[Switchblade]

There's something that bugged me about these episodes the first time I saw them and I just finally figured out what it was. The issue is that something looks really off about Hiyori, to the point where it almost looks like she's played by a different actress. I only just realized what's up with that, though: she doesn't have her bangs anymore. Losing them really changes here appearance to the point where she doesn't even look like herself at first glance anymore. Whew, mystery solved.

Also, Dark Kabtuo is there and looking snazzy. It's a very basic recolor of the Kabuto suit, but I am all in on the yellow eyes and red detailing over the black chest. Kamen Rider doesn't do just straight repaints of suits that often, but this is a really good one.

Now as for the main plot, I agree that it's really good, especially coming out of the narrative pit stop that was the school arc. Reina's been around long enough to make this whole concept really work. I hadn't even realized the parallels to Tsurugi's story but it's an excellent point. The episode does a great job of giving us a view of what the real Reina was like and the presence of Daisuke and a super unenthusiastic Gon help flesh out her original personality, too. Just an all around well done story that is clearly and loudly barreling towards tragedy.

Finally, as a minor note, I liked this episode's regular weekly appearance of Juka eating breakfast. The crush misunderstanding was brief, but it was a rare appearance of Tendou getting completely flustered and that was a lot of fun.