[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

There's a real big weight to this finale that's being set up here. The fact that we don't get the credits like usual being one of those. Instead of dancing we get another beautiful song being sung where we see everyone spending their final hours doing whatever they need to before they all slowly but surely meet up. It gives me such chills whenever I hear it, and it's a scene I like to replay a lot... both physically and mentally.

Yeah, it... I like how it's a scene that accumulates power as it accumulates people. It's not this big cast walking for thirty seconds, it's a trio becoming a group becoming an army. It's a nice reminder for how this story's escalating stakes have provided Touma with a network of allies that he never could've predicted.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

Also, Luna is now an adult. There is a reason, but I don?t remember it and when I shared it with someone, her response was that, in much more polite terms than I?m putting it (probably), was ?bullcrap?.

Oh, man, I love Luna turning into an adult in this episode. Maybe the smartest decision this show ever made. It's Luna taking control of her narrative for the first time ever, and changing her role from Helpless Victim to Integral Ally. And she does it herself! With no one else's suggestion or input! It's a fully-actualized Luna, just when Touma needs to put the past behind him and fight for the future. I love it so much.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

If you're considering this as a better ending, it's not that you'd rather for Touma-Luna stuff in earlier series (e.g. the flashbacks) to not exist but just executed better?

It's a lot like the Ren stuff from last time: it needs to be sort of opaque and shallow earlier, in order to be deep and affecting now. If you like this resolution enough, maybe that makes it worthwhile, but it doesn't retroactively make it fun to have watched.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Do you think that, Rintaro kinda fridged Mei here? To tell her just to stay and wait, as she's not a fighter who can contribute much. It's explained that Rintaro wanted to say something, and obviously Mei won't survive going directly through this one of battlefield, but still.

I mean, fridging is... sort of a different thing? Mei isn't suffering here to motivate Rintaro, she's just being set aside from the action. I wouldn't fight back against someone who disliked it -- it can easily be read as patronizing, if you're feeling ungenerous -- but I think Rintaro's right to suggest that Mei's plucky optimism isn't going to serve her well in an assault on a mystical fortress with two worlds in the balance. Mei's power is in how she shapes and supports the Sword of Logos; this is frontline battle stuff.

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Originally Posted by Mesnick

Your fanfiction, by the way, conveyed this atmosphere very well.

Thanks! I always get a little melancholy at this point in a series, where we've only got a couple more hours with these characters. Shows rarely seem to address their imminent endings this directly, and I wondered how it all might look to someone like Mei. It's been this bonkers year, and now it's all definitively ending. Is that a relief? A sorrow? Both?

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I love the song, and the direction, and all of that stuff, but mostly, I think I just love these characters, and that last fact alone probably gets at the real core of why this episode is so good.

They're absolutely one of the best ensembles in Kamen Rider history. Recency bias keeps me from really ranking stuff objectively or comprehensively, but they're definitely in my Top 3.