[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

BTW, Die has now passed the halfway point on his rewatch list.

oh my god

this was supposed to be the short fill-in project

and it's been six weeks

and i'm only half done

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

But sometime after, I did start to appreciate Takumi's final message, about the value of life being dependent on how that life is used.

Yeah, it's a real Quality Over Quantity message, which is fitting for Takumi. He thought existing was the same as living, and it wasn't. He could keep the time loop going forever, but it'd mean denying who he is and what he needs to feel at peace.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

It makes a lot of sense for Kaido to be the viewer perspective, as the one desperately trying to "save" Takumi from his destiny. I feel like, when Takumi is talking to him here, he's talking to us as well, asserting his intention to return to being dead since he's already lived. Kaido seldom fought and therefore didn't have to suffer any of the decay, but the downside of that is that he had to watch all his friends die around him instead and now that Takumi is back, he doesn't want to lose him a second time. While Takumi learned too late to appreciate his own life, Kaido learned too late to appreciate the people in his life, so Takumi has to use his own experience to help him to move on and continue to live as a human, by following Takumi's and Kiba's example. That's why I think having this epilogue, over a decade after the show ended and focusing on the development of these two specific characters with similar problems was such a clever way to highlight the morals that the show left on, about protecting dreams and finding hope even in the darkest of despair. For Takumi, that hope was the smile as he died and he wants to give some of that hope to Kaido before leaving once more.

Good point! Well said!