[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

For better or worse, many news outlets have turned to social media as a source of information. No reason Ore Journal couldn't do the same.

Definitely for the worse! I'm not sure it'd feel like a better tribute to Ryuki if ORE Journal was a hollowed-out newsroom run by Venture Capital jerks who are outsourcing all of their investigations to aggregation sites and making everything a slideshow! Feels like it'd be more of a bummer!

Beyond that, a chunk of this story is about dealing with emotional setbacks and trying to find a way forward. I'm not sure that works for Shinji if ORE Journal is a thriving enterprise? It needs to be imperiled in order to be saved, you know?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Know what would've helped with that? Actually showing him have some darker impulses but choosing to ignore that they're very much something he has to deal with, rather than just pulling this out of nowhere. The closest we even get to that is Woz tempting him a couple times, of which Sogo just totally blows off anyway. Saying "Sogo totally was like this and you just didn't know it" isn't some surprising shock or added dimension to me; It's just there for the sake of the arc.

Well, things are heightened for the sake of this episode's story. I don't think we're supposed to believe that Sougo is constantly racked with homicidal whims or suicidal ideation, but won't let it show. It's that Sougo isn't an all-the-time happy good guy like the Time Orphans assume, because no one ever is. It's a story that's partially about them making assumptions about Sougo, not about them missing clues or anything. If he'd been Nearly Evil a bunch of times but overcame it, I'm not sure the Time Orphans could make a great case for trusting Sougo implicitly.