[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The more mysterious you can make Asakura, I think the better he plays. Mika’s certain he’s a good guy, Ren’s certain he’s a villain, and Shinji is the audience, wanting to believe he can change but knowing he probably won’t. It’s tricky, to find that balance. In the Asakura’s Brother story, the show veered too far into having the heroes be trusting dopes. In this one, there’s circumstantial evidence that Asakura didn’t hurt anyone on the boat, that he protected Mika with no ulterior motive, but he never really defends himself or explains his actions. (I mean, there’s the bit at the end where he says Mika was just his hostage, but it’s not real convincing.)

I have to explain it again after the show does. Mirror Monsters, when they failed to eat specific person, they will not and never change targets until they get that person. That's what happened for Mika. Asakura used her as a bait for the Buzzstingers, Asakura saved her (in unknown ways, he was seen just standing beside her) from Buzzstingers, which made them failed to eat her, and therefore as how Mirror Monster works, will continue to target her, which would make the monsters easy to track on where and when he'll appear (the area Mika's in) with Asakura staying besides her, using her as their bait. Look how he didn't care, didn't even flinch when Venosnaker attacked her (and somehow Mika wasn't killed?!) to get Asakura. Besides of that, so Asakura's "monster battle" are shown in this episode by dodging his pets' attacks I suppose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

He’s a killer, and an unrepentant one at that. He’s a monster, and there’s no restraining him. The longer he’s free, the more innocents are at risk. He’s made his bed of surrounding himself with hungry monsters, and now he gets to lie in it. It’s justice, by nearly anyone's definition.

But Mika cares for him. Mika needs him in her life. She needs him to exist in the world. Asakura’s death would hurt her. His death would make someone’s life, even if it’s only one person’s life, worse. And that means he deserves to live, same as anyone. The loss of a life isn’t just about the person who dies, it’s about the people they loved, the world they inhabited. Asakura has earned his fate, but he deserves to live. Not for himself, but for the people who care about him.

It’s a sweet message, and one only Shinji could properly articulate. It’s hard to give a speech advocating for the continued existence of a man who just had his brother devoured by a monster, but the actor’s performance and the beautiful spring There Is Beauty After Rain montage really sells the necessity of saving Asakura. It’s a monumental ask of the audience, but I was like, Yeah, Shinji should save him. That’s the crux of the episode, a make-or-break point for the story, and I thought they landed it gracefully.

Yeah, the harsh truth is that there's someone misguided that will see him as a savior, which would make Asakura someone worth living, for Shinji, if only to take care of Mika's well being (though he also said he may not want to see someone die). I know and understand Shinji's character and mindset to save Asakura if only for the sake of the other, but I don't advocate Shinji actually indirectly endangering more innocents by this act of saving Asakura, especially that there are no way stopping Asakura now except by killing him as one of the Riders; prisons are nothing to Asakura now, his Contract Monster can help him escape.

But other than that, remember when you were freaking out about how OP Asakura is
(but Ren also has Survive!)? This episode now explains the drawback of pulling the stunt Asakura did, he has 3 monsters not only to battle, but also to feed. He has to work 3 times the other Rider does to feed them, or he'll be eaten by one of them, especially Evildiver and Metalgelas still seeking vengeance for their masters. And like you being ok with Kitaoka torture, I like watching Asakura suffer, like when Knight Survive curbstomps him before, and when Kitaoka gloats to him here about his impending doom where he'll be killed by his own monsters. If Asakura truly dies by that it'll be an interesting means to end him IMO; gaining more power, only to be killed by that act.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I sort-of wish that was all that was in this episode? The last one gained points for staying pretty laser-focused on the boat story, while I felt like this one lost points for trying to serve other plots. There are a few scenes of Reiko investigating what happened to Shiro in America, and I found it typically dull. One, I can’t believe that, after Tezuka’s death, someone else has hijacked Yui’s only plotline. Hilarious! This show! Second, I just don’t care about the small amounts of information Reiko gets about Mirror Worlds and Secret Science Societies and things that viewers have known about for 30+ episodes. It’s so boring to me, watching her catch up to the rest of the show. If this was shocking information that changed what we knew about Shiro and Rider Battles, I’d be into it. But, like, she’s just learning the plot of Masked Rider Ryuki. I already know that! I’ve been watching that for 32 episodes!

So this is actually the clear reason of why you aren't into that kind of plot (The only thing I can say is that for ORE, they're also mainly investigating the disappearences throughout the series). But I think for this one, the real point is that Shiro shows more of his villainy that he'll dirty his hands to keep himself on the upper hand by personally sending monsters to people who may disrupt. Though for some reason, Shiro killed the professor instead of Reiko, one of the only person who asked about stuffs he knows related to Mirror World (and that the murder was completely silent the moment Reiko looked away even when he sits besides her). So either people are secretive about Shiro, or Shiro personally kills them. I wonder what'll happen if one of the people Yui interviewed back then actually wanted to co-operate like the professor here and not be secretive, that would Shiro send his monsters to kill in front of her sister, would Yui still repel the monsters (personally sent by Shiro to do his job) after them, etc.

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

That said, and this is not really relevant, I really wish dragon man could give snake man a beat-down. It's an action show after all, and I think at this point of the show when I was first watching, I was thinking to myself 'gosh, our main character has not really had a good showing against anyone who is not a mirror monster'.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

Remember how way back in this thread’s wild years, I said that Shinji was too generic and promoted some… passionate response? Well I’ve gone further in the show and changed my mind. He’s annoying as all hell. And you’ve summed up part of my problem with him.

No offense but why I'm feeling like some of the audience can have callous and sadistic tendencies (I know it's about fictional universe, but I feel that this can be an overall mindset, as numerous people can be sad for example, their favorite fictional character's death), that the only (or mostly) entertainment they enjoy are the pain of others and killing. Which will make them detest those that would take them away from that like... morals, like Shinji here who is a pacifist that doesn't want to harm others. Because he's that type of character he's bashed in almost every category, only bringing up his negative parts (like you saying here he has not really good showing against non-mirror monster). To Riders he had some upper hand to Ouja in both ep. 19 and 20 (in ep. 21 Asakura cheated, and admittedly he lost in ep. 23, but just saying that their battle can go either way), and saved Knight (this is for monsters, but Knight is a known badass Rider) from Volcancer and Gai (twice here). And as human he can do what Ren does too here. I consider those that can fend off Mirror Monsters as good showing for the overall character.