[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

RIDER TIME: RYUKI EPISODE 1 - ?ADVENT AGAIN?

Ren, for all the world, looks like Geiz?z dad, or at least how I'd imagine Geiz?z dad would look like. Put him in a big collar and you?d think you were looking at Future Geiz.

It's not just you.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It?s just? I wanted this story to have the weight of history behind it. If you?re going to drag Shinji and Ren and Goro and Tezuka back into the Mirror World to TATAKAE, let it feel like they?re revisiting Hell. Ryuki was a series that talked about how individual choice and societal good intersected, so it?s weird for this reunion special to rob these characters of their bonds and their decisions. There should be an additional weight to these interactions, but there isn?t. It?s fun for the audience to catch these echoes, but the characters themselves are just going through familiar motions.

While it's not as exciting and personal, I think it makes sense in continuity with the TV ending, where the Rider War was reset and everybody lost their memories. So Shinji's and Ren's vague familiarity and camaraderie with each other is the result of their memories from different timelines blending together in an abstract way. Actually, I think that's the main appeal of this spin-off for me, that it's an epilogue to the show in the same way that Kamen Rider 4 was to Faiz. And I think Ryuki needed that the most.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Yeah, Shinji's whole Enthusiastic Dimwit act plays a lot differently when he's approaching 40. Still funny, but a little sadder?

Too late for approaching. He's literally 40 here, since he was 23 at the start of Kamen Rider Ryuki and it's been 17 years. He and Ren are still looking pretty good though.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Not just a petrified-looking Takaiwa; Abyss's blink-and-you'll-miss-him human host was Kuuga's suit actor, Kenji Tominaga!

Nice observation! That makes Femme and Abyss my favorite nobodies in this spin-off.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

And here, I went for a song I have a lot more love for, Revolution

I love this one as well.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

RIDER TIME: RYUKI EPISODE 2 - ?ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE?

It?s miserable, is what it is. It?s got that dumb Amazons thing, where it mistakes Brutality for Maturity. We?re not really exploring ideas with greater sensitivity or subtlety, we?re just watching folks get randomly stabbed to death. Characters don?t exhibit hidden depths or additional facets, they just pontificate briefly before dying stupidly. It?s actually more childish than the children?s show it?s celebrating.

I couldn't even tell you the difference between Imperer and Verde. Any Rider who wasn't in the show is just a nobody whose purpose is to get killed. It does diminish the novelty of the Rider War being a competition between people with strong personalities when only half of them are worth emotionally investing in. However, I'd say the worst of Rider Time Ryuki is in the second part, if that's any consolation.

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

Tezuka and Jun banging was the last thing I expected to see in just about anything, let alone this.

And ya know, sorry in advance if this comes across as insensitive(which hey, if it is, feel free to yell at me!), but I actually found them hooking up to be super gross. Not only due to it coming across more as lust rather than anything romantic at best(and reaching for brownie points at worst), but also because of the implication it ends up giving to Tezuka's' entire backstory in Ryuki: That he didn't actually think of Yuichi as a close friend, but was infact in love with him the entire time and thus was his primary motivator. As someone who's a big supporter of platonic love, well, didn't appreciate that!

I recall most people thought it was poorly executed and devoid of romance, myself included. It doesn't help that Tezuka is not remotely his usual self here, so it's hard to care about how these two unsympathetic murderers feel about each other. However, I don't think there's any need to retroactively perceive Tezuka's relationship with Yuichi as romantic. I mean, people can if they want to, but it's totally plausible for two potentially bi/homosexual dudes to love each other in a platonic way as well, the same way a hetero dude and girl can also be just friends.

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Originally Posted by cosmicrescend0

Special Time! Survive Edition! (Part 2)

-Vaguely heard Tezuka was canon gay when I watched Ryuki for the first time, and assumed something like, "Ah they must've impiled Tezuka's piano friend was more than a friend somewhere, that's some neat rep for me." But...Tezuka and Jun? It's very odd pairing, esp considering how bizzare Tezuka's character is in this one? (I can totally buy Jun being an absolute weirdo in any romantic relationship he'd persue tho.)

Bi, actually. Remember that Tezuka had a crush on Eri in the 13 Riders special. Unfortunately, him falling for a homicidal psychopath like Jun was not his best choice. The fortune teller is surprisingly lacking in foresight in this spin-off.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I don't think that sense of justice or such is a part of memory, if he didn't have a sense of justice he can do differently in Yuichi's death.

What about guys like Sento and Tsukasa, whose sense of justice is the result of losing their memory? I don't think this is the case for Tezuka specifically, but in theory, it could be possible for the reverse to happen where someone gains a sense of justice through character development and then memory loss reverts them to their formerly evil self.