[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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?

They didn't show it onscreen, but I'm sure Hirose and Kotarou had to pick up like twelve completely empty jars of kara miso and a bunch of boxes for jigsaw puzzles that are suspiciously missing all the pieces.

Okay, we have our fun with Dadi, but in all seriousness, this is an episode that absolutely nails his characterization and goes to show why I like more unironically than I do ironically, and with how much I like him ironically, that says a lot!

The bit with Hajime on the phone, it's brilliant and all, but it's always going be that speech Tachibana gives after his mask breaks open that gets to me the most. Him just sitting on that rock, admitting to this monster that absolutely nothing in his life ever works out for him, basically acknowledging what a total f***-up he is, it really gets to the core of what a genuinely sorrowful character he is, and makes it all the more powerful that he's finally deciding to just do the right thing for once, and act not out of fear, or even purpose, like after Sayoko died, but just faith. Seeing Tachibana believe in something for once is exactly the conclusion to his arc I want to see, and this episode did a lot to make me feel all the ups and downs of his development were worth it.

Lots of cool beats in the Garren action, too, with him once again proving he's a much smarter fighter than the other Riders, despite appearances, and then another great variation on sealing an Undead with him tossing himself over a cliff with the monster after the card gets knocked off the edge. I've mentioned before how much I love that status quo of the Riders chucking cards at the monsters, and the ability to mess with the formula with the bigger villains like this is exactly why. It's amazing how many different spins they found to put on that idea.

Plus, speaking of kara miso!, they even punctuate the start of the fight by playing Rebirth one more time! It's neat to see it actually being used as a sort of motif for the character, rather than just a general insert song.