[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

REVICE LEGACY: KAMEN RIDER VAIL - EPISODES 2 + 3

There?s not really a ton worth talking about beyond the romance of Genta and Yukimi, though. The various unconscionable acts of Noah are so boilerplate as to be almost a parody of mysterious organizations of nebulous authority. They?re just trying to harness Giff?s power for some reason, but the only path to success seems to be churning through dozens and dozens of unwilling test subjects, to a degree that even Shocker would find to be wasteful and inhumane. I laughed pretty hard at the implication that Genta?s been polishing off a mounting number of devils solely because no one at Noah thought to run their human experimentation in a room more secure than a well-appointed office, leaving each successive failure to rampage out of the same goddamn office, killing a few guards on their way to freedom. I understand the management tactic of throwing bodies at difficult problems, but maybe someone somewhere should?ve told Noah that it?s just an expression.

(I also completely don?t get the timeline on Noah using a devil to kill Genta?s family in order to motivate him. How Noah?s suddenly controlling a devil feels like a reveal for a future episode, but the first episode of this run made it seem like Genta was a fluke victory for the program, and his parents were already dead. Was he experimented on, and then Noah dragged him home to watch his parents get murdered? I don?t at all get how that reveal fits into the established timeline.)

As this centers outside of Noah, more of Junpei's personality is shown here in the daily talk against someone, as someone only driven by revenge and has lost his meaning of life by that, he's a lone wolf type and would show some coldness and aloofness. It's explainable with how NOAH treats him, but his vengeful side seems to be purely his own, as that time he was eager to fight the devils, instead of obeying NOAH. He's the closest to edgy asshole secondaries for Revice. Other than that, he seems to be enhanced as Vail with his wounds healing quickly. Not that it applies to his scent too however. He doesn't seem to be much superior to the NOAH soldiers that fought him, so he's probably at best slightly superhuman in physical stats at that point.

Actually Masumi's conscience kicked in earlier than I thought, I thought he felt regret as he grew older and a bit wiser, but actually he already objected as a young man here against Agariyama, who's shown to be completely ruthless in reaching his goals, experimenting on various people without blinking an eye despite that all of them except Junpei are killed. That'd mean he might've obtained more victims than Olteca with Junpei being numbered 71. He'd also capture someone innocent just because she interacts with Subject 071 and would soon consider him a failure as well, Junpei's second chance is given without freedom. While Masumi has done the experiments too, thus he's amoral too, he had limits to stop when he feels it has gone too far. This also makes him a better person compared to certain another hat + sunglasses + mask covered person, W's Shroud, that he's more well-meaning and is genuinely remorseful for the damage and chaos his research caused unlike Shroud who's completely consumed by her vengeance to manipulate others as a tool constantly including monsters like Isaka, though she eventually felt remorse but in much later time.

Now it's clearer why the NOAH captain seem to have more restrain and standards compared to the other NOAH members, because he's actually a spy from a resistance to prevent victims like Genta. This one's not a case of 'not all members from a shady organization (in this case NOAH) is fully bad'. Before he helped Genta and Yukimi escape he tried to convince Masumi, so that shows he disapproved of Agariyama. Though dunno when did he become a spy of NOAH and if he's already there when the previous 70 victims aren't saved, as it can seem as if the turnaround of the captain was forced in the middle if he's already there for quite a time, and that he did tase Genta. Masumi is also a better person compared to Agariyama, but he's still not a good person overall, then and now, with him refusing to change his ways here that he has sunk too deep despite having limits in what he did.

Actually turns out how Genta is seen as a failure was about his body rejecting Giff cells thus he can also potentially turn into devil. So it's nothing different from previous 70 subjects, but just delayed failure for Agariyama. Obviously planning to kill Yukimi is monstrous too. For the fight here, the stock "your loved ones fuel your determination" trope is used as a reason why Genta can escape (and likely keeps his human self this way)... Other than that, Revice continues to provide bodycount here, and not from Giff-related stuff in the captain firing at his squad members. Which next leads into a rare scene of Kamen Rider directly hitting humans. The soldiers aren't actually reduced into mush for obvious reason (excessive gore even if that makes sense), but likely they died too from a direct blow from Kamen Rider.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But Genta and Yukimi! Very sweet at times, weirdly toxic at others. The story is smart to reframe Yukimi?s crush on a smelly, taciturn, dismissive psychopath as her being a busybody, since it both connects back to Revice as a show, and also makes her seem less like she?s just going through the motions of the plot. Genta?s sort of impossible to see as a romantic partner in this stage of their romance, and it works a little better if she?s just trying to help a dude who?s as lost and alone as she is.

It now centers around the buildup of his relationship with Yukimi as she helped him out from the debris and took him to the similar-as-ever-in-the-past Happy Spa. True to how "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree", Yukimi showed traits that is seen in her future children, seen in her cooking being about spicy curries like Sakura's, as well as her being a #1 busybody like Ikki's, none for Daiji's yet. I guess it makes sense now on how she was fiercely overprotective against Sakura becoming a Rider, she resembles Ikki the most at the first place. That'd make her kind and helpful...b̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶J̶u̶n̶p̶e̶i̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶R̶i̶d̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶u̶i̶t̶, albeit with some wild and savage traits too, she's saving the day with traditionally feminine role to Genta, but Ikki's busybodiness is seen as a wrong trait in the main series, so if Yukimi's like him too she should've been given a lesson too, but I don't think it'd happen for 5-part only unless it's mentioned offscreen if Yukimi can be a main guide to her children.

Still there's something that all the children has nothing in common to their parents... so far none of the Igarashi childrens inherit Junpei's personality, while Yukimi was never strong physically unlike all her children... of which is shown in ep. 1, the difference between her and Sakura dealing with the Giff Juniors. Though she did rescue Genta by using steel rod to lift the debris.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I like that Genta and Yukimi are both aching for a family to make them feel safe, and see that absence in each other, and want to build a new family together. I like that they both want the same thing. It makes this less a story about a Kamen Rider falling in love, and more a romance of equal partners, one of which happens to be a murder machine. The way these two episodes never let you forget that Yukimi has goals and desires, that she?s not just someone to be rescued or protected, is really helpful in elevating a story of fairly ridiculous extra-governmental imprisonment and execution.

I was worried before regarding about how the next one was probably going to sideline the deeper development of learning to live or something for just lovey-dovey romance, even though it's obviously going to happen eventually, but actually that's handled fine and better than I expect. There's some relatable traits between Genta and Yukimi to each other that probably is the one to spark the relationship. About how both lost their parents, and both feel a sense of emptiness in their life with Genta losing the meaning of his life by only taking revenge, and Yukimi seemingly accepting of her potential death as NOAH prisoner. And then Genta, with him also being far more honest than I expect, admitting that spending time with Yukimi was enjoyable and likely something that can fill the void in his life, probably Yukimi as well before of wanting to eat together with him. Many of previous talks about this seem to often portray those who are more "stereotypically" feminine as "just someone to be rescued or protected"... with desires and goals being visible in those "defying" feminity...

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Tragic backstory doesn't absolve Olteca, but that information can provide a solution for others to help him recover from the trauma, like how Reiko and Shinji tried to help Asakura after finding out about the fire and his surviving brother. Even though that ended badly, you can't know the outcome for sure unless you try. Shinji still declared to Kanzaki that protecting people includes protecting Riders and later that "nobody is better off dead", as even Asakura's life was important to Mika (those two episodes are next on my rewatch). If Ikki was willing to see potential for change in Suzu, due to her tragic backstory, then it seems OOC and disappointing that he couldn't do the same for Olteca.

Other than not absolving him, it doesn't make him above/better than Asakura and Kitazaki too. Still I'd want the clear answer of what Ikki should do if Olteca's really irredeemable after he actually tried? Not that Ikki should "understand" him by letting him win and get what he wants to "ease his pain" right? Though Saber did have Touma reaching out, Isaac's final fate is also being finished off by Storious. I think while it'd be fair to expect and want Ikki to have some attempt in reaching out, but I'd think, him prioritizing Olteca's victims is good (I can think declaring unforgivable means honoring those victims), of which you also can seem to overlook nameless victims (of which this can happen in serial killer stories to focus on the culprit and have them inadvertently getting admiration instead or such), like forgetting Heaven and Hell because Sara wasn't killed, Suzu did something bad but is nowhere near as horrible as Olteca is, what about this being Ikki having limits?

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Congrats on your 1100th post!

Dunno why I can't keep up with others here.