[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 4 - “LACKING LOVE BIRTHS DANGEROUS DEMONS”

There’s a neat complexity to the beginning part of this episode, where emotions and relationships are allowed to be complicated: Daiji resents Ikki’s lack of focus as Kamen Rider Revi; Ikki chafes against Daiji’s value system and selfishness; Ayaka resents her sister’s primacy in their mother’s eyes; Ayaka’s mother is maybe doing a not great job of caring for one moody teenager and one pre-teen celebrity, but is mostly just guilty of some slight inattention. It’s a group of characters that all have valid reasons to be upset, but also are all lacking in the empathy that would let them consider someone else’s feelings. It’s messy! I like a messy storyline where everyone’s a little wrong!

As a show with family theme, now Ikki faces an opposition of, the opposite of how his family get along, which is a dysfunctional family. Though I wonder how actually close Ikki to Ayaka (Oketani, not Imoto) before if Ikki doesn't seem to know fully about her dysfunctional family. I know that the parental favoritism had happened since long ago, though probably it can be Ayaka hiding to Ikki about her family or such. Still though, tfw Sakura's portrayed by Ayaka Imoto, and that she's a karate practicioner, and that she had a friend named Ayaka, and that Ayaka (the character)'s actress Seiko Utsumi was the one that is stated to be able to do karate irl...

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The problem with a messy storyline on a Kamen Rider show is that, nine times out of ten, there needs to be a good guy and a bad guy; things need to flatten out for a clear victory with a side of Rider Kick. What starts off as a nicely nuanced exploration of differing perspectives and emotional needs within a family structure just resolves into Ayaka’s Mother Was Wrong and Ikki Signs With Fenix. It’s two characters subsuming their own needs into what’s best for someone else, rather than anyone collectively learning to respect boundaries and/or prioritize self-sufficiency. In a story that desperately needs to end with a middle ground solution, we’re left with two winners, and two losers.

So the claim of Ikki protecting family is meant to show that he's the type of the person to not skipping steps, as you said, heroism starts local and builds global. Him prioritizing to protect family doesn't mean that he wouldn't care about others, for his case it's about knowing that he won't be able to accomplish everything, and it's not that all realistic to expect himself or someone to alter the whole world or its interlocking systems altogether. I'd think it's good to show that realistic doesn't mean negative traits, where the right way should be caring about family (or any loved ones) while being ok to be apathetic to any others, probably due to some audience trying to use fiction as fantasy escape, to live freely without regard of society around, wanting to only care just about certain things against the society's expectation to care about others. It's a nice mix of realism and moral, that Ikki is grounded and focuses on what he thinks he can like his family priority, but doesn't mean that he won't have the decency to help others if he can, where he said it himself that he'd be there if Deadman shows up. Kamen Riders aren't omnipresent though, the location of the Deadman needs to be told to him, which Fenix would have more... and that'd mean Genta is.. useful for this!

The strife between Daiji and Ikki did happen, but though you depicted the previous episode of how unheroic Daiji is, and that there were people making dark speculations about him at that time, actually this shows that Daiji is one of the secondaries who is straight up heroic from the start, like Rintaro before. Good guys can be at odds with each other, not that one must be good or bad. Daiji gives me an Ichijou vibe here, he believes in the serious duty of the soldiers (Fenix) to protect the people, which'd mean not letting civilian with no real aspiration get involved, even if they have superpowers. Though that's the reason of him trying to get Ikki join Fenix so he'd be an actual part of the group having a actual public safety role, Ikki has impulsive nature of acting before thinking, and that Fenix is more well-equipped to do the job of fighting off Deadmans and especially tracking them down - while Ikki only goes fighting when he learns of the news, more passive. Ikki now did have more commitment to become the Kamen Rider that would keep the citizens safe, like how Yusuke gains Mighty Form after being more committed, which is how they make amends at the end of the episode.

For Ayaka one, it'd be the opposite, it's about how both sides can share a portion of faults and that not only one side should be held accountable, which can happen to only solely blame the shitty parents, like Taeko, for how the child ends up as ignoring the child choosing to commit atrocities themselves. I didn't expect her revealing herself openly in front of others instead of keeping herself concealed with the shadowy cloaked outfit (outside of the sandals, which she keeps as civilian). Though yeah she has had a miserable life, her actions also have harmed others like those who watch the concert, which means she's still hold accountable for her actions here which are her own choice. Notably Ayaka's the one to escalate the Deadman threat as well of signing a contract, giving the debut of Phase 2 Deadman, with teleporting ability, and it seems that they're more sentient compared to the beastly usual Deadman (and I guess explains Revi holding Kong Deadman Phase 2 in place), and I got what I wanted of Deadmans showing a further corrupted version of the ViStamp users (Ayaka wanting to torment her mom).

Taeko's a grounded take of a shitty parent of her deflecting blames and giving excuses of her actions to Ayaka, instead of a very over the top practice (blatantly abusive) that my country's TV show is rife of (and Yuka's treatment in Faiz reminds me of many of what my country airs instead), doesn't mean she's less despicable of having more subtle abuse (depending on the people, can make them more slimy with her vagueness, even if the over the top abusive one can cause more damage). She's also probably the type to crave fame (standard human... vice) to favor the child that can take her to that, Miharu. Though still Miharu's personality was never really shown, like how, only very small thing like reminding her mom that she'll be late in last ep., probably showing that she's dismissive of Ayaka too, but also takes her idol career seriously (instead of being pressured).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And even the solution… it’s just Love Them More? It makes a little more sense for the clearly troubled Ayaka than it does for Daiji, but both conclusions feel rushed and somewhat myopic. Ayaka’s got a sister that she imperiled, and a mother who (based on two episodes of appearances) is raising both of these kids solo. I don’t know if Ayaka’s mom is who should be at fault here? And Ikki’s asked to set aside his own convictions (reasonable ones!) to pick up Daiji’s slack and support Daiji’s goals, which is maybe not a great long-term strategy for resolving Daiji’s mood swings. I can respect Ikki opting to put in more energy to meeting Daiji’s demands as Ikki always sacrificing for his family, but alongside the Ayaka stuff, it’s a disappointing solution for a legitimate dilemma.

Yeah, Revice has solid first half, but this was the part that I hate the most among it. The resolution is though... uhhhh... the usual extremely quick "everything's instantly fine" due to it not being the focus of the whole series and it only being 2-parter, that Ikki simply convinces Taeko to make up with Ayaka, without any substance (or they show too little via only flashbacks), I mean other than it being done too easily, there are no plausible reason for Taeko to suddenly change for lifetime behavior, when even after the Kong Deadman's rampage, she's still concerned about only Miharu's well-being. It can be to protect herself and Miharu for Deadman's rampage for example, but it's not addressed. And even after they make up, it shouldn't be about how the family's instantly fine now, there should be also the fallout that have to be dealt by them due to the mom's shitty upbringing. It's probably a rather easy choices/solution too of freeing people of being contracted to Deadman just by beating them in battle, when it's presented as something someone can't turn back against (or Taeko convincing Ayaka that she won't care how she looks like, and Ikki previously trying to reason with Ayaka instead too). Though this still shows that George is utterly chaotic, presenting the solution of Rider Kicking them with glee, thriving on violence albeit the end result would prevent further violence. I hope Geats won't go this route with the abusive parents angle.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

In the periphery, we get some interesting exposition from the Giffamilia, where the types of monsters (and their scarcity) gets detailed, and Aguilera gets a little scene to emphasize that the enemy group is also a family. It’s not really a ton, and it’s maybe only a few degrees more interesting than the Book Club ever was on Saber, but the Giffamilia is intriguing enough to not write off yet. (I mean, it helps that Aguilera’s performance is so goddamn magnetic. There’s a seductive exuberance to her threats, and a performative petulance to her impatience. She makes such neat choices as an actor!) There’s also George’s robust Kamen Rider collection, which strangely goes unremarked upon, but I’m sure we’ll get there soon.

The one who convinces and signs Ayaka's contract, Aguilera, finally goes to the scene here directly, in a different outfit. I guess they saved her for bigger stuff compared to Olteca and Julio before, of being the one to present contracts and Phase 2 Deadmans. Like the other 2, she also persuades the ViStamp users to do her bidding, and though she carries it in a calm and affable manner like Olteca, there's still obvious maliciousness behind her smile and joy she presents to others. It's a show about how upbeatness can turn someone menacing instead, and it'd portray Aguilera's complete ego to accomplish tasks without much effort, which means she won't treat others seriously, constantly taunting others, potentially to create a demon out of them figuratively, knowing that they won't stand against her power and/or charisma. Seems similar to George's style of speaking, and probably would be the evil counterpart to George in that case, if George is a good guy at the end anyway (him in this episode responds to Daiji's request more seriously, to guide him to update instead of mocking him). She'd even literally step on others (obligatory "I wish it was me in Ikki's place") as if they're not there...

The Ptera form's special ability seems to be the Rider form that provides a huge vehicle, while the Rider itself didn't have many other than hopping around. The CGI's still questionable, but that applies to all KR series. The fight still portrays the monster's menace well though, with the damages from the rampage of Kong Deadman Phase 2 being prevalent. The finisher, again, seems to be the Ryuki type (Alternative's Final Vent) where your vehicle spins rapidly in impact to the opponent. Though the Faiz motif seems to be shown in Vice being a vehicle (like Auto Vajin), not much of Faiz-motif abilities like Mammoth's rail before though, probably the super-speed like stuff to save Miharu that resembles Faiz Axel. Speaking of Mammoth, the AoE capability is used well here to take out the swarms of the Giff Juniors at once.