[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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?

There are no time limit in the battle royale, and.... if Kanai a.k.a Giraffa Undead still vows to win the battle royale like the old times.... then the present day battle royale isn't fully fake, it's just without the Sealing Stone and it's replaced with sealing cards. And the participant difference is that there's a human with god complex that wants to take advantage of the win and restarted the battle royale.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

Eats? We've already seen that, when Tachibana visits Kotaro's house. Like the scene where Kotaro cooks (and being praised).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Speaking of those little conversations… some really fun pairings in this one, doing some interesting stuff.

Tachibana getting to know what's behind the Undead battle royale, sealing stone being the artifact that cleans up Undead after defeat, and probably not fully from the cast in Kotaro's house (narrated by Human Undead), the stakes of the battle royale is huge, the winner being able to literally change the world. Well exposition (no matter how neat the tone is) is necessary here, it gets Tachibana to act! Kenzaki not being integral to Mutsuki's story, it's Kenzaki's choice, when they interact, Kenzaki only wanted to snatch away Mutsuki's Leangle belt. But obviously buddy-buddy, he praises Mutsuki for "overcoming" his dark influence and handed him King's Sword. That's obviously Kenzaki putting away his judgment to him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

Yeah, it is when you use a strategy to gain upper hand (Tachibana rarely uses the Jack Form upgrade!). Time for Tachibana to implement his expertise as a scientist in battle. Kanai seems to have a weak point that even a base Rider can get through, beneath his shield. The strategy is smart, but it's still dependent on what enemies faced against. If Kanai has no vital weak point then.... Now Tachibana inherit more things from Kenzaki to stand by Hajime's side.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

I don't think it's a better plan than Mutsuki's before (eh, what about my explanation to it being too empathetic to you?). Unsealing Shima is more simple, and nothing would be lost. But unsealing Human Undead will practically cease Hajime's existence, which is a loss, especally that takes a toll to Kenzaki. By that you can still seal Kanai, and let Joker be, and the consequences of Joker winning the fight won't occur.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s more important to him that she have one last fond memory than that he survive. It’s a beautiful scene. Beautiful.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Kenzaki's a very sweet boy!

Hmm, this scene shows that, no matter how awful or terrible someone is, there would be someone who cares about them, even if only 1. This goes for both Hajime and Amane. Probably this is why ideal heroes take the no kill approach like Kenzaki (and most of the lead Riders, y'know) before, like to... Tennoji, what they want is to stop/neutralize the threat, but doesn't necessarily mean killing. Even if that person deserves killing, what'd happen to those that stick to them? That he's the first to be so adamant of sticking up to Hajime, trying to redeem him and resist Joker's influence, something that even Kotaro (except at the first), a part of family doesn't get it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

My subs said "Cerberus". Sorry!

Oof... fair enough. Pin this first regarding the true original name.