[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Yeah, but it's dramatically inert. It's some real Show Don't Tell stuff, where it's more compelling to see Takeru struggle with something and have him come to his own conclusions, rather than have him just overhear Takeshi explaining the themes of the story. The end result is positive (I genuinely like the themes of this movie!), but the path to get there turns Takeru into a generic observer to Takeshi's story.

It goes hand-in-hand with the way this moral is introduced, which is Takeshi just straight-up asking Takeru if he's guessed the moral of the movie that's barely begun. We aren't in a story where Takeru is grappling with the ways people can benefit from the sacrifice of others; we're in a story where Mayu is. She's the one who actually struggles with forgiving Takeshi, and coming to terms with how he can still care for her while leaving to go fight Shocker. Takeru is just trying to save Japan from an evil corporation.

So, yeah, it's a bummer that this is a big moral that Takeru a) doesn't really have any skin in, and b) learns it like he's memorizing facts.

Can't say I agree. All throughout the film, Takeru isn't just dealing with Shocker, but is also doing his usual thing he does in his own show of helping others with their problems. Only in this case, it's Mayu and her issues he's focused on, and being an active observer to the entire affair lends to credence to not only him learning something as well, but also learning more about the people around him. To say he's just a generic observer feels really disingenuous to just how much he does through the movie.

Like, yeah, he gets bodied alot, and he very much isn't the main star of the show, but the small arc Takeru has is still there and is pulled off well enough for what it is. If you didn't get anything out of it, fine, but for me, it was something unique and nice to see in a show that I was otherwise just okay with, and something I haven't typically seen in superhero shows like, much at all.