[Kamen Rider Die]

MASKED RIDER AGITO EPISODE 48



God, I love how they're using Shouichi and Ryou to talk about the best ways to support people. Incredibly strange to make that (what looks to be) the final storyline, but, I don't know, maybe not so strange?

The real meat of this episode are the various Shouichi/Kana and Ryou/Scorpion scenes. (Of course Ryou would fall for a no-good street racer named Scorpion. Of course.) There's other stuff around the edges, like the fact that people with birthdays between October 23rd and November 21st are falling victim to a string of inexplicable suicides (hey, my birthday's on November 21sssssssshit) that certainly won't create problems for people named Scorpion, and the next evolution of Team G3-X (topical!), but all that's really worth talking about this time are those Kamen Rider Life Coach scenes.

(Okay, there's the Ozawa/Omuro scene, which kills. Omuro breaking down crying when he thinks there's a chance he could go back to being ignored by Ozawa and Hikawa, adorable. Closing the blinds so that no one outside can see him blubbering, genius.)

I always think it's a fun idea to take one story and run it through a few characters simultaneously. It's a great way to emphasize both the similarities and the differences of characters. Here, both Ryou and Shouichi reach out to help women in despair. Shouichi wants to help Kana realize her dream (although it seems like she legit sucks at being a chef, so maybe he'd be better off letting this one go), while Ryou wants Scorpion to stop thinking she needs a dream and to be okay with a normal life. And, like, yeah, that's those two guys. Helping People looks completely different to each of them. Shouichi helps people by being emotionally present, by being encouraging, by wanting them to believe in themselves. Ryou helps people by letting them know that sometimes surviving, persevering, is the best you can do, and that's not a defeat. It's everything you need to know about their worldviews in a couple scenes. Shouichi's found a family, found friends, loves everyone. Ryou's suffered, lost, and still engages with the world without blinking. This episode was like a definitive statement on who these two men are.

And I think that's why it's not so weird to have this story at the end of the series. I want this show to end with a statement of purpose, a lesson in why these characters were worth watching over 51 episodes. I want something that isn't a secret past or an outside menace, I want a story about why Shouichi and Ryou are heroes, why they want to help people, and how they provide that help. I'm really grateful this is how Agito's going out.