[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Sometimes, this thread is just the best.

This franchise is pretty amazing!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

There has to be a bigger thing to drive a wedge between Takumi and his friends, or else the plot risks either losing the heightened, melodramatic tension that characterizes the series, or, even worse, making the characters look completely heartless in an attempt to get the tone there anyway.

It's just, I don't think they needed to invent a reason to be afraid of Takumi as an Orphnoch, because everything was right there. You've got a character like Sawada, who undermined the possibility that Orphnochs are universally looking for redemption. You've got a series worth of mostly viewing Orphnochs as monsters. You've got the easy, visceral, cruel reactions of Keitaro and Mari, stung by the way they found out and scared of what else they might not know about Takumi. You've got Takumi, ready to have the worst thought about him. You've got Kusaka in the wings, ready to fan the flames of suspicion and resentment. Like, it's all there. All of the melodrama was basically already generated!

It was already compelling, because all of the prejudices and assumptions have been baked into the show and now they're bearing fruit; and heightened, because the star of the show just turned into a wolfman. Having a murder mystery on top of that... I don't know that it increased the tension so much as it diffused the focus.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

No, bad Die! Don't you dare go dissing Mari for this! Moments like these are why she's my favorite Rider heroine ever. The fact that she specifically tries using the Faiz Gear twice here knowing it won't work even before the first attempt is pure, reckless, irrational heroism, and I love it. How active she is. Yeah, there's no way that was going to end well, but there's also no way that'd stop her from trying.

The way you equate "constantly injuring yourself" with "heroism" makes me suspect that you, too, are a graduate/survivor of the Ryusei School. It's all clear to me now, Fish.