I think I was calling meet-cute "Kotarou's new Undead Girlfriend" the entire time I was watching it, I wasn't even sure she had a name to begin with!

Well yeah, not ignoring it isn't only about go experiencing those for ourselves, but just acknowledging that the side exists within them, and for this one, actually this side of Inoue is not a minor part of him, but instead major. That side of him (or anyone) can’t and shouldn't be wished away, cherry-picked, or swept under the rug to give free passes.

Yeah, their occupation made them sidekicks in this story, with Hirose's help of fighting Undead putting her position in and Kotaro being not a fighter or scientist, where his scope is somewhat limited by delivering pep talks or be extra hands or legs for someone (usually Hirose). I forgot to say this but now Kotaro shoudn't be that shallow to think that how can someone be that beautiful be an Undead (or villainous); appearences doesn't decide behavior!

And their chemistry will play an important role story-wise later. But Tachibana's quote about after their cards is also golden, that Mutsuki doesn't seem to take his job seriously to him. Forgot to talk about how Tachibana compares Blade's Rider system, to collectible card game (which he instructs Mutsuki not to treat it as such). Tachibana's accusations were right though (wdym petty?). Mutsuki has a problem with needing to prove his strength to himself and by extension everyone around so he naturally doesn't always think with people's best interests or strategically at all. With A Power Comes Great Responsibility is applied on Mutsuki. So now it's seen why their card throws are always perfect, the sealing card seems to move on its own where it boomerangs back to Mutsuki. The werewolves were of course, doesn't have any belt for the card to seal them with..

They tested the bikes in Suzuka Circuit (full layout)! Gimme the lap times, Kenzaki said the Blade bike barely kept up, but dunno why it's not convincing as iirc he started the bike behind Black Fang, which would seem to me, they're on par instead. With Kenzaki being a natural follower, would you think it's expected for him to be quite... relegated in Tachibana's arc (up to episode 15)? It's his character type. For Tachibana, dunno if I would got him here as being terrible at working with anyone, that he distrusts organizations in general, as the Undead Hunter was just a fluke. To be fair he was acting that way even when Kenzaki only talked to him about Shinmei.... but it was also because he thinks the Undead sealing job being too dangerous for humans? (obviously, humans can't stand against monsters).
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pr...ZWpvzCvwIAVHiT

...because I'm also fishy on watching the Undead Hunter, in how they behave. Shinmei was trying to be amicable of explaining about Black Fang, but he's sort of creepy doing that to me. Though probably the other Undead Hunters are genuine in that mission with them being in danger and reporting Shinmei's situation? (which can serve as a double meaning; it's either Shinmei being in danger due to Undead or Shinmei turned out to be an Undead; which Kenzaki thought it's the former). And for Shinmei's plan to just slow down the other Undead while the Riders are the one to seal them.... it means that Rider system is still the only one that can stop Undeads if they're still the ones to finish the job. Also, and from previous one too regarding cards, how's for the plot explanation in story? (where here, it's the Black Fang and BOARD's equipments).

The wolf masks won't override the victim's clothes, unlike the high level Undeads or just other monster transformations from other series. I actually wish to see the Wolf Undead's henchmen hulking up and tearing up their human clothes, though dunno if their body is also changed or only their heads, it should be as they're bulletproof now. The scariness part, to me, is probably diminished as those victims are already dead, and Wolf Undead just reanimated them. If he can do that to living victims, that's the real deal.... would Riders mistakenly kill an Undead that is actually from human, or finding ways to save that victim while stopping the Undead part? And for the newest Undead, I wouldn't really relate him to the type of monster in your avatar like Cubi as like you said, he's not avoidant of fighting out of goodness. Also it seems only high leveled ones have this trait with varied wants, as the other Undeads are the usual non-sentient monsters.

Sure! It would be nice if Kotaro learned something positive from all of that.

I just think Tachibana's being a dick to Mutsuki here. Mutsuki sincerely wants to make up for his failure (or at least that's how the scene played to me), but Tachibana dismisses his motivation based on how Mutsuki behaved last time. Even if Tachibana's right (and it's something you could at best make an argument for, assuming you think Tachibana is suddenly some impeccable judge of character), him throwing Mutsuki's action back in his face is a sort-of shitty thing to do. If you're trying to mentor someone who's as troubled as Mutsuki is, I'm not sure scoring points against them is a great teaching moment, you know?

So far in the show he's blown up BOARD, kidnapped Karasuma, fought Team Blade, and murdered Trenchcoat Mastermind. Does not strike me as a team player!

He is a terrible, terrible coworker as seen on screen so far :lol Though he is perhaps not terrible at being a Kamen Rider at this point.

I think a lot of it is how Tachibana's weird mix of Imposter Syndrome and Egocentrism make it difficult for him to work in a hierarchy, and probably contributed to his maybe not being the best choice of mentor for Mutsuki.

Tachibana is someone who is obsessed with his own experiences, to the point where he basically mythologizes his failures and successes. When he succumbs to his worst impulses, it's an epic tragedy. When he overcomes those same impulses and wins the day, it's a heroic triumph unequaled in human history. He doesn't... it's the Kotaro thing, where Tachibana doesn't really consider other people. He sees everyone as some player in his story, a reflection of his compelling struggles.

He can't really work in a group, because that would mean acknowledging that what other people want out of a collaboration has merit, or that his emotional journey might need to take a backseat. Him mentoring Mutsuki is bound to go slightly off-the-rails (or catastrophically off-the-rails) because the aid he's offering Mutsuki is down to Tachibana being reminded of his own similar emotions. He sees himself in Mutsuki, so he's willing to help Mutsuki. The less he sees of himself, the more Mutsuki creates his own identity, the more unhelpful Tachibana is to him.

And, like, I don't think this is villainous or anything! I don't think Tachibana means to be this way. I think he sees himself as a stoic, suffering hero, someone who is concerned with the greater good. It's just, his psychology affects him to such a degree that his options for working with others, for considering their needs, it's intensely limited.

I disagree with literally none of this XD Any and all qualifying statements I make regarding "so far" or "up to this point" are just me trying really, really hard not to make statements that could have implications for future episodes and/or give spoilery hints, I promise.

Tachibana is v entertaining to watch and almost certainly not nearly as fun to actually work with. (But if you actually try to strangle him it just feeds into both the egocentrism AND the imposter syndrome and somehow makes everything worse)

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 25

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: Yeah, no thanks.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade25a.png

There's a lot I love about the Kamen Rider franchise. There's a hidden depth to its world of colorful heroes and monstrous villains. There's a fascinating nuance to its world of monstrous heroes and colorful villains. There's thematic weight, emotional honesty, beauty and grace and sadness and poignancy and so much wonder.

And then there's an episode where it's two superheroes on bikes chasing a monster on a bike and I could not care less.

Right up front, I'm not saying it's a bad episode. (It might be, but that's not my point.) There's nothing in this one that betrayed the ideals of what Kamen Rider should be. (It's maybe an archetypal episode for a franchise about masked riders!) It doesn't cross any lines, it isn't some abomination. But holy shit did I 100% not care about the Blade/Garren story in this. Just, absolute disinterest. If someone else wants to take a run at it, be my guest.

The superheroes on bikes chasing a monster on a bike, the pro racer drafting to stay alive, not for me. It's the type of thing I was afraid Kamen Rider would be before I started watching it. If this'd been my first or second episode, I'd've checked out of the franchise. Completely and utterly not for me.

I... sincerely, if this part of the episode means a lot to someone, if they've got strong feelings about it, feel free to post them. I can't. I can't find anything in this motorcycle plot to talk about. Sorry. It defeated me.

Hey, so how about the Kotaro story!

It was good! I liked seeing something devoted to Kotaro, and it had some fun angles on it. It's a little bit about Kotaro and Miyuki, but mostly it's about Kotaro trying to feel better about Hajime being around.

It doesn't go great! Kotaro tries to see Miyuki as more than just an Undead, because Hajime has proven to be more than just an Undead. There's a point where he's delighted by the beauty of the lake they're at, and it's a nice parallel to what he's hoping for from saving Miyuki. He's in this world of fighting and danger and death, but he wants to help people. He wants to save lives, not destroy monsters. Finding some way to forgive Miyuki, to give her a chance to live a peaceful life, it's about more than just her. It's his hope that the Undead can be more than the monsters they are on the outside, that they can have layers and dreams and good qualities. He wants that to be true for Miyuki, because then he can see it in Hajime.

So of course Hajime seals her right in front of Kotaro.

It's a sad twist on a happy story, which I appreciated. Kotaro was projecting too much on Miyuki (who maybe could've been what he was hoping for, but it was a stretch), and she didn't give Hajime a lot of options. But it takes this little spark of acceptance that Kotaro had going, and it snuffs it right out.

I like that it's not that easy for Kotaro and Hajime. It's a longer road than just You Saved Me And We're Friends for Kotaro. He can't stop seeing the killer in Hajime, and that's not something he wants around his sister and niece. Meanwhile, Hajime can't believe that Kotaro could forgive Miyuki. He sees a resolve in Kotaro that he wasn't expecting, a type of forgiveness that's awe-inspiring. There's some nice variations in where their relationship is at. Hajime's respecting Kotaro more, just as Kotaro is closing a door on Hajime. That stuff, the character drama, that's what I need from a Kamen Rider show.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/blade/blade25b.png

Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: Sloth Style declares war on the Riders! Karasuma sends an old friend to help the team! And a NEW SUIT FOR BLADE!

Yeah, this whole Black Fang storyline is really dumb. That's kinda why I like it. The show really expects you to get caught up in the pathos of this whole situation and it's just... it's just a fucking motorcycle. I know they talk it up like it's the ultimate anti-Undead weapon, but it's a motorcycle. The Wolf Undead goes on about how it's made him so powerful and all he does is use it to interrupt a motorcycle race. The whole situation is incredibly stupid, but in a way that I can't help but find endearing.

No hyperbole, I spent a non-zero amount of seconds during this episode wondering if I even liked Kamen Rider anymore. There was a hollow space inside me where all of my usual fandom resided. It's like, I was watching this interminable middle section of the show and my brain just emptied out of whatever chemicals made me ever enjoy Kamen Rider. It was bizarre and some small portion of scary.

I don't really want to dwell on what didn't work for me in this episode (it would definitely come off like I was picking on it), but what in the hell was Shinmei's actual plan? He rebuilt BOARD, enlisted and equipped dozens of people, spent an amount of time (?) hunting himself and his offspring down, specifically to draw out Blade and Garren, and then he used their bikes to finish Black Fang, a thing that he somehow knew about (so he was an Undead when he was working at BOARD?), at which point he murdered everyone he recruited, didn't want to kill the Riders, then did want to kill Kenzaki, then went to a race track?

Am I... Am I getting that right?

(I also wasn't a fan of Tachibana's speech, but I'll leave it there for now.)

Can't believe you weren't left in tears when Garren was forced to destroy the super-cool bike!!!

The Riders and Undead go vroom vroom until someone explodes, and sometimes that's all you get! Ah well, they can't all exactly be thematic masterpieces. I think it might have sit more well with you if the show didn't play it as completely straight as it did, but there's something to be said about how sincere the show presents all this stuff.

Actually what they really needed to tie all of this together was to have Kotaro and Miyuki go to a motorcross track together, and a bike chase ensues when Chalice appears.