[Kurona]

A show like this was always going to end in a personal struggle, of course; that’s just how Kamen Rider works. But you can still do that within the context of the Humagear struggle, and still have that be integral. Give them their own personal stakes in that battle that have been built over the course of the series rather than falling back on character deaths to cheaply fuel artificial drama.

I can’t look at a series that has always put its lens very closely very directly on Humagears and their role in society every two seconds and even for a moment think that Aruto uncharacteristically going on a rampage due to a last minute character death is satisfying. That’s just not an endpoint that makes sense and it frankly makes the rest of the season feel pointless as a whole. There’s no cohesion, no consistency and no strong development. For me the show just changed so radically it feels comparable to Hibiki — the ending may be strong, but it’s sure as hell not the ending to the show I’ve been watching.