[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Even though, unlike Wataru, you can gather early from the '86 parts that it's all essentially one big lie, I think the episode does a great job making you want it to be true all the same.

It's a little funny you'd bring this up, because I honestly had a couple points where I forgot/misunderstood whether or not Wataru knew that Biggie was Rook. Right in the beginning, Rook runs off from the fight with Kiva, and the next scene is Wataru, Shizuka, and Biggie playing with a ball. It took a few seconds to realize that Wataru didn't just catch up to Biggie after the fight, that they all just reconnected somehow. I feel like there should've been a linking scene, where we see Biggie wake up after the fight and meet up with Wataru? It's a part of an overall sense that this one didn't dot the i's as much as I'd like.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

So, we're already at the point where the show treats the Ixa Knuckle as if it were the entire belt, which is something I don't think has been mentioned in this thread yet? It's just a strange little thing since the show DOES make a point to show characters actually putting the belt on separately... except for when it doesn't at all. It's easy to poke fun at, but of course, for a Rider system being passed around between all these characters, it's kind of more simple, striking, and flexible for filmmaking purposes to center that all around just the Knuckle, so I get why they did it.

I did scrunch my face a little bit in the Jirou/Otoya vs Rook fight, when Jirou just hands Otoya the IXA Knuckle and then Otoya henshins. Even my undiscerning eye was able to go Doesn't He Need A Driver at that omission. Neither dude consistently wears the belt in the '86 fight? Jirou does to start, for the first henshin, but once he's knocked out of it, the belt completely disappears. It's weird!

(My headcanon for Yuri stealing the Knuckle when she never had the belt is that she knew she wouldn't be able to henshin into IXA, she just wanted a bad-ass gun to use alongside her regular arsenal. She's no dummy!)