Yep Psyco-rogue is Kagawa's advent monster and the design is believed to be a indirect nod to Jason Voorhees particularly the face mask iirc. The name is most likely a portmanteau of either psycho, koorogi(pronounced co-ohrogi)which means cricket in Japanese, and rogue, or cyborg and saikoro which means dice in Japanese, probably because its face is arranged like the surface of a dice.

Yeah, keeping up with the plot in these early Heisei shows is a problem I’ve had. I don’t think I got up to speed with Faiz until episode 34 (you’ll see why when you get there) and I never really got into Kuuga. I’ve just started on Blade, and I’m two episodes in with a good handle of the plot, but let’s see how that lasts.

Blade gets better around episode 14-16ish. A bit of a struggle at first but totally worth it.

This is a problem I have with late series Ryuki. I love the show, it's got a great cast of characters and as you've said many times, some fantastic morally gray themes. Shinji though. He can be a frustrating character at times, sometimes I just want to yell "Get in the damn Rider Battle, Shinji!"

Neat! Thanks!

For me, I'm not sure if it's a case of watching too much Kamen Rider, and that part of my brain just melting from overuse, or if there's a certain sameyness to the series plot that's happening in this part of Ryuki. The Second Secret Science Society is a great burst of ideas, but every other Rider... I don't know what they're trying to do? I don't know what the show is doing with them beyond random monster fights and inconclusive Rider Battles. There's points (last episode) that feel like we've got to be close to the end, and then there's an episode like this one that you could plug in anywhere over the last twenty episodes.

Yeah, this time it felt too much like storylines that I thought they'd already resolved with Shinji. The whole Why Can't I Make Other Riders Understand That Fighting Is Wrong, followed inevitably by All I Can Do Is What I Think Is Right And Maybe That Can Be A Guide To Them... y'know, I definitely liked that story the first few times I saw it, a little less this go-around.

I mean, I like the way the show challenges Shinji's outlook and code. I like that his heroism is hard-fought. This one, I really thought he'd already learned this lesson, so watching him fall apart completely and get rebuilt in one episode, not going to be my favorite Shinji episode.

(Very) late to the party, but oh man, Ryuki’s my all-time favorite. A lot of it might be nostalgia; along with Black and Kuuga, it’s the KR shows I actually watched on TV and through VCDs during childhood and formative years.

About the 13 Special Riders: I watched it through a VCD lent by by classmate before I even finished the series, and yeah, I was pretty underwhelmed. But then, it’s pretty much impossible to have all the nuances from the series in such a short duration (especially since they decided to re-tell it from the very beginning), and after I finished the series, I actually gained a newfound appreciation toward this special… for spoiler-y reason, I suppose :v Still, definitely the worst among the three Ryuki timelines/narrative products at that time; Episode Final vs. the series would be a far more interesting debate to me at least, but we’ll cross that bridge once we get there.

The VCD I watched only shows the preferred ending. I wasn’t surprised at the audience choice; the common discussion theme among Ryuki viewers at the time was how annoying and cowardly Shinji and his philosophy was, and how Ren (a character archetype that was extremely popular at that era) should totally be the main character instead. I assume it’s similar in Japan. I eventually warmed up to Shinji a lot, though (him and Kouta from Gaim might actually be my favorite main Riders, and I think it’s not a coincidence that Gaim was the one show that managed to rekindle my interest for KR as an adult).

This was very much my way of thinking during my first watching of Ryuki. Like you though, I eventually warmed up to Shinji.

I think that's probably the idea behind Ryuki -- to force you to like and respect this guy you can't understand at first sight.

Maybe that's a reason Ryuki didn't work for me - because I was at worst fine with Shinji from the beginning. A bit dumb and naive, sure, but his heart's in the right place and he's clearly risking everything to do what's right. That's the sort of thing I have the most respect for, so he didn't need to do much more to win me over

Well yeah, my point was that if it only feature her, there's a potential "sidelining her to a less important part" thing, because being separate from like main cast.

Separate the first and second episode review, don't unite it (ex: 11-12 then talk only about the 2nd).

Yep as stated before, others are maybe new and fresh, but they would also be stuck in the loop sooner or later, considering the kind of universe this series is. As for the battle itself (2nd full Rider War after ep. 19!), Knight clones are fragile here? Dying in one attack each by Alternative Zero and Tiger. And Alternative is somehow a Rider with Survive-level Final Vent, it has 8000 AP, clashing with Knight Survive's equally big AP Final Vent. Forgot to cover Ryuki Survive's Final Vent, as seen here it's really effective that it can cover AoE while still having Final Vent's one-hit-kill properties. I think the attack (Dragon Firestorm) showcase is hindered by a mediocre effect though; the fireballs doesn't seem to blend with the environment, moreover with the monster seemingly unflinched by the attack, making it seems that the flames are in the background instead of hitting the monster. And Ouja being manhandled by Ryuki Survive nonchalantly.

The plot stagnats because they're powerless against a man who can do... like what I talked about before, yes Shiro has full control over all Riders/monsters (didn't you admit here that he has special powers?). He didn't simply create a calamity and leave them be like Banno with Roidmudes. He can control the monsters if he wants, so probably mostly it's indirect murders (mostly he let Mirror Monsters operating on their own eating humans as primary needs, the direct ones are like eating his American professor) but definitely he's still guilty, as he can control the monsters to prevent them eating humans if he wants, and the aim of people like Shinji, Yui, Tezuka, and presumably SSSS by going directly after him to stop the Rider War, which would mean him doing that (and deactivating Rider's powers, possibly closing Mirror World) so Mirror Monsters would starve to death. The outlook talks about how despite all the creepy qualities he has above, and his ghostly presence, Shiro still touches aspects of human nature. Even a powerful cosmic being like Shiro isn't exempt of humanity concept Ryuki clashes with.

And also from previous post, yeah I don't really advocate giving sympathy due to a bias towards someone related (Close friend, relative, etc. Also what bad decisions of Shinji?). But I gotta say this one's closer to Shinji's view to Asakura instead of Morimoto's I guess; I feel like Morimoto just straight wants Asakura to be cleared of all charges, completely freeing him, ignoring everything bad about him, unlike these 2 who acknowledges they're bad and they can't give them leeway. Shinji still had a sliver of sympathy of Asakura due to him being human, like not wanting him to die, but he still won't let him get away with his deeds, insisting him to go back to jail, and personally did so in ep. 36 (he saves him from Mirror World, but still hands him over to police). It's a little update that she's concerned about Shiro's state but Yui still wants for Shiro to stop what he's doing for the sake of everyone (not just her friends), that part didn't change.

Yeah, Kagawa's ideal is really tested here, if he truly lives up to it. And he truly does, though it had heavier weight for him to do so (his family). But it's also very risky for Kagawa, for sure his family will die, but there are no guarantees that his mission will be completed, with obstacles like Shinji or Ren, or the fact that his theory can possibly be wrong (for starter: Shiro has Time Vent, as we already know in ep. 28). Hilariously I just talk above about how some good-natured characters can still have a bit bias that can be a flaw and hindering, but if you have completely none of that, you are Kagawa, quite a messed-up person (as Ren remarks when he joined the fight).

It's a good thing that Knight Survive left the previous battle (thank Kagawa for telling his plan in motion mid battle), because it also inadvertently saves his other friend Ryuki, by having Alternative Zero stop Tiger from dealing the final blow. Dunno why, I feel like even if it's bad for him with Tiger's betrayal, Shinji already had it worse with previously worse Riders like Scissors, Gai, Ouja (and that time, the devastating part of him is finding people that evil and irredeemable). I think that's the reason Shinji gets over it, he's in process of development of turning from idealist into realist, that that the world isn't all right or wrong. Which would be a shame that the next 4 episodes are written by Inoue.

This is one of my favorite Shinji moments in terms of warming, him saving the enemy's family. How did he know about the family being hunted though? And after the attempt failed, Shiro doesn''t continue hunting Kagawa's family (as he did to Yui, in an ironic reversal), either by the same Mirror Monster continuously hunting the humans he failed to eat, or just sending monsters if the family is unguarded?

Other than that... a missed chance for his friends grouping up (Atori & ORE) with Shinji in hospital like in ep. 9-10, possibly in coincidental visit. Okubo is the one truly concerned and minds his derailing workers. The 2nd time a camera captures Mirror stuff at ORE, a monster this time. So cameras can expose Mirror stuff here for some reason.

Ren confrims here that Shinji's ideal is impossible, with him.. somewhat agreeing with that. Also speaking of Kitaoka, this episode is also my personal favorite moment of him. With Asakura finding out that his arch-nemesis is again representing him as his lawyer. Kitaoka trolling Asakura with the harsh truth that the blindly good lawyer Morimoto can't represent him and potentially free him (unfortunately though) due to Goro poisoning him (wtf? another morally questionable moment of him), and Kitaoka announcing his plan to make Asakura guilty, and therefore won't escape prison and potentially eaten by his Contract Monsters for good. Asakura can do nothing but reduced into throwing a tantrum, kicking the screen as he waits for his impending doom. I like this moment specifically for how (rightfully) hopeless and suffering Asakura is here, and Kitaoka is the one instigating most part of this. A shame he can't show off his Final Vent though.

Welcome aboard!

The 13 Riders special is so weird because it's such an obviously flawed idea that I can't figure out why they went ahead with it. Taking a show that's (especially as we're in the final stretch now) explicitly about how heroism is not a binary state but a series of self-justifications, to take that and just do a 40-minute thing about Fighting and Survival and Good Guys fighting Bad Guys... like, why even make a Ryuki special at that point? What good is it doing to tell that story? If you can ever describe your storytelling as "a dumbed-down *fill in the blank*", you have fatally miscalculated.

I really dislike playing backseat showrunner. It's very hard to come up with a story to tell, and make it work onscreen, on time, and on budget. But. If you've got to tell an alternate universe story that fits into an hour, why not use Ryuki #0 (I don't know anyone's name, the guy who gives Shinji the Ryuki deck) to tell a story about him and Shinji? Keep Ren and Yui at the edges, bring back Gai and Tezuka if you want, but use Ryuki #0 to tell a story about why Shinji needed to be Ryuki, why he matters and makes a difference. You can use all the suits and whatever, bring back or introduce villains, but you have a story you can tell in the time allotted that can work the same thematic ground the show does. You can tell a different story about the same things as the weekly series: personal motivations, the ways guilt and rage become a license to be selfish, the subjectivity of heroism, the perils of inaction, etc etc etc. To do it the way they did, to just do Ryuki But Worse... I'll never understand why they chose that story to tell.

Thanks for posting!

Yeah, man, I really liked Shinji right away. (I think? Cue Fish Sandwich throwing my words back in my face.) There's a warmth to his character that I think makes him a great foil for Ren, but it's also why I think of Ren as the secondary Rider. Ren's an asshole who can be really fun to watch, but that dude's not the hero of the show to me. There's ups and downs to Shinji's story, but I think the exploration of his character, and the centrality of his dilemma (how to save people who don't want to be saved), it's so much more thematically rich than Ren's various levels of brooding.