[Kamen Rider Die]

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 11 - “TARGETING THE WEAK POINT”



It is incredibly this show for Gorisaki to look at the relationship that Nick and Usada have with their Busters and wonder if his own relationship with Ryuji is too mature and emotionally responsible.

It’s a funny jumping off point for a very sweet episode that sort of also feels a little random in its placement in the series order and general instigating motivation. Enter’s scheme to leverage Ryuji’s weak point in order to bump him off doesn’t feel tethered at all to the slow burn construction of a new Buster Machine in hyperspace; it’s sort of just a random supervillain plan to kill a superhero? I don’t hate the episode that came from it (far from it!), but Enter’s usually the guy counseling Messiah to think bigger than just executing the Go-Busters, in favor of executing a plan that could free their faction from hyperspace. To have Enter just solo-run a plan to kill one-third of the Go-Busters and that’s sort of the scope of it… I don’t know, it felt a little out of character, despite the panache and ingenuity with which he approached it?

Setting that aside, though, it was a fun episode that hinged on a pleasingly goofy character dynamic – namely, that Ryuji and Gorisaki get along so well that Gorisaki feels like Ryuji doesn’t believe their bond could survive a little friction. What seems to most observers as the clear advantage the Blue team has over Red’s catastrophic people skills and Yellow’s non-stop bickering, Gorisaki instead sees as a way that Ryuji keeps a polite distant between them due to a lack of affection and/or trust. The people we love are sometimes the ones we get the most aggravated by, and Ryuji’s continuous breezy dismissal of Gorisaki’s clinginess just tells Gorisaki that Ryuji doesn’t care enough.

So of course Gorisaki risks his life to give Ryuji the chance to defeat the Fanroid, causing a worried Ryuji to lose his cool (Non-Homicidal Version) and berate Gorisaki for almost getting killed, the air has been cleared, go defeat the Megazord, finish with a joke. It’s not a story with a lot of moves on it, but the relationship between Gorisaki and Ryuji is so sweetly unique and fun that I kind of didn’t care that you can see the beats coming on this one a mile away. The actors sell every moment in this thing, from the sheepish embarrassment of Gorisaki in the beginning, to Ryuji’s heated anger at the end, and everything in-between. It’s a terrific episode for exploring the seemingly perfect partnership and finding its hidden weak point. Just like in the title!



IT’S TIME FOR Yellow Buster!

I just love the constant mutual antagonism of Usada and Yoko, and this episode lets it act as the hilariously toxic flipside of Gorisaki and Ryuji. (Nick and Hiromu… it’s a little more just Nick being the perennial apologist for the horrible thing that Hiromu said and walked away from. Different premise!) Yoko’s ability to go full blast on her helicopter dad at a moment’s notice really helped sell the insanity of Gorisaki wishing that Ryuji could open up like that to him. I don’t know that any parent should want a relationship with their kid that was like Yoko and Usada’s! And I think Yoko is the best!