[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

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....

I guess? There's definitely a lot of things it could be, but I think it's problematic for the show that there's nothing it clearly is.

I'm not sure I can see Tachibana playing Trenchcoat, since he's done every other thing he was told, up to and including fighting Blade on multiple occasions. (He almost killed Chalice, but he probably would've done that anyway.) If he is working against him to obtain the Ace, it's not anything the show even teases beforehand.

Even the drug aftereffects... the show is pretty all over the place with regard to how in-control Tachibana is. There are times where he seems to contemplate what he's doing, and times where he is vocally supporting taking drugs to be powerful.

There doesn't seem to be any clarity to what exactly is motivating Tachibana in a macro sense, and I think the show pays for it with his turn in this episode.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

And Kenzaki's cooking getting proper love (so Rider protagonists are good cooks? Like Shouichi, Shinji, before).

Yeah! It's pretty heroic to be able to take of others, and that can easily take the form of a home-cooked meal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

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....

Sure, they're both being very judgmental of Hajime for others' actions against him, but I feel like Kotaro has a bit more justification. Jin was putting all of his losses on Hajime, while Kotaro is trying to keep his relatives safe. He's not... Kotaro's not being very cool, but he's got a reason for being so uncool to Hajime.