I still don't get how this makes Airi mentally weak. Ryotaro doing that I feel doesn't judge if Airi is mentally strong or weak, it's just Ryotaro's perceptive and it can be true or flawed regarding his.

Dunno, I don't even feel that the Imagins are saved from disappearing before, actually between all those times I was just feeling that the (you mean Taros?) Imagins are continue to live on like normal and buying their time before they eventually inevitably disappear.

Oh, regarding Kai, he's already insane before, but his sanity has taken into its toll here, which is also pointed out by his right hand Imagin that his sanity got worsened over time, and that's progressive since his first appearence due to Kai's constant destruction of his past selves and a good chunk of his memories along with them by sending Imagin back in time along with them has left him insane, turning him into certainly a very dangerous and violent individual. He gets progressively more insane and unstable as the series goes on. But after discovering for that Sakurai isn't the Junction Point as he previously believed, he snaps. He tears apart the black calendar he'd been using to plan his attacks, gives all his remaining Imagin physical form, channels everything he's got left into the Death Imagin for an all-out attack on Tokyo. He then proceeds to try and completely erase the entire area from time despite his army still being present. This is actually a villainous breakdown over a failed plan (to make future only about Imagins).

Otherwise, I know this is (hopefully) a joke, and otherwise I know that catharsis factor is also a thing to enjoy for watching shows, catharsis factor is a stuff you do to relieve tension or get stuff off your chest. There are good stuff that comes from this phenomenon like in games where constructing stuff via pixel (and it's good helping) can feel satisfying, though I have a fear too about this phenomenon, I fear about the skewed view of morality and due to this, like regarding characters, where interesting people should always get praise and approval, even those morally bankrupt and causes harm to others (perpetuating them), and people who are hated, like because of them being boring/irritating/annoying but doesn't cause any harm/problems deserve torture and suffering and it's a good thing to do (e.g. people who just can type at computer screen?!).

And cathartic experience can also backfire, like in online multiplayer games with human opponents, where a catharic feeling from string of victories can be ruined by an upsetting loss from another player at the far end of the skill divide. Or in-universe characters, Kai ending the show "prematurely" would just torture or kill any of the Den-O cast that is loved!

Really man? Even I called it out at the end, and likely also the other audience. Urataros' lying qualities is well-known by the cast, like Ryotaro, including the deduction of him not being a bad Imagin if he lies for the sake of people. Others are all shocked about (and there are no Urataros whispering like Kiriya did to Emu) Urataros' supposed betrayal (and if Kohana really distrusts Imagin, then she should just intensify her aggression to the Taros Imagins, and making out declarations like "I knew it that he's never trustworthy as an Imagin!", although it seems that Kohana is a bit softer on the Imagins compared to Hana like some actual concern about the Imagins lying on the ground before iirc), although Momo is just being an idiot who thinks through his emotions I guess like you said. Naomi seems to have her limits here about her darker traits to complain about Urataros' betrayal, instead of being excited at more chaos that can ensue (Urataros betryaing to the enemy side, can likely strengthen them, and intensify the chaos and fight Den-O crew has to go through). Though as it's ep. 48, 1 before the last, all I think was that this is unequal, only Kin (with brute strength) and Ura (with tactics) getting the spotlight of them against hordes of Imagins, but not Ryuta and Momo. I guess it truly is rushed to neglect those 2...

Already happened in that conversation above, but still won't talk more about this, but continuing from before. This is what I meant about Ryotaro and Yuuto not staying still of Airi's dilemma at previous episode, this is their work on that. Above, Kai's sanity has progressively worse over the series and snapped over him being misled about the Junction Point not being someone he looked for, and to me, it's just usual villainous breakdown over failed plan, this part about Airi being pregnant is the work of revealing the real Junction Point that Kai missed on.

Well yeah, Kobayashi's show don't tell trait in her first 2 shows of KR. She won't tell you anything outright, and instead convey through hints, dialogues and character emotions. She also will have multiple plot threads going on, but she'll focus mainly on two - one main and one background, going on at the same time. She goes for jigsaw puzzle plots; goes extra lengths to set up intricate stories, split them up into tiny little bits, shuffle them thoroughly and drops piece by piece in front of the viewer one at a time, and the Junction Point Kai missed is the last piece to yet to be revealed here, but there's 1 episode left. Well, this is subjective but she's said to be used to be really darn good at it, but more recent series and rumination on/Rewatches of many older ones have resulted in the pieces not actually fitting as planned. Otherwise, yeah you can be totally wrong on all this, but I hope that you won't chastise or ignore those who tries to explain or something if there's something wrong (and the don't care declaration).

I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶r̶o̶o̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶K̶a̶i̶ ̶d̶o̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶i̶d̶e̶r̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶d̶u̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶u̶d̶i̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶l̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶s̶o̶n̶s̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶e̶n̶c̶o̶u̶r̶a̶g̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶l̶e̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶a̶c̶c̶o̶u̶n̶t̶ ̶d̶u̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶r̶o̶u̶b̶l̶e̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶m̶a̶l̶i̶c̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶
(̶̶̶t̶̶̶h̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶̶̶m̶i̶s̶t̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶̶̶i̶̶̶s̶̶̶ ̶̶̶s̶̶̶t̶̶̶i̶̶̶l̶̶̶l̶̶̶ ̶̶̶t̶̶̶h̶̶̶e̶̶̶r̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶u̶n̶d̶o̶n̶e̶)̶̶̶,̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶K̶a̶i̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶w̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶l̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶g̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶Y̶u̶u̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶o̶.̶

Well, ok, I will celebrate it like this.

Happy https://media.discordapp.net/attachm.../birth_day.jpg!

Really? There's a reason why I'm so afraid of committing mistakes like that, because never live it down is a thing, and depends on the community but there can be those where if that person makes a mistake, others will just constantly bring up that one mistake and urge others to take anything they say with a grain of salt due to that mistake.

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 49 - "THE CLIMAX GOES ON, NO MATTER WHAT”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den49a.png
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The last few days, I honestly didn't know if I even liked this show. Was I just talking myself into it? Was I fixating on the few things I liked while trying to diminish the many things I didn't? (ha ha) Did I want to like Den-O more than I actually liked Den-O?

And then there's this finale, and I can't stop crying, so I guess I really liked Den-O.

The plot machinations, the Time Nonsense, it's whatever. I'll talk more about its strengths and weaknesses tomorrow in the Series Wrap-Up post (which feels like it's going to be massive; lot of topics to cover), but for this episode, it existed mostly to be a thing to defeat. Like most of the junction point stuff, the Hana reveal is one that feels right while falling apart the second you try and explain it. She's the safety net that keeps Kai from winning long enough for the heroes to defeat him. It's difficult to parse and full of underexplained elements (there was a timeline once where Hana was raised by her parents but Sakurai erased her memory of it, I guess?), and it all shows up way later than you'd like, but it's fine. It's just there to allow for a victory condition. It's not the point of any of this.

The point is about friendship, and memories, and how even when a TV show ends, it gets to live on forever in our memories.

The second half of this episode was probably the absolute best way this show was ever going to end. It's not my favorite series ending or anything (Faiz or Blade, maybe Fourze?), but it's the best version of this show's unflinching sadness and boundless optimism.

Having the Imagin just disappear after Kai's defeated is heartbreaking. No tearful goodbyes or supportive morals, they're just gone. It's impossible not to feel shocked by that, to not have that visceral stab of loss push you to tears. All these characters you spent a series with, and that's it. Gone. Ryotaro's grief was just a mirror of what I was going through. Like Yuuto, I'd've eaten a thousand bowls of (gross) mushrooms to honor Deneb's passing. It's incredibly effective as tragedy.

And then the reveal that, no, of course all of these heroic imagination monsters from the end of time aren't gone. They wanted to wait a beat, then surprise their friends, but now the moment has gone on a little long and oh no they are crying really hard and it feels bad and uh oh this joke is going to feel a little cruel now and uh he's still crying and now Hana's crying too and Sieg's realizing that Ryotaro didn't even mourn him like the rest and they're all being a little too loud and the jig is definitely up because Ryotaro is looking this way hi I've arrived ha ha whoops.

It's this impossibly difficult transition from tears of sadness to tears of relief, and I'll probably praise Kobayashi for it forever. As frustrating as her inability to do a mystery plot is (her skipping one in OOO, or at least not calling it out, is probably why it's my favorite work of hers so far), her ability to nail emotion is unsurpassed.

The whole point of this series is that even when things end, as they inevitably do, they never really end as long as we remember them. It's a lesson that's important for kids, who are going to gain and lose friends rapidly over their adolescence, but it's one we could all stand to consider more often. Our memories are our strength, and they testify to our convictions. People change and grow, but there's a part of all of those relationships that we'll carry around forever. It's not a loss when someone's not around, because they're always around as long as we remember them. The past should always give us strength, you know?

That's a nice sentiment, for a lovely finale.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/deno/den49c.png

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-A lot of little touches that I liked in this episode.

-There's a moment where Kai just does a two-second scream of frustration, out of nowhere, and it's a great piece of acting. It's not a huge close-up or a dramatic wide-shot. He's just got this scream of frustration in him that he needs to get out, and it really helped center him in one of his final scenes.

-It looks like the show added some dust to the puffs of smoke when Imagins got hit in the fight scenes this time. I noticed it a bunch in the Momo section. Could just be the winter chill getting the smoke to come out a little thicker, but to me it looked grittier. Definitely made Momo's sword strikes seem deadlier, like chunks of the monsters were being hacked off.

-The Death Imagin wasn't even really a character, but I liked the visual of everyone sharing a finisher on him. It's teamwork, and friendship, and everyone winning the day together. Pretty much how the final move in Den-O should go.

-Boy, I'm going to be crying about this finale for a day, aren't I? Goddamn.

-It's Androzani84's birthday!
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...hdayhibiki.png

Oh wow, was there a reveal about Hana? I totally forgot. All I really remember is the gang all teaming up to deliver one extended finisher on the final Imagin, the humerous fake-out of the Imagin's disappearanc and immediate reunion. ...And that's probably the only memories one really needs of the finale, I think.

I heartily encourage you specifically to stop posting.

Yeah it's a real winner for how willing it is to make you as happy as possible at the end of the series. Sakurai disappears (without any dialogue!), but who really cares. (I mean, Airi, but she's got hope.) The rest of the episode is everyone getting to live, and be happy. Sieg even joins the crew, because why the hell not. It's a maximalist climax, where everything you want to have happen, happens. Deneb and Yuuto do a stereo catchphrase!

Also, hey, boy, can we not make light of catwhowalks checking out. I don't want to scold anyone for being discourteous about it (I don't want tension or drama!), but it's not something I feel like I should need to point out. It's stressful for them, and it's stressful for me, so maybe let's leave it alone and move on.

I reached out to catwhowalks personally to let them know that the door is always open for them to return, but it sounds like this is a step back they want to take right now, so let's all be respectful of that. I'd prefer not to read any more jokes about it. Thanks for being considerate!

It's not Blade's ending, no, but Blade's ending murdered me to death and I might have run screaming from Kamen Rider if we'd had another one like that just 3 series later... :lol I did love this ending for Den-Oh, and it's stuck with me really, really well. Kobayashi's ability to nail emotion is something I love about her writing and I will happily watch pretty much anything she's ever done regardless of the rest of its flaws when it gives me moments like this one. It makes me v happy that it resonated with you, too. :)

I want to say that I also enjoy the Time Nonsense but then it occurs to me that I somehow completely forgot that Hana was their kid All Along so apparently I am less attached to the Time Nonsense than I thought I was, haha

My favorite specific thing about this finale is that Sato absolutely nailed the scene of Ryotaro mourning his lost friends and then finding them arguing about their prank, and I think it's arguably his best (of many great) moments on the series. His FACE, it also killed me, but, you know. In a good way.

There's so much warmth in this ending, and it's exactly what this show needed. There's still loss, of course; Ryotaro turns in his Den Pass and says goodbye to his friends. But even that loss is mitigated by the hope for a reunion and the memories of their time together. It's a finish that's all about happiness.

Yeah, it's a super-weird thing because it's a reveal that is 100% Time Nonsense. It exists to dot a Plot i and cross a Motivation t, but it doesn't really have any emotional weight to it. Ryotaro says it to throw in Kai's face, to seal the heroes' victory, but we never see Hana react to it. She never has a scene with Airi after we find out about it. It's just, like, a detail, and that's why it's Time Nonsense.

The brilliance of that performance! It got me to not care that I knew that all of those imagination monsters from the end of time would be showing back up within minutes! Really landed that beat.

Yeah, a kid with fourth wall awareness is capable of making better judgement about other people than a kid without, who only has his own experiences to draw from. Also, Ryutaros has only recently learned to dissociate between reality and imagination and he's prone to manipulation from people like Gaoh. Manipulation is definitely a part of Urataros' skillset.

It's all there in the title. All of the plot, the mystery, the confusion, none of that matters. That's not what Den-O is about. The climax goes on, cause of the passionate feelings shared by the characters and the memories they cherish from their adventures. Those things don't go away even with the flow of time, since the past is the foundation that creates the way for the future. That's why these characters can keep coming back, no matter the plot or the villains they face, since people will always remember them and the connections they made across time.

Well Sakurai can't really erase Kohana's memories, since she's a Singularity Point. Any changes in her past have no effect on her, so she remembers the events of overwritten timelines. It's probably since she was so young when Airi and Sakurai sent her away that she has no memories of that time. However, this does finally explain why she was de-aged after Zeronos used up the last of his Altair/Vega cards, since they included Sakurai's memories of her. It's a shame all this plot twist gets is a flashback and a quick expository line from Kohana, since she doesn't really get much opportunity to react to it. Suddenly being related to several main characters seems like it would be more of a big deal. Imagine how many unfortunate Ryoutarou/Kohana shippers (this used to be popular) had their hopes crushed though!

For sure, the scene with Yuto eating the mushrooms and crying over Deneb is probably the saddest moment of the finale for me and the most I've ever related to Yuto.

My favorite Kobayashi KR show is actually this one, Kamen Rider Den-O, while my favorite Kobayashi Tokusatsu show overall is Timeranger.

I think Death Imagin might be even more unpopular than Kai. Actually, on the first watch, I thought they were the same character, since Death doesn't really have one of his own.

If that person makes a mistake, ignores it and repeats it frequently, then they will gain a reputation for being incredulous. But if they acknowledge it, then they can learn from it, which makes it less likely to happen again in the future. Being wrong is just an opportunity to become more right. Like Die said, it's better to judge people by the entirety of their actions, rather than letting one negative action overshadow all their good contributions. It can be helpful for that person to know that their mistake isn't unique to them and that there are others who blunder the same way.

Maybe PM me if you want to reply to this since Die doesn't want any more comments on this subject.

It's sort of a companion to Hibiki's finale, in the way that it's a creator telling you that it's okay to leave your imaginary/TV friends behind as you grow up, since the memories will stay with you. The Imagin leaving on the DenLiner as Ryotaro watches them go... I mean, Ryotaro is us at that point, right? He's watching his friends leave him, but only for a little while. It's okay for him to be on his own, because he'll keep them in his heart. I think that's a nice way of soothing the bittersweetness of Den-O ending as a show.

But she wasn't even born when her timeline was destroyed by Kai? Like, she was barely an inch long? I'm not sure how her living her life, like, works after that. Even for a show with a cellphone that can raise the dead, Hana being a fetus with no timeline that shows up as a 19-year old woman... I don't understand how that's possible?

It definitely comes across as Oh Did We Not Mention This, which explains why so many viewers forgot it even happened!

And thus we arrive at the terminal. For now.