[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Shima just doesn't seem like a secretive character? The big thing about him, that he's an Undead, we find that out right away. With Hajime, they're still drip-feeding us details.

He said he had no choice to reveal his Undead form when fighting Hajime in ep. 26.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

In a lot of ways (nearly every way), it’s the flipside to Episode 27. It’s still all about Mutsuki’s war against the Category Ace, but this time with more of a focus on how other characters feel about it. Tachibana is still trying to think of the best way to help Mutsuki while being so fundamentally Tachibana that he is absolutely no help, and Shima is doing a variation on his plan from last time.

The parts that work, it’s almost entirely because of Nozomi’s proximity to the story. She grounds Mutsuki’s storyline in something other than ancient possession and quests for power and worthless mentors. With her in the story, it’s about how this girl cares about this boy, and wants him to feel better. It has a core that’s relatable, accessible.

Leaning on that, the simple feelings between two teenagers, it creates a clarity to Mutsuki’s storyline. It’s about addiction, and how the answer to addiction isn’t just “take away the addictive substance”. A lot of time has been spent on trying to defeat the Category Ace, to remove the temptation from Mutsuki’s life. But Mutsuki’s life has already been irrevocably altered by being Leangle, and turning it off now isn’t really an option. The only way to save Mutsuki is to fix Mutsuki, and that’s only something that Mutsuki can do. Reminding him that people care, that they’re rooting for him, letting him actually feel how much they care about him, that’s the only way to create an environment where he can overcome his addiction. It’s a smart story.

Though for not taking away the addictive substance, in this instance, it's out of touch with reality as the Leangle belt keeps returning to him! It's truly inescapable here, it's not simply that he has to give up because he doesn't deserve to be a Rider, Mutsuki is right that he's chosen... by Spider Undead as his host. Kenzaki needs to accept this, he's been told several times as for now, previously by Tachibana, now by Shima, and instead focuses on dealing with Spider Undead instead of jjudging Mutsuki as for now. The only way this time was letting Mutsuki keep the belt and guide him to suppress the Spider Undead's influence, which Tachibana tries to do. Nozomi's proximity was also handled by Shima, as he can use the wind to deliver what someone says inside their heart to others (i̶f̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶p̶e̶r̶p̶o̶w̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶I̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶,̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶l̶e̶t̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶a̶c̶t̶u̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶l̶e̶m̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶t̶h̶i̶n̶g̶).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s just a terribly-paced story, and there’s a ton of time fruitlessly spent on Tachibana.

With Tachibana being worthless here, just asking what do you think that Tachibana should do to deal with Mutsuki here? It seems that for now no one else other than Shima that can do it. And for talking with Nozomi.... him remarking about how he's used to be what Mutsuki is currently... the girlfriend part is (justificably) neglected here, something that strikes me the most here, while Mutsuki only let down Nozomi here (thankfully she doesn't react like she did at her debut where Amane guilt-tripped Mutsuki), Tachibana's actions made Sayoko outright died. Tachibana does something to help him but it was too late, he was hospitalized! When he arrived at the scene, Shima was already sealed.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The ending, too… I liked some of it, the aforementioned addiction/recovery metaphor, but what exactly happened at the end? Shima is sealed, and the Category Ace is… defeated? Subdued? I’m assuming things are being left open-ended for future development, but to spend an entire episode narratively treading water (they did the Shima Leaves Natural Behind To Tell The Team He’s Going Away beat again!) and then give me an ending where I’m not exactly sure what even happened… nope! Not going to feel like my time was well spent.

I won't spoil you about what happened for Spider Undead, but Shima's sacrifice did an impact, as I've said above, it's something that only Shima can accomplish here.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

(I actually had mistyped that last line as “Not going to feel like my team was well spent”, and, that too! Kenzaki, Hirose, and Kotaro may as well have been played by cardboard cutouts. They get a couple minor scenes, and one great Blade punch that knocks Leangle right out of his Henshin, but otherwise they’re nowhere in this one. Basically the whole team is on the bench for this episode!)

There's a scene where Shima adviced Hirose to not let her face wrinkled, and Kotaro/Kenzaki missing the point that the beautiful woman refers to her right there, looking for others and Hirose taking a mirror. Also what they do here is trying to keep Shima alive by preventing him going sacrificing himself... though not really thinking how to deal with Mutsuki (Kenzaki said he doesn't want to lose him too).