[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 27 - “STOP! TYRANT’S MAYHEM AND VIOLENCE GONE WILD”



I was pretty uninvested in the Giff plot of this show, even before we landed in the Destined To Fail arc of the series. Giff’s just some big dumb yonic-looking statue – I don’t know what it wants, or how it feels about the events transpiring throughout the show. Its menace is purely theoretical; something’s going to happen, maybe, at some point, and it’d be better if that didn’t happen. Giff is a Big Deal, but not because of any inherent drama or excitement, but because any number of characters keep telling us – since the first episode – that Giff is a Big Deal.

After 27 episodes, I think I’m okay saying I do not give a single shit about Giff.

Beyond the sophomoric humor of noting its similarity to human anatomy (THAT PEARL!!!), talking about Giff is like talking about cloudy days, or getting stuck in traffic: it’s annoying to deal with, and pointless to discuss. Giff is a presence that multiple characters are fighting over, but there’s no real sense of what an endgame even looks like for the cultists and psychopaths who orbit it. As a result, we’re given a storyline where relatable characters have generic-to-arbitrary motivations, and all of the emphasis is put on a mute statue that any American broadcaster would deem inappropriate for children’s programming.

That’s all a long way of saying that I found the bulk of this episode relentlessly dull. I don’t care at all about the fact that Giff is driving Vice and Lovekov crazy. It’s all part of a Catch-22 plot, where Olteca’s making monsters that the Igarashis have to defeat, but each one they defeat just makes Giff stronger. The problem is, there’s no plan on behalf of any of them to actually solve this problem (other than George, with a new power-up), so it’s hard to care about the trap they’re in. (I mean, one solution would be STOP OLTECA FROM ESCAPING WHEN YOU HAVE HIM OUTNUMBERED, but that is probably never going to happen on this show.) It’s just grueling, miserable combat, where the villain is shouting This Is Pointless and the hero is shouting Yeah I Know. Not super fun to watch!

This has been my least-favorite subplot over the last few episodes, even though (or especially because) I never brought it up much. It’s just this rising body count, as everything gets worse, and there’s no strategy on the heroes’ part to combat a spiraling situation. If I can’t see a sliver of hope, or a chance at a reversal, it’s boring to watch a superhero show. The worst possible outcome for the miserabilism of this arc is George showing up with some Deus Ex Vistamp, and that’s about all I can see happening right now?

Bummer episode, and it started off so promising! Mom Igarashi comes home, and it’s such a beautifully warm scene! She’s sorry that the happiness she stole as a young woman is coming back to haunt her family now! It’s a fascinating, well-observed take on family, and it’s as rousing and affecting as the rest of the episode isn’t. As always, when this show sticks to the family drama… unbeatable.

The rest, though? Well, Sakura said it best: