[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER FOURZE EPISODE 09 - “BIRTH OF A WITCH”



If there’s a flaw to this series, it’s that it generally treats Making Friends like catching Pokemon or something: you do it, it’s done, you’ve added one more, you can't lose them, time to move on. Shun joins the group last episode, and here he’s just one more helper, orbiting Fourze, shaking his head at the boorishness he’s completely evolved out of in a couple of days off-screen. JK is a full-on sidekick, friendly and brave. Miu, who continues to be the best – I loved her railing against Masami by pointing out that she’s always been distracted by boys, so it’s hypocritical of her to punish one random dude for breaking up with her when her failure as a cheerleader was down to her own behavior, but then JK being like Correct, But Not The Time – is as folded into the group as anyone, with any non-KRC parts of her character reduced to affectations. There’s no real friction after Gentarou, like, finishes their side-quest.

Which sort of affected this episode for me, as we close out our initial batch of spotlight stories for the KRC recruits. Gentarou does his I Gotta Make Friends With You thing at Tomoko before the opening credits, and we’re off on our way, like a roller coaster lurching out of the loading platform. With how little space any episode has (ironic, I know) to both tell a new monster-mystery and try to give each of its recurring cast members something to do, I get that we need the KRC more or less acting in harmony – the less is Kengo, who we’ll get to – but the result, in total, makes the befriended KRC members come off not quite as compelling as when they were in the spotlight, and a little more deferential to the group instead of maintaining their uniqueness and identity. They all have an attitude that’s individual, but their goals are uniform, if that makes any sense. This was the episode where it all felt like it happened too fast, them all aligned in their teamwork.

Except for Kengo, of course. (I told you we’d get there!) It’s a little thing, but I really appreciated how Kengo steadfastly refused to indulge in the possibility of Magic or Witches – let’s all try and keep that viewpoint in mind when we hit the summer movie, and its special debut – in favor of the hard, verifiable science of cosmically-powered Switches, horoscope-themed masterminds, and constellation-themed high school monsters that clearly enjoyed the classic 1996 American film “The Craft”. (And just one episode after our “Breakfast Club” homage!) It’s a stock Science Vs Magic argument, and Kengo’s absolutely correct in a very quick way which is kind of dull, but I still liked that Kengo is a total dismissive jerk about his personal beliefs, and just grumpily pursues his theory while rolling his eyes at Gen specifically, and the rest of the club generally. That little bit of friction in the group is so valuable!

Like, even the new Fire States form happens too easily, with too little tension? Elec States resolved itself in a slightly confusing way for me, but at least the super form was allowed a little bit of a storyline to give it more gravitas than the half-dozen new switches that Fourze pulls out in an episode in order to show off in the most Q1 toyline way possible. Here, we’re told that the Fire Switch is powerful, and then Gen just… uses it. The end. It’s a neat new suit, but there’s nothing extra he needs to do to unlock it or control it. He just activates the Switch, and Kengo walks him through the various applications of its power. It’s cute, but it doesn’t… there’s no story to it. Perfunctory.

And that was this episode for me? I think the performances are still solid across the board, and Tomoko is delightful as a moody, lonely girl that longs for celestial consequence and human connection in equal measure, but the way that every prickly interaction and dangerous discovery before this one has now become easy and routine background radiation for this series in only eight episodes, it sort of had me less engaged. I am looking forward to the cast being complete, so that maybe we can get back to the cast being unruly teens to each other again!