[Kamen Rider Die]

MASKED RIDER RYUKI EPISODE 40



It is insane how quickly some of these episodes evaporate from my memory. One of the reasons I stopped talking about two episodes at a time during Agito was that, a lot of the times, I just ended up talking about the second episode because I could barely remember the first. Now, I finished watching an episode, hopped on the boards to respond to a post, and now I'm like What Happened In This One Again?

And it's not a bad episode! I'm pretty sure I liked it! It does a good job exploring the various values of heroism in the cast, how a concept like heroism is largely subjective, how anyone can create a justification to think of themselves as a hero. Some of it's a little repetitive (Shinji's 8th or 9th I Don't Know What To Do/It's Better To Do Something Than Nothing story beat), but nearly everyone shows up to the party, and it's a fun little watch.

If the plot's ever in danger of stagnating, that's a good time for Shiro to stir things up, and boy is he ever all over this one. He gets a little moment with Yui in the beginning setting up her new perspective of having sympathy for Shiro rather than anger. It's a mature outlook, seeing the bad decisions he's making as similar to Shinji and Ren and all the rest, men who need to fight against their fates and try to change things. It's a different version of Yui and Shiro's relationship, and I appreciate that, but... Shiro's started a murder club? And he controls (?) mirror monsters? And he's directly or indirectly led to the deaths of maybe hundreds? This is not some small mistake Shiro made. This is not an Oopsie. For her to be wanting the Rider Battle to end partially so he won't feel sad... it's asking for a lot of sympathy from the audience that I don't think the show has written Shiro to deserve. Like, I see where they're going, but it's a little too much like Morimoto's incredibly misguided defense of Asakura. I feel like she's projecting a humanity onto Shiro that really isn't there beyond the motivation of Protect Yui.

I mean, he definitely sent a monster to kill Professor's wife and child, so, yeah, not exactly too concerned about Shiro's emotional well-being. It's a good tactic, though. Professor's whole thing is about necessary sacrifices, so forcing him to live that creed, it's a great threat. It also completely doesn't work, as he chooses to stay and fight Knight with Tiger, rather than save his family. That decision, it's the crux of the episode, and leads to the one thing I really liked about Shinji's role in the story.

In general, I'm kind-of done with Shinji's crises of conscience. Forty episodes in, I think we've got a pretty good read on Shinji's character. Especially since this episode treats Tiger's betrayal of Shinji as both physically and emotionally devastating (Shinji drops his Rider Deck to the ground in some very heavy symbolism), but also something he gets over with a quick Yui pep-talk (sort-of?) and probably just remembering all of the past instances when a morally complex situation could be resolved by deciding to do something rather than nothing. So it is with this one, as Shinji saves Professor's family. I liked the idea here, a refutation of Professor's It Is Heroic To Sacrifice in Shinji deciding to save an enemy's family because all lives have worth and no one needs to be sacrificed if you have the courage to try and save them. That saving people doesn't have to serve a greater good, or be part of a heartless calculus. That real heroism isn't sacrificing the people you love, it's saving even the people your enemy loves.

But, you know, it's all self-justifications on this show. I love that. I love how everyone's right and everyone's wrong. How Shinji's view of heroism has the unmistakable ring of truth, but it's still just one view of heroism. Tiger's not willing to suffer false heroes, and that's got something to it. Ren's willing to burn everything to save one person, and that's got something to it. Professor's willing to lose everything to save the world, and that's got something to it. And, of course, Kitaoka understands that the world is better for him being in it, forever, and maybe that's the real heroism.

Sounds like it to me!