[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It's the Mari stuff that I find more mystifying. That lady... I was always thought she was the sensible one, you know? Real hard for me to get right with how the show has her acting in this episode.

I think the idea is just that she really does think of everyone from the Ryuusei School as family? Looking at it that way, I think it's at least a little understandable where she's coming from.

Honestly, I feel like you're being harsh on this episode? The way I see it, and I think the way it plays out supports this interpretation, the whole point is that Sawada was that awful. Right after the Faiz Blaster fight, Kusaka confronts Takumi, telling him he still can't be trusted because there's no telling when he'll completely become an Orphenoch like Sawada, which of course plays perfectly into Takumi's fears, and causes him to walk off again. The thought that even if he's a good person now, he could just cease to be that way, and end up like Sawada, it's exactly why he refuses to have any faith in himself.

So when Sawada, a guy who spent his entire run on the show actively trying to throw away his humanity, turns out to be incapable of fully doing that in the end, when he realizes talking to Mari that Sawada is going to fight Lucky Clover to save him, that's where everything finally becomes clear to Takumi. If a guy who sunk that low, and did that many awful things can still have even the slightest part of him that's still worth saving, maybe it's not that crazy for Takumi to believe in himself after all. And then he stands up.

The scene afterwards where Sawada actually dies, it's definitely kind of a bonus at that point, but I don't see it as some black mark on the episode. I don't see the takeaway as him needing to be "avenged", per se. I just explained Mari's reaction, and for Takumi, again, a lot of this is just about witnessing that part of Sawada that's still worth saving. And of course Takumi would be sad about failing to do that. That's what makes him Takumi, and why it was so irrational how scared he was of himself, something the show makes a point of with the "you're a victim here too" moment between him and Sawada earlier. If the show tried to get sappy and it didn't land for you, I guess that's that, but, I don't know, I feel the story being told here is perfectly solid.

...Aside from the stuff with Mihara, admittedly. I think you've gotten to a point in the show where I'm no longer coloring your opinion prematurely by pointing out that one of the big problems with Mihara's plotline is that it completely refuses to connect meaningfully with the other main characters. The fact that he debuted right as Takumi quit being Faiz and the status quo went down the drain means he's never really had time to develop meaningful relationships with most of the cast, and the show doesn't seem too interested in correcting that mistake. It'd rather just have him and Rina off in his own world, with only the occasional phone call from Kusaka dragging him back into the story, and, as much as I genuinely don't not like Mihara, man does it not work!