[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Not simple as in the whole backstory, but regarding their parents only. Regarding some questions I see other asked about why their parents are that evil? The answers are that it's realistic, sometimes parents are just shitty people, no one has to love their kids and that this is a real thing that happens to children all over the world.

One thing for sure, just forget everything about "They took family trips to the beach that Yui clings to and retreats to". That's just a false memory Yui employs (due to her having a case of repressed memory) before Sanako finally reveals the truth, she clearly remarks how wrong she actually is in the return trip to Mirror Mansion. Besides why they draw Oarai Coast? Because, some pictures were recreation of something they saw around the house, like a photo of a ship on the Oarai Coast.

Pretty sure the "These kids were clearly sent to school, dressed, fed" part comes from Sanako (if you talk about how Yui's teased by classmates for seeing monsters, that should happen after the parents abuse because she can see the monsters, means she has merged with her Mirror self), she took Shiro for a while until he recovered, they aren't instantly separated.

These are all definitely explanations!

The parents' villainy... that's what I mean by them being cartoonishly evil. They are monstrous for completely unexplained reasons, and to such an absurd degree, that it's difficult to take seriously. (Are they seriously keeping these kids alive, and then when one of them drops dead they're just like Stop Making So Much Noise?!) I can't get on board with the backstory of the abusive parents, dramatically.

The other problem is that making Yui an unreliable narrator, it's tough to give a shit about her story if it's all lies in the end. What in the hell is she supposed to be protecting? Fighting for? Why should her disappearing be a loss? That's the "moving target" thing I was talking about. Depending on where you are in the series, Yui's either someone whose life is a complicated string of disappointments, desperate to return to the safety of childhood and her family... or she's a survivor of intense, fatal trauma who has a comparatively idyllic existence. It's not that a show can't reframe a backstory, Kamen Rider does it every single series, but the way they did it with Yui makes her either delusional or manipulated, or both. Fun choices!