[DreadBringer]

Well, I guess GenmCorp (who'd release both ep. 5 and 6) is late again, so I had to watch another sub again as this is Saturday now. This episode is another attempt of red herring of Daiji being evil but actually not, it's Daiji's inner demon Kagerou instead. This'd raise questions that'll drive the story further forward, like how does Kagerou work differently from Daiji such as being able to possess him outright and that the Rider form Evil is only 1 instead of 2-in-1 like Revice. I do think that the episode does good job for the red herring, with the foreshadowing that Kagerou can eat extremely spicy foods without problem unlike Daiji himself according to his family, though of course it's quite inherent if the evil had the same look to the original (especially the scans that it only shows Wataru Hyuga wearing sinister black outfit). I also wonder if this'd be the opposite of how in the past, probably except Kiva, the "dark clone" of the Rider appears first then the more heroic version (either anti or straight) appears later in original Daiji, unlike Riders such as Ryuki & Ryuga, Kabuto & Dark Kabuto, etc. Though Evil blatantly displayed his strength...Revice wasn't reverted back to human form...

The one that'd make it happen, George, probably now cements him as evil guy, who just happens to be in a good organization/job Fenix, where any other members are so far genuinely heroic, albeit Wakabayashi can be too tough for any little situation. Now I got more glimpse of George, I wonder if he'd be someone similar into the likes of DJ Sagara or Blood Stalk, who manipulates both sides that neither will have an advantage, now by willingly giving the TwoSiDriver to Kagerou, which he knew that it wasn't Daiji, by his statement of Wakabayashi being half-wrong. If Revice teaches morals too, probably I'd like for George to be used to teach the misunderstanding of why Kamen Riders are seen as admirable, like currently he seems to value the chaos and violence (like his solution before being Rider Kicking) instead of the heroism value they (not all) display; done in a major character instead of a minor one. This'd also mean that George isn't a good counterpart of Aguilera, but just the technology counterpart of her.... both him and Deadmans give powers to questionable individuals that lets them be more unrepentant in their evil! (interested in Deadman's other moves other than giving people ViStamps like Julio at the dojo too) The scans show Kadota turning into a Rider... I hope it's not an easy solution that he's just being able to henshin, I want to know how the series would handle Kadota's inner demon that he can properly henshin and fight for justice. I also wonder if the female Fenix member that helps up Kadota will be the series' secondary heroine, t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶r̶s̶e̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶n̶t̶r̶y̶'̶s̶ ̶p̶o̶o̶r̶ ̶E̶n̶g̶l̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶a̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶b̶i̶l̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶(̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶"̶I̶'̶m̶ ̶e̶n̶t̶i̶t̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶o̶p̶i̶n̶i̶o̶n̶"̶ ̶e̶x̶c̶u̶s̶e̶.̶.̶.̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶d̶e̶f̶i̶n̶i̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶o̶p̶i̶n̶i̶o̶n̶s̶)̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶l̶i̶s̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶u̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶A̶g̶u̶i̶l̶e̶r̶a̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶o̶i̶n̶e̶ ̶s̶m̶h̶.̶.̶.̶.̶ though ofc it's unknown if Aguilera will go into the same redemption path as Parado did (albeit Parado's happened very late in the show), and that some heroines (anti or straight) do start off as villains, such as Yoko from Gaim.

Following last episode, it seems that Shiawase-Yu/Happy Spa now serves as more than just an onsen... as Yukari Naruse visits it not to take a bath (at least not onscreen), but to request for their help regarding her aspiring actor younger brother Masaru who had a car accident but with the culprit Tsuyoshi Eguchi being declared innocent due to the changing lawyer and the crime details. Probably both Ikki and Sakura tolerate requests like that more as it's not a petty request like some of the questions before that can be done by themselves, despite that the request would be significantly more difficult to do. Can't talk further about Naruse siblings though. But would talk about the others in this situation; the corrupt lawyer Yasushi Kudo did a good job in his portrayal to get the character to be disliked/hated (subjective) I think in his slimy lying ageism bastard practices, nailing negative stereotypes of a corrupt authority figure, including a notoriety in lawyers changing the facts to “win” their case. And this isn't a case of an 'asshole being easier to hate than a villain' because he's an actual villain, albeit as usual, superpowers amplify his villainy's impact in the Kangaroo ViStamp (given by the Deadmans). He and his ViStamp also invokes a literal case of kangaroo court, which means an unfair and biased selection of judge and/or jurors specifically made to attack or rig a verdict for or against the accused, and he uses the ViStamp to rig his courtroom cases. As he's obsessed with winning cases (from his previously poor record), the "win" for now is when Egushi is declared innocent, but at the end he'd deflect the blame on Eguchi running with the ViStamp out of a cowardly move... I don't know how'd he progress after that if he'd want to prove Egushi being innocent... probably being an irrational coward that he won't realize that he screwed himself (unless he'd change his mind about Egushi being guilty) even without Ikki and Vice's involvement? His excuse is that hard work doesn't pay off... but if he had poor record before, dunno about how much hard work he accomplished.... he's probably just isn't good enough of a speaker without using a threat by force, but worse he had a lack of moral to go as far as injuring the bunch of witnesses too. He's clearly evil, but I wonder what'd make another amoral attorney in this franchise, Kitaoka from Ryuki, doesn't seem evil (though he's still clearly morally grey) other than having a lead role (perspective). He's someone who's obsessed with winning and records regardless of the cilent being innocent or guilty, but I guess he'd need to also feed Magnugiga the witnesses or such to be outright evil like Kudo, which is what Scissors did instead (to cover up his corrupt practices) for Ryuki. Though his villainy is caught, there's still no conclusion of his fate, hope that'd be addressed in next one.

The episode finally has another (almost) full family moments again. Yukimi's still in hospital, but it's indirectly shown in her not being present instead of a scene of her in hospital. Genta's actor Shigeyuki Totsugi claims Genta has untold secrets, and I thought it's done here with Genta being able to provide a vital information that the corrupt lawyer is Yasushi Kudo, but apparently it's still not, he's only riding on Bu-san's contributions. I'd hope Totsugi can live up to his words later time, currently Genta just reveals more of his bumbling traits, of him being easily impressed due to having so low standards that they regularly get dazzled by things both the other characters and the audience don't find too amazing. And that trait is commonly used in comic relief (which he definitely is) or childish naivety trait... which'd make Genta a manchild.

More new things for Sakura in her cooking being made extremely spicy... and her at the end admitting that she can only let herself loose, I changed my stance on this several times before, but here I can understand better, probably Sakura's edgy towards her family (there's a limit though like Ikki's contribution here and ep. 4), but usually not for others (except Yoshida, who is a criminal.. she can justify those who did good traits though), like to Yukari and how she's welcoming to a 'new male karate student'...who is Julio in disguise, even accepting his "help" despite that she's much superior. Still'd want to know the root of her being edgy to her family though particularly Genta (Ikki had poor reaction too but not as hostile), of which probably they'd explore. It'd be creative if her cooking is directly used as a metaphor to her demeanor, of which the cooking is shown to be really spicy, which she realizes as a mistake, warning "Daiji" too for that, and that being used as a driving factor of Sakura to take into account of her edginess to change or such; realizing that she treats others (family in particular) 'too spicy' as well.

Ikki finally reveals about his connection to Vice to others via Gundephone, of which I'd hope he also explains that his random outburst is him interacting (get angry at) with the unseen demon. He really shines in this episode, of him having no problem in outwitting Kudo, and this shows how despite Kudo having superpowers to gain upper hand to others, it'd not be an immediate advantage to others having the same, and Vice's supernatural trait is really vital on investigation and is used in a smart way here that he can phase through hidden stuff that Kudo does have the ViStamp.. as well as the note of the next witness coming tomorrow 9, possessing her phone to record the conversation. Other than Vice's contribution, Ikki knowing better about Kudo deceiving him (with his associate) at the end is all on himself though, from his skills at sleight of hand before. Don't know what takes him that long to confront Kudo again though (at night), probably waiting for Fenix to check on Eguchi? His fighting skill was also genuine here (he was quite sloppy in his human fighting scene before) to put down the associate without problem.

The episode overall had less of the fight compared to the previous ones, not even a new form, but probably it pays off in fleshing out the existing characters more.