[DreadBringer]

Everyone's officially buddies now, by here. By the change (not only literally) of the former Deadman's attitudes.

At first, Aguilera was still a cold bitch towards Tamaki, even if Tamaki's behavior to be overprotective for someone stronger than him can be grating. I guess the episode fleshed her more with how she's the type to run away from the past at first, using her Hana identity to forget the atrocities she has committed in the past. I wonder if she acted bitchy towards Tamaki before was partly due to this too, to reject anything related to the past (still no excuse). But the fact is, she did commit all those atrocities, and it can't be undone (as there seems to be no time travel in Revice for now, unknown if George can create it) what you'd do is not only claiming to change and atone but also proving it. It'd be better and more benefical to help out rather than being inactive due to being sealed or killed, if they have the capacity of redemption. And she herself admitted now that she did those evil acts as a evil queen, like Tamaki before, so that shows that it's not that Aguilera did nothing wrong before as a Deadman and that all of the blame can be deflected away to others due to how there's a victim status in herself. Better than leaving her only being around I guess (even Kimiko appeared here!). Other than her debut as a Rider to help out, by taking back her old alias Aguilera as per Masumi's suggestion (I'd always call her that anyway due to Hana name already being used before in this franchise), it seems that she starts treating Tamaki better as well (it should be a start), addressing her superiority to him by resolving to protect him instead, and even to Vice, she acted playfully towards him, not haughtily, now also integrating with the other main cast.

Other than her, to a smaller extent Tamaki too undergoes a change here, not as in successfully 'change' in 'henshin', but his goal and motivation now. They made use of Tamaki being forced to smile, in his bullying days and Deadman days, as a stock Kamen Rider goal of making everyone smile. This being Tamaki though, probably this is played up in parodic way, albeit this is one of his bigger role after being separated from his Giftex role, albeit at first was about his repetitive motivation again to join Weekend (yeah, at the early part of the episode both the former Deadman generals acted like previous self), And as expected, he failed to henshin, due to the Kamen Rider motivation boast leading to Vail acquiring his ViStamp. Still a derp.... or perhaps what 'realistically' can happen when the opponent acts against someone posing for a fight. He's also was useful as a hostage and bait here, quite as expected. Actually because he's joining Weekend, he should re-take karate practice again with Sakura and Hikaru, like he did when he tried to deceive Sakura before, but no two-faced stunts again anymore.

Other than the Deadmans... Genta here also has returned, and vowing to settle his problem with Vail. Even Genta's resolve here seems more firm than Tamaki above, though he... vailed here due to his injuries.

I didn't expect here that even Aguilera wasn't an official member yet here at Weekend and this was her final test, and it seems that Weekend still carries some extreme methods, to have Tamaki in his human form being plunged into danger as his test to become a member. Less so for Aguilera as an actual Rider (her shooting Vail wasn't a test but done on her own volition). Even Sakura here still calls them out on this to put Tamaki in dangerous situation, though she quickly submits on Hikaru's explanation of this being Weekend's test. She'd still later defend Tamaki when he passed. I guess if she's fully affectionate to Aguilera and stands up for Tamaki against a friend she knew longer, she'd also better view Masumi in better light, as she did bring up about how him trying to atone isn't enough to erase his previous sins, but said Aguilera or even Julio was more malicious than Masumi in her evil queen actions.

Fenix's plan now apparently is about ViStamp mandate to remove demons from their bodies. Masumi's original plan, I hope the next episodes will flesh this out more, likely showing the consequences of Masumi's original extreme methods if fully done, especially if this is Akaishi's scheme. Or not as Daiji was actually doing his Fenix job here by guarding a Stamping site, and fought against what Akaishi actually did again by driving people away from Giff Juniors and also fighting against a Hell Gifterian, who apparently can speak. Daiji got heavily injured again, this time as a jobber to newer threat that can punch out Holy Live quickly, and has similar regeneration as Olteca in his final fight. Likely that'd be the one to spark Revice's final form. But overall despite a destroyed base, and George now residing in Happy Spa, Fenix's still operating. Regarding George, like above former Deadmans, Ikki accepts George here without (justified) doubt and animosity anymore, with George's change too now, hence 'everyone' being buddies now.

Other than Aguilera beating Vail in a fight here due to Vail not acquiring Aguilera's ViStamp yet, which is apparently based on Muhammad Ali's "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" fighting style (from what I catch, she targeted lower body parts a lot, and her finisher includes trapping their legs too), it's quite satisfying for me to have Vice get back at him, to mock his demonic life boast with Vail running away from Aguilera. Otherwise, as usual, Vice is still an attention whore despite that he cares more about people around him now, though not helped as Ikki joked about Vice being useless now in the face of Aguilera. Ikki pulled quite brutal joke right there still. His previous fight with Revi against Akemi showed a Deadman that can't be instantly cured, only temporary, but probably Akemi's brief conversation does show that Akemi is brainwashed, or likely went undercover against Akaishi. Either way, someone much more upstanding than Chigusa. Probably that'd also be used to show off Revice's upcoming final form's capabilities, with said using Giff power she claimed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frontier

Y'know it's almost to a point where I'm convinced Kinoshita is wishing he was writing a show where Sakura was the Main Rider with Hana as her secondary. Especially keeping in mind his first pitch which they rejected.

Kinoshita did talk about how he wanted to keep her "strong" throughout the show, and he had his own history too for it. Kinoshita fought against the strong resistance to having a female rider at all, as he stated that he grew up in a household with a lot of strong women and he wanted the series to reflect that. Though at this point it seems that Sakura has gone into creator's pet territory which is going too far in the opposite direction.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blade Fang

Also, George are more likely trying to make the strongest ViStamp (for Final Forms) and the Demons Driver in mass-produced version.

Hope he'd make use of his original goal of creating Ultimate Kamen Rider for good here as his redeemed self here, and perhaps learning the real value of Kamen Rider other than the chaos and violence.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

The plot forced her to be a cold bitch to everyone but Sakura, removing any subtlety to how she viewed their relationship.
Tamaki lost his only friend, then got betrayed by an ally, lost his only friend again, was forced to choose between the heroes and Aguilera, and then finally when Hana left Giff behind entirely, she was utterly cold to Tamaki, making him feel useless since he can't fight anymore.

It also feels like Hana was never Tamaki's friend wish how she's been towards him ever since Olteca's death.

True, never felt that Aguilera was fully good to Julio/Tamaki before (and disagreed with the lessons of ep. 23), just that she had limits to keep him alive. But regularly she's abusive towards him, it's not unlike those toxic tsundere tropes where the female who physically abuses the male is portrayed as being a show of affection. But that's probably why the end of this episode showed her changing to start being nicer towards him as one of her redemption path.