[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magnugiga

Oh, the Mika episodes. Yeah, I don't know if it's the writing, the acting, or both, but this part of the story just didn't resonate with me. There's a lot of unique things I like from Kuuga (the atmosphere, the eventual theme, the teamwork with non-Rider human characters, piecing out just what the Grongi are up to), but some of the sub-plots and supporting characters just flat out didn't work.

Anyway, while I personally prefer my Rider shows to be mostly serious and heavy, it doesn't necessarily have to be so dark, violent, and brooding all the time. That's why my current Top 3 are Ryuki, Gaim, and W, which I feel have a healthy mix of tension, humour, tragedy, and fun factor.

I think, for these two episodes, it's the writing. The actors are trying, but there's just nothing on the page (the plot or the dialogue) to help them sell what's happening. There's no, like, specificity to what's going on. Her dad is killed by the monsters that are currently terrorizing the city, but her story is treated as some generic "a child has lost their parent" story. The Killer Bee doesn't even seem to be after her, it's mostly tracking Godai. And, Godai cares, he wants to help, but it mostly seems like he does it because everyone else is too busy. I don't get the feeling he needs to be the one to help her. He doesn't even mention her dad's work to her, or try to loop in his role as Kuuga. The whole plot of this sad girl is so divorced from everything else in the two-parter. Her story is so secondary to the events of the rest of the story, but it's weirdly given equal screen time.