[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I don't know how I'd rank Ryuki just yet. The characters are so great, but they're trapped in a story that doesn't have any moves to it. (The stakes and premise don't ever really evolve over the course of the series, minus the last two episodes, which is sort-of insane to think about. There are new Riders, and those new characters create interesting stories, but the world they operate in stays fairly static.)

To gain more insight of ranking, if you have time, can you read the essay blog I've shared (separate post, or link above for quick access)? Probably can if you also read wikis (you can read the OOO take too!), and those are much better version of wikis. And yeah Shiro's one invincible villain, that's the reason why the characters are trapped in story without much moves. From Yui, to Sano, to Ren, to Asakura, everyone related to the Rider War are his pawns and victims. He's a ghost, so Riders can't attack him, he controls the single most powerful Rider, so should they even try they're almost certainly going to fail. If Odin does die, Shiro can just find a new person to replace him. If something doesn't go his way, he can just have Odin rewind time. Top it all off, he can actually strip Riders of their powers if he really wants to. Hilarously, "trapped in a story" is even exemplified in a Rider battle (with Shiro also).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I mean, those are neat theories, but I'm just going off of what's on the show.

Sure, those are theories, but Kobayashi's writing style mainly utilizes Show, Don't Tell system. She won't tell you anything outright, and instead convey through hints, dialogues and character emotions. I think she purposefully wants her fans to just catch what they see happen in her story and make their own theories/assumptions about it, like what I explained about this before. So I think making theories to explain something is plausible when talking about Kobayashi's work.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Odin declares Knight to be the final Rider (other than him) before Asakura's killed. That's what bugs me, the Odin/Knight Final Fight is happening before all the other Riders are dead.

I think he just expects Zolda and Ouja to die soon therefore Knight is untouched and final, Shiro knew Zolda and Ouja are going to have their own battle, because Shiro watches both Zolda vs Ouja and Odin vs Knight Survive at episode 50.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Sure, definitely a possibility. Or maybe some got killed during the series and we never saw it. It's just weird that they couldn't seem to spare a minute to close off that omission. Also, how cool would it have been if we didn't see Asakura for a few episodes, and then he just drops four cracked Card Decks on Kitaoka's desk or something? How great would that have been?

Oh this is also related to the picture above I sent to you, the scribbled people holding cards. He explains that some Riders are maybe killed offscreen, and they are likely shown as the people with scribbled eye in the OP.