[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 32

It’s like that with Tendou and Hiyori’s bond. What was previously a story about two people that overcame their own weirdness to find something within the other, a story where you can make a family out of the people who are always there for you… now it’s just a story about Tendou gaslighting Hiyori. And, like, I get why he didn’t tell her the truth about their relationship. Even if she’d’ve believed him (she wouldn’t’ve), telling her that she’s his Worm half-sister (or whatever) means telling her she’s a Worm, and that would be incredibly dangerous for her. He needed to keep it a secret for her safety. But now it’s this semi-gross story about a dude keeping secrets because a woman can’t handle the truth, a decision he makes 100% on her behalf, and… I mean, it’s not a story about two people finding something within the other. It’s a story about Hiyori finding something of herself in a friend, and Tendou protecting his sister no matter what.

So yeah, just as I expected for the reaction in this part, but yeah, don't declare this episode as objectively bad just because it didn't work to you. And I did say before that, I don't think that Tendou learned anything in ep. 25, especially him saving her at the end of the episode. Also to make it clear, it means that Juka is the half-sister of Tendou, Juka isn't Tendou's sister by blood, only adopted sister. His grandmother, the Tendou family, adopts Tendou as one of her and Juka's own after his parents' death, changing his name from Souji Kusakabe to Souji Tendou.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

There’s an… an asymmetry to it that I really dislike. It’s not about common ground, or friendship. He’s withholding the key elements of their relationship, and it robs their story of so much choice. He’s not protecting Hiyori because of her kindness, her vulnerability, her talents, her brusqueness, her her her. He’s doing it because She’s Family, and I find that less interesting. So much less interesting.

Firstly I'd want to talk about Tendou's stark contrast about his response to Hiyori compared to most other people as something that makes sense (especially with his proclaim here to kill any beings to protect Hiyori, though this won't happen for sure); the other person who Tendou shows as much care was Juka, his family member, albeit step-sister, it seems that Tendou cares the most about family (and I'd say the flashback is only rectifying this, not some destiny BS, more info below), while it can be less so for friends like Kagami, and mostly about only saving lives for strangers. Fish did explain about how this relationship didn't overwrite the bond they've created before, but the thing is, Tendou also can show nearly as much care as those 2 to someone based on talent, like Jiiya, and he has no familial relation to him in the slightest, so yeah probably you not wanting this is warranted too based on this part.

I'd like to talk about how Tendou responds to Kagami in this episode. If Tendou proclaims to kill any beings to protect Hiyori, because of Kagami knowing that she's alive (Tendou faking her death so that she won't be targeted by others), so that means Tendou won't allow anyone to know or interact with Hiyori other than him? How would Hiyori be able to live properly this way, with Tendou wanting Hiyori to live as Hiyori (I know what that means, he wants for Hiyori to live as Hiyori, not as a monstrous Worm)? This is overprotective taken to the extremes.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And to take that reveal of Hiyori being a Worm and do an episode that’s half filling in blanks and half Tendou’s Very Big Feelings (for a change!), I don’t know. It’s an episode that doesn’t leave a lot of room for Hiyori, in a story that’s ostensibly about Hiyori? It makes her a problem to solve, emotionally and narratively, rather than an active character in the story. (One of the biggest emotional parts of the story is Tendou and Kagami yelling at each other about Hiyori! A scene she’s not even in!)

Uhh... didn't Hiyori tell Rena to stop, and that at the end, she goes to the Shibuya by herself and confronting any ZECTroopers with a chilling look on her face, and disposed them using her Worm form? Isn't that being active, being able to go into that place without Tendou or Kagami accompanying her, and her making a good use of her Worm form?

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The details of her history… I guess they work? There’s presumably a ton of detail yet to be explained, because what’s here makes the barest amount of sense. Why were those two Worms there before the asteroid hit? Why copy and kill Tendou’s parents? What the hell were they doing for the next however many years? It’s all stuff that’s not exactly pertinent to Tendou and Hiyori’s story, but the absence of it made it difficult to concentrate on the rest. It’s definitely a set of answers that raises twice as many questions, which is I guess the mode this show is in now.

Well, no offense sorry, but I don't feel that you're being fair here. For this part which don't work to you, you throw in various questions to show more of its disapproval here (well, tbf, you did question about what the Worms are actually doing), like the Worms existing before asteroid, targeting Tendou's parents, what they're doing for next years. I'm probably not defending these parts, but my point is that, there are also various things that probably doesn't make sense (dunno if you or others think plausible explanations for this) in the story, like for Tsurugi, him being the only case of a Worm that had the human personality completely overpowers him by impossible odds, only due to Tsurugi's arrogant nature and personality. Also for why the Worms that impersonated his parents existed before the asteroid, sorry, I can't explain that too! Because spoilers.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Even the plot at the end… it leans real heavy on things happening for barely defined (or completely undefined) reasons. Hiyori gets a psychic call to go to Area X (thankfully the call didn’t take her to the more distant Area Orpheus, or she’d still be walking), where she unlocks the Man In The Mask, who is Another Tendou. Not a huge shock, since the combination of a mask and the Law Of Conservation Of Actors meant that whoever was under there was someone already on the show in another role, and Tendou was the most likely suspect. There’s basically no other details given here; who he is in relation to Tendou and Hiyori, why he’s in a basement, what he wants, etc. It’s another question.

As already said, he's not refered as Tendou, but Souji Kusakabe (so "Another Souji", for this time, further of this would be spoiler), but this is another question at this point yeah.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

A QUESTION

I’m definitely going to miss pre-32 Hiyori. What’s your favorite Hiyori moment from the first 31 episodes?

But there's Hiyori storming the base on this episode (and you don't treat her as active character here)... well to answer this question, it would be Hiyori figuring out Tendou being a killer or not by tasting the food at ep. 13-14, with the help of your take of it to appreciate it of course.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Even this sort of bothered me? Thematically, it makes sense for Tendou to want to stop the Worms: he is all about helping people achieve, and they are all about stealing that achievement for themselves. Narratively, they already had a great reason for him to want to stop the Worms: it's what he's best at, and it'd be unconscionable for him to do anything less than his best at all times. Making his motivation They Killed My Parents... ugh. Uggghhh. It's like in one episode, they sanded down every interesting angle on this show.

I don't think that Tendou's motivation is about parent death based from here. From what I catch, Tendou is someone who cares the most for family members, that being Juka, for what's shown (and well... Hiyori as from this part), and previously, Tendou also loses his cool, swears personal vengenace, and even acting recklessly to Worms that targeted Juka (proclaiming that they won't get away) and endangered Hiyori, as for ep. 26. So I think the flashback here, Tendou shows similar characteristics of that, Tendou being enraged for harm to his family, where Worms that targeted and killed his parents are what Tendou hates the most, just like the Worm that endangered Juka and Hiyori. The flashback I think isn't meant to change Tendou's motivation, it's meant to show Hiyori's origin as a Worm.