[DreadBringer]

So the standard Kamen Rider motto has been uttered by Ikki here, which ironically, Tamaki had him beat in that.

I'm quite mixed regarding the Ikki and Daiji battle here, on one hand, I like it that, Daiji is established as unshakable in his extremist belief regarding Giff, and he still is not swayed easily here. Daiji should not be suddenly swayed easily only because Ikki had more resolve and is more prepared in facing a rogue family member. But on the other hand, I'm still disappointed about Ikki not giving full explanations yet. about how by letting Daiji talk, Daiji talked about how Giff is so overpowered and everyone had witnessed that. Like the Weekend against edited footage, Ikki should've countered with another power showing, about how Ultimate Revi/Vice did block Giff's beam (the very part Ikki knows they stand a chance against Giff). Instead he talked about the teamwork with hsi friends and family to overcome Giff. That still doesn't show to Daiji if they're successful or failed, so the proof is still not completely clear to Daiji. Even though I like that Ultimate Revi/Vice consistently clowns Holy Live in fight if he gets his shit together.

Yukimi returns as the usual voice of reason regarding the family meddlings, this time about how siblings can regularly fight and it's normal, or in this case it can be better that they're letting each other know what are their feelings. Though the flashbacks seem to portray it in the most lighthearted way they can, it's not touched upon regarding sibling fights that can go out of the hand (outside of Rider fighting). Her fighting with Genta, admittedly, was something that surprised me as Yukimi's the only one to fully appreciate Genta between the family, but of course, it was just an acting, and shows that the other family members aren't any more reasonable for putting down goofy antics from Genta.

Other than that, I kind of appreciate what they're doing with Akaishi here. Though previously he had been established as a well-intentioned extremist, the first one to try ensuring humanity's existence before Daiji (well he followed him after all), as well as not killing the Igarashis because of them being technically family to him (as Giff's descendant), they live up into said Akaishi's trait here, by being respectful and pitying against Tasuke, giving him his condolences about his lost family and putting his family photo on his chest. Of course, you can give someone respect while being evil, as Akaishi still killed Tasuke after all (attempted for Hikaru). And there's him showing more about how he sees the Igarashis as his family, specifically, the ones who reciprocated him back, like Daiji, by sharing his feelings with him (and puzzled at his show of empathy) and 'saving' Daiji away. This now makes more sense of why Akaishi doesn't finish off the Igarashis. I already thought this before, but this cements more that, power threat aside, Akaishi's relatively better than Orteca, other than his proposed noble intentions, though he'd kill those who are obstacles in his ways. But... turns out that while it's good he's not turning into a Rider, Akaishi still got full monster form instead of keeping his human form like his first fight with human Daiji.

Of which Akaishi 'comforting' Daiji was the one, of all scenes, parallels with Aguilera comforting Sakura. I guess often than beating up those on Giff's side, Aguilera should also try interacting with others better, starting with Sakura here (to be specific, talking to someone who's downed), as well as returning the favor to her. Actually she's still rather stiff and the hug feels rather forced, but it probably makes sense, considering who she is formerly (she still had some harshness to Tamaki before, but not abusive anymore). But it's not really seen on how she consoles Sakura, after allowing her to talk to her as much as she likes.

I guess Hikaru now deserves some credit in this episode. Though actually I rather like him telling off Tasuke more than his stand off against Giffdemos. Here Tasuke extends his ruthless approach to those outside his fake family, to force Ikki and others completely dispose Daiji as Weekend's enemy (and Ikki's not even an official member!), using shoot first ask later method with little regard. But as Hikaru stated, this 'professional' and 'task-oriented' approach is actually just being a control freak and imposing his decisions on everyone else. He's practically pulling stuff similar to Ikki's 'busybody' antics, but in a directly destructive way. But too often that, this type of approach by someone is handwaved away due to how said person has seniority or holding higher position (Tasuke is Masumi's right-hand man), where appeal to authority is often in effect to view everything they say as right, or inherent fear of displeasing your superiors (of which those can be about position abuse if they do that).

Tasuke's the more significant Ushijima, and he's the only one to have a bit of backstory with his real family, who is said to be lost to Deadmans, so he's not someone who never felt having an actual family (like perhaps Hikaru), which I presumed before to be the cause of him refusing to understand the meddling of Igarashis, but he's someone who refuses to look at the past, only the future. While Hikaru standing up to Giffdemos is nice, now it's disappointing that Over Demons is now really an ordinary Rider, not showing special power that can stand up to Giffdemos for a bit or such.