#that screenshot of ren smirking blasted me from orbit

[littlechibs]

Chibs Media Thread Entry #7: Kamen Rider Ryuki (2002)

Lemme preface this with the note that this is only my second fully finished Tokusatsu series ever, and my very first Kamen Rider series. Read (or skip) to the end to see some of my favorite tweets from my livewatch thread. Over a month ago, one of my buddies had been posting pretty regularly about their favorite character from Ryuki and I had been considering it. They told me it had mystery elements to it given the overarching story about mysterious disappearances and the main character being a journalist, and I'm absolutely not immune to mysteries whatsoever, so that got me EVEN MORE curious about it. And then, a few weeks later, I decided to watch it.

TBH, at first I wasn't especially vibing with it, but I decided to keep going and give it the 3 episode rule. Even after 3 episodes I was only somewhat having fun, but I considered it enough to keep going because my friends REALLY REALLY liked the show and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about! I started really having fun about episode 5 or 6 (I can't really remember) and that's around the time that I started posting about it. I made my full properly official Ryuki Watch Thread at episode 7, when my Blorbo-in-Law Shuichi Kitaoka appears. By this point I was having quite a bit of fun.

I don't really need to type all of that but I just wanted to. I'm really glad I kept going and kept watching more and more episodes simply because my friends liked it and I wanted to see why, and also once I started the thread it was part to make them happy. Because once I finally started truly getting attached, I was having SO MUCH FUN. I just needed to get into the Kamen Rider formula because I was still pretty new to Toku shows in general, but EVEN MORESO new to Kamen Rider as a series. It was a whole different vibe for me and I just had to give myself time to adjust. And I'm unbelievably happy that I did. Over the course of the past month and a half I had grown more and more attached to the cast of Ryuki, both good guys and bad guys and in between, and would get so invested in their various character arcs and fights. And ALL of that culminates into today, the final episode.

The final episode is just... My buddies kept telling me that the show breaks you at SOME POINT and I joked here and there that I wanted it to break me but good lord that final episode really and truly broke me. The second to last episode already had me staggered and just feeling nothing but this sort of empty despair I didn't know the show was capable of, and just kinda in shock. The last episode was a total culmination of all of those feelings and emotions and attachments to each of the characters, both good and bad, and I don't know how to properly word it but each scene with each character slowly chips away at you until it strikes the final blow at 16 minutes in and just totally breaks you. I'm not someone who cries easy at all and I'm not joking when I say the finale of Ryuki made me cry for a solid 10 minutes straight. That's not even an exaggeration either I tweeted the very moment I started crying and when I finally calmed down and looked at how long it had been, it had been a little over 10 minutes. It just hits you in such a way and you think about all the things that had happened and all of the characters you grew to love and the tears just keep coming and coming. And then of course the ending just makes it all so much more worse. It's a bittersweet one, and its bittersweet in a way that you're happy but you're also once again totally heartbroken, while also relieved.

I'm glad I took a chance on Ryuki. I'm glad I watched it. It was a wonderfully special experience from start to finish and I'll forever have a special place in my heart for it. Granted, all media that makes me cry that hard earns a special place in my heart, but Ryuki is truly exceptionally. I don't think I'd change a single thing about the finale, even with as bittersweet as it is. A story about loss, and letting go, I think I would say is what it is. I'll never forget Shinji or Ren. Or Yui. I'm so glad I got to experience this show.

ANYWAYS. Since you've made it to the end (or skipped reading to get to this) fair warning for Spoilers Under the Cut, but here are my favorite moments from the Ryuki Watch Thread.