[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Something tells me I might've appreciated this more had I watched Faiz.

Probably, yeah!

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Yongou might be my favorite of the Recreate Showa Era Designs I've seen thus far. It has a very distinct styling to it and I feel like that works in it's favor.

I do like the suit a whole lot. I don't think the character is that memorable, especially compared to Sangou, but it's a very cool suit. It feels like a riff on Skyrider? I like the additional belts and straps, the overall bagginess of the design. It's very cool to look at!

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I'd honestly just call this a solid Rider movie without any further qualification. It's not exactly a masterpiece, but it certainly doesn't feel like a guilty pleasure, either.

No, for sure, it's a pretty good movie. (I don't know if I'd go with "solid", though, since the constantly shifting protagonists make things unsteady.) Sangou's got a legitimate arc for the film, and Drive really anchors his parts of the narrative. That's more than I can say for most Spring Movies!

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I've never been 100% satisfied with how this works as a Faiz story, and the rest of it honestly drags a bit too much for me, but I'll absolutely acknowledge the effort and care you can clearly see went into it.

And that's fair! It's not something that feels fully-crafted as a Faiz story (too much other stuff in the first half), but I liked how it resolved itself around Takumi's willingness to treat his life as valuable and deserved enough to be worth sacrificing for others. So much of Takumi's character arc is about his inability to see himself as valid, so an ending that relies on that validity -- that he can only create for himself, rather having society create it for him -- is going to hit me real hard.

It's not as good as Inoue may've done it, but a small story with Kaido and Takumi? Where Takumi has to leave behind his self-loathing and pessimism? To save a world that'll never acknowledge his sacrifice? PLEASE AND THANK YOU.