[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 28 - “D WAS WATCHING - LIFE-OR-DEATH TWIN MAXIMUM”

No, I kid. I like how this episode took its time in moving Terui from his oft-stated desire to get vengeance for his dead family at all costs – up to and including sacrificing his own life – to someone who acknowledges his duties to the living. This was… not a small movement! Terui’s insistence on the primacy of his own pain has been one of his three character traits (alongside not asking him questions and wearing nothing but leather) since his debut, and any story that asks him to consider the effect his vendetta is having on both his friends and the people he was given power to save is going to need to do its homework.

After the journey, now Terui puts his revenge quest aside, prioritizing on saving Lily, and like Philip claims, they're fighting Isaka here as a duty for a Kamen Rider instead of revenge. And by this Lily acknowledges Terui as cool despite being scary. Denden Sensor is used to detect the actually still-standing Lily so Accel can kill her by stopping her heart (but with her body intact), releasing it from her body at last, as the Memory will eject if the user is detected as dead. Like Lily herself for Dopant powers being used for daily job, Accel then uses his superpower to perform mundane (but important) task, which is restarting Lily's heart, successfully saving her and crushing the Invisible Memory in his hands. I'm a sucker for superpowers being used for mundane task, to show that there are other uses for it other than fighting, and there seems to be nothing really wrong in this case.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And I felt like this one did? So much of the last episode was about reestablishing that Secondary Rider Accel hasn’t quite dropped his motivating trauma, so much as he hasn’t been in a position to remedy it. As soon as Isaka is taunting Terui with a chance at killing him, we have to start grappling with Terui’s homicidal fixation, and maybe figure out a way to explain things to him in a way that redeems his humanity and sense of duty. Centering it on Lily’s parallel sense of familial obligation is a great start, but putting Terui into the role of Apoplectic Half-Boiled Detective is the clincher. Him accidentally parroting the advice he shrugged off from Shotaro? It’s one of my favorite things from his debut story, him realizing that Shotaro’s weakness is actually a strength, and making it a part of this story feels like a worthy bookend to Terui’s emotional growth. He’s able to finally understand that sacrificing himself doesn’t please the dead, it wounds the living, and he owes it to his friends to be the man they believe in. It’s less him discovering his own sense of justice and heroism, and more him reestablishing his obligation to the people who depend on him. It’s not his But Why Heroism; it’s his Oh Right Heroism.

Terui seems moved by Shotaro's risky attempt, explaining that it's due to Terui's anguish, and as Philip said, Terui is a part of the gang now, insisting he save Lily as the city's Kamen Rider. Terui however still acts outwardly rude, claiming that Shotaro is to blame for getting in his way (and idiotic for worrying about Lily). Accel is the only one who can save Lily from her situation (Isaka's trap), but he refuses to help, putting his revenge above everything, and refuses any questions like usual. Honestly, what'd revenge accomplish if everything else is put aside, a selfish act for something rather useless? Though Shotaro was able to affect Terui in the short term, he didn't truly change for now, this episode shows his prejudice toward any Dopants too to see Lily as nothing more as a criminal due to utilizing Gaia Memory even for mundane tasks. Poor Shotaro at the end though where Lily thanks only Terui for saving her, as well as her falling in love with him. Akiko.. ships them both despite her crush on Terui as well. Terui saved her due to Shotaro's influence, this is a bit of a mean move for Lily tbh, whereas certain other Rider series like Ex-Aid teaches that behind one person that saves someone, there's teamwork as well in others contributing with other things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

In an episode so (rightfully) devoted to Terui’s struggle to look past his own pain, this is not one that gives the rest of Team Double a ton to do. Both Philip and Akiko are here to try and talk/beat some sense into Terui, which is mostly a fruitless struggle. He needs to come to his own conclusions, and they’re only here to question him. And, y’know, we are all aware by now of how he feels about questions. So, as a result, it’s mostly the Terui Personal Growth Episode, guest-starring Team Double. (I mean, Shotaro’s recuperating for the majority of this episode, so he’s even more of a guest-star!) They do a good job, and the arguments they bring up are necessary, even if Terui pretty much disregards them all for half an episode. Some cute moments – Akiko’s ribbing of Terui’s inability to admit he cares what happens to Lily, Philip’s expertly-delivered receipt for Terui’s earlier punch – but it ain’t their spotlight.

As Phillip concludes that Accel's the one that only save Lily, Akiko offers him to ask Terui again. But Terui wasn't the only one that is affected negatively by a grudge, Phillip as well that he refuses to ask him for putting Shotaro in his current state (not that Phillip will succeed if he did, but reasonings matter, he's turning into a bit of Terui himself too here), which finally prompts Akiko to do it instead. Honestly yes, Akiko's the one with best chance as Terui mellowed down the most around her, even he explained Akiko's protest in a more gentle way for Riko ("only a Memory Break"). Akiko... interrogates Makura with her (dual) slipper as threatening device for Terui's information. The slipper's really a mighty weapon like the memes said as Makura submits.

Frank also points out that Terui looks grim and resembles a.. monster for that. Reminds how revenge can eventually turn someone into something as bad as their revenge target, if left unchecked, figuratively making them monstrous. Though Shotaro's influence kicks in in pivotal moments, where Terui warns Lily that she'll die if she keeps using the Memory, though Lily still insists to perform due to it being Frank's final performance, not caring if she'd die. HE also echoes Shotaro's words to him before that there are those who'd worry about her, which he realizes himself. So Terui puts a tsundere act, but still, harsh facade here causes some problem that Lily runs away for a while which likely could've been prevented if someone's straightforward against her problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

DIE-A MEMORIES

-Ha ha, tea with the Sonozakis! I have not been loving the Isaka/Saeko stuff, which might also explain why I don’t really remember any of it. He’s weird and devious, she’s completely smitten, and the whole thing arguably has less chemistry than even the Akiko/Terui “relationship”. I loved seeing how Kirihiko navigated a nest of vipers in the most delusional way possible, to his immediate embarrassment and eventual demise, but the Isaka/Saeko plotting… I just don’t care? It would maybe help if there were some sense of what exactly the two of them were even usurping at this point; some plan or goal that they’re coopting for their own power. Instead, it’s just a nebulous power struggle percolating underneath Saeko fawning over a serial killer, and I care way less than that description would suggest.

More of Isaka is shown here where he finishes multiple dishes for a dinner, which corresponds to his power hungry-persona for seeking more and more Memories as Ryubee notes. But from Wakana's report previously, Ryubee notes that Wakana has been upset lately (criticizing Isaka as disgusting, well she directs her annoyance to someone deserving this time) and he won't tolerate any threats to the family, being suspicious to Isaka and Saeko's plan. A bit of redeeming quality to put his family's welfare above anything it seems, contrasting Isaka who had no qualms killing an entire family only for experiment (this seems to be why Saeko is attracted to him, being horrible, unlike Kirihiko doing bad things for good cause). Isaka confirms Ryubee's assertion of him that he had many Living Connectors throughout his body, exactly 7 on his chest, as a reference for Fist of the North Star. He saves his face (which Saeko praises him again for that) by claiming his belief to the Museum by doing those to help him, even offering himself as guinea pig if needed too, earning Ryubee's approval.