[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 46 - “THE COURAGE TO FACE IT… WHAT MUST THEY PROTECT?”



No one wants to feel like they need to be saved.

It’s a thing that Kamen Rider’s franchise-wide empathy makes it almost uniquely equipped to deal with in superhero fiction. You’ve got a show full of superheroes, saving people on a weekly basis. Sometimes they’re even saving the same people, again and again. They’ve got a supporting cast that generally exists to be either inquisitive or imperiled, depending on the episode’s demands. The structure of the series is escalating heroism, mixed in with spotlight salvations. But how do the people being saved feel about it all?

As incongruent and unnecessary as this Sakura Learns To Let Go storyline looked in the previous chapter, this one does a great job of setting the lesson she learns alongside every lesson this show has taught, to let Sakura’s growth become the proof of this show’s thesis: We become better people by confronting and embracing our weaknesses, rather than hiding them away. Sakura’s story is Daiji’s story is Ikki’s story is Hiromi’s story is etc. This wasn’t a story about Sakura, it was a story about Kamen Rider Revice.

That said, still a pretty great story about Sakura?

It’s nicely filtered through Lovekov’s perspective, which is hilarious when you think about how easy it would’ve been for this show to never bother treating Lovekov as anything more than an adorable mascot to get surrounded by Giff Jrs. But no! We get this nuanced and emotional story about how relentlessly protecting someone from the world robs them of the ability to face challenges and grow, while refusing to let someone protect you risks never getting to lean on someone and find your deepest strength. Like, this isn’t a story about NEVER PROTECT ANYONE or whatever; it’s a story about how protection is a group task, and everyone needs it. Safety isn’t a thing you give or accept, it’s a condition you exist in. Allowing everyone to participate in the maintenance of that condition lets people feel connected to one another and individually discover their heroism.

And while Sakura more elaborately benefits from that discovery via Invincible Jeanne (my new favorite suit on the show), we also get Tamaki becoming Over Demons to both protect Hana, and to follow in her footsteps towards redemption. He’s grown enough to want more than just to shield Hana from harm; he wants to be a man that learns from her example to become as strong as she is. It’s not nearly as solid a plot as the Sakura/Lovekov version, since Hana and Tamaki somehow do not have as robust and fruitful a relationship as Sakura shares with a frequently-intangible mascot, but it’s fine for what little went into it. Tamaki’s actor, as always, does a lot with any screentime, creating genuine resolve and joy out of Tamaki smiling as he finally Henshins. It’s definitely a story beat that has the Why Not feeling of the final episodes in any series, where the production team can rest easy knowing they won’t have to tell months of stories about Tamaki’s fight against monsters within and without, but it’s still a charming development. I already care more about this version of Over Demons than any of the preceding ones!

All that’s left is to talk about the destruction of Giff, a thing I was almost planning on skipping over.

The only time Giff (the ambulatory one) was coherent or thematically relevant to this show was in this episode, just as he’s being detonated by the combined self-actualization of the Igarashi siblings. He’s good as a guy that can be leveled with the full force of a speech encapsulating this show’s themes, less good as an entertaining villain with cool powers and/or views. His objectives never really came into focus, since they were mostly interpreted by minions who had their own goals, and what we get here feels as indecisive and random as any other shift in Giff’s demands. Getting the Igarashis to destroy a humanity that won’t stop destroying itself? Sure! Whatever! He’s a pointless villain that never seemed to have the support of the writers on this show, but I’m glad he could at least be the catalyst for a thrilling speech about how only the complete versions of ourselves, weathered by adversity and humbled by failure, can meet the challenges of a chaotic world.

It’s a very good episode, and not even just because it’s got so much Lovekov!