Oh, I don't know about that. I think Morimoto sees himself (like everyone else on this show!) as a hero, fighting for what he thinks is right. He sees the treatment of Asakura as inhumane, and it definitely looks that way to folks who don't know about Contract Monsters and Rider Battles. He wants to see Asakura given some level of human decency, to be treated as more than an animal. It's played for laughs, since we all know Asakura's going to take advantage and wreak havoc, but in the world of the show Morimoto's got some legitimate grievances with the treatment of his client.

I think I'd phrase it differently, since Shinji still has a huge amount of idealism to him. (I mean, he never seems to give up on anyone, which sure seems idealistic to me.) I think it's more that he's changing from someone with an objective view of heroism into someone with a subjective view of heroism. He's starting to understand that everyone decides their own truth, and he can't force other people to see things his way. All he can do is be an example and hope others follow him.

Shinji probably sensed the monsters headed for Professor's family with the same geographically-vague Monster Sense that all the Riders have. It's incredibly convenient that Shinji was able to get to the monsters in time, but it's only a slight contrivance.

For Shiro not sending more monsters after Professor's family, I can see why he wouldn't. He only sent the monsters in the first place as a threat, and now he knows that it wouldn't do any good. Killing his family wouldn't sway Professor. It's not that Shiro would care that much about needless bloodshed, but it's a waste of energy to follow a useless tactic.

Yes, allow to me throw in your face how in the very second post in this thread, you spent an entire paragraph talking about... how much you liked Shinji right away. Well, that was anticlimactic.

By the way, and I guess this is a result of seeing a lot of myself in Shinji, but it's honestly hard for me to even process the idea that somebody could be watching Ryuki wishing it weren't about Ryuki. I'm telling you guys, a Kamen Rider who rides around on an embarrassing moped the entire series was a huge breakthrough for this franchise. He was a very specifically constructed character who perfectly fit the narrative he was in.

It's all about balance. If the show actually was Kamen Rider Knight, lots of fans would probably instead complain Ren was too angsty and distant, and wish the series were about that fun, light-hearted side-character Shinji.

Fortunately, the actual show is about both of them, and how they make each other better, so what's even the issue here?

I think it's just as simple as Ryuki's supposed to be a crazy fun Battle Royale scenario, and Shinji being the guy who wanted to stop all that. Also, angsty and distant characters were all the rage for kids and teens those days (see:Cloud and Squall from Final Fantasy VII and VIII, Sasuke from Naruto), which usually entails hating on the "annoyingly cheerful gullible pacifist dork" counterpart.

As a gullible pacifist dork, this news is both eye-opening and heartbreaking.

MASKED RIDER RYUKI EPISODE 41

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This is it! The final ten episodes of Ryuki start here! We're in the home stretch! The endgame! The countdown to the finale starts here in a pretty arbitrary way, I guess, because I have no idea if the showrunners consider "80% done" to even be close to the end of the show!

Watching the Phase 2 Heisei shows, I got to feel the storytelling rhythms pretty well by a certain point. Act 1, Introduction. Spend a dozen episodes setting up the Rider, the supporting cast, the gimmicks, the premise. Winter Movie. Act 2, Expansion. The secondary Rider(s) gets some storylines, maybe some lieutenant villains show up to round out the bad guys, an upgraded form for the main Rider. Spring Movie. Act 3, Escalation. Big reveals about the nature of the villains, some hidden secrets about our main cast, conflicts between the Riders, a shift in the status quo. Summer Movie. Act 4, Resolution. The run up to the end, and the conclusion of our story.

That was the formula I was used to. With the Phase 1 Heisei shows, with (currently) no mid-series movies, it's harder to get that indication of what gear the story is in. Like, this episode of Ryuki, it's so close to the end that it feels like we should be moving to wrap things up. But, hey, here's another new Rider, and his whole thing, while the other characters mostly take a break after the big battle of last episode. I'm worried they're not leaving themselves enough room to wrap things up.

And, I mean, that feeling of Isn't Too Late In The Show For This Story, that's about the only thing I disliked about this one. It's a very funny episode, first off, with some neat character pairings.

Let's see what we've got!

ASAKURA AND KITAOKA: One of the things I liked about this episode is how, like, collegial all of the Riders are in this episode. It's maybe out-of-character (it's definitely out-of-character), but I liked how sportsman-like everyone was being about Rider Battles. (Well, one exception, which we'll get to.) There's a lack of darkness to this one, less of a life-or-death feeling to the competition. Having Asakura get info on Toujou from Kitaoka, never threatening him or even touching him, it's a great new energy to their rivalry. There's a thread of deal-making, of extracting favors for mutual benefit in this episode, and it starts with this sequence. Kitaoka's completely willing to sell out the other Riders to Asakura, and Asakura is fine putting Kitaoka on the back-burner if there's a dude he wants to murder more. Win/win for these two.

ASAKURA AND SHINJI: Just a bonkers storytelling move to have Asakura walk into Ore Journal to grab a quick five with Shinji, and I love it. I love seeing characters in unusual settings, and it might never be weirder than a wanted lunatic walking onto the newspaper set. (I guess Atori would be weirder, if only to see Asakura get curb stomped by Auntie.) I kind-of love how Asakura assumed Shinji would give up Toujou, despite the audience knowing that there was zero chance Shinji would ever help Asakura track down another Rider. It's a bit of a narrative dead-end in this episode, but I really like how casual the energy was between Asakura and Shinji. It crackled with This Should Not Be.

REIKO AND KITAOKA: Always, forever. The stars of the show, in my mind. I never get tired of Kitaoka's bullshit and Reiko's lack of tolerance for said bullshit. I wasn't a huge fan of the slow accrual of details to get Reiko to figure out the plot of Episode 1 of Masked Rider Ryuki, considering we are now on Episode 41, but I do like that she put it together with the help of nothing but a crack team of journalists and a lizard. There's an undeniable sense of accomplishment to that, something the performances really harness into forward momentum for the show. Which, again, none of this was new information about mirrors and their monsters, but new people knowing it starts to change the game. It upsets the precarious balance, making conflicts escalate. It puts Reiko in the crosshairs of Tiger, and forces Kitaoka in a confrontation to protect her. I'll never, ever love Reiko Gets Knocked-Out Just Before Rider Battles, so that was a bum note, but all of the Zolda/Tiger stuff was great. Kitaoka starting his Henshin in a window's reflection as the blinds go up to reveal Toujou starting his own Henshin, awesome. Awesome. Top 5 moment from Ryuki for me. The fight that follows is short but sweet, with Tiger maintaining his dominance.

REN AND KITAOKA: It's fun to see these two assholes play off of each other, so I dug that it was Ren to intervene and keep Tiger at bay. Also, nice call back to the post-Zolda/Knight fight, with Kitaoka wondering if Tiger was too strong, or if he'd gotten weaker. After a quick Let's All Remember Kitaoka Is Dying trip to the hospital (where a doctor just flat out tells Ren, who is just some guy who brought Kitaoka to the hospital, not a husband or family member, exactly what is wrong with him, do the Japanese not have a version of Hipaa or what, are they just pulling people aside and saying Hey Do You Want To Hear What's Wrong With This Guy, I mean why did they even tell Ren what was wrong with Eri, that's her information to give out, does Ren just have a face that doctors trust, seriously, a million questions about this), we get a cute scene of Ren and Kitaoka having that same genial sportsmanship we've been getting all episode. I really love it, them being chummy in a way that still tells you they'll kill each other soon enough. This whole episode has a, like, halftime feel to it, where no one's forgotten the stakes but everyone's okay with a time-out.

TIGER AND PROFESSOR: Well, y'know, not everyone. Tiger's getting a little disillusioned with Professor in this one, you can tell. Tiger has yet to encounter a problem that can't be solved with an incredibly judgmental Final Vent, and that's causing a bit of friction in the Second Secret Science Society. It leads to a great scene, with Professor desperately trying to keep this train on the tracks, despite Tiger not really grasping why. It's creating an interesting space to deconstruct Professor's whole argument, that you can sacrifice some to save many, as Tiger keeps upping the bodycount. If one person is a worthwhile sacrifice, how about two? How about four? Fourteen? Four hundred? The incremental way that Tiger's embrace of violence chips away at Professor's cost-benefit heroism, it's much more compelling to me than some grandiose Shinji speech. I mean, I'm sure it'd be a great speech! But this is better.

IMPERER AND WHOMEVER: Imperer is the best though. (Just, "impala" and "emperor"? Am I getting that right? It's a fun portmanteau, if I am.) I adore the concept of a mercenary Rider in this story. It's totally unexplored territory, and the approach the show takes with Imperer's character, five stars. His ingratiating interview shit, great. His showmanship to get the job, great. How he immediately gets the read on the whole battle as breaking down to a couple main sides, super smart. I'm deeply curious about this dude's backstory, why he entered a life-or-death supernatural battle if he really just needs a steady paycheck, which is exactly where I want to be after a new Rider is introduced. Also, comedically, I love his energy. I love how over the top he is, how every comment is flattery. Every scene was cracking me up. The fact that he has business cards!

This episode was a blast. I don't know if it feels like there're only nine episodes left, though. With this one, it felt like it could run another twenty or so. I might be okay with that! That feels a little horrible to say, what with the various death sentences hanging over the cast, but it seems like maybe they're having fun with that now?

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Oh wow, I didn't realize you were up to Imperor already. Man, that guy. For a character that showed up so late, he's going to be doing some really memorable stuff.

Man like.. just like Shinji being a hero, Rider or not, Asakura is a bloodthirsty villain, Rider or not. He's the most infamous felon at least nation-wide. He has been a wanted fugitive before he becomes Ouja. Sure being Ouja escalates his crimes, but you don't need to know about Contract Monster or Rider Battles to know that Asakura is an extremely brutal monster, considering how infamous he is and how everyone, every civilians outside Riders also knows how evil he is and him being feared because of that. Apart from that, everything involving him is publicly announced, in various newspapers and breaking news. It's impossible for anyone, Riders or civilians, not to know Asakura's deeds in this series, yet Morimoto somehow is the only one like that (or actually know but abnormally tolerant; want him to be completely free despite his publicly known severe vile acts - Shinji's not like that actually).

Probably yeah your phrase works more. But yeah just want to point out that Shinji already had his crushing moments with previous Riders too before Tiger, as severely crushed physical and emotional-wise. But for the realist part I mean like when him actually being fishy about Toujou when he comes to Atori or something, or that I feel he actually probably gives up on certain people, just that he doesn't kill humans, that's it.

Don't know how difficult or long Kagawa creates Decks, but Kagawa was asked to give up his Deck to Shiro or lose his family. I guess if Kagawa has no problems creating Decks, he can just recreate the Deck, but I guess that wouldn't fit him living up to his ideal. I also don't know if there are more than 1 Psyco-Rogue (yes as explained before, his Contract Monster), each contracted to Alternative and Alternative Zero, or each Alternatives are contracted to 1 Psyco-Rogue.

People just think of "hero" definition as someone the main character who you root to win with the job he's doing, or just won't differentiate them as protagonist role, instead of being the one actually doing something heroic. Ren's only other Rider War participant who seeks to win by killing other Riders, and making himself able to do that, like every others, but he gets the most focus between other Riders, while Shinji is the actual biggest obstacle to Shiro regarding the war (but of course those ragey kids and teens hate cheerful pacifist and only bring up negative stuffs about Shinji and treat them as his only traits throughout the series, like treating him as useless and lucky to be carried by Ren the whole time, etc.). There are also people who won't care about stuffs like exploring characters and dilemma or stuff (even feeling that kind of stuff are fillers in Ryuki which takes away from Riders killing each other), and just want to see the 13 Riders going toe-to-toe with each other, with Ren being the main focus of that therefore he's the one to cheer to win. And even if those opponents are humans? Nah, for them in action show "it's all about kill or be killed", don't concern yourself over keeping humans alive, so it's perfectly fine to relentlessly kill humans and actually it's not fine not doing that (their mindset is like Shiro, not wanting to fight and kill means you're weak).

Probably the reason that Phase 2 is hugely more popular on internet, other than the petty reason of worse special effects.

Forgot to cover this on ep. 40, Asakura is someone who's obsessed with finishing something he's started, and Toujou is on the 3rd list of the Rider he hates and wanted to kill the most after Kitaoka and Shinji. He remarks "a continuation from yesterday" when fighting him at ep. 40, even ignoring other Riders present like Zolda, due to the sneak Final Vent on him in ep. 37. Kitaoka should just tell him (or that he just didn't know) because that'd reduce Riders 1 less amount quickly by him starting a fight with another Riders, or he thinks about 2-in-1 with both Shinji and Toujou? Asakura's already established as possessing "sportsman-like" quality regarding Rider War before, because he finds the Rider battles to be the most fun including fighting and finishing off his Rider enemies on Rider battle (doesn't mean he won't play dirty before battle and obviously won't care for non-Riders), by that he won't finish the Riders as humans like in this conversation. Other than that, Asakura is lucky to taste Goro's meal, other than just intimidating Kitaoka, Asakura is having one of the best meals, far cry from eating muds.

Oh yeah! Even if Shinji treats Asakura as human, he clearly dislikes him as shown here, that he doesn't want to associate or help him in any way. Asakura somehow knows that Shinji resides at ORE in afternoon, only helping out at Atori during evening. Other than that, Megumi is established as a good fighter right? The one thing she's equal to Kitaoka's other assistant Goro. I'd like to see Megumi trying to take on Asakura in hand-to-hand combat (she shoudn't need the protective gears non-action ORE workers wears to confront him), and probably surprise the other ORE Journal employees.

Wut... them, not Kitaoka-Goro? But the difference is all of the Kitaoka's bullshit is meant to protect Reiko's well-being (not about Kitaoka thinking her being unable to handle the truth, but Reiko being possibly hunted by Shiro and the Mirror Monsters and dying). If only Reiko wasn't separated from Shinji at episode 1, who discovers the Deck and the newspapers covering the mirror...(there's also Shinji discovering the monster photo at ORE Journal) Why don't you love Reiko being KOed before Rider Battles? It's just how regular humans fare against Mirror Monsters, they can't fight them at all. And it's still a mystery of what happened at ep. 29 before, Sonorabuma (the monster) abducting her (or Shimada), didn't she feel the physical contact of Sonorabuma and possibly look back on the strange thing abducting her?

Just one sentence: Knight saving Zolda from Tiger's impractical Final Vent. It's the point where, those 2 may won't be able to properly fight and kill off each other again. For the doctor - it's just Inoue's problem at privacy stuff in writing. Aside from that, in inverse to Ren knowing Kitaoka's illness, I'd like to know, what if Kitaoka learns about Eri's condition? Kitaoka can only show sympathy towards people who has dying illness like him, but this one's someone close to another Rider and his motivation to win the war. I wonder if Freeze Vent can be used against other Riders directly other than their Contract Monsters? And it's even easier for Zolda to free himself from Tiger's impractical Final Vent, just shoot Destwilder lol, with long range weapon.

Kagawa's teachings to Toujou starts to backfire here. Toujou thinks that Kagawa doesn't live up to his ideals he taught to him by still caring and valuing the people he wanted to sacrifice. By his lunatic mindset (yeah probably Asakura's the most evil, but Toujou is probably even a bigger lunatic than him, it does nothing to deconstruct Kagawa's ideal, because Toujou's take of it is far more psychopatic and worse than Kagawa's, Toujou's definitely a far worse person than Kagawa, Kagawa constantly keeps Toujou in check from previous episodes), sacrificing someone means you should no longer value them anymore and try to keep them dead if you can. There's also Ren, now not just being opposed to Kagawa's plan, but being disgusted of Kagawa himself going that far to sacrifice his family to become a hero, opposite to Ren who will choose the people he love over everything. I was wrong before, now this is the moment Ren calling out people worse than him. But you won't deconstruct Kagawa's argument (impossible for lunatic ones like Toujou)? I'd like to see how you are more righteous compared to Kagawa (other than his plan won't work at all, Shiro has Time Vent!).

Imperer's name comes from the Latin root word, Impero, which means "to command," signifying his ability to command hordes of Monsters. His actual Contract Monster is only Gigazelle (see the cards), but he's accompanied with other Zelles to form an army. While the bonus Zelles can be an advantage for Imperer by fighting in numbers, the non-Gigazelle ones have a potential to attack Imperer himself. And speaking of his monsters, this also reflects to Imperer himself, just like his monsters fighting in numbers, Imperer also seeks for more Rider allies. I find Imperer's flattering at Atori to be gratituous to me, it feels so forced (or that's the point?), I'm saying this because he's better in that to other people and in the next episodes. Him taking off the Rider stuff as a mercenary just shows how naive he is towards the Rider War (him wanting to ally with Riders who are supposed to kill each other is just a start), him being the newest and one of the youngest Rider. Shinji also has business card though... but for him as ORE employee.

Yeah, but... Morimoto's job is to provide the best defense for his client? It's funny that he's going to be such an easy mark for Asakura, and he's definitely a moron (a 1 to Kitaoka's 100), but he's acting within the boundaries of his profession. It's taken to hilarious extremes, but even vicious felons deserve an amount of human decency. This goes into a debate on rehabilitation versus punishment, which is slightly outside the scope of a thread about how I'm enjoying watching a Japanese TV show designed to sell children toys of superheroes. (Or, at least, this thread about how I'm enjoying watching a Japanese TV show designed to sell children toys of superheroes.)

Everyone's mileage will vary on this, but I think the popularity of the Phase 2 stuff relative to the Phase 1 stuff is a) the easier accessibility of newer series on the internet activated a lot more fans than it used to, and b) as the franchise expands to tell new stories, attack new themes, it increases the number of fans it appeals to. There're probably a ton of folks who couldn't care less about Agito that adored the stories from Gaim, or Build, or whatever.

But, yeah, again, just my take!

I mean, about 15% of Kitaoka's bullshit in this episode is about protecting Reiko, if we're being extremely generous. The other 85% is, as always, about making himself looking good and trying to date Reiko.

It's just a secret identity trope that I've never enjoyed. Reiko can't know the truth, so every time a monster shows up and/or she's with someone who needs to Henshin, she's got to get knocked out. Bystanders frequently see monsters when they're being saved by Riders, but Reiko's always got to be unconscious. It's not just this show, I've hated it in plenty of other superhero stories. I just think it's lazy writing.

Yeah, I think the point was to go over-the-top with it at first. Like, they start big, to make a point of who he is, then they shade it in more on future appearances. (He's not even as over-the-top in his second interview from this episode.) It's a good way to introduce characters in an ensemble, a way to make them pop.

I can't look at the T-rex dopant or Guardian Union State or Thouser's recent henshin model and seriously believe that people watch newer Kamen Rider for the special effects.

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to Name And Shame, but Captain Ghost. That's something that aired 13 years after Ryuki, and looks more amateurish than anything I've seen on this show.