[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 31 - “AI NEED YU”

But, y’know, Hana’s gone now. That post is never going to get written.

I was sad watching this episode. I can’t pretend I was viewing it objectively, ready to go on another DenLiner adventure with the gang. The whole experience was diminished. Knowing Hana wouldn’t be back, or the actor wouldn’t be back… this episode would’ve needed to be exceptional just to make me feel not horrible.

The actor not being back is the worse part IMO, and not in a way like someone later. Actors not returning again has happened not only for someone who got stopped in middle part of the series though. Not that it's a good thing, but at least for being sick, can be hoped that it's temporary and they can be back (though there's Kabuto one before, but the later part of Kabuto...). I probably will wait about your elaboration to the intro scene though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The other part of that opening bit I really loved was Airi’s laugh, the semi-out-of-character reaction to something Ryotaro’s actor probably said to her. Airi’s quirky mindfulness is a well that the show keeps coming back to, because it’s refreshing to experience. She’s like a home that Ryotaro can always return to, and the last storyline really enforced that idea.

So, yeah, inevitably you need to do storylines where that’s disrupted. Or, I don’t know, maybe not inevitably? Maybe it’s okay to have something that isn’t jeopardized or threatened? Maybe Airi’s happiness and emotional safety doesn’t need to be the crux of a cliffhanger? I don’t know. Stories need stakes, conflict builds character, but having Hana gone at the same time that Airi’s under attack… it’s too much. It’s too much for me to handle, honestly. I don’t like sad episodes of Den-O a whole lot, and this one was just an all-the-way-through bummer to watch.

Didn't expect this reaction regarding Airi considering your reaction to the Airimirer trend or Milk Dipper scene, or the keeping the truth part, and your reaction to the previous episode that it's horror to have an episode about a contest that ends up with an Airi date. I don't think that Airi's laugh is out of character? She regularly acts like that in Milk Dipper especially when Ryou-chan returns. And well, Fujishiro is of course, an Airimirer, so it will be just as similar as the ones you consider slimy; Ozaki and Miura. Though I wonder if Fujishiro isn't an Airimirer, you would consider that kind of antagonist as entertaining and charismatic... Fujishiro is someone that cannot comprehend decency it seems, that he focuses on anything that'd easy to attract those that are shallow, like money, looks, position.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

A lot of it was my mindset, which wasn’t ever going to be great. But having the rest of the story be focused on some slimy banker concocting an incredibly illegal ten million yen loan with Airi’s name on it to blackmail her into marrying him, and the climactic threat is that she’ll learn the truth that her brother’s been hiding from her for months that he definitely should’ve told her already… I didn’t like this.

And regarding the truth that Ryotaro keeps away from Airi, this is for important reason that she's aware too and is a part of Airi's classic Japanese feminity part, which is still spoiler-y.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

THE BAGGAGE CAR

-The idea of a banker just walking in and saying You Owe Us Ten Million Yen is stupid. It’s just a stupid idea. It breaks the reality of the Magical Time Train show, if you can believe it. I can sort of vaguely see Airi not rocking the boat, since that’s her nature, but just shrugging her shoulders as they repossess Milk Dipper, her parents’ shop and her only livelihood, is maybe too far. The bigger problem is the Airimirers, who never think to, like, call the cops? I’m not sure someone can just show up with a contract you never signed and take everything you own? It’s just a dumb idea that I was not in a charitable enough mood to overlook.

Airi is a yamato nadeshiko, which means a woman who embodies classic Japanese feminity. She's pretty, caring, excellent cook, and for what you say Airi not rocking the boat as her nature and shrugging her shoulders, Airi's someone who is completely unflappable. And for Ozaki and Miura (well, Fujishiro is also an Airimirer... right?) calling the cops, it's unknown if someone like Fujishiro can be taken down easily, he'd probably have wide connection to protect himself from that, and moreover, at the end he got an Imagin, which, would remind me to Ouja before, can bail him out of prisons, as being possessed by Imagin gives you super strength.