[Kurona]

Kamen Rider Drive Episode 48



I really like Takeru's early scenes here. You don't see him much, but his little interaction with Shinnosuke was very lovely and reminds me of the best aspects of Ghost already -- Takeru's kindness and willing to give up something he almost certainly needs more just to help out someone in need.
Drive is a season that as time goes on, I'm finding less fondness for -- but this episode, while missing these aspects directly; did do a good job of reminding me what was enjoyable about it. The dynamic of the special investigations team; the dynamic between Shinnosuke and Steinbelt -- it's not here, but that's very much the point, it feels just wrong to not have them in a Drive story and this is about Shinnosuke having to move on with his life without them. It's a lovely bit of bittersweet-ness that shows just how fantastic Drive was at drama.

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And that's about all I've got to say! Aside from the very funny coincidence of the show saying Shinnosuke will go on to have a son called Eiji; I didn't get as much from this as I was hoping I would. Not sure if I made a mistake in choosing this as the first part of my Ghost rewatch? I was impatient to start but man, man I don't think this was quite it. I remembered this being more of a blatant Ghost advertisement than it actually was when in reality it's a very lovely send-off and ending to a show that I haven't watched in a while and don't intend to any time soon that happens to feature an Eyecon.



Kamen Rider OOO Episode 4





OOO, meanwhile, continues to go on a streak of being absolutely fantastic! This is that one episode Eiji's infamous speech comes from -- "If you can reach out and help someone and you don't... you'll regret that for the rest of your life. I just reach out because I don't want to feel that way". It's a great speech! And one that in context and on my second watch, is clear that it's not all genuine -- it's coming from a place of overwhelming guilt. Even this early on, we've seen enough flashbacks and statements from Eiji to see that he's someone who at his core desperately wants to save everyone he can reach out to, yet has failed tragically in the past and that continues to wear him down. It's this conflict that makes him as interesting as he is for me - even though on the surface he seems like your bog-standard "do good things because it's the right thing to do" toku hero - which is still something I like! - what you've really got here is a question of how much he's motivated by it being the right thing to do, and how much he's motivated by his guilt. It's a great question to tackle and we'll be seeing it unfold more and more throughout the season.

This is also the first episode to really feature the most fondly remembered thing about OOO's gimmick items -- the constant back-and-forth with them. I didn't remember it happening this early, but already Kazari has gone and stolen the Kamakiri medal while Eiji's swiped two Cheetahs and an extra Tora! Especially now I know more about the toys, it's even more fascinating to me that they did this -- because the Kamakiri medal came with the OOO Driver! It was that toy's way of showing off its mix and match gimmick and that's why it was used from the first episode. And it's gone by episode 4! I can't express enough just how much I like this gimmick; it's such a simple way to keep you on your toes and keep our hero balanced and strategic. Without the Kamakiri swords he's ended up having to improvise with a different style of legs to attack the monster and save its host. And I'm glad they did, because... it allows them to pull off this visual below which will always stay in my mind. A visual that is so perfect thematically it needs no explanation; and so memorable it's one of my favourites in all of Kamen Rider. Fantastic episode.