[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by TheRaizin

I like this concept that Sougo's kingly dreams drove everything 'normal' to him away. A normal life, a normal dream, a normal childhood, normal friends, everything. The fact that he had a childhood robot toy as his only friend and later became an alternate future with his powers is kinda sad. You dreamt up your toy to become your friend?

It's an incredibly bittersweet ending to the Kikai plot, despite it being possibly fictitious. That moment when Rento tells Sougo that they'll always be best friends, and Sougo's like What, and it's clear that Rento was just the part of Sougo that's impossibly lonely and feels like an outcast. Just a heartbreaker, that note.

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

Like, one of them gets turned into the Another Rider this episode and that sounds like it should maybe be a big deal but it's so absolutely not.

I'm still a fan of Tsukuyomi, despite this dumb plot, but I cannot say the same for the Time Jackers! I, uh, completely didn't mention their weird Time Jerks plot! It was interesting for a minute, when Ora maybe cared about Heure, but then the show's like Ha Ha NOPE and Ora's the same duplicitous scumbag as Swartz. Awesome twist! Completely negated my brief interest in Ora's character!

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

But in the end, those touched by Rento's' kindness still have faith in him and his better half, allowing the gap to be bridged, showing that Sogo has that same sort of faith in not only himself, but in Geiz and Tsukuyomi as well. It's really touching and is especially powerful to me specifically as someone who's currently in friendships with people that have mental health issues, or heck, just plain had fights with people over whatever reason.

There's a bit in this episode that's sweet and sad and beautiful, when Sougo tells those kids that he's in fight with his friends, but it'll get better soon.

It's kind of a stupidly optimistic thing to say. Tsukuyomi wants to kill Sougo, and she's making a somehow-not-terrible case that's getting Geiz'z reluctant support. This isn't some brief row; this is a conspiracy to commit murder.

But it's Sougo, and this is how he sees things. The Time Orphans are his friends, and they'll all be friends again. He doesn't know why they're mad at him, exactly. He's not working to patch things up. But they're friends, forever, and he trusts that they'll figure that out, just like he did.

It's the sort of... like, these are the only friends Sougo's ever had. The idea that friendships can end, even if you don't want them to, it's literally not in his brain. So he just doesn't give up on Geiz and Tsukuyomi. Just like with Geiz earlier in the season, it doesn't matter if Tsukuyomi doesn't think they're friends anymore, because Sougo is still her friend. It's a heartbreaking amount of naivete, but it's really beautiful.

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

It's absolutely tragic is what it is, and that tragedy is likely what sort of pushed Sougo onto that path of Oma Zi-O as a person when it comes to his actions in basically making Earth a wasteland by the time of 2068. And that's what makes Oma Zi-O all the more interesting for me. You see sort of like, the clues and the small nudges in Sougo's life that leads him towards the person he eventually becomes. But the thing is... we're very far removed from the initial path because of Geiz and Tsukuyomi, even if things are rough right now. They've had influence and impact on Sougo and it'll be interesting to see where it leads.

For sure. The Sougo that never met the Time Orphans, it's easy to see him being so disconnected from other people that he'd consider a partial global genocide to be a pretty nice way of ruling the planet. But just by coming back in time and entering Sougo's life, the Time Orphans have helped create the conditions for a more heroic Sougo... who they are now trying to murder.

Friendships, man! Shit can get complicated!