[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

There’s a bunch of time spent with Goro and Yui in this one, specifically about how powerless they feel to save the people they care about. They feel the weight of Rider Battles, but they can’t really help the people in their lives who’ve signed up to Fight Or Die. It’s a tough tone to make work in a series like this, to have someone who’s all Please Don’t Fight, no matter how realistic that plea would be. We need to see fights, or there’s no catharsis.

Shinji shows his "growth" in this one, he gotta stop being a doormat to Ren now, he now refuses to obey what Ren tells and actually escalates the fight. And he addresses Ren's communication problem, constantly shutting them both and acting cool (so a chraracter flaw not a writing flaw). Bold for Yui to literally throw a bucket of water to them (oh wait that's less severe than smashing a public window that kickstarts debt gag) to mediate those 2, what if those 2 accidentally instinctively attacks her due to no control over rage? This makes them leave her later to do their big fight to prevent this happening again (also to spare her feelings). A̶n̶d̶ ̶Y̶u̶i̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶c̶h̶i̶l̶d̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶S̶h̶i̶n̶j̶i̶ ̶a̶t̶t̶e̶s̶t̶s̶,̶ ̶l̶a̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶m̶u̶s̶e̶m̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶p̶a̶r̶k̶.̶ Sanako loses her shit on Yui herself too... her own relative, that she kicks her out too just like the 2 strangers at her house, balanced treatment much?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

We’ll start with Ouja vs Zolda. When their fight starts, something struck me that I’m not sure the show has covered. They jump into a car’s window to enter Mirror World. When their time is up, they’ll have to leave through the same surface. What if Goro drives the car away?

Mirror World is literally mirror image as a functionable world, so it works just like how mirror image works in real life and Mirror World follows everything happens to the mirror image. So yeah the car moves? The reflection on its windows change when the car moves so it affects what happened in Mirror World too. Besides ep. 3 has the store window broken too when the irl version of it is broken. Or when Dragreder attacks in ep. 1 and blows the newspaper covering a mirror.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Anyway, yeah, let’s start with Asakura and Kitaoka. While multiple other characters are given gifts or threats from Shiro to get them back in Rider Battles, I like how Asakura must’ve just looked at his Days Since A Fight calendar and went Time To Make The Donuts. Everyone else feels the tightening noose of Shiro’s manipulations, but for Asakura, it was Tuesday. He’s so uncomplicated, at least in this one, you know? For Kitaoka, it feels like he’s made peace with what he has to do.

Shiro doesn't need to manipulate Asakura, he'll fight no matter what because it's his whole life (and disappointed if other Riders don't give him fights). Not others who have their own activity, they have to be dragged back to the fight personally. Also out of all Riders, Kitaoka is the one Asakura hates the most (and Kitaoka too), they're arch-enemies. Even without running, Kitaoka hesitates to get into hand-to-hand combat and Zolda is a long range Rider. And Kitaoka/Goro did not... lock the house that Asakura can enter and ransack it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But, man, it’s nothing compared to the sick self-negation and frustration at the heart of the Ryuki vs Knight battle. It’s taken plenty of episodes to get back to this point, to have Ren challenge Shinji again. The show has drawn the two of them closer together, before having Eri’s perpetually-imminent-but-now-really-imminent demise pull them apart again. A nice day at the amusement park can’t last, and Ren needs to start killing if Eri’s going to ever start living. He forces Shinji to fight him, not with threats or insults, but with a heartfelt request from a friend. So Shinji suits up, to face him in one-on-one combat.

Other than that, the conflict for Ren is that he has to choose between Eri, or his friends, brooding by looking at his Deck while watching his friends have fun, Shiro's doing this on purpose (with the smirk image of him you posted)! Like mysteriously threatening Eri by unknown ways before. Ren now has gotten close to friends and this is the consequence. Before that can we talk about an embarassing reveal of those 2? Even if those 2 has fought monsters... Also GDI Shinji, you're a total hypocrite in dealing with your friends! Apart from calling Yui childish above, he also teases Ren for being afraid of dog even if he's blatantly more afraid of it!

A̶n̶d̶ ̶G̶D̶I̶ ̶Y̶u̶i̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶a̶n̶g̶e̶r̶'̶s̶ ̶d̶o̶g̶.̶I'd say they cool off rather quickly (possibly even instantly they got kicked out), even Ren only taps Shinji when he hypocritically teases him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I love the Ryuki vs Knight scenes in this episode, and I presume I’m not alone. It’s the two major characters, fighting in a battle that neither of them really wants to fight. It’s not rage or hope that drives this conflict, but sadness. Appropriately, the score drops out for a bunch of this, making the fight seem hopeless and raw, and there’s plenty of long, slow shots of each fighter.

With the Survive card, Ryuki gets a power level to match Knight, and the fight reaches a new stage. But, not because of the power, but because of the resolve of the fighters. Ren can’t keep putting off these fights if he’s going to save Eri, and Shinji can’t just lay down and die. If that’s where they left it, I’d still really like this episode, but they give it just a little bit more juice at the end with Shinji’s vow to defeat Ren in order to save Ren.

Shinji has to become strong enough so that Ren can't kill him, because stronger fighter (Survive vs Survive) evens out the fight and makes killing Shinji more of a difficult task. Can we talk about Shiro suddenly giving him Survive card? It's one of the complaints of Ryuki where Shinji's final form feels unearned for some. Also this shot, the most iconic, and it also shows that Ryuki's Survive upgrade cannot be interrupted as the flames surrounding him protects him too. Plus Revolution (the song) plays for the first time.