[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 47 - “KARIZAKI’S REBELLION, THE PRICE OF TRANSFORMING”

Like, the George thing. The crew of this episode does heroic work making Kamen Rider Juuga a terrifying threat, and George a tragic villain, but it barely feels tethered to the series thus far. It’s yet another random shift in George’s portrayal and goals, with only a couple episodes of C-plot to connect this version to the one that aimed for supportive heroism over a few dozen episodes. This one’s maybe had a mental break after losing his dad to a lifetime of devil-related sciencing, and seems to view the survival of the Igarashi family as a slap in the face. (Just my read, since we don’t really get a firm answer on George’s true motivations here. There’s a cover story, but it barely survives the first encounter intact, let alone when things get real serious.) But now he’s the Final Boss, and it feels as lackadaisically plotted as if Tamaki became the unstoppable threat of the last few episodes. But, whatever. George is the Final Boss we have, even if it’s not the Final Boss we might’ve wanted.

It's already teased before ofc, but so turns out that George does end up as the final threat if the series, which was a speculation during his early portrayal due to his really shady nature. If it turned this way, I do think that it'd be better to keep George shady throughout the series, and probably had him be the character that aids both sides like DJ Sagara or Evolt for his own ends (if it's still ultimate Kamen Rider and still Juuga), without him being temporarily turning into a better person. Even if it'd be sort of 'predictable' that George would be a final boss (and had a big bad potential before), but at least George had a fitting portrayal of being shady if it leads into this direction. Albeit probably George wouldn't have good intentions if it's the case (he feels creepy here, but doesn't feel malicious as he aims for world peace in extreme way), but perhaps his vision would be better than a sudden conflict to wrap up the series (of which Giff wasn't taken down in the last episodes).

Now George takes the anti-villainous path of accusing the demons as the root of the world's problems, thus trying to get rid all traces of Giff and demons. I do think that superpowers in real world can cause more trouble, and that he's basically removing any superpower/supernatural (other than himself as Juuga, purely human work) aspects in the world, but yeah, despite the dangers superpowers can create, eradicating anyone/anything with a trace of that supernatural aspect is extreme and bigoted in a world with superpowers.

Though, there are still bits of George's older character here, where before George can frequently act like a manchild especially in his shady portrayal, such as pettily pouting against Vice's criticism to his Jackal design despite the impending danger. And his manchild traits are something that drags on the conflict here, like how he rejects solutions like Daiji handing him the other Rider's Drivers or burying the demon's works, he simply says it's pointless if he can't beat up the demons (e.g. Igarashis). It's similar to a child making unreasonable demands out of pettiness and a lack of restraint, with how he's sidetracked by the need to spite the demons and proving his creation, putting it ahead of the 'greater good'.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The most important part, as anything with Revice, isn’t really the details of the plot. The villains and obstacles are just ways of testing and enhancing the bond of the Igarashi family, and that shit is golden. Like, look at this shot of Sakura realizing that her and Daiji are going to have to fight on their own to save Ikki’s dwindling memories of their family:

Bon being the one who is brought back in this episode is either intentional or had many coincidences. For a handful of villains with noble intentions lately (Akaishi, Daiji w/o Kagerou, George), he's the first one in this series, but of course he's reformed now. And Bon was also previously a dark take of Kuuga, who wants to make people smile but takes the approach too far like entertaining his livestream viewers by unleashing the Lion Deadman to the public to attack figures he thinks deserving. After reformed, perhaps Bon would take similar path to Yusuke, with him being surrounded by kids here and later trying to entertain the kids by doing something funny, like Yusuke performing tricks at them. And now, there's George who becomes Juuga, another dark take of Kuuga (particularly Ultimate form).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

GORGEOUS. That shot is such a goddamn bullseye that it forgives any number of poorly-motivated heel turns. The world turns to darkness as Sakura considers the consequences of Ikki’s condition. It’s the perfect encapsulation of what Ikki means to the rest of his family, and vice versa. This episode manages to extract its greatness from Ikki’s polite and well-meaning obliteration of the same love and warmth he’s fighting to protect; the pyrrhic victory as endgame adversary. Juuga’s some guy in a suit, and it could basically be any guy in a suit. What will always work on this show is how the Igarashi family has to protect one another in times of crisis.

Juuga's name is also a portmanteau of "juu" (十, means 10) and "Kuuga", a reference to him using the power of 10 ViStamps, and Kuuga being the 10th installment of the Kamen Rider franchise. Even George's actor Noritaka Hamao was born on November 26, 1999, a couple of months shy of Kuuga's premiere too. Juu can also mean "beast" (獣) in Japanese, and Juuga has the power of 10 beasts. Another trivia is, "kuu" part of Kuuga's name is pronounced the same way as 9 in Japanese (九), Juuga replacing "kuu" with "juu" also had hidden meaning that he's meant to be a Rider that surpasses even Kuuga. Outside of the Kuuga references, Kuuga fought for everyone's smiles, Juuga only fights for his own, which also makes Juuga resemble Another Kuuga, its evil version (Juuga also lacks the red eyes Kuuga Ultimate had, which'd also resemble black-eyed, corrupted version of it). Juu can mean "filled" (充), making Juuga's name mean "filled-self" (充我) in contrast to Kuuga meaning "clear-self" (空我).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

That part… so good. Every scene in Happy Spa was as tense and affecting as most other shows’ imminent destruction of the planet. I don’t give a shit about a million people in peril, but my heart breaks for a Yukimi and Genta who realize that their eldest child has forgotten them completely. It’s been a weird ass plot over the last 46 episodes, but it leveled me here. Ikki’s been sacrificing himself to protect his family, but that sacrifice is killing them emotionally. It’s putting Ikki’s gut instinct to give up his own happiness for family up against the reality that he’ll be left isolated from that same family, and breaking their hearts for that isolation. It’s impossible, and inevitable, and it’s the best possible way for this show to work towards its finale.

Perhaps the more conflict was meant to wrap up Ikki and his memory problem, overall Igarashi happiness, by giving him stakes to henshin and protect his family, losing more of his memories, or letting his other family members get beaten up. Other methods had been tried, but even with Vice transforming alone, it didn't stop the memory loss, and George rejected Daiji's solution. Despite how the series was a mess at handling people's plots, I do was pleasantly surprised by Ikki forgetting even his parents, mistaking them as customers. Which'd be normally a really insolent move, but it's outwardly-influenced for Ikki, which is a turning point that Ikki's memory loss isn't meant to be taken lightly, despite that before the family vows to create a new happy memory with Ikki. For now, Ikki still doesn't forget Daiji and Sakura, but probably if he henshins next he can forget about them too, and likely lose his drive for fighting, as he'd forget the stakes Juuga gave to the Igarashis.

It's the bare minimum of what they should do with the MC, not making his presence small like Revice juggling many arcs at once before, but then again, there can be another way Ikki's stakes can be established other than creating a new, sudden conflict (and another one of new, likely half-assed arc of someone), like someone else that is already established stirring up conflict, or doing this before Akaishi or Giff is defeated instead of focusing on multiple other arcs (use Daiji and Sakura in their weaker Rider form for this stake). There's also, only 4 episodes to properly establish the very MC's arc, being finally known what's the problem of Ikki forgetting his memories (forgetting his parents here). Revice being a wasted potential had double meaning, in the series after strong start, and the titular Revice IMO, in Ikki, as his potential for both family happiness here or solving Rider sensibility problem of turning people busybodies, something not addressed often.