[NGW]

On episode 44 of Ryuki, hoping I can finish it before I have to leave for work in about 3 1/2 hours.

...Imperer...as in like..impala? Hahahaha!

Also what is with Shinji's shirt? It says stuff like "Bullshit Artist", "Womanizer", "Pothead", etc. WTF?

Edit: And now the last two episodes!

Edit Edit: And manly tears were shed.....but again I have one complaint hitting the reset button...really?

Edit Edit Edit: And now that I'm home from work I can finally post my thoughts in a bit more depth.

Ryuki had the potential to be my absolute favorite season of Kamen Rider to date. I loved the dark tone, I loved the rider designs, I loved the characters, I really dug the story. There were some great rivalries and relationships that built and grew over the course of the season. I actually cared about the different riders, I cared about why they were fighting (well, their reasons anyways, wasn't quite as big on the reason behind their fighting as a whole). The ending was just such a slap in the face though. I know I complained about both W and Fourze for similar reasons, but more than even those I feel Ryuki's end was a huge disservice to the entirety of the season that led up to it. What is the best way to **** up all the character growth and development, all the sacrifices, the drama, the relationships, everything that made the season what it was? How do you make it so every single event never actually mattered? You go and, quite literally, press reset. Seriously, I am genuinely pissed off, and that only grew over the hours I was at work after finishing the show. If Ryuki had ended about halfway through Episode 50 it would have been hands down the best season of Kamen Rider I have ever seen, and it likely would always hold that title. But no, it went and did something completely unforgivable to me. I got emotionally involved and invested in these characters, the dynamics between them, and to go and pull that crap was just wrong. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not all about doom and gloom, I don't think a series has to have a sad ending to be good, but a season like Ryuki? It ended perfectly with Ren slouched on the floor in Eri's room, likely dead, and then cutting to the broken glass showing all these characters we grew to know, possibly to care about, knowing what they have gone through, having seen them all come to their untimely end because of one man's selfish wish, it was the perfect ending. And then they simply press reset, everyone goes back to normal, nothing ever happened. And why does this piss me off so much? Because it invalidates the entire series. All that character growth? Gone. The relationships? Never happened. The entirety of the show was rendered meaningless. Yes yes I understand the whole thing with Shirou and Yui, that doesn't excuse it. At the very least those involved should have remembered. I know they kinda hint at that with Ren (who really had no business showing up at Atori like he did, considering his entire reason for being involved there revolved around Yui and the war between the riders, it was just how they decided to neatly tie the ending together, ditto with Megumi working at ORE Journal, what the hell? Sorry for going on and ranting like that, but it just pissed me off. The season was so damn good, it brought tears to my eyes at the end, and I just feel like they were wasted....AGAIN.

Trying to think of what else I have to say. I ended up really liking the mirror world aspect. It was cool in concept, creepy and unnerving in execution, and the use of sound when someone or something was coming from mirror world...brilliant, that very shrill noise just makes you feel incredibly uneasy. I especially loved that people, not just main characters, but average every day citizens actually were killed off...pretty much in every single episode at that. I just came off of watching W and Fourze before this, and have been watching Wizard as it goes on and you just don't see anything like that in those. Hell deaths in general are pretty rare occurrences in the more recent seasons from what I've seen, yet Ryuki has main characters, side characters, villains, etc. all having pretty violent deaths, even if they are mostly implied. And some of the ramifications of those deaths are heart-wrenching, such as when Toujou kills Sagawa, leaving behind his wife and child...that hit really hard, and then seeing him sacrifice himself to save another father and son, which I will admit felt incredibly out of character for him in a sense, despite it concluded his whole wanting to be a hero schtick. Or OMFG when Shinji sacrificed himself, getting stung in the back by one of the mirror monsters...seeing him bleeding out after he and Ren fight them off, that was just...wow, and probably one of the most important scenes in the season, that being the moment that really pushes Ren, it humanizes him. Here's the guy that wanted the fighting to stop, his whole goal was to put an end to it, to stop the killing, and he was so painfully conflicted over it, and he died fighting, and Ren finally accepted the bond they shared as friends, it was a really powerful episode. And as I said, I loved the characters, Shuuichi was one that really really grew on me over the course of the season, as did Gorou. And again just the dynamic between the riders, rivals meant to fight to the death, and they almost grow this bond and friendship between them, despite what they have been tasked with ultimately doing, it made it all the harder to see them grow so close. I really really want to say that Ryuki was my favorite series, it deserves that distinction. I just find it really hard to when the last bit of episode 50 really really pissed me off.

Oh, and the opening is easily on of my favorites by far, especially when it gets to the chorus with Ryuki surrounded by mirrors and the sparks all around him...just love it. Either that or W Boiled Extreme are my favorite openings of any season I've seen so far.