Kamen Rider Ryuki Episodes 13 & 14

EPISODES 13 & 14

I ain't going to lie; when I first saw pictures of Kamen Rider Raia, I was like "Pfffffffffft! A pink Rider, what are they thinking!?" But Raia's no joke, and Tetzuka ended up as one of my favorite characters in the show.

Having recently visited Eri, Ren's in a state of mind where he really needs to get his mind back on his goal. So when dinner with the Atori team gets a little too chummy, he has no choice but to leave the place and go riding. I love Shinji and Ren's reaction to Sanako remarking that they're becoming family, with the two of them like brothers -- it warms Shinji's heart, while it's salt in Ren's wounds. He doesn't want to hear that, he can't let himself think that, he can't let himself feel that. He doesn't want to get close to anyone else, he has to think about Eri, only worry about Eri.

Shinji and Ren both face what it would mean to actually take a life in this Rider Battle. Shinji's gullibility is taken advantage of in a very nasty way by Kitaoka when he learns that Shinji mistakenly thinks Goro is Zolda; when Shinji tries to talk Goro out of being a Rider, Kitaoka not only seems personally repulsed by Shinji's naivety and morality, but sees it as an opening to amuse himself. Kitaoka feigns defeat in a battle with Ryuki, planting the Zolda Card Deck on a "dying" Goro as Shinji witnesses Goro's final moments. Not content enough with just that, Kitaoka basically suggests to a lost Shinji that the best way to make it up is to pay for a life with a life. This leads Shinji to neglect his Riderly duties as a pissed and hungry Dragredder stalks and attempts to attack him. (Yui can sense Dragredder and convinces Dragredder to back off on one attack. I still don't think the monster is merely her drawing, man.)

Ren, after probably just riding around all night, relaxes at a sidewalk cafe while there are street vendors busy at work nearby. One is fortune-teller Miyuki Tetzuka, who gives a negative reading to a woman. It seems to me like Ren's able to hear all of this, taking particular interest in Tetzuka's advice to the woman that fate can be changed. (Make your Yasuko Kobayashi Timeranger joke here, but Tetzuka is more interesting in one scene so far than Tatsuya Asami is for an entire series.) When Tetzuka approaches Ren, making observations about him, Ren becomes increasingly irritated before Tetzuka lays his cards on the table -- kinda literally, since he pulls out his Card Deck. I like how cool and calm Hassei Takano plays Tetzuka, he's so good in the role, it's strange that I've never liked Takano in any other role I've seen him in. As a seer, he makes Tetzuka just seem like he's seen it all; his visions almost always seem negative, and he has a weariness about him. He's haunted by his gift/curse, and by his past. He wants to help people, help change their fate, save them...and also put a stop to the Rider fight.

Tetzuka gets Ren to try to realize that he's not ready to take a life, which contrasts with Shinji's learning what taking a life feels like. Like Sanako's comment about being like brothers, this isn't what Ren needs to hear -- he has recharged his drive to save Eri and he's already confronting on his own whether he has it in him to go to the extremes, so he doesn't need Tetzuka telling him this -- he's aware. When he hears that Tetzuka wants peace, he wants to stop the Rider fight, Ren pushes him to fight, anyway. I think he's underestimating Tetzuka, mistaking him for another Shinji. They might share the same ideal, but the big difference is that Tetzuka knows how to fight, and fight well, and so the battle between Knight and Raia ends at a draw, with both run-down. I think that gets Ren to think twice and back off.

I'd love to know how the conversation went with Reiko, getting her to participate in Ren's plan to unmask Zolda. Sure, she knows Yui and Ren are Shinji's friends, but why's a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist listening to a punk like Ren? I guess her dislike for Kitaoka runs that deep. And I love how Ren has it all timed out. Don't ask why or how he worked it out, that ruins the illusion of television. But it's great that he had Dark Wing make Kitaoka's Ridey Sense activate, getting Kitaoka to transform into the elevator doors which...open just in time for Shinji to see. And then Goro arrives at the wrong time, realizing too late that his appearance finally kills the deception. Suga's great in that moment when Shinji intensely walks over to Kitaoka and Goro before we realize he's going to Goro in relief and happiness to see Goro's alive and well. It touches even Goro! That guy's full of surprises. Suga's good throughout this episode, especially when Shinji is torn up at the thought of killing -- the scene with him just wandering a city while thinking of all of the lives he affected by killing one person is acted, written and directed in such a strong way.

Ren gets that cool moment when he comes along at the right time and has Dark Wing block Dragredder from attacking Shinji. A very concerned Yui calls him to check in on Shinji, and Ren's willingness to do so -- his wondering if Shinji truly did kill a person -- shows that he has come to care about Shinji. And I think him seeing Shinji in such a state was a shock, and he genuinely wanted to help save Shinji from his despair and was happy to unmask Kitaoka as the lying sack of monkey shit he is. The ultimate proof being when he tells Kitaoka that Shinji's a better person than either of them, all culminating to a more at ease Ren participating in the next Atori dinner. I feel like Ren's come more to terms with Shinji's involvement, he knows Tetzuka's right about him, so maybe he decides to push his worries to the back of his mind -- cross those bridges when he comes to them. And he saw what the idea of killing somebody did to Shinji -- he probably doesn't want to go through that any time soon. Although...

I have to mention again...what the hell about Scissors, man? Have I been wrong for all of this time in thinking that Knight kills him? How else did Scissors' Deck break, then -- did it decide to go on strike mid-battle? Uh, no, Scissors took a Final Vent and died from it, meaning...Knight killed him! So why is Tetzuka and the writers all of sudden acting like Ren's hands are totally clean? And you can't say, "Well, maybe it's because Scissors died in battle, so that's not the same as just seeking the Rider out to kill them just because it's Kanzaki's rule." Because...well, that's no different than what happens with Odin. Knight's fighting for his life in that battle, too, but his "killing" Odin sends him over the edge. Scissors' death is depicted in a way to give the writers just enough wiggle room, but I see it as a bit of a cheat and a case of backpedaling to try to have their favorite character (Ren) save face.

Moment of Heroism: After he gets his groove back, Shinji saves a woman from that damned irritating, hopped-up Mirror Monster.