[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

Yeah, I wasn’t totally keen on this two-parter either. Ryotaro just came off as an unnecessary jerk to me.

He is not exactly someone to root for in this one.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I heavily disagree with you on your two major criticisms of this episode, in that the stuff about Ryoutarou's memory seems fairly straightforward to me (the primary relevant information is so simple it fits entirely within the episode title), and that I think the plot with him and the Imagin is a fairly natural sort of sequel to Climax Form's debut that's happening at a good point for it, but then, this could all be that Future Knowledge of mine making it hard for me to properly empathize with your viewing experience. Or we just have very different tastes sometimes, who knows? (We definitely have very different tastes sometimes.)

Yeah, boy, when it comes to the memory issues, I'm not getting it. I hope I don't come off as dense or stubborn or anything, but nothing in that part of the episode was clarified for me at all. Sorry if I'm missing something obvious!

For the Imagin/Ryotaro plot, I definitely think there's a way to address the conflict they're bound to have. The Imagin have hid their knowledge that this war will cost them their lives, and Ryotaro feels betrayed by that. He's been assuring the destruction of his best friends on a weekly basis. He's become complicit in their demise. He's right to be angry at them!

The problem is that the episode basically puts Ryotaro at a remove for the remainder of it, so he basically comes across as a spiteful jerk for about ten straight minutes of story, with a cliffhanger where he's an incredibly spiteful jerk.

But, like, of course Ryotaro isn't really a spiteful jerk, so I'm left with a story where he's not communicating anything to a group of characters he's never shown an inability to confront before, and he's being cruel in a way he usually reserves for murderers and genocidal tyrants. It's a story that feels like it's going out of its way to not have anyone talk to each other in order to needlessly prolong an uncomfortable story.

The premise could've worked, but the execution here was unpleasant and vaguely illogical. Maybe I'll like it better once I see the finale, though.

Thanks for the differing viewpoint, though! Always interesting to hear when folks disagree with me.