[Battlizer]

Ryuki 16-21

Wow so uh. Shit wet down in these eps. I was planing on watching like three but I got carried away. Dunno where to start...my thoughts are muddled at the moment and I don't exactly have these episodes super fresh off my mind, but here goes nothin':

Ryuki: Gotta respect Shinji's determination to be a hero in a situation that odes not call for one. But man he doesn't seem to have much luck in his goal to stopping the Riders from killing each other. Doesn't mean he won't try though.

He does seem to rethink if he's doing the right thing once he finds out that other Riders...Or at least Ren and Tezuka might have their own reasons and personal stakes for participating in the Rider War. Time will tell if this affects his opinion.

Asakura seems to push Shinji's patience to it's limits though. Someone with no reservations or doubts about killing at all ad seems to enjoy it? To the point that Shiji fought him with killing intent? Seems like those confrontations will get pretty interesting...

Knight: So Re's reason for being a Rider is finally known to Shinji and Tezuka. We also find out the reason he acts like a prick all the time is 'cause he feels he has to stay cold and distant if he wants to stay in the Rider fight and accomplish his goals of saving Eri. Which...would be more effective if there wasn't a flashback a couple episodes back of Eri telling Re to stop acting like a prick all the time.

But yeah, for all of Ren's talk of Shinji being the wrong kind of person to participate in the Rider war, it seems he isn't without some reservations himself, since he was unable to kill Gai. But he doesn't want these reservations which is why he...temporarily teamed up with Asakura?

I dunno, but it seems like he's...sorta back on the side of the few good Riders. I guess. You can never tell with this guy.

Scissors: Dead.

Zolda: Kitaoka's pretty awesome. Might be up there with Shiji as my favorite Rider on this show, but I know there's more to come so who knows? He didn't show up THAT much, but he did some pretty cool stuff. Deciding to show up at the restaurant so Asakura would free the hostages, though that seemed partially uphold his rep, was pretty cool of him. And he did show some concern when Reiko was attacked by what could be Asakura. But then again, that was Reiko, so...

He seems to be taking the Rider War kinda lackadaisically for someone who's wish is to win it and cure his incurable illness. Like he's not actively seeking out Riders to fight, he's just sort of going with the flow to see where that takes him. Even Kanzaki had to tell him to hurry up the pace.

Not much to say on Goro right ow other than he's pretty cool too.

Raia: Alright so Tezuka the fortune teller. Didn't know what to think of this guy at first, but it's nice to have another heroic rider. The same goal as Shinji to stop the Rider fight, but he seems to think everyone's fate is inevitable no matter what. Goals seem kinda conflicting, but I guess that's what he has to learn from Shinji.

Weirdly his whole fortune teller schtick seems to apply everywhere, even in battle, since he felt he can't predict the frog monster's movements since it was so sporadic. Still nice to see him tell that one lady that despite her luck looking bad, her fate was still up to her. And look, when a mirror monster attacked, they saved her!

Though, Tezuka does have a bit more experience than Shinji, so he seems to know a bit more of the stakes of the Rider War ad being the one to tell him that others might have a going along with it. Gotta wonder where he gets the fortune telling powers from.

Gai: I forget the rhino dude's real name, but man what a shithead. Planning to set up a bloody battle royale throughout the city 'cause your rich and bored. What a piece of shit. Well, Asakura's taken him out now, so he won't be bothering anyone anytime soon.

I wonder if his contract monster actually liked him enough to seek revenge....or if it's just pissed that it was robbed of it's contract holder.

Ouja: This guy....So this is pretty much the most villainous rider I've seen. Whatever he does just seems to make the situation more intense. Which is sort the reason Kanzaki saw fit to make him a rider in the first place. The other riders just seemed to be mulling about on the whole fight to the death thing.

Currently it seems his most primary targets are Shinji and Kitaoka, but he's the seems like he'll go after anyone in general. I doubt he'll get any kind of sympathetic scenes, right? You kinda know someone's gonna be a massive villain, in his actions made Shinji think about killing him.

Yui: I feel really bad for her each time more of her story is revealed. The old professor fro ma few episode previously saying it'd be best if she'd never been born was bad enough...but now her gradmother's hiding things about her childhood, going to her childhood home gives her weird headaches, she constantly sees her brother giving off vague hints about his plans through mirrors, and whatever the hell was going on with Tezuka not being able to read her future or seeing anything at all. Yeessh....

Still she seems determined to find out the truth. She definitely won't like whatever she'll find though...

ORE journal people: There are various points in these episodes in which the editor and Shimada act like actual journalists. Frightening. That's how dark a a turn the Ouja episodes can get.

But really, I like how involved they are in things. They don't seem like...entirely pointless comic relief. Though I guess they were always fairly involved sorta especially Reiko. I kind a like getting to view things from their angle of the story too.

Kanzaki: Hmm...dunno what entirely too say yet, thought I have a lot of questions. Primarily what his plans are for the Rider War, since there's gotta be more to it than just wanting to see what happens if a bunch of people with powers fight. I'm suspecting it has to do with Yui, obviously, ad whatever that fire was in their old house. But uh...I don't have much else to go on.