[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Sunred

All I am gonna say is this show makes me want either fried rice or coffee every time it is brought up. Coffee proper not that funky 90s Nickelodeon-looking stuff the imagins drink. I didn't know it was coffee until Ura's infamous spitting scene.

Nah, I just want a ton of frosting like Naomi serves it. Yuuto's right: coffee is too bitter. That's why everyone gets along with him! Because of his universally popular opinions!

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

As for the finale itself, I like it. Not my favorite in the franchise, not my least. I'm not sure what it is, but it feels oddly low stakes for me. It shouldn't, between the destruction of an entire timeline and the armies of Imagin taking advantage of the show's reduced Rider population. We get a big reveal about Hana, Yuuto permanently erases Sakurai's existence, there's a "cheers love, the cavalry's here!" moment with Sieg, of all people... it should feel bigger than it does. It's good, and that Sieg moment in particular was fantastic, but it still feels relatively low key. I think a lot of it boils down to how simple and straightforward the final boss fight is? The Gorenger style bouncing attack is cool and all, but it basically amounts to one shot, a dead Imagin, and then Kai just disintegrates. I don't know. Something about that whole element of the finale didn't really do much for me.

I think the biggest problems for the scale of the final episode are that we don't really see anyone outside of the heroes reacting to the threat (there aren't civilians in obvious jeopardy, no returning guest stars to re-endanger), and that the Imagin assault is just There Are A Whole Bunch Of Monsters. There's a point when they're attacking the hospital to get at Airi, but then Deneb defeats them all? Off-screen? There aren't any cool strategies or shocking twists, outside Sieg showing back up when Naomi arrives. It all just ends up feeling like busywork, something to do until everyone starts crying.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Man, am I curious to know how all of this would have played out if Hana's original actress hadn't left. I don't know if there would have been any real difference, but I'm also not sure if having a child Kohana made it easier to work her in as Airi and Sakurai's child. Not sure.

I feel like we would've gotten one less Yuuto spotlight, to make room for a Hana spotlight. There probably would've been a tease about her connection to Sakurai and/or Airi, something to make her a little more central to the conclusion. It definitely would've helped the final string of episodes, for me at least.