[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The whole context of Dragonic Knight's debut is really straightforward in that sense, which sort of disappointed me at the time, but looking back, I kinda like it a lot, actually? Kento asks Luna to protect Touma, so she literally gives him armor; it checks out! The episode stands up to that Ghost comparison better than I had it pegged for at first, because it's still making a bond between characters central to the protagonist's growing strength. It comes down to Saber fighting Calibur, but even then, it isn't Touma alone who fends him off.

It's a thing that I can't tell if I like or dislike: this episode is supposedly about Touma's bond with all of his new friends -- Touma's telling Kamijo that all of the present swordsmen are why Kamijo's bound to lose -- but the subtext is way more about his old friends.

Like, there's some really interesting stuff in there about how both Kento and Touma are holding onto this formative trauma to the detriment of their surroundings; Luna's gift of armor is only for Touma, the entire SoL is still taking it on the chin for Touma and Kento's tragic backstory, Kento is cursed to death, etc. It doesn't really go explored too much, beyond Kento learning to put the past in the past right before he dies, but it's a neat kernel of an idea. It's a more interesting story to me if Kento is visibly culpable, while Touma is invisibly culpable. Fun to think about, for sure.