[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 33 - “LOVEKOV REBELS!? SAKURA’S RESOLVE”



On the one hand, this is a delicate story about two young women navigating a romantic relationship when they come from opposing backgrounds, and the strength it takes to save someone from depression. On the other hand, this is a story about a young woman being rescued from one cult, and then immediately being inducted into a different cult.

The ending to this one will always be a little funny to me, despite greatly enjoying the episode as a whole. (Well, not the Akaishi stuff; probably never the Akaishi stuff.) We’ve finally gotten Aguilera/Hana into a positive, healthy mental space… and Sakura almost instantly recruits her to join a massively untrustworthy terrorist organization with a surplus of gaming chairs. I know it’s because Aguilera’s too spoiled and self-mythologized to scrub tile at the Happy Spa, so Sakura needs to give her a mission that can make her feel important, but c’mon! I don’t know if the solution to depression and suicidal ideation is working in a dungeon, surrounded by people who were just trying to get you killed yesterday! Maybe Mom Ikarishi could make an alternate suggestion, if she were still on this show?

The rest of the episode was delightful, though. Sakura’s solution for Aguilera’s Lovekov-esque moody defiance is to ask Aguilera out on a date, and that was about it for me being able to seriously find fault with this plotline. It’s like a dumb joke a fan might make, but it’s too perfect a twist to not go ahead with. Sakura’s flaw earlier wasn’t that she wanted to separate Aguilera from her demon, it’s that she didn’t let that be a thing the two of them went through together. Aguilera feels adrift and isolated; Sakura needs to be an anchor for her, regardless of the tough love Sakura needs to show.

But it’s not even really tough love, it’s just love. It’s Sakura showing a sheltered girl from a demonic cult that the world has more to offer her than Tamaki and a nightclub-spaceship-church. Aguilera loves Sakura, and Sakura clearly loves Aguilera, so the best way to address Aguilera’s despondence is to just be there for her. Take her to a theme park, buy her ice cream, and have an incredibly cute day together. It’s a statement of intent as strong and useful as a vow to save Aguilera from demonic servitude, and it’s equally as necessary. Sakura’s strength is in her vulnerability, and this episode was a testament to that heroism.

Sort of the entirety of the episode for me, that plot. The Akaishi stuff is nothing to me, and the Vail fight scene was fun, but basically just re-establishing Vail’s designs on Genta. The heart and soul of this episode was Sakura saving -slash- recruiting Aguilera, and every little detail that went into that plot. (LOVEKOV’S ROOM!!! With a petulant Lovekov wearing Jeanne headphones for abrasive heavy metal music!!!) I am sometimes easily won over, and The One Where Sakura Asks Out Aguilera is as winning a premise as I can think of right now.