds him of himself from the crossover than the main show.
https://tokuzilla.net/wp-content/upl...im-ouja-02.jpg

I had fallen behind in Geats but caught up to episode 42 today.

Ages and ages ago in an early episode thread for the series I had speculated about Keiwa having a villainous turn and it seems I was spot on. However, I don't really *like* how this and many other aspects of the show are being handled. I think the pacing is all wrong and the show just doesn't do enough to get me invested in the cast? Combine that with the borderline incomprehensible worldbuilding and it just isn't proving to be a great experience for me. There are flashes of something great here! I like Michinaga feeling the need to kill civilians because there isn't a better option (even if I think his various shifts from villain to hero to get here have been contrived) and there's some good suits. Like, no lie, I ended up laughing at Sara's death scene because of how abrupt and silly the framing felt, which is a bad sign. Definitely a Ghost-esque experience where I'm entertained but not in a good way.

There is such. I already wrote somewhere that in Geats the characters are slaves of the plot and will do what is necessary for it. As for the rest, I have a feeling that the same main plot was written first, and Ace's unexpected twists and deceptions were added to it (the latter as much as they fit to justify the fox nature). As a result, the hook works, but personally I don't feel like I've been caught by a fish. In general, in general, for me, watching this show is interesting, but not pleasant.
As for the main characters, for the most part the problem here is how they are shown. I mean, I recently watched a PunkJack special. At the same time, I myself consider this rider a plot device, and not a character, but it was in his special that I worried about him. Because reasons, reactions and emotions were shown. There were feelings. In the Geats show, on the contrary, the characters either open up and go to the background, or in the case of the MC, they simply give out about 25% of the desired reaction. Well, if the hero is not worried, then the viewer, in principle, has nothing to worry about. But these are just my vague impressions.

I've fallen a few weeks behind on Geats. Part of that is because I'm sticking with the slowest fansubs, but mostly it's because I'm just really uninterested in a Darth Tycoon arc. Keiwa was already my least favorite of the four main characters and this is not making me care about him more.

I mean, isn't that the point though? We already pegged him as a problematic dude early on, so I think this self-destructive development is consistent for him anyway. He's got to get worse before he can get any better.

I'm having the opposite experinence tbh - I fell behind on Geats in the early 30's because I wasn't really feeling the whole Ace searches for his mum arc, but this latest one I'm having a good time with. Keiwa's plot... yeah, it's a little contrived, but I don't feel it's stupidly out of character or anything? I'm not sure how it sits with the rest of the show, nor how we'll get from here to the big ending I'm assuming is coming, but for now, I'm happy.

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 25 & 26 - The Problem With Graduating & A Sublime Slow Dance

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...743&height=418

Things change in life. People move away, start new journeys of their own. It's not awful to hang on to the past, but you can't cling to it like a safety blanket, refusing to move on because the future is scary and what you have now is good. I mean, it probably is! But you've got to take the leap.

Shun has been hung to dry over Mio for quite a few episodes now. But Mio is still caught up over his betrayal all the way back when, and honestly doesn't need a relationship in her life right now. She's Queen of the Kamen Rider Club, why would she deign to have a boyfriend? She wants to celebrate the memory of her time at Amonagawa High School with the piece of trash. I like that Shun and Mio don't instantly get back together here, despite all his pushing. It's a basic "I want my beloved to be happy" ending, where Shun trades his own happiness for Mio's, but that's enough of a reward for him.

The plot about the returning switchers appearing to go villainous again, that's a bit weaker. Maybe if they'd shown up since, it would have more resonance, but I get what they're going for thematically. All about looking back at the past and moving on to better pastures. Interesting that two of the Switchers have connections to Tomoko and Mio, but then there's Draco, who spent his time being a generic bully to Kengo and his buddy when he quit to Magnet States, who I guess is just here because the actor is around.

Nitpicks aside though, this is a good one. Nice to focus on two characters who've been lurking in the background for a while, and the Switcher plot is very solid.

I can't believe you left out the guest appearance by the Kamen Rider Girls. How could you forget the most forgettable part of this two-parter?

So, fun fact. That screencap? That moment is what lead to one of the biggest in-jokes between me and the friend that I watched Fourze with. To this day, if there's anything even remotely clown related, we mention a scenario on "What if Shun were here?" and other related clown humor. That alone made this two-parter 100% worth it.

Maybe if they;d been wearing their merchandise, I'd have known to remember them.

Clown Shun is very funny. I get the feeling some people would be unhappy with his characterisation here, he's definitely changed from the tough footballer who was our fill-in secondary using the Powerdizer, but I think it works. He's still an 18 year old kid forced into the tough macho role by his dad, I can believe he thinks dressing up as a clown will totally impress Mio... somehow.

I think Shun is more in love with his own concept of Miu than he is with the actual Miu. He doesn?t seem to really get her, which is part of why she?s so consistently dismissive of him.

Most likely, he is just a teenager, overcome by a strong feeling that he does not know how to express. I think he has no concept of Miu, but only a set of her qualities that make his heart beat and his hormones boil.
And Miu simply does not experience this, and therefore thinks rationally and refuses him, at the same time checking how attached he really is to her and whether he will switch to another, as was the case in the early episodes.

I think the bit of dialogue that makes this clear for me is Shun admitting that he was only originally dating Miu because his dad basically told him to get with her, and that's also why he bounced to her best friend. But since then, he's developed feelings beyond that. I can totally believe this is Shun, out from under his dad's thumb, dealing with his first proper crush. I think he does honestly like Mio as a person, not just as the idea of "Queen" or because she's pretty, but he's acting selfishly and not putting her first because, well, he's still an 18 year old.

Meanwhile, because I looked at the episode list and realised I was meant to be watching a movie right now, I instead did the Net Movies.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...744&height=418

Now this is the kind of V-Cinema content I can get behind.

Yeah, the Net Movies that served as a tie-in for the first Super Hero Taisen movie are great and downright hilarious.

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 27 & 28 - A Transformation That's Denied & The Star Shower Resumes

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...743&height=418

At best, Ryusei has just been using the Kamen Rider club. He tolerates them. They make his job of fighting Zodiarts, somehow, slightly easier. But they're not friends, and if it made his life easier, he'd probably get out of there. He finds Gentarou's idea of friendship to be made way too quickly. No way would that surface level buffoon ever know what "true" friendship was about.

For the "Meteor gets an upgrade" story, it's the necessary turning point in his story. He's not out in the open with them yet, but this is Ryusei accepting his place in the wider group not just as a sussy imposter, but maybe part of the team. It's also, weirdly, the episode where we learn about Gentarou's parent status (dead from plot disease), which kinda comes out of nowhere! It's great seeing Gentarou's granddad, you can see how this environment would produce someone as sweet-but-stupid as my boy, but it's a little disconnected from the Meteor stuff.

This also seems to be the end for Cancer, and while he's been fun as an antagnoistic force who can actually banter with the heroes, I feel he had a good run. He never had an overarching goal or arc besides "Hey cool, I'm a Horoscope now", and if he had to go, I'm glad it's the spinning top of doom.

I finished my rewatch of Ryuki and I realized this time that the Kanzaki subplot actually works better when it directly ties back to the Rider War, how it challenges Shinji's philosophy of wanting to stop the fighting and how Ren's conscience that he tries to discard is the only thing keeping him in check so he doesn't become as bad as Kanzaki.

As a framing device, in position of abstraction to the more intriguing tangible details of the drama between Riders, it's necessary to show the tragically doomed futility of the Rider War. It's mostly the reset ending that I think leaves it a disappointment, but I appreciate how this is only one of many possible timelines and the open-ended nature of the Rider War means it can be brought back anytime, like in Rider Time Ryuki.

I guess I'll talk a little about the Episode Final movie as well, while it's fresh in my memory. I liked how Yui finally got to take a more active role in her own subplot, with her death in this timeline being something she chose instead of something that happens to her, even though the scene is surprisingly darker than I remembered.

Are the "Dark" doppelgangers malicious, or just really bad at helping? Dark Yui lures Yui to the Mirror World so she won't be lonely, but only tells her about the whole dying thing when it's too late. Dark Shinji is justified to call out Shinji for breaking his promise, but he's only manipulating the guilt for his own benefit. Even in Zi-O, Dark Sougo accuses Sougo of showing Demon King traits, which leads him to become more self-critical and conscious of his evil side.

The ending is pretty clever symbolically, with how Ren's and Shinji's vow to not die parallels their deaths in the 13 Riders special and Episode 49 respectively, leaving it to viewer interpretation whether or not they actually succeeded.

After reconsideration, I've decided to promote Ryuki from #13 to #11 in my Heisei Rider Ranking:

1st) Faiz
2nd) Build
3rd) Fourze
4th) Ghost
5th) Wizard
6th) Double
7th) Kiva
8th) Blade
9th) Decade
10th) Drive
11th) Ryuki
12th) Kabuto
13th) Den-O
14th) OOO
15th) Zi-O
16th) Hibiki
17th) EX-Aid
18th) Agito
19th) Kuuga
20th) Gaim

Which means I now consider it my favorite Kobayashi Rider show. Based on general character and comedy enjoyment, Den-O would've kept that title, but Ryuki's strong drama and escalating plot gives it an edge that makes it more fascinating and complex to think about, which is something I love to get out of these shows.

Medal of Resurrection and Movie Battle Royale are next on my watchlist.

OK, so what'd you think about stopping by at, akinoame's review of Ryuki by this? I guess regardless of your some reconsideration of this series.