Ryuki 13-17
Sep. 18th, 2009 02:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gekidasaEpisodes 13-14 were the last full arc I saw before. I love these two eps for several reasons:
☆ Love in an elevator? *ducks the kicks* It was THIS that made me ship Kitaoka/Reiko like FIRE. Yes, one scene (okay, series of scenes), right before I put the series on hiatus. But what a scene. XD
I mean, obviously, there was tension between them from the start, and Kitaoka is a sleazeball manh0r who hits on her from the time he first lays eyes on her, but here it's just GUH. I am not into hate shipping... but I am into "you're the most contemptible man I ever met" shipping. Hardcore. Seriously, you want me to ship something, just set up that sort of dynamic.
But anyway! It continues in episode 14, because by then Reiko is playing the game too, and ooooh boy, I'm not sure Kitaoka realizes it, but he's met his match. In any case, that is one sexy phone conversation. Not so much what was said, but the manner in which it was said.
Plus, playing guitar. Guh.
☆ Still on the subject of Super Lawyer, episode 14 is so much fun for me because it's all about Kitaoka being an EPIC magnificent bastard. I mean, starting with his scheme to trick Shinji into believing he'd killed Goro-chan once he saw that Shinji thought Zolda was Goro-chan... it's terribly, excessively convulted, not to mention manipulative and extremely douchey, and if another character did that to Shinji I'd probably get pissy at them, but it was Kitaoka, and dear god, what magnificent execution. XD
Seriously, the carefully constructed scene for Shinji to find... not just Kitaoka holding Goro's "dying" body, but the fact that he hadn't bothered to pull him out of the elevator completely so the doors kept opening and closing on his legs was a REALLY nice touch, drawing attention to the card deck... OH MY GOD, THE SHEER DRAMA OF IT ALL. And then of course Kitaoka himself, huddled over him, and then after putting him in his car, craddling his face with his voice crackign from supposed grief... XDDDDDDD Seriously, it killed me. It's all so over the top and ridiculous and unnecesary and AWESOME.
☆ And well... on a different note, it's really what lets us see definitively what Shinji is all about. I mean, it leads to his crisis, but more importantly, the later scene, when he realizes it was all trick, and he advances on Kitaoka, and Goro-chan gets in front of him, assuming Shinji was going to punch him, and instead Shinji grabs Goro-chan's arms and falls to his knees saying "I'm so glad you're alive" and he MEANS it, with every fiber of his being. That's Shinji, isn't it? Beyond the adorkableness and all the rest of it, that's his essence, right at at that moment, right?
☆ And back to Kitaoka, having the audicity to send Reiko flowers, and a huge poster of himself? Dear god, I love that man. I don't care that he's fictional. XD
☆ On another note, these episodes set up nice tension in the little family, first with Ren refusing to toast, and telling he doesn't engage in superficial friendships. And Shinji... welll, obviously Shinji doesn't think they're superfical, but what he DOES think is that Ren should at least make an effort. And then at the end of the episode, when Ren DOES toast with them... Shinji is not happy. At all. Most likely he's thinking about Ren stopping Dragreder from eating the monster they defeated, so that The Terror That Flaps in the Night could instead, and it's a reminder that Ren hasn't stopped seeing him as a rival and potential enemy, so that, coupled with the knowledge that Ren says the toasting at dinner was basically fake... well. You can see how Shinji is uneasy.
Episodes 15-17:
(Ep 15 was the last I saw, so I'm in new territory now).
☆ It's interesting how in the end, the whole thing with Shibaura Jun (or as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dimmie previously described him to me, The Brat) taking Shinji's contract card ended up being more about Ren than about Shinji himself, in how it was about setting up the question of whether or not, and how, Ren would choose to help Shinji, or whether he'd really stand by and let him be eliminated because it would be beneficial to him.
☆ Speaking of The Brat... I like him. I didn't really care for him when I first watched ep 15, but in 16... he was amusing. I guess I like outrageous schemers. Specially when they basically do it all because they can, and because they're bored. :D;;
☆ Incidently, the way Reiko was about to get all lioness defending her cub when The Brat insulted Shinji? I've said it before, but damn, that woman has balls.
☆ And then of course, Shimada hacking the hacker. Awesome!
☆ But back to how this episodes are basically about Ren, they revisit what was first touched on when Ren not only was unable to finish off Scissors himself, but looked away as Scissors' monster killed him. Underneath it all, he REALLY doesn't have the ruthlessness necessary to kill someone... but he feels he has to, so he hates himself, sort of, or sees himself as a failure, like he's betraying Eri. It's also interesting how Tezuka says it's a choice, but that both way he loses.
☆ Also, when Tezuka is talking about the choice Ren has to make, just the fact that visually we see him watch over Eri AND that we see Yui watch over him... well. The implication is certainly there, isn't it?
☆ And then, Ren imagining Eri telling him "that's enough", and how much pain it causes him. He's REALLY getting interesting to me.
☆ Shinji had a moment of supreme clarity in here, when Tezuka tells him that he's free to not believe his predictions and he thinks to himself "If I'd believed... that would be the end, wouldn't it?". It's stuff like this, those flashes of penetrating insight that Shinji has that make it clear the he's not actually a dumb dork just bumbling along. He may not be smart in the way Kitaoka is, but where emotional IQ is concerned, he's kind of a genius.
☆ Also, I really liked the tension between the riders here. First, when Ren, Shinji, Tezuka and The Brat are in the park, basically in a standoff. You can just imagine it, if this was a western, all 4 carefully observing the others' moves, trying to see who would be the first to reach for his gun so they could react first. And also, when Yui walks back in the cafe after seeing Ren, to find cute harmless Shinji and the "pacifist" Tezuka basically facing off, looking like they're ready to fight. I loved the tension in both these scenes.
☆ Finally... Kitaoka's connected to EVERYONE isn't he? Also, that Ouja in prison, right? So the question is... is Kitaoka trying to get him OUT of prison, blissfully unaware that he's a Rider too? Because that seems unlikely, given how intelligent Kitaoka is. OR, Kitaoka knows pefectly well that he's a Rider and maybe executed successfully a scheme like he triedon Shinji and that's why Ouja's in prison.
In which case... uh oh. Someone's gonna be MAD.
Note toamamiyarin: I can see why you're all over Sexface/Ren. Personally, I sort of doubt I will be, at least, I won't actively ship this, but I can see why one would. I certainly think Tezuka is REALLY obsessed with Ren. :3
☆ Love in an elevator? *ducks the kicks* It was THIS that made me ship Kitaoka/Reiko like FIRE. Yes, one scene (okay, series of scenes), right before I put the series on hiatus. But what a scene. XD
I mean, obviously, there was tension between them from the start, and Kitaoka is a sleazeball manh0r who hits on her from the time he first lays eyes on her, but here it's just GUH. I am not into hate shipping... but I am into "you're the most contemptible man I ever met" shipping. Hardcore. Seriously, you want me to ship something, just set up that sort of dynamic.
But anyway! It continues in episode 14, because by then Reiko is playing the game too, and ooooh boy, I'm not sure Kitaoka realizes it, but he's met his match. In any case, that is one sexy phone conversation. Not so much what was said, but the manner in which it was said.
Plus, playing guitar. Guh.
☆ Still on the subject of Super Lawyer, episode 14 is so much fun for me because it's all about Kitaoka being an EPIC magnificent bastard. I mean, starting with his scheme to trick Shinji into believing he'd killed Goro-chan once he saw that Shinji thought Zolda was Goro-chan... it's terribly, excessively convulted, not to mention manipulative and extremely douchey, and if another character did that to Shinji I'd probably get pissy at them, but it was Kitaoka, and dear god, what magnificent execution. XD
Seriously, the carefully constructed scene for Shinji to find... not just Kitaoka holding Goro's "dying" body, but the fact that he hadn't bothered to pull him out of the elevator completely so the doors kept opening and closing on his legs was a REALLY nice touch, drawing attention to the card deck... OH MY GOD, THE SHEER DRAMA OF IT ALL. And then of course Kitaoka himself, huddled over him, and then after putting him in his car, craddling his face with his voice crackign from supposed grief... XDDDDDDD Seriously, it killed me. It's all so over the top and ridiculous and unnecesary and AWESOME.
☆ And well... on a different note, it's really what lets us see definitively what Shinji is all about. I mean, it leads to his crisis, but more importantly, the later scene, when he realizes it was all trick, and he advances on Kitaoka, and Goro-chan gets in front of him, assuming Shinji was going to punch him, and instead Shinji grabs Goro-chan's arms and falls to his knees saying "I'm so glad you're alive" and he MEANS it, with every fiber of his being. That's Shinji, isn't it? Beyond the adorkableness and all the rest of it, that's his essence, right at at that moment, right?
☆ And back to Kitaoka, having the audicity to send Reiko flowers, and a huge poster of himself? Dear god, I love that man. I don't care that he's fictional. XD
☆ On another note, these episodes set up nice tension in the little family, first with Ren refusing to toast, and telling he doesn't engage in superficial friendships. And Shinji... welll, obviously Shinji doesn't think they're superfical, but what he DOES think is that Ren should at least make an effort. And then at the end of the episode, when Ren DOES toast with them... Shinji is not happy. At all. Most likely he's thinking about Ren stopping Dragreder from eating the monster they defeated, so that The Terror That Flaps in the Night could instead, and it's a reminder that Ren hasn't stopped seeing him as a rival and potential enemy, so that, coupled with the knowledge that Ren says the toasting at dinner was basically fake... well. You can see how Shinji is uneasy.
Episodes 15-17:
(Ep 15 was the last I saw, so I'm in new territory now).
☆ It's interesting how in the end, the whole thing with Shibaura Jun (or as
dimmie previously described him to me, The Brat) taking Shinji's contract card ended up being more about Ren than about Shinji himself, in how it was about setting up the question of whether or not, and how, Ren would choose to help Shinji, or whether he'd really stand by and let him be eliminated because it would be beneficial to him.☆ Speaking of The Brat... I like him. I didn't really care for him when I first watched ep 15, but in 16... he was amusing. I guess I like outrageous schemers. Specially when they basically do it all because they can, and because they're bored. :D;;
☆ Incidently, the way Reiko was about to get all lioness defending her cub when The Brat insulted Shinji? I've said it before, but damn, that woman has balls.
☆ And then of course, Shimada hacking the hacker. Awesome!
☆ But back to how this episodes are basically about Ren, they revisit what was first touched on when Ren not only was unable to finish off Scissors himself, but looked away as Scissors' monster killed him. Underneath it all, he REALLY doesn't have the ruthlessness necessary to kill someone... but he feels he has to, so he hates himself, sort of, or sees himself as a failure, like he's betraying Eri. It's also interesting how Tezuka says it's a choice, but that both way he loses.
☆ Also, when Tezuka is talking about the choice Ren has to make, just the fact that visually we see him watch over Eri AND that we see Yui watch over him... well. The implication is certainly there, isn't it?
☆ And then, Ren imagining Eri telling him "that's enough", and how much pain it causes him. He's REALLY getting interesting to me.
☆ Shinji had a moment of supreme clarity in here, when Tezuka tells him that he's free to not believe his predictions and he thinks to himself "If I'd believed... that would be the end, wouldn't it?". It's stuff like this, those flashes of penetrating insight that Shinji has that make it clear the he's not actually a dumb dork just bumbling along. He may not be smart in the way Kitaoka is, but where emotional IQ is concerned, he's kind of a genius.
☆ Also, I really liked the tension between the riders here. First, when Ren, Shinji, Tezuka and The Brat are in the park, basically in a standoff. You can just imagine it, if this was a western, all 4 carefully observing the others' moves, trying to see who would be the first to reach for his gun so they could react first. And also, when Yui walks back in the cafe after seeing Ren, to find cute harmless Shinji and the "pacifist" Tezuka basically facing off, looking like they're ready to fight. I loved the tension in both these scenes.
☆ Finally... Kitaoka's connected to EVERYONE isn't he? Also, that Ouja in prison, right? So the question is... is Kitaoka trying to get him OUT of prison, blissfully unaware that he's a Rider too? Because that seems unlikely, given how intelligent Kitaoka is. OR, Kitaoka knows pefectly well that he's a Rider and maybe executed successfully a scheme like he triedon Shinji and that's why Ouja's in prison.
In which case... uh oh. Someone's gonna be MAD.
Note to
amamiyarin: I can see why you're all over Sexface/Ren. Personally, I sort of doubt I will be, at least, I won't actively ship this, but I can see why one would. I certainly think Tezuka is REALLY obsessed with Ren. :3