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Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And change has arrived for Kotaro, and it’s wearing a dress! The stuff with Kotaro and Meet-Cute is fine, some slow-burn Undead stuff that loops in Lazer But He’s On Blade, the new cool-guy rockstar Undead. It’s a series of possible fake-outs and red herrings (maybe she’s an Undead!), but it’s fun to see a story that puts Kotaro in a little bit more of the focus. Also, it gives Hirose and Kenzaki a chance to do some supporting-role comedy stuff, which kills. The part where Kotaro calls them freeloaders, and they’re a little offended, but then they’re both like Oh Shit We Totally Are, loved it. Great timing, funny joke.

That was good, yeah. The biggest laugh I got out of the episode, though, was Mutsuki opening up his window after the call with Nozomi and bam! There's Tachibana, just standing outside glaring at him. Probably not meant to be funny, but it absolutely cracked me up.

But anyway, on to the big guest star. Kotaro's new love interest, Meet-Cute, is played by model/actress Mika Hijii. About a year after this point she would turn up on Garo as that show's female lead/secondary protagonist Kaoru. She's a major part of the Saejima family branch of the Garo franchise and has reappeared in that role many times, as recently as last year. She is great on that show and has always been one of my favorite parts of it. I watched Blade long before Garo, so I didn't realize she was on both shows until my second time through Blade, which was a huge "Hey, it's that guy!" moment for me.