[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

The idea that this episode doesn't make room for Hiyori, especially, I have to question. Like, that big scene where Tendou and Kagami discuss their feelings about Hiyori is directly followed by a scene of almost equal length where Hiyori and Rena discuss Tendou, which already isn't sounding asymmetrical to me.

I mean, the asymmetry was more about how their emotional investment in the early stages of their relationship now feels uneven (it is weird if a stranger is like We Are Family), but to your point about the Worm Widow coming in to poison Hiyori against humanity... it's not a lot? It's a brief exchange where Worm Widow tells her that no one's going to like her because she's a Worm, and then she runs off. I like that it's presenting a devil on Hiyori's shoulder, after Tendou was trying to sell her that everything was going to be a-okay peachy-keen, but even that feels like it's more woven into the Worm plot than it is to Hiyori's personal struggle. Like, it's a scene furthering Worm Widow's agenda, not a scene that does a lot with/for Hiyori.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I think my favorite moment in the whole episode is just when Hiyori is waiting in that chapel or whatever for Tendou to come back, and is about to greet him with a huge smile that immediately slips away when she sees it's Rena coming in the door. Moments like that are all over the place here, and it's everything I love about Hiyori. She's great here because she's always great and will always be great.

That's a great moment, for sure. (Is the chapel they're in the same exterior the show used for the ZECT base where Gon was held captive? That's where I thought Tendou had taken Hiyori at first, which I found super bizarre.) I guess I'd disagree that there are enough moments like that? I felt like I needed to see more of this story from Hiyori's perspective, and the show immediately made it about Tendou's dilemma.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Him protecting Hiyori because she's his sister, and protecting Hiyori because she's Hiyori are not mutually exclusive concepts, in my mind.

But it muddies the water, and (to my mind) unnecessarily so. Tendou choosing to protect and befriend Hiyori feels so much cleaner, so much more important than if he's always known he would protect her AND then he chose to befriend her. Like, I can't see what their relationship gains, narratively or thematically, from making them siblings? For me, it subtracts so much intentionality for a frustrating amount of He Likes Her As A Person But He Was Probably Always Going To.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I'm honestly worried I've already gotten a bit too fiery here, to tell the truth.

Not at all! I figured this was one you were going to enjoy (there's too much Hiyori to think you'd be let down about it), and I'm sure plenty of other folks are going to agree with you. I don't think this was an objectively bad episode, really, but it did move the story to a place I don't feel as good about. That's me, and what I'm looking for in a story. I'm glad to hear when folks disagree!