[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

It's a good one, definitely one of my favorite movies from this era. It has some fantastic stuff with Takumi and Mari that I really look forward to seeing again.

Neat!

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

It's sort of nice to have an episode where instead of any important events being the draw, t's more about about stewing in the circumstances and the feelings the characters have about it being brought to the front! I certainly don't recall that kind of thing being too common in today's Rider, outside of a scene or two that's usually meant to come right before a character makes another triumphant declaration that they know exactly what they want to do now (I love those too though).

Yeah, it's a real epilogue-y episode, at least for the non-Mari stuff. All of the Takumi/Yuuji/Kusaka scenes are basically asking Hey Is This For Real and the answer, sadly, ends up being Yes. There's definitely weight given to previous events, and this structure abandons the assumption that this is all one quick conversation away from a positive resolution. Bad things happened, and the show wants you to understand what that means.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

As I'm rewatching, knowing how everything happens, yeah, some of Kusaka's manipulation is so deliberate to the viewer that it's starting to become a joke about how terrible he is and how terrible everybody else is at noticing. I guess that's okay though since it does make him fascinating to watch and it's not like the characters have the same perspective advantage that we do. They have no choice but to be fooled by him since he's so good at what he does. I thought that sudden laugh he did after finding out Kiba mistook Faiz for a pawn of Smart Brain was pretty funny as well, seeing him switch between his personae so quickly. No matter what he does, he does it with so much expression and flair.

All of the Kusaka stuff... it's like, in some slasher films, the victims are so bad at doing the smart thing, and you start rooting for the killer? I feel like there's some of that in what makes Kusaka so funny. I love Takumi and Yuuji (and I love Takkiba), but I am also rooting for Kusaka to destroy them emotionally in the funniest way possible.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I know this is one of those misunderstandings that was completely accidental and could've easily been prevented but watching it unfold with the worst couriers ever is just too humorous not to love. The whole scene in Kiba's apartment when he enters to find Powerful Kaido playing loud music and Yuka enjoying his performance, all of it is the best comedy! Kiba really needs help with his problem but he can't rely on his friends at all and it's hysterical how annoyed he gets about it. I'm surprised it didn't feature in your screencaps.

It was on the shortlist! As were a few of the Keitaro/Kaido scenes! This episode was spoilt for choice!