[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER REVICE: THE MYSTERY EPISODE 3



Let’s start with the good!

I love that the Terui/George side of things is just a grumpier, more emotionally distant version of the Shotaro/Philip dynamic from W. Terui’s all DON’T YOU CARE ABOUT PEOPLE’S LIVES, while George is geeking out over all the cool new mad science he’ll get to do in violation of God’s will. It’s a conflict between facts and empathy, yet it might actually have cracked this case. Very fun homage to the original Kamen Rider detective duo.

Also, Kaido is Kaido! I’d sort of assumed he was, despite the pseudonym, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it’s actually the character from Faiz, not just another guitar-playing weirdo for the actor to elevate. Just a nice little beat. I like when characters I like get to show up again! I’m easy!

Now, the bad.

There’s basically no real mystery-solving going on at the lodge? The brainpower, when it comes to actual investigation, is all happening outside the locked-room murder mystery part of the project, and it’s an element that is the most standard Kamen Rider plot imaginable. Hunting Down A Monster is… it’s not exactly a mystery that necessitates placement in the title? That’s something that could be in not just any Revice episode, but any Kamen Rider episode. The twist for this one was supposed to be trying to catch a killer in a remote lodge, not running around the city, collecting clues in an abandoned lab. It’s disregarding the rules of an Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, and it makes the story more generic for that change.

And back at the lodge, the investigation is still just shouting accusations without any proof – baseless speculation and circumstantial evidence are the only tools at our heroes’ disposal – and then discovering that they’re no closer to the truth. It’s funny and all, sure. I like seeing an innocent Kaido get wrestled to the ground by a spry Otta and an injured Hiromi; I like physical comedy. But there’s no sense that anyone at the lodge is more or less a suspect than before, which makes everything that happens on that end of the story feel superfluous. The solution is to be found, if George is to be believed, outside of the lodge entirely. It’s not playing by the rules, which is a shame.

Diverting enough installment (I can’t express how excited I was to see Kaido put on that hat!!!) but not really creating a taut and gripping mystery over here. We don’t learn anything about why the groundskeeper had the Roidmude Stamp. We don’t learn anything new about Suzu, the maid, or the other dude. The bulk of the lodge story is pointing in Kaido’s direction, but he’s such an obvious red herring that I don’t count that as forward progress. (Mostly because anyone watching this is doing it because they know Accel and Kaido and Gridon and Bravo, so there’s no tension in if Kaido is suddenly a serial killer. I mean, any more than usual for an Orphnoch.) It’s a pleasant time spent with George and Terui in actually discovering clues, but the lodge part feels like empty fan service. Not a great installment, plot-wise.