[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Nokination

We also learn that some sort of event happened 15 years ago, presumably what we saw at the start of the first episode, that caused Touma to lose his memory.

If there's a thing I hate about Kamen Rider first acts, it's Gathering Data storylines, where monsters get blown up, but it's all good for the villains because they're getting so much valuable data.

If there're two things I hate about Kamen Rider first acts, it's Narratively-Convenient Amnesia, where some crucial detail has been scrubbed from the hero's mind, waiting until some later cliffhanger to finally reveal itself. I have about zero patience for most mysteries on these shows; I have negative patience for Narratively-Convenient Amnesia. Do not care about Touma's formative but forgotten trauma, especially when Kento (probably) already knows what it is!

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

But yeah, like 5 full transformation/form change sequences in the span of 6 minutes? Kinda overkill.

I actually didn't mind this? I liked that Touma tried pulling off a new form change and messing it up, but I loved that Rintaro was like Can I Borrow That And Use It Better and Touma was like Sure Thing Pal. Ex-Aid based entire arcs around Riders beating the shit out of each other for collectibles! This was a nice twist on that expectation.

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Okay I know I threw pacing aside, but I kinda like how we just suddenly got Ogami? This part of the show is very much saying, here is Touma, he's the new guy at work and is slowly but surely meeting all of his co-workers. And that just sorta fits in with how it's paced and how literally everyone is just crawling out of the woodwork. First he reunites with Kento, who also works for the same magic book organization that Rintaro does, and also he gets to meet the coolest Rider ever like not even five minutes later? Yeah sounds like an ordinary day at work when you're the new guy.

I got that feeling, and I like it, but I don't feel like the show commits fully enough to the idea of Touma being some brand new cog in a very old machine. Like, what is the process here for how any of this works? The episode more or less opens with Rintaro and Touma fighting the exact same book monster as Touma defeated in the first episode, but why those two? What exactly is the organizational structure of the Sword of Logos, besides a woman who descends staircases professionally? There's a lot to like about a guy who accidentally becomes a Knight of the Round Table, but I don't feel like the show is as focused on that concept as it maybe should be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

As for the story this time, given the cover image I had a feeling I knew what you'd be writing about. That being said... the contents of the story were very gripping to me, just the way Kouhei acts and thinks about himself, the slow spiral into a sort of depressive episode and then that small sense of wonder and hope at seeing the little toy on the book only to end up going poof... well done.

Thanks! I'm hoping that Team Saber can figure out some way to get that guy home to his kid! I guess we'll find out tomorrow!