[AkibaSilver]

Kamen Rider Fourze Episodes 43 & 44: Light and Darkness Twins & Ceremony of Celestial Fate



(Screencap included because Gamou and evil!Yuki in these episodes makes me uncomfortable)

I had to pause and laugh when, at the start of Episode 44, Kengo casually drops on us that aliens are real, he has known all series, and never thought to tell anyone. Yes, Nadeshiko was in the movie, but there's a difference between one (1) space goo girl, and these new extraterrestrial super-beings that are the focal point of our main villains plan. And they've been driving Yuki to her wit's end all season!

The actual plot feels like something that could've gone down back in the mid-20's and maybe fit better, with the Zodiarts actiely targeting a member of the KRC club, and deepning Gentarou and Yuki's friendship that has mostly fallen to the wayside. As is, it doesn't "not" work, but it does feel like a downgrade to have right after Virgo's death felt like an escalation.

Evil Yuki is alright as a villain, and I'm surprised she isn't kept around at the end to give the Zodiarts slightly more firepower as an organisation. I get what they're going for, having her be the darker impulses that Yuki is always deciding not to give in to, and it is an important lesson to learn that merely thinking nasty things doesn't make you a bad person, its the ability to mentally catch yourself and be better that makes us human... but it does feel like there's a disconnect? Maybe its because Yuki so rarely feels like a person, but evil!Yuki struggles to feel much like our Yuki, outside of scenes where she's explicitly faking her identity, like at her parents'. That said, the horror side, with Yuki losing her own identity, to the point of not recognising the KRC and even Gentarou, with them mere moments away from executing her, that hits very well. And the resolution pulling something from Gentarou and Yuki's own childhoods, something which has remained underdeveloped in their bond, I like. I just feel like a plot revolving around our primary female character could be stronger, ya know? Good, but not perfect.