Kamen Rider Revice Episode 43- "The End Of Eternity, Where Regrets Lead!" Discussion
 

As the Igarashi family reunites, an even greater threat awakens.

On one hand HOLY s--t has this "is Daiji evil or not" arc outstayed it's welcome (it wouldn't if he weren't so inconsistently written) on the other THE WORST VILLAIN IN THE FRANCHISE IS GONE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDU_...tercatInstinct

ok on a more serious note is the new thing Daiji gets for the next episode Kamen Rider Giff or a possible fusion of Evil and Live I thought it was the Evil equivalent to Holy Live but saw the TwoSidriver was in Live Gun move

The pointless little exposition from Masumi about George having his personality affected by his demon or whatever feels so bad and does nothing good for these characters, but George kinda hasn't really mattered in a long time so I can't pretend to be too upset by it.

All my interest in the episode is the very end though, which is Daiji opting to make a contract with Giff! This could be leading into about a dozen different things that may or may not consist the entire last stretch of the show's story, but it really does feel like all the elements that have been stewing in the cauldron for a very long time now are about to explode out. It at least kinda has to because Akashi is gone (and to be replaced by the one who took him out?!)

The most interesting thing from this episode is Masumi's inner demon actually is transfered to George's body. But in the past, we didn't have clear signs about George's inner demon.

Maybe some of signs of George's inner demon is:

- George really obsessed to Evil and Live experiments in early of Revice series.
- George become addicted to Demons Driver in episode 32.

I think George can become a new Kamen Rider in the some of last Revice episodes.

Hey, 42 was such a pleasant episode, let's see what 43 has in store for us-Oh.

-The George bit.......Why? Just, why? Granted, the show has been actively pushing back aganist George's early characterization of the morally ambigous scientist (saying that Akaishi forced him to do X and Y, making him feel bad for the condition he's put Hiromi in [nevermind that he giggling n shit over it early on]) once it was decided he was a pure ally character around the late 20s, but *this*? Not only does it read as a bizzare retcon that at worst is trying to handwave George's early actions as "lol, Masumi's demon was influncing him", it makes George's attempts at redemption feel weaker overall? A similar thing happened with Fuwa in 01, with the whole "implant memories to make him a human weapon", but at least happened at arguably the major end of his character arc, actually tied in to him finding his new resolve as a Kamen Rider of Yua's design, not Gai's, and as while I still didn't like that twist, was properly teased during the show and feels better executed as part of the narrative and its themes? This is just a weird bit that doesn't add anything other than "Masumi is a guy who made A Lot Of Mistakes", but we already knew that???

-Heyyyyyyy, Hikaru did a Thing! Bit sad we bulit all that up for him to not even be the one to finish off Akaishi, or even do a double finisher with Revice, but oh well!

-.....I forget if it was established before, but Vice has kept all of Ikki's memories that he's forgotten, huh. Why do I get the feeling that the end of Revice will not necesarily end/focus on beating Gifu, but more about returning Ikki's memories to him, somehow through Vice. I mean, think about it? When's the last time Rider has bulit up a "dynamic duo" and hasn't tossed them one final sorrowful twist/obstacle in their show's endgame, right? The show is practically screaming it's gonna go for a "Gifu's defeated, but at the cost of all of Ikki's memories" thing, so I wonder how things will work out....

-Daiji...so because he thinks Kagerou's gone forever, he thinks he can't turn back from the past he's chosen? The choice to make a new contract with Gifu to protect humanity is interesting.....if it wasn't the episode where it seems Gifu has completely given up coexisting with humanity, and is in favor of all-out destruction. I wonder what will happen....

-Yeah, its a standard set-up episode for Revice (has thing that I really dont like, lots of little things I'm disappointed by/nuetral on, but not to the point where I can say it was a bad episode because I know the payoff episode will give me something.) Idk why was expecting the show's standards to be upped a bit after 42, guess not.

Would not be surprised if the reason they included this bit about George was because of the reception to why George did what he did and explained about in Episode 29. There's enough of a gap for them to be like "Oh people didn't like that so let's course correct further".

George is an interesting character with potential, and tbh like in retrospect... I can see what they were going with? Especially with the thing of him supposedly being the original Demons.

Really, this is them trying to shove Hiromi into the story as a Rider role when ever since his return he's proven that he shines his best as a support character. And like, I love Hiromi. But if he really did take Demons from George when it comes to the bts aspect of Revice? Yeah that was a mistake.

Anyway can I just say I'm legitimately surprised they decided to have a fight scene with Giff, and it looks like they're doing one again next time too. When it comes to like that kind of suit and stuff... it's impressive! I still hold the fear that Kamen Rider Giff might come but the fact that they're at least committing to a few fights with him in his monster form is impressive honestly. My hope is that they just go Sagittarius Nova and do a slimmed down form.

I'm also excited for next time because it looks like Daiji's Arc is about to fully culminate at last and with a new form!

I'm willing to believe that Hiromi's transformation in the next episode is a fluke, after that all the health concerns for him, Dear Gaga reestablishing/recontextualizing what it means to be a hero to him (at least I think so, we haven't seen that 2nd half yet), and just how well he clicks into the support role, it'd feel like a step back.

This one dialogue from Masumi (whose only character is now saying 'I did bad') add nothing to George's character at all and only serves to completely absolve him of anything he has done. Zero accountability. And I think it's George who I think doesn't fit into the rider role and should serve as support.

And admittedly, I'm really not a fan of Hiromi's post-fall characterization. He's body isn't fit to transform, but he's still going out there, rifle in hand, to fight. It's nonsensical to not give him a belt of the MP Demons because it shouldn't really do anything to him and would only serve as armor. It's the original Demons Driver, which was purged of its issues anyway, that will cause a problem on him. He's the one I feel who serves best on the support rider role.

I'm expecting Hiromi to fail to transform next week with how much they're allergic to him, but he and Daiji are on the ground looking exhausted so maybe

I'm surprised the whole "George having Masumi''s demon" thing is getting so much attention. To me it's just a ham-fisted reference to the demon in the Battle Familia trailers that looks vaguely scientist themed and has a reverse of George's hairstyle (see Attached).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for this idea that "George was originally meant to be Demons" (according to the wiki this comes from an interview George's actor went on), personally I find this kind of interesting.

Hiromi as Demons became quite popular with fans due to the very Showa-esque hero appeal of his character. If George the "morally ambiguous scientist" character was the initial Demons we got instead, I wonder how that would've turned out.

aHonestly feel like Hiromi should've died in 21 it felt like the logical conclusion to his story and it was one of the best episodes of the show (That and the GEnta vs Vali arc were the ONLY 2 arcs in this show with a satisfying resolution)
EDIT ok let me reiterate Hiromi's arc WAS Perfect as it was before they decided to unecessarily bring him back

Of course, after the previous episode, the series regressed back.

So Deadman Aguilera had a competitor in whose the biggest Giff simp, Akaishi himself. He too, had his downfall being desperate for Giff's further assistance (slapped for Aguilera, contract terminated for Akaishi). Akaishi had been implied to be biased against Giff before, but it's now clear here that he's only serving Giff, fuck with anyone else. Like, if Giff wants him to keep humanity, then he does so like before, but if Giff wants to eradicate humanity as for now, then Akaishi would also do that. Akaishi's misantrophic and dunno if he wasn't fully agreeable with keeping humans before of which he sees as the real demon to his object of worship Giff.

His new form Gigademos doesn't really return him to his grace before, though it finally had Over Demons (other than Hikaru's training) showing its proper ability, in combining the Genomixes to overwhelm Gigademos. It's finally there, though after Demons (both base and Over) successor came in Destream. Perhaps what makes it inferior is about how utilizing its power takes the toll to the Rider and its user. Akaishi still held Daiji in high regard even when Daiji is killed, looking forward to his next moves. Actually that's something like Steven Armstrong too, to die, but still proud of finding who he can view as successor.

Daiji's still like before, Genta's word only made him conflicted to the extent, still not an instant step in bringing him back. Or it seems that his situation is irreversible even if he listened to Genta, that Kagerou had died. Him killing Akaishi is the same move as what he (attempted to) does to Ikki, offing anyone who can't save humanity. Only that Akaishi is a valid target unlike Ikki, but still doesn't mean Daiji is redeemed here, as he attempted to make a deal with Giff. He's an (anti-)villain killing another villain. And Giff himself doesn't seem to be much superior than Ultimate Revi/Vice too here! Hiromi once again, finally loses his cool and breaks down like at Wakabayashi's death, for Daiji's decision. Not much for Ikki here other than his memories losing again that he's apparently ok if others still remember him, and about him having big bro approach to Hikaru.

Regarding the Karizakis, Masumi had spent most of his time trying to atone for what he did, and it seems that actually despite his constant self-depreciating, he had won the others' approval, like Aguilera (who Masumi forgot, was someone worse than him) for giving her a place, and even from Sakura too, who now see the good in him injecting Genta with Giff cells while Masumi still saw that as despicable, the opposite of their first encounter. Though of course it's because he hadn't tell others yet about what he considered his biggest sin (and probably it really is), of injecting his own demon into George, which claimed here to be influencing his personality. And probably his relationship with George is strained again though others would support George at his behest.

The explanation, man, now this seems like an asspull, because George has no supernatural indicator at his mad scientist days, and this created further plot hole that when and how George did lose Masumi's demon inside him (must be on the late 20s of Revice when he became an ally)? Granted, the previous explanation wasn't good either like him being 'forced' under Akaishi's will, when he gleefully throws everyone under the bus for his research instead of being someone like, Yua to Gai in Zero-One, but this is also contradicting to the previous explanation where this one implies George has no control, while previously George had control by being 'forced'.

What's confusing so much about this? Is it because he killed Akaishi but later make a deal with Giff? Here's the thing, targeting/killing bad guys doesn't instantly make someone good, bad guys can target/fight other bad guys, and there are many other examples in KR too, like Kamen Rider Eternal vs Eyes Dopant. What Daiji did to Akaishi is the same as what he did to Ikki, killing anyone who gets in his way of saving the world. He's still the same self-righteous knight templar anti-villain for now who happens to kill a deserving target.

So, it seems that you're ok with the George's explanation of him being forced under Akaishi before? Because that wasn't so convincing either. If George is being forced under Akaishi, then I think he should act like, another Zero-One example, Yua under Gai more. He clearly thrives over the chaos he caused that time (unless somehow it's a facade). Actually yeah there's character redeeming themselves to become better, and there's split personality that is the only one doing shitty things (like Daiji before Kagerou's death, he had insecurity to Ikki, but genuinely cared about him, all the malice comes from Kagerou not from him), but this one's just inconsistent before weakening his redemption.

Sorry, thought the implication was there that I liked the "morally ambiguous scientist" thing best and wasn't fond of the rollbacks in character. The "Akaishi forced him" thing, my reaction to it was" Finnnnnne, I see you really want George as a full ally and have plans for him in that position, but you can't move forward unless you quickly patch this up. I'll just roll my eyes and wait to see what you have in store for the character." I wasn't happy with it, but it's definitely the lesser of two evils, no?

This episode had its ups and downs.

I liked Hikaru beating the stuffing out of Akaishi and Daiji blasting him... but that's about it.

Again, I can see what they're doing with Daiji, which, it's better than suddenly making him obedient to Akaishi (I knew what he was going to do to him the moment he started approaching him), and it does work (somewhat) since Kagerou's gone, but I still feel like his character is inconsistent. I don't mind the "Daiji becoming a villain to divide the family" angle, but it could have been done better, to me at least. Like maybe, you could spin a more compelling reason to break him to make him fear Giff like killing Genta or something, but with everything leading up to this, it doesn't work for me.

And then there's George possessing his daddy's demon (I was wondering if he had a demon being saved for Battle Familia), which, is kind of out of the blue. I feel like they should have alluded to it before this, but I don't have any real standing on it, which we'll see how that works after the series concludes.

Also, I think Giff should have remained a statue until the final arc, if he was going to just sit in a space room for 20 or so episodes. Which I think would have worked better in making his monster form more threatening, but the way he "speaks" is interesting.

Next Episode: New Show! Kamen Rider Giflive!

I feel like if they had simply done a better job at developing Daiji this whole arc would've been fine the problem is they didn't (I Get the IDEA but I Feel like the execution's middling)