[DreadBringer]

Forgot to post before.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 9 - “KAGEROU RUNS RAMPANT! THE IGARASHI BROTHERS… TORN APART!?”

One of the big thesis statements of this show is that, by ignoring the parts of ourselves we dislike, we’re actually empowering them. The solution to inner turmoil and negative thinking is to draw that stuff out into the open, confront it, and find some way to make peace with it. Ikki and Vice are the hopeful outcome that prove the thesis, what with their Kamen Ridering for justice and family and busybodying and so forth, but Daiji and Kagerou are the cautionary tale that do the same. Daiji thought he could refuse to acknowledge his envy and resentment towards his older brother, but all that did was create a vengeful jealousy monster with naturally-occurring makeup and no particular strategy. Rather than accept his own emotional shortcomings – along with, uh, his psychological and physical ones; Daiji’s… not bringing a lot to the table yet – Daiji clamped down on his darker impulses until it was too late to address them. In lieu of self-examination and counseling, now he’s got a death sentence from Fenix and a brother who may end up Rider Kicking him out of a possession and into the afterlife.

Vice shouldn't be lumped with Ikki together for Kamen Ridering and busybodying, because Vice is just put on a leash at this point, but the one putting a leash is a person like Ikki, so Vice would be forced to go along with his whims whenever he likes it or not, because Vice would die otherwise. For Daiji though, I know people tend to like if the characters are culpable (but out of misguided view that characters have to be terrible to be complex), but while perhaps denying the parts of ourselves we dislike can encourage it, but there's also a case where they don't act on it, thus it's not problematic. Daiji still has his conscience to not go through his insecurity, and the conflict that happened between them so far was only about Ikki not being committed enough. A story can make a representation of anyone else's darkest traits but not directly coming from them, like using separate entity in Kagerou who actually acts on those envy, albeit it does can end with the original person apologizing for what that entity do regardless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And yet… god, Kagerou’s not much to talk about in the moment to moment of this show? He’s just a walking Stamp Story: causing chaos, getting beat, wandering off, repeat. Beyond emotionally torturing Ikki – which is, admittedly, his entire stated goal – he’s not really elevating the narrative structurally. Thematically, yes, absolutely, see above. But the shape of this episode isn’t especially appealing, even compared to some of the lackluster prior installments. It’s honestly, I think, down to how unimpressive the actor’s performance is for Kagerou. It’s just one-note, and that note is He Smiles Too Much. There’s no charisma or menace to Kagerou, no sense of anything lurking under the surface. When he breaks everything down for Ikki at the end – that Ikki’s positive qualities created a raging envy in Daiji – it’s the most animated and expressive the character has been to date… but it’s all under the Evil mask. This should’ve been the scene where Kagerou’s motivation blossomed into something complicated and tragic, but it’s all delivered as a jab at Revi from Evil, not an emotional bombshell from one brother to another. Kagerou never quite feels as threatening as an unhinged, resentful Daiji should be, and the Evil plots match that uninspired performance.

Now Kagerou's the one to go giving out ViStamps, and so far he did it in a more brutal way than the Deadmans, who were goading the humans to give into their desires, practically doing "good" against them, albeit only temporary (the consequence of shallow desires) and that it won't do good to others, while against the Super Sentai alumnis, Kagerou took them hostage, and probably tortured them too shown in the injuries of those 3 scammers. Though those 3 aren't good people, Kagerou targeting them and making them miserable doesn't make Kagerou good, evil people can target other evil people too, one of the prominent example is Daguva killing other Grongis in Kuuga. Kagerou's the one who commits the actions, but he claims all of that can be traced back into Daiji, where Kagerou pretty much recounts Daiji's entire life until now, of being the jealous brother under Ikki's shadow, where it's the reason of him joining Fenix as well to shine as Kamen Rider, only for Ikki to take over the Kamen Rider role as well, with Kagerou manifesting if there's enough hatred from Daiji. Another Kagerou trait is that he actually likes feeling pain due to it meaning that he had full control of the body.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But it still works, because of how much the episode centers on the Igarashis’ response to Evil’s (repetitive, generic) activities. The whole point of the episode is about how a family solves problems internally, and how we need to see every part of the people we love in order to best care for each other. Ikki’s unable to stop Kagerou because he can’t see past his brother’s face, but even when he does, he can’t forget that Kagerou comes from something deep inside Daiji; Daiji isn’t possessed by some outside force, Kagerou literally came from inside him. The terror of Kagerou for the Igarashi family isn’t that Daiji’s trapped, it’s that Kagerou is the part of Daiji he never wanted anyone to see. When Ikki’s tasked with bringing Daiji home, it’s not because of Revi or Vice or stamps or Drivers, it’s because Ikki’s always been the one who most understood Daiji, even when no one else did. The problem in this one… it’s not a Kamen Rider problem, and that’s why the cliffhanger is Ikki trying to solve it as one: a cliffhanger only works if it’s making things worse. The solution isn’t to defeat Kagerou, it’s to save Daiji. Those are two different things.

It seems that Sakura's most respected person so far is Daiji, getting enraged at those who are against Daiji, including Ikki. So there's something Daiji at least is superior to Ikki; getting Sakura's approval, dunno what though, though I'd say at least she resembles Daiji the most; being a more serious person and both gets embarrassed and annoyed with the family's antics (with Daiji denying his relation to them in promotion). The opposite to others is also about how Sakura's the only one to not treat Daiji as baby-ish unlike the other Igarashis, or even Fenix like Hiromi. I like puns so I rather like Vice's scene of inserting "daiji" in as many sentences he can, but I also think that the fourth wall joke in this episode from him is just uninspired and too blatant. Vice also suggests that Daiji won't be able to be saved... I wonder if that's Ikki's secret skepticism against Daiji. Both of the parents kinda are forcing the family members to be happy. The Kamakiri Genome, Gaim-based, is one of those that has "accurate" weapon to the source material, Kamakiric Arrow is like Sonic Arrow, can shoot energy arrows as well as close combat.

So even with Kagerou revealing his identity to others, there's still can be conflict and drama present among the family, with Ikki being assigned to finish off Daiji by George and Wakabayashi, with Hiromi encouraging Ikki to do that too (as Hiromi who deals the finish blow). George is able to be dubious and suspicious here, even without him shoving the order into Ikki, assigning him to finish off Daiji in his usual goofy, sleazy way, even if Ikki objects. This'd also reveal another shrewd quality of George (which Wakabayashi also notes) that he's also the type who places scientific research above anything else (along with spy cameras), he doesn't care about the user's morality, only giving Drivers to those he deems suitable, which is how he gives Kagerou the Driver. Said Wakabayashi seems to have some questionable morals himself (but not ambiguously evil ones like George), he seems to be the pragmatic type who'd use any kind of method to get the job done and encourages others to do the same, being onboard with the orders to finish off Kagerou without any hesitation, as well as ignoring what's going through with Daiji/Kagerou, and that's probably how he berates others for being swayed by emotions, which is actually about him celebrating cold detached traits, and that he places Fenix's reputation above everything else. Not much to talk about Hiromi character wise here, other than how he's also cooperative with others like Ikki, another good trait, but I'd like to see how'd he deal the finishing blow. Hiromi's really taking the Showa part, where his new form Mogura Genomix resembles Amazon.