[Kamen Rider Die]

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 43 - “CHRISTMAS RESOLUTIONS”



Always a little surprised when this show has episode titles as straightforward as “Christmas Resolutions” (no exclamation mark, even), rather than “SANTA VERSUS THE GO-BUSTERS!” or “CHRISTMAS GIFT OF ANGER!”, y’know? It’s a little jarring.

But this episode was a really good one! Beyond just reminding the audience that Christmastime has very specific connotations for the Go-Busters, this one reiterates how far they’ve grown beyond their defining traumas, and how much they’ve dedicated themselves to finding the joy in their tragedies.

It’s fun to base an episode around the fallacy of Enter’s Gathering Data game/scheme, because it shows how little he’s changed in the past year compared to the Go-Busters. Enter continues to learn about humanity, but he himself doesn’t really get any more insightful because of it. Once again, his scheme fails because he has fundamentally misread the motivations and weaknesses of the Go-Busters. He can get them angry one time by dropping buildings on orphans and making fun of the Busters’ dead parents, but that’s just taking them by surprise; the Go-Busters don’t carry their rage around like Enter presumes they do. Enter just assumes that the Busters will give in to anger, and will use that anger to be more powerful, so he can rob them of their power. But that’s not the primary source of their power, it’s a reaction to cheap shots they aren’t expecting. Once they see it coming, they can choose to focus on the other motivations in their lives: altruism, generosity, love, hope, etc. Defeating Enter isn’t about ignoring anger, it’s about choosing something better.

And, y’know, easy to applaud that sort of personal growth when it’s wrapped up with a bow by Hiromu absorbing shot after shot from the Swordandshieldroid (perfect) until he learns all of its patterns and can kill it in two shots (also perfect). A rousing speech is well and good, but this is a toku show – you gotta wed that sentiment to superheroics and pyrotechnics!

This one totally worked for me, all the way through. The little scenes of the Busters working on their arts and crafts for their yearly Orphan Christmas Pageant was adorable, the cheap shots by the Vagras were almost hilarious in their cruelty, the Go-Busters taking a breath and instantly devising a counter-scheme to save Christmas (!!!) was energizing, and then Hiromu’s little monologue – with Nick playing the music box (!!!) in the background to focus Hiromu – was a stellar end to a very sweet episode. Total win for the good guys!



IT’S TIME FOR Papazord!

Oh, except for Escape stealing the two Messiah cards, using them to power up the Papazord, and squishing Enter like a bug.

I enjoyed the Enter/Escape stuff in this episode, for how it’s their relationship in microcosm – which one will betray the other first? They can collaborate on a specific plot, but any warmth between them is just prelude to betrayal. Escape slowly realizing that Enter’s version of “resurrecting Messiah” isn’t her version of “resurrecting Messiah” is a terrific end to their brief alliance, because they aren’t really in opposition on a scale of morality, just in the specifics of evil’s victory. More a difference of opinion than anything else, right up until Enter is popped like a zit.