Before I go through your commentary on the next ep - for me, personally, I love watching both Tachibana and Mutsuki, because they are both such trash fires. I can absolutely see where you were frustrated with Tachibana repeating the same asininity again (and the story was calling him out on it a little less than it does Mutsuki, I think), but since I actively enjoy yelling at characters for doing stupid shit, I'm more willing to forgive the narrative.

Not the character. Trash fires, both of them, honestly. But I do hope for character growth.

I do want to know why Team Blade apparently keeps giving Tachibana a pass, tho.

Edit: I also had positive feelings about Mutsuki's redemption arc - I don't think it's that he has no culpability in his terrible behavior throughout the course of the series. He's been an idiot teenager doing stupid shit. The aforementioned trash fire. And along came the Spider Undead, telling him all the things he wanted to hear about how to Be Awesome, and he ate it up.

His conversation with Shima and Tiger Queen, the moment in which he figures out that he's maybe not gone about this the right way? I kind of love it. He's still listening to Other People, but he's listening to people who have consistently demonstrated that they care about him.

It does crack me the fuck up that when he feels guilty about Tiger Queen getting sealed, he goes to Tachibana for the emotional resolution.

But overall, I think this is where he does show character growth. And I am here for it.

As much as I crap on Leangle for his lack of actual upgrades, I will point out that he was included in his video of “4th Riders Final Forms”. Opinions on it are welcome.

https://youtu.be/Ns9f50yfkcM

Mutsuki for me really was a case of This Just Keeps Going. I didn't necessarily dislike any particular part of his story, but it was just... too long? The path to his rejecting the Spider Undead literally took up more than half the series and when it looks like he's going to turn around so many times it just got really frustrating. Like, Shima sacrificed himself to help fix it; and nothing happened and it was barely even mentioned. I'm not even saying it should have been a quick fix but it didn't even slightly help! He seemed to get worse! So at this point the only emotion I was able to muster was "good god, finally."

same

Alright, so, I realized immediately that if I just try and write a post about why I liked episode 42 of Blade, it'd come out exactly the same as my post about why I loved episode 15 of Blade, so you know what? Let's just lean into that.

Take a Rider who's been known to be rather obstinate, more than a little insecure...

https://i.imgur.com/6xX86nGl.png
https://i.imgur.com/yECKiQ6l.png

...and often just plain silly...

https://i.imgur.com/oDLVPFWl.png
https://i.imgur.com/PSMQLKll.png

...and then give him one moment. One perfect, beautiful moment where he finally throws aside his delusions to take some real control of his life:

https://i.imgur.com/pj41Zyal.png

Congratulations, Blade. You've somehow made me a Leangle fan.

The first time around, at least, I would've been more than ready to agree with the problems people lay out with Mukki's development over the course of the series, but I simply can't deny that having him literally wrestle with his demons, culminating in this wimpy, unlikable teenager dramatically posing with a sword in front of a classic toku napalm explosion... it just worked for me. I recall being pretty done with the guy after Shima got sealed, but right there, watching this episode for the first time, I couldn't help but root for him. My heart isn't made out of stone. For once in his life, Mukki was genuinely cool, and I was happy to see him succeed. That's all there is to it.

The episode on the whole is maybe not quite on the same level as episode 15, but it's still a darn good one with a lot of touches that I love. One that jumped out at me skimming back through it to make this post is that the very last line of the episode is Mutsuki wishing he had been stronger. It's a moment of vulnerability, and an admittance of weakness, from someone who up until just a little bit ago would do anything before admitting he has faults. I really can't think of a better way to cement the growth he had here than by having him say the exact opposite of his usual "catchphrase". Just a really nice bit of writing, I think.

Ever since then, I've only come more and more around to his character, to the point where I'm tempted to throw around words like "underrated". He's a good kid, for a bad kid!

Also, while I'm on this subject, I might as well mention the video that I think was legitimately the point of no return in making me a mostly unironic Mukki fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUUex8QToC4

I'd say this will be lost on anyone who can't speak or read Japanese, but I'm pretty sure I barely understood anything the first couple times, so I don't know. I'm mostly sharing it because A) it's a masterpiece, and B) it balances out the largely Mukki-less video I shared before this.

Friends, today was the day that just wouldn't let up. Work from hell to breakfast, and it's only now that I got a minute to do what I wanted to do for hours and hours, which is talk about Kamen Rider. I'm sorry this is so late! I'm still going to do the HBV after this because I need to!

In fairness, Mutsuki technically defeated the Spider Undead using cards won through combat, which is pretty much the definition of Your Own Power on this show.

Still, I take your point. There are some very... iffy interpretations of what Mutsuki's accomplished here, and Tachibana and Kenzaki are maybe letting their relief (Oh Thank God I Think Mutsuki Is Finally Fixed) amplify their praise. A simple Good Job might've sufficed, but they went and made it weird. To give them a little credit, I don't think they had anything prepared for this eventuality! It was not something they were counting on!

He's so bad at being bad that it's adorable.

I'm not sure the show is trying to say that getting rid of the Spider Undead is what makes Mutsuki better, it's that Mutsuki (through Shima and Tiger Queen) got better, so he could then defeat the Spider Undead. I definitely took it as him figuring out that where he was at wasn't where he wanted to be, like you're suggesting.

Kenzaki is literally the only Rider on this show capable of emotionally supporting other people in a healthy way, and that dude is way overworked.

I guess Mutsuki's plotline didn't really bother me, length-wise, because it was so backgrounded for so long? Tachibana's arcs, they frequently ate up way more screentime, and that could become a slog. Mutsuki, it was just, like, He's A Surly Club-Owner Now, and that's just his status quo for a dozen episodes. Them not progressing it... it's maybe why I was able to still give a shit about Mutsuki for so long?

The "I wish I was stronger" bit at the end, it's like, that's his character growth. He doesn't want to be stronger for himself, he wants to be stronger for the people who cared about him so much they sacrificed their lives. He's learned the lessons they were trying to teach him, and he gets to express real regret... all while Hajime watches awkwardly from a middle distance.

Mutsuki finally got the tragic backstory he always wanted!

In retrospect it really is interesting that the people who are growing and changing are those around Kenzaki than Kenzaki himself.

I think he is, it's just harder to see because the waveform of his personality doesn't oscillate nearly as much as the other three. In other words, Kenzaki doesn't need to change and grow as much as Tachibana or Mutsuki, so it doesn't seem like he is. He's already a very sweet boy!

KAMEN RIDER BLADE - HYPER BATTLE VIDEO

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: It's Blade versus Blade, as Tachibana and Mutsuki are no help! Hajime holds the key to victory! And Kotaro basically reads out this page from the Wiki!

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

It's cute! It's a cute little video.

I mean, boy, not that much to talk about in this one, really. It's very very about explaining how all the trading card powers work. That, and Kotaro s l o w l y r e a d i n g t h e w o r d s h e i s t y p i n g, was about 80% of this special. I don't know why they went that way with this? As a promotional tool, is it really that useful to explain the superhero rules for a series that's ending in seven episodes? Doesn't strike me as a worthwhile use of a 10-minute video.

The gags in this are funny, though. Of course Mutsuki screws up and attacks the wrong Blade, and of course Tachibana gets all Let Me Take It From Here and screws up equally bad. They're hopeless, these other Riders. It's fitting that the only one who's able to really see Kenzaki is Hajime, and is the only Rider who can tell which Blade is real and which is THE ONE OBVIOUSLY WEARING A SCARF.

(I actually think the scarf thing is hysterical. I love stories where characters can't tell which is the duplicate during incredibly obvious switcheroos. That gag always, always lands with me. Tachibana and Mutsuki being both oblivious and dangerous? Not exactly noncanonical!)

Hajime's answer for how he could pick out the real Kamen Rider Blade is that, when he shouted out "Blade", the U.N.D.E.A.D. turned to the sound a second faster than Kenzaki. It's a joke, Kenzaki Is So Slow, ha ha, sure. It's just, I don't think that's it? Hajime doesn't shout "Kenzaki", he shouts "Blade". The robot probably thinks of itself at that point as Blade, while (to paraphrase Inoue) Kenzaki is Kenzaki. I think Hajime knew that, and knew that Kenzaki would turn slower to being called Blade than he would being called Kenzaki. Hajime gets that very sweet boy!

Other than that, it's a trifle. Fun fights between Blade and Blade With New Scarf, but that's about it. A whole whole lot of explaining the cards. Weird choice, but it was still fun.

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

I might be thinking of a different thing and I hope I'm not, but my favourite bit of this video is when the question is brought up whether Tachibana and Mutsuki might be fakes too. Then when the two of them start doing their usual moping about themselves, Kenzaki very happily declares that must mean they're the real deal.