[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Aside from that, are you sure that it's her power to make GuldStorm (the monster Tiger finished in ep. 35!) defend her?

Man, I ain't sure about nothing on this show. These are all just guesses!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

What do you mean about valuing her reactions?

I mean, this is a show that doesn't do a great job of keeping Yui central to any story that is largely about her. There's a ton of time spent protecting Yui, which becomes a story about the men protecting her. There's a ton of time spent investigating Yui's background, which becomes about the investigators (Reiko, Tezuka). There's a ton of spent on how Shiro's actions reflect on her, which becomes about Shiro's motivations. This show has an uncanny ability to start a story about Yui, and end it about someone else.

This one, it felt like it ended being about Yui, about her, on her own, learning something of importance that could affect the trajectory of the story. That's pretty rare to me!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Probably this is the beauty of Ryuki? There are wrongs on both sides.

Oh, absolutely. One of my favorite things about its construction is how every option feels bad for the cast. Like, the Second Secret Science Society is a terrific endgame-ish adversary because they aren't a more powerful group of villains, but because they're a more effective team of heroes. (Well, maybe not Angry Man!) The way that their plan unfolds here, it marks them as cunning foes, but it's in service of Shinji's own goal. They're a combination of the At All Costs attitude of Ren and the End The Rider Battle goal of Shinji. They're Team Ryuki, but they work together. Like, they have a plan to save the world, it's just a plan that's abhorrent to Ren and Shinji. That's what makes them so fun to watch, the way that, from a slightly different angle, they're as much the heroes of this show as the actual heroes of this show.

I love that shit, that kind of moral complexity. No heroes, no villains, only Riders.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

after Alternative Zero monologuing about his plan in motion (why should you tell him?).

That's something I like a lot in this one, is how Professor's busting to tell Ren what's going on, what his plan is. He's secretive with Shinji for a while, but this episode shows he really wants to tell someone about his cool science plans, because he's a big nerd. Nerds loving talking excitedly about stuff to sometimes exhausting ends. Just look at me!