[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER BLADE EPISODE 47

This time on Kamen Rider Blade: It's the calm before the storm! Scissors Undead makes his move against Hajime! And Tachibana! Just, Tachibana!



God, what an episode.

It starts off a little bit more contemplative than I'd've thought. Even though Scissors Undead betrayed them at the end of last episode, briefly hospitalizing Mutsuki, there isn't a ton of urgency to the plot in the first half of the episode. Scissors Undead is out there, somewhere, but nobody knows where. It's unclear what his next move is going to be, or when he's going to make it. (He's a monster from eternity who's close to winning Battle Fight through largely avoiding it. I assume he's pretty patient!) It's like, I guess we can all take a break?

What follows is a bunch of peaceful, relaxing scenes that completely stressed me out. Everything that's happening feels like The Last Time We'll See. The last time we'll see Hajime and Amane together. The last time we'll see Mutsuki and Nozomi together. The last time we'll see Kotaro and Hirose clean the living room I guess? (I mean, all of Team Blade was sleeping in that living room last episode, so it probably needed a thorough cleaning. Like, have you seen how Tachibana lives? And eats?) It's all very charming, and I love that the show made some space for little conversations, small character beats before the Sturm und Drang of the finale, but man oh man was it making me anxious.

Speaking of those little conversations... some really fun pairings in this one, doing some interesting stuff. There's a little bit with Hajime and Tachibana, two characters that have rarely (if ever?) shared a solo scene. It's mostly exposition, Hajime explaining some of the significance of the Sealing Stone to Tachibana, but I thought it had a really neat tone. There's a reverence that Hajime has for the Sealing Stone, what it represents to him and his culture. Tachibana plays off of it with this dawning comprehension of Oh Shit There Are Literal Gods Out There And This Could Be The End Of The World. Like, the stakes went from metaphorical to literal, all in one facial expression. It's just a really well-acted scene between two guys who I never got to see much of together before.

The other little scene that was neat was the one where Kenzaki and Mutsuki are leaving the hospital. Kenzaki's been... not super integral to Mutsuki's story, for the most part. It's more been about Mutsuki on his own, or with Tiger Queen, or with Tachibana. Seeing Kenzaki and Mutsuki together, the energy's a little different. It's more buddy-buddy with them, like coworkers who are going out for a drink or something. They feel more like contemporaries, you know? There's less judgment from Kenzaki, even if there's still some hero worship from Mutsuki. Like, they feel like two guys who could be friends outside of all of this.

But the main point of the Mutsuki/Kenzaki scene is to bring up the idea of fate, and the need to challenge it.

It's placed so centrally in this episode that I've got to assume it's what the theme of the series is supposed to be. (Not what I think the show is about, Death Of The Author and all that, but still.) A whole bunch of characters bring it up, and there've been plenty of episodes in the past that've done so. There are speeches about how characters need to fight against a fate or destiny that they dislike or fear. There's the whole motif of the cards, drawn from fortune telling. The inevitability of the Joker's role in destroying the world isn't ignored or accepted, it's fought against, a refusal to treat any outcome as set in stone. (The adversary is a literal stone!) There's that whole speech Kenzaki gives Umi, from a million years ago, where you fight against something because it's impossible, because it's inevitable.

There's one character on the show who hasn't gotten onboard with that message, though. Until now.

Skipping ahead, Garren's fight against Scissors Undead is an all-time great. There's smart strategy, letting his opponent get in close so Garren can shoot through his shield. There's the rarely-deployed shattered helmet, to let you know just how much punishment Garren is soaking up to win this fight. And there's the fact that Garren's doing all this to protect the creature that could end the world. To protect Hajime, someone he's wanted to kill multiple times. Some he tried to kill right before this fight.

It's the Hajime/Tachibana scene in this episode that... best scene in the whole series so far? Maybe. It got to me. It's Tachibana being Pure Tachibana, going against his friends because He Knows Best, willing to do the Smart Thing when they're all too naive to get the stakes. So he takes out the injured Mutsuki (in one move!) in order to save the world, and it's actually a pretty good plan that he came up with! It's arguably the best plan anyone's ever had on this show! For anything! Tachibana's going to use Mutsuki's Remote card to free the Human Undead. Then he'll seal the Joker, seal the Scissors Undead, and the Human Undead will win Battle Fight. Humanity is saved. After knocking out Mutsuki, and with Hajime severely injured, it's an easy plan to enact.

And then Amane calls Hajime. She misses him. She wants to know when he's coming home. But he's not coming home, because Garren's about to murder him. But he can't say that to Amane, can't tell her any of this. So he lies. He tells her he's shopping. She asks if he's buying her a gift. He confesses that he is. She's excited, he's calm, and I'm crying. Just crying. It's a moment that has to show Tachibana that there's something in Hajime worth risking the world for, and it's all there in that scene. It's all about how, even in the face of his death, he cares so much for Amane that he'll protect her happiness. It's more important to him that she have one last fond memory than that he survive. It's a beautiful scene. Beautiful.

After that, yeah, of course Tachibana goes to face Scissors Undead. Of course he sees that these moments, these human connections, they're the only reason to have a world, the only thing you're really protecting as a Kamen Rider. What Hajime has with Amane, it's what Tachibana has with Kenzaki, and Mutsuki, and and and. It's not about what he's supposed to do, what he has to do. It's not about sacrificing others or harming your friendships because you alone know what's right. It's about believing in others, and trusting that caring for people will have a positive outcome. It's this guy who convinced himself he had nothing, realizing the he's had so much this whole time.

Too bad learning that lesson may've gotten him killed.



Next time on Kamen Rider Blade: Bug monsters everywhere! Blade won't give up! And Mutsuki calls out Hajime!