[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The Tachibana story is definitely the bigger deal, so let’s tackle that one first.

Though others have stated that Tachibana still has his moral code somewhere (well, I mean, anti-hero is another type of hero, they still had to have some good, either in actions or characterization), I think, it can also be this. Tachibana wants power, to feel powerful, not to let himself covered by fear anymore, probably coming from how the current monsters are stronger. Isaka wants to use the sealed Ace to power up a new Rider, but obviously, Tachibana won't give the card to him, he's probably doing things under Isaka under... facade? Other than what others mentioned, probably it's also because as I said above, Tachibana wants power and, therefore he wants to keep the powerful Ace card for himself and not for other Riders (therefore him keeping the card is a form of him caring about power)? I guess, Blade hasn't had any effective therapist for people like him yet here, with all his terrible decisions he made. And for the science, reminder that in toku, science is a form of almost everything creation, it's the other most important asset other than magic/fantasy, though as others have noted, it's like a drug effect on Tachibana. Though what does Sayoko truly see in this crazy guy with jerk issues....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s a lower-key story, which is nice. It’s small. It’s mostly just Hajime and Kenzaki, as Kenzaki nurses him back to health.

Hajime realizes that Kenzaki is the compassionate human being that is ideal to confide in... perhaps. Though Kenzaki has more anger issues compared to his counterparts, and that he also made the worst accusations about him before like him doing the most depraved things as high leveled Undead. Well, it's still far cry for Hajime here to geuninely thank him. And Kenzaki's cooking getting proper love (so Rider protagonists are good cooks? Like Shouichi, Shinji, before).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Eventually Kotaro and Hirose show up, and… Kotaro actually makes some good points? He doesn’t want Hajime anywhere near Haruka and Amane, no matter how different Kenzaki claims he is. Kotaro mentions all of the weird stuff that’s happened around them recently, and, yeah, that stuff was all Hajime’s fault! Monsters are definitely using Haruka and Amane to get to Chalice, as witnessed by this episode's subplot of Amane and Haruka being kidnapped by a monster to get to Chalice. Kotaro’s being a small amount of mean about it, but he isn’t even a little wrong!

Kotaro here reminds me of Jin, with the rejection of someone that is not human and blaming them for the situations others are put through. And this is the irony where the role is totally reversed that Kotaro now shows vehement hatred for Hajime, while Kenzaki defends him that he saved Amane....