[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

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.

Yeah, those two scenes have to do a lot of heavy lifting to make Tachibana's turn feel not just exciting, but character-driven. The exciting part is fairly easy, you know? Just have him show up and declare whatever bullshit platitude sounds appropriately stirring, Henshin, fight song, heroic victory. That's how a lesser show would handle it, and I don't think most people would care to complain.

But it's the way Tachibana isn't exactly fighting for Hajime, it's that he's fighting because his friends are fighting for Hajime... I love that. I love him seeing the value in actual real people, real connections, not just some figurative People that he's always doing insane things for. I love him thinking outside of himself, considering other viewpoints, finally, at the end. I love how it takes what's pretty much already a slam dunk (it's such a great fight!) and just, like, keeps dunking. Keeps finding little things that were flaws in Tachibana and saying Let's Just Address Those Real Quick. Love it.