[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The whole thing with Yui in the mirror-version of Kamen Rider Warehouse, she doesn’t really do a lot, but it feels more like she’s got ownership of her story than, uh, maybe ever? It feels like it’s valuing her reaction to what’s happening as a primary consequence, at least. It’s usually like it is in the first two-thirds of this episode, dudes arguing about protecting or destroying Yui, but this one felt like it valued Yui as more than a plot commodity. Really nice surprise!

That said, I really enjoyed all of the scenes of men arguing about Yui. The Second Secret Science Society continues to pay dividends, sparking some of my favorite challenges for the main cast.

Wut... so her victim episode is the one you talk about like this? I've been trying to predict your reviews from before (including Shinji in ep. 38 ofc! because your complaints in ep. 37 got answered in a dramatic way there, or even for no really drastic changes for the leads in these 2 next episodes), but I guess now I feel what Tezuka feels...

Aside from that, are you sure that it's her power to make GuldStorm (the monster Tiger finished in ep. 35!) defend her? She's confused and there's Shiro thing you talk down there. There's a little misconception there; Yui knows nothing about her past. Yui's whole deal about her past is, actually, like amnesiac Ren's in ep. 11-12, both having no knowledge of the past, but something/a certain event spurs pieces of their past bit by bit and also gives them aneurysms (her asking for childhood pics is also a work of searching for truth, that she has no memories about her past and Sanako being avoidant). Here something (Psyco-Rogue's explosions) again, spurs her past memories (it's not her thinking back about it), just like Ren regaining his memory or her in ep. 20-22, albeit in significantly more detailed way, though for some reason she didn't get aneurysm here. What do you mean about valuing her reactions?

Actually, for the "arguing about Yui", what I like about it is that Shinji also does it because of his mindset of keeping everyone alive, not agreeing to sacrifices. Not merely because him being biased towards one of his best friend (Ren's deal here). I don't want those that presents themselves as selfless is blinded by those closer to them.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Shinji and Tiger, very strong stuff. It’s fun at first to see Shinji try to be a mentor, to try and bridge this empathy gap he has with Tiger.

Shinji putting himself on odds with Ren by trying a way to seal the Mirror World. And this brings me back to what I said during Ren's amnesia 2-parter... Ren investigating Room 401 together with Yui is incompartible at the first place because... that would get in his way of winning Rider War, as shown to Shinji here potentially jeopardizing their relationship. And being a derp once again, Shinji gets them both lost, lol. And coincidentally bumps to Reiko. Didn't you make it there previously when Shiro strips your Rider power? Tiger isn't really faking, you just find out how much of an insane lunatic he is. He knows more about Shinji, and by his depraved mindset, he concludes that Shinji is also like Nakamura, doesn't fit to be a Rider unlike what Professor Kagawa taught him, and for Toujou, those like that must die. Tiger is more dangerous as an ally than as enemy! "A hero kills everyone who doesn't match his ideals! Hail Hitler!" "My mentor is the one who told me that sacrifice is what makes a hero! But he also told me Kanzaki Shiro is the villain. Oh well he can't always be right."

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I still don’t love where the show has left Ren after Eri’s recent flare-up of EGS (Endangered Girlfriend Syndrome, the only known cure is a penultimate episode), but they throw him into stories with a couple characters that help… not fix what I didn’t like, but put it into a more appealing relief. His first scene is with Shiro, who, as goddamn always, needs someone to go help Yui.

Shiro, as established in ep. 25 (though probably Inoue also had a hand on this), is someone bloodthirsty who uses violent threatening just to get someone to do stuff, after constantly trying that to Ren, like mysteriously hurting Eri, or forcing him to choose between his friends or Eri, he's finally forced to be honest to him and just get to the point. This also brings back Ren to Atori (and gaining Sanako's full approval now)? Jokes aside the one I'm unclear about is actually why Shiro didn't pull out the stuff he did in ep. 25 when Yui was like, in worse situation like being kidnapped. And you realize it early that Shiro is like a darker counterpart of Ren, though I can't bring up about it more due to spoilers.

Probably it's also presumed by here that... the other reason Shiro gives Shinji a Survive card (not a wise move for his war to give Shinji a higher chance to, well, survive greater odds!), is to get him stronger to fight back those after Yui like SSSS. He's the single biggest obstacle for Rider War, but he's the one that cares about Yui and therefore Shiro has no choice but to.... rely on Shinji to keep her safe.

Other than that, Odin being killed is only to show yet another broken trait of him. He can be replaced like he did here. As long as Rider War exists, 13th Riders will always exist, so killing Odin (by luck or purposely) is only a futile rare occurence.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The scenes he has with the Professor, it’s like the flipside to his scene with Shiro. The Professor (I’m sure I’ll remember his name someday, but it ain’t today) is the opposite of Ren.

Kagawa prioritizes being hero, but he's losing and detaching himself from his humanity himself. While Ren prioritizes humanity (another moment he calls out people perceived as worse than him, after Kitaoka, Asakura, Toujou). It's natural for human to keep someone they care about safe at all costs, but Kagawa seems to be losing humanity in his hero mindset. The family moment makes Ren cannot treat Kagawa as a monster like Asakura yet, but Ren gives a selfish-vibe here that even him hearing the presumed benefits of SSSS' plan, he insists to protect her only because he's close to her, completely uncaring about the other consequences without any other solution (even at odds to Shinji like above). Probably this is the beauty of Ryuki? There are wrongs on both sides. Though to Ren's credit, it's also partly due to distrust of SSSS, as he stated to Shinji. Also other than Ren being conflicted to Kagawa, I see Ren as resembling one of Kagawa's underlings, Nakamura ("Angry Man"), at least just in personality and behavior, t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶K̶a̶g̶a̶w̶a̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶i̶c̶e̶.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

All of that work on the character pairings and the thematic opposition, it made the fights really pop.

I do like that Kagawa's genius, photographic memory specifically, can be used as an advantage in a fight too as a move and pattern analyzer, then adapt with it, he's not that much of a fighter but his brains make up for it, giving a trait a fighter would possess. There's also strategy involved where Knight uses Blust Vent to escape and save Yui, after Alternative Zero monologuing about his plan in motion (why should you tell him?).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

This was an overall stellar episode of Ryuki, and I didn’t even get a chance to talk about the awesome Reiko/Kitaoka stuff!

Yep, confirmed here that this is another case of someone constantly denied an information he wants, and also a show that Kitaoka genuinely cares for her. Obviously Kitaoka would give vague response about it, where Reiko feels it's only about her cannot handling the harsh truths, but Kitaoka, unbeknownst to her, thinks it's about her wellbeing, her safety, presumably he wants to prevent her being attacked or hunted by Mirror Monsters, or worse, Shiro (I still wonder why he killed his professor instead of Reiko in ep. 33), which will get her killed quickly, "Curiousity Killed The Cast".

Apart from those 2, there's A Dangerous Sign (episode title) for Asakura! Due to that lawyer, Morimoto, who is an idiotic idealist on even worse level than probably Shinji by seeing only good in Asakura, even when Asakura's a nationwide infamous felon (every stuff with him is a breaking news!), and only seeks to prove that he's truly good and mistreated, by catering to every single of his needs like his Deck (he probably thinks spoiling him would get on his good side). This one's also something to cheer for Kitaoka without feeling conflicted, really 1 to 100 difference. I want to know what are the contents of Morimoto files Goro give to Kitaoka, no subs translate them!

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Originally Posted by OmegaEclipse

Personally; the only thing I don't like about tiger is his final vent. Last I recall it was pretty boring. To be fair though it has been a while because I refuse to rewatch ryuki after realising how much asakura and satoru remind me of myself. There also is this occasional debate I hear where his name is actually taiga. Which I think works better than tiger.

Tiger's Final Vent is also impractical. There is wide window for Riders to free themselves. Asakura's real life equivalent would be more like Luis Garavito. Also if you learn Japanese, non-Japanese names/words are spelled in katakana, based on how they're pronounced, but in available katakana Japanese letters. "er" usually becomes long "a" in katakana.