[Sh Ranger]

You thought it was weird that Matsuda Satoshi voiced Crab since you typecast him as a Ren personality, but I think it's weirder that his role as Crab was immediately succeeded by Bat Cowboy!

That combination of motifs would later be used for a Rider:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

--3--

The thing that makes Yuka so certain that she can’t be happy, can’t be accepted (there’s that word again), is because she’s an Orphnoch. She was tortured because she’s an Orphnoch. She can’t let Mari or Keitaro know she’s an Orphnoch. Lucky Clover wants her because she’s an Orphnoch. It’s key to her identity, and it’s her main impediment for happiness.

But, y’know, why? Why does it have to be?

We get a variety of characters in this episode talking about the inevitability of conflict between humans and Orphnochs. Kusaka talks about sides being drawn up. Minami talks about how anyone who doesn’t see the threat of the Orphnochs is an enemy. Murakami talks about the natural antagonism of humanity and their inability to allow for cooperation.

Except, maybe none of that is necessary? Maybe Yuuji and Sawamura are right to ask why everyone seems so ready to fight, to destroy one another. There can be coexistence, as long as each side views the other as worthy of existence.

Which is maybe harder to do in practice than it is in theory. Yuuji remembers how hard he had to fight to save Yuka, how many police officers stood in the way of him rescuing a tortured friend. So when he sees Sawamura wounded, begging for help, he doesn’t see another person who deserves to live. He sees an adversary, an obstacle, someone who hates him and his friends for no reason. He answers humanity’s prejudice with more prejudice.

But then you get Yuka, despondent, adrift. She reached out to Lucky Clover to find some refuge from a world that hates and fears her, but they’d kill Keitaro if he tried to stand her way. She can’t let that happen. She has to expose herself as an Orphnoch to save his life, dooming her to one more friend who’ll turn his back on her, one more terrified look.

But he isn’t scared. He sees her fear, her self-loathing, her sadness, and he reaches out. He holds her. Not to trap her, or to bring her down. To lift her up, to liberate her. To remind her that she is loved, and she deserves love.

To give her the safety to dream.

Keitarou/Yuka is the most romantic subplot I've seen in the franchise! I love how the episode ends with Keitarou hugging Yuka, showing that he's not scared of her, that he likes her for who she is, not what she is. He shows her that she doesn't need to hide herself from him. Just like when he accepted the truth about Takumi, he knows that the kind and generous Yuka he loves is still the same person. They finally found out each other's identities and there's nothing stopping them from being together now. The love between a human and an Orphenoch is proof that these 2 species can co-exist peacefully and prosperously. It's a perfect time for this to happen when the war between both species is starting to escalate.