[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It makes for, honestly, not a fun time for me watching this show. There’s this, like, morass everyone’s stuck in. Characters like Reiko and the Second Secret Science Society are making moves, putting together plans, and generally trying to solve their problems. (Kitaoka and Reiko! Please let me watch that show instead of this one!) With our heroes, there’s a lot of questioning, of letting people down, of not knowing how best to help, of being sort-of helpless.

It’s an interesting idea to play with, but a frustrating one for me to watch. I get the need for these characters to feel overwhelmed, for the stakes to feel insurmountable and the choices to feel invisible. If there’s going to be a triumph, there needs to be a time of being behind the eight-ball, of feeling adrift. It’s just, to have all three of the leads going through it simultaneously, it doesn’t feel so much like thematic importance, it feels like miserablism.

Well yeah, the heroes are truly helpless this time (I wonder if you hold off complaints until now) and that you may tolerate Reiko and Kagawa's group more because their moves are new and just established, while the heroes are already established previously. But don't expect those 2 to have a change/triumph either, especially Reiko's that she goes to Kitaoka and he now joins in another one who keeps things secret to others... just like Shinji here below. Other than Kitaoka seeing this as an opportunity for a date as many places have glasses/mirrors as Okubo pointed out. I feel like, even if it's not as significant as the heroes, everyone is actually helpless here, even those that only want to kill, eventually.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Shinji’s got his typical There’s No Such Thing As A Bad Suggestion attitude at play, going back to the Second Secret Science Society for a hint, a clue, something to help him stop the Rider Battles.

Shinji wants to join Kagawa's group in Room 401, they are seemingly another one who also wants to stop the Rider War. He's doing one of your suggested plan frrom ep. 35... "destroy the Mirror World". Nakamura, as I said in the past, is being as rude and violent as Ren himself. Probably he's a bit softer to women where he only verbally abuses, but to men he just bodily deals with them like Ren. I wonder if the other 2 Tiger Deck replicas are actually functional. And, yeah, previously you thought that in ep. 26, Shinji's turning point being putting Riders in secondary prority because the risk that they won't save innocents, and decide how to do the greater good. It's already refuted in ep. 28, and it comes full force in this episode, where there are other group who has that greater good mindset. The confused part is Shinji's main hesitation throughout the Rider War trying to keep everyone alive.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Things like Yui being attacked by Kamen Rider Beetleborg, a thing that definitely happens and also definitely is not explained. Also, it doesn’t do more than generate another Shiro Sure Pissed Some People Off dialogue.

The "next scene" you talk about is the flower scene? Also there's Shiro Sure Pissed Some People Off dialogue, and Nakamura is a part of Kagawa's group in Room 401, coincidence much?

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s Ren’s story that disappointed me the most, though. After a huge change like Eri being awake for the first time in a year, all of the Ren stuff is just Boring Asshole Ren (not even Fun Asshole Ren!) and his eternally jeopardized girlfriend.

Ren's story is actually trying to keep his Rider fighting secret to Eri, especially that he made a Contract with the monster that put her in coma at the first place (not a good choice to tell to your gf!), and also the fact about him you said in ep. 35 here.

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And, cherry on top, it was probably all for nothing, as a tear-streaked Eri opens her eyes in the hospital. Ren became a killer to save Eri, who didn’t need saving after all. All his efforts did was make him a man she’s ashamed of. So pyrrhic. So perfect.

Ren tries to make sure Eri knows nothing of that, and leave Eri to his friends (he wants them to look over Eri who he wants to stay away from Rider stuff, which leads to also leaving his friends together with her). But Eri knows that Ren is keeping something secret for her, so she gets out from the hospital to get to know. The bizzare thing is that how did the hospital miss the fact that a patient escaped especially in her condition?! Seriously, it takes a regular civilian visitor to take care of this instead of one of the hospital members who houses the patient... wtf. It was a misleading moment that it's thought that Knight killing Odin wins him the war and gives him the wish but, ha ha no her awakening is only temporary to motivate him more info fighting by giving him a glimpse of the result after the war.