[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 18 - “THE GEN RYU BATTLE”



I’ve always liked the setup for Ryuusei’s role in the series, but mostly for how it deepens Gentarou’s character. We’ve seen Gen completely and utterly dedicated to befriending every single person he’s met, even if – especially if – they hate him. To Gentarou, disliking him is just the first step towards liking him, and people who dislike him are more interesting to get to know. (Also, most people dislike Gentarou as soon as they meet him, so it’s not like he’s got a lot of options to pass up haters.) Positioning the new character not as a new Kengo, someone who refuses to be friends with Gen, but as someone who too willingly wants to be friends, that’s really clever. Hearing Gen say that he can’t be friends with someone he can’t trust (and say it in such a heroic, wistful way) is a new side to his character. He isn’t (just) some gregarious and hot-tempered buffoon, he’s a guy that genuinely wants to get to know every person he meets, find what makes them unique and special, and celebrate that part of them. Ryu isn’t that guy to him for most of this episode, because he’s clearly not showing himself to Gen – too quick to smile, but in a way that never quite reaches his eyes; too obsequious; too desperate to be a part of a group he doesn’t even know yet – but, hilariously, Meteor is.

That’s the beat in Gen’s story I love the most from Fourze. He’d rather have an honest enemy than a fake friend. Meteor’s a danger to others and violently imposing his own sense of justice, but he’s 100% honest and forthright about it. He has passion and dedication, which is laudable; he has the strength of his convictions, which Gen can relate to. The specifics of what he’s doing is something Fourze has to oppose, but he still wants to find a way to make Meteor his friend. It’s not until Ryu punches him in the face that Gen can see some of what Ryu’s been hiding, and think that he can get that guy to open up at some point and be a real friend.

And, like, that’s the other thing about Ryu that’s a nice alternative to the more-obvious character type of A Guy Who Thinks Friendship Is Dumb: Ryu is doing everything he’s doing for friendship. He’s fighting the Horoscopes because they left his best friend in a coma. He’s letting the Zodiarts evolve until he can get at the one he needs to save his best friend. The circus of Amanogawa High is a distraction from the friendship he’s trying to sustain and revive. Like, he’s a good guy, Ryuusei. He’s a good friend, and a principled warrior, but narrowed down into a point of light, instead of a starry sky. Because he doesn’t have friends, he has a friend.

Which is the fun distinction through this episode, and it comes up right in the first scene. Both the KRC and Meteor are pursuing Justice, but they happen to define that differently. It’s the same thing with friendship, and we see that through Ryu’s flashbacks, Gen’s monologues about the Club, and Fourze’s surrender to save JK from last time. Ryu and Gen would both do whatever they have to do to protect their friends; the problem is that Gen has way more friends than Ryu. Ryu has one guy he needs to save, so everyone else is expendable. Gen has an entire school full of friends, so no one’s expendable. The tension there, as they each try to follow the north star of their friendship, is such a fun engine for this story.

Which was overall another winner! The main thing that didn’t work for me was sending Sonoda to the Dark Nebula, which reeks of This Actor Wasn’t Working Out. Sonoda’s presence in the show was nothing for a while, then something for a couple episodes, then not much for another couple episodes, and now she’s whisked away without really having an impact on the KRC with her identity. It’s like the show just gave up on her, and I can’t be too mad about that, because I never cared about her to begin with. (She was mostly there to be creeped on by Ohsugi, and now with her gone he’s a weirdly nihilistic clown, and that’s at least more socially-agreeable?)

But the Meteor stuff continues to be great, and I like the duality of telling this story about honesty, trust, and friendship over both the Teen Dramedy and Tokusatsu parts of the show. This is basically what I think about when I think about Kamen Rider Fourze!