I can't speak for that because I knew like... two years in advance how the series would end. Not in minute detail, but I knew that everyone died, that Shinji died in the second to last episode and the Ren died last, after winning the game. But personally, that didn't take much of the feeling of DDDDDDDD: at each of the deaths for me. Probably because I'm a crybaby, but also because I felt they were all executed so well. Asakura went the only way he really could at that point. Goro and Kitaoka were just beautiful because they both knew they were marching to death, and even in death they went together, because Goro-chan couldn't let his sensei go alone. Ren, I just found it really touching that he knew he was dying, but he still wanted to see Eri one more time, he wanted to see that she would live and the whole thing hadn't been in vain. And then he died just as she opened her eyes, like he was trading his life for hers right there, which is really what he'd done from the very beginning.
Shinji was just.... gh. That was just cruel. The guy goes through this ridiculous rollercoaster of feelings and doubts, his own little downward spiral to insanity, comes around it and finds his resolution... only to get killed by random mirror monster #57 doing what he'd vowed to do from the moment he became a Rider and somewhat forgotten along the way: protecting innocent people. Guh. Cue bitter bitch tears for days until I could make myself watch the finale.
And the reset button I thought was actually the saddest part of all. Because you follow this story of a horrible game with no winners, and then you see this new world where none of it ever happened, except it did, but everyone is so happy now, so back to their normal selves, back to who they would have been without the Rider game in the first place. And you don't know if you want to be happy for them for having a second chance at life or sad because they'll never know that this is their second chance. That they already tried (at least) once before and it all went so terribly wrong, so this time they should really try to make things work out - but they'll never know, because they're living on happily oblivious of everything they've done, of what they meant for each other, of what they learned from each other, for better or worse. And then to drive the knife even deeper into your heart, they show Ren and Shinji in that last scene, back to that "outta my way" dance of theirs from back in episode 1, and you realize that this is Ren and Shinji, brothers and partners for life, and they don't even know each other. They probably never will. They'll probably never meet again, and each of them will go on with his life never knowing that they passed by their best friend once and shrugged him off just like that. God. I could not stop baaaaaaaaaaaw'ing.
And that's not even bringing Yui and Shiro trapped forever in the mirror, but finally together, and happy together in death in a way they never could be in life.
So, yeah. This was such a bitter ending for me. It was supposed to be a "happy ending", but in some ways, it felt even more bitter than Faiz or Blade. Because Faiz was such a miserable ending but you had it coming a mile away, there wasn't really any other way for some of those characters. And Blade was painful, but at the same time... I can't really say it made me sad. It made me cry for Kenzaki, but at the same time it made me happy because it was such a Kenzaki thing to do, I wouldn't have expected anything less of him. And with Ryuki, you have this rocks fall everyone dies resolution executed so emotionally, then followed by a "lol j/k you guys, happy endings for all! \o/" , and it's just such an empty "happiness" because... it's not a happy ending when you don't have a beginning. It left me feeling hollow, like I wanted to be sad for this sad story I just watched, but I couldn't, because it never happened. And I just loved the way they did that, the way they played me up and got me real good on the last joke. Damn trolls. </3
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Shinji was just.... gh. That was just cruel. The guy goes through this ridiculous rollercoaster of feelings and doubts, his own little downward spiral to insanity, comes around it and finds his resolution... only to get killed by random mirror monster #57 doing what he'd vowed to do from the moment he became a Rider and somewhat forgotten along the way: protecting innocent people. Guh. Cue bitter bitch tears for days until I could make myself watch the finale.
And the reset button I thought was actually the saddest part of all. Because you follow this story of a horrible game with no winners, and then you see this new world where none of it ever happened, except it did, but everyone is so happy now, so back to their normal selves, back to who they would have been without the Rider game in the first place. And you don't know if you want to be happy for them for having a second chance at life or sad because they'll never know that this is their second chance. That they already tried (at least) once before and it all went so terribly wrong, so this time they should really try to make things work out - but they'll never know, because they're living on happily oblivious of everything they've done, of what they meant for each other, of what they learned from each other, for better or worse. And then to drive the knife even deeper into your heart, they show Ren and Shinji in that last scene, back to that "outta my way" dance of theirs from back in episode 1, and you realize that this is Ren and Shinji, brothers and partners for life, and they don't even know each other. They probably never will. They'll probably never meet again, and each of them will go on with his life never knowing that they passed by their best friend once and shrugged him off just like that. God. I could not stop baaaaaaaaaaaw'ing.
And that's not even bringing Yui and Shiro trapped forever in the mirror, but finally together, and happy together in death in a way they never could be in life.
So, yeah. This was such a bitter ending for me. It was supposed to be a "happy ending", but in some ways, it felt even more bitter than Faiz or Blade. Because Faiz was such a miserable ending but you had it coming a mile away, there wasn't really any other way for some of those characters. And Blade was painful, but at the same time... I can't really say it made me sad. It made me cry for Kenzaki, but at the same time it made me happy because it was such a Kenzaki thing to do, I wouldn't have expected anything less of him. And with Ryuki, you have this rocks fall everyone dies resolution executed so emotionally, then followed by a "lol j/k you guys, happy endings for all! \o/" , and it's just such an empty "happiness" because... it's not a happy ending when you don't have a beginning. It left me feeling hollow, like I wanted to be sad for this sad story I just watched, but I couldn't, because it never happened. And I just loved the way they did that, the way they played me up and got me real good on the last joke. Damn trolls. </3