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Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Here, in the middle, we see the heart of Tachibana’s conflict, and it is impeccably stupid. It is thematically on-point, and yet also so goddamn pathetic that it loops around into being the best goddamn story in this episode.

CHAIRMAN runs up to Dr Ladyfriend’s car to let her know the truth about Tachibana’s condition. Namely, he doesn’t really have a condition. The belt malfunctions when the user is afraid, and feeds that fear back into the Rider, along with terrifying images of their own destruction. (And yet, CHAIRMAN declares the Driver “isn’t imperfect”, which… so “can drive a scared user insane with fear” is Working As Intended? Sounds pretty imperfect to me, but I’m not a philanthropist/apocalyptic cult leader, so what do I know.) Tachibana isn’t going to explode in a green mist due to a broken Driver, he’s having an anxiety attack.

(And, look, I am not trying to trivialize anxiety attacks or anyone who suffers from anxiety. But there is a definite difference between people trying to cope with mental and emotional issues, and thinking you are going to actual explode unless you kill enough monsters. I mean, I got this comic available if Tachibana wants it, but he seems a little more mortally terrified than a comic can help with.)

It’s fantastic, as a reveal. Thematically, it doesn’t really matter if Tachibana was in real or imagined danger, since the point of his story is his inability to accept death with grace and nobility. His reaction to the information was what his story has been about, not the validity of that information. Dramatically, it’s one thousand times better if everything he’s done has been because he was freaking out over nothing. It’s perfect. Perfect. It highlights the futility of his decisions, robs him of what little justification he had to act so selfishly. He was just scared. That’s it.

This is what I was referring to a couple episodes ago. I really liked the twist that Tachibana's belt killing him was largely psychosomatic. It's another place where the show draws a clear line between itself and Faiz. Not that Faiz did these things badly, but I like that the next show immediately differentiated itself in how it approached some of the same story points.

As far as the belts being imperfect or not goes, that's not 100% the issue. One of the main story points that the show is beginning to address here is that the Category Ace cards that Kenzaki and Tachibana are using aren't just laminated bits of paper.