[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 39 - “HOPE AND DESPAIR, A SIBLING CONFLICT”



OOF. Rough episode to watch! I don’t think it’s a bad episode, but like a lot of Daiji-focused content: Your Mileage May Vary.

It’s a tricky part of any Fall From Grace-style arc, where a hero consistently makes terrible decisions in the name of selflessness. It’s almost always about a mix of self-loathing and lack of faith in their friends, and it’s a version of the character that asks a lot of the audience. It’s asking you to watch someone you enjoyed as a hero consistently and flagrantly do villainous shit, while grimly excoriating the other heroes that are begging him to, like, stop drowning so many puppies. We just watched Kento go through an incredibly similar story last season – The Only Way To Save The World Is To Destroy The Heroes That Are Stupidly Resisting My Violent And Grim Altruism – and Daiji’s third act descent into sweaty mania does not improve by comparison. It’s a tough version of the character to spend even an episode with, and an entire arc starts to get to be a grind to watch. It’s… I don’t know that I’d recommend shows go back to the well as often as the producers of these two shows attempted with this type of storyline. It’s a little too frustrating to watch.

I didn’t hate it, though.

I mean, I hate the Weekend Vs Fenix stuff; that stuff can get dropped into the same portal Giff is in, and then I can forget about all three of them. Asking me to care about Akaishi or Weekend Dad is a place I can’t get to, and I feel like I’ve given the benefit of the doubt to a lot on this show. As always, any shift away from family dynamics (even the weird-o family dynamic of Akaishi as the Igarashis’ weird uncle) inevitably disappoints, and squanders the special chemistry of this show’s take on Family. Neither Weekend nor Fenix have suitably articulated their appeal to the citizenry of Japan beyond survival, and that’s a theme that this show doesn’t do a lot to support. The way societies trade safety for freedom is a very cool concept for a show to explore… like in Build. Revice isn’t that show! It needs to stop trying to be!

It’s a show about families, and that’s where it can redeem a whole lot of content that otherwise actively grates. Daiji’s victimhood and self-righteousness are repellant character traits, but contrasting them with Ikki and Sakura’s aggravation and desperation instead make them pitiable. Daiji’s so sure he’s right that he can’t hear any other arguments – mostly because he killed the part of himself that’s able to question his choices when it comes to Ikki. As much as Daiji tries to frame his activities as For The Greater Good, he goes to the Weekend bunker to either steal away Ikki’s supporters, or just to murder Ikki. He’s couching everything in humility and necessity, but that’s only to absolve him of the responsibility for his actions. He’s not fighting Ikki because Ikki’s defending people’s right to choose, Ikki’s forcing Daiji to stop him from meddling. Giff isn’t a threat to humanity, Ikki is. This is all, like, Daiji 101 – nothing’s Daiji’s fault, everything is something Ikki has ruined for Daiji, but no one else sees it. It’s like when Sakura screams that Daiji’s changed, and Daiji replies that he hasn't, Ikki and Sakura have. I mean, he’s half right!

That sort of dedication to making Daiji as confused and oblivious as possible… I really like it as a story move, but I don’t think I’d ever recommend this storyline to anyone, or fight super hard to defend it. Even when it feels like a natural development, grounded in established motivations and actions – it’s still not super fun to watch. It’s repetitive, because it has to be. This isn’t one bad day for Daiji, it’s a systematic embrace of a lifestyle that lets him feel like the martyr that his brother always was. It’s Daiji being a radioactive piece of shit (he straight-up pulls a gun on his family at the cliffhanger!) for multiple episodes, with the faint hope of a redemption arc to make this all feel cathartic at some point. That asks a lot of the audience! Arguably too much!

So, yeah, I liked this episode’s spotlight on Daiji’s instability, but I totally get if – like Sakura – y’all didn’t.