[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Actually, to throw my own on the pile, this is another movie directed by Osamu Kaneda, and I recall from the last time I watched it that it felt like stiff and boring Kaneda instead of weighty and visceral Kaneda, which definitely didn't help counteract how meandering the script can feel.

Yeah, there're a few dialogue scenes in the middle where I was like Are You Sure This Is How You Want To Shoot This. Boring blocking, dull panning, simplistic editing. The action scenes are decent, but a bunch of the slower moments are rendered lethargic.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

That being said! I always have really enjoyed Takeru and Shinnosuke's dynamic throughout it, and while I have to admit it bothers me that Toucon Boost Damashii and Tousan Damashii are technically separate things for no reason, I always have thought Zero Drive looked quite sharp. In general, I kind of like how the movie highlights how Drive is a tech-based Rider in contrast to Ghost, with Shinnosuke having to make due with Mach Drivers and old prototypes for most of the movie.

I don't think I enjoyed the Shinnosuke/Takeru stuff as much as you did. I feel like (especially during Ghost's First First Act) Takeru needs a robust and stable emotional support system to keep him on track. Shinnosuke... like, he's trying to be there for this moody dead teenager, but he's also trying to get back to his girlfriend without irrevocably altering the timeline in the process. He sort of doesn't have a ton of bandwidth for Takeru's stuff with his dad. It's kind of charming in places, where you can see Shinnosuke thinking Do We Need To Do This Right Now, but I don't feel like the movie did enough with how different they were as people.

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Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

Well, the scene was set in 2005, so maybe he was on an adventure with the Hibiki gang and they just left him behind. For some reason.

Very excited for 2025's Drive Anniversary V-Cin which definitely closes this loophole, and nothing else. 75-minute movie about how a talking belt ended up in a temple's bushes, please and thank you.

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Originally Posted by TheRaizin

That scene of Shinnosuke putting his marriage ring under ground for Kiriko to dig up, I remember me and my brothers were watching this movie and we screamed like cavemen when Kiriko got the ring.

I'm hot and cold on how Shinnosuke proposes to Kiriko, honestly. I do appreciate the romantic pragmatism of Shinnosuke deciding that, since he could die in an upcoming fight, he wants to make sure Kiriko knows how much he loves her. But I wish there'd been more actual dialogue around this change to their relationship, to make it seem less perfunctory. The most we ever get in Kamen Rider romances is hand-holding and hugs (plus Go watching Chase die, continuously), so it would've been nice if something as adult as a proposal got treated with some maturity.