[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Leangle is fighting Blade, taking him apart. Tachibana is up on the walkway, wondering if he can do anything to help while he’s so wracked with self-doubt. The man he looked up to has gone insane, killing the innocents he once swore to protect. But that man believed in him, once. May yet still. And that man told him to fight as Garren, saw it in him when he didn’t see it in himself. He wanted him to fight as Garren, goaded him into it, because maybe he sees it even now. So Tachibana falls as a man, falls with his doubt and shame, but lands as the hero he needs to be.

This scene has one of the best uses of an insert theme in Kamen Rider ever, by the way. Tachibana fighting his way through a bunch of Undead to grab the belt and then leaping clean over Mukki to transform is already as hype as it gets, but I mentioned earlier how precisely Kakusei's lyrics fit the show, and nowhere is that more true then here, where the first line of the chorus about diving into the storm without wavering kicks in literally exactly as Tachibana turns into Garren, literally diving into the fight against Kiryuu. It's absolutely amazing, much like the rest of this episode.

It's kind of interesting to me that Leangle's introductory arc is both written by someone different than usual, and also more about Garren, but I think it turned out to be a highlight of the show. These episodes are really good, and they do a great job in particular of taking the things that were lightly implied about Tachibana's character and bringing them to the forefront, pretty effortlessly using his past to give him direction for the future.

The thing I love most about Tachibana as a character is actually the exact same thing I love most about Kenzaki. He kinda sucks. He wasn't even the first pick to be Garren. He's not some kind of warrior by nature. He's just some random egghead from BOARD who is at least pretty smart... which mostly gets in his way, because it means he has a tendency to overthink things, and is also racked with self-doubt.

The difference between the two of them, and why I think Tachibana is kind of an inspiring character despite all the gags, is that Kenzaki at least has a super strong instinct to protect people keeping him on track, and a sort of chosen one style inherent compatibility with the Rider System. Tachibana makes a ton of dumb mistakes, and we actually see him work to get past his issues. It's a lot of work, and not something that happens over night either. It was an insanely smart plotting choice to not just have him be fine forever immediately after Sayoko dies. Again, it takes time, but when Tachibana is bringing his A game, he's arguably the most skilled fighter in the whole show. It's fascinating to me that a character can simultaneously be so comically pitiable and yet so genuinely cool, but Tachibana pulls it off.