[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

A secondary Rider that has a rivalry with a mad scientist named Isaka, who had killed their loved ones, spurring their vengeance path, ending with a beatdown on Isaka albeit also letting go of their revenge. Is this Blade or W? Otherwise, the Tachibana being less sensitive is exactly why Sayoko was killed, Tachibana was really fucked up and made terrible decisions after decisions. Tachibana is told multiple times by his friends, his boss, and his girlfriend that his problems are psychosomatic, and that if he can just conquer his fear, he'll have no problem fighting. Or Sayoko constantly trying to find and stop him, despite trying to dump her. There are many decisions he could've taken to prevent Sayoko's death, like for starter, listening and trusting Sayoko. Or letting anyone else know what was going on and/or trusted any others (and others aren't really hostile to Tachibana). Or for more harder one, trying to overcome his fear or quitting. The more jarring one for him is that Tachibana is 26 and as a scientist he's already a professional.

Oh for sure, Tachibana spent 14 episodes being a total moron and didn't realize how much he valued Sayoko until it was too late. I really liked how his inner monologue during the beach fight wasn't so much directed towards Isaka, but rather towards himself for failing Sayoko. Tachibana's ignorance was always his true weakness. He tried to reject his fear, but only after accepting it, he found his own strength in Sayoko's message, the courage to fight honestly from the heart and live as both Tachibana and Garren, bringing both parts of his identity in to one. For a brooding red-colored Secondary Rider whose loved one was murdered by a man named Isaka, Tachibana has a very strong redemption arc! Or is this Build, since he's also a 26 year-old scientist?

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Well, it's like humans that there are good and bad apples, but for Undead, it's extremely few. It's probably spoiler, but think of Human Undead as like Yuji (pre-Yuka death) among the Orphnochs in Faiz, the rare good apple among them. And regarding the other Undeads, I personally prefer not to use the perspective argument to determine someone's morals. As there'd be loads of self-righteousness involved, making excuses after excuses for your bad deeds, because it'd be harder for someone to admit responsibility, blaming everyone else for depriving them for their wishes, regardless if it's harmful for others or such (like you said, painting others as villains simply for being their obstacle, ignoring what deeds they've done themselves, and even otherwise, there can be evil vs evil). Like, why the Undeads want to win the Battle Royale? If it's done for evil, then you're a villain that is deserve to be stopped (by Human Undead or such). The best case scenario would be if you beat other Undeads, but have a goal that didn't harm anyone as the winner.

I guess the Battle Royale might be kind of like a historical Rider War, where a winner is inevitable even if people try and stop it. Maybe the Human Undead only won cause all the others destroyed each other, which would make it the closest to a moral victory by being the only one who refused to play by the evil rules and justifies humanity's dominance by having the human heart. That's just a theory I came up with that might contest any possible moral perspective from the other Undead. After all, humans have the unique ability to defy the will of nature, so it would definitely be symbolic of that. Your Faiz comparison works as well, since Takumi makes no distinction between humans and the few Orphenochs who keep their human hearts and Kenzaki can see that potential in Hajime.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

And as usual, Kamen Riders IMO are bad in utilizing the power variation like that... I know Hajime rejects his Undead identity, but at least if Chalice, despite being refered as Kamen Rider, is just as similar to turning into other Undeads. Though still, quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality.

Category Aces are considered the best fighters among Undead, so it makes sense that Hajime wouldn't bother with the weaker form changes unless there was a practical reason, like taking Human Undead's form to blend in with other humans. Yeah, you're right, Chalice looks surprisingly a lot like a Kamen Rider despite really being a monster wearing a Driver. Although in-universe, he was still feared and seen as a monster by that mother he saved, before Jin ended their friendship. Chalice is a very unique type of Rider that I don't see very often.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

About characters trying to impress upon them the value of more heroic values, when these lessons bounce more often than stick, what'd you think about that (probably related too to "perspective argument" above)? Would it be actually the blame of the moral support like Kenzaki to butt in other's lives, dictating others on how they should live their lives? (I don't agree, but this is what I can receive from other's comments) And that nothing is actually right or wrong like if Hajime wants to be hostile and aggressive or hostile then so be it and that others just have to stick it? (not what I think, but some think like that, using naturalistic fallacy arguments like that)

What's different about Hajime is that he does the right thing but doesn't understand why, since the human culture is a curiosity to him. Kenzaki's approach to him has actually changed a lot since he didn't want anything to do with his antagonistic behavior at the start, then wanted him dead for a while, but now he seems pretty supportive of his moral development. Hajime's rudeness is encouraged by Amane, so of course not all attempt to imprint is good, but I don't see any harm in Kenzaki trying to file the rough edges a little, since that's the same thing I appreciate about Shinji.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Oh yeah, about Mutsuki's relentless view on Tachibana and Kenzaki's backstory, even a good number of people in fandom irl also have it and can use that to justify villains. Claiming that the villain's actions that brought misery are done to help the heroes save the day (probably the reason is if there are also other unrelated villains) in their own methods or unintentionally helping the heroes understand what the fuck is happening. Or probably employing social darwinist views (due to natural attraction to power) that you survive and become strong or you perish, it's ok for the strong to test others by mistreating them like that. Aside from that, as I know the most little about Blade before watching, I thought at first, Mutsuki was just a random joe, probably a MOTW victim or such, turns out that he's another major character in the series as being the 4th Rider. Probably they did purposely make him as average and unremarkable to put a bit of a twist that he's the next character the series revolves around. As Tachibana sums it up, Mutsuki thinks the fight is like a collectible card game.

Mutsuki's problem is that he doesn't have any problems, so he has to invent problems. He has his parents and his girlfriend Nozomi, who he loves, but he envies the loss of those loved ones, believing it will make him stronger. He's like a more passive Tojo. It's not even that Tachibana's and Kenzaki's loved ones were taken from them, rather they admit they failed their loved ones. Their job is to protect people and their tragic backstories remind them of their failure to do that. Mutsuki shouldn't aspire to fail, he should strive to succeed for his loved ones' sake.