[Magnugiga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I’m, obviously, way more of a fan of Takumi losing his goddamn mind over Kusaka for no logical reason other than Takumi's regrettable psychology, but what’s here definitely has more meat on the bone. It’s becoming clear that Kusaka’s altruism and decency is a little bit exaggerated, and his methods of avoiding questions he can’t answer are huge warning signs for Takumi. It’s funny if Takumi’s mad at a dude that’s better at him, but it’s way more dramatically interesting if that hatred starts to make Kusaka’s mask drop, the suspicions that Takumi won’t keep secret dissolving Kusaka’s veneer of respectability.

I mean, they don't have to be mutually exclusive, Takumi can still be a petty insecure little shit and totally right about Kusaka (you can even argue that the latter is more of a confirmation bias that happened to be true rather than actual objective reasoning on his part ). In that sense, it kinda reminded me of the Dexter show (when it's actually good), where Kusaka is like the Dexter to Takumi's Doakes.

I just went back and rewatched the episode for the Takumi vs. Kusaka scene in particular, and can't decide whether my favorite scene would be that living room scene, the Takumi: Ironing Ace sequence, or the Kusaka "Shit He Saw Through Me" scene, but I adore this small interaction before all that:

Kusaka: whoa it's your home, Mari?
Mari: yea, let's come inside
Takumi: hey, it's actually Keitaro's!
Mari: *pulled off a split second, perfect, fuck-you-Takumi face*