[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 47 - “BEST FRIENDS PART WAYS”



It’s always funny to me, as I rewatch these shows, what I remember and what I’ve forgotten. I might remember a minor twist in a mid-series episode of little significance, but forget a huge late-series reveal that provides context and drama to a million previous scenes.

For example, it was only a couple episodes ago that I remembered that Kengo was some sort of Space Baby MacGuffin. (Like, the minute where the Flashback Friends unearth/unmoon the Core Switch in 45, I was like Oh Yeah This Is A Kengo Thing.) That feels like a massive piece of information that it’s insane to forget – along the lines of huge reveals in Faiz andd W, or the fact that Ghost gets really good at some point – and yet not only did I manage it, I can sort of see why I forgot? In an episode that I almost completely adored, Kengo Is A Space Baby is the part I could most take or leave. It’s fine, as a late series twist that, like a dozen other things from 45-48 of this show, could have been better used by sprinkling them out where they’d be allowed to be more fully examined and utilized, rather than being told to us a scene before it’s crucial to the plot, but I don’t think it breaks the show or anything. It wraps up a couple lingering questions that viewers could possibly have (Kengo’s cosmic swooning, why he couldn’t use the Fourze Driver) with answers that don’t require much mental gymnastics to go along with. But it’s not only something that doesn’t drastically impact the series until more or less when Kengo tells about it, it also doesn’t impact Kengo as a character in the ways that we most care about; it’s information that matters to the plot, but not to the character’s journey. It’s a complication that gives Kengo a reason to have to leave, but the the weight of him leaving is all about how he’s changed as a person, which has nothing to do with him being a Space Baby. While it’s there the whole time in the show if you care to look for it, for the effect it has narratively, Kengo might as well have been blasted with a Turn Into A Space Teen ray from Sagittarius last episode. It’s not a big deal for Kengo as he changes and grows over 46 episodes of television, it’s a last-minute dilemma for the finale to resolve.

(I also… man, I loved the ridiculous exposition trying to explain Kengo being a Space Baby, because it is easily the dumbest writing this show has ever done, and I’d be mad about it if a) I cared about the Space Baby stuff, and b) the rest of this episode wasn’t so excellent. Like, Emoto leaves Utahoshi to die, and then immediately comes back to get baby Kengo because he feels so guilty, and then still leaves Utahoshi on the moon to die instead of rescuing him as well, but still regrets it for another 18 years? Or, he waited until Utahoshi died, and then rescued the baby that this flashback specifically says that Emoto and Gamou didn’t even know about? And, like, who in the hell was raising Kengo all this time? How did anyone in Utahoshi’s family think that he managed to have a son without a spouse while he was on the moon?! I sort of love how Kengo Is A Space Baby is literally the only part of his backstory that makes any sense now! That is kind of impressive!)

But the dilemma of Kengo needing to leave, that’s the stuff. It’s an episode that splits off into two parts, where each part is amazing in hyper-specific ways.

I wanna talk about the Rabbit Hatch part first; not because it’s the best part (it isn’t), but because I like how it lets the other KRC members chime in on a plot that that not only doesn’t include them, but doesn’t really require them. Most of these other kids barely know Kengo, and they certainly aren’t his best friends, but it’s neat to get their perspective on whether or not Kengo should go into space, and why he’s being so callous all of a sudden. To the latter point, I like that Ryuusei’s the only one who sees the value in Kengo lying about his emotional state, because that’s what Ryuusei spent half his time on this show doing. Ryuusei thinks that in order to protect the people you care about, you might have to lie about what you’re going through, and that’s something in which Ryuusei can now see the tragedy. Meanwhile, while characters like Tomoko fret over the horribleness of fate, Miu is the pragmatic leader, gritting her teeth and admitting that Kengo’s plan is one that’d save the most lives, so it’s understandable why he’d sacrifice himself like that. This whole scene is just characters chiming in on the plot to help the viewer orient themselves emotionally, but it’s done with such brevity and precision that it was, honestly, almost the episode highlight.

It wasn’t, though, because we had the scene with the Core Trio at the space center.

I love stuff like that, when a show brings us to a place we’ve seen every single episode, but shows it to us in a new way. (See also: a massive battle in the Rabbit Hatch! That Gamou also has a personal history with!) Taking that fun romp through the space center – all duck faces and youthful energy – but now turning it into something melancholy and bittersweet, that’s good storytelling. It’s smart to pull Kengo, Yuuki, and Gentarou into their own subplot to deal with Kengo’s emotional state and planned exit; it’s brilliant to do it in the place that was only ever for the three of them. The speech that Gentarou gives is suitably generous, him vowing to support Kengo endlessly as long as Kengo is honest about it; the little deflecting song that Yuuki sings is adorable for its corny attempt at levity, which was always Yuuki’s move. But it’s the acting that makes the scene unstoppable. When Gentarou is crying his eyes out, and Kengo is red-eyed and sputtering, and Yuuki just needs a hug to let her be okay with her sadness… man, A+. A+ moment for these young actors, when the show needs them to deliver. It’s solidifying these three as the heart of the show, and the stakes of their friendship as the most vital. (And Kengo even does the I’m Finally Calling You By Your First Name To Show That We Are Best Friends thing! I love that move!) The rest of it, the Space Baby stuff and Gamou’s long history of needing to be the Most Special Astronaut, it’s fine, I don’t mind it, it’s great if it means something to you. For me, I care about these kids, and this episode gave me everything I wanted.

You might even say it meant the world to me.