[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 28 - “CONQUERING FEAR AT LIGHTNING SPEED! BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AS ONE MIND, ONE BODY!”



Much like George’s extreme mad sciencing, this storyline could only end in abject failure or resounding success. (I love that he’s created a device that will kill 1-2 of the two people he’s trying to save, but also maybe none of them? I very much enjoy his commitment to insanity in the vague direction of science!) The show pushed all its chips in on Thunder Gale, and the result was bound to be either a huge blow to Revice’s fortunes, or the move that would get the show back on track.

For me, I thought it was an exceptionally accomplished installment.

Setting the bulk of the episode inside Ikki’s head was the best choice. There’s a moodiness that helps ground the stakes of the episode: Giff and the Deadmans and Vail, they're all encroaching on safe spaces, warping comforting bonds. The Deadmans bathing at Happy Spa, or Veil wearing Genta’s face at the Giffamilia’s nightclub-church-spaceship – it’s all things Ikki cares about, inverted into anxiety and tension. He’s trying to salvage his identity, and everything around him is telling him that he’s living a lie. He wants to be a good son, and a monster wearing his father’s face is tempting him to give up. He wants to protect his home, but it’s already infested with monsters. He’s beset on all sides by temptation and failure.

But it doesn’t work. Not even for a second.

It doesn’t work because Ikki being under attack is the least viable way of defeating Ikki psychologically. Ikki doesn’t care about his own well-being or happiness, he only cares about other people. Specifically, he’s fighting this battle in his head because that’s where Vice is, and Vice needs to be rescued.

It’s a really beautiful next step on this journey Ikki and Vice are on – from bickering teammates, to grudging partners, to brothers, to each other’s guardians. It’s a role we’ve not really seen Ikki in before with Vice, which is what made the episode so special. We’ve gotten a whole bunch of stories about Ikki realizing that Vice cares for him, and some backstory that establishes how far back their union started, but this is maybe the first episode where Ikki lays it all on the line to save Vice from servitude to Giff. It’s an acknowledgement that Ikki owes Vice, in a real and tangible way, and it’s time for Ikki to fight for his friend.

I liked it a lot, that whole sequence. It makes this story about self-acceptance so clear and direct; Ikki looking at this weird part of himself and fighting for it to exist, when the world would either corrupt it or revile it. It’s so vulnerable and corny, with the scenes from previous episodes layered over the tearful vow from Ikki to Vice. To go from that to the rousing debut of maybe my favorite suit yet? I couldn’t ask for a better conclusion to this arc.

Thunder Gale! So pretty, that suit. I like the way the pastels completely overtake the black and gray of Jack Revice, the new tomorrow of Revice creating a palette that Revi or Vice couldn’t access, even in tandem. They’re no longer teammates, or partners, or even family. They’re one hero, the end.

And they aren’t even the only new hero for this episode! George decides to Henshin and make the wiki entry for Kamen Rider Demons even more complicated, soon to rival Kamen Rider Faiz for lengthy lists of onscreen identities. It’s fine, in as much as it was inevitable. You can’t be a fit young man on one of these shows and not eventually, uh, shout DADDY and then turn into a superhero. It’s not out of place in this episode of people drawing a line in the sand and dedicating themselves to a fight (or not, in the case of Aguilera), but it’s not really where the weight of this episode is directed.

It’s a story about Ikki and Vice removing the barriers between them and uniting to defeat Olteca and Giff, which they… mostly do? Olteca’s devoured by Giff, which is the best counterpoint to Ikki and Vice’s triumph of unity as I can think of, at which point Giff bursts from his cocoon and launches into orbit, never to be seen until a few episodes from now probably once Hiromi comes back and Aguilera becomes a Kamen Rider. Wild guess! For now, the point is to give Revice a clean, decisive win, and lay out the storylines for the show to address outside the pressure of All The Demons Are Going Crazy.

What we’re shown is a bit of a mixed bag, as far as my interest is concerned. A bummer to see Genta/Junpei “in hiding”, but I think it creates a nice cloud over the Igarashi household, dramatically. There’s this absence now, and that’s maybe worth more than Genta looking sheepish and worried in the living room. Meanwhile, Sakura’s thrown in with Weekend, and Daiji’s thrown in with Fenix; two decisions that I’m sure no one’s going to immediately regret. But they’re young! Let them make dumb, idealistic decisions! I’m willing to believe in them, just this little bit.

Because, boy, this show can absolutely nail a story when it puts its mind to it. Very happy with how this one came out!