[Kamen Rider Die]

SSSS.DYNAZENON EPISODE 2 - “WHAT’S YOUR REASON FOR FIGHTING?”



Much improved second episode for me, where the tricky act of opening yourself up to someone and the tricky act of learning to pilot a variably-combining giant robot interweave in delightful, exciting ways.

Like, I’m into a whole episode where Yomogi forces himself into the background, and mostly leaves people hanging – it’s a less showy version of what Yume does, but equally as frustrating and sabotaging. It’s theoretically in service to Yomogi’s ill-defined afterschool job, but that feels less like a burning motivation and more like a convenient cover to skip out on his friends, and avoid the possibility of new connections with the Dynazenon Alliance. It’s almost a reflex for him, and it’s most apparent when Yume finally opens up to him on their little afternoon excursion.

It’s hugely consequential, in ways both personal and heroic. The heroic part is Yume trying to make clear to Yomogi that what they’re doing as Dynazenon isn’t some burden or goofy accident, it’s saving lives, and Yomogi needs to understand the stakes. Showing him both the damage they caused during their fight and the people they protected as a result is her attempt to get him to see that this isn’t some other part of his life he can fade away from, it’s massively important. But the personal part is more interesting to me, because while the heroic part is Yume trying to make the scale bigger for Yomogi, the personal part is her trying to make their new group of robot pilots into less of an abstraction, and more of a group of damaged people trying to do something with their darkness.

And Yomogi biffs it? Yume tells Yomogi that her older sister died a few years ago, and it was at the tower we’ve frequently seen her at. And Yomogi just lets this information wash over him, not disturbing it with a response or support or anything that’d normally speak to a human connection. Yomogi just sort of lets it pass by him, rather than get caught up in it.

But life isn’t just something you can let happen around you, no matter how nice it might be to disengage and concentrate on your internal self. (The previous series is basically all about that!) The world will eventually involve you in it, and you will need to connect with people. You might not even get to choose them! But it’ll happen, and you need to figure out how to be present for it.

All of that was great, but my favorite part of this episode is how it takes all of that, and argues for the value of play in engaging with the world. While Gridman spent a lot of time talking about the value of narrative and world-building, this show is immediately differentiating itself by handing four people action figures and toy vehicles and asking them to play with them. Just the visual of them holding their Zord Parts or whatever, it’s magical. This show has spent a lot of time already on the anchors of our past, and that needs to be counterbalanced by showing how fun it can be to see the world like a kid does, even if it’s just for a little while. It’s arguing for toys, and play, and it’s doing it while talking about how we find it easier as we grow up to find less value in the world around us. It’s making things tactile, and I love that.

This thing is winning me over!