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Kamen Rider Die watches Masked Rider Agito
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01-25-2020, 08:45 PM
#
113
Kamen Rider Die
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODES 22 - 23
God
DAMN
, you guys! This was a
fantastic
set of episodes, probably my favorite of the series so far. Not much to talk about with the monster plot, as per usual, but some killer character work here, hitting three different characters to varying degrees. Starting with:
Aki's death, and the subsequent brutal fight with Gills, puts Shouichi in a pensive place for this story. There's a great idea in here about the specifics of Shoucihi's sadness, in that he's not sad that
Aki
died, instead he's sad that Aki
died
. Like, it's not so much he'll miss her specifically, or that he had unresolved romantic feelings for her (that would be 100% Gills), but that he'd made room for her in his life, and now she's gone. It's that
absence
, the space where someone used to be, that's difficult for Shouichi to move past, and the uncertainty of what he's moving
towards
. Surprisingly, it's Ozawa who pep talks Shouichi back to normalcy, telling him to find something else to fill that void with. First, it's meat (holy shit should I not have watched these episodes equidistant from two meals), then it's cleaning, but it's mostly just
living
. I'm sure there's a debate to be had on the sort-of ruthless Man Up advice Ozawa tends to dispense, and what it says about her. It's... it doesn't seem
totally healthy
. But as someone who never really dialed in to Aki's character, and thought her manipulation of Shouichi lost her a lot of my goodwill, I'm totally fine with Shouichi rebounding as a result of a good character pairing and some delicious looking meat. Thanks, Ozawa!
Speaking of! I really like Ozawa as a character, and this was her spotlight story. Her stubbornness when it seems like Team G3 is boned, her unwavering belief that Nijou can stop sucking sometime soon, her willingness to answer an aggrieved former mentor with
No, Eff You
, she's terrific. She's mean in a way that motivates, and motivational in a way that might actually get someone killed. She's the alpha of Team G3, and the show needs her in it.
But, weirdly, while this was her spotlight episode, it didn't do as much for her character as Houjou's spotlight did for him. Maybe it's because Ozawa was already fully-fleshed out? Houjou, we needed to see where he came from, why he was the way he was. Ozawa, I'm not sure that was as necessary? It's more that I just needed her to be more front-and-center, and she's all over these episodes. She's great with Shouichi, she's great with Houjou, she's great with Nijou, she's great with The Other One. She's a character that can get good scenes with everyone. This two-parter, despite giving us a scene with her asshole mentor and a ton of pressure to Fix G3 Or Else, it doesn't really change how I felt about her character.
Weirdly, it
did
change how I felt about Ni--
Sorry,
Hikawa
. Am I spelling that right?
It looks so weird!
Yeah, even though it seemed like I'd never get a handle on what made his character unique, this was the story where I was able to see what Hikawa was about. And, more for better than for worse, it's that he's an Ichijou
who sucks
.
That's not a negative! It's
awesome
that Hikawa sucks. It's his most fascinating character trait. He's a dude who wants to help people, wants to support his team, wants to deliver, and it's the hardcore
wanting
of it that keeps sabotaging him. He overcompensates, which leads to failure, which leads to a lack of confidence, which makes him overcompensate, which leads to failure, and so on. He's this astonishing combination of Reckless Overconfidence and Self-Negating Doubt. He's convinced he'll be replaced as G3 at almost any time, since he believes that he sucks. He takes forever to realize that Houjou is maybe telling him too often that he sucks, because he's pretty sure he sucks. And what makes him sucking work as a trait, in a dramatic and compelling way, is that he obviously
does not suck
.
Hikawa doesn't quit, despite thinking he's doing a terrible job. Hikawa continues investigating superpowered people, even though it makes him look like a dope. Hikawa gets his ass kicked as G3
like that was the extent of his job
, but he'll do whatever it takes to keep getting his ass kicked. He's dedicated, despite having so little confidence in himself. There's a drive to improve that Ichijou lacked, because he was never less than awesome. Hikawa has a mountain of failure to climb, and the climbing makes him stronger.
And, good lord, does he have
a lot
of failing to do in this story. I love that the breaking point for Hikawa here, is not that he might be replaced by Houjou, who is (
beautifully
) the worst, but that he might be replaced by Shouichi, the sweetest man alive. Like, Houjou wants to be G3/V1 so bad he probably
sleeps
in that armor, but Shouichi? The dude who sticks his fingers in fish?! Absolutely not! And, again, when he's told to relax and not try too hard, dude just tries
incredibly hard
to not try too hard. It's amazing, watching him lose his cool trying to stay cool. It's terrific.
I really like how Hikawa ends up in this story, and the way the story treats him. It's almost commenting on the old Ichijou stuff, where he'd throw himself into danger and it would all work out because Dammit He Gets Results or whatever. Here, that attitude, it's not shown to be heroic, it's shown to be reckless and idiotic. Hikawa gets back in G3-X, immediately loses control of the armor, nearly kills Houjou, takes out an Unknown
with the most badass chaingun
, and then opens fire on Agito.
This new armor situation seems like it's working out great for everyone!
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on
KamenRiderDie.com
!
Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 05-13-2023 at
05:44 PM
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