Kido Shinji

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Reiko, Shinji and plunging into danger: Ryuki episode 2

Consider this a followup to that post I made on Shinji and the first episode of Kamen Rider Ryuki over a year ago.

Sat down and watched episodes 1 and 2 again today. Aside from being the episode where Shinji becomes Ryuki, episode 2 is also the true introduction to Reiko’s character. And it also just spells out what I mentioned in that previous post about Shinji rushing into things, clear as water, and how that is the reason he got involved in the Rider Battle in the first place.

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Nitou Kousuke and Medusa
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It’s LUNCHTIME! Or rather… Kamen Rider Wizard 14-19

Behind again, yada yada yada. Just finished episode 19, and while I do have last week’s episode ready to go, I think I’ll just give my thoughts on the past 4 episodes of Kamen Rider Wizard and leave what I assume is a two parter till the subs come out for 21.

So, to very briefly touch on each of the past 6 episodes…

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Shinji in Kamen RIder Ryuki ep 1
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Shinji and Kamen Rider Ryuki episode 1 revisited

I thought that my first post of the year would be Sherlock, since it’s back on and I’m just loving it (I’m completely obsessed with Lestrade), but I watched Ryuki’s first episode for the first time in a long time, after recommending it to a friend, and I ended up having things I wanted to say about it.

Word of warning for anyone that hasn’t seen Kamen Rider Ryuki through to the end: several of my observations relate directly to the very end of the series, so this will be spoilery. Very spoilery.

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Catching up with Kamen Rider OOO… again

Right. Been busy again, yada yada. But it doesn’t feel right to just skip through, so I’ll go off my notes for the episodes I watched (yes, I take notes while watching Kamen Rider, and yes, I realize what this says about me) but didn’t get around to blogging about.

Episodes 21-22 explore whether the desire to fight for justice can become twisted. The Yummy is born from a man who never passed the exam to become a lawyer, and was frustrated because he felt like a failure, and so he left his family. The Yummy initially targets criminals, and so the man accepts the Yummy as a way to punish those he perceives as wicked. From there, the show obviously moves to questioning whether this is really justice, and how self-righteousness twists a person’s sense of justice so they become cruel themselves.

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Den-O 2: In which Hana’s pattern of Momo abuse surfaces

So quick thoughts, because of the time:

→ First instance of Hana beating up Momo!

→ Again with Ryotaro’s ingrained kindness: wanting to give the keyholder back to the bully, because it was the right thing to do.

→ First glimpse of That Guy (spoiler!)

→ Momo saves a little boy, aww. Again, Momo was always decent, under the hooliganism.

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Den-O ep 1: Ryotaro and Shinji, Momo and…?

So, starting with the Den-O (re)watch.

Personally, I didn’t realize before the link between Den-O and Ryuki, but now I do, and Ryuki being my favorite it’s inevitable that I’m going to be drawing conclusions, the first of which involves Ryotaro himself and the ways in which he is like Shinji, and the ways in which he’s not. Obviously, they’re both “Fail!Riders”, but their attitudes are very different. Ryotaro is resigned to be bullied, both by other people and by the universe itself, really, while Shinji kind of… just creates his own shenanigans, but meets everything with what can only be called feistiness. But really, even in this first episode, the real similarity between them is their drive to do the right thing. Shinji gets involved in things that are not his business out of his sense of justice, and Ryotaro, even when kicked to the curve, is always all about doing the right thing… to the point protecting those that have wronged him. And there’s kind of an innocence, I think, in that, in their overpowering goodness.

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