[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

One little touch I love about Gaim’s first episode is the music during the fight with the Byakko Inves. It’s not triumphant or heroic, it’s just sad and lamentful, as if this shouldn’t be happening. I have no idea how much of the plot the composer knew in advance, but it’s a nice touch.

Oh right, dubbing made me lose focus on the music somewhat... the music I'll likely talk about later that this is spoiler stuff.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yarlick

I said I was doing another post concerning Ryuki when I'll have watched at least 40 episodes...well just finished watching the last episode and I have mixed feelings about it.

So...we actually learn that Kanzaki Yui was in fact dead.
Still, that means it's not Shiro that died? That means the guy is actually alive?
From what I understand Kanzaki Shiro fused with his mirror World version.
Were the both of them dead all along?

In the end, this war that was supposed to be to save Yui was useless since she still disappears.

So you've finished Ryuki? Well, I also offer you (if you aren't bothered by wall of text, though I found this site easy to read despite that) an extremely deep analysis of Ryuki, deeper than anything else I've read on Internet, the link's here, or you can access them on my signature too.

Well the War is kinda hopeless to stop, there are no single good choices for any of the cast. Choices people have are the following:

• Stopping the war (by other Riders' doing like Shinji)/taking away Rider power = Contract breach, the Riders can get eaten by Contract Monsters if you won't fight, or if you destroy the Decks (or likely if you keep away a Rider's card Deck due to not feeding them for long time). So it may potentially doom the Riders even if the fight is stopped.
• Winning the war = Odin, the game is rigged for those that is driven to win. Odin is by far the strongest Rider and no Riders can best him. Although he can still be killed (by Final Vent or attacking his belt) if lucky, Odin can be replaced with another puppet, like his Phoenix motive, making him eternal on Rider War.
• No Rider power = Mirror Monster hunt like any civilians. It can happen to someone who refused to join the war like Yuichi.
• Kagawa's plan = Time Vent (not to mention Kagawa's theory was wrong).

The part of learning about her death reveals about the true nature of the war, and is meant to provide a solution to stop the war, namely Yui threatening to commit suicide to prematurely kill herself before the war would end. While she was already a pacifist before who doesn't want others to die or suffer, Shiro can rely on the fact that nobody including her knows the war is for her own "good", but obviously this reveal won't change her mind, but the reveal is the last straw to finally make Shiro relent from his obsession knowing she'd still put others above herself even when offered a chance to live longer otherwise. And she didn't disappear for good that time, she still exists within the mirror, to ask if he wants to repeat everything once more, which is why the war is still continued.

For Shiro, the important thing is that he doesn't merge with his human form, stayed as ghost (and within the mirror most of the time) and thus cannot interact with physical world, and therefore needs Odin as his proxy to fight in Rider War (Shiro wants to win his own war to use the wish for himself to save Yui), and the analysis I gave to you also elaborates on his form on his character explanation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yarlick

Shinji Kido died protecting a young girl and...kinda made Ren change.
Anyway...I couldn't see any other way for Shinji. I mean, he wanted to fight for Yui, then stopped fighting for Yui aswell and in the end is final wish is to close off the mirror world just as he has been wanting since the very start.

That punk Toujou dies an "heroic" death, I wanted him to have an horrible death.

Even though I didn't like the "rich kid", I think his death is kinda tragic.

Kitaoka, my boy, dies from his illness, as expected.

As for Asakura, his death is also fitting.

Ren get his wish and I wonder if "Ryuki" being the protagonist wasn't some kind of red herring as he never truly evolves in his way of doing this.
Ren does change a lot though, you can't help but think he is the true protagonist.

Every single Riders had death by irony:

• Ryuki (died after realizing his desire as a Rider, which was to close the Mirror World and end the battle).
• Knight (Having discovered that he already killed people long ago and having lost his truest friend, Knight finally throws away his hesitancy to fight and kill... And dies right before he can see Eri again).
• Scissors (fed people to Volcancer, dies getting eaten by said monster).
• Zolda (becomes a Rider because of his illness, but had to stop being a Rider because of his illness). Applies to Goro too; Goro fakes his death when he becomes a fake Zolda (pretending). After he becomes Zolda for real, he dies for real.
• Raia (lying in his prediction before that he would die if it's actually Shinji, but sacrifices himself for Shinji, fulfilling his fake prophecy).
• Gai (lives to manipulates others, dies by getting manipulated by someone he thought had under control, Ouja).
• Ouja (finally kills Zolda, but it's actually Goro, and not Kitaoka, thus maddened with dissastification and walked into a police ambush to get killed).
• Tiger (he constantly sacrifices others to try becoming a hero, he only became one after he sacrifices himself).
• Imperer (actually became happy during the war, having no more need for the wish, but he had to fight in order to survive, and died not long after).
• Odin (specifically made to win the Rider War and manipulate its outcome, he's destroyed when Shiro realizes the whole war is pointless).

But Ren being "true" protagonist? I feel people underestimate Shinji's importance on Ryuki, he's the heart and the soul of the series, and of its Riders in general, inspires the others, like what other protagonists do at the end, Yusuke did for the police in Kuuga, he decides to become a Kamen Rider so that he can protect people from Monsters despite the warnings that it'll sacrifice his normal life, and over time he also realizes that it's not just innocent civilians he needs to save, but the Riders too. Not to mention about Shinji regarding the ending, look at the comment at the bottom (or praising the war to elevate Ren as the protagonist as he wins the wish).

The part of Shinji fighting for Yui is a rare moment of weakness for him, potentially turning him selfish like other Riders, only being concerned about the one's close to him, but it also shows Shinji's effect, that when Shinji tries to get the other Riders to fight him, they all refuse, even Asakura. It shows that his idealism actually did inspire the others and it was something about him that they all respected, something that even motivated some of them to be better people (Ren and Kitaoka discussing if Shinji's actually good addition or not).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yarlick

One thing I don't like, and that I hate as a "Kamen Rider trope" : Going back through time to erase any of the events that happened in the series, rendering watching it completely meaningless. Goshdarnit...why do this? When you can just resurrect people and be done with it?

Am I missing something or what?
I feel like this isn't Shiro's first attempt at saving his sister. Isn't there some kind of time loop?

No offense, but to not speak highly of the ending, I feel like people miss a point of Ryuki, for the entire war part. The story goes to great lengths to show how horrifying war is, only causing death, (cycle of) suffering, putting innocent people in danger, good people can get involved in the war and die, etc. The reset ending shows how the world is better off without war. Though for the wish, it's not detailed about the extent of the wish capabilities, but probably Ren opting to cure (not revive) Eri, and same goes for Shiro to Yui (not revive but extend her lifespan) with time limits they have to face is probably telling about the wish on resurrecting people...

And it's not meaningless. Even if everything was erased, the world is still a better place because of what happened in the story. It's not like everything is back to square one. The Riders amounted to something, even if they don't remember it. They changed history's trajectory and made their lives a little better. The TV ending is Shinji finally successfully stopping the war, indirectly via the reset. But Shinji's the root for the reset: The Riders are supposed to kill themselves quickly (and Shiro makes sure to choose rotten people as one who is eager to kill), but Shinji's presence in the Rider War, his innocence and determination, slowly soften the other Riders, the exact opposite of what Shiro wanted. It manages to get the Riders to halt or even stop their fighting, delaying the war long enough to prevent Shiro from completing the war before Yui's birthday, and letting Shiro knew that Yui rejected the new life (as a counterpoint, Shiro tried to use and support Ouja as the way to kill off Riders quickly though).

Also yes it's a timeloop, it's already shown in episode 28 where Shiro uses Time Vent to rewind time and restarting the war in the process (for petty reason to save a childhood drawing, but Shiro can rewind the war and restart if it's not going on his favor), and Shinji's the one that screws up his war due to his idealism, moreover by destiny, Shinji always becomes a Rider, no matter what Shiro does.