[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Reina feels so much more fleshed out here then she has in all the episodes leading up to this, but at the same time I think that having her as a long-term threat made the story a lot more powerful then it would have been with just a MotW.

Oh, for sure. There's a version of this story where it's just a Rider trying to protect some random woman, and we find out she's a Worm, and then CRISIS. That would have worked okay, but wouldn't have nearly the weight this one did. Here, it's a higher degree of difficulty because we've spent a dozen episodes viewing Worm Widow purely as a villain, but it's more satisfying because of it.

Like, there's a spectrum of Worm/Native characters in this story, from Deserve Love (Hiyori) to Possible Threat (Tsurugi) to Inevitable Threat (Reina), and the show's case is that all of them deserve love, or at the very least, a chance to find love. They made me care a ton about some formerly-bland antagonist (stylishly shot, but I wasn't a fan otherwise) in just two episodes! This show!

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

And I’ll also mention that the game also gives every rider beyond the main three of Kabuto, Gatack and Drake their own bikes. All are simply repaints of Drake’s bike except for Dark Kabuto’s, which is a repaint of the obvious choice.

wait drake has a bike

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I catch this one as more of Daisuke's white knight practice, but also the time he fell in love for real, won't treat this one as similar ones as how Kagami deals with humanities in Worms.

Sure, I can see that. I'd argue that he had a real connection with her (he doesn't always tell beautiful women that he loves them), but Daisuke's definitely a guy who's going to start with We Are Soulmates and then work back from there to figure out why.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Yeah, this shot also amazes me, leaving me with jawdrop, with the kid actually saving Daisuke from superpowered fighters in the Riders.

To be fair, Gon is saving Reina and Daisuke from KickHopper and PunchHopper, not superpowered fighters. She's a great kid with an adorably round head, but these are not exactly Legend Riders she's holding off.

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Originally Posted by LeviathanBlossom

On a separate note, I laughed pretty hard at Tsurugi in his one dissonant scene, so I can't hate that part; I felt like it was a nice breather, even if it was such a tonal shift from literally everything else.

It's a thing I can squint and see as being about looking past animosity to fight for someone else's happiness, in the same way Tendou and Daisuke need to overlook Reina's species... but that's if I'm feeling incredibly generous. I mostly think it's here because it's funny.

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Originally Posted by LeviathanBlossom

I am slightly less annoyed with his crush on Misaki, retrospectively, since he is now not pressing forward with it. (Tho it does reinforce the patriarchal BS of Well She Belongs To Another Man, This Is A Valid Reason To Step Aside. I may still be slightly annoyed with it, haha)

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

I read it as more of an “I Want My Two Favorite People to be Happy,” personally. Tsurugi is definitely prideful, but he’s also been remarkably adept at recognizing and respecting their people’s relationships.

I mean, it can be both things! Tsurugi is, I think, genuinely rooting for Misaki and KaGAHmin to have a happy relationship, but there's no disguising the fact that Tsurugi stopped pestering Misaki once he thought she had a boyfriend. The subtext is still a little gross, even if the text views it as incidental.