[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER KABUTO - EPISODE 22




I've said once or twice that doing an episode post for me isn't a final statement, it's a jumping-off point, a conversation starter. My initial thoughts on a story get to sharpen and clarify by discussing them with other fans. Usually it's just getting to understand something I've seen a little better. This time, I think it rendered me weirdly prescient, taking a comment from today's discussion and making it the focal point of this episode's beautiful and moving climax?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Kagami is terrible at figuring out who's a Worm (in many episodes!), and the Worms end up duplicating him. It's entirely possible that Makoto is some sort of trap for him. His belief that Makoto is a real boy who needs his help is 100% Kagami: he's probably being tricked, but the chance that he's not has got him all-in on saving this kid. Kagami's dedication and faith... they're both his greatest weaknesses and his greatest strengths.

I almost want to just leave this post at that quote, since it's everything I found compelling and engrossing about this episode. There's a lot of little touches that are worth calling out (and I'll try to remember them all!), but the crux of this story is that Kagami and his Very Big Feelings are, to quote the Simpsons, the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.

I mean, this is an episode that starts with Kagami getting a pep talk from his boss that's basically If You're Going To Be An Idiot, Be The Best Idiot You Can Be. It's an episode that constantly undercuts Kagami's determination by pointing out how much trouble it gets him in. When he races off to the factory that Makoto's hiding in, he immediately gets surrounded by the Worms. There is no plan from Kagami, just emotion. He has absolutely no chance, as a normal human, to actually save Makoto from a nest of Worms. But he throws himself into that danger, because he can't stop himself. He will do whatever it takes to save this kid.

Who, of course, isn't even a kid at all. Makoto is a Worm, just like everyone's been telling Kagami. It's a trap, just like it seemed to be last time. And so Kagami is killed for his failure, for his naivete, for his misplaced belief in Makoto, for his stupid insistence that he could make a difference despite being powerless.

And then.

It all starts to wind back. Kagami isn't powerless; the Gatack Zecter comes to him, saving his life and giving him the strength to defeat the Worms. He wasn't wrong to believe in Makoto; some small part of him lived on in the Worm, and saved Gatack from the factory's explosion. His naivete wasn't his failure; he succeeded due to his blind faith that people are worth saving, that his Very Big Feelings were a strength. And so he gets to live another day, as Kamen Rider Gatack.

It's a fantastic sequence, and I get why these episodes stick in people's memories now. (I still think the first one isn't perfect, though!) This episode is all about breaking down Kagami, exposing his flaws... and then asking if those same flaws aren't really flaws at all? It's bold, to spend half an episode (and most of the rest of the series) to make him look like such a chump. Yet, somehow, all of that just ends up making his victory so much sweeter.

The trick is that Kagami doesn't learn a lesson here. It's not a story where he grows, or changes his mind, or whatever. It's... I mean, hilariously, it's what I dinged the show for last episode, but praise it for now: it's just reminding us who Kagami is as a man. All of the stuff it usually laughs at him for, it really delves into this episode and tries to explain. This story makes it tragic, and then makes it heroic. He's not more anything in this one. He's just Kagami, for better or worse.

Nowhere is that more apparent than the ending, which is a subtle twist on the ending to 4, the best ever Kabuto ending to date. (This one's good, but... man, 4. Tough to beat!) As the Makoto Worm tries to appeal to Gatack's sympathy by doing the You Wouldn't Detonate Wittle Owe Me routine, it looks like we're back at the baseball diamond, with Kagami unable to pull the trigger on his brother's memory. Kagami came to this factory to save Makoto. Can he really kill what's left of him? So Kabuto walks up, once again opting to make the hard choice that Kagami's too sweet to do. But Gatack stops him, says that he'll take care of it.

But he doesn't kill the Worm. Kagami takes his sympathy, his ability to care about the life the Worm stole, and turns it back on the Worm. He gives the Worm the moonbow that Makoto always wanted to see, the wish he was never granted when he was alive. It's not enough to stop the Worm (it charges Gatack), but it's enough to redeem Makoto's memory. A Rider Kick from Gatack finishes off the attacking Worm, but what remains of Makoto uses his final moments to save Gatack from the factory's explosion. It's kindness repaying kindness.

And that's Kagami, you know? He's not a smart fighter. (He jumps his bike in the most badass way, before getting knocked right the eff off of it by a Worm a second later.) But he won't let reason get in the way of his Very Big Feelings, since his Very Big Feelings are always pointed in the direction of Helping. He may be a burden, like Kagami once said. He may be an idiot, like Tadokoro said in this one. But he's always a hero.

(I hate consigning an entire subplot to a parenthetical, but there's really no way to fit in the Tsurugi stuff to what's going on in the rest of this episode. If you squint, you could say that the restaurant stuff is about Motivation, contrasting Kagami's Very Big Feelings with Tsurugi's spoiled dilettantism. Or maybe it could be about how the Tendou/Kagami guardianship and support contrasts with the Jiiya/Tsurugi relationship. But, no. The whole point of the restaurant subplot is to have a little levity in an otherwise dark episode. I mean, Kagami gets murdered in this one! You need some lightness somewhere. On that level, it's a roaring success, with an endless series of killer gags. In order: the dumb costumes Tendou and Hiyori have to wear for Tsurugi's party; how Tendou is deferential to Jiiya but rude to Tsurugi; Tsurugi's astonishment at basic foods; Tsurugi's awestruck delight at the newfound knowledge of a supermarket; just, everything with Tsurugi during that meal, all of it, every single second; Hiyori rolling her eyes at every syllable that comes out of Tsurugi's mouth; Jiiya paying for everything with a fork, possibly the one that Tsurugi threw away; Kageyama getting strong-armed into singing a birthday song to Tsurugi; and Kageyama singing it in the most off-key, off-putting way possible. It's such a fantastic subplot. Easily as funny as the rest of the story is thrilling.)

A QUESTION

Gatack! Let's talk about our slick new Rider. I mostly like the suit, especially how it's way more drawn from Kabuto's suit than the other Riders. Making it another kind of beetle is the easiest way to do that, with everything being a slight variation on Kabuto's aesthetic. The chestpiece in particular is, like, Kabuto But Blue Now. It's not a great look that we get this time, with the first Gatack fight being underground in the dark, but I did like most of what I saw. (Not crazy about the shoulder swords, but they'll probably grow on me.) What do you think of the Gatack costume?