[Kamen Rider Die]

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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'.

It's a tricky line, for sure.

On the one hand, that's just not the story they're trying to tell. They're trying to tell a story about a warrior who doesn't want to fight other warriors. Having Shinji get into a brawl with Asakura, especially in this episode... it'd break the show. It would make the show about nothing.

On the other hand, though, I think it's fair to ask Is That A Story Worth Telling. For some people, that's going to be a Yes, for some people, a No. I'm not sure there's anything wrong with saying you don't have an interest in the story that's being told, or that you wish they'd have told a different story. It's not weird to look at a superhero action show and want to see the superheroes fight.

It's just, this one's about why they shouldn't fight, or why fighting isn't the best solution. Doing something that subverts the audience's expectations, it's going to make people love it or hate it.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

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.

I mean, that's a great explanation, but I'm not sure how much of that is in this story. (The "bait for Buzzstingers", I'm not sure anyone confirms that.) I like that explanation, but I'm still comfortable saying that Asakura's motivations and actions are mysterious in this one. No one out loud explains exactly what he's doing, and we never see what happened with him on the first boat trip.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

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.

I think it's a hallmark of what this show does right, to have Shinji maybe make bad decisions in impossible scenarios. He won't allow Asakura to die, but they can't capture Asakura, and Asakura won't change. That's an awful choice for Shinji to have to make, which is why I'm glad the show posed it that way. Easy choices are boring!