[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

It does feel a bit of a Tell, Don't Show to me though, since all the stuff mirror Sougo says about Sougo's vices, it's like... its not that I don't or can't believe any of it, but I think they coule have done with the previous episode more actively and explicitly showing Sougo express this supposed dark side of his. Unless the very existence of his edgy mirror self alone is supposed to convince me of that : P

While it's definitely something the writers could've done a bit more to telegraph... like, I think that would've made it feel more like a recent development than the point this episode's trying to make. If we'd had a couple episodes of Darker Sougo, than the end of this episode would've felt more like he was just in some weird funk, but he's over it now. The point is that this was all in him, and the audience/the Time Orphans never knew it. It kind of needs to be a revelation for it to land?

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

But yeah, I really... really like Zi-O II's debut and them utilizing a weird variation (which I loved) on a Ryuki Arc to build up to it was pretty well done.

Zi-O II's debut feels pretty earned! We've had a bunch of episodes all about Geiz inching closer to Geiz Revive, so here's the counter-balance arrival of Zi-O's upgrade form, but as a consequence of Sougo making peace with the parts of him that might become Oma Zi-O. Worked out well, I thought.

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

Ore Journal going out of business? Felt like giving credence to those who called Ore Journal the worst part of Ryuki.

I mean, boy, I don't know that I viewed it that way? It's more about time moving on (some Geocities-ass website is going to get turned into mulch by Facebook and Google, that's just the world) than a knock against a part of Ryuki's series. Hell, they brought back Okubo! He's here specifically to restart ORE Journal with a happy and outgoing Shinji! That feels like Zi-O honoring a major element of Ryuki to me.

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

The Ride Watch and Another Rider being totally different to how they worked in almost every other tribute? Felt like they were added to appease the people who kept complaining about the logistics of the previous arcs.

Maybe? I saw it more as the show not letting specifics (that it was already fairly lax about) get in the way of a Ryuki VS Ryuga conflict, and how that conflict could talk about how Sougo feared his growing power.

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

Can I believe that Sogo has a dark side? Absolutely; Oma Zi-O and Woz wouldn't exist otherwise. Do I believe that up to now it was properly given any sort of highlight? Absolutely not.

I mean, see above: I think that's sort of the point? Sougo had these thoughts and feelings inside him, but viewed them as Bad and Wrong and Not Him, just like Shinji did. (Shinji, who was famously a Big Happy Puppy Dog guy!) This wasn't supposed to be a story about Sougo's encroaching darkness or how he's turning into Oma Zi-O, it's about how we need to accept and process our darker impulses instead of ignoring them.