[Kamen Rider Die]

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 30 - “MESSIAH: SHUTDOWN”



On the one hand, Hiromu was never going to choose the digital ghosts of his parents over the safety of the world, and neither would Yoko. (Ryuji… I mean, his need to protect the feelings of Yoko and Hiromu, to save them from having to make that choice? I think that’s powerful enough that he would’ve fallen back like he suggested.) The Go-Busters aren’t just superheroes, they’re a military organization. This is a war they’re in, and they’ve each had to make sacrifices for the greater good; the defining moment of Hiromu and Yoko’s childhood is when their parents made the tough call, so this stuff is basically in their DNA. While it’s a heartbreaking choice, there was no version of this story where Hiromu would second-guess himself and cause the world to fall to ruin. It’s sort of hilarious that Enter really thought he had the advantage by trying to present Hiromu with a moral dilemma like this.

On the other hand, this episode really isn’t about The Greater Good Vs Your Loved Ones, or whatever story Enter thinks he’s in. This episode is about learning to let go of the past.

The scientists who vanished to hyperspace 13 years ago have been dead all this time. The chance of them all being alive and well has been steadily chipped away at over the last 29 episodes, leaving the eventual reveal that they’re all digital ghosts that are enslaved to Messiah as more of a Yeah That Tracks than anything Earth-shattering or terrifying. It’s the last nail in the coffin, and Hiromu knows it. Pretending that this situation can be fought out of or planned around is just delusional. They’re adults, and their parents are treating them like adults by leveling with them about what needs to be done. All that’s left is to honor their last wishes and put them to rest.

It’s a strong episode for just letting Yoko and Hiromu come to terms with their parents’ deaths, finally. Their parents are gone, but they’ve always been gone, and yet they’ve never been gone. Yoko can feel her mother’s presence as she pilots her Buster Machine, and Hiromu’s survival is a testament to his father’s dedication to saving lives, no matter the personal cost. The change now is only the end of the illusion of possibility, not the static outcome, and that’s something they’ll need to deal with moving forward. And now they can move forward, at long last. It’s a bittersweet moment, but it points to a brighter future.

IT’S TIME FOR Clues!



The idea that Escape and Enter are gestalt entities made up of all the scientists… it’s fine, but it’s not like this show did a ton of work setting up that concept to have any narrative weight, beyond the previous reveal of Hiromu’s mom’s dog statues. This was a reveal that I don’t remember anyone asking about before, and it only really serves to foreshadow the reveal about everyone being consumed by Messiah 13 years ago, and that scene is the next one. It’s very Hey We Never Got Around To This But Here’s The Deal With Enter And Escape, and I don’t know that I found the new information particularly illuminating. Maybe you did, though!