[Sh Ranger]

I predicted Zatyme, Fish and Androzani for the last few arcs, but I wasn't expecting DreamSword to be so excited about Ryuki and have so much to say about it!

Apologies in advance to whoever's doing World of Blade BTW, I haven't watched that show yet (before Die reaches Day of Oma) so I'm probably going to skip that discussion for now so I don't get spoiled too much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

DREAMSWORD: Yes he is. And I'd be willing to give him a fraction of a point in these episodes if his stance were more "Everything will work out because I'll save her. No duh she didn't do anything." But, at the very least with RiderTime's' subs (those are the subs I'm using) every chance he gets he instead goes "Yeah she totally did it" without any sort of indication of irony, which is backed up by every other character telling him to shut his dumb mouth.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Look, we're friends, but let me be completely honest with you: If we both landed in the world of a TV show, and you got charged with murder, I would probably spend a little time acting shocked at your previously-unseen malevolence. If I knew I could also get you out of prison? Yeah, for sure, I'd be like Oh He Definitely Did It.
I am honestly laughing about it right now.

DREAMSWORD: I pray you never become a lawyer then.

Which, by the way, to give this two-parter some credit, even they knew better than to try and have Tsukasa ever try to practice any sort of law on screen, because they knew that that'd be huge stretch even by Decade standards.

(Also yes I would expect such teasing but like this is SERIOUS BUSINESS Tsukasa! Do the teasing afterward!)

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Tsukasa is too familiar with Kamen Rider tropes to waste an opportunity to tease Natsumi. His real business is trying to get over on his friends, and he is always serious about that business.
On that note!

Haha, this is great banter! However, I would like to compare Tsukasa joking about Natsumikan totally being guilty to Akiyama Ren doing the same thing to Kido Shinji once. Although in Ren's case, it was a convenient bloodless way to remove Shinji from the Rider War. Here, it's just Tsukasa being petty to make Natsumi beg for his help since he wants to enjoy himself a little, which is also very in character. He would never actually let her take the fall though. Tsukasa and Natsumi do care about each other a lot, but people who care about each other a lot can also disagree and argue, similar to you guys actually!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

DREAMSWORD:Speaking of Onodera and "teamwork" I love how Onodera never once figures that since Kamen Riders, even ones that no one has ever heard of, are just allowed to enter the Rider Fight with no real hassle, that he could maybe Henshin and help Tsukasa out in any of the fights. Very cool, Toei.

KAMEN RIDER DIE: Or maybe Onodera, sweetheart that he is, just wants to let Tsukasa feel like a hero? Tsukasa is all I'm A Destroyer, so Onodera letting Decade fight to save Natsumi (note: not really what Tsukasa's doing) is part of the way he's supporting his friend.

Yuusuke is just a passenger in this world though, where Tsukasa is the one given a purpose as a lawyer that allows him to interact with the Mirror World. It makes sense that Decade, being Decade, can do that, but not some unrelated yet very helpful Rider like Kuuga. Yuusuke could definitely henshin more often than he does but I think his reason for staying out of the fight is justified here. Even though he didn't remember anything from this world, Tsukasa did and has a slightly higher opinion of him as a result of his moral support. Cause if anybody needs moral support, it's Tsukasa!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Also! I meant to bring this up, but there was never a good place.

For someone who thinks Reiko straightening cutlery in the finale is the thematic high-point for Ryuki as a series, can I just say how thrilled I was to see a fork become a hugely important part of the first Ryuki episode in Decade? Surely accidental (unless someone on staff used a Time Vent to read my gushing about Ryuki last year), but it made me incredibly happy. I felt seen!

And I just happened to be eating a cake while rewatching that episode! Clearly it was meant to be. I didn't get framed for a murder though, so that's good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Shinji Tatsumi - Tatsumi is a portmanteau of tatsu (dragon) and kagami (mirror)

There's this out of nowhere part in the TV-Nihon sub where Ren says Shinji's name and the text at the top reads something like "Shinji - to believe". Did they just forget to mention that when they were subbing Ryuki and suddenly remember in the second episode of this arc? It feels so tangential to everything that's happening in that scene where Shinji is about to use the Time Vent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Atashi Journal - atashi is the feminine equivalent of ore

Atashi isn't the only feminine equivalent of Ore/Boku. There's also Uchi which is most recently the preferred pronoun used by Sudo Mei.

Now for my own thoughts about World of Ryuki. The Rider War as a very literal example of might makes right was interesting. I'm not sure how you could call it fair and impartial though, unless there's an even 7:7 ratio between Riders fighting for innocent and guilty verdicts. Even then, considering how the Rider War in the show was rigged by Odin who is stronger than the others, what if the government are using Odin to get the verdict they want? Then you have Kamata, the true culprit, entering to play judge, jury and executioner on his own crime. This is a terrible idea for a justice system!

Ryuki is 11/19 in my Heisei Rider Ranking. Even though it's behind Den-O due to just how humorous Den-O is, I think Ryuki has the best plot of any Rider show written by Kobayashi. Specifically, the plot I'm talking about is the escalating interactions between the participants of the Rider War. Not the actual plot which is the Kanzaki stuff, which is good in theory but flawed in execution. If that was done better, this show could easily be maybe 8-10/19 instead.

Tatsumi Shinji and Haguro Ren were intriguing versions of the main timeline characters who are weirdly inverted in their behavior. Like Kido Shinji, it's actually Haguro Ren who joins the fight for a reason other than why the fight was started, not caring about the verdict and aiming for Odin's Time Vent card instead. When Tatsumi Shinji joins the fight to prove Natsumi innocent while believing Ren is guilty, it's Ren who refuses to fight! I also think it's cool how the first episode depicts Ren as this mysterious character who disappeared a long time ago. He's also the first AU Secondary Rider to appear, since there was nobody called Keisuke in World of Kiva (and nobody called Geiz in World of Kuuga ).