[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Yeah, but just saying This Is What Would Happen... that doesn't seem like a fun way to approach action-adventure storytelling? I want to suspend my disbelief. I want to get invested enough in the characters to want them to figure out a way to defeat the most powerful adversaries. I want the writing to surprise me with big turns and smart plans.

It's totally fine that the show didn't do that this time. They've got a plan for Garren, and it's not what I'd expected. But I want their wins to be clever and unexpected, not a foregone conclusion.

Which is what my point was, don't make the good guy winning a foregone conclusion. That sparks ire from many, many audiences all over the internet. Obviously they should figure out a way to defeat them, smart plans etc. (show that competency doesn't always belong to bad guys, I want for audience to realize that memes aside, good guy isn't always masked in plot armor), and that it should surprise. And that time with Tachibana fight, there seem to be no logical way for any Riders to beat Isaka! This part hasn't even reached the Rider's mid season upgrade form yet!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Also, hello special guest star Kenzaki From Kuuga! I thought he looked familiar as someone’s dad, and I thought he was the dad from Agito, but, nope. He was a father-figure to Godai on Kuuga. One of my favorite characters from that show, and it’s cool to see him back on a Kamen Rider. He still has that weird energy, half-judgmental and half-supportive, but it twists up his I Only Want The Best For You vibe into something more stifling. Or maybe Jin is just lashing out? Tough to say. There’s some neat levels to the story with Jin and his dad, something that doesn’t feel that open-and-shut.

The Kuuga one is Kanzaki! Don't be confused lol, and with the Ryuki ones too (I've seen cases where the ones from Ryuki gets misspelled as Kenzaki). It's understandable though with the main character named that and one word difference. For Jin's dad, he seems to be a parent that forces his kids to follow what he wants, possibly to give himself prestige in community (which would mean being abusive to his child like Jin claims), or that he genuinely thinks what's best for his child, but does so in a tiger parenting method, the "education papa" type. And it's implied that his ways of parenting, or something, kills Jin's brother. Obviously, as a contrast of his role in Kuuga.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s a fun story, too, the Hajime and Jin one.

Hmm... you say that a humanity and friendship wins Hajime over... but it's revealed here, Jin's inner dark side (possibly from his upbringing), that he's also a misantrophe whose dream is wanting to be independent and away from mankind on the boat he worked hard to get and ready, where Chalice is very into killing Undead. And their dark side (hidden for Jin) was what eventually bonds them over. Though now for Chalice, falling into friendships too easy... but it seems that it's not set in stone, he can reject people that are soft to him like Kenzaki (at first for him).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Speaking of, pretty good episode for Kenzaki! All it took was moving Tachibana more firmly into the Antagonist column.

Hmm.... as the discussion previously was about how Blade's got a sidekick role to Garren, what differentiates in this episode? That you said, Blade needs to stop him and is an active participant in Garren's story, and that Garren's act drives Blade to prominence here to stop him (well, to be fair you also said an opposite possibility, with Garren being a participant in Blade's story now). And for Tachibana... he seems to (understandably) made a terrible decision for himself here. He's told multiple times that his problems are psychological, and it can be solved by conquering his fear. Then he decides he should probably just call it quits as a Rider, but he still can't stick to that.