[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 02 - “COME ON, OUTER SPACE”



I don’t know that I ever liked Kengo?

He’s certainly way down my list of Favorite KRC Members. (Maybe last? It’s a bit of a toss-up, since I recall that JK didn’t exactly endear himself to me, either.) Some of it’s the performance – Kengo’s meant to come across (I think) as tortured and driven, desperate to learn the truth about the Zodiarts while his body fails him and a new student antagonizes him, but the onscreen result always read as petulant and needlessly insulting. (Again, first scene for him in the series is dramatically and publicly humiliating a girl who liked him!) But some of it is that Kengo refuses to have fun or engage with anyone in a friendly way, the two things I’m basically watching this show for. It’s one of my least-favorite tropes, the guy who exists to mock and belittle the premise of the series. Kengo’s role is to be an obstacle, but he comes off as more of an irritant. Never really warmed to that guy.

Until now? Maybe?

A lot of it is that I’m happy to be watching Fourze again, and I’m not (yet?) at a stage where I feel like ripping into a part of this show. This episode was incredibly fun, with a a high-energy Kids Adventure version of a by-then-standard Heisei plot, where the heroes try and figure out who the monster is before it’s too late. Can’t say any of the fake-outs distracted me from discerning the culprit this time around, since Tomoko is my favorite KRC member, and the only guest star to have a line of dialogue was jock suck-up Miura. Which, two quick things about this episode’s conclusion:

First, I loved Yuuki and Gen showing up to get answers from Tomoko, because it’s so dumb. Gen is relentlessly bad at investigating things or just generally moving this story forward when he applies himself – furthering the idea that Kengo will be crucial in steering Gen’s nascent costumed heroism – but accidentally great at it because he’s this big, boisterous personality that people can’t ignore. His constant blundering and misapplied enthusiasm ended up being key to uncovering Miura, but mostly because Tomoko found him car-crash fascinating. And then he just screamed at her like he’s in some terrible cop show! It was great! Yuuki has her hands full with this dope!

Second, Miura… if I squint, I can see the parallels between him and Shun, and Gen and Kengo: the idea of chafing under someone else’s charisma, of not being able to live your dream, of being forced to play the back-up. But we only really get one dialogue scene with Miura, Shun Nopes out as soon as the action turns costumed, and the post-fight wrap-up is a chastened nod from Miura. While you could argue that there’s some thematic parallels between the hero plot and the villain plot, the show doesn’t really do anything with it, and it’s maybe just something I’m reading into it. I get that there’s not a lot of room in an exposition-heavy two-part premiere for a fleshed-out Monster Of The Week story, but Fourze works way better for me when there’s a teen trauma to really explore. This one was just That Guy’s The Bad Guy, and then we’re launching dirt bikes into orbit.

Which was really cool! I am surprised by how much I’m onboard with CG junk like Power Dizer, and the way it launches a dirt bike into orbit. While the suit action is still so good that I’m going to probably forget to mention it because it’s just taken as given by this point, I gotta call out not just that thrilling launch sequence, but everything with the Fourze bike? Utilizing it as another weapon in a quick, closed-off battle is more than almost any other modern show would do across its entire run, and I’m so grateful for it. I’m for sure not a Bike Guy, despite coming into the franchise with a series where there was literally a Bike Guy, but I still love it when these shows find a way to incorporate one of the most crucial pieces of Kamen Rider iconography in a clever, exciting way.

And that was this episode, you know? Clever and exciting, all the way–

Oh, hell, I forgot to finish my thought on Kengo. Oops!

So, Kengo. I think he worked for me in this one a little because the vibes on Fourze are immaculate, sure, but some of it is just… like, I get his point? Gen is a nuisance in this episode, to a degree that Yuuki has to drag him out to a lunar crater and go Dude You Used To Be Cool. Gen’s so insistent on beating Kengo that he’s making himself into a troublesome asshole, instead of anyone’s friend. Meanwhile, Kengo has this dingus coming in on his first day and saying I’ll Take It From Here, blundering through a situation he’s too excitable to sit still for. (Although, man, empathized with Gen for suddenly getting exposited at by Kengo! Not the fun part of early episodes!!!) This is an episode that doesn’t exactly walk back Kengo’s prickly nonsense, but – like with Yuuki’s backstory for him – tries to give it all a context that makes his mission feel like the motivation for this season, instead of Gen’s relentless protagonist energy. Shifting Gen from star (of the star of the stars) of the show into just one more member of a club somehow simultaneously justifies Kengo’s standoffishness and anger. It’s a fun trick this episode pulls, and it really worked for me this time out.

Also, Tomoko debut: perfect episode.