[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Man, I hated what these episodes did to Akira. Like I said earlier, this is something that's been building since Shuki and I cannot look at it without seeing (or at least imagining) some "this is men's work" bullshit lurking in the subtext here. I hate it and I hate that Kiriya is directly involved in badgering her into it then gets rewarded by becoming Hibiki's new apprentice.* It's an awful waste of Akira's potential and easily the worst derailment of a pre-transition character. The show can try to justify it all it wants, but it's still bullshit.

*Kiriya becoming Hibiki's apprentice does actually lead to the one and only Kiriya moment that I actually enjoy. We aren't there yet, but it's coming soon.

Like I said, I can't argue with anyone who thought this turn ruined Akira's character. For me, I think there're some genuinely interesting ideas that the show is exploring (how personal a decision this is for her, how it's always made clear that this is Akira's decision to make, plus the way that she doesn't feel the need to defend herself to anyone) that the show doesn't execute perfectly/that great/at all. (Your mileage may vary!) Trying to start up the boys' apprentice story while simultaneously winding down the girl's... very high degree of difficulty on that one!

The one thing I'll push back on is Kiriya "badgering her into it", which, I just don't see that here? Kiriya says dumb stuff, and he maybe vocalizes some concerns that Akira was ignoring, but everything Akira does in this story (and the episodes preceding it) are her decisions. Kiriya at most pushed a domino, and even that's just, like, a story's got to start somewhere.