[Kamen Rider Die]

REVICE LEGACY: KAMEN RIDER VAIL - EPISODE 4



Long day! Late night! Let’s quickly talk about a single episode of this Vail special!

It’s a lot of plot business in this one, trying to lay out the bizarre NOAH-related cause and effect of Genta’s backstory, and it sort of mostly works? I always got the impression that his death and resurrection was what lead to his memory loss, but somehow he retained those memories enough to know who his parents were, which is why NOAH had them murdered by Vail: to give Genta a thing to avenge. It’s just… it’s a little weird, timing-wise. If Genta lost his memories before/during his experimentation, which makes the most sense, why would he even know his parents enough to understand who was being murdered in front of him? And if he lost his memories afterwards… what does he only remember just enough details from his Narratively Convenient Amnesia to be traumatized by his parents’ murder? And why does he lose his memories at all? It’s a very, very weird plot point, and I don’t think this episode completely squares that circle.

What it does do, however, is reveal that Vail was the killer in question, and that part is really well done. It’s not surprising, but it doesn’t really have to be. It just needs to both expose Genta’s addiction to using vengeance as a way of excusing his propensity for violence, and it needs to give Genta nowhere to hide from his monstrous nature. Vail acts as a more malevolent Vice; there’s a sense of both companionship and liberation in his cruelty, and he genuinely seems to want to give Genta the life he secretly desires. Vail’s the thing in Genta that fears domestication, and longs for the self-obliteration of life as Kamen Rider Vail. It’s ugly, but it definitely comes from someplace in Genta.

The Vail stuff, along with the cute Genta/Yukimi scene, really worked for me this time out. NOAH, meanwhile, continues to be the perfect prequel organization for Revice: just the most relentlessly incompetent sociopaths, assuming that myriad failures – ranging from homicide to genocide – will eventually result in something that will validate their jobs. (Also, “Nest Of Anti-Human”? YIKES. Terrible!) All these mysterious organizations of nebulous authority are such a drag, but the character-based storytelling continues to impress. Excited for the finale!