[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER REVICE: THE MYSTERY EPISODE 2



It’s got to be Suzu, right?

She’s clearly playing Hiromi, Kaido, and Ikki. As soon as one of them sees her with another man, she starts flirting with the new one. It’s classic noir damsel behavior, where she’s trying to inflame those protective feelings in the men that should be suspicious of her, to get them to disqualify her as a suspect.

It’s an interesting weakness in Kamen Riders, them not really being suspicious of folks. The empathetic nature of their role in the story – to generally see the best in people, to afford second chances, to lift up rather than drag down – means that they’re almost all terrible at sussing out lies and exposing deception. They’re terrible at solving mysteries, because they take people at their word instantly; it would be unheroic of them to think someone’s lying. It makes for a whodunit where it mostly seems impolite to accuse anyone of a crime, and that’s always fun to watch.

Also fun to watch: even more guest stars! We still have Otta here to remind us of his terrible police work (mostly yelling at people and getting into shoving matches) from Drive, where Shinnosuke was the one who solved mysteries every other week, not him; but we also get the (brief?) arrival of Gridon and Bravo, fresh from a cute Saber cameo (I feel like it’s even the same outdoor set) and in their TTFC upgrade suits. It’s a fun scene, even if it’s another in this project’s series of George Fawns Over Riders recap scenes. I like Kamen Riders having to deal with fandom? It’s such an unexplored section of meta storytelling for this franchise, where they’re usually either urban legends or hunted monsters. The integration of an excited fan like George makes these little cameos that much more delightful.

I thought this was a fairly enjoyable second episode. There’s more time spent trying to get at Suzu’s character, and how she’s exactly as pure and innocent as she needs to be to get men to fall all over themselves protecting her. All the cameos and Legend Riders were a bonus this time, rather than the main event, and that’s my preference. Things are shaping up!