[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I'm with you! I much prefer Chalice's costume to Blade's.

For that, I refer to Blade as series, not solely Blade the main character.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s just so. Much. Exposition. Every scene was filling in a blank, or offering a theory, or shading in a mystery. We’ve got the history of the Rider System, the origins and motivations of the Undead, the Chalice/Amane’s Dad stuff, what BOARD was up to, and the ticking clock of the disintegrating Riders. To quote Episode 1’s post, it’s a lot.

Weird, somehow for this one, this doesn't feel overstuffed to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

There’s a few interesting moments, for sure.

Solid rapport between Hajime and Amane? Uhh.... Though for Kotaro, I don't think that he's that much of a brainiac, or if he said something insulting (he just a bit too much talkative and it being a hindrance to the team for example, the Chief Karasuma hologram part, or probably that he'll blow up the cover with the constant questioning). Though I'm a bit confused, that if you aren't into something revealed at a late part of the series, but here you don't want it to be revealed so much early? Amane doing stuff like this is expected for me, but for Tachibana's doctor friend, does this remind the part of Ghost to you that stranger just talked out things with Takeru about traumatic stuff?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And I sort-of want to give a pass to the Tachibana/Kenzaki scene at the end. It’s what the whole series has been building up to since the end of the premiere (so, about 40 minutes), and, again, there’s a few interesting moments! I love how hard it is for Kenzaki to stay mad at Tachibana. Most of the scene is disappointingly one-note, with Kenzaki screaming at Tachibana and Tachibana trying to ignore him. But there’s this flash of sadness on Kenzaki at one point, and he stops screaming accusations long enough to try talking with Tachibana. He tells him he doesn’t want to fight. You can see it in his body language, that he’s looking for a reason to forgive Tachibana’s betrayal. But he quickly puts on his Serious Face and gets back into the interrogation. It’s this neat look at how Kenzaki awkwardly wears the role of Kamen Rider, how at heart he’s a very sweet boy, but he’s in a story that needs him to be a strong hero. And Tachibana’s incredulity at how massively off-base Kenzaki’s view of things is, I thought that was a nice beat.

If you're invested in Kotaro/Kenzaki, well, obviously the show is about Tachibana/Kenzaki "TACHIBANA-SAN!!!". So this is the big reveal, where the Kamen Riders are all probably only pawns to BOARD, where they're revealed here to be the one that unleashed the Undeads so that they can be re-sealed again. And it would mean that, Tachibana was not doing something bad regarding Chief Karasuma? Tachibana and Kenzaki are known bros, Kenzaki is doing what he can to preserve that, but like you said, weren't all above interrogating him and giving out all the bad assumptions of him, didn't expect Tachibana to be so dismissive of Kenzaki here by his repeated attempts to ignore him. And Tachibana probably has some limits that he doesn't like being accused of the one that unsealed the Undeads, that he finally gives explanations to Kenzaki.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But it’s just more information, in another episode that’s neck-deep in information. It's Tachibana laying out the stakes of the show, not really sharing a scene with Kenzaki. The whole episode feels like that, where the joy is (I guess?) supposed to be from having more of the show's mystery filled in. But, that's not what I'm watching for? There’s funny little moments (Kotaro’s ridiculous car), but they feel like floating islands in a sea of exposition.

Feels like Kotaro for some reason have a decent house but can't afford a nicer car (I mean obviously it's vintage, but his one probably can be categorized into The Alleged Car with how much the car doesn't work), and for this one I can't figure out the car's real name (it's harder for the very old classics that is probably in 1930s), as a joke I want to give to the characters for the in-universe name they give.