[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 22 - “THE RETURN OF T - THE UNDYING MAN”

Boy, this one was just a complete misfire for me. While the first part wasn’t great, at least it was trying to say something about Terui’s crusade through the arrival of Kujo. Terui’s warped his life to get vengeance for the dead, and Kujo’s doing the exact same thing. The tension of that, and the ways Terui both appreciates Kujo’s dedication while feeling alarmed by their similarities… I mean, it’s going to be fun to see that get paid off, at least. How does this show condemn Kujo’s vendetta while allowing Terui to work daily for his fateful confrontation with his family’s killer?

Triceratops reveals her present motive that she'd expand her vengeance into the whole Fuuto itself (the answer for above, she's not about Museum, but about the city itself, and Terui also declared to hate Fuuto in his debut), still related to Mizoguchi, due to him loving the Fuuto, but the city didn't return the favor, with how the city was "ungrateful" to Mizoguchi. For all the similarities between Aya and Terui, she'd, unfortunately, take his worst trait too of being consumed by revenge in her personal agenda against the Museum while being on the police force, and she's actually a reminder about how Terui might end up had he, probably had he not met Shotaro despite his refusal for questions. Even Terui laments about Aya being too consumed by revenge to save her, and, well, about him seeking his family's killer, there'd be a difference between seeking revenge and putting down a threat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

HA HA, who knows, because this episode sidelines Terui for a huge chunk of it, and then pivots Kujo’s vengeance towards a vague supervillain plot, complete with her going to work for the very organization she swore to destroy. Terui never articulates a better difference between their parallel outlooks than My Vengeance Is The Okay Kind, and Shotaro’s primacy in this episode robs the story of whatever spark it had in the first part. We just have Shotaro being half-boiled, and paying the price for it. Nothing that teaches anyone anything, at all.

Yeah in this case, I side with Philip. Philip points out that Shotaro lets wild animal escape to the city. Shotaro denies that it's about the Gaia Memory corrupting the users, but Aya intends to fight Museum by her own will and that she can beat the influence of Gaia Memory. Even if you'd want to treat them as human, they have to be made sure that they're put in situations where they can't harm anyone, other than quick optimism from Shotaro due to Aya's declaration. At least it's not done due to perverted approach for females. But Philip does have softer approach, he now claims that Akutsu and Himuro should've been taken to the court, before Phillip would prefer for criminals to be finished off. And there's big misinterpretation that Shotaro thinks Aya visiting a police station means she turned herself in, therefore he slacks off. But now Philip calls out Triceratops for abusing Shotaro's trust.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s maddening, because it renders any time spent with Kujo as moot, since she just goes crazy in the end. Saeko explicitly states that overuse of Gaia Memories renders the user into a crazed monster, so we’re not even allowed the narrative weight of Kujo choosing her own fate. Nope, she’s a drugged lunatic, and that’s that. (I mean, you could say that she chose to use the Memory, and that was her downfall, but that wasn’t at all the story we were in for 75% of the story’s runtime.) Why bother with her tragic background, if she doesn’t give a shit about it in the climax, and there’s no epilogue where she reflects on it? Why make her complicated, just to flatten her out to Cackling Psychopath at the finale?

Shotaro did find Aya at the site of Mizoguchi's death, which For once, Shotaro earns a compliment for being an ace detective from Aya, after mostly Phillip's the one who got compliments, due to finding Aya at the side of Mizoguchi's death. And about Aya's fight with Saeko, seems that Saeko just outright lost to an MOTW, albeit it's savvy to knock away Taboo Memory before she morphs, but Aya corners Saeko and seems to be just really winning against major villain. Wakana is concerned for her sister here, so she wouldn't hate her for the abuse in their childhood (as well as rough treatment last episode)? Like Terui too, Aya wants a leader role, like how Terui doesn't want to be questioned and that he's in charge of Special Crimes Unit, as well as to hide her crimes by getting rid of the Agency trio.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It just… it all feels like a massive waste of time. Kujo’s only value in the larger narrative is what she reflects of Terui, so it’s frustrating to see this pivot to a much less nuanced story of Shotaro being a well-meaning sap. (He just immediately assumes Kujo’s turning herself in, and does not investigate it at all! Wow! Great follow-through, bud!) There’s… there’s nothing here, which is such a weird thing to say after so much time spent on Kujo. Terui might as well have offed a random Dopant, and Shotaro just sort of shrugs everything off as an unfortunate but unpredictable outcome. And this wasn’t even a Shotaro story in the first place!

Shotaro's habit it seems, like the Miyabi/Asuka case in ep. 5-6. Aya's outcome isn't really told and just had Shotaro assuming the best of the situation, though it's plausible that it'd be her downfall at that point, considering that Makura laments about her potential, if she didn't get herself the Gaia Memory, but she'd be his inspiration to work hard. Aya bears resemblance to Marina/T-Rex Dopant, as both seek vengeance, but also get a dinosaur Dopant form that can enlarge itself.