[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It's weird how... I don't know if he grew that much? With characters like Wataru and Nago, it's easier to point to an early episode and a later episode and go They Are So Different Now. (In this episode alone, Wataru's steely determination makes Shizuka wonder if it's even the same guy, and Nago apologizes to Megumi. Those are both insane to consider from the perspective of Episode 15!) With Otoya, I feel like it's less that he changed and grew, and more that his honesty and joie de vivre wore down and won over everyone else. Like, he didn't change, he changed all of them.

No, I think Otoya did change. It's not as big and obvious as Wataru, but look at his motivations. At the start of the show he was 100% involved in all of this for selfish reasons: he thought Yuri was hot and wanted to bang her. Stalking her, getting in with the WBSO, his rivalry with Jiro, it was all tied into him wanting Yuri for himself (and to probably discard quickly thereafter, based on previous behavior). I think the big change was when he helped Yuri take down Rook. That was something that he did because it mattered to Yuri, not just as a way to get into her pants. From that point on he could still be a selfish jerk (see his immediate blowing off of Yuri for Maya), but his final acts as Dark Kiva, that was all for other people. He wanted to save Jiro and the others because they were friends. He wanted to save Taiga for Maya's benefit. He fought alongside Wataru to save his present and future family. Even his goodbyes were done for the benefit of others: to give Yuri some peace, to give Jiro a duty, and to give Maya something to remember. There's a selflessness in Otoya by the end that would never have happened with the dude that was scamming people out of money and womanizing his way through Tokyo.