[BagJo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magnugiga

(Very) late to the party, but oh man, Ryuki’s my all-time favorite. A lot of it might be nostalgia; along with Black and Kuuga, it’s the KR shows I actually watched on TV and through VCDs during childhood and formative years.

About the 13 Special Riders: I watched it through a VCD lent by by classmate before I even finished the series, and yeah, I was pretty underwhelmed. But then, it’s pretty much impossible to have all the nuances from the series in such a short duration (especially since they decided to re-tell it from the very beginning), and after I finished the series, I actually gained a newfound appreciation toward this special… for spoiler-y reason, I suppose :v Still, definitely the worst among the three Ryuki timelines/narrative products at that time; Episode Final vs. the series would be a far more interesting debate to me at least, but we’ll cross that bridge once we get there.

The VCD I watched only shows the preferred ending. I wasn’t surprised at the audience choice; the common discussion theme among Ryuki viewers at the time was how annoying and cowardly Shinji and his philosophy was, and how Ren (a character archetype that was extremely popular at that era) should totally be the main character instead. I assume it’s similar in Japan. I eventually warmed up to Shinji a lot, though (him and Kouta from Gaim might actually be my favorite main Riders, and I think it’s not a coincidence that Gaim was the one show that managed to rekindle my interest for KR as an adult).

This was very much my way of thinking during my first watching of Ryuki. Like you though, I eventually warmed up to Shinji.