[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Ryuga is probably the quintessential Dark Rider, probably because of how he manages to feel like a real person with little screen time, but also because of how cool he manages to be. I think there’s a later show which calls him “the ultimate Dark Rider”.

I'll be honest, the Rider that Ryuga most reminded me off? Build Hazard. It's not just the light-up eyes and the black suit, it's all of the physicality, or lack thereof. Both Riders have their head hung low, they don't interact with their opponent, they just stand there... until they burst into action, brutalizing their adversary. Like, I can definitely see someone on the stunt team for Build going This Is How We Sell This As Scary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreshToku

I don't think Die is going to recognise any of those guys! Anyhow, I don't feel good about immediately jumping on someone's opinion but... Ryuga? Feels like a real person? The guy who popped out of a mirror dimension, looks like our protagonist for no reason, and whose only goal is to merge with said protagonist and then kill people?

I'll give you quintessential dark rider if only because he's our first palette swap of a hero. I mean, I'd count G4 but he definitely wasn't as iconic as Ryuga.

I don't know that I'd describe him as a real person either, but I can see how someone could get there. Shinji's actor imbues him with some real menace, and the whole Ryuga thing is so evocative that your brain can't help but try to fill in the blanks.

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Originally Posted by BagJo

So, Ryuki is one of the best Rider shows with not one, but FOUR "meh" endings. For all the great character work, the actual plot like many of have already stated can be a bit sloppy. Maybe it's just my head-canon, but because the Rider Battle has occurred multiple times (With Ouja winning at least a few times if that SIC story is canon), I can see the Series, Movie, and both endings to the 13 Riders Special technically all being canon. Though the show I guess does the best job of wrapping things up, but I find all the endings pretty unsatisfying.

Having said that, Ryuki is still one of my favorite Rider series, and what occurred in 49 episodes wasn't ruined for me by what happened in the last 3rd of the 50th.

Yeah, boy, for a show that really needed a definitive ending, they just served up a sampler of weak choices.

But, and I'll get into this later too, I don't know how much it matters. I'm a big believer in weak endings tainting stories, and Ryuki's definitely going to have a big ol' Even If on how much I enjoyed, but I still think the character work was strong enough to make the plot deficiencies feel less irritating.