So inferring from that, Roshuo didn't just magically make the missiles disappear, but he redirected them at another random part of the planet, which just so happens to be the USA, leading to nuclear Armageddon there instead of Japan? There's something subliminal in that. :sweat:
As background as it is amidst the strong character focus in the foreground this week, the producers have done a stellar job of conveying the apocalypse in the city. As previously said, they went to town with that part of town with the abandoned vehicles and the convincing portrayal of a ghost town. The inclusion of regular TV news updates is another nice little inclusion for the feeling of authenticity, as is the near empty abandoned shop that Mai was in. I only wonder how Bando is supposed to get any new stocks in fruit anymore when all routes to and from Zawame are blocked, and when the economy in all levels from global to local would have collapsed by now. You're awesome, Bando, but not even you can stay in business in these circumstances!
Does it feel a bit outlandish though? Perhaps. Among things, the global economy extinguished in a heartbeat, and America quietly wiped out in an instant and all that. It's not something Rider has really seen (not the Rider series I've seen anyway), and looking at awkward green screen effects of landmarks around the world under attack seems too close to Sentai finale territory. We really might have to smell a Ryuki sort of rewind button in some shape or form, with the forbidden fruit, because I don't see the show ending on that sort of total post-apocalyptic note.
It's fascinating to see how the dynamic in the Kureshima family has been shaped thus far. Takatora, the aloof man who was willing to bear the burning cross of sacrificing the vast majority of the planet to save the rest, gradually mellowing out when discovering his greatest source of hope: Kouta, a man who appears to embody a part of him that he had cast away to stomach his mission. Now a man largely broken and lost, returned to a broken world, finds his brother now a warped, selfish version of his initial philosophy of necessary sacrifice, and ultimately realising that everything he had worked for was for nothing, and needs Kouta as a lantern of hope more than ever.
Mitsuzane, who had formerly looked at Kouta as an aspirational figure - a figure of hope as you will - before his patience is eroded by a Kouta he began to interpret as an illogical optimist, frustratingly interloping and acting counter to what he believed to be the optimal course of action. Now a Kouta he interprets to be much more insidious. A source of dangerous optimism that can lead all his loved ones into one ultimate suicidal end in a profitless battle, instead of a peaceful pursuit for survival. As much as we **** on Micchy, you can also understand him. You hate him, yet you understand his rationale. Not everyone in such a scenario is prepared to defy the odds, and would accept with certain resignation what is simply on the plate.
This show, man.
Biiiiig kudos to every actor this week. Kaito and Minato looking at each other and collectively sighing was great. Kouta was great all round. Yumi Shida pulled off the incredulity and the penetrating glare of suspicion and disbelief brilliantly. Mahiro Takasugi just shines with the tirade and the body language.
