[Fish Sandwich]

Okay, as much as I agree that Build hasn't been at the top of its game in a while, there's a couple complaints I keep seeing raised that I'd like to take the time to clear up. With helpful screenshots to hopefully prevent me being told I'm imagining things:

"WTF Utsumi joining Evolt makes no sense!"

Alright, so bear with me here. You're a guy who's been brainwashed from your youth to be exceedingly loyal to this guy:



Your entire life has revolved around subservience, and a sense that you aren't in control of your own destiny:



One day, some crazy alien dude comes along and unleashes seemingly unstoppable power, threatening to destroy the world. This kind of bites, because you live there. You team up with your former enemies in a last ditch effort to stop him. It doesn't go well, and the guy you've been raised to believe is the only authority that matters is killed so casually it seems clear nothing you or anybody else can do will ever stop the crazy alien dude:



Your entire world as you know it has been completely destroyed in the span of about a day. Everything you thought you knew was wrong, and the planet's gone to s***. You start to get the feeling all of humanity are mere puppets for this crazy alien dude to play with as he sees fit.

So, finding yourself in this situation, WHAT DO YOU DO???



Under that much pressure, it wouldn't be surprising if you just... snapped.



You might become embittered:



Maybe a little bit angry:



You might even go a bit... mad:



"WTF Katsuragi coming back didn't change anything! Totally pointless!"

Takumi Katsuragi and Sento Kiryuu are the same person. I know this is obvious but it's important to understand the gravity of that. It's also important to note that Katsuragi isn't actually some kind of villain. When his personality and memories resurfaced, he spent two entire episodes running around, giving plenty of time to flesh out his character. We saw that most of Sento's ticks actually come from him, and just like Sento, the burden of his actions weighs pretty heavily on him:



In other words, he IS Sento. But there is one big difference:







So, if you were Katsuragi, and you'd seen directly the catastrophic results of your own actions, knowing full well that much of what's going wrong can be traced back to your failures:



Maybe you would consider a different approach? Maybe let the version of you that can do the things you can't do, the one that inspires faith in the people around him, give things a shot?:





You'll also note that since Sento came back, he's explicitly stated he remembers most of his old life now, and appropriately doesn't treat it with the same kind of detachment he used to:



This is on top of the even more glaring long-term effect of him holding conversations with Katsuragi now. Who is him. Because they're the same person.

I'm just not sure I understand what anyone wanted out of this plotline. For them to drag it out longer? Because that was the whole reason the story leading up to Katsuragi coming back felt so limp. I just can't see any other way for it to go that would make any sense.