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05-15-2023, 04:59 AM | #291 |
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Yeah, Hiromi is a very popular character, but it’s clear the writers have little, if any, idea of what to do with him. This episode is more of a meta commentary on his place in the show (he was almost booted out of FENIX, but kept on because the higher ups saw his potential, like how the character was devised purely to die early on, but was spared because everyone liked his performance)
Also, I don’t think two extended scenes focused on Sakura and Aguilera across two Hiromi episodes were really necessary (beyond the heroes getting the latter’s help). And sadly, that’s one reason Sakura turned out so divisive. Namely that not only will these scenes NOT be decreasing in frequency, but they’ll be increasing in screen time taken up. Ikki: It’s Ikki’s… Vice: And Vice’s… Both: Stamp Navi! Ikki: And today’s stamp is this one! Mogura! Pitch Black! One Track-Mind! Up Ahead! Mole! Hole Zone! Ikki: Mogura Genome allows for a strong penetration and fast spinning action. When used by Hiromi-san, it equips him with the Demon Digzon to use its ability. Vice: “Digzon”? Is that even a word? Like, in any language? George: In all honesty? No. That’s inspired by the Legend I based this on. Lockseed: Am-az-on! George: Kamen Rider Amazon, real name Daisuke Yamamoto. He crashed in the Brazilian rainforest as a baby, with his father and mother dying in the crash. He was adopted by the local tribe, eventually being entrusted with one of their two great treasures, the Gigi Armlet. He returned to Japan to use this power against Geddon and the Garanda Empire, who possessed the other armlet. Amazon: Ah-Mah-Zon! (Enter Hiromi) Hiromi: Did you say… the guy on my Vistamp… his father died? (Screams and runs out of the room) Sakura: I can’t believe he got worked up over a Legend Rider’s backstory. How immature. George: Yes, indeed. To end this segment on a lighter note, how about I mention that the other Armlet was named Gaga. Lovekov: Love! Game! Vice: Until the next instalment, Just Dance! Self-production notes: Ending on a Lady Gaga joke was NOT inspired by the Fourze quiz segments. I came up with the idea shortly before getting that far into those. But it did change what songs I referenced. Last edited by Androzani84; 05-15-2023 at 06:25 AM.. |
05-15-2023, 06:09 AM | #292 |
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I think there's also a point that Daiji's trying to make (and I hope will be a bigger part of the next episode), and that's that Hiromi's role isn't to be a singular hero that sacrifices his life for glory/duty/psychosis, but a leader that everyone looks up to, and desperately needs to steer Fenix. There's a nobility to Hiromi (despite his constantly keeling over in this episode) that elevates Fenix, and the troops on the ground need to know that someone like Hiromi -- a caring, dedicated commander -- is looking out for them. There are lots of different ways to serve a cause!
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KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 20 - “TERRIBLE AND TRANSIENT, THE COST OF TRANSFORMING”
There’s a bit I liked about it, though, somewhat despite myself. I’m never a fan of Kamen Rider stories where someone keeps using a fatal device because they’re too damn heroic to do anything less. It’s dumb, and sort of the opposite of what I think is heroic. There’s a huge difference between battling insane odds to protect justice/smiles/video games, and consigning yourself to death because you’re using cursed technology. It is not inherently unheroic to have self-preservation be a part of your decision-making during a fight, especially when you living longer could save more lives. It’s like a naked firefighter rushing into a burning building: I get the impulse, but you are not really doing anyone any good with that level of commitment. By this Hiromi obviously needs to learn from something too, like how he witnesses Ikki becoming dependable instead of viewing himself as dependable but actually overbearing. Like Daiji said, you can't save anyone when you're dead, I think for heroism you should try to preserve yourself so you're sure you'd be there for others in future, without doing morally questionable shit (like sacrificing the unlucky few) and still ready to throw your life if the situation demands it of course, but likely Hiromi should think up of other good deeds he can do without henshin as Demons for example. Being heroic is about being good part (as heroes mean good guys), not about the suffering part (even though it can enhance in certain circumstances). The suffering alone brought nothing noble in someone. Tojo in Ryuki was a case when someone only has suffering, without doing anything good, and he's still a depraved villain. Albeit him letting himself got hit by Volcano Rex's finisher is quite a smart move from him to preserve himself that I can appreciate. Other than that, seems expected, he's shown to be merciful towards Chigusa's betrayal and would seek best case scenario. Quote:
But Hiromi’s take on it… I like how much he’s acknowledging that he’s making the wrong decision, and how much Ikki is protecting his right to make the wrong decision. It’s an awareness of Hiromi’s eternal desire to die in pointless yet glorious battle, but it’s also saying That’s Our Hiromi. It’s a classic Revice story of embracing the weakness within Hiromi, forgiving it, and then finding some serenity in the aftermath. Asking Hiromi to not put on the demonic vitality-destroying henshin device and not blunder into a battle his 80-year old frame cannot possibly withstand would be asking him to deny his own nature, and that would be a fate worse than death. That’s incredibly stupid, but incredibly sweet. That’s Our Hiromi!
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Not much else to talk about beyond that? The astonishing action sequence in the back-half ate up a lot of screentime, and Hiromi’s steady accrual of folks laughing at him took up most of the other half. (George is very okay with telling Hiromi to his face that Fenix was totally unconcerned with when exactly the Demons Driver was going to kill him!) There’s a fun team-up between Team Igarashi and the remnants of the Giffamilia, but it’s mostly just crossing i’s (depowering Olteca) and crossing t’s (recovering the Giff Stamp). We don’t really get any big dramatic scenes that shed new light; Aguilera wants Giff to burst from his cocoon and transform the world into one big family, the usual. The actual Getting Aguilera To Team-Up part is left to the viewer’s imagination, though, and that’s about all that really happens this episode? Hiromi’s tragic Hirominess didn’t leave room for anything else!
Regarding George, now it seems that his goal is to create the Ultimate Kamen Rider, but it does further confirms my thoughts of him only value the chaos and violence that can present in KR shows instead of acknowledging why KR can be admirable via the heroism value they (not all) display, even openly mocking Hiromi for his heroism. There's also more of his unpleasant and sleazy attitude here of him showing no regards towards Hiromi being his lab rat (typical mad scientist attitude), where even if Hiromi would make the choice to use Demons, oh wait, George guilt-tripped him into becoming Demons at the first place (blaming him for Kagerou), so he does set up this for Hiromi, so it'd not be Hiromi's reckless fault here. His goal of creating Ultimate Kamen Rider also doesn't seem to be a good/benefical one here, likely just want to test his limits of how much he can create, but it'd depend on what he do next to achieve it for his villain status (or allowing that Ultimate Kamen Rider to spread chaos to show off his "brilliance" of what power he can create). But George isn't only scientifically brilliant, he's street smart and has people skills as well despite usually interacting in odd way (probably him interacting to Ikki at the hospital is also about this), which'd just make him more of a threat, like how Hiromi can fought as Demons for quite long time without anyone surrounding them knowing the true schemes until Hiromi almost died. For his true colors, at the very least Hiromi now knows George was his bully, and now only holds him in contempt. The scene that I didn't like in this episode was Tamaki and Sakura's conversation, which is just lazy and repetitive to repeat the same dialogue from previous episodes. Actually I'd like for more types of interaction between them y'know (...probably more than Sakura with Aguilera), of which Tamaki had interacted with Sakura before to inflitrate, but he now isn't, while Sakura now has been more accepting of Tamaki too. While Tamaki and Aguilera temporarily worked together with the Igarashi brothers against Aguilera, it's blatantly stated that Aguilera wants to retrieve the Giff stamp. Aguilera hasn't changed, at all, she still has the same goal from the beginning here. And the parallel too of Aguilera and Olteca basically having the same goal to forcibly evolve humanity via Giff. It's another case of evil vs evil like Metsuboujinrai.net vs ZAIA, albeit Olteca has grown to be really more despicable with his petty sadism, evil is not one big happy family. And again, Aguilera would abuse Tamaki here for telling Sakura, she's normally unpleasant except when certain crisis comes (Tamaki losing Yosuke). Tamaki himself too is loyal to Aguilera, which'd mean he's liable to take whatever side she ends up falling on. Quote:
It's not something you touched on at all, I imagine because it's just mostly dumb and not worth devoting any mindspace to, but a year after this episode's airing I still can't get over how stupid the traitor in this traitor plot is portrayed here. Where Chigusa alleges that Fenix is the Bigger Bad, and so links up with the Deadmans...one would think out of some misguided sense of necessity, but at the same time she's become a true believer for no reason? Like, Fenix being secretly bad doesn't mean the Deadmans are secretly good, they're very open about also being evil. She asks Olteca for his motivation and he just goes "I'm the smartest boy in the world and I deserve to rule the world!!!" and her answer is "omg your so right." It's such fucking nonsense and it makes any attempts to make her getting backstabbed or Hiromi's feelings about it land fail entirely.
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05-15-2023, 11:30 AM | #293 |
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Like, Fenix being secretly bad doesn't mean the Deadmans are secretly good, they're very open about also being evil. She asks Olteca for his motivation and he just goes "I'm the smartest boy in the world and I deserve to rule the world!!!" and her answer is "omg your so right." It's such fucking nonsense and it makes any attempts to make her getting backstabbed or Hiromi's feelings about it land fail entirely.
Chigusa was by far the dumbest part of a dumb story, yes, agreed. Quote:
Yeah, Hiromi is a very popular character, but it?s clear the writers have little, if any, idea of what to do with him. This episode is more of a meta commentary on his place in the show (he was almost booted out of FENIX, but kept on because the higher ups saw his potential, like how the character was devised purely to die early on, but was spared because everyone liked his performance)
Tamaki's just trying to be a good wingman to Aguilera! He just wants Aguilera to be happy and in a loving relationship with a very special person and their big plush inner demon!
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05-15-2023, 05:25 PM | #294 |
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Also, I don?t think two extended scenes focused on Sakura and Aguilera across two Hiromi episodes were really necessary (beyond the heroes getting the latter?s help). And sadly, that?s one reason Sakura turned out so divisive. Namely that not only will these scenes NOT be decreasing in frequency, but they?ll be increasing in screen time taken up.
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05-15-2023, 10:08 PM | #295 |
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KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 21 - “LAYING DOWN MY LIFE, TO ENTRUST MY HOPES”
*sigh* I don’t, generally speaking, care about villainous plots in Kamen Rider. They’re rarely a thing I remember fondly, if I even remember them at all. I remember characters, and I care about stories drawn from their decisions. I can lose myself in conflicts that spill out of disagreements between heroes, or impossible dilemmas faced by virtuous weirdos; stuff that feels like the manifestation of a character arc. I mostly don’t give a shit about machinations, or the shadowy organizations that set them in motion. So here we are, with easily my least-favorite episode of Revice yet. It’s all the thin nonsense of Fenix, with an added level of incomprehensible Weekend. I almost just want to wave my hand at this episode and go NO MORE OF THAT, THANK YOU, and just post the second screencap for this post. There’s literally one thing I liked in this episode: When Dad Ushijima theatrically introduces Weekend, and Sakura jokingly clarifies that it’s actually a weekday. That’s it, and I almost dislike that joke for its proximity to the most unnecessary collection of Cultists With Gamer Chairs that I’ve ever had the misfortune to think about. There’s literally no point to Weekend in this episode – everyone already knows that Fenix is bad – and they can’t even spend a single scene looking benevolent to recruit Sakura effectively. And, by “effectively”, I mean “in a way that doesn’t make her look like the biggest rube this side of everyone who works at Fenix”. Weekend is just FENIX BAD, but in a way that’s even less trustworthy than Fenix. I don’t know why Sakura doesn’t tell Ikki about them, so we can get another character to tell her that this is a horrible group to throw your lot in with. (I assume Lovekov was cut from this episode because she’d’ve never fallen for this idiocy.) I don’t know why Sakura decides to back them, rather than just stick it out with her own family of superheroes. They made her Driver, but there doesn’t seem to be anything they can offer, and their motives are the same Zero Tolerance lunacy as Fenix is preaching, but from the opposite direction. I hate them, and they make this show monumentally dumber. Maybe the only point in Weekend’s favor is that they aren’t Fenix, though? Akaishi stops preening like an especially diabolical vulture to spring Olteca (who I assume he recruited to the Deadmans way back when) and crash the Fenix helicarrier, for no tangible benefit. Fenix wasn’t in any danger from being discovered – Hiromi was going to quit, and the Igarashis were suspicious without taking action – and Akaishi was in total control of both the real Giff Stamp and Giff itself. There’s no reason to escalate things? Other than boredom, I guess? It’s, again, just villainous machinations that occur around the heroes, but never really involves them in its progression. It’s a story that they’re reacting to, not a story that’s reacting to them. It’s things blowing up, and villains that want something, but heroes that are just confused and reacting. There’s nothing in there for me to connect with. And then Hiromi dies. Well, “dies”: dude gets exploded off of a cliff and no one collects a body, so I assume we’ll be seeing him again before too long. Who knows, maybe a third group of cultists will find his body, and unconvincingly attempt to recruit him to their side! BOY, WOULDN’T THAT BE KEEN.
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05-16-2023, 02:49 AM | #296 |
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Yeah, Weekend aren’t a particularly popular part of the show. They weren’t before this (in a popularity poll that came out around the time this episode premiered, Hikaru came last in a popularity poll. And that was because someone remembered he existed. If it wasn’t for that person and someone else remembering Buu-san, Sakura would’ve been dead last.) and certain later events don’t endear them to the audience. Part of the reason Hiromi got written out was to focus on them, and… well, you’ll see how that went.
Anyway, I did call Olteca becoming a Kamen Rider before this episode, but not the exact circumstances. I thought it’d be more akin to this person’s artwork. And speaking off that poll I mentioned earlier, here’s the top 4 (notably, Hiromi is the one character who got more than 10% of the vote, accruing 40%) And now for the funny part of this post. Olteca: It’s Olteca and… Akaishi: Akaishi’s… Both: Deadmans Stamp Navi. Akaishi: Why did you bring me in to co-host this? What if this leaks and I get arrested? Olteca: (holds up the Demons Driver) I tried asking this guy if he’d help, but he just keeps repeating the same thing. Demons Driver: Get out! Get out! Olteca: So you’ll be my lovely assistant as we look at this Stamp. Scorpion! Poisonous Sting! Lock On! Scorpion! Great Turning Sting! Olteca: This Vistamp grants Kamen Rider Demons the Ridol Sting, allowing for a penetrating attack to be launched from afar. Akaishi: Ridol, eh? That boy George just can’t help but indulge in his love for those heroes. He’s like his father in that respect. Anyway, let’s discuss today’s Legend. Lockseed: X! Keisuke Jin: Set Up! Akaishi: Kamen Rider X, Keisuke Jin. He was modified by his father Professor Jin using undersea survival technology to face the Government Of Darkness, G.O.D for short. He fought using his Ridol Stick, making him the first Rider to regularly wield a weapon. Jin: Great Turning Spin! X-Rider Kick! Olteca: Hey, that guy’s dressed like you. Akaishi: Don’t be ridiculous. That would by G.O.D’s top enforcer, Apollo Geist. Defeated in battle with X, he was revived by two of the greatest scientific minds, with the drawback that he required a device known as a Perfecter to absorb life force and stay alive. Kamen Rider Decade later fought a parallel world version empowered by Fangires, Super Apollo Geist. Olteca: We hope you enjoy the next instalment. Demons Driver: Must get out! Destroy that guy! |
05-16-2023, 07:11 AM | #297 |
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KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 21 - “LAYING DOWN MY LIFE, TO ENTRUST MY HOPES”
I don’t, generally speaking, care about villainous plots in Kamen Rider. They’re rarely a thing I remember fondly, if I even remember them at all. I remember characters, and I care about stories drawn from their decisions. I can lose myself in conflicts that spill out of disagreements between heroes, or impossible dilemmas faced by virtuous weirdos; stuff that feels like the manifestation of a character arc. I mostly don’t give a shit about machinations, or the shadowy organizations that set them in motion. Quote:
I almost just want to wave my hand at this episode and go NO MORE OF THAT, THANK YOU, and just post the second screencap for this post. There’s literally one thing I liked in this episode: When Dad Ushijima theatrically introduces Weekend, and Sakura jokingly clarifies that it’s actually a weekday. That’s it, and I almost dislike that joke for its proximity to the most unnecessary collection of Cultists With Gamer Chairs that I’ve ever had the misfortune to think about. There’s literally no point to Weekend in this episode – everyone already knows that Fenix is bad – and they can’t even spend a single scene looking benevolent to recruit Sakura effectively. And, by “effectively”, I mean “in a way that doesn’t make her look like the biggest rube this side of everyone who works at Fenix”. Weekend is just FENIX BAD, but in a way that’s even less trustworthy than Fenix. I don’t know why Sakura doesn’t tell Ikki about them, so we can get another character to tell her that this is a horrible group to throw your lot in with. (I assume Lovekov was cut from this episode because she’d’ve never fallen for this idiocy.) I don’t know why Sakura decides to back them, rather than just stick it out with her own family of superheroes. They made her Driver, but there doesn’t seem to be anything they can offer, and their motives are the same Zero Tolerance lunacy as Fenix is preaching, but from the opposite direction. I hate them, and they make this show monumentally dumber.
The dark secrets behind Fenix, so far according to Weekend it's about investigating Giff coffin despite that it's a dangerous move, but by that it seems that it's more about certain members of the Fenix being bad instead of Fenix as a whole? Albeit it's a higher up in Akaishi and George thus they'd be more influental in their schemes, but it's more like that if you remove the bad apples in Fenix then Fenix can properly function as a good organization, like removing corrupt cops in a police force for example. George too is teased as a "humans are the real monsters" by Vice, claiming that he's a human that is worse than demons (well technically a good number of humans are worse than Lovekov). He also had earned a contempt from Ikki as well for what he did to Hiromi. While he deflects the Hiromi subject from Ikki and Daiji, he's shown to be at least onboard with Akaishi's schemes and goals. Though in comparison George is better to Akaishi with a sliver of sympathy to Hiromi as he resigns, letting Hiromi punch him as well as claiming it's for the best regarding Hiromi's state (right after disposing him due to him being useless). Quote:
Maybe the only point in Weekend’s favor is that they aren’t Fenix, though? Akaishi stops preening like an especially diabolical vulture to spring Olteca (who I assume he recruited to the Deadmans way back when) and crash the Fenix helicarrier, for no tangible benefit. Fenix wasn’t in any danger from being discovered – Hiromi was going to quit, and the Igarashis were suspicious without taking action – and Akaishi was in total control of both the real Giff Stamp and Giff itself. There’s no reason to escalate things? Other than boredom, I guess? It’s, again, just villainous machinations that occur around the heroes, but never really involves them in its progression. It’s a story that they’re reacting to, not a story that’s reacting to them. It’s things blowing up, and villains that want something, but heroes that are just confused and reacting. There’s nothing in there for me to connect with.
With Hiromi gone from Fenix, now Daiji's the major character that has affiliation to Fenix (unless Akemi's elevated into secondary heroine or such), with the story setting him up as being conflicted to Fenix. I hope this is the part where the story sets a definitive path for Daiji's character, and it being executed well of course, other than Daiji acting as mostly faithful soldier to do Fenix's tasks while helping his siblings in the process (though Daiji's never someone who's obsessively loyal to Fenix). Making the Igarashi siblings even more distinct with Sakura going on the opposing side, Daiji staying at Fenix while being conflicted, and Ikki acting more independent (but is now against Fenix) but trying to look for best case scenario. The Giff coffin is established as giving side effects to Vice, and this episode upgrades the friendship between Ikki and Vice further, with Ikki releasing Vice just to check on him, out of concern. But despite the terrible thing that happened to Vice, it turns into how benefical Vice is to deduce that the Giff ViStamp Sakura retrieved was fake as it didn't cause any effect on him. Vice also later scans on how the Demons that fought Daiji (to Sakura's confusion) was Olteca, not Hiromi. So despite how despicable Olteca is, there are no Kusaka/Micchy situation in Revice, thanks to Vice! Genta suffers from the effects of Giff coffin as well, further establishing Genta's relation to him, his big secret. The change that happened to Aguilera recently isn't redemption, just that it seems that her being put on more difficult position just makes character overall diminished. Now she's only about being obsessed with Giff (and revealing her goal previously as a parallel to Olteca, Giff related still). Previously she's established as being obsessed with Giff, but there's more on her like her persuasion and manipulating others to join Deadmans, her sinister side being covered by her childish cheery self, her warped worldview including how she views happiness, etc. Other than her lackluster battle results, I guess Sakura's criticism on her is a wake up call of the series itself to give Aguilera her multi-faceted parts back. I'd actually want to see if her development from here is to make her a more effective villain instead of redeeming her first. Tamaki's put in a more difficult position of supporting 2 girls at once (asking Sakura to take care of Aguilera... but it can be opposing like this episode), and actually unknowingly made a deal to Sakura to hand her the Giff ViStamp... and with him being powerless at this moment.... it gives a comedic bit of him using pleading gesture to Sakura instead. The series doesn't drag upon Akaishi's identity as an apparent Deadman Founder, with him clearly shown to work together with Olteca here (and shows the difference of him to other Fenix members, who just captured Olteca). Akaishi also performed a stock evil laugh at the end of episode. With him being the Deadman Founder, he's apparently the real main antagonist of the series, not Aguilera, not Olteca too. Another misleading preview a KR series had to prominently feature the Deadman trio before. What's known about Akaishi here is also that he, at least what he claims against others, share similar goals as Prof. Karizaki (George's father), to separate humans from demons, and it's a goal that didn't work out really well; certain self-awakened inner demons can actually be a nuisance or even a threat to their hosts. Olteca's scheme in this episode is simpler than I think, with him just exchanging items with Akaishi, him getting Giff ViStamp and Olteca getting Demons Driver. With Demons Driver claiming Olteca as smelling like a demon, now I wonder if Olteca actually had inner demon and that his previous Deadman form was a separate outside demon, or that the Driver refers to how evil and monstrous Olteca is. And with Olteca as Demons being strong enough to take on the 3 Igarashi siblings at once, now it just adds more mystery on the Demons Driver (other than to Hiromi), would Demons get stronger the more evil the user is (which'd make Hiromi the worst user as someone all about being heroic)?
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05-16-2023, 08:09 AM | #298 |
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You don't see it cause you're only looking at this from your own perspective. Obviously, since you consider her to be "fun and engaging", then you will enjoy her increased focus. But if you look again from the opposite perspective of people who dislike her, then you'll see that the result is also opposite. I hope this helps.
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05-16-2023, 09:53 AM | #299 |
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You don't see it cause you're only looking at this from your own perspective. Obviously, since you consider her to be "fun and engaging", then you will enjoy her increased focus. But if you look again from the opposite perspective of people who dislike her, then you'll see that the result is also opposite. I hope this helps.
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05-17-2023, 11:37 PM | #300 |
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KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 22 - “BANGING ABOUT… ATMOSPHERE STAIRWAY!?”
I don’t know how people quit these shows. I hear it a lot in these threads, that someone made it to Episode Whatever and bounced, owing to either a general lack of enthusiasm or a specific objection to a plot point/character/insert song. Despite this post’s opening sentence, I’d never say that anyone was wrong for dropping a show that they aren’t engaged with. It’s entertainment; if you aren’t being entertained, spare yourself the discomfort and aggravation. There’s nothing worse than watching a show that you can’t stand, just because you feel obligated to do so. You don’t. Quitting can be a victory for your mental health. But I don’t keep watching these shows out of obligation. I watch them out of a sense of hope. I watch them because a show can be like Revice: turning in a series-worst story in Episode 21, and then pivot before the opening credits of Episode 22 into a story about Ikki and Vice going undercover as a comedy duo to suss out a Deadmans-related mystery. The way these shows constantly change and evolve – the malleability of the production team, and their willingness to take risks – makes it so I can never drop a show after a bad episode or two. Every horrible episode is literally a scene away from winning me over. Every failure could become a success, in time. Which is not to say this episode was a home run! It was very fun, and clever about its storytelling, but it's still at least minorly bogged down by the stupidity of the recent Fenix/Weekend stuff. Let’s get that part out of the way: completely insane that this show keeps Akaishi in charge of Fenix after freeing Olteca and crashing the helicarrier. I’m sure there’s some narrative handwaving that can remove him from suspicion – technically, Hiromi is the only one who saw Olteca and Akaishi team up, and he’s too Exploded Off Of A Cliff to tell anyone right now – but a) the show never even bothers with that, so thanks; b) Hiromi just “died” telling Daiji and Ikki that Fenix wasn’t to be trusted; and, most importantly, c) the audience knows Akaishi is a bad guy, so it makes every scene where Daiji can’t see how slimy and duplicitous this guy is into a scene where Daiji looks like a total mark. It’s unbelievably aggravating, as a viewer. But that’s sort of it for the dumber elements of Revice? Everything else worked for me. I liked Aguilera maybe resorting to teaming with Olteca, because she needs to feel like she has a purpose, even if it’s with an untrustworthy scumbag like Olteca. (That, or she’s setting him up for a betrayal; either or!) I liked Tamaki trying to find shelter with literally his only other friend, Sakura. I liked Kagerou using Daiji’s confusion and anger over Hiromi’s fate to try and get loose again. I liked Lovekov finally, finally being in the opening credits where a star like her belongs. Mostly, though, I liked the Zero-One-esque story that Ikki and Vice landed in for this episode’s main plot. (The director even dressed like Aruto!) It’s mostly light fun, with Ikki accidentally leveraging his buddy comedy antics with Vice into a cover story to investigate the Deadmans attacks around a famous comedy duo, but I very much enjoyed how it was talking about the different ways partnerships can work, and maybe fall apart. We’re at a point in their arcs where Ikki and Vice share a natural, almost unspoken chemistry. They’re supportive of each other, and excited to see where their partnership can go. But they’re in a story about a partnership that’s inexplicably disintegrating as soon as it got successful, and they’re surrounded by comedy teams that are jockeying for position when they smell weakness. It’s not really getting at any specific tension within the Revice team, but it’s nicely foreshadowing that successful partnerships can end when the power differential of the partners becomes too great to ignore. Which, of course, gets exhibited in what looks to me like the Revice Berserk Form. It’s a great form, even if I assume we’ll be getting an Elemental Dragon-style finished version of the new suit in a couple episodes. It’s Vice as a solo act, more powerful with the Rolling Stamp than Revice were as a team. I’m going to assume that the stamp is letting Giff have more control/sway over Vice’s darker tendencies, but the end result currently is a gleeful Vice absolutely obliterating two Deadmans while causing a troubling amount of collateral damage. (Still, pretty sweet wrestling moves that Vice breaks out in his solitary excursion!) There’s all this fun black ink coloring the combat, representing the darkness that’s being let loose in this new form, as Ikki’s nowhere to be found. (It’s also immediately made clear that this stamp didn’t come from George, so it’s definitely not a gift for Ikki and Vice.) It’s a menacing way to end an episode that started so brightly, but it all felt like a natural development of this story and these characters. It’s such a pleasant surprise, this type of course-correction. It’s honestly not even a surprise at all. It’s why I can’t ever quit these shows – the knowledge that any episode could be better than the one before, even if they frequently aren’t in a given series. I like having my hope renewed. All it takes sometimes is for a show to remember what made it work in the first place.
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