[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

There’s some stuff in here about the transformative power of grief, and some stuff about the origins of evil, and a whole bunch of Knight’s new Survive form.

OK, we know that Ouja is one of the most active evil Rider and is a hardened fighter in human form, but I dislike it when Ouja is wanked beyond what he can do (you kinda do in your ep. 22 when talking about how Asakura is stronger than other Riders). So lemme emphasize, Knight Survive easily wipes the floor with Ouja without any of other Advent Cards whatsoever!!! Knight Survive even shattered Ouja's Strike Vent before it materializes (one of the coolest battle moment in Ryuki IMO), if he acts fast enough he can be a Confine Vent without scanning cards! Ouja would be finished when there weren't a Mirror Monster getting in their way, so now, stop giving double standard treatment for protagonists for "plot armor", like this moment for example! Fun fact is that Ouja was really planned to be finished in this moment, but they decided to keep him alive as a recurring character.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s an interesting choice, to not really wallow in guilt after Tezuka’s sacrifice. Ren’s the most pragmatic, acknowledging that this was a choice Tezuka made, not something anyone should blame themselves for. (I super love the hypocrisy of Ren here, being all Why Is Everyone Feeling Guilty when that dude's whole deal was feeling immense guilt over Eri's fate until, like, yesterday.)

More like Ren is focused on winning the war so (as you said before, still an asshole), one Rider dying without Ren getting too attached to him and thus struggling to kill him is a blessing (and did you forget Eri isn't a Rider, while Tezuka is, Ren is multiple times the asshole to Riders!). Why do you think that Ren feels guilt over Eri? Shiro victimizes Eri (coma) AND Ren by forcing Ren to fight in Rider War as the only way to bring her back while he's powerless to doing anything on Shiro, and Ren is self-destructive towards her because, it's his character (as opposite to Kitaoka in previous episode), he will do anything to what he loves. Well, even Ren also got a form of a grief by looking at the Survive card (burning Raia's Evildiver card in this episode's preview), the card that Tezuka gave to him and may have saved him when he didn't, with the proof of how easily a Survive upgrade beat Ouja earlier.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Shinji and Yui both beat themselves up in their first scene, but they pretty quickly turn their self-loathing and recriminations into a plan of action, a way forward. Yui throws herself back into investigating Shiro, which doesn’t immediately bear fruit but might next episode. Shinji decides to try and stop the Rider Battles by appealing to the fighters’ humanity, which… I’m not 100% clear on how it’s different from what Tezuka was doing? Shinji explains his plan to Ren in that he’s not trying to alter their fate as Riders, but to change their minds as people. If there’s a difference there, it’s so minor as to be academic. You are trying to get Riders to stop killing each other, to stop fighting. That’s just what Tezuka was doing?

Oh, this one cover's a bit similar to... the one where I posted screenshots of Shinji, Yui, and Tezuka confronting Shiro each. I probably just like lumping those 3 together based on how all of them being the most good-natured among morally void cast and shared the same objective of saving people from Rider War, which leads to some "analogous" moments like this. The house seems like, a new base for Shiro (similar to Room 401)? It actually is horrific inside where Tezuka got attacked by a monster previously, so being (formerly) afraid of the house is plausible. For Shinji, actually all of them were because it IS what Tezuka doing. Like I said before, Tezuka is a drive for Shinji's characterization and inspires him (with the additional cliche of "inspirational characters die"), so Shinji tries to implement Tezuka's method, continuing his work. Tezuka influences Shinji the most, instead of Ren. So why this comes to you as a surprise that Shinji does what Tezuka does?

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The Asakura/Reiko storyline is intriguing, and feels fresh. There’s a bit of an attempt to give Asakura a tragic backstory, a reason why he’s a monster. It’s good, in theory, to create a three-dimensional version of Asakura. I’m afraid the show might be sacrificing some of his impact by making him a non-zero amount of sympathetic. It's risky, humanizing him, but it's probably necessary. He needs to be more developed as a character or he'll become a punchline. I don’t think it’ll ever get to a redemption arc, but just trying to explore Asakura’s story is exciting. That’s an unpredictable dude, a character who always feels dangerous. Pairing him with Reiko, someone who feels relatively non-judgemental when it comes to investigating the truth, it’s a great couple of characters to keep things surprising. Reiko doesn’t seem to have any limits on searching for answers, and god knows Asakura couldn’t care less about meeting expectations, so this is a story I was really enjoying. Seems like it’s going to be a good one.

Oh no...don't get your hopes up! Talking for both Asakura and Reiko (her wellbeing)! Asakura may just be baiting! And Reiko will become the latest victim this way! (And now it makes me wonder how it goes if Reiko goes to Asakura with Shinji like he wanted, when Asakura sees Shinji and talks about Riders and fighting or probably even shows his Deck, in front of Reiko, what should Shinji do?). And you think Asakura needs to be more developed or he becomes a punchline? I think Asakura is the single most loved character in the fandom and he doesn't have any of that. Asakura looks way to healthy and clean for someone homeless and eating muds!

Oh and before Reiko goes to Asakura, she talked to Kitaoka. It seems that Kitaoka is the primary source to Reiko for informations right now whenever she likes it or not... and this line is gold (and serves you right Kitaoka, cuz dude it's regarding public danger not just your hedonism!)!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Oh, hey, and there’re a couple fight scenes where Ren gets to show off his chase card, Survive. (I really like that the card itself has an animated background. Very cool!)

Before the fight, can we also talk a funny ironic moment where Shinji... tells Ren to go away? Even Ren points out it's usually the other way around (but he would immediately do that). I think one of the redeeming moments of Ren is that he will try to save innocents (though he may not particularly care about their fate) if he can like before fighting the monster. And Darkraider (Darkwing's Survive form)'s bike form is based on Honda Shadow. The Final Vent has their role reversed, where before it was Rider being the battering ram with Sword Vent and the monster wrapping him forming a drill, but in Survive it's the monster as a bike being the main battering ram, the Rider being the one enhances it by wrapping the monster with his cape, forming... a missile this time (if the light blue trail is any indication)?

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Just in time for Shiro to abruptly dissolve the contract monsters and end the Rider Battles.

I told you so! Shiro is far more relevant and influental than you think he is at the beginning! He didn't only create like Banno, he has complete control over everything he created!

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Her older brother is a morally ambiguous mirror ghost, everyone she knows keeps trying to kill each other, and whenever she asks someone why this is happening, they only give her vague responses before telling her to leave the room!

And the first time she directly saw a Rider death? I think you should also see what she feels about the war just like how would you see how Shinji and Tezuka feels about the war. Her having the same goal (even word-for-word in ep. 19, investigating Shiro is only a method for that) as them would be indication eh?