[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER EINS WITH GIRLS REMIX



At long last, Girls Remix became its own thing.

I like that, as potentially a final statement for Girls Remix, or least this iteration of it. (I mean, Girls Remix started four series ago as a Kamen Rider Jeanne vehicle, who hasn’t been in at least the last two adventures, and Rinne’s arc feels fairly concluded.) For a series that could’ve just as easily been Outsiders: Ladies Night, Girls Remix inexplicably used its random releases and ever-shifting cast to first argue for the validity of its heroes, before arguing for the validity of itself as a story.

Obviously, your mileage may vary as to whether or not they succeeded at that goal – the emotional throughline of the series vacillated with which franchise it was beholden to; returning cast members looked increasingly detached, bordering on haggard; they only gave me one scene with Ozawa, who arguably should’ve been the lead – but I think the series as a whole has been a bright spot, and this episode in particular leveraged its place in the franchise to talk about, basically, is the TTFC actually making art, or are they just regurgitating content.

If Outsiders makes the case against art, then I think Girls Remix makes the case for? Kurono is dismissive of the rehashed and resurrected dopes that she’s built, their knock-off Mage and Ride Player suits in the most boring beige, and she longs for something real to come out of her work. While Eins is ostensibly that, Nayuta’s heroism doesn’t come from a vacuum, and it’s her exposure to specific viewpoints and backstories of a dozen different women from 20 years of Rider history that resolves Eins into Kamen Rider Eins. Girls Remix is the same way – built from spare parts, but shaped by circumstance and dedication into something unique and original. If it’s derivative in its Showa signifiers (Nayuta’s eyebrows, mostly), then it becomes itself from the setting it's placed in, and the heroes it's placed next to. Everything comes from somewhere, and its only a copy if you can’t think of something interesting to do with it.

And, man, I’m gonna say that this episode does itself justice, mostly on the action front. Sakamoto continues to make this series his absolute statement on Kamen Rider, making sure that Nozomi, Sawa, and Rinne get kick-ass fight sequences; Nadeshiko returns, butt-bump ready to deploy against an enemy; and there’s a slow-motion sequence of Eins dismounting from a motorcycle. For an extra-length installment that might act as a series finale, I sort of expected the extra runtime to go to lengthier dialogue sequences, or heart-to-hearts, or just vaguely to things that are not money- or labor-intensive. Instead, it’s Sakamoto, so everyone’s brawling in every scene, forever. It’s still got that TTFC thing of, like, Sara and Reika showing up out of nowhere to be in a fight, but I hope that we’ve all made our peace by now with that narrative conceit. Nayuta’s in trouble, and Kamen Riders always help each other out, and Girls Remix is forever, so hell yes they just show up when they’re needed.

Which is sort of all I wanted this thing to turn into, really. I loved when it could talk about the ways women were treated in Kamen Rider stories about boys, or how men’s stories keep pressing in the lives of the women in these stories, but I’m a-okay with Girls Remix turning into a bunch of women who support each other and raise up the next generation of kick-ass heroines. I love the way it looks forward, to make an Eins a true original – a Kamen Rider whose story is built on the shoulders of women, to learn heroism from outside a man’s perspective, and take her story out into the world.

I think that’s a story worth telling? I think it’s nice when a bunch of disparate (and distaff) characters, employed at random, over a number of years, can somehow make something that speaks to not only the legacy of its cast, but the potential of its legacy. Rinne finds the confidence to inspire another woman to find her confidence, both of them becoming their own heroes in the process. (Also Rinne gives Nayuta a ring before she leaves town, just normal friend stuff.) I don’t know. I think there’s something very fun about how unique and special Girls Remix became.

Also, they brought Ozawa back. Lifetime pass for Girls Remix!!!