Kamen Rider Ryuki - Talkback

[Psychotime]

The guy who played Gorou (and the villain from Kabuto) was a suicide victim in one episode of Garo.

Might be the first time I ever saw him act like a normal human being. But I liked Gorou, regardless.

 

[Vitor]

Seeing how all of that happened right after Knight won, I thought it was him. I mean, after Yui dies nothing happened, so I thought...Ugh.

The fact that she still dies makes the rider fight utterly pointless, though it can be interpreted that she "volunteered" to join her brother in the afterlife in an attempt to save him from his own grief filled madness

 

[Khaiden]

I had one problem with this series, and one problem only: The usage of the Kamen Rider name.

Eventually, I got over that. So basically, I had no problems with this series.
So it could be said there was nothing I hated about this series.

There, I had to say it since I think I'm the only one.

 

[Hibiki San]

Just watched episode 7 of Jetman, and I wonder if Ryuki was inspired from that episode with the Dimensional Monster.

 

[ParmesanBasil]

Guys. Guys. Ryuki is Real Good. I believe Igadevil's podcast about the series mentioned that one of the producers said it was supposed to change the way we looked at Riders. Which it did in spades. You could almost read it as a reaction to the Lost Decade with all the themes of indecision, confusion, and lack of empathy. I could write about two million words on it and maybe I will tomorrow or something. Just aaaaaaaaaa

 

[Dr Kain]

So I spent this past Wed-Friday revisiting Ryuki and I still love the show. However, the fact that there are only 10 riders in the show really drives me crazy since Shiro just randomly has the ability to break his own rules of the Rider Battle. The fact that he can claim that Knight and Odin were the last two and ignore Zolda and Ouja is annoying as hell. I personally think it would have made sense for Ryuga to be the final rider since Shinji had just kicked the bucket and they could have had Ren start stalling on fighting Ryuga, reflecting on his relationship with Shinji throughout the entire series. That would have been far better instead of just Ren getting his butt kicked and then Shiro gets mad and destroys everything, and Odin just stops and tells Knight he won. However, the worst offender is the reset button. Back when I first saw the show in 2003 I thought it was a pretty good ending, but then I realzed years later that is the Japanese way of copping out an ending. There are way too many series that did it, like Wolf's Rain, Big O, My-Hime, Rahxephon, Evangelion, etc. I hate that. You go through this entire series, see characters change, characters die, you feel for those characters, you cheer for some of those character deaths, and then they just reset the freaking world on you, making everything you watch invalid.

Like I said, I still love the show despite its faults, but I'd say it is probably a little higher in regard for my favorite series than it used to be. Ouja is still my absolute favorite character though in the show in both character and design, followed by the design of Odin and probably Ren's character.

BTW, I have to post this for fun:

 

[NeonZ]

My-Hime, Evangelion,

Huh? My Hime and Eva didn't really have reset endings. My HiME had a forced happy ending, but every event that took place previous still was valid and remembered, and Eva ended with the area around Nerv in ruins, red oceans, etc, clearly following up from what took place before. How is that a reset at all?

Regarding Ryuki's ending, I think the most frustrating thing about it is that it doesn't come from the efforts of the protagonists, but entirely from the antagonists' opinion changing. Had it come from Ryuki making a wish, it'd have fit much better as a "prize" of sorts for him. Rather than that, we get Ryuki dying pointlessly, Knight then winning a meaningless victory, and making the same wish he always wanted to make since the start of the series, making his entire character arc a waste of time, and then Kanzaki fixing everything.

 

[Khaiden]

The great thing about Ryuki's ending is that not only did Ren's wish get fulfilled, so did Shinji's.
It might seem like Kanzaki Shiro was superficial at the end and he only ended it because there was not much else to do, but in the end both siblings wished for the best, had Kanzaki been given an opportunity to redo everything and save Yui without having to kill so many people, he would have taken it... and he did.

 

[Dr Kain]

You know, in some ways, Episdoe Final would have made a better ending to the series. I mean, it features 2 more of the riders, so then we would have seen 12 of the 13, and while it ends open ended, at least all of the events did not get erased from existence. Plus, I am sure if that had been the last arc to the show, it would not have just ended with Shinji and Ren flying towards the swarm.

BTW, Neon, you are right about My-Hime. It has been so long since I watched it that I forgot it was more of a "Reset Life" ending than a total reset. Still a cop out though if you ask me. You don't see Connor killing the Kerrigan and then everyone comes back to life.

 

[ParmesanBasil]

I think the best part about Ryuki (or at least the one that stays with me most) is how they handled Imperer. He appears after like twenty episodes of no headway with the Rider Battle (unless you count Alternative's death) and then he shows up. By now, we're clamoring for someone to die. Zolda and Ouja have eked it out so many times by now. And then Tiger and Ouja kill Imperer and you're like "Yes! Finally." And then he gets this long, drawn out, uncomfortable death scene that takes forever. He's just begging to stay alive now that he has something worth fighting for, as shallow as it may be. It's like everything just got turned back on the viewers with that part.

Usually, Rider shows don't even bother when it comes to showing people blow up. Hell, no one batted an eye when Scissors and Gai bought it. And then Imperer is just begging into that mirror shard to survive and just aaaaa. So good.