[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

This adds new context to Oomura's line to Wataru encouraging him to make his own violin, since Otoya's reason for declining possession of Black Star taught him that masterpieces should be celebrated for their uniqueness. Otoya was destined to create his own violin, the Bloody Rose. His inspiration gave Oomura a desire to change to stop being a monster, which allows him to sympathize with Wataru who wants to change to become a stronger person. Even though he dies tragically and wasn't able to keep his promise to Otoya, his legacy passes on that inspiration to Wataru across 22 years, to do what he couldn't.

Yeah, there's also a lot in this story about finding a balance between the drive to create something versus the the need to control that creation. It's a story where men are ruled by their need to define themselves through their art, and then Otoya's like Maybe Don't Think About It Like That. Otoya's the one who comes at art as something that already exists in the world, it just needs to be uncovered. He's not trying to speak through art, he's trying to listen, if that makes any sense. It's the only time Otoya isn't loud!

I don't know. I thought the Otoya/Oomura conversation was really intriguing, what those two guys were saying about their relationship to art.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

You describe Nago's sun as something demoralizing here, a total contrast of the sun description you gave to Tendou (although the sun description of IXA here still can fit to Tendou, he's an anti-hero too albeit milder one).

It's part of the way this show repurposes different tropes to mean different things. Kiva's the hero of the show, so the aesthetics and iconography are all finding the heroic sides of his design. The moon is less a symbol of desolation and fear, and it's more a symbol of protection; clarity and safety in the night. IXA's inverting the sun into something horrible and uncompromising. Smart shows play around with these sorts of expectations!

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

Really liked this two-parter. It reminded me a lot of Faiz, in good ways. Not just because Murakami was the Fangire-of-the-fortnight, but because the whole concept of his story about wanting to live a normal life while dealing with his monstrous impulses is literally Faiz's thesis statement. The ending, with Oomura's fragments drifting by the violin, is classic Inoue pathos at its best. This is the kind of stuff that I like from this show, especially with how it manages to find some redeeming traits in Otoya and comes perilously close to actually motivating Wataru to be more assertive. Excellent stuff.

I was so monumentally disappointed that there wasn't a single "Oomura is Oomura" call-out in this story. (We did get Nago shouting "Evil is Evil!", but that's not really the same.) Inoue's fascination with how people define themselves off of their merits and flaws, how heroism can sometimes be nothing greater than accepting a complicated person for themselves, the hard but necessary work of self-acceptance, learning to live by your own sense of accomplishment... yeah, pretty classic Inoue episode here!