[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

And enough griping and boring facts, let?s get on with what the real point of these threads are.

Thanks for the fun skit!

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Originally Posted by Layton13

They try to make them emotionally resonant but just don't develop or give them enough time to even have a chance of being compelling.

A lot of it is in trying to do single-episode Stamp Stories that have to sit alongside time with the Igarashi family, foreshadowing at Fenix HQ, and checking in with the Giffamilia. Trying to do all of that in twenty minutes generally means that your Stamp Story can't have too many moving parts, which keeps it from having much emotional weight. You can get away with a character-focused one-off, or even a comedic Stamp Story as a one-off, but it's incredibly difficult to have a deep and moving one-off mystery this early in a series. I do not recommend it!

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

As well, if this episode was trying to have any sort of point or message, then it's incredibly nonsensical in its presentation.

I mean, it's sort of roughly about how fathers can fail troubled children, but it's not like we get enough with either pairing of characters to make that comparison land. The stuff with the dad and teenager is told, not shown, and Hiromi's relationship with Daiji is only a couple of scenes before this episode. There's no sense of history or whatever to either group, so it all doesn't really work, but I think the show's at least trying to bring up Hiromi's sense of responsibility toward Daiji. Still not great, though.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I guess Sakura continues to show that she's more mean to her family but probably generally softer (not to criminals) otherwise, in apologizing and helping the male opponent she accidentally hurt in a sparring session, and tolerating 'newbie' Julio barging in awkwardly.

I think this show's actually done a really good job of making a sibling relationship that seems three-dimensional and realistic. There's a bond between Ikki, Daiji, and Sakura... but they can still get on each other's nerves at the drop of a hat. There's a nice amount of teasing that runs through their interactions (Ikki even does it with Vice, to show how ingrained this behavior is) that is very much how siblings will treat each other when they're all teens and young adults. It's one of the most unique parts of this series, and I'm impressed that the writing lets these kids all be a little prickly with each other.