[ShyGuy]

Watched episode 2, and overall I thought it was a big improvement over the first episode. The pacing felt much better here, less rushed and gave the setting and characters time to breathe. But I like that it gave an in-story explanation for the rushed feeling it has, it was a good way of working in a story reason to accommodate the natural time limitations of a 3-episode special.

Of course the big talking point of this episode for everyone is Tezuka's and Jun's relationship, which really surprised me with how respectfully it was handled. Gay characters in many Japanese shows, Kamen Rider included, are often portrayed as a specific stereotype so this was a very welcome change of pace. This reveal actually works really well in general for Tezuka, as it offers a totally new perspective for his relationship with his pianist friend from the original season. When viewed from this lens, it adds a lot more emotional depth and meaning to his desire to avenge his friend there, as now we can see that he was probably much more than just a friend. So I like this development a lot and it makes me appreciate his story from the original season more.

Despite that though I still think Tezuka's personality otherwise is majorly screwed up, he's so violent and scheming, it's insanely out of character. I did like that at least he expressed remorse after regaining his memories as he was dying, and tried to make up for his actions. But it just doesn't make any sense at all that he became such a different person without his memories, everyone else except Asakura lost lost their memories too but their base personalities are still intact. So I still strongly dislike a lot of what they did with Tezuka here, but it doesn't bother me as much as it did in episode 1 now that I know he at least gets his real personality back, even if only for a brief time.

The real highlight of the episode for me though was Shinji and Ren, it was great to see them back together and their scenes and dialogue felt just like their interactions in the original season. I was happy to see Shinji get a chance to talk about his desire to stop the fighting and try to work things out peacefully, as that was what made always made him such a great character in a series where he's surrounded by people who just want to kill each other.

So overall I thought this was a significant step up from episode 1 and I'm excited to see how it concludes, hopefully it can keep this positive momentum going.