[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Kamen Rider Blade Q2

Episode 15 is the one to beat. I think the rivalry between Tachibana and Isaka deserves its own paragraph, cause it's the perfect transition for Tachibana from a pathetic loser to a surprisingly cool and barely competent hero. He was trying to delude himself that his problems didn't exist and Isaka sought to take advantage of that, by drugging him with almost extinct anti-fear plants. It made him a better Garren, but removed the sensitive Tachibana that Sayoko loved. When Isaka killed Sayoko to destroy the last part of the old Tachibana, he instead made Tachibana stronger. Strong enough to make Garren his own. I was expecting a typical revenge plot filled with hatred and wrath, but it was smarter than that. Tachibana immediately found clarity in the memory of Sayoko and only regretted that he couldn't have came to his senses sooner. The climactic final battle between Garren and Isaka on the beach, it's the moment where I decided, "this show is awesome!"

A secondary Rider that has a rivalry with a mad scientist named Isaka, who had killed their loved ones, spurring their vengeance path, ending with a beatdown on Isaka albeit also letting go of their revenge. Is this Blade or W? Otherwise, the Tachibana being less sensitive is exactly why Sayoko was killed, Tachibana was really fucked up and made terrible decisions after decisions. Tachibana is told multiple times by his friends, his boss, and his girlfriend that his problems are psychosomatic, and that if he can just conquer his fear, he'll have no problem fighting. Or Sayoko constantly trying to find and stop him, despite trying to dump her. There are many decisions he could've taken to prevent Sayoko's death, like for starter, listening and trusting Sayoko. Or letting anyone else know what was going on and/or trusted any others (and others aren't really hostile to Tachibana). Or for more harder one, trying to overcome his fear or quitting. The more jarring one for him is that Tachibana is 26 and as a scientist he's already a professional.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I've been thinking about the Undead a little more, especially after Eagle Undead's snobbish commentary on humanity's dominance. Can they even be called evil, merely for trying to topple humanity? I mean, to us, the Human Undead is the hero who gave us the Fire of Zeus, figuratively speaking, but to every other Undead, he's the villain who deprived them the same chance. But I guess that's also a very Kamen Rider way of drawing a moral connection between both sides of the conflict. Of course, some Undead are just depraved people who don't deserve to win the Battle Royale, like Isaka. And that Elephant Undead seems too lazy to even try to win.

Well, it's like humans that there are good and bad apples, but for Undead, it's extremely few. It's probably spoiler, but think of Human Undead as like Yuji (pre-Yuka death) among the Orphnochs in Faiz, the rare good apple among them. And regarding the other Undeads, I personally prefer not to use the perspective argument to determine someone's morals. As there'd be loads of self-righteousness involved, making excuses after excuses for your bad deeds, because it'd be harder for someone to admit responsibility, blaming everyone else for depriving them for their wishes, regardless if it's harmful for others or such (like you said, painting others as villains simply for being their obstacle, ignoring what deeds they've done themselves, and even otherwise, there can be evil vs evil). Like, why the Undeads want to win the Battle Royale? If it's done for evil, then you're a villain that is deserve to be stopped (by Human Undead or such). The best case scenario would be if you beat other Undeads, but have a goal that didn't harm anyone as the winner.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

On the topic of Undead, Chalice, or more specifically Hajime, could hypothetically have access to at least 52 forms! That's a record for his time. It's basically him wearing the skin of other Undead with his Driver, which makes him the Kamen Rider Decade of the Undead world before Decade was even a thing! Chalice is originally the name of the Category Ace of Hearts, which is intriguing since I don't recall the Spider Undead having his own unique name.

And as usual, Kamen Riders IMO are bad in utilizing the power variation like that... I know Hajime rejects his Undead identity, but at least if Chalice, despite being refered as Kamen Rider, is just as similar to turning into other Undeads. Though still, quantity doesn't necessarily mean quality.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Hajime might only be an Undead posing as a human, but with Kenzaki's guidance and faith, he has the potential to eventually inherit the soul of humanity. Kenzaki's position in the show seems to be similar to Shinji, as a moral support for others. Helping people is Kenzaki's main motivation, so it makes sense that he would want to imprint that philosophy on Hajime. This show isn't really about Kenzaki, but he has a profound effect on people just by being an example of heroism.

About characters trying to impress upon them the value of more heroic values, when these lessons bounce more often than stick, what'd you think about that (probably related too to "perspective argument" above)? Would it be actually the blame of the moral support like Kenzaki to butt in other's lives, dictating others on how they should live their lives? (I don't agree, but this is what I can receive from other's comments) And that nothing is actually right or wrong like if Hajime wants to be hostile and aggressive or hostile then so be it and that others just have to stick it? (not what I think, but some think like that, using naturalistic fallacy arguments like that)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Regarding Leangle's user, Mutsuki.... He might be even more of a dysfunctional weirdo than the other Riders. He expressed envy towards Tachibana's and Kenzaki's tragic backstories like, "Tachibana-san, you're so lucky to have a dead girlfriend to avenge!" and "Kenzaki-san, you're so lucky to have dead parents you failed to save!" Sure, having a tragic backstory you can actually confront can be a useful source of motivation, but it's not something you should ever wish for. This seems to be something Mutsuki has a personal problem with, rather than the Spider Undead's corrupt influence. But Tachibana's Akashi-like soft mentoring is helping him become a better person capable of making Leangle his own.

Oh yeah, about Mutsuki's relentless view on Tachibana and Kenzaki's backstory, even a good number of people in fandom irl also have it and can use that to justify villains. Claiming that the villain's actions that brought misery are done to help the heroes save the day (probably the reason is if there are also other unrelated villains) in their own methods or unintentionally helping the heroes understand what the fuck is happening. Or probably employing social darwinist views (due to natural attraction to power) that you survive and become strong or you perish, it's ok for the strong to test others by mistreating them like that. Aside from that, as I know the most little about Blade before watching, I thought at first, Mutsuki was just a random joe, probably a MOTW victim or such, turns out that he's another major character in the series as being the 4th Rider. Probably they did purposely make him as average and unremarkable to put a bit of a twist that he's the next character the series revolves around. As Tachibana sums it up, Mutsuki thinks the fight is like a collectible card game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Kotarou has become aware of how useless he is and strives to become more useful. As I'm apparently one of like, maybe three people, who actually think Shunpei is an okay character, I like where his arc seems to be going. Kotarou wants to be more than just the guy who gives Team Blade a roof and I think he hasn't found his niche yet, other than being a good cook and writer. I hope he can figure that out. Hirose hasn't really got any new developments since the previous quarter, so I don't have much more to comment about her for now. She's still great at what she does and I consider her an above average heroine, but I hope she gets more stuff to do.

Yeah, as I said, characters tend to be the most useful if they're either most powerful fighters (as Rider typically) or if they're toku scientists (which Hirose does have a part of it too). Kotaro is a normal person with a job unrelated to the fighting, so yeah naturally he'd be the most useless one. Him being self-aware is a nice touch yeah of how being an average person can feel among Riders and scientists, but yeah would be unfair to judge someone for not having special occupation.