[MaskedRiderAsakura]

This episode was an emotional gut-punch for me. Despite how messy some of the lead up was, the emotional moments really hit how they were supposed to, and that's a credit to the cast who are all doing a PHENOMENAL job here.

One thing I'll commend Revice for is commitment to its core theme. We were told that this show would be about family from the beginning, and it's been a main theme along nearly every story arc. Evil's beef with Ikki, Olteca's familial abuse turning him into the sociopath that he is, Akaishi's weird obsession with making Daiji his surrogate son and even Hana not being able to detach herself from the Deadmans because they were HER family. Now we have George's daddy issues manifesting in a self-destructive obsession with surpassing him. It really helped to keep this series grounded to its core theme.