[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

In all seriousness, one thing I really love about Kusaka's lies in this part of the show especially is how, and I'm pretty sure this a real thing emotionally manipulative people do, he likes to tinge his falsehoods with bits of truth. Was Mari attacked by Takumi? Absolutely not. Was her getting attacked his fault? Debatable! Same thing with him brushing off trying to murder the s*** out of Yuuji by telling him that whole thing was just part of a plan to destroy Smart Brain from the inside. This is why I say he seems to believe everything he says the second it leaves his mouth. Past events always exist to whatever level is most convenient for him at that particular moment. Sometimes it feels like he's deluding himself as much as his victims.

Yeah, I think he lies in a very tactical way, making sure that what he's saying is tailored to his target. I said it before, but I think it's awesome how how he lies to spark suspicion, and then his target fills in the blanks. It's very advanced assholery!

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

A couple translation cop notes for this one, by the way, and what do you know, they're both from Kusaka, during his conversation with Takumi early in the episode:

- "...it seems you're quite interested in my past. I'm not going to tell you anything about myself." is "You seem to be pretty interested in my past, but you never talk about yourself." Part of the actual thing Kusaka is doing here still survives in the next few lines, but Kusaka's jerk move here isn't merely stubbornly refusing to give information. What he's actually doing is trying to posit that Takumi is the REALLY suspicious one, which is just so much more Kusaka.

- Unfortunately, the part of this that made it in is still messed up. The "about that house" bit is complete nonsense, and a result of TV-N not being able to figure out what sono uchi meant. The full line is something like "I'd really like to hear about it someday. About your past."

Thanks! This exchange makes a lot more sense now. I... geniunely didn't know if I'd forgotten a scene with Takumi's Mystery House. Phew!

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Originally Posted by Magnugiga

The Kaido/Keitaro stuff... is it the fire incident? Yeah that one may seem random, but it'd be quite important later on.

I don't mind the distracted feel of this particular episode, because Faiz has long established itself as a more character-driven show than a plot-driven one. I think it's worth it even with the risk of awkward transitioning/tonal dissonance, just to keep having the relatively balanced amount of character focus without forcing all of them to be involved in the same plot. Also, I think this is usually the point where the non-transforming/non-fighting supporting character started to really become obsolete and a non-factor in the grand scheme of things, so I appreciate that they constantly have new separate stuff to do for Keitaro (who, bless his heart, I have a hard time imagining would contribute much to the current Plot A besides the usual "TAKKUN, ORPHNOCH!!").

Eventually, the threads tend to converge at some point, though it'd naturally feel disjointed if you evaluate them on individual basis. I do think that early in the show, it did a much better job transitioning/juggling several plot threads than at this point, but obviously it's easier to do so when the stakes are lower and there were fewer number of characters.

The problem I think this episode has, as I've thought more about it, is what stories these plots are serving. The A-plot is Mari and Sawada, but the focus pivots from Mari, a character we're (hopefully) fully invested in, to Sawada, someone who's brand-new and part of the villain group. That makes the A-plot feel so much less compelling to me, since it's not really about Mari's arc anymore. She's fully committed to Sawada's redemption, then she's betrayed. We don't even get to see her reaction to being betrayed! The story's entirely about Sawada, and his choices.

Worse, that A-plot is pretty much only there to provide a viewpoint for the B-plot, which is the Takumi and Yuuji plot. Sawada's decision-making is important because of how it affects Takumi's feelings for Yuuji, and vice versa. The entire A-plot exists to support the B-plot, which... not a great way to construct a story!

For me, this episode is built around character-driven storytelling, it's just applied in a way that makes elements feel more hollow than I'd like.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

Not to spoil anything, but the next episode’s title has “shin” in it.

Shin Godzilla in Episode 33, confirmed!

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Originally Posted by Sunred

FYI Sawada/Spider Orphnoch is played by big-time actor Gou Ayano, and this show was his debut work. He has been doing all sorts of roles post-Faiz and around early 2010s he just kinda had a big break as an actor and has been doing well ever since.

He's pretty good in this one! I can see why he'd do well in his career.