[Kamen Rider Die]

MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODES 09 - 10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

She's never portrayed as being unreasonable, despite the viewer probably not thinking that Shouichi is a secret murderer.

Ha ha WHOOPS.

Three plots get a workout this time, with Houjou getting his moment to shine as G3's yolk, Shouichi definitely murdering that lady in broad daylight, and Ryou... uh.

Hey, let's do the Ryou stuff first, since it was barely there. After cliffhanging us with a Gills V Spooky Man face-off, Masked Rider Agito one-hundred percent steers away from that, with Spooky Man disappearing until the very end of the story, and Gills, just, going home? I guess? He gets a phone call to say that his dad died (ALL DADS ARE DEAD) and that he'd been a crazy person since the mysterious boat accident of two years ago. So, yeah. That's all we get with Ryou, a plot point where he's now wrapped up in the boat accident plotline. It's fine. Serviceable.

The other two plots, hoo boy.

I really enjoyed the "Nijou and Mana try to prove Shouichi's innocence” Phoenix Wright storyline. It's cute, and, despite the hero of the show taking a murder charge and having no alibi, pretty low-stakes. Some of the stuff Mana does is either not exactly psychometry (did no one think to check the crime scene for footprints?) or requires some pretty heavy lifting, deduction-wise (that leap to find the one #62 train car, come ON), but I thought it was so dumb that it was entertaining. It was sloppy but earnest, like a puppy chewing on a shoe. I can't be mad at them for goofing around, especially since it nailed a lot of what I'm digging about Shouichi as the show's Rider.

Shouichi's got this sweet, dumb energy to him. His whole thing about making a home and protecting it, I love how it's exhibited through domesticity. He tends a garden, he makes dinner, he cleans, it's all stuff that you wouldn't normally put on a male action hero, which is why it works so well for me. It's distinct, it's charming, it keeps even the dark elements (a lady was still strangled with wire in a park, everybody) from feeling hopeless. Godai had a nurturing side to him, but it was always weighted against the fact that he wasn't going to stick around. Shouichi, it feels different, it feels like a promise. It's comforting, that energy.

The final main plot, with Houjou joining Team G3... let me just leave it at this: