[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It's been really interesting seeing how you've reacted to this four-part introduction arc for Kitaoka. This was Toshiki Inoue's first crack at writing Ryuki, so I guess it's only appropriate your opinions on it sound exactly like your opinions on a lot of Agito. Putting his work on Kuuga aside for a second, I think it becomes really apparent whenever you talk about him just how much his biggest strength and weakness as a writer are the same thing: how much he loves his extremes.

I guess I already talked about this a bit in the Agito thread too (double surgery!), but I feel like I'm starting to get a great grasp on why Inoue has the mixed reputation he does, and why I'm generally a bit more lenient on the guy than most. You know, it's like, Shinji being a complete buffoon or Yui getting constantly nagged by her aunt? Not the show's best material. Kitaoka being a comically huge jerk, and having the audacity to end the arc with him blowing everyone to bits, leaving Kobayashi to pick up the pieces the next week? There's just no way I can hate that.

There's another Inoue trademark in this story I forgot to mention: a general antipathy towards using monsters in a coherent or clever way. Like, the Zebra Monster from 7 and 8 comes out of nowhere, kills a few people we don't know, and then the Mirror Sense tingles and Riders show up to kill it. There's no investigation (even though it's happening in the exact same town as the dude Reiko and Shinji are profiling!), there's no sense of escalation, it's just nothing nothing nothing MONSTER DETONATION. (The Boar Monster from 9 and 10 has the same thing, but it interferes in the story, causing complications for Shinji. But, like, it's a total coincidence? I thought Kitaoka was setting Shinji up, but no, Boar Monster just happens to target that dude, no reason why. It's sloppy writing, for sure.) Agito had that a ton, where Inoue would put in monster fights the way a child cleans their room: grudgingly, letting you know what an unbelievable chore it is, but FINE look they're doing it are you happy now.

Thankfully, Ryuki feels like it's aching to leave monster fights behind for a more unique, compelling story of competing Riders, so Inoue's emphasis on broad characters and personal drama is actually a huge asset. Like, it's only a couple things (the monster stuff, the extinguisher stuff) that feel like it's of a lower quality than the first half-dozen episodes. I think he generally did a good job on this one!