[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreamcastegirl

Like everyone else, I've spent a lot of time thinking about this and feeling generally uncomfortable about it...

I think the current problems with Jiro (obviously can't speak to a Redemption Arc or whatever the hell the next 24 episodes look like for that character) are:

1) A CHARISMATIC MONSTER IS A GODDAMN TIGHTROPE

The idea of the seductiveness of evil is hugely compelling, and it always has been. A villain with a point of view is great; a villain with a point of view who can win you over is even better. Of course a show is going to want to toy with that approach, and of course a show is going to want to write towards a performer that is as good as Jiro's actor.

The problem is that you're left with an impossible set of potential resolutions to that story. You can either show the tragic consequences of the character's worldview/goals (The Takayama Approach), and give a brutal end to a popular character; or you can try and salvage the viewers' affection by reforming the villain, asking the audience to consider the villain's misguided feelings while they were doing reprehensible things (The Alain Approach).

Both of those choices sort of suck? Rider shows usually go with the second one, and it means making your peace with, like, assault and kidnapping and gaslighting and a non-zero amount of attempted genocide. It's a lot of mental gymnastics, and it's sort of inherent to the medium.

2) MAYBE HE SHOULD BE LESS OF A FULL-TIME KILLER

The trouble with Jiro is that he's been very upfront about his evil behaviors (he definitely murdered and ate innocent people!), but the show continues to treat him like a misbehaving puppy. It's one thing for Otoya to write off frequent ambushes as, like, Boys Being Boys, but it's another for the show to try and forget that Jiro has eaten innocent people and hid the evidence.

3) HIS EVILNESS HAS A MUNDANE QUALITY, AND THAT'S WAY WORSE

It's pretty much the thing that made Kusaka incredibly difficult to stomach in Faiz: it's all about emotionally isolating and physically controlling a woman. It's a kind of real-world evil that lacks the heightened details to make it forgivable. (Arguably, Faiz wasn't really interested in forgiving Kusaka, which was key.) It's a question of scale, you know? Jiro blowing up a city block (or whatever) isn't anything I can relate to or connect with emotionally. It's TV violence, and TV stakes. But Jiro threatening Yuri's safety and autonomy is sickening in a realistic way, despite transformations and musical cues. There's not enough dramatic distance to create space for me to feel like I need to give this guy the benefit of the doubt.

4) EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE YURI/OTOYA/JIRO PLOT

I think this thing just mostly doesn't work, narratively. Even when Yuri declares her love for Otoya, a character I've largely come around on, I was like... Why? Why would she love a womanizing buffoon? Why would a controlling pile of machismo in a silk shirt ever feel like a compelling alternative? Nothing in this three-way dance ever felt like it was coming from an understandable place, so there's even less incentive to explain away Jiro's sizable flaws.