[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The big plot is that Ren has TV Show Amnesia, where he's conveniently forgotten that he’s a superhero, and he’s gruff(er than usual) with the other characters. It’s all a way to explore Ren’s backstory, which would normally be difficult/impossible with a brooding, taciturn hero. Here, he’s going to retrace steps we’ve never seen, filling in blanks that should hopefully get us to care more about Ren, about his journey, about his goals.

I mean it's better than having a good old flashback. They would have to do an effort to search for their memories and realize what’s really important to them. It shows the character's self-exploration, it'll be important for Ren later, with what path he should take.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s just really dull to me in the moment. First, Yui gets dumped from this storyline pretty fast, despite her having one of the closest connections to Ren, so we don’t at all get to see how this is affecting her. Second, Ren’s not even really funny mean to Shinji, he’s just a dick. Even in the first episode he was funny mean to Shinji. Here, their schtick, it feels hollow and dull. He doesn't even care enough about Shinji to belittle him, which, then why am I even watching this show.

I mean isn't that obvious this affects her in the episode? She's having even more fears of how the battle will affect Shinji and Ren (first Ren got amnesia here, next...they face each other or worse, killed?) that she started to actually make a move and investigate Shiro (who is presumed behind all of this) by herself to try stopping the war? Besides Ren escaped (as he didn't know them) and I don't think Shinji's Honda Ruckus (his bike) can take another person as a ride.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Reiko and Yui’s stories don’t fare much better. It’s all setup, all to link together Yui’s brother, Ren’s girlfriend (probably), and the mysterious survivor of the monster attack that Reiko’s investigating. This whole episode, it’s just table-setting. It’s investigation, but in a way that only finishes asking a question. Not a lot here to get excited about.

You may feel that those "only finishes asking a question", but those will be much more important later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Finally, Ren’s plan of, I guess, Wander Around Japan Until His Brain Works Right is so hard to get on board with. He should not be operating a motorcycle! That’s stupid! Very, very stupid! And, I don’t know, it’s so vague of a plan that I couldn’t really track it. He’s literally just wandering around side streets for an episode. That’s it. There’s info we get from his neverending aneurysm (I assume), but it’s at the very end of the episode. It’s just generally not very fun to watch. Not an awesome way to pad out a two-parter.

That said, there is one legit solid gag in a very humor-light episode of Ryuki. (Holy shit, do I miss Kitaoka and Goro!) The idea of Ren having, like, forty nemeses in one neighborhood that he doesn’t remember, that's good. That’s a funny concept, and I’d’ve loved an episode built around that. Instead, it’s two scenes and one laugh. Not… not worth all of that boredom.

As previous episode had Shinji friend's loyalty to him, it's time for Shinji to return the favor. Shinji's his main guide in this episode and he won't leave him alone no matter what. Like guiding him on where he's going and protecting him from his enemies.

The rule of his amnesia is that the only one erased is 1 year ago, so he still remembers his name and his origins. His only clue is the blurry flashbacks where indicates some places.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

(Also, what the hell is up with the insanely high body-count for this episode? Monster attacks on Ryuki are usually single victims, spaced out over days. Here, what, dozens of people at once? Multiple times a day? And, man, it’s starting to bug how the monsters are once again just random attacks, showing up out of nowhere, then getting blown up. It’s so boring, the monsters on this show! Not at all what’s fun about watching Ryuki!)

Probably because past episodes only show 1 victim at a monster's range (besides it's a variation where Zenobiter is the one monster with huge gluttony, variations existed in other monster types in other series). The reason that monsters attacks are random is because Ryuki's motif and concept is horror. As per horror it's meant to create fear and terror to the audience. This is how Mirror Monsters work, they stealthily work from reflective surfaces to snatch the victim, instead of directly appearing and attacking others (I mean that type of monster attacks seen in other series are also "random" right, they appear in certain place to wreck havoc). The horror part is exactly the random part, they can appear from any reflective surface; ranging from mirrors, windows, any body of water, computer screen, etc. while you're just doing your daily activities.

Other than that I have to talk about the fighting choreograph that interests me in this episode. Where Zenobiter utilizes his boomerang to negate any Vent cards a Rider use (knocks away Ryuki's Sword Vent), but later Shinji tricks him by summoning Strike Vent (where he knocks again) TO buy time to pick his Sword Vent. So Shinji's your usual dumb-at-daily-life-but-good-at-fighting MC.