[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 40 - “FAMILY OR THE WORLD… A BROTHERLY BATTLE OF SOULS!”



Fighting in Kamen Rider… it’s not really fighting. It’s an argument, just with pyrotechnics and rehearsed choreography. It’s not violence, it’s metaphor.

Mama Igarashi gets it. It’s easy to read Daiji’s recent actions as intolerable, unforgivable. But Daiji’s not really battling on behalf of an alien dictator in a pocket dimension, or a leather tie-wearing despot in a cavernous office. Daiji isn’t warring on behalf of his commitment to pessimism or nihilism, nor is he certain that deference to Giff is the one possible path to humanity’s salvation. Daiji’s fighting with his brother because they don’t see the world the same way, and love each other too much to let it slide. They’re too squabbling brothers, and nothing more serious than that.

(In fairness, Ikki has neglected to mention the actual gun that Daiji pulled on his brother as part of last episode’s cliffhanger. I do not think she would be as serene about this storyline if she knew all of the details!)

The thing with Ikki and Daiji is that they don’t rate problems the same way. Daiji values the big picture to a degree that misses out on nuance and individuality, while Ikki thinks small and lets that build big. Ikki would rather help his family than save the world, while Daiji would rather save the world, even if it lost him his family. They fundamentally view things differently, and that friction is the baseline of their lives. Daiji frustrates Ikki, and Ikki frustrates Daiji. That’s their whole dynamic.

But the conflict isn’t about a differing viewpoint; lots of characters on this show have unique views on the world, and they aren’t dueling in parking lots to settle things. The thing that keeps pushing Daiji is that he still loves his brother, and needs Ikki to understand that Daiji’s right. The fight isn’t about the problem, or the difference – the fight is about the other guy admitting he’s wrong and you’re right. Everything else in the narrative fades into the background as the primacy of the emotional stakes becomes clear. Daiji’s fighting because he wants to be appreciated, and Ikki is fighting to show Daiji that this doesn’t have to mean anything more than a disagreement. There’re platitudes thrown about, and a debate on Freedom Vs Safety, but that’s not really what’s going on here. It’s just two brothers having a disagreement, but with more special effects.

It’s one of the best episodes in this arc, for how it lets these massive conflicts – Weekend Vs Fenix, the armies of Giff against three kids – serve the overall themes of family. Daiji and Ikki aren’t two warriors on opposite sides of a philosophical struggle, they’re two brothers who can’t figure out how to stop annoying each other. Weekend Dad and Hikaru aren’t stern soldiers disagreeing about how best to withstand an enemy assault, they’re a dad trying to provide a better future for a son who has had too much asked of him. Even Akaishi is getting in on the act, weaponizing Daiji’s need for validation by becoming his new Work Dad. (Sorry, absent-from-this-episode Hiromi.) All of the fights and debates and explosions and transformations, they’re all in service of illustrating the humanity of the characters, and it’s a sign of this show’s inherent quality; quality that is so frequently obscured by opaque motivations and developments that lack build-up. Here, it’s the Ultimate version of this show: smart, character-driven conflicts that ask us to accept the people we love, even when – especially when – they make it hard for us.

Very happy to see this show had an episode like this one tucked up its sleeve.