[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Regarding plot vs characters, personally, I think either is okay, if both can create a proper story for the series, and not play the series out in a purely formulaic way (watching the exact same thing over and over, not even a little difference too).

Oh, for sure. I just have more fun thinking about the character-driven stuff. The plot stuff can be a ton of fun, too!

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Like you said, this episode is more plot-driven, so they're pushing those that are plot relevant first? Those you mentioned except for Kitazaki, are involved in the "soap opera" (daily life) part of the series, Yuka and Keitaro are involved in love triangles with Kaido and Mari too (and those 2 aren't about their love problems here). Also Keitaro dying his hair blonde was about him moving on from love... I mean why's he even moving on? He hasn't talked to Yuka about their love again (and even if they do, even if Yuka's probably feeling for Kaido for real, she'd probably still proclaim her love to Keitaro too, trying to have both of them, being a pleaser).

I mean, they're in the soap opera parts now, but they used to get their own stories.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Also the fourth member of the group? Hasn't it been like, the plot of Lucky Clover up until now? There are no fourth member, they're looking for them, with Murakami giving others more chance and Kageyama & Takuma being hostile to the "new kid", but every single of the 4th member being rebellious or not meeting their criteria.

They hadn't given up on Takumi as the 4th member, I thought? It felt like Murakami still thought he'd come around.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I wonder that you think of this as a weird, but when I talk about people probably (just probably) can think of Kaido as inconsistent, you agreed with that. The thing is people also can watch fiction as escapism with all the powerful badass characters doing awesome things so they can feel the badassness by proxy. To see Mihara denying that, either it would deny their wish of watching this or thinking it's stupid for someone to be denied power in a dangerous hostile world.

Sure. For me, it's that I find Mihara so funny that it feels like people who are mad at him are missing the joke.

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Originally Posted by Magnugiga

This is the point where I was probably a bit lower on the series than you are. There are still a few good stuff left (and when Faiz gets good it's really good), but Murakami didn't click for me (I understand your reasoning but he's just not that interesting to me for some reason), while the jarring transitioning between sub-plot/characters and uneven pacing have become increasingly noticeable. It felt like they're attempting to juggle too many balls than what they can handle.

I mean.. who really gives a damn about Mihara's story at this point of narrative and with everything else that's been going on (even with the occasional hilarity he provides!).

Yeah, I thought it all hung together better in this one, but you're not wrong about how jarring some of the story choices can be. There's an effectiveness to it, how it's drawing parts of the narrative together, but it's not as pretty as it could be.

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Originally Posted by Magnugiga

I don't think that Kusaka scene is really jarring; at that point, I've stopped to chuckle at Kusaka's antics (ever since Mari's 'death' probably when he lashed out at everybody; that's the tipping point I think) and started to think "whoa this guy is genuinely fucked-up and started to crumbling apart". The tongue-in-the-cheek sense of "'That's Our Kusaka!" moment has been gone for a while, and the show now frame him as... not a villain, per se, but a genuine threat? That's how I read it at that time, at least, and I was super invested at how far the deep end the show would push him.

I think a lot of it for me is context. When it's a fight scene, friends attacking friends feels... metaphorical? Everything is a physical manifestation of their words, their feelings. Kusaka slapping Mari in the face in their living room because he's upset at her during an argument, utterly inexcusable. And, like, there's a realness to that kind of evil that... I don't want to deal with that reality in Kamen Rider. I don't think it's a specific kind of real-world evil that the show is built to address properly.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Thank you for this. I could watch this on repeat for ages. There's a reason you will never hit a moment in Faiz when your reaction is "Oh thank goodness, Mihara's here. Things are going to be all right now."

I hate making gifs, but sometimes something needs to be a gif.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Damn, I'm surprised you've lost your tolerance for Kusaka. Slapping Mari was uncalled for but it shows once more that he loses all his skill and cunning when he doesn't get his way with her, like when Takumi was able to catch his fist even though Kusaka had been consistently outclassing him until then. He can't think straight when he feels rejected by Mari. He can't stand the thought of her trusting some despicable Orphenoch more than him. He didn't want to hear her say those things. And that's what caused him to release all his pent-up frustration in that moment, like he was punishing her for what he considered a betrayal of his feelings. If she won't love him, he at least expects her to trust him. Mari is his weakpoint and when he can't control her, he loses control of himself. It breaks him that despite everything he does, he still can't get her to reciprocate his feelings. He's very pathetic.

It's very much a moment that, subjectively for me, is the irredeemable moment. He's done scummy things, slimy things, but this felt... unforgivable for me. I don't know. There's maybe a way that the show treats it as unforgivable that can get me to be less offended by it all, but we'll see. Not something I feel like giving the show a lot of slack on.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

The funny part is that Murakami misses his chance to swipe Delta Gear. Mihara means that little to him! Or perhaps the task of collecting Gears is below him.

Murakami's just so professional and disciplined that he realizes that he needs to take care of the real threat first, then loop around and grab the Delta Gear. Then there's the added psychological benefit of knocking Mihara aside which a) rattles Takumi, b) scares Mihara, and c) I gotta assume makes Murakami feel like a million bucks.