[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

-I absolutely love that Shroud drops dead for no real reason other than that she had no more exposition to dispense. God bless this show?s use of Fumine Sonozaki.

I have a story about that.

So, like with most Rider shows, when I first watched W it was alongside my binge buddy, Name. While watching this episode, we had the following conversation:

Me: You know, with how everything that kept Shroud going is now gone, you think she'd, I dunno, give up living or something.

Shroud (immediately):

Me: I WAS JOKING!

Name: Well she wasn't.

I still laugh about that to this day. And speaking of me and Name, this is also a finale that him and I hold a big disagreement about as well, and was surprised to learn that the fandom was equally split.

I'll just come out and say it. I'm in the camp that feels that Philip should've stayed dead. Now, I'm not about to say that him coming back totally ruins the dramatic weight of the previous two episodes or anything, but it would definitely give the show a more proper sense of finality in my eyes.

Not only that, but me personally, I feel as though there's value in teaching kids about loss and grief, and how to handle it(hi, I grew up with movies like Land Before Time). I was absolutely drawn into the atmosphere of this one on that front. The scene with the Frog Pod is so mean spirited that I couldn't help but absolutely love it.

Does Philip coming back and the show ending with "And the adventure continues!" absolutely ruin it for me? No, but my ideal finale swings the opposite way. Regardless, for what it is, I feel it's overall done well, and I'm not about to hold anything against anyone who's all in on the idealistic and happy ending.