[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 17 - “DEEPENING BETRAYAL AND THE TRUE WORTH OF A BUDDY”

We’re firmly in Act 2 now, and without a cool new Rider to focus its narrative muscle on – Daiji got plenty of spotlight in Act 1, Hiromi is a disintegrating mess with a big ol’ Ask Again Later flashing over his head, and Sakura is already absolutely perfect – the show smartly decides to start treating the Deadmans generally, and the Giffamilia specifically, as an actual collection of people worth interrogating. Now that their nightclub-church-spaceship is destroyed, and Olteca’s split off from Julio and Aguilera, it’s time to dig into what’s making people Gracias so many Deadmans.

Continuing from before, Daiji is relatively more pragmatic, but not in brutal and ruthless way that anti-heroes usually have on this, he accepts that Giftex can only be killed, but he's also a bit morose for this instead of being forceful to Ikki like a good number of secondary Riders that clashed with protagonists. I kinda feel disappointed that Sakura didn't reference Tamaki at her dojo before, as she does try to subdue Julio here for Yosuke, and that she had heard Yosuke's story, that he really was named Tamaki. Otherwise Sakura's quite considerate and understanding against Yosuke. Later time for the Ushijima's long stairs though.

Regarding Ikki, for now George proposes the Volcano ViStamp to separate demons from Giftex, of which requires him to level up his teamwork with Vice, done via a virtual reality fighting against Revi. I'd like to see the stakes there though (other than Vice freezing/Ikki burning), like what'd happen if they got hit, though probably it also shows that they've established teamwork (since ep. 13) before George puts them there. Other than the debut of Volcano Rex Genome with fire and ice power for Revi and Vice respectively (Ikki can get fired up against Vice's antics yeah, but don't understand yet for giving Vice with ice... e̶h̶ ̶w̶a̶i̶t̶ ̶V̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶c̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶V̶), I guess we won't see the separating demon part that George claimed before, as the episode emphasizes Olteca's schemes more, with his new Giftarians that actually sacrifices the cult member and not leaving any body behind after its defeat. The scene of Giftarian's appearence was chilling, good job to show how horrific it is and, Olteca's stint now that Volcano Rex Genome's plan is instead to make Ikki angry, like Kouta to Redyue or... Sento to Evolt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Julio’s backstory kicks us off, and I confess to not previously spending a single second wondering about what drove him to mariachi-inflected monstering. The hair, yes, of course; constant wondering about that absurd bowl cut. But beyond that… I don’t know, I guess I got burned out because of the Book Club from Saber, whose eventual story of kinship tainted by power was thin gruel after a season of inappropriate flips and playing the piano. Julio’s motivation was being a sidekick, and I just assumed that was the extent to which I was supposed to see him.

So turns out Tamaki was really Julio's real name. Sakura had "known" him in her karate dojo by his real name. I guess not only the newcomers Haitani and Kudo, or even the Deadman cult members, our antagonist cast are all originated like them too. I did expect that someone will turn into Deadman cult out of miserable life, and turns out that it's one of the major antagonist's origin too in Julio, of him suffering high school hell by playing TCG with Yosuke (and him giving in into peer pressure as well). And actually Tamaki looks sharper with his glass and hairstyle compared to him as Julio now despite that it's something to make him nerdy along with TCG hobby. The origin of his "smile" came from Yosuke as well, of which him implementing that to Aguilera would mean despite denying Yosuke's existence at the end, deep down he still valued their time together. Albeit the betrayal makes traitors his trigger, and Olteca's the obvious target.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Instead, we get this heartfelt story about teenage bullying and betrayal, where a sweet kid gets burned by his best friend and joins a cult. I mean, it’s more nuanced than that, but the gist is that Julio felt alone and joined a cult. I don’t mind that, honestly? I like the slow exploration of the Deadmans as something that offered a found family to people who felt punished by a world of villains, and manipulated those people into serving Olteca’s desire for power. Julio needed something he wasn’t getting anywhere else, so he let himself be reshaped by the Deadmans (horrible haircut and all) in order to feel like he was loved and protected.

Julio had talked about Aguilera saving him, and I guess, the flashback shows that it's not really noble thing as I thought (and that's good, it's consistent with her character), it's Aguilera persuading others to join the cult as usual like she did on people like Ayaka (and Julio being one of those recruits like contract holders, only that he became general). Despite the backstory being set to establish their bond, this quite gives a dark implication that it's another way to show the influence 'selling soul to a devil' can give, outwardly giving people pleasure (for the despondent or hedonists especially), shown in how loyal Julio is to Aguilera for major character, and the Deadman cult members that Olteca leads (particularly Kanae Motomura, the girl who is eager to help him) for minor characters.

Julio though, backstory aside, shows how a trait that is normally viewed as good can bring out bad things instead here, Julio is loyal to a maniacal cult leader as she gave him what he wants, thus that'd mean he becomes nightmarish cult executive himself that dishes harm upon others, the exact something that worries Yosuke. Though sympathetic, I think Julio strengthens my argument about how being kind to certain loved ones doesn't make one necessarily good person. Yosuke's apology and the effort to make amends seems genuine and sincere here that he's not hateable despite his betrayal (still at fault).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The larger story of the Deadmans doesn’t really get elevated (it’s just a bunch of deranged cultists with chips on their shoulders; nothing to see here) but in a show about the ways Family shapes, improves, and negates us, I like spending a little time with how people inherently thrust themselves into family dynamics of their own making. I like the idea that the Giffamilia’s bond is weaker than biological family because there’s no societal pressure to enforce it, but maybe stronger than the Igarashis for the same reason. Julio thought Olteca was on the same side as him, and now learned that Olteca was only ever on his own side. Julio’s in a story about when friendships hurt us, and what we owe to the friends that hurt us.

Those are the negative influence a demon cult brings and how an admirable trait turned negative, and that should be stopped. Doesn't mean the way is strictly 'murder anyone who is bad' though, if there are other less violent ways that can be thought of, which Ikki is considering and looking for ways to separate demons without killing humans. This is expected if a Rider series made the main protagonist to be straight-up heroic, of which Ikki is made like that too (and him being focused on family is him taking small steps, not him neglecting others for family), at least for now (if the implications of his negativity via Vice comes later), that other than saving and (too much of) helping others, he'd try to go for more civil solutions and best case scenarios if able.