[cosmicrescend0]

Episode 6!

-Yeah, this is a very unique episode, not just for 01, but for Rider as a whole maybe?

-Grief is such a complicated thing. It hits differently for everyone, and similarly with how people cope. Because of this, I feel a bit awkward judging a character's actions during grief and how they process it. Beside the Obvious Dangerous Methods, it just feels terribly scummy to say "This character should've handled their grief in X or Y way!" because of that, yknow? Essentially comissioning a robot and turning them more or less into your daughter because you can't get over her death, it's......No words, really.

- When Seine starts spouting off lines that she's obviously learned from watching videos featuring Seiji's daughter, it's so....sad. Forgive me, but it even starts to get deeply uncomfortable for me. Just like, Seine has the appearance of an adult woman, but all the lines she's learned are taken from obviously a much younger stage of the deceased life? I suppose we've all done it, remembering our loved ones in a super speific, often idealized angle, but bringing technology in the mix.....Seine exists to be Seiji's daughter, and fill out a dream his late daughter had. Isn't it kind of fucked up to ""revive"" her in such a curated form, as if there's nothing else to remember? (Not to mention the overly complicated angle of him "profiting" off of the voice and face of the deceased as her manager depsite his intentions, but that's far too much to get into.)

-I wonder, what Koreonosuke was thinking when he made that Humagear for Aruto. Was it purely for young Aruto's support, but maybe it also for his sake as well.....?

-Oh, and we got a little sideplot for Jin today! It's really striking, how this kid who parades around the battefield like a playground, suddenly lurches for the Magia belt, trying to rip it out before it's too late. Seeing Jin's pain about a topic he doesn't fully understand (but wants to know more of!) is a really interesting contrast to Izu's search for "passion" last episode. Too bad his dad's like, a terroist-cultist who doesn't give a shit about any of that.

-Completely forgot about both Jin's rider form and Lightning Hornet *both* debuting in this episode. The action really feels like a second thought to me, considering how visceral the "Humagear of the Week" story is. Love how unmistakably pink Jin is, though.

-The ending for Seiji, ah....I say I dont like judging chars by how they react/cope with grief, but I wonder, is that solution really for the best? Only time will tell. At least, for now, Seiji can grieve without the threat of jailtime over his head.

-I'm not sure what kind of a future where we rely an AI for emotional support is like, or if I'd even want something like that, but surely if it's able to help even a handful of people, perhaps I wouldn't mind it.

-Ending this episode of a double "Aruto ja naito", I sure did need that after all that.