Chalice! Okay, got it.

Some of these names, man...

Blade = He uses a bladed weapon.

Chalice = suit of cups, which is a bit of a deep cut, but whatever

Garren = ??? Guardian, I guess ???

Like, boy, you had one, and then it all got real weird real fast.

I don't know, second episode worked pretty great for me! Definitely course-corrected from where I thought the first one didn't have enough moments, if that makes sense. This one's just a bunch of great moments.

Yeah, he feels like, BOARD Rider-adjacent. He specifically doesn't seem like a guy who's operating under the same rules as Garren or (especially) Blade.

Also, hey! Onari is super hilarious! When Alain plays him!

TokuNation is a good place. I'm a fan.

And, yeah, that new suit! A+ design! Best suit so far!

This is a fantastic summary of why I like Kenzaki so much. He's not some perfect hero, he's got a lot of struggles and, as you said, tends to sometimes wallow in his own self pity a bit. But he recognizes that about himself, and pushes himself to do better because he knows it's right. And when others call him out on it, as Shiori does in this episode, he doesn't get defensive about it at all; he realizes "oh yeah, she's right" and immediately sets out to go help the people at the observatory. These characters living in this house together is really the best thing possible for Kenzaki, because now he has friends that will both reframe his perceived weaknesses about himself intro strength, and push him to move forward when he feels overwhelmed and paralyzed by his own negative feelings. It's a really great dynamic.

On another note, one thing I was reminded of when rewatching this episode is how cool it is that Blade's transformation isn't just a fancy visual, he uses the transformation process itself as a weapon. It's an awesome moment when he's getting choked by the Undead's vines, but manages to get the belt on and the blue rectangle projection literally just smashes into the Undead and forces it off of him. That's such a unique and clever feature that I like a lot.

Also I agree 100% about the Chalice suit. Easily one of my favorite suit designs in the entirety of Kamen Rider.

Oh man, if you think "Garren" is weird then be prepared to hold on to your butt.

Yeah, for real, he's a fascinating character, Kenzaki. He's flawed in a really curious way. He's got a level of self-doubt that I don't remember seeing a lot in other Riders. But that self-doubt, the fear that he'll fail, that's how he gets to be a hero.

There's a Batman thing I really like. It's from Tom King's (excellent) run on the character, and it comes up a lot of times over the series. It's that everyone gets scared. Everyone feels afraid. But that means everyone gets a chance to overcome it, to be brave.

It's something you can see in Kenzaki's character, even in just the second episode. He doesn't think much of himself, doesn't know if he's good enough. But he has to be good enough, for the sake of everyone else.

Yeah! Thank you for bringing that up! I love when the Henshin is something... tangible? I like when villains can interrupt it (like the Undead did), and I like when the Rider can use it as a weapon (as Blade did). I like when it's not just something that the monsters stand around and wait for. Like, don't get me wrong, I'm an Ex-Aid kid, I love an elaborate Henshin. But the, I don't know, the diegetic Henshin is also pretty goddamn cool.

oh no not my butt

Random tangent as always but Kenzaki is probably the first TITULAR RIDER whose occupation is a Kamen Rider, although if you bring sub-riders in the mix Hikawa takes the cake. Something to consider when watching this show I think.

Yeah, it made my head spin a little in the second episode, when Amane is trying to identify which Kamen Rider saved her. It's just Kotaro and Kenzaki using Kamen Rider in the way someone else might say firefighter, and it was a little funny. I like the idea of everyone in Japan treating Kamen Riders as, like, neighborhood utilities.

Also Garren's name seems to be a mutated form of the word currency since diamonds are related to the suit of coins it seems.

Specifically it’s accepted that it’s a corruption of Galleon which is most known as a type of coin in the Harry Potter series of books which were at their height of worldwide popularity in 2004 to the point that the magic aspect of the 2005 sentai series Magiranger was inspired by it.

That works too. :rock: