[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s to the show’s credit that it doesn’t give an easy answer. Moreover, it reframes some of Shinji’s earlier declarations of Rider’s Shouldn’t Fight as naive and condescending. In a very Shinji way, he jumped in, quickly made up his mind, and then forcefully stuck to his guns. Even as it drove Ren away, he felt sure of his principles, and safe in his views.

...And this is actually the other reason I think Shinji works so great as Ryuki's lead. He can have his cool moments defeating monsters, and you can admire his dedication to saving people, and that's all great. But with the nature of this show, the story it wants to tell, and what that story wants to say, if it were just him going around unchallenged in his beliefs the entire series, and we were expected to just go along with it, the whole thing would fall apart.

Being able to add that... honesty, I guess, to the narrative, to take this very obviously heroic character, and start saying "hey, maybe this guy's chronic self-righteousness is actually kinda a problem?", I can't stress enough how smart that was. Not only does exploring Shinji as a more flawed character ensure the kind of "gray and gray" drama the story needs, making it a direct outgrowth of the same traits that make him a hero keeps him sympathetic, and keeps him in a spot where you can still root for him, preventing the show from becoming too dour.

The question the show asks is less "Is Shinji a hero?", and more "What good is Shinji being a hero doing anyone?", which is infinitely more clever and interesting in my book.

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

It's vexing me trying to attach this meme

Also, just for Die's benefit, since he's not using those subs, I should probably explain that if anyone ever talks about Asakura and his habit of being "vexed" by things, it's because that's how TV-Nihon translated his catchphrase, and it kind of left an impression on a lot of fans.