[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Bishop is an idiot.

He definitely miscalculates here!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I don't know if "lack of confidence" is a good enough excuse to make him weak enough at that time to prevent his nature as Fangire known, but Otoya possessing him as him easily beating the thugs.

Well, he's a skinny boy with self-esteem problems. I'm not surprised he can't do a bunch of push-ups, and I'm not surprised his dad was a more competent human fighter than he was.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

But Otoya isn't against Wataru joining the fight, he's against being left out of the fight, against letting his son poach his destiny. Their motivations aren't comparable either. Wataru wants to be erased from history, while Otoya wants to be immortalized by it. Dark Kiva is a symbol of Otoya's pride and the apex of his strong feelings, the same way Emperor is for Wataru. That's why Maya couldn't stand in his way, since she knows this is something he has to do. Wataru sees him the same way he sees Mio, as somebody who needs to be saved. But that's wrong. Mio chose how to live. Otoya chose how to live. It's not Wataru's place to deny that, despite his good intention. You mentioned before that staying true to your identity is generally a good thing, so shouldn't Otoya's authenticity be encouraged as well?

There're just too many scenes of Otoya ditching Wataru for that to work for me. You can read those scenes as Wataru trying to interfere with Otoya, so Otoya fought back, but it comes off more as Otoya deciding to do everything himself when it wasn't strictly necessary. Again, that is totally in-character for Otoya! I have watched other episodes of this show! But it's the way Wataru and Maya treat Otoya's sacrifice as some inevitable, unpreventable thing that made this kind of a chore to get through. No one articulates any of the half-dozen valid reasons why Otoya shouldn't do this, which makes it all seem too forced, too predetermined.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

"You're wrong, Wataru. You just want to escape from the suffering you're feeling. It's wrong that you're even in this time to begin with. Do you plan on coming to the past every time you make a mistake?"

...And then Wataru of course brushes this off and it would presumably lead in to the scene of him and King fighting shortly thereafter. Considering Wataru didn't make the choice to come to the past, and the exact nature of his plan means he'll only have to the one time, it's maybe not the most accurate dialogue to his situation in-universe, but it's a perfect summation of what the viewer is meant to be taking away from Wataru's current struggle. He's filled with all this regret he doesn't know to live with, how to make it a part of him and move on, but because it's a toku show, when he wishes he could change history, he gets that chance literally, and it's kind of great? It's a story about Wataru deciding his life holds so little value the universe would be better without him in it, and it really tears into that entire line of thinking at every turn to make a point about how misguided it is.

Pretty good couple episodes for Wataru! He's a sweet boy.