Kamen Rider Ryuki (2002)

Everything the show did well:
-Really unique and entertaining cast for the most part.
-Zolda/Kitaoka in particular is super entertaining.
-Some of the most emotional writing in the franchise.
-The mirror monsters feel menacing and Ouja even more, easily one of the most psychotic characters in the franchise and it is done really well.
-The dynamic between the riders feel really entertaining and pretty different from other shows in the franchise.
-The big twist in this show is really good.
-The power system in the show revolving in making contracts with monsters and making them eat others to become more powerful is entertaining.
-The contract beast dynamic and having to feed them in order to survive is interesting.
-The majority of the sidecast from the Ore Journal are fun.
-Pretty great monsters of the week for the most part.
-One of the most emotional and intense finales in the franchise.
-Interesting main antagonist.

Everything the show did bad:
-Despite the antagonist goal making sense and his backstory being really good. The show never explains how any of what he's doing remotely helps him reach said goal nor does it explain what the mirror monsters are. That is answered in the movie "Kamen Rider Ryuki: Episode Final", which is an alternate ending for the show story. Since the movie is an alternate ending that happened during the show's run before its actual ending it ends up having heavy spoilers if you watch the movie in accordance to its release. So you either see the show's big plot-twist but worse executed in the movie to have the full context of the story or finish the show without properly understanding the antagonist's intentions but not get spoiled. Personally I prefer the latter choice.
-The members of the Ore Journal get kidnapped so often it's ridiculous.
-Megumi Asano feels like an "episode of the week character" that kept appearing for some reason. She feels really out of place after her 2-part introduction and a lot of the stuff she does feels like it could have easily been done by other characters.
-Some slight pacing issues in the final arc.
-While the main girl Yui is likeable overall, her character isn't really anything to write home about.
-The show promotes having 13 riders yet only 10 actually appear on the show. The remaining 3 are left to specials and movies.
-I've seen a lot of people hating the main protagonist Shinji due to being an idiot idealist but I personally never found issue with this and really enjoyed him as a protagonist. I feel these problems are blown out of proportion but since so many people complain about him felt like pointing it out.

Reasons for the show's strengths:
Due to the death of the franchise original creator Shotaro Ishinomori back in 1998 it was originally planned out for Agito to be the last rider show. At the start of Ryuki's pre-production the show had started as a different IP officially, but internally the staff was following the "Crossfire" rule of Kamen Rider either way so due to the franchise getting momentum due to the massive success of Kuuga and Agito. This allowed the show to try very different aesthetics and have really different powers from previous seasons.
Due to the terrorist attack 9/11, the sponsors and Toei's higher-ups wanted a show where justice and evil could easily be determined, since I the previous season Agito both the hero side and villain side had good points behind the perspectives. However this show's producer decided to be cheeky about it and made a show where the Kamen Riders were the villains and argued that showing the kids true justice was beyond a person who transforms being good, so having a truly heroic protagonist duo fending off some legimetely psychopaths that use the power of Kamen Riders would make them easy to understand who as in each side despite using the same powers.
Despite numerous complaints from media, sponsors and parents, producer Shirakura was deadset making this show unique and allowed the main writer Yasuko Kobayashi to have freedom for the most part and only appeased to the complaints in the most superficial way possible or didn't at all in order to not harm the show's script.

Reasons for the show's problems:
Originally Ryuki's ending was going to be planned by voting via phone calls and release alternate endings on the DVD release, but the idea was scrapped due to fear that this would negatively affect the script and instead the concept was used in the 13 riders special. Secondary writer Toshiki Inoue didn't like the direction of the main protagonist Shinji of him being a pacifist and wanted him to kill at least one rider, however main writer Yasuko Kobayashi heavily opposed this idea. So producer Shirakura decided to revisit the multiple endings idea and gave Inoue an alternate ending movie to work on, as that way both writers would be free to achieve their visions. But in order to give an incentive to watch the movie the producer removed key plot-points of the show and inserted it into the movie + also 2 riders that had yet to be written from the 13 riders that were supposed to be in the show (the latter arguably was for the best since allowed for the show to have less bloat), although theoretically they wouldn't have appeared in the show either way, as according the Shirakura the whole '13 riders' concepts was more for world-building and he didn't plan to force them all to appear in the show.

Overall:
Fantastic show from beginning to end that leaves you feeling a bunch of different emotions by the end. The biggest issue is the show feeling incomplete due to not explaining the antagonist's plan so one should watch this show's summer movie to understand it but I personally recommend to watch said film after finishing the show or at least after episode 47 due to the nature of its plot reveals despite this show's producer wanting you to watch episodes 28 and 29. Highly recommend this series to tokusatsu fans or people that like action dror even people that enjoy normal j-dramas if they like the first 3 episodes of the show.

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