[Kamen Rider Die]

MASKED RIDER RYUKI EPISODE 36



Ren's a killer! Eri's awake! Shiro's alive! Asakura is being transferred to prison by the entire police force of Japan! Reiko and Megumi are after the story! Yui and Shinji are desperate to stop Ren before he kills (again)! Kamen Rider Tiger and the Second Secret Science Society are waiting in the wings! And Goro, Shimada, and Kitaoka are hungover, possibly fatally! It's a big episode!

It's weird how little impact the Ren stuff had for me this episode, though. Some of that's because the other stuff popped way more, but some of it's because we just haven't seen the consequences of Ren's actions yet. He's stumbling around for this chapter, searching for another victim to bring him a step closer to saving Eri. But all of the weight for this storyline is with Yui and Shinji. It's about their attempt to save Ren before it's too late (when it's already too late), and how they need to let him know that Eri's alright. We get a little moment at the end, with Ren's relief at Eri's recovery, but that's not as interesting to me as what comes next. I'm excited to see what becomes of Ren after killing, and after Eri's out of danger. This part, where he's still a self-destructive Rider who's pinned all of his hopes on Boy I Hope I Can Murder Enough People, like, it's necessary, but it's not that compelling.

The Asakura/Everyone Else story, though, hot damn. It's just great sequence after great sequence, as Asakura schemes and threatens and assaults his way to freedom. High point of the episode, by far, is Asakura single-handedly defeating every single uniformed officer in Japan while a terrifically badass fight song plays. The police force seems absolutely cowed by Asakura, which is both totally cool (he's a war machine in a snakeskin shirt, I guess) and maybe too much. It's one thing when Asakura sneaks an Advent Card out of his Deck (that I guess no one ever searched him for?) to get a bloodthirsty Mirror Monster onto a police escort, it's maybe another when a cop has him dead to rights, revolver to his face, and Asakura just smirks so dangerously that the cop can't pull the trigger. I don't need the cops to stop him, that's a Rider's job, but I'd like the cops to feel like more of an obstacle than, say, Auntie. She would've pulled the trigger for sure. Or, more likely, she'd've put Asakura to work at the tea shop. Shinji hasn't been helping out, and she needs someone to fill in, and Asakura fits her only criteria of being a handsome boy!

Shinji and Yui do have their hands full with Ren and Asakura this episode, so hopefully Auntie isn't too put out. (That tea shop is empty 90% of the time, so I'm not sure what her problem is.) It's not really a lot of story spent with them, as they're pretty much just reacting to whatever else is going on. First it's questioning a completely wrecked Kitoka and Goro about whether they'd seen Ren, in a typically priceless scene. They're both destroyed from their victory celebration over Asakura, who Shinji didn't even know had been arrested. (Super funny exchange: "Arrested? Why?" "Aren't you a journalist?" Also, was that Shinji's actor on the TV that Shinji turns on?) Then, it's tracking Asakura in case Ren show's up, until Asakura busts loose and then it's chasing him and Ren. Once Ren gets news from Yui, though, it's pretty much just Ryuki versus Ouja with a final assist from Tiger. It's very fun scenes, but they're all plot-driven and/or action stuff. Effective and tense, but not much to say other than I Think They Did Their Job Well.

And, really, that's my feeling for the whole episode. It's an incredibly well-done, tense episode, but one where it's hard to do more than just say that. Thematically, there wasn't much to this one. A lot of cause and effect, not a ton of ideas to dig into. Still, ain't nothing wrong with an ass-kicking episode of Kamen Rider once in a while, right?