Ren history update: Melting Clock plot
Episode Final follows the same storyline as the Ryuki series, up until about episode 46. When Kanzaki calls together the last Riders, it turns out that Ren, Shinji, Asakura Takeshi (Ohja), and Kitaoka Shuichi (Zolda) also have Kirishima Miho, Kamen Rider Femme, to worry about. At the same time, Yui is being haunted by a younger version of herself in the mirror, telling her she’s going to die. She rushes back to her old home and starts digging until she finds a box containing a shattered mirror and drawings she and Kanzaki had made when they were little. To Ren and Shinji’s shock, the drawings are all of Monsters-their Monsters, to be exact. She revealed that she’d always drawn them as a way to protect her, and the one time that she’d gone outside, it was to play with a boy she’d promised to play with again, though he didn’t come the next day. Seeing that she was upset, her Mirror World self invited her to play in the Mirror World, but Yui stayed too long and would die if she returned to the real world. So Yui would live at least until adulthood, her reflection leant her her life, taking the pictures as payment (and thus, creating the Monsters). Yui realized it meant that the Monsters were attacking people in an attempt to gain actual lives. Another Rider appeared, one identical to Ryuki and unknown to Ren and Shinji, and he attacked Femme. Believing the new Rider to be Shinji, Ren confronted him about trying to lure him and the others into a false sense of security before attacking them, but Shinji had no idea what he was talking about. Yui broke up the impending fight by explaining to them that Kanzaki was probably planning on using the new life he’d promised Ren and the others for Yui, using the Rider War to pick the strongest life to give her. But Ren explained to her that even if there was only a slight chance, he had to believe Kanzaki’s promise and fight, since he didn’t have a choice otherwise. Later, he returned to Atori, just in time to see another Shinji attacking and fusing with the original. This was Kamen Rider Ryuga, Shinji’s Mirror World doppelganger, who had already killed Asakura and Miho, and now he’d overtaken Shinji’s personality in order to win the new life for Yui. Ryuga and Ren fought while Yui confronted Kanzaki for the last time, killing herself to prevent him from ruining any more lives in his quest to save hers. Kanzaki’s anguish was enough to cause a massive energy backlash that shattered glass all throughout the real world and force the Mirror World to overlap with it. Realizing something was horribly wrong, Ren abandoned his battle and rushed to Room 401 at Seimeiin University to find Yui’s body. Devastated at her suicide, he offered no resistance when Ryuga came for him, but the sight of her dead horrified Ryuga enough that Shinji was able to reverse the fusion. While the two Shinjis fought, Ren waited until only one remained, asking whether it was Ryuki or Ryuga. To his relief, it was the real Shinji, but the battle was far from over. Due to the backlash, a swarm of Monsters was invading the real world, and as the last two Riders, they had to do all they could to stop it. Ren admitted to Shinji that Shinji had become his first and only real friend, and Shinji agreed, but Ren confessed that he still needed to win. Shinji told him that his wish was that Ren wouldn’t die, and Ren returned the favor as they transformed to Survive Mode to fight the unbeatable odds.
13 Riders exists as both a TV special and a really horrible manga adaptation, and the story is different from Ryuki Prime. Ren still teams up with Yui, but he barely knows Shinji. Instead, Ryuki is Sakakibara Koichi, who is working to try to stop the Riders from fighting. Ren’s best friend is Tezuka Miyuki, Kamen Rider Raia, who dated Eri before Ren. To Ren’s frustration, Tezuka also wants to try to stop the fighting, not even willing to fight for Eri’s sake. Things heat up when Sakakibara dies saving Shinji, passing on his deck and his mission to stop the Rider War. Kamen Rider Verde, Takamizawa Itsuro, kills Tezuka, but Ren can’t worry about mourning his friend’s death. Shinji proves to be too much of a threat to the Riders, and Takamizawa approaches Ren and the others with a truce until they bring Shinji down. Ren agrees, but Shinji ends up getting to his conscience anyway, and they both end up on the run from the other Riders. When finally ambushed near the central mirror that creates the Monsters and supposedly controls the Mirror World itself, Ren and Shinji fight against all the remaining Riders. Shinji’s deck is destroyed, but before Takamizawa can kill him, Ren pushes him out of the way and takes the fatal blow, killing Takamizawa in the process and avenging his friend’s death. As he dies, Ren gives Shinji his deck and asks him to save Eri for him. This story has three alternate endings.
In the first, voted for in the TV airing of the special and repeated in the manga, Shinji is about to destroy the central mirror before deciding that he can’t break his promise to Ren, and he prepares to face off against the remaining Riders in a hopeless battle.
In the second, an alternate ending for the TV special, Shinji destroys the mirror and supposedly the Mirror World itself, but he learns that the other Riders survived and the War will still go on.
In the third, only in the manga edition, Ren does not die. Instead, both he and Shinji go to Survive Mode to face off against the other Riders. Shinji destroys the central mirror, resetting time entirely so that they’re living normal lives. Ren has Eri alive and well, and he and Shinji meet for the first time while he’s out with her, and they feel an odd sense of déjà vu.
The S.I.C. Hero Saga stories are sidestories written to accompany the toys for the magazine Monthly Hobby Japan. They are approved by Toei and so I consider them part of the various time loops of Ryuki. Summaries can be found here.
In Advent Calendar, Ren, Shinji, Asakura, Kitaoka, and Odin are the last remaining Riders when Asakura defeats Ren and takes his Survive card and his contract card. Asakura adds Darkwing and any other Monsters nearby to his Unite Vent to create Genosurvivor, who kidnaps Yui. Shinji freaks out when Ren’s body is blown away in Kitaoka’s attempt to stop Genosurvivor, and he’s overtaken by Ryuga-who in this version is the ghost/overlaid personality of Shinji’s dead twin brother, Shinichi. Shinji/Shinichi saves Yui and reverts to normal as Ren arrives, admitting that he never really died-he’d just used a Trick Vent copy to take the hit for him. As the last two Riders, Shinji and Ren fight, and one kills the other (though it’s unknown who). The remaining Rider wishes to Odin to restore the other’s life.
In this story, World of If, Ren, Shinji, Asakura, Tojo Satoru (Tiger), and Odin are the remaining Riders. Shinji has been overtaken by Ryuga and is on a rampage, killing Tojo. Kagawa Hideyuki, Alternative, shows up with twelve other Alternatives to attack Ryuga, but Yui stops them. When the Alternatives try to attack her instead, Ryuga takes the hit and dies, shocking Kagawa that a Rider would willingly give up his life for somebody, and Yui asks him for a favor. Ren is fighting Asakura but has to forfeit the battle when he learns that Eri’s condition is deteriorating, and he drops his Survive card in his rush to the hospital. Asakura tries to wish for the Rider War to continue eternally, but he must fight Odin first. Odin has already batted aside Alternative Zero, and he defeats Asakura after taking only minimal damage-an acid spray to his helmet that exposes his face: Ren’s face.
After killing Asakura, Odin/Ren’s helmet crumbles, and Ren remembers what happened: Eri had died, and Kanzaki took advantage of his grief and gave him the Odin deck, erasing his personality and making him a mindless puppet. Kanzaki thinks that Ren winning the battle for him means that he can save Yui, but Ren suspects something about Alternative Zero and removes his deck, revealing that Yui had become Zero in order to stop her brother. She reaches to Kanzaki, but because he doesn’t have a physical form, she can’t touch him.
The Ryuki series is the final reset of the timeline. After each of these canon points, Kanzaki reset time to try to win the war.
13 Riders exists as both a TV special and a really horrible manga adaptation, and the story is different from Ryuki Prime. Ren still teams up with Yui, but he barely knows Shinji. Instead, Ryuki is Sakakibara Koichi, who is working to try to stop the Riders from fighting. Ren’s best friend is Tezuka Miyuki, Kamen Rider Raia, who dated Eri before Ren. To Ren’s frustration, Tezuka also wants to try to stop the fighting, not even willing to fight for Eri’s sake. Things heat up when Sakakibara dies saving Shinji, passing on his deck and his mission to stop the Rider War. Kamen Rider Verde, Takamizawa Itsuro, kills Tezuka, but Ren can’t worry about mourning his friend’s death. Shinji proves to be too much of a threat to the Riders, and Takamizawa approaches Ren and the others with a truce until they bring Shinji down. Ren agrees, but Shinji ends up getting to his conscience anyway, and they both end up on the run from the other Riders. When finally ambushed near the central mirror that creates the Monsters and supposedly controls the Mirror World itself, Ren and Shinji fight against all the remaining Riders. Shinji’s deck is destroyed, but before Takamizawa can kill him, Ren pushes him out of the way and takes the fatal blow, killing Takamizawa in the process and avenging his friend’s death. As he dies, Ren gives Shinji his deck and asks him to save Eri for him. This story has three alternate endings.
In the first, voted for in the TV airing of the special and repeated in the manga, Shinji is about to destroy the central mirror before deciding that he can’t break his promise to Ren, and he prepares to face off against the remaining Riders in a hopeless battle.
In the second, an alternate ending for the TV special, Shinji destroys the mirror and supposedly the Mirror World itself, but he learns that the other Riders survived and the War will still go on.
In the third, only in the manga edition, Ren does not die. Instead, both he and Shinji go to Survive Mode to face off against the other Riders. Shinji destroys the central mirror, resetting time entirely so that they’re living normal lives. Ren has Eri alive and well, and he and Shinji meet for the first time while he’s out with her, and they feel an odd sense of déjà vu.
The S.I.C. Hero Saga stories are sidestories written to accompany the toys for the magazine Monthly Hobby Japan. They are approved by Toei and so I consider them part of the various time loops of Ryuki. Summaries can be found here.
In Advent Calendar, Ren, Shinji, Asakura, Kitaoka, and Odin are the last remaining Riders when Asakura defeats Ren and takes his Survive card and his contract card. Asakura adds Darkwing and any other Monsters nearby to his Unite Vent to create Genosurvivor, who kidnaps Yui. Shinji freaks out when Ren’s body is blown away in Kitaoka’s attempt to stop Genosurvivor, and he’s overtaken by Ryuga-who in this version is the ghost/overlaid personality of Shinji’s dead twin brother, Shinichi. Shinji/Shinichi saves Yui and reverts to normal as Ren arrives, admitting that he never really died-he’d just used a Trick Vent copy to take the hit for him. As the last two Riders, Shinji and Ren fight, and one kills the other (though it’s unknown who). The remaining Rider wishes to Odin to restore the other’s life.
In this story, World of If, Ren, Shinji, Asakura, Tojo Satoru (Tiger), and Odin are the remaining Riders. Shinji has been overtaken by Ryuga and is on a rampage, killing Tojo. Kagawa Hideyuki, Alternative, shows up with twelve other Alternatives to attack Ryuga, but Yui stops them. When the Alternatives try to attack her instead, Ryuga takes the hit and dies, shocking Kagawa that a Rider would willingly give up his life for somebody, and Yui asks him for a favor. Ren is fighting Asakura but has to forfeit the battle when he learns that Eri’s condition is deteriorating, and he drops his Survive card in his rush to the hospital. Asakura tries to wish for the Rider War to continue eternally, but he must fight Odin first. Odin has already batted aside Alternative Zero, and he defeats Asakura after taking only minimal damage-an acid spray to his helmet that exposes his face: Ren’s face.
After killing Asakura, Odin/Ren’s helmet crumbles, and Ren remembers what happened: Eri had died, and Kanzaki took advantage of his grief and gave him the Odin deck, erasing his personality and making him a mindless puppet. Kanzaki thinks that Ren winning the battle for him means that he can save Yui, but Ren suspects something about Alternative Zero and removes his deck, revealing that Yui had become Zero in order to stop her brother. She reaches to Kanzaki, but because he doesn’t have a physical form, she can’t touch him.
The Ryuki series is the final reset of the timeline. After each of these canon points, Kanzaki reset time to try to win the war.