[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

It's honestly been a bit of a bummer how much you've refused to play ball with these early Heisei monsters. As usual, I can't fault a thing about your logic, but sometimes I think you're being a bit too hard on them anyway? The Grongi and the Unknown are designed to get the viewer picking up subtle clues and making theories, and you go "nah". The Mirror Monsters are deliberately uncomplicated animals so as not to get in the way of the Rider on Rider drama (the lack of which in these episodes probably explaining why it becomes more grating), and you go "nah".

I guess it's two things.

First, most importantly, it's that here's nothing else in this last episode to get excited about, so, yeah, it's extra disappointing when the monster stuff is such a non-entity. (Boy oh boy, do I not love when the Riders do zero investigation and just stumble upon the villain at the end. Why are we even telling stories with monsters in it, then?) If there were another Rider to deal with, like Scissors or Kitaoka, I don't care (as much!) if the monster stuff is bottom tier. When the monster stuff is the only Rider action in an episode, I'd like it to feel like some thought was put into it?

Second, for the monsters in general, the thing I want is a clear objective, and a clever way of obtaining it. Like, Wizard, not a favorite show, but I got what each monster was doing, and how they achieved their goal differed from story to story. With these monsters... I'm sorry if folks who are into this show feel like I'm being unfair. I think this show does a bunch of things right, and has had a great ratio of hits to misses so far. But the Mirror Monsters, man, I feel like uninspiring is being mistaken for uncomplicated, and simplistic is being mistaken for streamlined. I just can't find an enthusiasm for monster plots that have nothing clever going on in them.

I don't... I don't know if I'm refusing to play ball? I can only respond to what the show is giving me episode by episode. Sure, I mean, I've got biases, ways I'd be more into what Ryuki does with the monsters, but it's not like I came into this with knives sharpened, ready to say Not My Kamen Rider or whatever. I want to like these shows! I want to have fun watching this! No one's forcing me to watch Masked Rider Ryuki! With the monster stuff, I just can't find anything to lock into. If someone's like, "They're supposed to be straightforward, they're supposed to be animals," like, okay, I can't argue that that's how they've been portrayed. I just, I wish they hadn't, because I think that's boring?

(Also, Kuuga/Agito/Ryuki are very much in a The Monster Plots Are Not The Best Part For Me space, maybe for some slightly different reasons, but mostly because there are so few twists or turns to them. If I'm remembering my thoughts wrong, and it seems like I'm being hypocritical, I'm sorry! Not my intention! Maybe let me know a little more what you mean if that's how I'm coming off, and I'll try and explain better.)