[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Yeah, this is another one where I just sort-of assumed they had to fight in Mirror World. I can't recall if we've seen anyone do Rider stuff in the real world. They usually just jump into a reflective surface and blow the environment to pieces. I just figured their powers only worked there.

Which, in a way, I really like it for how it contains the collateral damage and keeps the Rider Battles secret. There's a hidden war going on, just parallel to our world. Plus, you can mostly keep the cops out of it and just let Rider Justice take care of things, so, hooray!

Well, iirc, Ouja kicked the prison door in real world to escape so there for Rider stuff in real world. And oh yeah, the Rider Battles are kept being secret which makes civilians still know nothing about it, where ORE Journal is the only one following this dead topic.

The other "doom" Mirror World brings....you cannot receive a signal there when Reiko calls Shinji while he's fighting with Tezuka. Which would make Reiko go to Asakura by herself. Which would lead to bad things..

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I wish this episode hit me harder. I liked it fine, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. The beginning is FANTASTIC, with the Knight/Zolda fight.

Trick Vent seems a powerful one because the clones are NOT super fragile where it can only be used as a distraction and an actual army. I probably want for it to be utilized fully like actually having the arsenals on each of the clones. So at the end Ren remarks that Kitaoka is weaker, essentially denying Kitaoka's praise to Ren? And also to clarify this; Kitaoka becomes a Rider to cure his illness but... inevitably, his illness will get on his way for this physical-activity. And Goro also actually knows himself that Kitaoka wouldn't come and isn't surprised by that. What if Kitaoka asks Goro to fight some fights for him? (but as ep. 19 shows, Goro isn't all into Kitaoka winning Rider War, just serving him)

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Tezuka’s backstory is a neat twist on Ren’s and Shinji’s.

So Tezuka lost a loved one (Yuichi for him, Eri for Ren) through a Mirror Monster and triggers him to become a Rider like Ren, but Tezuka wants to stop the Rider War with Rider powers instead like Shinji. The difference is also unlike Ren, Tezuka didn't contract the monster that caused him grief. Overall Tezuka is someone who wants to preserve Yuichi's righteous mindset of not wanting to kill for personal gain so it won't die in vain. And Tezuka confirms Yuichi's mindset will be cowardly to others, which is just like, Shiro. And who says Shinji's dilemma stops him from stopping the Rider War?

And Tezuka gave Survive card to Ren. So even when Raia had a crazed revenge to Guldthunder, he isn't tempted by Shiro to go get even at Asakura, the one harmed and indirectly killed Yuichi and the bigger problem overall.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I guess maybe that’s it, why I didn’t feel that shocked or angry or sad when Tezuka dies? I liked his character, but it seemed like he had a target on his back as The Pacifist Rider. And, to the show’s credit, it doesn’t really spend a lot of energy on trying to sell you on But Maybe Tezuka Will Fight. Shiro tries hard, telling Tezuka that Yuichi was totally all about killing Riders at the end, he wished he’d killed a ton of Riders, and he told Shiro to tell Tezuka that killing Riders is super great. It’s a defining end for Tezuka, that he never really wavers on his principles. He doesn’t fight Ouja, despite Asakura being the one who broke Yuichi’s hands. (And that’s probably 99% of the reason Asakura got a Card Deck, ‘cause Shiro hates a quitter.) He sacrifices himself to save Shinji, since it was Shinji who was fated to die and the world needs Shinji more than it needs him. So, yeah, a narratively appropriate ending, with Tezuka getting his wish of changing a Rider’s fate, and of him both avenging and honoring Yuichi’s death. It’s well-written, and sort-of lovely at the end. There’s a tranquility that’s appropriate for Tezuka’s final scene.

There’s no gutpunch to Tezuka’s sacrifice, and the show doesn’t feel like it’s going to be worse off for him not being around. He did the things he needed to do, we got his whole arc, and it’s okay for him to be gone. I liked him, I liked his story, but I’m a little surprised I didn’t care more about his ending.

Raia (yeah finally they mentioned his name here!) not only didn't fight back, he basically made himself a punching bag towards Ouja. Now he's the one breaking down to a catatonic state like a certain character before. And also his death is another one, ironic. Tezuka's predictions are always right, but he purposely made a wrong one by claiming that he'll die instead of Shinji and fulfills the wrong prophecy by sacrificing himself, to prove that fate can be changed a̶n̶d̶ ̶k̶e̶e̶p̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶1̶0̶0̶%̶ ̶t̶r̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶o̶r̶d̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶r̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶d̶i̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶. Tezuka feels that Shinji is more suitable for stopping the Rider War based on how unpredictable he is back in ep. 18 as one of the reasons, but Tezuka is also "inspirational character" (cliche is inspirational characters mostly die) to drive Shinji's character. Despite making most efforts to Ren (and the interactions you cover most), the big part is he actually influences Shinji, with the way how he tried to change Riders as people, and after that Shinji tried Tezuka's methods a bit.

I understand that Tezuka was too weak to tell anything at his death, but why he refused to tell anyone something before? For a minor thing, how did Shinji and Yui somehow can sense Mirror World stuff from very afar this one time and know where Tezuka is? Shiro's direct influence? Sure Shinji found Ren in Asakura episode before, but that's more of his journalist skills (his job is to find people and places). And reflections don't work like that!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Intellectually, I was very I Like What You’re Doing There, but when Tezuka finished dying I was okay to move onto Knight’s upgrade. (Knight gets the first upgrade?!)

You know there are already numerous secondary Riders who gets final upgrade first right? Like Cross-Z, G3-X, Deep Specter, etc. And I will also say that Knight Survive is my second most favorite design in this series. Ouja just lets Knight change into Knight Survive? Well I know he's someone who likes good fights so it makes sense a bit, and this episode didn't really portray it well but later part in the series will show why it makes sense not to attack upgrading Riders (this episode just has Knight turn to Knight Survive the same way a human turns into a Rider).