the contrast between born wealthy+privileged Tatsuya who left his family in order to pursue his own dreams vs dirt poor but talented Naoto who knows that he’ll never be treated as an equal to the elite based purely on his birth standing is so fucking good

in what is possibly my fave (and definitely one of the most shocking) of all the broken helmet scenes in toku, Tatsuya throws himself in harm’s way to protect the City Guardians corps, pulling the overconfident captain away and taking the MOTW’s attack head on, one that clearly would have killed the captain. Naoto’s face when he realises... Tatsuya’s face when he realises Naoto now knows he’s TimeRed... the moment where it looks like he might step towards him before running off, bloody bruised battered and broken... chef kiss

however, the soft and gentle bird-lover Naoto is no more fit for what remains of this cruel world than that harsh and bitter Naoto was. He falls, and the sun sets.

Naoto might be defeated, and accepts his fate, but Tatsuya hears the alarm that another attack is coming and leaves him with some words of hope in this hopeless situation. Naoto reflects on this, but...

so if you (like me about 5 years ago) ever saw Japanese fans posting that last frame without context when doing RT memes and  shit and wondered what was the big deal well... now you know. That the Timerangers were right, that the V-Commander was too dangerous, that Naoto should never have used it in the first place, that the chip on his shoulder and his desperate clawing for power was going to get him killed, but you know what? They’re the ones who are leaving and returning to their own timeline. Naoto might be a hardheaded fool who’s out here getting himself killed, but at least he’s out here. That iron will might be his biggest failing, but it’s his biggest strength, too.

realised I don’t have a fucking Timeranger tag for some reason despite Naoto being like one of my fave toku characters of all time and his relationship with Tatsuya basically inventing not only The Rival Sixth dynamic but also The Edgy Secondary Rider dynamic so here’s part 1 of an incoming screencap dump

the little girl who Naoto rescued comes to see him in the shelter. The harsh and bitter Naoto we’ve come to know through his interactions with Tatsuya disappears, and the gentle big brother who loves birds returns.