[Kamen Rider Die]

SSSS.DYNAZENON EPISODE 5 - “WHAT’S LOVER-LIKE MEAN?”



Dynazenon has been a series of fascinating duality, mixing comedy with haunting disconnection to create something memorable and affecting… but nothing could’ve prepared me for a hilariously long segment of Yume eating a churro.

I honest to god cannot believe the animators committed to that joke as completely as they did. Just a dead scene, with Yomogi’s pointless small talk and Yume’s incongruent concentration on eating a churro, and it goes forever. I think a part of me is still somewhere watching Yume take tiny bites of a churro and complain about sugar getting everywhere, while Yomogi stands there. In much the same way that Episode 4 got warped by Chise’s manic piloting of Dyna Soldier, this one becomes a masterclass in absurdity thanks to precise and ridiculous poolside shenanigans.

(The bit at the end where, after cutting to the lifeguard three different times for him to scold Gauma, when Gauma tells everyone not to run, they cut back to the lifeguard saying nothing. This episode!!!)

It’s nominally in service of a couple key plots, namely nabbing Sizumu, and getting more time with Yume and Yomogi. I’m gonna be honest and say that neither of those really amounted to much, despite being funny throughout? The Sizumu scheme is lost from the start, pointedly so, as Gauma has nothing in particular in mind for how he’s going to nab Sizumu, or what he’s going to do with him if he does. And Sizumu isn’t really doing much, just sort of Gathering Data on the two main kids. He gives a little speech about bonds being a prison that humans see as freedom, and while that’s for sure a main theme of this series – Yume’s investigation into her sister’s death is kind of Exhibit A in connections not being a way to free yourself – it takes more than half the episode to get to a few lines of dialogue, and then we’re off to the perfunctory kaiju battle, which, while very fun, is sort of treated like an imposition to absolutely everyone but Onija, who is way way too into it. (The whole K.E. plot is super Team Rocket, up to and including Onija getting crushed by debris or whatever.) Everything with Sizumu is funny, or fun, but feels too light and comedic to get much out of dramatically.

The Yume/Yomogi stuff fares a little better, even if it doesn’t exactly move them along in any visible way. Yomogi’s still crushing on Yume, and Yume’s still disinterested and/or oblivious, while still managing to let herself be vulnerable around Yomogi in a way that speaks to how strong their connection has become, even if I wouldn’t characterize it as romantic, or certainly not reciprocated. It’s sweet in its unhurried normalcy, while building something in the background between its two lead characters.

And that’s sort of this whole episode? The gags are terrific throughout, but it’s not in any hurry to tell its story, because it wants you to relax enough for it to spring its trap at the end. I liked it, and found it entertaining, but it mostly felt like setup for a reveal at the end that I don’t know that I found particularly surprising? I sort of figured the sister’s death was a suicide, and while that isn’t confirmed, it didn’t strike me as unpredictable enough to close out an episode on. (I’m also going to assume that Chise’s ever-present sleeve is covering a tragic story, based on the quick look Yume gave it at the pool.) What was here was lulling us into complacency before a gut punch, but it just didn’t hit me that hard? I guess we’ll see if that changes for the next episode!