[Fish Sandwich]

Hiromi's been a particularly endearing question mark for this series ever since he became Demons, so it's nice to see the show finally getting around to giving him proper time in the spotlight. The thing is, Junya Komatsu gives far and away one of the best performances of the whole cast, but even though I immediately understand why you would refuse to confine him to a bit part, it then becomes of a matter of what exactly his bigger role *is* in Revice's story, and that hasn't been made particularly clear yet.

Really, it's still not clear to me how exactly Hiromi's struggles speak to and connect with the larger themes and narrative, but like any good red and blue arachnid superhero, his life is absolutely miserable literally all the time, and that at least makes room for him to have his own interesting story going on between everything else. Like, this episode is just great, you know? There's big stakes, betrayals, mysteries, twists, and development all over the place for Hiromi, and it's a blast to watch.

And hey, because Nobuhiro Mouri can be a darn good writer, the episode still manages to check in on all the other Riders quite nicely while it's at it. I'm especially fond of how Ikki is now releasing Vice with such impunity, which highlights how their relationship is evolving. It's also nice that both of them spend such a big stretch of the fight scene at the end just using their default forms, which I'm obligated to praise, because I'm a huge stickler about that.