[SPLIT LIP]

That fade to black halfway through the last episode should've been where it all ended. I still maintain to all new veiwers of the show, just turn it off after that fade. That ending was perfect. Every single character's story was wrapped up flawlessly. Kitaoka got his date and succumbed to his illness, Gorou served him one last time, Asakura was finally taken down by the cops, (and I HATED Asakura. He felt like a bad fanfiction villain on God mode) Kiddo died saving people like he'd always wanted to, and Ren finally achieved the power he'd fought the entire series for. All staged and shot brilliantly. It was excellent and made all the bullshit worth it...

I have no idea why they had to ruin it so. It didn't even make any sense. They all came back after the time reset... but was Asakura not still a criminal? Kitaoka wasn't still sick? And like you said, so many character places were incompatible with a simple reset. It gave a happy, everyone lives ending when it had no business being in the show.

Quote:

Originally Posted by barnstenchfartface

I think the ending was appropriate and satisfying enough. Ryuki is without a doubt one of the most tragic Rider series there are, with one of the highest body counts in the series. In the end I think it was pretty much showing just how terrible everything was as a result of the Rider War (ie, every single Rider died, not to mention all those countless civilians). It was very much a "the only winning move is not to play" kind of thing. Neither of the alternate tellings we see in the special or the movie are any better.

(i think i mainly came to understand this more after Homestuck did the lets-kill-everyone-and-then-retcon-it-because-damn thing too. though i have more negative feelings of how that was done. i think ryuki did it well)

So when the cosmic reset button is employed, it does feel a little like a cop-out, as far as making the series "irrelevant" (not necessarily in terms of mechanics because it was established that Odin can do the time travel thing pretty early on) but I think making it irrelevant was sort of the point. However much growth a few individuals experienced was not worth all the loss of life. (which even affected all who experienced growth because they died anyway) For Yui, who never wanted people to be sacrificed for her sake, and Shinji, who always wanted to stop the fighting, this was the ending they deserved. Shirou finally acknowledging Yui's wish makes for a pretty good ending, imo.

That all sound remarkably apologetic. You've could've made all those points without hitting reset. The show did make all those points without resetting, only to obliterate any point whatsoever.