[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER JEANNE & KAMEN RIDER AGUILERA WITH GIRLS REMIX - EPISODE 2



Solid second episode, with an increase in Legend Riders (Kanon! SAWA!!!), action (Reika and Sakura just brutalizing a platoon of guards), and emotion.

I ended up liking this episode more than the first, mostly for how nicely the focus stayed on the fight Hana and Sakura are having. It’s both a minor error – Sakura misspoke, rather than purposefully insulted Hana – and majorly indicative of the imbalance within their relationship. Hana’s lost everything, and built her world around her girlfriend. The organization she’s in is because Sakura’s there; the goals she has are the ones Sakura taught her. Hana’s life is a testament to her love for Sakura. But Sakura… she’s got more than Hana in her life. Weekend is part of her journey to improve herself. Her family is still a huge part of her life. Even her karate training is something that’s just for her. Sakura’s got a rich, vibrant life, while Hana is mostly existing in Sakura’s orbit. It’s easy to feel like things are tenuous when you need someone more than you think they need you.

So, yeah, easy to see why Sakura’s casual mention of Hana’s “real” family would feel like a dismissal of everything Hana feels for Sakura. Hana thought Sakura was her real family, and now it sounds like Sakura’s diminishing what they mean to each other. But it’s a misunderstanding, and swiftly resolved once the two of them talk it out. This isn’t a massive arc that sprawls over a few months of a show, it’s a TTFC special: We’re only ever a couple Acts from getting closure. It’s a sweet story, though, and one that’s refreshing in its need to make Sakura tell Hana how she feels. We’d gotten plenty of Revice subplots about Hana’s feelings, so it’s nice to have one where Sakura has to make things right with her long-suffering girlfriend.

Beyond that, it was nice to see all these Legend Riders take on an enemy base? We’re not really utilizing Girls Remix as a team in any big thematic way – they’re mostly just here to be a fun sideshow – but I will never say no to Poppy internet-teleporting into a security room and leveling guards, or Izu rapidly sidestepping thugs into unconsciousness. Even Akiko gets in on the fun, refusing to let her role as leader of Girls Renix keep her on the sidelines, and immediately needing to be bailed out by the returning Kanon and Sawa. Kanon’s a fun inclusion, after her Saber tie-in stuff, but the real surprise for me is Sawa’s role. She’s the one who hired Akiko, which is a perfect way to rope in one of my favorite Build characters, and a hilariously unintentional payoff to this image:



(More appropriately, I like the deep-cut callback of Akiko wondering why Sawa looks so familiar, which is a good gag about the actor playing a different character in the Accel V-Cin.)

Yeah, this episode was a lot more fun than the last one, and I liked the last one just fine. Sakamoto does his traditional Holy Shit action stuff in several of the fights, and the overall tone of emotional vulnerability and freely-given support makes for a compelling Revice-style story. Almost exactly what I could’ve hoped for.