[Kamen Rider Die]

SSSS.GRIDMAN EPISODE 7 - “SCHEME”



You know it’s gonna be a fun date episode when the girl’s dad shows up.

Very much a Setting The Table episode, both literally with the aforementioned date, and figuratively with the continued unfurling of Music Note’s warnings and exposition from last episode – which takes a weirdly long time to get everyone onboard, considering all of the insanity they’ve already experienced – leaving this one feeling delightfully chaotic but sort of narratively a little too open-ended.

I did enjoy all of the Akane/Yuta stuff, and it’s genuinely nice to have an episode that foregrounds their relationship/acquaintanceship/rivalry/dyad. They’re both dealing with otherdimensional robot mans (?) who are empowering them to follow their hearts and do the things that only they can do, whether that’s destroying kaiju or creating kaiju, and that gives them common ground despite their hilariously diametrically opposed views of the sanctity of human life. They’re in this battle, even though Yuta can’t remember why, and Akane can’t explain why. Letting them feel their way around that vaguery through something as simple as two teens going on a date (which her dad shows up to!) is exactly the right energy for this show, and it’s probably going to be in the Top 3 things I remember after the series is over.

The Anti fight, also very strong, even if I find his dedication to a third Something Only I Can Do story to be more comedic and extravagant than I find it particularly moving or insightful. He’s cute and funny as a guy who just wants to kill Gridman, and while that has thematic value – his commitment to a cause at the expense of connections, versus forming connections that could impact his cause – it really just comes off increasingly goofy and more of a release valve for other stories’ tension than anything too compelling in its own right. He had an exceptional time out last episode (proximity with Rikka will do that for you), but this time out felt like a little more of a step back.

There are of course a bunch of little things that further flesh out Music Note’s exposition from last time, and I sort of don’t want to talk about them. That sort of puzzle box stuff, the city in the clouds or Alexis Kerib’s plans or whatever… I don’t want to theorize? I’ll find out in a couple episodes, maybe; if I don’t, I honestly don’t care. I am not here for that stuff, even if I’m sure I’ll love it when it all comes together. (I really like how Akane’s “perfect world” is all of them in high school, because it speaks to both a sense of ennui and a need for safety and routine that matches her dislike of disruptions and inconvenience. She very much wants things to be a certain way, and always go a certain way, and that really matches the template of most toku shows.) (Also, boy, I feel like Yuta not being able to say that Akane’s his friend, and Rikka not yet giving Akane the folio she bought her… those feel like real big things for this show and its eventual conclusion! I am not immune to hypothesizing after all!) I just like watching these characters bounce off of each other, and explore their concepts of self, like the teacher none-too-subtly talked about. I like them figuring out who they are so they can figure out what they stand for, even if those things are terrible.