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Encore Time | emiT ǝɿoɔnƎ

Welcome to the discussion thread for RIDER TIME: Ryuki. (All three episodes)
Synopsis: A mysterious person restarts the Mirror World's Rider Battle, thus making Shinji Kido and other war participants regain their memories and transforming abilities. With the appearance of Another Ryuki, Sougo and Geiz investigate this event, becoming involved in the war themselves...

This thread was made with Toku Prime's permission. And remember, this is a SPOILER ZONE! If you are trying to avoid spoilers, this is not the place for you.​
 
R

raden238

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Just finished watching the series, overall its not bad but it feels rushed. They could have given this show one more episode at a minimum. It's essentially another re-telling of the Ryuki story. I admired the fact that Toei got back as many Riders as they can to reprise their roles for this miniseries. I would of liked to see the use of Verde and Abyss in a better way, seriously they're barely featured in any Ryuki related media, including this one.

Odin was pretty cool in this he had time jacker powers. All the references to the tv show are present, including some new stuff, such as that bedroom scene with Raia and Gai. It isn't bad considering this came out of nowhere. Now if they would do more Legend Riders in this format.
 
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FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO SEE THIS 3-PART SPECIAL & WANT AN ALTERNATIVE TO TV-NIHON...
The special has been translated by 3 different groups: RiderTime, GenmCorp, and Sub-Vent.
Personally, I recommend Sub-Vent since they subtitled half of Ryuki's TV show and came out of retirement for this.​

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And now for my thoughts....

Episode 1 was perfectly mysterious! Episode 2 was YAOI-TASTIC! And Episode 3 left me confused.

Like I said, things start off mysterious, making you wonder when this is taking place. However, it is later revealed that this new Rider Battle is indeed taking place in the present year, and not in 2002. If you were worried about how minor Riders are recast, you can blame the passage of time. Some have all ready died of natural causes, and others could not be found in time since this Rider Battle was made spur of the moment, so finding a good-enough match was the best that could be done canonically speaking. There is a girl who seems to have powers similar to Odin, and she is keeping the Ryuki Riders hostage in the mirror world. It's later revealed she is trying to find the one Rider who might be strong enough to stop Another Ryuki. However, that part is kind of dumb. Makes her character look not-so-innocent despite her unfortunate backstory. (Seriously, why narrow the hero pool when you could just have ALL of them team up to beat Another Ryuki? Her motives seem so confused.)

There are a lot of positive things about this special, I think. It was nice to know that Abyss was always something that could happen and wasn't just a multiverse exclusive. It's sad that he was unceremoniously defeated faster here than in Decade, but then again, it really wasn't his story anyways. It's cool how these characters were slowly regaining their memories. Even with timeline changes, there is a chance the original Riders will always have faint memory fragments locked in their minds. Gives extra credence to that theory I had about how the Earth itself remembers its various timelines. And best of all, it's nice to see that the Ryuki suits have held up pretty well over the years, for the most part. They definitely look better than Blade and his faded, purple abdomen.

But there are some cons. Like I said, I still don't understand why this Rider Battle was necessary. Was the Yaoi moment from Episode 2 really necessary? I'm not against it, but it just seem to come out of nowhere and didn't really add much to the plot. Props for being progressive, I guess. It's annoying that we only see Another Ryuki here and not in the TV series, but better this than nothing I suppose. I really don't understand what's happening with Odin himself. I feel bad that Ren had to die; that anyone had to die in this Rider Battle honestly. Thanks to Zi-O, their normal timeline was changed, and they were all given a chance at a normal life. Now all that is scrapped. And the most confusing thing, I'm still not sure how all this fits in the timeline of the TV show. The Zi-O Ryuki arc was pretty well self-contained, and the story here kind of contradicts that, unless a day in the Mirror World somehow lasts a very short time in the real world. (Then again, people have told me that movies and specials aren't suppose to be canon anyways, so maybe this was just made for the fun of it?) If anything, this special fits better after the Ryuki arc is finished.
 
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I didn't even take Zi-o or its Ryuki two-parter into consideration when watching this. I feel like it really has no bearing. I feel like, since it's written by someone who hasn't worked on Zi-o (Ryuki sub-writer Toshiki Inoue), that it's kinda meant to be placed after Ryuki's own finale. A sort of Ryuki 17 Years After. Ryuki's series finale undid the events of the series -- those characters ended the show where they started, average joes. And I just pictured they went on like that, until getting pulled into this new Rider Battle from Not Yui. Obviously, Kitaoka ended up dying from his illness, which explains his absence. Who knows about the other guys who aren't there? (And Femme.) They got back the right people from Ryuki; it makes sense to get some different people to fill the other, lesser slots. (It's not hard to imagine people like Sudou, Toujou or Takimizawa ending up dead or in prison.)

The thing I had most issue with in this miniseries was Tezuka being depicted as a backstabber and homicidal asshole. I eventually just figured that was meant to show how much he could have changed in the past 17 years. I always thought the show heavily implied Tezuka was gay, so I wasn't surprised by that scene, just by who he was with! So then I thought maybe his behavior in this miniseries can be explained as...he broke up with Yuuichi, who was a good person and positive influence in his life, and got corrupted once getting mixed up with Shibaura, who's always been a sick little psychopath.

I like that the characters started to get back their memories of the past (from mainly the series). It gave some characters shots at redemption and tying up loose ends and ending the Ryuki story in a more conclusive way; I definitely feel like some of it was an attempt at righting some of the show's wrongs. As a huge fan of Ryuki in '02, I never thought the show was going to have a happy ending, so for the finale to undo everything -- which was the writers not having the guts to stick to any of their decisions -- while also making the year you devoted to the show a total waste was infuriating.

This special's not amazing. It's a little too extreme, a little over-the-top, a little rushed, but it ended up making the Ryuki series NOT a waste, and, while not entirely successful, that's...kinda surprising. It's a little reminiscent of me to the Gokaiger episode with Black Condor, taking some of the sting off of Jetman's finale. But Toei will certainly dig up someone from Ryuki once again the next time they need a special crossover or anniversary...

With the TV show's battle being undone, with the 13 Riders and Episode Final battles being undone, and now this new battle taking place, you have to wonder if Asakura was onto something when he says he thinks they're all destined to fight forever.
 
K

Kamen Rider IXA

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This ending would have made sense in 2003, but not today. They will obviously not stop using Ryuki Riders for crossovers, so this ending won't stick. And even if it does, it's way too rushed in the most important places (aka Shinji-Ren relationship) to really be a gut punch it thinks it is.
Shinji should have lost his powers or stuck in the real world with his deck, while trapped Riders continue to fight endlessly in the Mirror World.
This way special ends on a promise that Ryuki could have a proper resolution one day.
 
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I didn't even take Zi-o or its Ryuki two-parter into consideration when watching this. I feel like it really has no bearing. I feel like, since it's written by someone who hasn't worked on Zi-o (Ryuki sub-writer Toshiki Inoue), that it's kinda meant to be placed after Ryuki's own finale. A sort of Ryuki 17 Years After.
This ending would have made sense in 2003, but not today. They will obviously not stop using Ryuki Riders for crossovers, so this ending won't stick.
I agree with the both you now that you say it. An unexpected Encore to the TV series would be nicer. But the fact of the matter is, they did bring Zi-O's story into it. And what makes the special contradict the Ryuki arc is that Kido was actively avoiding the Mirror World through the whole thing and he knew about his evil reflection. In this Rider Time special, Kido didn't even know about this evil twin. And if he was somehow taken against his will into the Mirror World thanks to some dying female, I'm pretty sure either Zi-O or Geiz would be there to find out about it pretty quickly since they were keeping tabs on him anyways.

I would just dismiss the Zi-O half, but besides the Another Ryuki, this special did one other important thing: It told us how Zi-O got the Ryuki Ride Watch and the Knight Ride Watch. The TV show did not do this. The Ryuki arc only showed how Zi-O became Zi-O II. So, after some additional contemplation, I've come to a conclusion... After the Ryuki Arc ended, -SOMETHING- similar to this Rider Time special happened. I can't say for sure if it happened detail for detail. If it did, the special has a lot of explaining to do. But something to effect of these events did happen, and that's why Zi-O has these Ride Watches. Because I doubt the show will go back and give us an alternate reason why Zi-O has them.

Last of all, I agree that the events of this Rider Time special will not stick. It was a fun little venture through nostalgia, but we have yet to see how Zi-O will end. When the show began, I theorized that at the end, something will happen to restore the timeline of the past. All the Riders will get their powers and their history back, no matter how heroic or tragic. And if my theory proves correct, this Rider Time special won't amount to much anyways. But hey, that's just a theory... A Rider Theory! Thanks for reading.
 
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I finally got around to watching this over the weekend.

In short, yeah, not really a fan of this one. A bunch of badly degrading old suits (seriously, the Ryuki suit is in such dire need of replacing I can't help but wonder if the plot was intentionally designed around showing as little of it as possible), the Rider battle is restarted for completely nonsensical reasons (especially in the context of Zi-O), and some moments that I just found bewildering (Asakura finds some random incomplete building with bare breeze-block walls and decorates a room to look like Kitaoka's old office - what?).

I guess it isn't boring, but it's just "stuff happens and I guess that's it".

About the only thing I can really say I liked is that the CGI contract monsters seemed to have had a textures upgrade so they look like they're made of reflective metal. I hope that gets re-used somewhere down the line as it made Dragredder look pretty cool.

I understand why they'd want to do something with Ryuki; It's one of the seasons that really made a splash in Japanese pop culture. But then why have it written by Inoue (who's infamous for not really giving a damn about other people's creations) and why make it an exclusive for some random streaming site (Video Pass)? I don't get it.
 
K

Kamen Rider IXA

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But then why have it written by Inoue (who's infamous for not really giving a damn about other people's creations
Inoue was heavily involved in Ryuki though. He was secondary writer of the show and characters' writing (a few out of left field decisions aside) is spot-on. Especially if you compare it to something like Blade's "tribute" from Zi-O.
 
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