[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 18 - “THE TRAJECTORY OF BUDDIES & THE MIRACLE FIRE AND ICE”



So much of what makes Revice interesting as a show is how it wants to talk about forgiveness as a concept.

It’s as baked into this show as any theme I can think of; maybe even more so than, like, Family. The inner demons are the things we can’t forgive about ourselves. The Giffamilia preyed on victims who can’t forgive their transgressors, or even just the people who didn’t suffer as they did. Fenix is a societal structure that would rather incarcerate or destroy than reform or rehabilitate; forgiveness as an existential threat to community and stability. It’s a constant thread through this series, how hard and necessary it is to forgive not just each other, but ourselves. We get a nice exploration of that in this story, as Julio/Tamaki discovers that everyone is both hero and villain, so there’s no need to hold grudges or cast blame in a friendship; and Ikki and Vice talk about what they really are to each other.

As much as the melodrama of the Julio story was memorable, it’s the Ikki/Vice story that really landed with me this time. Ikki’s spent the last 17 episodes treating Vice as, alternately, a curse, a burden, a pest, and occasionally as a family member. (Which usually means one of the other descriptions as well!) This is the episode where he really starts to understand that Vice is, and always has been, an aspect of himself.

It’s the sort of revelation that could ring hollow in another show. Once we’d met Kagerou – and especially once we met Lovekov – it was clear that Vice wasn’t some summoned wish monster from the end of time or whatever. Vice is a part of Ikki, even if Ikki would rather that not be true. When George was telling them that they needed to be unified to harness the full power of Volcano Rex, he didn’t mean that they should get along or be friends; he was telling them that they needed to see each other as the same person, which Vice always had. The unity they needed was just Ikki letting himself see that Vice was a part of him, instead of an anchor or a distraction. Recognizing that we’re not always the victim… it’s hard.

And that’s the Julio part of this episode as well: the ability to see ourselves outside of our own pain and resentment and guilt; to forgive our failings; and to forgive other people for how they’ve hurt us. His story with Yousuke is full of mistakes and regret, but neither of them are totally blameless. Yousuke hurt Tamaki, and Tamaki refused to see that Yousuke was trying to fix things. Forgiveness is a thing people have to earn, but it’s also a thing we need to offer. It’s difficult to see past our own pain, to find sympathy for the people who have hurt us, but it’s better than letting pain be the substitute for happiness.

It’s not an episode where everything works out for everyone, sadly. Yousuke’s brutally murdered in front of Julio to give heel heat to Olteca, in a scene that’d feel gratuitous if it didn’t feel so completely in-character. Olteca could not give two shits about Julio and his motivating torment, so why not twist the knife if he has the chance? There’s redemption for Ikki, though, as he successfully separates Julio from his Phase 3 form… so that Julio can now wallow in his anguish as a human being, instead of as a rampaging monster. Y– yay?

I liked this episode, despite the downer ending for half of the plot. The real ending is Vice giving Ikki a piggyback ride at sunset, one person where there used to be two. It’s a nice manifestation of this show’s thoughts on forgiveness, that shot. It’s Ikki seeing that part of himself as something other than a spectral adversary, or a short-term burden. It’s him seeing Vice as a valid part of himself, and one he’ll need if he wants to help the most amount of people. It’s forgiveness as the key to greater happiness, both for ourselves and for the people we care about.

Can’t think of a more heroic thing than that.