I think the way I read it is that Tachibana finally realised that, with his last bit of normal human-mind that BOARD didn't beat out of him during basic training, maybe dousing himself in seaweed drugs is messing with his mind, and that might not be a good thing, especially when the only person who he might have let close is willing to go full domestic bliss just to convince him to change. As much as Tachibana is a selfish semi-coward who wants to be strong, there's still some part of him that cares for other people, and while he might have made some mistakes that make him scared to listen, his moral core is in there somwhere.

Of course, being Tachibana, he does it at the worst possible time, but hey, he's trying!

Thanks for the insights! I'm glad other folks were able to pull out some details that make the story work. While I normally love when stories have additional layers you can read into them, I sort-of hated how this one needed the viewer to add those additional layers in order to make the story work at all.

I guess, for me, the problem is that the things Tachibana is saying aren't really motivations drawn from the character over the last dozen episodes, they're motivations that allow for a face turn at that point in the story.

Like, Tachibana's thing about how being a Rider is a weight no one should have to bear... that's a very Kamen Rider thing to say! It's just, it's a Kamen Rider Ryuki thing to say, and this is Blade. There really hasn't been any time spent on this show dramatizing the weight of service inherent in being a Kamen Rider. Kenzaki doesn't seem especially burdened (I mean, he's only been doing this for about five months, counting his two months of training, but still), and Hajime's story is so far outside of Tachibana's concerns that... I mean, there's been not really anything in this story that lays the groundwork for that motivation. Mostly because all of Tachibana's problems are brought on by Tachibana, not by being a Rider!

Him saying that he has to stop Trenchcoat to prevent other people from carrying the weight of being a Rider... it's like if he'd said he had to stop Trenchcoat to protect people's smiles. It's a very Kamen Rider motivation, but it's never been shown to be a Tachibana motivation.

The other weird thing about all of this, if Tachibana's doing any of this to protect future Riders... what? Tachibana has spent the majority of this series kicking the shit out of Blade, and last episode he Burning Divided Chalice right into a goddamn ravine. I'm not sure being a Rider is really the greatest threat to Riders, Tachibana! Pretty sure it's Garren!

Sure! That's why I specifically said that it didn't literally need to be all about the protagonist, but that the other characters' journeys need to be saying something about the protagonist. Hajime's story (for example) has a value if it's reflecting something about Kenzaki, or showing us something that affects Kenzaki. It doesn't need to feature Kenzaki prominently in order to do that.

Yeah, but the next episode (I think?) fills it in more, makes it more of a conscious decision by Tachibana. That made it work better for me.

Thanks, as always! Good luck on Saber speculation!

Though others have stated that Tachibana still has his moral code somewhere (well, I mean, anti-hero is another type of hero, they still had to have some good, either in actions or characterization), I think, it can also be this. Tachibana wants power, to feel powerful, not to let himself covered by fear anymore, probably coming from how the current monsters are stronger. Isaka wants to use the sealed Ace to power up a new Rider, but obviously, Tachibana won't give the card to him, he's probably doing things under Isaka under... facade? Other than what others mentioned, probably it's also because as I said above, Tachibana wants power and, therefore he wants to keep the powerful Ace card for himself and not for other Riders (therefore him keeping the card is a form of him caring about power)? I guess, Blade hasn't had any effective therapist for people like him yet here, with all his terrible decisions he made. And for the science, reminder that in toku, science is a form of almost everything creation, it's the other most important asset other than magic/fantasy, though as others have noted, it's like a drug effect on Tachibana. Though what does Sayoko truly see in this crazy guy with jerk issues....

Hajime realizes that Kenzaki is the compassionate human being that is ideal to confide in... perhaps. Though Kenzaki has more anger issues compared to his counterparts, and that he also made the worst accusations about him before like him doing the most depraved things as high leveled Undead. Well, it's still far cry for Hajime here to geuninely thank him. And Kenzaki's cooking getting proper love (so Rider protagonists are good cooks? Like Shouichi, Shinji, before).

Kotaro here reminds me of Jin, with the rejection of someone that is not human and blaming them for the situations others are put through. And this is the irony where the role is totally reversed that Kotaro now shows vehement hatred for Hajime, while Kenzaki defends him that he saved Amane....

In a metatextual sense, sometimes I get the feeling the writer(s) forgot about this and just sort of went, Well it's thematically appropriate. Which is not great writing. I don't feel like you're wrong about any of this.

Tho as far as Blade and the Burden Of A Rider bit goes - did Kenzaki complain about how low his salary was in the pilot? I forget. It's a very uniquely Blade complaint with regard to Why It's Hard To Be A Kamen Rider. (Also it doesn't apply to Isaka's potential new Rider, does it, not if all the Board employees were murdered and we have seen them do Nothing ever since; even if Isaka is more humane than most villains, I still don't get the sense that he would be planning on paying his new Rider. ...would that be the best or the worst unpaid internship ever.)

:lol If I argue that this just loops around to Tachibana not wanting to hand another axe-crazy Rider over to Isaka on the grounds that he's bad enough on his own and there doesn't need to be another one of him, does that hold any water? Or that he's protecting poor innocent civilians from the ass-kicking he will have to do to them if they put on a suit of armor? (I'm pretty sure it does not :D ) But I do want you to know that when I read this paragraph I laughed loud enough that the dog gave me a Very Concerned Look and ran across the room to leap right onto my chest. (She's a v small dog. It was only slightly painful :lol )

I guess? There's definitely a lot of things it could be, but I think it's problematic for the show that there's nothing it clearly is.

I'm not sure I can see Tachibana playing Trenchcoat, since he's done every other thing he was told, up to and including fighting Blade on multiple occasions. (He almost killed Chalice, but he probably would've done that anyway.) If he is working against him to obtain the Ace, it's not anything the show even teases beforehand.

Even the drug aftereffects... the show is pretty all over the place with regard to how in-control Tachibana is. There are times where he seems to contemplate what he's doing, and times where he is vocally supporting taking drugs to be powerful.

There doesn't seem to be any clarity to what exactly is motivating Tachibana in a macro sense, and I think the show pays for it with his turn in this episode.

Yeah! It's pretty heroic to be able to take of others, and that can easily take the form of a home-cooked meal.

Sure, they're both being very judgmental of Hajime for others' actions against him, but I feel like Kotaro has a bit more justification. Jin was putting all of his losses on Hajime, while Kotaro is trying to keep his relatives safe. He's not... Kotaro's not being very cool, but he's got a reason for being so uncool to Hajime.

I'm pretty sure Trenchcoat is funnelling any profits from his mad science into a contract for that limo. HE CAN FLY! Why does he need a limo?! Although, no one needs a limo, you want a limo.

Yeah, pretty much every Rider in this series is dead broke. Tachibana was sleeping at Dr Ladyfriend's office for "comfort", but after obliterating BOARD, I'm not sure he had anywhere else to stay. Also, Dr Ladyfriend's office got exploded and she died... and Trenchcoat ain't gonna let him sleep in that goo bath anymore, so he's totally homeless. Kenzaki got kicked out of his apartment for not paying rent while he was at Rider Training Camp, so I'm not sure if it's low-pay or just Kenzaki Forgetfulness. Chalice's whole story now is that he has nowhere to go.

I'd joke about them all selling out as Riders For Hire, but that's just Birth, isn't it?

"I can't let you have this Ace! I'm already so worn out from beating the living hell out of two Riders, I can't deal with a third. My burden is too great!"

I think to some extent, the show might've deliberately been aiming for having Tachibana's decision-making be messy on account him being, you know, a mess, especially at this point, but I can't argue too hard if you tell me that makes it harder to vibe with that plotline at the moment. I will say two things though:

- I'd imagine Tachibana is specifically referring to the burden of being a Rider working under Isaka's foot, like he is, and I think it's more than evident a huge part of Tachibana considers the state he's in a sort of prison he's all but given up on escaping. While it's hard to determine when Tachibana is being honest with himself and when he's not, he lays out to Sayoko in no uncertain terms that he likes getting hopped up on seaweed and fighting because it lets him forget.

- Which brings me to point two, that in the scene where he tells Isaka he won't give him the card, Isaka shortly afterwards points out that Tachibana's current dosage is wearing off, which would mean he's logically going to be sober enough to have trouble shutting up the part of him that knows how much he hates all of this.

Hmm.

Hmmmmmm.

Interesting take, and not one I'd considered. I guess I don't see Trenchcoat as being a really bad boss? Like, he seems to be all about getting Tachibana what he wants (more powerful), while not really making too many demands on him. Certainly nothing he wouldn't already do, like seal Undead and pummel Blade.

And, those things that Tachibana is forgetting... I guess I read it as him forgetting his weakness, not his circumstances. The thing he seems to grapple with, to my mind, isn't specifically working for a bad guy (something that's even up for debate at this point), it's that he's completely isolated himself in pursuit of strength. If he doesn't keep fighting, he'll have to go back to being a weak coward.

There isn't really a lot before this where we see Tachibana chafe under Trenchcoat's authority. I mean, Trenchcoat doesn't seem to think Tachibana's unhappy or likely to flip on him. He gives him a ton of autonomy to finish the task in his own way. He doesn't really micromanage him. Health benefits are way better than with BOARD. Seems like an okay boss?

I think, more than anything, and I'm only half-joking with this, Tachibana is just a terrible employee. Just awful at working for anyone. He blows up his old job and kidnaps his old boss in the first episode! There's precedent for Tachibana being a catastrophically bad subordinate!

Oh yeah, no, he's a great boss. Especially the part where he pumped Tachibana full of drugs to ensure his loyalty when he inevitably became dependent on them. Real swell guy, that Isaka!

I just don't see Tachibana as being so far gone that he can't see, even if just in brief moments of clarity, how his current power is essentially a total lie, and how working for an Undead is probably not the best way to fight the Undead? He said he forgets everything, so I'm sure his weakness is part of that, but I also guarantee you the dissatisfaction he feels with where he's at in life is part of it too. He definitely doesn't like having to push himself away from Sayoko, no matter how cool he tries to play it off in some of his scenes with her.

But yes, Tachibana is also just kind of a bad employee. You say Isaka seems okay, I say he seems desperate. Murakami would've stopped putting up with Tachibana's s*** ages ago. Way too much maintenance for the amount of work you get back out. Return on investment like that is just bad business no matter how you slice it. :lol

I have worked for people that I wished had only pumped me full of deadly chemicals designed to make me fight until I exploded like a firework. At least Trenchcoat is giving Tachibana the tools to succeed! That is not a given from every boss!

Good points! It would've been nice to have the show make that a little more clear before Tachibana's big turn.