![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameCombining Ouja (Toshiki Inoue): Previously on Kamen Rider Ryuki: Tezuka gave Ren a Survive card before dying in battle to save Shinji, Reiko learned about Asakura’s tragic history and long-lost brother, and suspecting that the Rider War is tied to her past, Yui ran away, leading Kanzaki to call off the Rider War…
Shinji and Ren ask Kanzaki why he’s ending the battle, and he insists that they need to find Yui before he gives them back their powers. In typical Kanzaki fashion, he refuses to explain anything to her worried best friends, instead threatening them that their Contract Monsters will attack them if they don’t have the power to fight. Meanwhile, Reiko asks Asakura if the burn on his shoulder is from the fire in his childhood. He claims to have gotten it protecting Akira, his brother, much to Reiko’s shock. However, he insists that it’s only natural that he’d protect his little brother. He also insists that he might be able to change if he could meet his brother and see for sure that he’s alive.
It’s hard to pull these two plot threads away from each other, since they converge at the end. So I’ll come back to them in a bit and focus on the plot threads that were smaller here but will gain more importance down the line. There’s this cracky bit when Okubo is irritated that neither Shinji nor Reiko are answering their phones, and Shimada suggests that they’re being recruited by another company, getting him worried about his employees’ loyalty. It’s going to come up again, to lead Reiko to something important, so I need to mention it.
At the same time, Kitaoka’s worried about the canceled contracts and notices his vision beginning to go blurry. He tries to get up, but collapses to the floor, collapsing again to the couch when Goro tries to help him. When he wakes up, he finds Goro at his side, telling him to go to the hospital, but they both know that doctors can’t do anything for Kitaoka anymore. And we get Goro’s backstory, as he insists it’s his fault that Kitaoka’s prognosis is so grim. As it turns out, our gentle ass-kicker here had a rough past. Implicitly a few years ago, he got caught up in a petty assault case, and Kitaoka represented him in court. However, the trial forced Kitaoka to miss a vital medical examination, which would have detected his illness in time for treatment. No, don’t ask why he didn’t have anything earlier that could have detected it then and why just this one exam would have saved his life; we don’t have anyone nearly as competent as House here. But Kitaoka tells Goro to stop blaming himself and that it was his own damn fault in the first place, blaming his “carefree lifestyle”—indicating that his illness may have been preventable if he’d taken care of himself better or curable if he’d paid attention to his doctor’s appointments. He adds that Goro doesn’t have to stay with him anymore and can live his own life. But Goro insists that he’s there as more than just a debt to Kitaoka—he wants to be with him as long as Kitaoka wants him. Touched, Kitaoka tells him what he wants for dinner, reassuring him that he’s still wanted and needed.
Going out of chronological order here, Reiko goes to Nishihama City to meet Akira Mihara, formerly Akira Asakura. She asks him about his brother, and he denies everything about his name and family and tries to leave. But she tells him that she got her info from Kitaoka, who’d met with him during Asakura’s trial. Akira confirms this and tells her the same thing that he’d told Kitaoka: he wants nothing to do with his brother. In fact, he was relieved to hear that Asakura was dead. Reiko says that his feelings are understandable, but she points out that Asakura nearly died as a child to save Akira’s life. Akira, however, admits that he’d passed out during the fire and therefore has no memory of what really happened. He asks who told her this, and she admits that it was Asakura himself—he’s alive and he wants to meet Akira. But Akira doesn’t want to see Asakura, and so bolts.
Shinji and Ren check in with Sanako to see if she’s seen Yui, but she hadn’t come back after bolting last episode. Shinji tells Ren that Yui was really hurt by what happened to Tezuka and he’s even more worried about finding her. When he asks where she might have gone, Sanako tells them about the old house. They investigate, surprised by the interior. Ren is immediately struck by the sight of the mirrors, set up like in Room 401, but Shinji notices all the newspapers over the windows, reminding him of Sakakibara’s apartment in the first episode. Ren points out that it means somebody knows about the Mirror World and is probably afraid of it. But he notices a rip in one of the papers, revealing a painting. He pulls it out to read what’s written on the back: “Yui Kanzaki, Oarai Coast,” and they realize that she must have painted it as a kid. But a Monster leaps out of the exposed glass, attacking them. Ren realizes that they’re now in danger from more than just their own Monsters, and they set off, in an SUV they got from…somewhere, to follow their only clue to Yui’s whereabouts. Sure enough, they find her at the beach in Oarai, and they run over to her. She admits that she doesn’t know what to do about the Riders, her brother, and Tezuka, and she asks them for advice. But the Monster attacks them again. Ren checks his card and finds it’s still blank, forcing him and Shinji to make a run for it. But as a nice moment of badassery, the Monster tries to attack Shinji before he can run, and Shinji gets it off him with a bicycle kick. The two powerless Riders have to hide in fear while the Monster goes past them.
Now, I think this is typical of the “love it or hate it” nature of Ryuki. I personally like this focus on them as people. It gets me to care about them more and cheer them on, even if at the cost of thrilling battles, much like how I feel about Power Rangers RPM in 2009, or even the slice-of-life B-plots in 2011-12’s Young Justice series. Hell, in some ways, I think it’s more thrilling to have this once in a while, where you’re seeing them as humans, being forced to deal with their human weakness in the face of danger. It makes the danger feel more “real.” However, I can understand how people can be turned off by the lack of henshin and shorter battles. It depends on what you’re going into the show for.
Anyway, Yui starts to run after her friends, but Kanzaki appears, standing in the water. He insists that Shinji and Ren are fine, despite the fact that they can’t henshin, a Monster is after them, and they’re hiding behind some plumbing. Seriously, dude. If you want to talk to your sister in private, can’t you just ask them to go somewhere else for a little bit? Fortunately, Yui isn’t buying his bullshit and tells him to be honest with her about if she’s involved in the Rider War or not, asking if he’s hiding something. He argues that he’s never lied or hurt her (yes, he has, and just wait for two episodes from now) and asks her to trust him. He then points out that the sea makes him feel nostalgic, and Yui remembers a trip they took with their parents once, the last outing the whole family had. She remembers everything as being fun, with their parents always smiling. Let’s hold that thought for…oh, twenty-odd episodes, shall we? Kanzaki promises that she’ll have plenty of good times in the future and urges her to live her life. Shinji and Ren, having escaped the Monster, run over, catching her attention long enough for Kanzaki to pull his disappearing act. Hearing that he was just there, Ren checks his card to find that it’s still blank, but Kanzaki’s voice insists that they’ll soon get their powers back.
Reiko then phones Shinji to tell him that Akira won’t come. Shinji promises to go help her, then tells Yui that he wants to change the Riders as people, believing it will make the fighting stop. He and Ren both join Reiko to meet Akira—I’m assuming Ren is there because Shinji needs a babysitter, and that that’s the very reason Reiko doesn’t question it. Akira admits that he’s scared of his brother, but Reiko insists that Asakura thinks he can change if they can just meet. This gives Shinji hope, but it leaves Ren cynical. He asks just how she came across this information, getting Shinji to realize that it’s fishy too. Reiko admits that she was with Asakura the whole time, and during the drive to meet with Asakura, Shinji chews Reiko out for being reckless. She argues, however, that she’s learned that Asakura is human, and Shinji agrees that he might just be able to redeem himself, even if it doesn’t absolve him of his past crimes. But Asakura steps out in front of the SUV in a tunnel, forcing Ren to slam on the brake. The group steps out, and Akira goes over to Asakura, thanking him for saving him in the fire. But Asakura reveals that he set the fire himself and never would have saved Akira. Curse your sudden but inevitable…well, you know the drill. Reiko confronts him, and Asakura reveals that he’ll kill Akira for sure this time. At that point, Venosnaker emerges from the window and eats Akira.
It occurs to me that back in my review of the Scissors episodes, I might have said that not even Asakura fed people to his Monster. I completely forgot about this incident. What would have been accurate would be adding “specifically to gain strength.” Sorry, Dead Akira. Since he no longer needs Reiko, but the plot still requires her to be alive, Asakura knocks her out. Shinji rushes to her side, asking why Asakura did this. Asakura insists it’s because Akira bugged him when they were kids. Yeah, but that’s not reason for actual murder, only death threats. Shinji can’t believe that a human like Asakura can exist, so Asakura challenges him to a fight. Ren double-checks his card to be sure it’s active, then starts trash-talking. He insists to Shinji that Asakura isn’t human, specifically calling him a “monster” with the English word reserved this season for the Mirror Monsters. And it’s a great bit for the both of them. Ren is reminding both Shinji and himself that they must consider Asakura the same as the soulless Monsters they destroy. Ren agrees to the challenge, and Shinji despairs that this is how it all ends as he joins the fight too. Knight and Ouja fight while Ryuki battles the returning Monster, and Zolda joins against Ouja, just wanting to beat the shit out of him. Ryuki destroys the Monster on a bridge (it looks impressive, okay?), then runs down to the others. Evildiver, Raia’s Monster, attacks Ouja, who is fed up with these ghost RidersI’m so sorry for this pun attacking him all the time. So he whips out yet another contract card and adds Evildiver to his deck. He then reveals a special card, Unite Vent, which allows him to combine the three Monsters into one, Genocider, who attacks the other three Riders…
Zolda’s Assault (Toshiki Inoue): Zolda’s arm is injured in Genocider’s attack, worrying Ryuki. Ouja threatens to Final Vent the group right then and there, but Darkraider arrives to buy them time. Knight Survive uses his Final Vent, but it’s countered by the Evildiver version of Final Vent, and the attacks explode spectacularly. Apparently, Ren is completely fine afterward, since he and Shinji pack the unconscious Reiko into the SUV and drive off. Reiko wakes up and asks what happened to Asakura and Akira. Shinji doesn’t know how to answer the question, and in a nice moment, Ren spares him the uncomfortable truth by claiming that Akira ran when he saw his brother’s true colors. Reiko is regretful that she was wrong about Asakura’s humanity and so ruined Akira’s life. Ren warns her to learn from this and keep the hell away from Asakura, also warning her (and Shinji) not to try to understand Asakura. I really like this bit for two reasons. First, it shows Ren taking some of the pressure off Shinji, really seeming like a friend, and showing his concern for him by giving him that veiled warning, pretending he’s only warning Reiko. And second, it shows some good cooperation between the heroes and ORE Journal. Honestly, it would have been nice to further explore our heroes’ relationship with the ORE staff. There are plenty of nice moments like this, but I’d have liked to see more of their friendship. More of Shinji’s friendship with his coworkers, or how they seem to accept Ren as a freelancer, letting him go on assignments with Shinji even though he doesn’t contribute to articles. With the enormous cast this series has, I can see why this didn’t get much focus, but it really would have been nice to see some more of it.
Shinji and Ren return home, with Shinji haunted by Asakura’s actions. Ren insists that he “won” about Shinji being unable to change people, but Shinji’s only even more determined to change the Riders and insists on trying with Kitaoka next, much to Ren’s disbelief. However, Shinji insists that this is the only idea he has left. The next morning, Kitaoka’s right arm is in a sling, making it difficult to do his daily routine, such as eating. While he’s injured, Goro takes over some of his workload, delivering documents to clients and generally just being Kitaoka’s legal assistant rather than personal manservant/bodyguard/etc. Once Goro’s left, Shinji drops by with a gift, wanting to talk. He rambles on about his plan to understand the Riders better, and Kitaoka mostly tunes him out before asking him to take over as his temporary assistant. He insists that as fellow Riders, they should help each other out, then has Shinji take a bite of the food he’d bought over—dumplings on a stick, I think. No, this shot is in no way phallic. Really, Kitaoka, what is this strange power you have? You have UST now with Shinji, Goro, Ren, Kanzaki, Asakura, the camera, and even me, and the last I didn’t think was even possible!
At ORE, Reiko has her doubts about Ren’s story, noticing that Akira’s strange disappearance fits the general pattern of Asakura’s escapes, beginning with the prison. But worried that Reiko is being scouted by a rival company, Okubo insists that she and Shimada take a break and gets them some cantaloupe. Shimada claims this as a “victory” to a bemused Reiko, implying that she was messing with him the entire time.
Back at Kitaoka’s, Shinji’s been conned into doing all the chores, with Kitaoka promising to tell him later why he’s fighting. Ren stops by to tell him that Yui made it back home (considering, you know, they took the car and left her at the beach). She’s worried by Shinji’s strange behavior again, and they want him to come home. Shinji refuses, and Ren asks why he does this when he knows that Kitaoka won’t talk to him. Shinji just argues that he doesn’t know what else he can do, so he’s just going to do all that he can. And really, this is a trait of all Kobayashi title-Riders: Shinji, Ryotaro, Eiji, and even to some extent, Hiromu of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. They don’t have the answers. They may not have the power. But whatever they can do to try to help, they will, with all they have.
While Shinji makes lunch, some shady guys threaten Kitaoka to keep some evidence hidden in a particular trial. But both Shinji and Kitaoka sense a Monster after their leader. Kitaoka decides to follow them, much to Shinji’s surprise, but Kitaoka insists that he’d be the first suspect if they disappeared right after visiting him, dashing Shinji’s hopes that Kitaoka might be a decent human being. They spend pretty much the whole drive arguing, whether it’s over Shinji making his prized gyoza for lunch (which Kitaoka thinks hardly suits a super-lawyer like him) or over Shinji not driving safely. Because of this, they momentarily lose the other car. Kitaoka has second thoughts about saving the guy and suggests they head back home and create an alibi. Shinji, however, still holds to his promise to protect people from Monsters. They catch up to the car in a garage, but they’re surrounded by the guy and his thugs. So what do you do? Kitaoka offers Shinji as his meatshield. Even after getting his ass kicked, though, Shinji insists on saving the other guy, prompting Kitaoka to note that he hasn’t changed a bit. Shinji then realizes that he shouldn’t change and that he forgot why he became a Rider in the first place: to save people, not to stop the fighting. If this is all he can do, then he’ll accept that. They manage to find the guy and the Monster, double Rider Kicking it back to the Mirror World before henshinning and following.
Having returned home, Ren has to rush right out the door after Yui, begging her to listen to her brother when he says she’s not involved in the Rider War and not to get involved. But Yui knows her brother is lying for her sake, so she wants to try to persuade him to stop. There’s still love between brother and sister, even if he’s doing something that she knows is wrong. Ren concedes defeat and agrees to go with her to investigate the house, but before they leave, Yui asks him about his trips to the hospital to visit Eri. He takes Yui to visit Eri in the ICU, having explained everything offscreen. Yui is devastated to learn that the comatose woman she’d visited before was Ren’s fiancée the whole time. Ren then reveals that he knew someone had been visiting her, but he hadn’t suspected Yui—understandable, since around the time Yui first visited Eri, he’d learned that Tezuka had found out about her, so he probably figured that Tezuka was the mysterious visitor. But during their visit, Eri’s vitals suddenly change, and the nurses on staff start looking for a doctor, much to their horror. She’s rushed into another room with the doctor, while the helpless Yui and Ren watch.
Zolda’s injury keeps him from pulling his Visor to scan cards, so as a compromise, he tells Ryuki to scan them. However, the cards in each deck and contract (barring Survive, of course) are locked to the Rider who made the contract in the first place. That is, Ryuki cannot personally use any cards that are locked to Zolda’s contract with Magnugiga. All weapons and defenses go straight to Zolda. Becoming increasingly more upset about being Zolda’s combination secondary Visor and meatshield, Ryuki finally gets an idea. He summons Magnugiga, but as Zolda heads over to make it attack, Ryuki pushes him aside, taunts the Monster, and hides behind Magnugiga as it and Zolda get shot. He then uses the cover to his advantage and scans his Strike Vent card. That’s surprisingly devious of him, and the unexpected ingenuity and ruthlessness takes Zolda by surprise. After all, Shinji’s the nice one. Together, the two Riders destroy the Monster.
ORE is being hassled again about reporting Asakura as potentially alive, reminding Okubo of his promise to shave his head and become a monk. Reiko returns from her break with surveillance footage of Asakura’s jailbreak. While Asakura himself doesn’t appear in the video, she thinks she’ll still find a clue about his mysterious disappearing acts. As she watches the video, Reiko notices a bizarre and inexplicable reflection in the glass near Asakura’s cell—a man in a trenchcoat, who we know is Kanzaki…
Thirteen Riders (Yasuko Kobayashi): Ren and Yui are still watching the medical team try to stabilize Eri, and Yui is horrified that her brother did this to her. She asks Ren how he can stand being her friend, and Ren insists that it’s not her fault. I really love this moment. Ren and Yui’s friendship is a really interesting part of their characters, since we see it already established while getting stronger over time, as opposed to Shinji and Ren, where it has to completely form over time. Even before Yui’s backstory gets more and more fucked up, you know that she was a lonely girl growing up who never had any friends because all the other kids at school picked on her for seeing monsters. Her brother was the only person she could depend on, and then he was sent off to another country. Her aunt can barely relate to her, and we constantly see Sanako urging Yui to go out and meet more people. And then Ren comes along, in the months between Eri’s coma and the first episode of the series. Ren himself apologetically admits here that he started hanging around her as a way to gain an advantage in battle, but over time, it developed into a lot more than that. He cares about her, worries when she’s putting herself in danger, and tries to help her. Not because he needs her, but because he’s her friend. He’s really her first friend. And again, it’s very tempting to ship them because of that, but I think there’s just too many levels to their relationship for it to be comfortable—something I’ll get into a little later in the review.
Anyway, Yui tries to take the blame for her brother’s actions, since she knows he’s committing these cruel acts for her sake. Ren, however, insists that it only means that she’s another victim of Kanzaki’s plot, just the same as him and Eri. He then senses a Monster presence outside and tries to bolt, but Yui grabs him. She argues that he’s got to stay by Eri’s side at a time like this, but he insists that he became a Rider for Eri, and this is all he can do for her. The Monster has targeted a boy at the park, Takuya Harada. Ren chases it off, but Takuya follows him and sees him henshin and enter the Mirror World. The Monster manages to escape, so Ren returns, unaware that Takuya saw his transformation.
Yui returns to the mansion, where she finds her brother. Kanzaki asks why she keeps getting involved in his business, and to be perfectly honest, the way he orders her around and treats her in general seems indicative of his abusive upbringing. We’re not at the huge revelation about Yui’s family situation, but in retrospect, the way Kanzaki treats Yui absolutely fits an abusive backstory. He wants her obedience and doesn’t mind hurting her in his twisted attempts to save her. I’ll get into this much more in-depth in his character analysis when the episode reviews are finished, and of course, more when the rest of their backstory is told.
Yui argues that Kanzaki is being cruel and asks what will happen to Ren if Eri dies. Her brother bluntly tells her that if a Rider loses their goal, they’ll die. Yui decides that he’s beyond forgiveness and hope and starts tearing papers away from the mirrors, revealing the Monsters within. Kanzaki tries and fails to stop her as she rampages, smashing the mirrors. She argues that if he wants a fight so badly, then he should just make her a Rider. And excuse me, but I fucking love Yui for this. She’s not a fighter by any stretch of the imagination. She doesn’t have great physical strength, she doesn’t know how to throw a punch, and the only thing she can do when there’s danger is break a window or a mirror. This is completely opposite of her successors, Hana of Den-O and Hina of OOO, who are both freakishly strong. However, also unlike Hana and Hina, Yui doesn’t back down. Hana and Hina’s strength is used for gags, to hurt Momotaros and Ankh to make the audience laugh. When danger shows up, they tend to run. Sure, Hana helped out a bit in the beginning, then progressively stopped, then as a young kid, she started helping out in the movies. While I have yet to see Super Hero Taisen, Hina hasn’t helped even into MEGAMAX, even when we see her in a situation where she could reasonably defend herself at least until Eiji got there. Yui doesn’t have any superpowers and can’t join in the fight. But she stands up to the bad guy—which is more than can be said for Hana and Hina—and tells him to give her the power to fight if he’s pulling this shit. Don’t get me wrong; I like Hana and Hina, but they really could have stood up for themselves a lot more than they did.
Kanzaki manages to hold her still, and a storm of golden feathers emerges from the mirror behind him. The feathers are razor-sharp, and one cuts Yui’s arm. She demands to know what her brother’s aim is, and he says it’s to gain the power to become a god or a devil, the power that will be granted to the last Rider standing. He insists that he’d used her for her ability to see the Mirror World—a parallel to Ren, that I’ll get to in the endpoint analysis—but unlike Ren, he’s now dumping her now that he doesn’t need her anymore, and he threatens her if she should get in his way again. Yui tells him goodbye, declaring that she no longer considers him her brother. But as she runs away, Kanzaki admits that he’s fine with this, since he doesn’t want her to know the truth. And he pulls out a golden Advent Card deck.
Ren is relieved to get a call from the doctor reporting that they stabilized Eri’s condition, but as he’s about to leave, Takuya imitates Ren’s Batman leap right next to his bike. I think you just found a Robin there. He asks Ren if he transformed and how he did it. Though surprised, Ren keeps his cool and denies everything, but like any self-respecting Robin, Takuya keeps bugging him. And then Takuya pulls the oldest younger sibling trick in the book when Ren tries to pull away from him: he fakes a fall and starts raising a fuss to get Ren in trouble, outright calling Ren a pervert to get the bystanders’ attention. Naturally, Ren’s starting to freak out—because we really don’t need to call Kitaoka into this for the biggest laugh of his life—and then he notices that the Monster is still after Takuya. So he does the only logical thing and basically kidnaps him. Sure, Takuya goes with him willingly, but he just five seconds ago was screaming for the police and calling Ren a pervert. What the hell are these bystanders thinking?!
They head back to Atori, where Sanako is confused and suspicious to see Ren with a ten-year-old. To her credit, the first thing that crosses her mind is that Takuya is Ren’s brother, and then the only other thing she fears is that Takuya is Ren’s kid. So I guess she’s warmed up to you, Ren. Takuya introduces himself and says he’ll be staying with them. Sanako looks to Ren for answers, and he promises it will only be for a little while. As Ren takes Takuya upstairs to the apartment, Takuya imitates Ren’s henshin pose, confusing the hell out of Sanako. And I’ve got to say completely seriously: I really think Ren has or had younger siblings in his unknown history. His behavior around Takuya is just too natural. When Takuya does something he thinks is stupid, he gently smacks him upside the head. In a later bit, when Takuya’s trying to get something back from him, he holds it over his head and makes him jump for it. This is typical older sibling behavior, and it even extends to the way he treats Shinji and Yui—picking on Shinji and being protective of Yui. Now, granted, I have no theories about what might have happened to Ren’s hypothetical siblings, but everything about his interactions with these people once he’s gotten more comfortable with them says that he’s not new to the idea of having younger siblings around. Anyway, upstairs, Shinji’s made dinner and is shocked when Takuya walks in with Ren and does the henshin pose. He asks Ren if this kid is a Rider, but Ren tells him no, to stop being an idiot. Ren then pulls him aside and explains how Takuya saw him henshin. Shinji argues that Ren shouldn’t have brought him home, but Ren points out that a Monster was after him. Shinji can’t argue with that logic, and Ren sticks him with babysitting duty, bringing up the fact that thanks to ridiculous fees, he’s inflated Shinji’s debt up to 150,000 yen, and he needs to work it off. I think it’s safe to bet that Ren worked at a bank at some point. He tells Takuya that Shinji is a Rider and to go to him for any questions before he goes into the bedroom and shuts the door on them. There, he curls up in bed and gives into the stress of the day, breaking into tears over his fears about Eri.
The next morning, over breakfast, Takuya asks if Shinji’s really a Rider. To prove it, Shinji shows off his deck, setting it down on the table in annoyance when Takuya says Shinji hardly looks strong. Takuya asks how to become a Rider, and Shinji says that kids can’t. Not unless there’s some horrible time-traveling accident or Decade’s involved. Takuya thinks it’s all about fighting Monsters, and he’d be good at it because he’s good at videogames. Shinji tries to lecture him on fighting, but he’s interrupted when Goro drops by, asking for his gyoza recipe (from the previous episode). Downstairs, the others are getting the shop ready when the next thing they know, Shinji’s screaming and Takuya’s racing past them, jumping over the mop Ren’s using and bolting out the door. Shinji proceeds to trip over said mop, and Goro slips on the wet floor and falls on top of him, and Shinji explains that Takuya stole his deck. Ren races past them while they try to get up, leaving Yui and a very confused Sanako behind. Having escaped, Takuya takes out the deck, thrilled that he can be a Rider now. But he starts to sense a Monster’s presence, and Darkwing bursts out of a window after him. Takuya runs, but he’s quickly cornered by Ren, Shinji, and Goro. Ren teases him, pointing out that a Rider can’t get scared or they can’t fight. Takuya insists that he was only surprised, not scared, but Shinji points out that he’s still shaking. Takuya tries to run again, but Ren grabs his arm long enough to get the deck back, holding it over his head and making Takuya jump for it. He makes Takuya tell him why he wants to fight, and Takuya says it’s because it’s cool, he wants to show off, and he wants to beat up anyone who bothers him. Ren actually starts grinning, but Shinji’s aggravated and starts putting the kid in a headlock. But the Monster makes its presence known, and Ren tells Shinji to stop, giving Takuya back the deck and telling him to watch how cool a Rider battle really is.
Knight starts off the fight getting showy, using Trick Vent. Wanting to know what’s going on, Shinji holds onto the deck too, and even Goro conquers his fear and holds on to watch. They see the Monster take out all of the copies and start to defeat the real Knight, and Shinji realizes what a magnificent bastard Ren’s being, purposely holding himself back and letting himself lose to scare Takuya out of wanting to be a Rider. Shinji then adds to it, insisting that there’s nothing cool about being a Rider. But matters get worse when Goro notices Zolda’s arrival. Having collapsed earlier, Kitaoka decided he couldn’t fool around anymore and needed to fight. He fires at Knight, just missing, and forcing Knight to fight seriously, switching to Survive form. The two of them end up taking out the Monster—though, to be honest, I think Zolda was aiming at Knight Survive and missed—but a surprise attack by Ouja knocks Knight out of Survive form. I never understood how that worked. Sure, in Dragon Knight, they explain this shit as a time limit, much like Kuuga’s Rising forms, Faiz Axel, and Accel Trial, but they never indicate in Ryuki that there is a time limit to the Survive power. Sometimes, Survive just stops working for no damn reason whatsoever. And sure, you can argue that maybe it’s just giving out because of how much damage Ren’s taking, but he just got hit by a sword! That’s a pretty lousy drawback for someone whose primary weapon is a sword! Also, Ouja is here because, surprise surprise, Asakura was bored. When Zolda tries to take advantage of Knight vs. Ouja to take them both out (especially Ouja), Ouja knocks Knight aside and beats up Zolda, terrifying poor Goro.
Takuya is horrified to see the three Riders fighting each other, but Shinji refuses to let him run away. He wants the boy to see the reality of the Riders’ battle and how horrible it truly is to be one of them. Goro can’t bear to watch Kitaoka fight and get hurt anymore, and he lets go, crying. Somebody give him a hug, please. Understanding what their fight means, Takuya looks to Shinji, who asks for his deck back so he can go fight. Takuya agrees, and Shinji makes him promise never to fight. Takuya then runs off, and Goro promises to get him home, clearly not wanting to be there anymore than the kid does. Crisis averted, Ryuki joins in and saves Knight, assuring him that Takuya’s okay. Ouja is about to use his united Final Vent, but he’s interrupted by a golden glow. Surrounded by this glow and feathers, a new Rider descends to the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Reiko bursts into Atori, grabbing the frame of Yui and Shiro’s photos off the counter. She then reveals to a horror-struck Yui that a year ago, Shiro Takami died in an accident in America.
The new Rider tells the others to keep on fighting, for the last one will face him for the chance to receive great power. He is the thirteenth Kamen Rider, Odin…
Time Vent (Yasuko Kobayashi): If you guys have been wanting me to shut up about Ren, well, you’re in luck. Because now, I need to talk about Shinji, for this is his episode.
And no, I'm not going to shut up here either.
Ouja attacks Odin, only to get his ass kicked. Zolda and Knight join in, much to the same result, them all getting thrown aside to the same spot. Odin insists that it's not time for the others to fight him and that they should just continue fighting each other the way they were before. He says he's only here because a "small correction" is needed before anything else can continue. He vanishes in a flurry of golden feathers, then reappears behind a shocked Ryuki to smack him over toward the others. Then he summons his Visor and scans a card—Time Vent. Odin appears to shatter like glass, and the Riders are thrown in the air by the force, but they're frozen in time. Odin then re-forms from his shattered mirror and time reverses itself.
Kanzaki, meanwhile, is at the mansion, viewing the wreckage of Yui's rampage downstairs. He notices a water-filled vase that tipped over (...um, this house has been abandoned for over a decade. Why is that vase filled with fresh water?), drenching a child's painting, which is completely blurred out by all of the watercolors running. Kanzaki remembers knocking over the vase when he tried to stop Yui, and he tries to pick up the picture, only for it to tear in half.
Shinji wakes up in the apartment at Atori, at first not recognizing his surroundings, and feeling unusually cold. He walks downstairs, where Yui is apparently waiting for him and Ren is drinking tea, watching him suspiciously. When Shinji greets them, both are confused why he knows them, much less why he's treating them like old friends. Yui presents the blank Ryuki deck and asks Shinji where he got it. Shinji claims it, but he can't understand why it's blank. Yui explains that he hasn't made a contract yet, but he insists he has, which doesn't keep her or Ren from regarding him suspiciously. Realizing something's wrong, Shinji looks to the calendar and sees that the date is February 2002, when he last remembers it being August. He freaks out and asks a million questions—why is it February, why are his friends acting like they've never met him, why is his deck blank—all while Yui tries to get him to calm down, until Ren tells him to shut up. It finally comes together for Shinji, and he realizes what's going on. Somehow or another, he's gone back in time, to the first episodes of the series. He tries to remember how it happened, but with vague memories of Odin, he doesn't know exactly what happened. Yui then asks him if he knows Shiro Kanzaki, and he starts to answer before realizing, hang on, he doesn't remember this guy at all. The memory of Kanzaki suddenly disappeared entirely. Ren insists that Shinji doesn't know anything and starts to toss him out, but Yui reminds him that Shinji's been targeted by a Monster. While Ren and Yui argue as they had in the previous go-around, Shinji remembers Dragreder and how he made the contract soon after this meeting, but soon, this memory also fades away and Shinji realizes that he's being forced to relive his past.
Have I mentioned lately that Yasuko Kobayashi, head writer of Ryuki wrote Mirai Sentai Timeranger before this? Or that she'd go on to write the time-tripping Kamen Rider Den-O and even OOO went through time travel during its portion of Movie Wars MEGAMAX? Yes? Well, I'm going to give you the short of it here: Kobayashi loves time-travel. She loves it like Greg Weisman loves intricate, complex gambits that result in a failure being a success down the line because everything goes according to plan.
Now, I normally hate recap episodes. One of my points of contention with Kuuga was the fact that it had roughly three recap episodes and two specials that were also recaps of the series. I find it boring and unnecessary. There's no reason why you should be recapping the entire series to date. Kids are better at remembering these things than you think they are. They will gleefully recap something to anyone who dares approach the subject. For example, I once had a seven-year-old excitedly give me the entire backstory to The Legend of Korra just because he saw a trailer for it. If there are particular details coming up this episode that you want the kids to keep in mind while they watch it, then recap those details in the "previously on" segment at the beginning of the episode. Don't devote entire episodes to saying, "This is what we did over the past 27 episodes."
"Time Vent" is one of the rare exceptions, like Power Rangers RPM had "If Venjix Won..." (recap of the season) and Dino Thunder had "Legacy of Power" (a recap of the entire Power Rangers franchise to date). What makes these better? They have a story behind it. They're recapping everything because it's important to the episode's plot. There is something going on in the episode that makes it vital to tell the story all over again. In both Power Rangers examples, the recaps occurred because the Rangers were trying to access their mentor's computer in order to rescue them. The Dino Thunder Rangers discovered that Tommy was once a Power Ranger long before leading this team and that he trusted them as the successors to the legacy of the Power Rangers. The RPM Rangers were trying to guess Dr. K's password so they could access her computer and rescue her and Ziggy, and they were running the risk of deleting all of its data, all while learning just what she thought of humanity's last defenders.
"Time Vent" is, at once, on both a smaller and larger scale than the later Power Rangers examples (from 2004 and 2009). Shinji isn't racing against time to save a specific person, the way the Rangers were. But at the same time, he learns a great deal about himself and that, I feel, has much more of an impact on his characterization than you see from the Power Rangers, and overall, it encapsulates the entire theme of the series—something I'll get into much more in-depth with the Endpoint Analysis.
We're given a recap of the series up until Scissors's appearance. While settling down for the night under the desk at ORE and complaining about Ren, Shinji's memories return. This time, he remembers Odin's attack a little more clearly, and he doesn't know what he was just doing, like he was ripped out of time. He sees that it's March, and he realizes that everything is repeating the way it had before. He's scared and confused, wondering why this is happening. Odin appears in a monitor, briefly, reminding Shinji that he's making a "correction," which gets our hero thinking. If Odin went back in time, dragging Shinji along, to make this correction, then that means that the past can be changed. Maybe Shinji can change the course of events. This is a huge theme about the series and utterly changes everything about the show from here on out. Sudo calls him, and he realizes that he might be able to prevent the fight between him and Ren that destroyed his deck and got him eaten. Remembering that Sudo had first attacked Ren and Yui, Shinji calls Ren to warn him. But just as he calls Ren, he forgets everything again.
Events continue as before, with Shinji tortured all throughout because he can't remember anything. Right after freaking out on Okubo while he's in jail, Shinji's memories return again, but slower this time, like déjà vu. The memories don't return in full force until after Okubo leaves, allowing Kanzaki to visit the despairing Shinji. Kanzaki is satisfied that Shinji is walking the same road he had before, with no changes to his future. Shinji is afraid to accept it, remembering Gai's and Raia's deaths. He can't bear for it to happen again, and he swears to Kanzaki that he'll stop them from dying. Kanzaki explains it's impossible, since Shinji's memories won't last long enough for him to make a difference. Shinji asks why Kanzaki is doing this, if it's not to change the outcome of the Rider War. Kanzaki answers that he's certainly not doing it for Shinji and implies that it's an accident that Shinji can remember anything at all. There's no explanation given for it in this episode, but it's widely accepted that Shinji's persistent memories are the result of him never having been chosen to become a Rider. Possibly, Kanzaki had chosen his Riders well ahead of time and carefully calibrated the decks to be compatible with their users, using the Odin deck as a core, and an incompatibility with the Ryuki deck has left Shinji immune to Odin's powers. At least, that's the best bullshit I can pull out of it. There is one problem with this theory, however, and it's the fact that Tezuka also wasn't a chosen Rider. What became the Raia deck was supposed to go to Yuichi Saito. Now, we can argue that Tezuka's predictions are actually memories of previous timelines, and it would explain discrepancies (such as Ren not dying in battle against Shibaura or Shinji not dying in battle against Asakura), but it still doesn't fit. Who knows? Maybe it's an honest fluke that could have happened to any of them, and Shinji's just the lucky one who got stuck with it, and this is the reason why at least Shinji and occasionally the others are active into the Decade movies (including Super Hero Taisen) and Let's Go Kamen Riders. Anyway, I'm writing it off the way I usually do: wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.
Having been warned that his memories will fade again by morning, Shinji despairs that he can't save Tezuka and Shibaura, since he hasn't met them yet. But then Kitaoka walks in, explaining that he's been hired to represent Shinji. Remembering Kitaoka's history with Asakura, Shinji realizes that all he has to do is prevent the jailbreak and everyone will be okay. He tells Kitaoka that Asakura, whose trial is going on now, will become a Rider and escape prison. Kitaoka realizes that Shinji is also a Rider and, based on his injury as before, is Ryuki. He agrees to call the prison to increase its security around Asakura, and Shinji takes hope that he's saved Tezuka. But as soon as he's out of the interview room, Kitaoka reveals that he'd called Goro all along and plans to let Asakura become a Rider so they'll have the necessary thirteen. However, in an interesting bit of premature character development (because Kitaoka is still a super-dick here), he does express some regret over the trouble this will bring, but he needs thirteen people to grant his wish.
Shinji's memories continue to return sporadically throughout time, and he's angry when he learns that he failed to prevent the jailbreak. Living through Tezuka's death a second time absolutely devastates him because he can't understand why he can't change anything.
Time finally catches up to the battle with Odin again, and Odin reveals that he made his correction. Ryuki turns toward him and selects a card as Odin vanishes in a storm of gold feathers. He starts to turn as Odin appears behind him, but before Odin can hit him as before, Ryuki punches him in the chest with his Strike Vent. And Odin, smug, time master Odin, is shocked. He's shocked that Ryuki could remember where he'd reappear, since his memories should have faded long ago. Ryuki then reveals that he didn't remember. He made notes for himself the last time he did—the day before—and posted them all over work and home, much to Okubo and Yui's frustration. Yes, this means that while babysitting Takuya and while Ren was breaking down over Eri's medical emergency, Shinji was putting up post-it notes all over his side of the room and graffiti on the window into Ren's side. I wish we'd seen that catastrophe. The notes to himself were all the same thing: "When you see gold feathers, punch behind you." All he wanted was to punch that smug bastard just once. But Odin wasn't hurt by the attack at all and bats him aside to join the others again. Ryuki asks what the point was of making everything repeat exactly the same, and Odin says it's none of his business, and the Riders' battle hasn't changed. Confidently, Ryuki tells him he's wrong, and something did change. He now feels the burden of the Riders' deaths twice as much, and he's even more determined to keep them all alive. The overall big picture may not have changed, just like he'd failed to hurt Odin, but that one small detail made all the difference. Shinji managed to fight his destiny, did something against the plan, and even if he's walking the same path he's been fated to, he's not helpless. He's taken his failure and used it to make himself stronger. He reaffirms that his goal as a Rider is to protect people, and that it includes the other Riders. Both Knight and Zolda seem moved by this affirmation, but Ouja doesn't care. He attacks Odin again, but Odin disappears, reminding them that only the last Rider will fight him, so they must keep fighting amongst themselves.
And at the old house, the vase is upright. Yui still broke everything, but Kanzaki didn't knock over the vase. Kanzaki allows himself a smile as he bends down to pick up the painting—himself and Yui as children, holding hands. Holding it close in relief, he swears to protect his sister...
Shinji and Ren ask Kanzaki why he’s ending the battle, and he insists that they need to find Yui before he gives them back their powers. In typical Kanzaki fashion, he refuses to explain anything to her worried best friends, instead threatening them that their Contract Monsters will attack them if they don’t have the power to fight. Meanwhile, Reiko asks Asakura if the burn on his shoulder is from the fire in his childhood. He claims to have gotten it protecting Akira, his brother, much to Reiko’s shock. However, he insists that it’s only natural that he’d protect his little brother. He also insists that he might be able to change if he could meet his brother and see for sure that he’s alive.
It’s hard to pull these two plot threads away from each other, since they converge at the end. So I’ll come back to them in a bit and focus on the plot threads that were smaller here but will gain more importance down the line. There’s this cracky bit when Okubo is irritated that neither Shinji nor Reiko are answering their phones, and Shimada suggests that they’re being recruited by another company, getting him worried about his employees’ loyalty. It’s going to come up again, to lead Reiko to something important, so I need to mention it.
At the same time, Kitaoka’s worried about the canceled contracts and notices his vision beginning to go blurry. He tries to get up, but collapses to the floor, collapsing again to the couch when Goro tries to help him. When he wakes up, he finds Goro at his side, telling him to go to the hospital, but they both know that doctors can’t do anything for Kitaoka anymore. And we get Goro’s backstory, as he insists it’s his fault that Kitaoka’s prognosis is so grim. As it turns out, our gentle ass-kicker here had a rough past. Implicitly a few years ago, he got caught up in a petty assault case, and Kitaoka represented him in court. However, the trial forced Kitaoka to miss a vital medical examination, which would have detected his illness in time for treatment. No, don’t ask why he didn’t have anything earlier that could have detected it then and why just this one exam would have saved his life; we don’t have anyone nearly as competent as House here. But Kitaoka tells Goro to stop blaming himself and that it was his own damn fault in the first place, blaming his “carefree lifestyle”—indicating that his illness may have been preventable if he’d taken care of himself better or curable if he’d paid attention to his doctor’s appointments. He adds that Goro doesn’t have to stay with him anymore and can live his own life. But Goro insists that he’s there as more than just a debt to Kitaoka—he wants to be with him as long as Kitaoka wants him. Touched, Kitaoka tells him what he wants for dinner, reassuring him that he’s still wanted and needed.
Going out of chronological order here, Reiko goes to Nishihama City to meet Akira Mihara, formerly Akira Asakura. She asks him about his brother, and he denies everything about his name and family and tries to leave. But she tells him that she got her info from Kitaoka, who’d met with him during Asakura’s trial. Akira confirms this and tells her the same thing that he’d told Kitaoka: he wants nothing to do with his brother. In fact, he was relieved to hear that Asakura was dead. Reiko says that his feelings are understandable, but she points out that Asakura nearly died as a child to save Akira’s life. Akira, however, admits that he’d passed out during the fire and therefore has no memory of what really happened. He asks who told her this, and she admits that it was Asakura himself—he’s alive and he wants to meet Akira. But Akira doesn’t want to see Asakura, and so bolts.
Shinji and Ren check in with Sanako to see if she’s seen Yui, but she hadn’t come back after bolting last episode. Shinji tells Ren that Yui was really hurt by what happened to Tezuka and he’s even more worried about finding her. When he asks where she might have gone, Sanako tells them about the old house. They investigate, surprised by the interior. Ren is immediately struck by the sight of the mirrors, set up like in Room 401, but Shinji notices all the newspapers over the windows, reminding him of Sakakibara’s apartment in the first episode. Ren points out that it means somebody knows about the Mirror World and is probably afraid of it. But he notices a rip in one of the papers, revealing a painting. He pulls it out to read what’s written on the back: “Yui Kanzaki, Oarai Coast,” and they realize that she must have painted it as a kid. But a Monster leaps out of the exposed glass, attacking them. Ren realizes that they’re now in danger from more than just their own Monsters, and they set off, in an SUV they got from…somewhere, to follow their only clue to Yui’s whereabouts. Sure enough, they find her at the beach in Oarai, and they run over to her. She admits that she doesn’t know what to do about the Riders, her brother, and Tezuka, and she asks them for advice. But the Monster attacks them again. Ren checks his card and finds it’s still blank, forcing him and Shinji to make a run for it. But as a nice moment of badassery, the Monster tries to attack Shinji before he can run, and Shinji gets it off him with a bicycle kick. The two powerless Riders have to hide in fear while the Monster goes past them.
Now, I think this is typical of the “love it or hate it” nature of Ryuki. I personally like this focus on them as people. It gets me to care about them more and cheer them on, even if at the cost of thrilling battles, much like how I feel about Power Rangers RPM in 2009, or even the slice-of-life B-plots in 2011-12’s Young Justice series. Hell, in some ways, I think it’s more thrilling to have this once in a while, where you’re seeing them as humans, being forced to deal with their human weakness in the face of danger. It makes the danger feel more “real.” However, I can understand how people can be turned off by the lack of henshin and shorter battles. It depends on what you’re going into the show for.
Anyway, Yui starts to run after her friends, but Kanzaki appears, standing in the water. He insists that Shinji and Ren are fine, despite the fact that they can’t henshin, a Monster is after them, and they’re hiding behind some plumbing. Seriously, dude. If you want to talk to your sister in private, can’t you just ask them to go somewhere else for a little bit? Fortunately, Yui isn’t buying his bullshit and tells him to be honest with her about if she’s involved in the Rider War or not, asking if he’s hiding something. He argues that he’s never lied or hurt her (yes, he has, and just wait for two episodes from now) and asks her to trust him. He then points out that the sea makes him feel nostalgic, and Yui remembers a trip they took with their parents once, the last outing the whole family had. She remembers everything as being fun, with their parents always smiling. Let’s hold that thought for…oh, twenty-odd episodes, shall we? Kanzaki promises that she’ll have plenty of good times in the future and urges her to live her life. Shinji and Ren, having escaped the Monster, run over, catching her attention long enough for Kanzaki to pull his disappearing act. Hearing that he was just there, Ren checks his card to find that it’s still blank, but Kanzaki’s voice insists that they’ll soon get their powers back.
Reiko then phones Shinji to tell him that Akira won’t come. Shinji promises to go help her, then tells Yui that he wants to change the Riders as people, believing it will make the fighting stop. He and Ren both join Reiko to meet Akira—I’m assuming Ren is there because Shinji needs a babysitter, and that that’s the very reason Reiko doesn’t question it. Akira admits that he’s scared of his brother, but Reiko insists that Asakura thinks he can change if they can just meet. This gives Shinji hope, but it leaves Ren cynical. He asks just how she came across this information, getting Shinji to realize that it’s fishy too. Reiko admits that she was with Asakura the whole time, and during the drive to meet with Asakura, Shinji chews Reiko out for being reckless. She argues, however, that she’s learned that Asakura is human, and Shinji agrees that he might just be able to redeem himself, even if it doesn’t absolve him of his past crimes. But Asakura steps out in front of the SUV in a tunnel, forcing Ren to slam on the brake. The group steps out, and Akira goes over to Asakura, thanking him for saving him in the fire. But Asakura reveals that he set the fire himself and never would have saved Akira. Curse your sudden but inevitable…well, you know the drill. Reiko confronts him, and Asakura reveals that he’ll kill Akira for sure this time. At that point, Venosnaker emerges from the window and eats Akira.
It occurs to me that back in my review of the Scissors episodes, I might have said that not even Asakura fed people to his Monster. I completely forgot about this incident. What would have been accurate would be adding “specifically to gain strength.” Sorry, Dead Akira. Since he no longer needs Reiko, but the plot still requires her to be alive, Asakura knocks her out. Shinji rushes to her side, asking why Asakura did this. Asakura insists it’s because Akira bugged him when they were kids. Yeah, but that’s not reason for actual murder, only death threats. Shinji can’t believe that a human like Asakura can exist, so Asakura challenges him to a fight. Ren double-checks his card to be sure it’s active, then starts trash-talking. He insists to Shinji that Asakura isn’t human, specifically calling him a “monster” with the English word reserved this season for the Mirror Monsters. And it’s a great bit for the both of them. Ren is reminding both Shinji and himself that they must consider Asakura the same as the soulless Monsters they destroy. Ren agrees to the challenge, and Shinji despairs that this is how it all ends as he joins the fight too. Knight and Ouja fight while Ryuki battles the returning Monster, and Zolda joins against Ouja, just wanting to beat the shit out of him. Ryuki destroys the Monster on a bridge (it looks impressive, okay?), then runs down to the others. Evildiver, Raia’s Monster, attacks Ouja, who is fed up with these ghost Riders
Zolda’s Assault (Toshiki Inoue): Zolda’s arm is injured in Genocider’s attack, worrying Ryuki. Ouja threatens to Final Vent the group right then and there, but Darkraider arrives to buy them time. Knight Survive uses his Final Vent, but it’s countered by the Evildiver version of Final Vent, and the attacks explode spectacularly. Apparently, Ren is completely fine afterward, since he and Shinji pack the unconscious Reiko into the SUV and drive off. Reiko wakes up and asks what happened to Asakura and Akira. Shinji doesn’t know how to answer the question, and in a nice moment, Ren spares him the uncomfortable truth by claiming that Akira ran when he saw his brother’s true colors. Reiko is regretful that she was wrong about Asakura’s humanity and so ruined Akira’s life. Ren warns her to learn from this and keep the hell away from Asakura, also warning her (and Shinji) not to try to understand Asakura. I really like this bit for two reasons. First, it shows Ren taking some of the pressure off Shinji, really seeming like a friend, and showing his concern for him by giving him that veiled warning, pretending he’s only warning Reiko. And second, it shows some good cooperation between the heroes and ORE Journal. Honestly, it would have been nice to further explore our heroes’ relationship with the ORE staff. There are plenty of nice moments like this, but I’d have liked to see more of their friendship. More of Shinji’s friendship with his coworkers, or how they seem to accept Ren as a freelancer, letting him go on assignments with Shinji even though he doesn’t contribute to articles. With the enormous cast this series has, I can see why this didn’t get much focus, but it really would have been nice to see some more of it.
Shinji and Ren return home, with Shinji haunted by Asakura’s actions. Ren insists that he “won” about Shinji being unable to change people, but Shinji’s only even more determined to change the Riders and insists on trying with Kitaoka next, much to Ren’s disbelief. However, Shinji insists that this is the only idea he has left. The next morning, Kitaoka’s right arm is in a sling, making it difficult to do his daily routine, such as eating. While he’s injured, Goro takes over some of his workload, delivering documents to clients and generally just being Kitaoka’s legal assistant rather than personal manservant/bodyguard/etc. Once Goro’s left, Shinji drops by with a gift, wanting to talk. He rambles on about his plan to understand the Riders better, and Kitaoka mostly tunes him out before asking him to take over as his temporary assistant. He insists that as fellow Riders, they should help each other out, then has Shinji take a bite of the food he’d bought over—dumplings on a stick, I think. No, this shot is in no way phallic. Really, Kitaoka, what is this strange power you have? You have UST now with Shinji, Goro, Ren, Kanzaki, Asakura, the camera, and even me, and the last I didn’t think was even possible!
At ORE, Reiko has her doubts about Ren’s story, noticing that Akira’s strange disappearance fits the general pattern of Asakura’s escapes, beginning with the prison. But worried that Reiko is being scouted by a rival company, Okubo insists that she and Shimada take a break and gets them some cantaloupe. Shimada claims this as a “victory” to a bemused Reiko, implying that she was messing with him the entire time.
Back at Kitaoka’s, Shinji’s been conned into doing all the chores, with Kitaoka promising to tell him later why he’s fighting. Ren stops by to tell him that Yui made it back home (considering, you know, they took the car and left her at the beach). She’s worried by Shinji’s strange behavior again, and they want him to come home. Shinji refuses, and Ren asks why he does this when he knows that Kitaoka won’t talk to him. Shinji just argues that he doesn’t know what else he can do, so he’s just going to do all that he can. And really, this is a trait of all Kobayashi title-Riders: Shinji, Ryotaro, Eiji, and even to some extent, Hiromu of Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters. They don’t have the answers. They may not have the power. But whatever they can do to try to help, they will, with all they have.
While Shinji makes lunch, some shady guys threaten Kitaoka to keep some evidence hidden in a particular trial. But both Shinji and Kitaoka sense a Monster after their leader. Kitaoka decides to follow them, much to Shinji’s surprise, but Kitaoka insists that he’d be the first suspect if they disappeared right after visiting him, dashing Shinji’s hopes that Kitaoka might be a decent human being. They spend pretty much the whole drive arguing, whether it’s over Shinji making his prized gyoza for lunch (which Kitaoka thinks hardly suits a super-lawyer like him) or over Shinji not driving safely. Because of this, they momentarily lose the other car. Kitaoka has second thoughts about saving the guy and suggests they head back home and create an alibi. Shinji, however, still holds to his promise to protect people from Monsters. They catch up to the car in a garage, but they’re surrounded by the guy and his thugs. So what do you do? Kitaoka offers Shinji as his meatshield. Even after getting his ass kicked, though, Shinji insists on saving the other guy, prompting Kitaoka to note that he hasn’t changed a bit. Shinji then realizes that he shouldn’t change and that he forgot why he became a Rider in the first place: to save people, not to stop the fighting. If this is all he can do, then he’ll accept that. They manage to find the guy and the Monster, double Rider Kicking it back to the Mirror World before henshinning and following.
Having returned home, Ren has to rush right out the door after Yui, begging her to listen to her brother when he says she’s not involved in the Rider War and not to get involved. But Yui knows her brother is lying for her sake, so she wants to try to persuade him to stop. There’s still love between brother and sister, even if he’s doing something that she knows is wrong. Ren concedes defeat and agrees to go with her to investigate the house, but before they leave, Yui asks him about his trips to the hospital to visit Eri. He takes Yui to visit Eri in the ICU, having explained everything offscreen. Yui is devastated to learn that the comatose woman she’d visited before was Ren’s fiancée the whole time. Ren then reveals that he knew someone had been visiting her, but he hadn’t suspected Yui—understandable, since around the time Yui first visited Eri, he’d learned that Tezuka had found out about her, so he probably figured that Tezuka was the mysterious visitor. But during their visit, Eri’s vitals suddenly change, and the nurses on staff start looking for a doctor, much to their horror. She’s rushed into another room with the doctor, while the helpless Yui and Ren watch.
Zolda’s injury keeps him from pulling his Visor to scan cards, so as a compromise, he tells Ryuki to scan them. However, the cards in each deck and contract (barring Survive, of course) are locked to the Rider who made the contract in the first place. That is, Ryuki cannot personally use any cards that are locked to Zolda’s contract with Magnugiga. All weapons and defenses go straight to Zolda. Becoming increasingly more upset about being Zolda’s combination secondary Visor and meatshield, Ryuki finally gets an idea. He summons Magnugiga, but as Zolda heads over to make it attack, Ryuki pushes him aside, taunts the Monster, and hides behind Magnugiga as it and Zolda get shot. He then uses the cover to his advantage and scans his Strike Vent card. That’s surprisingly devious of him, and the unexpected ingenuity and ruthlessness takes Zolda by surprise. After all, Shinji’s the nice one. Together, the two Riders destroy the Monster.
ORE is being hassled again about reporting Asakura as potentially alive, reminding Okubo of his promise to shave his head and become a monk. Reiko returns from her break with surveillance footage of Asakura’s jailbreak. While Asakura himself doesn’t appear in the video, she thinks she’ll still find a clue about his mysterious disappearing acts. As she watches the video, Reiko notices a bizarre and inexplicable reflection in the glass near Asakura’s cell—a man in a trenchcoat, who we know is Kanzaki…
Thirteen Riders (Yasuko Kobayashi): Ren and Yui are still watching the medical team try to stabilize Eri, and Yui is horrified that her brother did this to her. She asks Ren how he can stand being her friend, and Ren insists that it’s not her fault. I really love this moment. Ren and Yui’s friendship is a really interesting part of their characters, since we see it already established while getting stronger over time, as opposed to Shinji and Ren, where it has to completely form over time. Even before Yui’s backstory gets more and more fucked up, you know that she was a lonely girl growing up who never had any friends because all the other kids at school picked on her for seeing monsters. Her brother was the only person she could depend on, and then he was sent off to another country. Her aunt can barely relate to her, and we constantly see Sanako urging Yui to go out and meet more people. And then Ren comes along, in the months between Eri’s coma and the first episode of the series. Ren himself apologetically admits here that he started hanging around her as a way to gain an advantage in battle, but over time, it developed into a lot more than that. He cares about her, worries when she’s putting herself in danger, and tries to help her. Not because he needs her, but because he’s her friend. He’s really her first friend. And again, it’s very tempting to ship them because of that, but I think there’s just too many levels to their relationship for it to be comfortable—something I’ll get into a little later in the review.
Anyway, Yui tries to take the blame for her brother’s actions, since she knows he’s committing these cruel acts for her sake. Ren, however, insists that it only means that she’s another victim of Kanzaki’s plot, just the same as him and Eri. He then senses a Monster presence outside and tries to bolt, but Yui grabs him. She argues that he’s got to stay by Eri’s side at a time like this, but he insists that he became a Rider for Eri, and this is all he can do for her. The Monster has targeted a boy at the park, Takuya Harada. Ren chases it off, but Takuya follows him and sees him henshin and enter the Mirror World. The Monster manages to escape, so Ren returns, unaware that Takuya saw his transformation.
Yui returns to the mansion, where she finds her brother. Kanzaki asks why she keeps getting involved in his business, and to be perfectly honest, the way he orders her around and treats her in general seems indicative of his abusive upbringing. We’re not at the huge revelation about Yui’s family situation, but in retrospect, the way Kanzaki treats Yui absolutely fits an abusive backstory. He wants her obedience and doesn’t mind hurting her in his twisted attempts to save her. I’ll get into this much more in-depth in his character analysis when the episode reviews are finished, and of course, more when the rest of their backstory is told.
Yui argues that Kanzaki is being cruel and asks what will happen to Ren if Eri dies. Her brother bluntly tells her that if a Rider loses their goal, they’ll die. Yui decides that he’s beyond forgiveness and hope and starts tearing papers away from the mirrors, revealing the Monsters within. Kanzaki tries and fails to stop her as she rampages, smashing the mirrors. She argues that if he wants a fight so badly, then he should just make her a Rider. And excuse me, but I fucking love Yui for this. She’s not a fighter by any stretch of the imagination. She doesn’t have great physical strength, she doesn’t know how to throw a punch, and the only thing she can do when there’s danger is break a window or a mirror. This is completely opposite of her successors, Hana of Den-O and Hina of OOO, who are both freakishly strong. However, also unlike Hana and Hina, Yui doesn’t back down. Hana and Hina’s strength is used for gags, to hurt Momotaros and Ankh to make the audience laugh. When danger shows up, they tend to run. Sure, Hana helped out a bit in the beginning, then progressively stopped, then as a young kid, she started helping out in the movies. While I have yet to see Super Hero Taisen, Hina hasn’t helped even into MEGAMAX, even when we see her in a situation where she could reasonably defend herself at least until Eiji got there. Yui doesn’t have any superpowers and can’t join in the fight. But she stands up to the bad guy—which is more than can be said for Hana and Hina—and tells him to give her the power to fight if he’s pulling this shit. Don’t get me wrong; I like Hana and Hina, but they really could have stood up for themselves a lot more than they did.
Kanzaki manages to hold her still, and a storm of golden feathers emerges from the mirror behind him. The feathers are razor-sharp, and one cuts Yui’s arm. She demands to know what her brother’s aim is, and he says it’s to gain the power to become a god or a devil, the power that will be granted to the last Rider standing. He insists that he’d used her for her ability to see the Mirror World—a parallel to Ren, that I’ll get to in the endpoint analysis—but unlike Ren, he’s now dumping her now that he doesn’t need her anymore, and he threatens her if she should get in his way again. Yui tells him goodbye, declaring that she no longer considers him her brother. But as she runs away, Kanzaki admits that he’s fine with this, since he doesn’t want her to know the truth. And he pulls out a golden Advent Card deck.
Ren is relieved to get a call from the doctor reporting that they stabilized Eri’s condition, but as he’s about to leave, Takuya imitates Ren’s Batman leap right next to his bike. I think you just found a Robin there. He asks Ren if he transformed and how he did it. Though surprised, Ren keeps his cool and denies everything, but like any self-respecting Robin, Takuya keeps bugging him. And then Takuya pulls the oldest younger sibling trick in the book when Ren tries to pull away from him: he fakes a fall and starts raising a fuss to get Ren in trouble, outright calling Ren a pervert to get the bystanders’ attention. Naturally, Ren’s starting to freak out—because we really don’t need to call Kitaoka into this for the biggest laugh of his life—and then he notices that the Monster is still after Takuya. So he does the only logical thing and basically kidnaps him. Sure, Takuya goes with him willingly, but he just five seconds ago was screaming for the police and calling Ren a pervert. What the hell are these bystanders thinking?!
They head back to Atori, where Sanako is confused and suspicious to see Ren with a ten-year-old. To her credit, the first thing that crosses her mind is that Takuya is Ren’s brother, and then the only other thing she fears is that Takuya is Ren’s kid. So I guess she’s warmed up to you, Ren. Takuya introduces himself and says he’ll be staying with them. Sanako looks to Ren for answers, and he promises it will only be for a little while. As Ren takes Takuya upstairs to the apartment, Takuya imitates Ren’s henshin pose, confusing the hell out of Sanako. And I’ve got to say completely seriously: I really think Ren has or had younger siblings in his unknown history. His behavior around Takuya is just too natural. When Takuya does something he thinks is stupid, he gently smacks him upside the head. In a later bit, when Takuya’s trying to get something back from him, he holds it over his head and makes him jump for it. This is typical older sibling behavior, and it even extends to the way he treats Shinji and Yui—picking on Shinji and being protective of Yui. Now, granted, I have no theories about what might have happened to Ren’s hypothetical siblings, but everything about his interactions with these people once he’s gotten more comfortable with them says that he’s not new to the idea of having younger siblings around. Anyway, upstairs, Shinji’s made dinner and is shocked when Takuya walks in with Ren and does the henshin pose. He asks Ren if this kid is a Rider, but Ren tells him no, to stop being an idiot. Ren then pulls him aside and explains how Takuya saw him henshin. Shinji argues that Ren shouldn’t have brought him home, but Ren points out that a Monster was after him. Shinji can’t argue with that logic, and Ren sticks him with babysitting duty, bringing up the fact that thanks to ridiculous fees, he’s inflated Shinji’s debt up to 150,000 yen, and he needs to work it off. I think it’s safe to bet that Ren worked at a bank at some point. He tells Takuya that Shinji is a Rider and to go to him for any questions before he goes into the bedroom and shuts the door on them. There, he curls up in bed and gives into the stress of the day, breaking into tears over his fears about Eri.
The next morning, over breakfast, Takuya asks if Shinji’s really a Rider. To prove it, Shinji shows off his deck, setting it down on the table in annoyance when Takuya says Shinji hardly looks strong. Takuya asks how to become a Rider, and Shinji says that kids can’t. Not unless there’s some horrible time-traveling accident or Decade’s involved. Takuya thinks it’s all about fighting Monsters, and he’d be good at it because he’s good at videogames. Shinji tries to lecture him on fighting, but he’s interrupted when Goro drops by, asking for his gyoza recipe (from the previous episode). Downstairs, the others are getting the shop ready when the next thing they know, Shinji’s screaming and Takuya’s racing past them, jumping over the mop Ren’s using and bolting out the door. Shinji proceeds to trip over said mop, and Goro slips on the wet floor and falls on top of him, and Shinji explains that Takuya stole his deck. Ren races past them while they try to get up, leaving Yui and a very confused Sanako behind. Having escaped, Takuya takes out the deck, thrilled that he can be a Rider now. But he starts to sense a Monster’s presence, and Darkwing bursts out of a window after him. Takuya runs, but he’s quickly cornered by Ren, Shinji, and Goro. Ren teases him, pointing out that a Rider can’t get scared or they can’t fight. Takuya insists that he was only surprised, not scared, but Shinji points out that he’s still shaking. Takuya tries to run again, but Ren grabs his arm long enough to get the deck back, holding it over his head and making Takuya jump for it. He makes Takuya tell him why he wants to fight, and Takuya says it’s because it’s cool, he wants to show off, and he wants to beat up anyone who bothers him. Ren actually starts grinning, but Shinji’s aggravated and starts putting the kid in a headlock. But the Monster makes its presence known, and Ren tells Shinji to stop, giving Takuya back the deck and telling him to watch how cool a Rider battle really is.
Knight starts off the fight getting showy, using Trick Vent. Wanting to know what’s going on, Shinji holds onto the deck too, and even Goro conquers his fear and holds on to watch. They see the Monster take out all of the copies and start to defeat the real Knight, and Shinji realizes what a magnificent bastard Ren’s being, purposely holding himself back and letting himself lose to scare Takuya out of wanting to be a Rider. Shinji then adds to it, insisting that there’s nothing cool about being a Rider. But matters get worse when Goro notices Zolda’s arrival. Having collapsed earlier, Kitaoka decided he couldn’t fool around anymore and needed to fight. He fires at Knight, just missing, and forcing Knight to fight seriously, switching to Survive form. The two of them end up taking out the Monster—though, to be honest, I think Zolda was aiming at Knight Survive and missed—but a surprise attack by Ouja knocks Knight out of Survive form. I never understood how that worked. Sure, in Dragon Knight, they explain this shit as a time limit, much like Kuuga’s Rising forms, Faiz Axel, and Accel Trial, but they never indicate in Ryuki that there is a time limit to the Survive power. Sometimes, Survive just stops working for no damn reason whatsoever. And sure, you can argue that maybe it’s just giving out because of how much damage Ren’s taking, but he just got hit by a sword! That’s a pretty lousy drawback for someone whose primary weapon is a sword! Also, Ouja is here because, surprise surprise, Asakura was bored. When Zolda tries to take advantage of Knight vs. Ouja to take them both out (especially Ouja), Ouja knocks Knight aside and beats up Zolda, terrifying poor Goro.
Takuya is horrified to see the three Riders fighting each other, but Shinji refuses to let him run away. He wants the boy to see the reality of the Riders’ battle and how horrible it truly is to be one of them. Goro can’t bear to watch Kitaoka fight and get hurt anymore, and he lets go, crying. Somebody give him a hug, please. Understanding what their fight means, Takuya looks to Shinji, who asks for his deck back so he can go fight. Takuya agrees, and Shinji makes him promise never to fight. Takuya then runs off, and Goro promises to get him home, clearly not wanting to be there anymore than the kid does. Crisis averted, Ryuki joins in and saves Knight, assuring him that Takuya’s okay. Ouja is about to use his united Final Vent, but he’s interrupted by a golden glow. Surrounded by this glow and feathers, a new Rider descends to the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Reiko bursts into Atori, grabbing the frame of Yui and Shiro’s photos off the counter. She then reveals to a horror-struck Yui that a year ago, Shiro Takami died in an accident in America.
The new Rider tells the others to keep on fighting, for the last one will face him for the chance to receive great power. He is the thirteenth Kamen Rider, Odin…
Time Vent (Yasuko Kobayashi): If you guys have been wanting me to shut up about Ren, well, you’re in luck. Because now, I need to talk about Shinji, for this is his episode.
And no, I'm not going to shut up here either.
Ouja attacks Odin, only to get his ass kicked. Zolda and Knight join in, much to the same result, them all getting thrown aside to the same spot. Odin insists that it's not time for the others to fight him and that they should just continue fighting each other the way they were before. He says he's only here because a "small correction" is needed before anything else can continue. He vanishes in a flurry of golden feathers, then reappears behind a shocked Ryuki to smack him over toward the others. Then he summons his Visor and scans a card—Time Vent. Odin appears to shatter like glass, and the Riders are thrown in the air by the force, but they're frozen in time. Odin then re-forms from his shattered mirror and time reverses itself.
Kanzaki, meanwhile, is at the mansion, viewing the wreckage of Yui's rampage downstairs. He notices a water-filled vase that tipped over (...um, this house has been abandoned for over a decade. Why is that vase filled with fresh water?), drenching a child's painting, which is completely blurred out by all of the watercolors running. Kanzaki remembers knocking over the vase when he tried to stop Yui, and he tries to pick up the picture, only for it to tear in half.
Shinji wakes up in the apartment at Atori, at first not recognizing his surroundings, and feeling unusually cold. He walks downstairs, where Yui is apparently waiting for him and Ren is drinking tea, watching him suspiciously. When Shinji greets them, both are confused why he knows them, much less why he's treating them like old friends. Yui presents the blank Ryuki deck and asks Shinji where he got it. Shinji claims it, but he can't understand why it's blank. Yui explains that he hasn't made a contract yet, but he insists he has, which doesn't keep her or Ren from regarding him suspiciously. Realizing something's wrong, Shinji looks to the calendar and sees that the date is February 2002, when he last remembers it being August. He freaks out and asks a million questions—why is it February, why are his friends acting like they've never met him, why is his deck blank—all while Yui tries to get him to calm down, until Ren tells him to shut up. It finally comes together for Shinji, and he realizes what's going on. Somehow or another, he's gone back in time, to the first episodes of the series. He tries to remember how it happened, but with vague memories of Odin, he doesn't know exactly what happened. Yui then asks him if he knows Shiro Kanzaki, and he starts to answer before realizing, hang on, he doesn't remember this guy at all. The memory of Kanzaki suddenly disappeared entirely. Ren insists that Shinji doesn't know anything and starts to toss him out, but Yui reminds him that Shinji's been targeted by a Monster. While Ren and Yui argue as they had in the previous go-around, Shinji remembers Dragreder and how he made the contract soon after this meeting, but soon, this memory also fades away and Shinji realizes that he's being forced to relive his past.
Have I mentioned lately that Yasuko Kobayashi, head writer of Ryuki wrote Mirai Sentai Timeranger before this? Or that she'd go on to write the time-tripping Kamen Rider Den-O and even OOO went through time travel during its portion of Movie Wars MEGAMAX? Yes? Well, I'm going to give you the short of it here: Kobayashi loves time-travel. She loves it like Greg Weisman loves intricate, complex gambits that result in a failure being a success down the line because everything goes according to plan.
Now, I normally hate recap episodes. One of my points of contention with Kuuga was the fact that it had roughly three recap episodes and two specials that were also recaps of the series. I find it boring and unnecessary. There's no reason why you should be recapping the entire series to date. Kids are better at remembering these things than you think they are. They will gleefully recap something to anyone who dares approach the subject. For example, I once had a seven-year-old excitedly give me the entire backstory to The Legend of Korra just because he saw a trailer for it. If there are particular details coming up this episode that you want the kids to keep in mind while they watch it, then recap those details in the "previously on" segment at the beginning of the episode. Don't devote entire episodes to saying, "This is what we did over the past 27 episodes."
"Time Vent" is one of the rare exceptions, like Power Rangers RPM had "If Venjix Won..." (recap of the season) and Dino Thunder had "Legacy of Power" (a recap of the entire Power Rangers franchise to date). What makes these better? They have a story behind it. They're recapping everything because it's important to the episode's plot. There is something going on in the episode that makes it vital to tell the story all over again. In both Power Rangers examples, the recaps occurred because the Rangers were trying to access their mentor's computer in order to rescue them. The Dino Thunder Rangers discovered that Tommy was once a Power Ranger long before leading this team and that he trusted them as the successors to the legacy of the Power Rangers. The RPM Rangers were trying to guess Dr. K's password so they could access her computer and rescue her and Ziggy, and they were running the risk of deleting all of its data, all while learning just what she thought of humanity's last defenders.
"Time Vent" is, at once, on both a smaller and larger scale than the later Power Rangers examples (from 2004 and 2009). Shinji isn't racing against time to save a specific person, the way the Rangers were. But at the same time, he learns a great deal about himself and that, I feel, has much more of an impact on his characterization than you see from the Power Rangers, and overall, it encapsulates the entire theme of the series—something I'll get into much more in-depth with the Endpoint Analysis.
We're given a recap of the series up until Scissors's appearance. While settling down for the night under the desk at ORE and complaining about Ren, Shinji's memories return. This time, he remembers Odin's attack a little more clearly, and he doesn't know what he was just doing, like he was ripped out of time. He sees that it's March, and he realizes that everything is repeating the way it had before. He's scared and confused, wondering why this is happening. Odin appears in a monitor, briefly, reminding Shinji that he's making a "correction," which gets our hero thinking. If Odin went back in time, dragging Shinji along, to make this correction, then that means that the past can be changed. Maybe Shinji can change the course of events. This is a huge theme about the series and utterly changes everything about the show from here on out. Sudo calls him, and he realizes that he might be able to prevent the fight between him and Ren that destroyed his deck and got him eaten. Remembering that Sudo had first attacked Ren and Yui, Shinji calls Ren to warn him. But just as he calls Ren, he forgets everything again.
Events continue as before, with Shinji tortured all throughout because he can't remember anything. Right after freaking out on Okubo while he's in jail, Shinji's memories return again, but slower this time, like déjà vu. The memories don't return in full force until after Okubo leaves, allowing Kanzaki to visit the despairing Shinji. Kanzaki is satisfied that Shinji is walking the same road he had before, with no changes to his future. Shinji is afraid to accept it, remembering Gai's and Raia's deaths. He can't bear for it to happen again, and he swears to Kanzaki that he'll stop them from dying. Kanzaki explains it's impossible, since Shinji's memories won't last long enough for him to make a difference. Shinji asks why Kanzaki is doing this, if it's not to change the outcome of the Rider War. Kanzaki answers that he's certainly not doing it for Shinji and implies that it's an accident that Shinji can remember anything at all. There's no explanation given for it in this episode, but it's widely accepted that Shinji's persistent memories are the result of him never having been chosen to become a Rider. Possibly, Kanzaki had chosen his Riders well ahead of time and carefully calibrated the decks to be compatible with their users, using the Odin deck as a core, and an incompatibility with the Ryuki deck has left Shinji immune to Odin's powers. At least, that's the best bullshit I can pull out of it. There is one problem with this theory, however, and it's the fact that Tezuka also wasn't a chosen Rider. What became the Raia deck was supposed to go to Yuichi Saito. Now, we can argue that Tezuka's predictions are actually memories of previous timelines, and it would explain discrepancies (such as Ren not dying in battle against Shibaura or Shinji not dying in battle against Asakura), but it still doesn't fit. Who knows? Maybe it's an honest fluke that could have happened to any of them, and Shinji's just the lucky one who got stuck with it, and this is the reason why at least Shinji and occasionally the others are active into the Decade movies (including Super Hero Taisen) and Let's Go Kamen Riders. Anyway, I'm writing it off the way I usually do: wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.
Having been warned that his memories will fade again by morning, Shinji despairs that he can't save Tezuka and Shibaura, since he hasn't met them yet. But then Kitaoka walks in, explaining that he's been hired to represent Shinji. Remembering Kitaoka's history with Asakura, Shinji realizes that all he has to do is prevent the jailbreak and everyone will be okay. He tells Kitaoka that Asakura, whose trial is going on now, will become a Rider and escape prison. Kitaoka realizes that Shinji is also a Rider and, based on his injury as before, is Ryuki. He agrees to call the prison to increase its security around Asakura, and Shinji takes hope that he's saved Tezuka. But as soon as he's out of the interview room, Kitaoka reveals that he'd called Goro all along and plans to let Asakura become a Rider so they'll have the necessary thirteen. However, in an interesting bit of premature character development (because Kitaoka is still a super-dick here), he does express some regret over the trouble this will bring, but he needs thirteen people to grant his wish.
Shinji's memories continue to return sporadically throughout time, and he's angry when he learns that he failed to prevent the jailbreak. Living through Tezuka's death a second time absolutely devastates him because he can't understand why he can't change anything.
Time finally catches up to the battle with Odin again, and Odin reveals that he made his correction. Ryuki turns toward him and selects a card as Odin vanishes in a storm of gold feathers. He starts to turn as Odin appears behind him, but before Odin can hit him as before, Ryuki punches him in the chest with his Strike Vent. And Odin, smug, time master Odin, is shocked. He's shocked that Ryuki could remember where he'd reappear, since his memories should have faded long ago. Ryuki then reveals that he didn't remember. He made notes for himself the last time he did—the day before—and posted them all over work and home, much to Okubo and Yui's frustration. Yes, this means that while babysitting Takuya and while Ren was breaking down over Eri's medical emergency, Shinji was putting up post-it notes all over his side of the room and graffiti on the window into Ren's side. I wish we'd seen that catastrophe. The notes to himself were all the same thing: "When you see gold feathers, punch behind you." All he wanted was to punch that smug bastard just once. But Odin wasn't hurt by the attack at all and bats him aside to join the others again. Ryuki asks what the point was of making everything repeat exactly the same, and Odin says it's none of his business, and the Riders' battle hasn't changed. Confidently, Ryuki tells him he's wrong, and something did change. He now feels the burden of the Riders' deaths twice as much, and he's even more determined to keep them all alive. The overall big picture may not have changed, just like he'd failed to hurt Odin, but that one small detail made all the difference. Shinji managed to fight his destiny, did something against the plan, and even if he's walking the same path he's been fated to, he's not helpless. He's taken his failure and used it to make himself stronger. He reaffirms that his goal as a Rider is to protect people, and that it includes the other Riders. Both Knight and Zolda seem moved by this affirmation, but Ouja doesn't care. He attacks Odin again, but Odin disappears, reminding them that only the last Rider will fight him, so they must keep fighting amongst themselves.
And at the old house, the vase is upright. Yui still broke everything, but Kanzaki didn't knock over the vase. Kanzaki allows himself a smile as he bends down to pick up the painting—himself and Yui as children, holding hands. Holding it close in relief, he swears to protect his sister...