[Fish Sandwich]

You know, funnily enough, Revice's design is maybe the only thing I like about Revice?

Like, I was actually so relieved when I saw people going "huh, thought they'd save that for the final form", because that made me realize they're going to have to do something else for the final form, and I'll probably find it more interesting. A fusion between Revi and Vice is just not actually as big a deal as it might sound like at first, between the Remixes, the brilliant way Jack Revice has been either of them and neither of them, depending on the episode, and just... the overall narrative of the show maybe not feeling like it needs that Thunder Gale Stamp all that much?

I'm going to very blunt about this in a way that will sound more cruel than I want it to -- I think this show is hitting a point of diminishing returns on climactic scenes of Ikki acknowledging how much Vice's existence means to him. It's not bad here at all, but I'm not sure it felt like any new revelation or growth for either of their characters actually happened. I've seen this before, and to be blunt again, I liked it best with Volcano Rex. Both the internal drama in those episodes, and the way that form represented Revi and Vice working in unison by being different, rather than by literally being the same guy. Embracing conflicting aspects as diametrically opposed as fire and ice, and harnessing that power for good? It just felt super poignant for this show, what can I say?

Well, I could start by saying some nice things about this episode, because, again, I swear it was pretty good, in spite of my gripes! I mean, that Revice suit alone obviously puts it way up there. Look at all the colors! Look at all the pointy bits! Go ahead and tell me it looks dumb and garish; I'll just tell you "that's why I like it!"

Less superficially though, I really enjoyed how this episode was put together. The direction for all the scenes involving Ikki is just 1000% Ishida, with all the crazy lighting and angles, and that did wonders to elevate that stuff.

...

Wait, hang on, that might be all the praise I've got? Like, this one was completely inoffensive, beyond a few nitpicks, but I'm trying to think of parts that legitimately impressed me enough to talk about, and the best I came up with was "episode 18 of Revice sure was great!" I don't know if that says more about my feelings on Revice, or Revice itself, or what, but, uh, yeah, surprisingly downbeat post from me this week! Sorry about that!