[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER JEANNE & KAMEN RIDER AGUILERA WITH GIRLS REMIX - EPISODE 2

I ended up liking this episode more than the first, mostly for how nicely the focus stayed on the fight Hana and Sakura are having. It?s both a minor error ? Sakura misspoke, rather than purposefully insulted Hana ? and majorly indicative of the imbalance within their relationship. Hana?s lost everything, and built her world around her girlfriend. The organization she?s in is because Sakura?s there; the goals she has are the ones Sakura taught her. Hana?s life is a testament to her love for Sakura. But Sakura? she?s got more than Hana in her life. Weekend is part of her journey to improve herself. Her family is still a huge part of her life. Even her karate training is something that?s just for her. Sakura?s got a rich, vibrant life, while Hana is mostly existing in Sakura?s orbit. It?s easy to feel like things are tenuous when you need someone more than you think they need you.

As Sakura has said in the episode 1, she's a nosy girl that runs in the family. And... the series only gave Ikki hard time for being that, with her and Yukimi not being given similar treatment (so far for episode 2 one), in how her being like this is what sets up the conflict and ruins Aguilera's mood. So I do think that Sakura cutting Aguilera off was something wrong, albeit small, but it does get addressed as the main problem then. Regarding Sakura having a rich, vibrant life, it's something that is a complaint to Kinoshita of his supposedly bias to her that she acts like primary Rider despite not being one, with how she seems to get much constant shilling from characters like Weekend scouting her, etc. that can lead into her being accused as mary sue (no this is just another misuse of the term).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

So, yeah, easy to see why Sakura?s casual mention of Hana?s ?real? family would feel like a dismissal of everything Hana feels for Sakura. Hana thought Sakura was her real family, and now it sounds like Sakura?s diminishing what they mean to each other. But it?s a misunderstanding, and swiftly resolved once the two of them talk it out. This isn?t a massive arc that sprawls over a few months of a show, it?s a TTFC special: We?re only ever a couple Acts from getting closure. It?s a sweet story, though, and one that?s refreshing in its need to make Sakura tell Hana how she feels. We?d gotten plenty of Revice subplots about Hana?s feelings, so it?s nice to have one where Sakura has to make things right with her long-suffering girlfriend.

Guess the main antagonist here, outside of the platoon of guards, are still also women, thus it doesn't invoke the 'men are natural enemies of women' sthick for this special then. Can't talk yet but Yuriko's just the usual two-faced kind of wanting to help the resurrection of Black Satan by duping Aguilera as her sibling, though the mother talk is a truth. Though in previous one Sakura does try to talk it out to Aguilera, only to get brushed off consistenly. I thought it means that trying to talk it out isn't really simple, how to get them to actually talk and not ignore you.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Solid second episode, with an increase in Legend Riders (Kanon! SAWA!!!), action (Reika and Sakura just brutalizing a platoon of guards), and emotion.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Beyond that, it was nice to see all these Legend Riders take on an enemy base? We?re not really utilizing Girls Remix as a team in any big thematic way ? they?re mostly just here to be a fun sideshow ? but I will never say no to Poppy internet-teleporting into a security room and leveling guards, or Izu rapidly sidestepping thugs into unconsciousness. Even Akiko gets in on the fun, refusing to let her role as leader of Girls Renix keep her on the sidelines, and immediately needing to be bailed out by the returning Kanon and Sawa. Kanon?s a fun inclusion, after her Saber tie-in stuff, but the real surprise for me is Sawa?s role.

Regarding the talk about women being treated like shit in the franchise, these fight scene actually has given way more than male's out of suit actions, tbh, like for example Gaim's Kouta/Micchy/Zack vs the thugs. Poppy's a Bugster which explains how she's significantly tougher than normal humans to have no problem KOing grown men. Though Poppy being a pacifist would be done in a move Izu did which she didn't throw any strike to them. Surprisingly Reika using her sword doesn't leave as much of a brutal impact to the guards, despite how it's horrible of her attempting to do so to Mei (after she's supposedly a part of the main cast). It's good for Kanon to retain her fighting skill as Kamen Rider before, to not only exclusively display this in brutal, aggressive ladies, but the reason she's no longer Kamen Rider is patronizing one. Sawa's consistent as she can take out guards in Build before.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

I mean, Mei's not a Kamen Rider and Koyomi is dead, so I think they made the right choices here.

I guess the crossover has to take into account for canon stuff then (initial 'c', ok), to not take Koyomi. Because I thought crossover stuffs aren't canon with returning stuff like Ryuki characters for example.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I think the best thing to come from this special that I totally didn't watch and don't intend to was the knowledge that Ohata Shieri was okay. Not sure if you were aware, but a lot of us were concerned about her at the time, since she'd been inexplicably missing from social media and people were thinking maybe something happened to her.

Unfortunately, the special was filmed in February 2022, while Ohata disappeared from social media in April 2022.....