[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I definitely agree that having Ryou come back this early feels really weird, especially since his disappearance was only hinted at in the previous episode. It absolutely feels like this episode should have happened later after Kagami has been more fully established. That said, I don't care because this episode is fantastic.

One of the weirder parts of this episode that I didn't touch on before is that it opens with Kagami chasing after Ryou... except they don't tell us that? He's just sort of randomly running around one of the sets for Hibiki's closing theme (it's also stuck in my memory for a very poignant late-Faiz story) and the episode doesn't even spend half a second establishing what in the hell is happening. Hope you watched the Next Episode teaser last week, kids!

But, yeah, a weird play for the show to blow off the Ryou story this fast. Really felt like it was going to percolate for a bit longer!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I'm not sure I agree with your read on how Kagami's story went down. I think he knew early on that Ryou was a Worm, he was just trying really hard to convince himself that it wasn't true.

That's a viable read, for sure. I just don't see it a lot in the performance? There's a flash of it when he's trying to get everyone psyched about throwing a party, where he feels like something's up, but it's real minor.

Like, I don't think Kagami thinks Ryou's a Worm, but I think he feels like Ryou's hiding something, like it's all too good to be true. He's definitely forcing himself to not ask questions, but I don't think it's until ZECT takes over that he really starts lying to himself about Ryou being a Worm.