Dude loves his melodrama!

Like, I get what folks don't like about Inoue on Ryuki. Everything's turned up to 11: the humor, the drama, the everything. (He's the man who gave us DOUBLE SURGERIES a year earlier, so it's not like this is unexpected.) And, yeah, that can lead to him not, uh, finding nuance where another (better?) writer might.

But, man, there're points you really need to play it to the cheap seats, and when that happens, Inoue's your guy. He plays it to the goddamn parking lot.

I don't know if The First and The Next are on your viewing list, but the former devotes a huge portion of its runtime to a subplot involving two seemingly unrelated characters just so the film can pull off a last-minute tragic plot twist. There are a lot of times when you can feel Inoue really straining to create that cathartic moment for the audience that, to me at least, makes them feel so forced.

Sano's death, for the record, is one of the cases where I think it works. I didn't even like the guy but damn do I feel for him.

And to think, with all the wealth he had obtained, Sano could have retired in just three days...

No, between my first viewing of Ryuki as a child back in 2002 (it could have been 2003), and before re-watching it in 2013, my memories on a lot of the show was very spotty. There were several things that still left a permanent impression on my mind though. Among things like Odin's Time Vent nonsense, Ryuki using the Survive Card, Alternative's first appearance... of course Imperer's death. It messed me up for life (And I am grateful for it)!

Probably sorry that I may come off as pushy before, but I'm doing that for the series' sake. And somehow previously I caught your age topic response as you being ignorant like ignoring Raia as a name for Quarter forever... dunno what happened to I am... did I somehow became Metalgelas at ep. 20 or Shinji at ep. 43. As I want to talk about this (I know you want to only focus on these 2 but still) but nowhere to put them so I would do it here.

Now ORE Journal tries to publish the monster picture... poor them. Not only those 9 year olds, adults/publics also aren't exempt from this. ORE Journal also gets a flak for talking about Mirror stuff for real, jeopardizing their already ill-fated reputation to an even worse degree, losing even more of their subscribers. Shinji, you must help them, the Card Deck to henshin and possibly control Contract Monsters is the only way to prove the monsters and save ORE Journal's reputation!

Sanako insisted that Shinji (and Ren) can live in Atori if they help her out at the cafe's opening hours. And here she closed the cafe due to exactly zero person helping her... but Shinji got to stay (dunno if Ren still lives there)? I should say Shinji's truly lucky, he wasn't kicked out, what you want is only a place to live right? Yet you want the cafe to be re-opened again, increasing unecessary duties (for you), especially after handling 2 jobs.

Also look at Shinji's shirt at the beginning (lol). Read everything's written there.
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...0195/shirt.jpg

For bolded one that's basically... all Riders in the war but Shinji and Tezuka? For Toujou sure, if only because of his lunatic mindset, but for Sano, it won't help only because of him never knowing what the Rider War truly is, to an even worse degree than Shinji. Sano's naivety is his eventual downfall as you can see in this very episode. He thinks it's a chance to get money with mercenary job, but it's about Riders killing each other until one man remaining. He thinks Shiro simply just put people into fight, when it's actually him intending for the fighters to be dead and stay that way. A̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶(̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶e̶w̶)̶ ̶h̶e̶n̶s̶h̶i̶n̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶n̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶Y̶u̶r̶i̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶c̶a̶l̶l̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶h̶e̶l̶p̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶M̶i̶r̶r̶o̶r̶ ̶W̶o̶r̶l̶d̶.̶ ̶He wants to quit for sure (he gets what he wants without killing people and prefers not dirtying his hands again, I think his redeeming quality is this, unlike you know, Verde), means he has no need for the war and wish, anymore, indicating he already gets what he wants, just prematurely in the middle of the war. He only becomes desperate after Shiro forces him to fight, otherwise get eaten. The only tragedy is (simply just becoming a Rider in this series IS tragedy) that if he didn't become a Rider, he would get to keep everything, so actually he only just needs to wait for some time to get his actual happiness. Of course you can't be fully happy if you don't have complete freedom yet.

Imperer also has an ironic death. I'd say one thing I like about Ryuki is how every Rider death is meaningful, like it's not simply people getting killed, they put efforts on killing them like making them ironic depending on which Rider. He actually became happy during the war, having no more need for the wish. Unfortunately, he had to fight in order to survive, and was betrayed by Toujou, whom he thought was his best friend. He died to Asakura soon after. Why here, Gigazelle didn't hunt and eat him as his Deck was destroyed by Ouja? Other than that, it's too unlucky for him that Ryuki is the one saving him from Tiger, but like with Kagawa's death, he didn't notice at all where Imperer is ambushed by Ouja, especially a very easy kill with how weakened he is. And even if Tiger scans the Advent Card, the attack feels like a Final Vent where Destwilder drags him across the ground for long time, only that it takes some time for Tiger to walk in, monologue, and stab Imperer in the gut (the finishing attack for his Final Vent).

And yeah this is what I meant before, Toujou fully knows that he's an outcast, and as you've seen, (understandably) among Riders too. That shapes him as a Rider for a whole, that he wanted to be liked by people by becoming a hero. And I have to note though, like Ren's wish to save Eri, or Kitaoka's wish to become immortal, "becoming a hero" is also Toujou's wish for winning the war. I don't know how Toujou's wish will be granted on him after winning (there are lotta ways to make someone a hero) but I'd say he should also has the same all-consuming drive, for hero is his war wish, so he also has the need to survive these battles to win and gain that wish (he thinks like that while killing Kagawa).

I think they have clear motivations and reasons of why they're fighting. Apart from hero is Toujou's wish, Sano having a happier life (possibly would mean him becoming rich after winning the war) is Sano's wish after winning. They have clear goal like that. And the futility, I dunno (probably half-right for Toujou). Toujou's clear he wants to be a hero, but the methods he used ends up ruining himself and others... because of his insanity, twisting an already flawed Kagawa's lesson to an even worse degree, to the point that Toujou's take won't even benefit anything unlike what Kagawa intends. Currently it's futile, but all he has left is the wish granting power Rider War gives ("to become a hero"), it's unknown if the wish will truly gives what Toujou wants. Sano's only futililty is the Rider War part itself, because he actually got what he wanted prematurely, making the risk involved to join the Rider War all for nothing. What he wants is clear, he's clearly satisfied of everything he got in this episode, he even wants to quit, not being greedy of wanting more. He only wants to survive, as a consequence of Rider War, where his method doesn't change, allying himself with other Riders (again), where this time he pays them, opposite to himself before who wants to get paid (at least Sano lives up to his methods!).

Yeah, Sano being the result of his rich father disowning him so he can be a self-made man... and look about the results, how he turned into here. His father thinks if he didn't do that, he would become a spoiled brat (Gai??), but even this method also backfires. He does get a bit of development though where he knows that Kitaoka's messing with him (he acts welcoming when he visits, possibly for the money, but he wants to create the contract within years, long after Rider War is over, which means he isn't intending to ally with him at all). It's something that... a parent's death in this one, where because it's a complete turnover, is treated as a joy, a blessing, a pleasure. Who actually didn't see it coming that Toujou will again, betray his comrade here?

I can just say this is a nice explanation for Sano's bird as symbolism. It's also probably doomed by the end of episode with Sano never coming back, which also potentiallly symbolizes their death.

Toujou's probably intended to be written with Asperger's Syndrome but it seems that neither writer fully understands it (keyword: intended). He creates the sadness himself (though it's not that he's free from it previously)... from his twisted take of Kagawa's teaching that a hero is someone who suffers, and attempted to do that even more by betraying Sano. And it creates even more irony in him, he thinks sacrificing others would make him grow stronger, but as episode 43 can attest, it only served to make him weaker (and gaining sanity slippage), that he's alone now, he becomes other Riders' punching bag. And Sano hasn't improved his living condition yet (his apartment) after inheriting all of those.

Probably those advisors only wants to use Sano as a puppet, as a figurehead for the company, they're secretly manipulating him as they convince the board of directors to hire only him. It's weird that my concern is for Sano's company that his father worked up hard for, how will it go under his leadership (where he seemingly can't work off enough that he becomes Rider), or especially at the end losing him. Tragically both Yuri (broken heart for sure, but I'm afraid she may think Sano dumps her or something) and the company may think that he has just forsaken them. And something bizzare in this episode... do you notice that Sano's company building took the exact same place as Takamizawa's?? Now I wonder who is richer between Kitaoka, Sano, or Takamizawa.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...4/company1.png
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...9/company2.png

Ren's a stingy cheapskate, as his friends attest, so that reaction of him is expected. May or may not still want Shinji to pay him (only, without all the petty additional fees) 30000 yen and saw Sano's payment as a potential substitute. Also a Toyota Supra!

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...7716/supra.png

It's such a shame that's the bit I liked more in The First and not any of the actual Rider drama. Maybe Inoue shoud get into making Romcoms someday.

I'm not even sure what I'm going to remember from this show a year from now. At least from the first 44 episodes, the Top 3 are probably going to be:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki44c.png

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ryuki/ryuki35b.png

and Kitaoka's silent Henshin.

Yeah, I feel like four episodes or whatever was the perfect amount of space to tell Sano's story. It's a pretty discrete arc. Even the huge twist of My Old Man Died, it works for it all to be sudden and unexpected.

Look, if you're proposing Kamen Rider Always Be My Maybe, yes, I would absolutely watch that.

The level of business Atori sees drives me up the wall. There are times where it's just Auntie, pining for the Amazon, in a dimly-lit empty room. Then there are points when half the neighborhood shows up at once for tea. I don't think this is a Ren/Shinji/Yui problem, I think Auntie's got huge problems scheduling staff. Like, is there no pattern for how many people want tea, or when?

I agree! One of its strengths is how it makes the Riders' stories and fates the main story it's trying to tell. The monsters, the series arc, that's all secondary to telling a solid story about Riders.

Yeah, I assume he'd be nothing more than a symbol of continuity to assuage investors, but the show doesn't 100% confirm that. I think there's some room for interpretation. Yuri probably put two and two together and saw her date turn into a horned superhero and jump into a card window, then never return, and figured that he died. The company, though, yeah, I guess they'll think he just flaked. Those poor executives! They were so excited!

You know, the more we talk about this episode, the more I want to see a team-up between Imperor and Zero-One. I never noticed how similar their personal stories are.

Oh you don't like the guy? I thought you do with you giving remark that he's going to do memorable things before.

IIRC, the scene where Sanako pins for Amazon happened in... nighttime where Atori has...you know, closed. Did you talk about the neighbourhood showing up for this episode or also the previous parts too?

More like poor Sano's father in general.

I was alluding to his death. I always thought Sano was kind of a little shithead, but his death is a really stand-out moment in the series.