[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Yeah, I don't love the quick aside from Mom Igarashi to complain about Sakura -- and only Sakura -- going off to fight Deadmans. It's played for laughs, and Ikki (mostly) pushes back on Mom's concern, but it's still a weirdly adversarial stance for one of my favorite characters on the show. I wish she'd stop being a weird mom about this with Sakura!

Yet previously you defended Yukimi from people who criticized her like this...

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 16 - “FEELINGS TO PROTECT… THE ERA OF THE IGARASHI SIBLINGS!”

So, naturally, it was a gigantic bummer to have Mom Igarashi spend multiple episodes comically infantilizing her daughter, and hilariously diminishing her independence and resolve. Like, the show got it immediately (Ikki frequently calls it out), but it’s not any more fun to watch when you can see that the show is going somewhere with it. I liked it at first, because there was a rationale behind stopping non-powered Sakura from joining the fight; now, Sakura’s the equal to (at least) Daiji, and there’s no reason to assume that she can’t handle her side of the fight against the Deadmans. It’s a dumb plot.

Sakura has more potential than both Ikki and Daiji (as she's a black-belt ace martial artist), as stated in the previews. Now Sakura had another thing to be protected of which is her innocence, of which dunno if she'd approve of that or not, but I hope it can be a good lesson for her or audience to learn further about the burden of killing others. While Sakura does declare altruistic motivation to fight alongside others; making sure everyone is at peace, on the other hand she goes overboard on Genta that she just harshly takes her Driver from him despite that he practically helped her against Yukimi's overprotective nature, kinda gets on my nerves there.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Luckily, it ends well, in probably the only way it could. Mom Igarashi has probably had to stare down her unified children on many occasions, as they assumed that by working in concert, they could get their way. That… probably never worked. She’s okay telling her kids no, if it’s for the right reasons. Ikki and Daiji can pull all the She Can Handle Herself and We’ll Watch Out For Her pleading they want, but Mom’s made up her mind: Sakura’s too young to fight Deadmans.

To me Yukimi's overprotective nature that is even worse than Ikki is kind of annoying, though primarily due to how she doesn't extend that to Ikki and Daiji too, seems lowkey sexist. At least it's revealed here that Yukimi thought Deadmans are temporary that got her to be overprotective to Sakura, still doesn't explain how she views female sex as less to males to be only overprotective to Sakura. Hiromi finally clears this up by explaining about how the Deadman situation really is and that the world needs Igarashi siblings' protection more than them needing protection from Yukimi. Probably it's some poetic justice for her that instead of her children, she's the one had to be guarded by Fenix going anywhere here. Other than her previous overprotectiveness, I do like that they try to give some effort and touches in her cheerleading role, with her treating Vice differently, likely due to him trying to eating her or such, or her high energy actually harming Lovekov by accident, that she had to be restrained by Fenix soldier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The solution, weirdly, is to put Mom directly in the crowd for a hectic battle against Commander Chameleon and a few dozen Giff Jrs. She’d never really seen her kids at their best as Kamen Riders, as it turns out. She got knocked out before Ikki became Revi. When Ikki and Daiji were first Kamen Riders, they battled on vacation. She’s been worried about the dangers her kids have faced, but she’s never really seen her children working as heroes. Seeing them in action, it’s hard not to root for their success, rather than fret over the danger they’re in. Her natural instinct is to cheer on her children’s greatness; she just needed to be in a position to see them be great.

About Ikki saving Aguilera, it's explored further here that he felt burden that he can only kill Giftex like Kudo and Amahiko, without finding a way to separate the demons from their bodies, so he's the type to show sympathy for villains (like many of other main Riders) and would prefer to not use drastic solution, and he tried that too against Chameleon Deadman here, to no avail. Cool move from him to see through Chameleon taking Yukimi's form and block her literal backstabbing with the tissue. There's a nice fighting move of Revi in his Eagle ability to not brute forcing his way, but using Eagle's vision to track down Chameleon Deadman.

While Daiji is a bit more pragmatic here that he'd resort to ending threats like Giftex albeit he'd still shoulder the burden too like what he signed up for as a hardened soldier, instead of someone who relishes at using the 'brutal necessary' solution, so Daiji would still be a mostly safe guardian to be around (aside from Kagerou) compared to a good number of other secondary Riders.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s an interesting exploration of family as something that defaults to support, rather than needing a unified goal, which is a fun way to contrast it with the rapidly deteriorating Giffamilia. Aguilera thought she was in a family, but then she found out she was just in a gang. Where the Igarashis win the approval of their mother by showing their independence and self-sufficiency, Olteca turns on Aguilera the second she lacks a purpose in his scheming. The one thing Aguilera always counted on was a sense of belonging, and now she’s pissed off in a warehouse, with only Julio for backup. But Julio's there for her, which is sweet. He cared about her as more than a pawn or a boss; he cared about her as family.

I approve that despite the hardships that the Deadmans face, doesn't mean that Aguilera and Julio are instantly won over by the Igarashis/Fenix (well, Sakura sorta to Aguilera but for different reason, and planned to use her for sacrifice anyway), as obviously their aims aren't about their safety, but about Aguilera wanting to become one with Giff and Julio wanting to please Aguilera by any means, and the Fenix's actions are quite... hindering to their goals (Julio's interwinding with Aguilera).

Not to mention, what Julio does here only gives Aguilera hope to continue her original goal, with her outfit is fine and that'd mean so does Giff. She'd continue her villainous schemes, only without Olteca. So does Julio then if he had utter loyalty to Aguilera, revealed due to her saving him in the past. Dunno how long in the past, or even if Aguilera's probably not-so-evil at the time she saved Julio (likely her redemption key), even in present time Aguilera throws tantrums to Julio like a bitchy teenager, using him as punching bag of which Julio would endure with his loyalty to her.

Olteca reveals his goal of just ruling the world so far, and admitting that Aguilera's just his puppet queen, as he does to Vice. Chameleon Deadman dies quicker than I expected, just like Amahiko before, with him being revealed as the impossibru guy... so he's not actually unremarkable... he's remarkable as meme icon... depends if Revice had memes similar to irl ones (I mean they have KR shows). "Impossible!" is also a stock villain remark upon defeat, but ironically it's not used here to focus on his insecurity more.

So far this episode seems to portray George at his most wholesome, just applauding the Fenix members and the Igarashi's work, and also taking care of Hiromi who once again is promoted as Commander. I guess Hiromi has no mistakes or blunders anymore so far and that's likely lowkey his development. Still though there's his smirk as Hiromi leaves.