I can forgive Die for not noticing it, but I can't believe no one has mentioned the biggest thing to happen in this episode: we got the first appearance of Tsurugi's pronunciation of Kagami's name. It'll get more exaggerated as we go on, but it started here.

So, one thing I'll say about the Hiyori reveal is that it doesn't feel like a retcon or something that the writer threw in out of nowhere. It does fit with a lot of the earlier interactions between Tendou and Hiyori and why Tendou was so insistent on forcing his way into this otherwise random girl's life. It also recontextualizes the scene from a few episodes back where Kagami's dad vaguely threatens Tendou's little sister - he was talking about Hiyori, not Juka.

So I actually like the twist in how it makes sense when retroactively applied to the rest of the series. The big issue I have is with the execution, especially when we get to the later stuff with the Tendou in the Iron Mask. I don't doubt that this twist was planned from the start, but the timing and execution are things that I have some real concerns with.

So, as was spoiled earlier, Yui Satonaka, aka Hiyori, got sick and couldn't continue working on the show full-time (you may have noticed that she's been largely or entirely absent from a lot of recent episodes). I'm sure that the Worm reveal was planned for some point, but I don't know if it was supposed to happen now or later. All the stuff with Tendou-2, though, definitely feels like it was crammed into the episode because the show needed to a) act while Hiyori was still available and b) find a mechanism to write her out.

I mean, it's a very pretty location. I think Kamen Rider shows just look better when they're filmed in the summertime? I love seeing all of those suits in the sunshine. I think it has to do with me doing all of the Phase 2 shows first, and those all start filming their seasons in late-summer. Like, that's how I got introduced to so many of my favorite characters, in these bright outdoor shoots. Very nostalgic.

It's cute, for sure. He holds a beat on it, so everyone's clear on him and Kagami having nicknames for each other now because they are total best friends, both of them. (Talk about asymmetrical relationships!) I wish this episode had more scenes of the two of them, but it was already sort of awkwardly placed, just the one.

I really like this read, but I'm not sure it tracks? If it's from when Tendou confronts Kagami Outrageous at Police HQ, the thing that's going on during that threat is that Juka's been kidnapped by WorMisaki. Oh! Wait! The larger plot is that Worm Widow is trying to bump off the folks with space rocks, and Hiyori is in danger because of that. Yep! You're right! Good catch!

The end of this one was easily the weakest part to me. It's rushing through a bunch of plot, and no one's doing anything that feels explained. Much like the random appearances of Hyper Kabuto (who is instrumental to Kabuto's switcheroo and it never gets called out in the episode), there's a little too much going on that plays better in retrospect. Like, way too much This Will All Make Sense In The End. It's not that I don't trust the show to dot the i's or whatever, but it feels like I'm deferring too much of my enjoyment. I'd like the episodes to be good now?

Yeah, for the record, this is exactly why I choose that screenshot for episode 26.

Then that was also a good catch, and you are very sneaky!

Well sorry you still don't like the reveal. It fits though, with the shape shifting Worms replacing people and the like. Still it seems pretty obvious that this was planned. You are for whatever reason, enjoying the things about this show that I dislike and disliking that things that I like. This show is just that weird I guess.

That does sound like me, yeah.

For the record, I never thought the reveal that Hiyori and Tendou were related was unplanned or a retcon. (I did think it was something that was just in the movie at first, though.) This show's way too smart and intricate to just suddenly decide something this major. I would not doubt for a second that it was in the initial pitch document or series bible.

What I'd argue is that it's an unnecessary element, and one that arrives later in the series than I'd enjoy. If this happened around episode 15 or 20, I'd be a little more receptive to it. Here, at 32, it feels like the relationships between the characters had progressed so much further than Secret Siblings as an idea, gotten so much deeper than Tendou Has To Kill Kagami To Protect Hiyori's Secret. (Which, I see what the show is going for emotionally with that, highlighting Tendou's unshackled commitment to Hiyori, but it comes off like Tendou hasn't listened to a word Kagami said for the last two episodes. Kagami was specifically the one who said that Not All Worms deserve to die. It's another moment in this one where I can't understand why people are behaving the way they are.) It... I think it flattens out the uniqueness of Tendou and Hiyori's bond, and that bums me out.

Also, I think my feelings about Tendou/Hiyori (do not like) are getting a little tangled up with Hiyori/Worm (pretty into, didn't love how the show handled the fallout) as far as how I'm communicating my feelings about this episode. There are two reveals, and it's really the Secret Siblings one that I regret the show pursuing.

Thinking about this more, I feel like I've accidentally hit upon why the execution of the episode mostly didn't click with me: it's maybe trying to do too much, too quickly? We had just come off of the huge Hiyori Is A Worm cliffhanger, but instead of getting to deal with that story fully, to really grapple with how Hiyori feels about this new aspect of her identity, the show immediately adds in the reveal that Tendou is Hiyori's brother, which pivots the lens onto Tendou's feelings towards Hiyori: his protectiveness, his fears, his need to control the situation, etc. There's a whole middle section of this episode that becomes about a completely different thing than the last episode's cliffhanger?

Like, I feel like this episode would've been better served as two episodes? An episode that's more directly about Hiyori being a Worm would've felt like the show was taking that change seriously, while a following episode that let Tendou react as her brother would've been... I mean, I still wouldn't be in favor of it as a story, but I think it would've felt more organic (and less intrusive) than it did here.

The question of whether or not a group of monsters inherently evil has been brought up a lot in the franchise ever since Faiz. In the Worms' case though, it's more specific to the Roidmudes, where who they copy determines how they behave and their chance of being redeemed. Tsurugi has a very strong personality and sense of identity that keeps him oblivious to the fact that he's the same Worm he wants to destroy so he can avenge his sister. Caring about sisters is something that he and Tendo have in common, except Tsurugi only has revenge he can fight for now, as well as restoring the Discabil family fortune outside of fighting.

How he would react to finding out the terrible truth is something that makes Kagami hesitate to tell him, which puts him in a similar situation to Tendo who holds the truth about Hiyori. It's a difficult problem. If the truth is so terrible, does that justify keeping it a secret from someone or lying to them, or does that just allow them to live in false happiness? Does it make the humans any different from the Worms? Maybe Tsurugi, who is if nothing else honest, is more human that most actual humans which is why Kagami feels a connection with him.

I have a friend IRL who's similar to Tsurugi so at least I could probably get along with him. Gon/Yuriko is the most amicable though, so befriending her would definitely be the best option.

Destiny has been a major part of Tendo's motivation since the start though. He's the chosen one, walking the path of heaven to rule over all. Hiyori being his sister and a Worm makes her a part of that, just as all people encounter friends and rivals who can change the direction of their life. But his story isn't the only one that's important.

I think all the nuance of their friendship is still there and the new revelations about Hiyori are just as important to Hiyori's own story as Tendo's. You wanted to see more progress for Hiyori's arc following their adventure in Area X and that's what's happening here. With this new information, she has gone back to that place in search of answers that should hopefully be more clear to her now. The other Souji is important to her destiny.

Yeah, there are two Soujis but only one Tendo Souji, the one who walks the path of heaven. The other Souji was never raised by his grandmother, a Tendo, so he keeps his parents' family name, Kusakabe.

Waga Tomo KaGAHmi is what I hear in my head everytime I type or read the name Kagami. I just couldn't recall when Tsurugi started saying it but he's a great source of comedy for sure!

So yeah, just as I expected for the reaction in this part, but yeah, don't declare this episode as objectively bad just because it didn't work to you. And I did say before that, I don't think that Tendou learned anything in ep. 25, especially him saving her at the end of the episode. Also to make it clear, it means that Juka is the half-sister of Tendou, Juka isn't Tendou's sister by blood, only adopted sister. His grandmother, the Tendou family, adopts Tendou as one of her and Juka's own after his parents' death, changing his name from Souji Kusakabe to Souji Tendou.

Firstly I'd want to talk about Tendou's stark contrast about his response to Hiyori compared to most other people as something that makes sense (especially with his proclaim here to kill any beings to protect Hiyori, though this won't happen for sure); the other person who Tendou shows as much care was Juka, his family member, albeit step-sister, it seems that Tendou cares the most about family (and I'd say the flashback is only rectifying this, not some destiny BS, more info below), while it can be less so for friends like Kagami, and mostly about only saving lives for strangers. Fish did explain about how this relationship didn't overwrite the bond they've created before, but the thing is, Tendou also can show nearly as much care as those 2 to someone based on talent, like Jiiya, and he has no familial relation to him in the slightest, so yeah probably you not wanting this is warranted too based on this part.

I'd like to talk about how Tendou responds to Kagami in this episode. If Tendou proclaims to kill any beings to protect Hiyori, because of Kagami knowing that she's alive (Tendou faking her death so that she won't be targeted by others), so that means Tendou won't allow anyone to know or interact with Hiyori other than him? How would Hiyori be able to live properly this way, with Tendou wanting Hiyori to live as Hiyori (I know what that means, he wants for Hiyori to live as Hiyori, not as a monstrous Worm)? This is overprotective taken to the extremes.

Uhh... didn't Hiyori tell Rena to stop, and that at the end, she goes to the Shibuya by herself and confronting any ZECTroopers with a chilling look on her face, and disposed them using her Worm form? Isn't that being active, being able to go into that place without Tendou or Kagami accompanying her, and her making a good use of her Worm form?

Well, no offense sorry, but I don't feel that you're being fair here. For this part which don't work to you, you throw in various questions to show more of its disapproval here (well, tbf, you did question about what the Worms are actually doing), like the Worms existing before asteroid, targeting Tendou's parents, what they're doing for next years. I'm probably not defending these parts, but my point is that, there are also various things that probably doesn't make sense (dunno if you or others think plausible explanations for this) in the story, like for Tsurugi, him being the only case of a Worm that had the human personality completely overpowers him by impossible odds, only due to Tsurugi's arrogant nature and personality. Also for why the Worms that impersonated his parents existed before the asteroid, sorry, I can't explain that too! Because spoilers.

As already said, he's not refered as Tendou, but Souji Kusakabe (so "Another Souji", for this time, further of this would be spoiler), but this is another question at this point yeah.

But there's Hiyori storming the base on this episode (and you don't treat her as active character here)... well to answer this question, it would be Hiyori figuring out Tendou being a killer or not by tasting the food at ep. 13-14, with the help of your take of it to appreciate it of course.

I don't think that Tendou's motivation is about parent death based from here. From what I catch, Tendou is someone who cares the most for family members, that being Juka, for what's shown (and well... Hiyori as from this part), and previously, Tendou also loses his cool, swears personal vengenace, and even acting recklessly to Worms that targeted Juka (proclaiming that they won't get away) and endangered Hiyori, as for ep. 26. So I think the flashback here, Tendou shows similar characteristics of that, Tendou being enraged for harm to his family, where Worms that targeted and killed his parents are what Tendou hates the most, just like the Worm that endangered Juka and Hiyori. The flashback I think isn't meant to change Tendou's motivation, it's meant to show Hiyori's origin as a Worm.

I guess I still don't see their friendship the same? I can't reconcile the previous version, where Tendou chose to dedicate himself to this person because of her innate qualities, with the current version where he made a vow as a child to protect her no matter what. Like, he was invested in her before he even knew her, and that colors every interaction they ever had on the show for me.

For her getting a psychic Find My Friend ping and discovering Another Tendou... it's a lot for one episode. They are hitting Hiyori with being a Worm, finding out her terrible origins, discovering Tendou is her brother, and then still having her wander off to Area X (a hard right after Area Sundown) to meet Another Tendou. That's a lot! I think all of that stuff needed more room to breathe.

Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and file A Worm Copy Of His Unborn Sister as a half-sister. I'm sorry if that's speciesist!

It is, and it's something the episode doesn't really have a ton of space to explore. (They have a lot of ground to cover in this one!) While I didn't love Tendou threatening Kagami to protect Hiyori, I really did like the scene of Tendou telling Hiyori how her life was going to be now. It's incredibly Tendou to take a chaotic situation and unilaterally decide how to proceed. What he's offering Hiyori is a gilded cage, and it's sort of cruel. He's valuing his needs (Hiyori Must Be Protected) over her autonomy, her independence. It's treating her as an object to be defended, rather than a person who is living a life. It's my favorite Tendou thing in the episode?

Not to me? Her wandering off is something that happens because of a psychic phenomenon, so I'm not feeling generous enough to say that it makes Hiyori a story driver. She's not even recognizably Hiyori at that point in the story.

And her running off because Worm Widow is telling her They're All Going To Laugh At You... I mean, if we're going to refer to that as Hiyori being in control of her story, we have lowered the bar pretty low.

The problem for me with both of those examples are that it becomes more about other people's agendas, other plots. Worm Widow's scene is about her manipulating Hiyori, not Hiyori responding to manipulation. (It's also under a minute long, so let's keep that in mind.) Hiyori going to see Another Tendou at the end isn't some huge decision, it's a weird plot thing that happens because of a psychic phenomenon.

My point (which I guess I made badly) wasn't that there aren't potential answers for all of these questions. There definitely are! They are probably going to be resolved somewhere in the next seventeen episodes! My frustration was that Tendou's explanation introduced so many new questions that it became an obstacle for me. I've probably made an analogy like this before, but it'd be like if you saw a friend on the street, and that friend was dressed like a clown. If that friend responded to the question Why Are You Dressed Like A Clown with I Agreed To Do It When I Lost A Volleyball Match To Paul Rudd, it replaces my one previous question with at least two new questions. It's an answer, but it's an answer I will need so much more context for.