[Kamen Rider Die]

TOKUMEI SENTAI GO-BUSTERS MISSION 49 - “RESOLVE AND DECISIONS”



I like how this one ended up being a rebuttal to last episode’s Hiromu story, crystalizing that the strength of the Go-Busters is in how they support one another, so any individual flaw becomes offset by everyone else’s teamwork. Hiromu’s transformation into Enter’s lifeline is a huge problem if Hiromu fights him one-on-one, but Hiromu doesn’t have to fight Enter one-on-one; he’s never been alone. The team is there to save him, or if necessary, kill him. It’s not a problem for him to solve with his own two hands.

This could all feel a bit redundant, in regards to Hiromu's continuing story of avoiding burdening -slash- communicating with his family, if not for the heightened stakes of the last few episodes. Like, yeah, Hiromu was probably being reasonable when he didn’t want to make his friends and family responsible for executing him. I don’t think that’s selfish of him to not want to put on them! It’s an okay thing to try and spare them of that! But in the end, Hiromu’s life is more than just his to cash in – he’s part of a team, and the team wins or loses as a unit.

A lot of this is less interesting to me than the Christmas episodes, if I’m being honest. (Again, this was sort of dealt with just a few episodes ago against Messiah!) The Christmas episodes felt like such a joyous culmination of everything the team learned over the last 13 years, crescendoing with a defeat of their ancestral enemy on the anniversary of their parents’ deaths. This is… kind of doing a lot of the same stuff? Hiromu and the gang save two kids that are hilariously similar to Tiny Yoko and Tiny Hiromu, making the flashback to 13 years ago almost insultingly unnecessary. (It’s so on the nose!) Enter’s abducting scientists by the truckload, just like their parents were lost to Messiah. The resolution to all of this requires a trip to hyperspace, just like their parents did 13 years ago. And so on.

Like, I appreciate a symmetrical resolution as much as the next adult who spends too much time critiquing television shows designed to sell toys to children, but this was all a little too diagrammatic for me. It feels mechanical instead of precise, where the gears grind up nuance in favor of reference. The Christmas episodes felt like the hand of fate giving the Go-Busters a chance to make things right (so Christmassy!), while this one just felt… preordained? Inevitable? Less fun, in any event.

I don’t hate this ending, if that’s what this all sounds like. (I can see why you’d get that impression. That last paragraph! Yikes!) I enjoyed this episode in a lot of the ways I liked the last one – the feeling of a dozen episodes’ worth of threads finally coming together in unexpected and compelling ways, while a charismatic villain inches closer to omnipotence. That’s fun! This whole thing feels like a natural end to the year’s story. I just… I think it’s a less fun version than the previous natural end to the year’s story?



IT’S TIME FOR Enter Buster!

I don’t know if this suit’s got a name or whatever, but I love it. It’s perfect. My favorite suit of the entire series, right here at the end. It’s such a great feral version of Hiromu’s suit: the fangs over the eyes, the maroon color scheme, the jagged edges, the little bolts everywhere. (The little Vagras emblem where the GB teleporter usually is!) I love how it’s Red Buster but vicious, a perfect encapsulation of Messiah and Buster. Gorgeous suit, perfectly timed.