[Kamen Rider Die]

Okay, I grabbed a different copy off of TV-Nihon. This one had both endings. I watched 'em both, now.

(Also, I forgot to mention it before, but I really liked that Shinji does Ren's Henshin when he uses Ren's Deck to become Knight. A great touch.)

It's an interesting idea, to have two endings. I don't think either one of them are very good, in that they're both open-ended and fatalist. Either Shinji's detonated by 11 Final Vents or he's driven mad by the inevitability of Rider Battle. Awesome choices! Do I want Shinji to die screaming, or die screaming?

What kind-of blows me away is that, of the two options Ryuki fans were given, Continue Fighting in the Rider Battles or Stop Fighting in the Rider Battles, they chose Continue Fighting. The whole premise of the show seems to be that fighting in the Rider Battles is a terrible idea. I seem to recall an episode that ended with a child that was overcome with terror at the hideous weight of being a Rider on Ryuki.

Well HOLY SHIT is Ryuki not getting its point across, because about 60% of viewers/fans voted FIGHT OR DIE. That... that would maybe worry me, if I was producing Masked Rider Ryuki! If the beating heart of my show was a man desperate to end the Rider Battles, and viewers were like Rider Battles Ad Infinitum, uh...



(In fairness, superhero fans will usually vote for the more violent ending when given the option. Just ask Jason Todd! That said, Jason Todd got killed by a very slim margin, while this split was a more troubling 58/42. Definitely feels like viewers didn't get the Rider Battles Are Bad memo!)