[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

There’s a bunch of little storyline things that happen in this episode (Yui and Shiro severing their familial bond, Kitaoka’s worsening condition, Eri’s fluctuating health, Shiro being a confirmed ghost, and a Brand New Rider at the end), but let’s be real. This episode is 100% about how Kamen Riders aren’t cool and you shouldn’t enjoy their fighting because it’s serious and dangerous and not cool.

There are definitely time limit for Kitaoka here, now Kitaoka has to dirty his hands more leaving his plan to let other Riders kill themselves first, obeying what Shiro told in couple episodes before. The only things that anger Yui are vile actions, and it comes full circle here when Shiro reveals himself here as an irredeemable bastard with god complex who is indifferent to all the victims. Here Shiro also exhibits abusive behavior by ordering and threatening her around. So now it's revealed someone aloof like Ren would only get close to someone for certain benefit (at first), but how Ren doesn't show any animosity to Yui? And also like Kitaoka, Ren's time is definitely limited too with Eri's deteriorating condition. About the new Rider, before I said Knight Survive is my second favorite design, and my first favorite is Odin right there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Which, of course, is why this episode has an amazing sequence where Ren, in human form, cold cocks a monster so hard it falls down a flight of stairs: Amazing. Amazing. I feel like, the producers, they wondered if Ren just being a Kamen Rider would be cool enough for this kid to be obsessed (hell yes!), and since they weren’t certain they devised the goddamn coolest way for Ren to enter a scene. It’s enormously bad-ass. No wonder this kid wants to be a Rider.

This is already shown in previous episodes however. Riders in human forms fending off Mirror Monsters. Shinji too, dammit (and people i̶n̶c̶l̶u̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶T̶a̶k̶u̶y̶a̶ keep calling Shinji weak?), and Kitaoka too in previous episode. Wish more people get Takuya treatment in this series to see that Riders and Mirror Monsters exist, where for a kid like him it's totally cool, and probably horrific but gives them preparation for regular people.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Takuya’s story is a sweet little done-in-one, a way for the show to have its cake and eat it too. The Riders get to kick ass and be heroic, while also serving as a stern warning to Not Try This At Home. It’s… variably successful. The ways that Shinji, Goro, and Ren all interact with Takuya are great. They’ve got nice chemistry, with Ren as a bemused older brother, Shinji as an overmatched babysitter, and Goro as the beating heart of the group. The comedy lands great, the kid’s motivation is dead-on (didn’t we all want to be superheroes as kids so we could be awesome?), and there’s a nice progression to the story. It’s protection, then caring, then the lesson. That lesson, that being a Kamen Rider is serious and not something you should want to be… man, I don’t know. I get what they’re doing. I get that they’re trying to sell hideous stakes to a group of kids who are probably shouting FIGHT OR DIE at their TVs every week. You need to occasionally remind them that this is a series built around terrible choices and moral ambiguity, that no one in their right mind should want to be a Kamen Rider. But, of course kids should want to be Kamen Riders. They’re heroes with special powers and cool costumes, and so much of what Shinji’s about as a character is an object lesson for impressionable children: help each other, protect people, try not to murder your opponents. I feel like Takuya running away from the battle at the end… it’s a bit much. I think there’s a way to reinforce stakes without casting the show as a merciless abattoir. Gotta be a lower gear than that.

I think most of the "Rider" lesson of this episode is already covered by Fish Sandwich above, including how sometimes superhero shows skew the perception of a hero badly to children. so gotta talk about the others. Other than that, the most important thing, for Ryuki, as Shinji attests, is that being a Rider here is eternal, there are no "switch off", unlike typical Riders which you may quit, or probably for Takuya, give up when it's getting too scary, so there's a little difference for Ryuki. Ironically Shinji, the "fool naive newcomer" of Riders, acknowledges that burden as Rider and is the one to teach that to others, while he also learns to know deception (he was confused at first when Ren goes to fight) that Ren fights flashy, then purposely lose to scare Takuya. I feel that it's conveniently brutal for Takuya, Ren only planned to show how difficult it is to fight monsters, then the real horror of Rider Battle comes when Kitaoka and Asakura joins the fight, turning the planned monster struggle show into a survival of humans show.

Goro is... another "victim" here like Takuya? He too is traumatized seeing the Riders in action for the first time due to watching Kitaoka fight like that. Has Goro (an accomplished cook btw) gotten Shinji's gyoza lesson yet? If not then it's unfortunate all due to Takuya where someone has to look after when Shinji and Ren joins the fight. And congratulations for Ren to make Auntie warm up to him, now she thinks that Takuya may be his little brother or son instead of something bad in mind for Ren. And Shinji's debt to Ren is even growing...for petty reasons. He wasn't lying when he told Shinji his debt was 100k in ep. 10!