[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I can totally see why Yuri might be romantically interested in Jirou. Other than how he's just a really cool bad*ss, he appears to be reliable and gentlemanly, which acts as a foil to Otoya, whose best quality is probably his determination (drinking all that bitter black coffee is crazy impressive!) but that gets overshadowed by all his terrible flaws. It's the same thing that happens in Faiz, where Kusaka exploits Takumi's flaws to damage Mari's trust in him. Except in this Kiva 86 story, it's also a love triangle and Inoue does an awesome job at making it exciting like he always does!

First, I never mentioned that Fancy-Dress Wataru just looks like Boy Band Takumi, so thank you for giving me that opportunity.

Second, I think the problem with the Zanki/Kusaka comparison here is that Otoya's losses are way more self-inflicted than Takumi's were. Takumi could be a selfish, grumpy asshole, but Kusaka usually needed to actively stir the pot and/or physically assault someone to get Takumi to strain friendships. Here, Zanki just has to not be as much of a pushy creep as Otoya? Like, Zanki just has to clear that incredibly low bar to (theoretically) turn Yuri against Otoya.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

That said, I mean, I dunno. Kamen Rider toy stuff, easy for me to overlook. As Switchblade said it never comes up or matters again so it's, like, a minor minor minor issue with the show as a whole

For me, it was just emblematic of a story that basically gave up on trying to say anything about its characters, so here's something flashy and irrelevant to distract from that.

I don't love a finish with CGI monstrosities battling in the skies for a Kamen Rider episode, but it ain't like I'm turning my nose up at toyetic content. I mean, Ex-Aid. I'm okay with fun toy content that enhances the narrative! This wasn't that for me.