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Kamen Rider Revice Episode 26- "The End Of Darkness & Light!" Discussion
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03-13-2022, 12:37 PM
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Fish Sandwich
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
So, since I didn't post in any the threads between Evil showing up and Volcano Rex's debut, I've never had the chance to say this outright, but I freakin' love Daiji. I feel like I'm the only one around here who really does? Right from the show's very first episodes, I've felt his actor does a fantastic job implying a certain level of depth to his character, even when the scripts aren't throwing him into the spotlight. And his ability to do that is also aided by how strong the fundamentals of the character are. He's got such a definitive Middle Child thing going on, with how much he's constantly pushing himself to compete with Ikki, and you can draw a ton out of him from that. Ikki's busybody habits are a skill that comes naturally to him, and in contrast to that, Daiji always comes off like he's under this immense mental strain at all times, that's mostly there because he keeps putting it on himself. Ikki acts with his heart, but Daiji moves with his brain, and that head of his gets real overtaxed sometimes. Daiji strives to be the most disciplined, most responsible, and most upstanding person in the series, and as such it's only natural that his demon is even more far off from him than usual. Because he represses the negative side of himself harder than anybody. We've seen Ikki and Vice learn to accept the complexity of their relationship, and the shades of gray that come with it, but for Daiji and Kagerou, at the end of the day, it really is black and white.
...It just occurred to me I'm not doing a very good job getting around to the episode, so, to try and sum it up. I like
Daiji.
Everybody else loves Kagerou, it seems like, and he's great too, but I always did think of him as a character who benefitted Daiji first and foremost. I'm a bigger fan of Live than I am of Evil. Like,
come on
, that sweet clergyman aesthetic and the militaristic close-quarters gunfighting style are *way* cooler than Mr. Paint Splotch Face and his dinky knife. As soon as I heard him say
"shirokuro tsukeyou ze!"
for the first time, he pretty much became my favorite character in the show, if he wasn't already. (And he
was
already!)
And after a lengthy stretch where my guy was taking backseat to Revice (understandably, given the title of the series), what better present could I ask for than for Daiji's next episode in the spotlight to also be the first episode of the show directed by Hidenori Ishida?
I ended up liking this one a lot more than I thought I would.
Getting the negatives out of the way, the exposition about Genta wasn't my favorite thing ever. It's not very exciting for a TV show to
tell
us about exciting past events without showing them at all, and the knowledge that we ARE getting to see all this in a spinoff doesn't make it any better. It made those scenes feel like a glorified recap/trailer for another project entirely. Which, you know,
bit of a harsh way for me to put it.
It's still totally functional for the narrative. I just wish it were portrayed in a way that was a bit more exciting.
Beyond that though, the whole Evil/Live showdown really exceeded my expectations. There were a couple particular things that worried me about that concept, and I was delighted to see the episode not falling into those traps.
A big thing, upfront, was that Kagerou hasn't been legitimately threatening in a very long while. Ever since they established a Rider Kick can just flip him on and off like a light switch, much of the real menace he had in his debut arc was straight up
gone
, and I was concerned we'd suddenly be asked to pretend all that goofy curry stuff and whatnot never happened. But no, instead, the episode makes that into a strength, by making it a point that even though Gifu is making everyone's demons stronger, Kagerou has also become
weaker
, specifically because of his connection to Daiji. And then the episode avoids the other thing that had me worried, when it further implies Kagerou is, to do some degree, actively hoping to see Daiji become stronger through his connection to
him
.
The entire idea of duality like that is so utterly central to everything Revice is about as a series, and it would've been
very very odd
to suddenly have Daiji simply
defeat
his other half, so I massively appreciated the writing making it more complex than that. I like the idea that Daiji has to
learn
from Kagerou's personality to become even stronger. The idea that there's something of value in there, like a refusal to hesitate, that Daiji can apply to his own much more moral goals.
It's all really nice, super thematic, and the kind of drama that's particularly well suited to Ishida's style. I mean, I don't even
remotely
understand how Kagerou uses his Vistamp that way, or how there are double Two SiDrivers, but it'd just be such a waste to look at this episode that literally. It shines so much in the atmosphere, with how everything is framed and lit, and in the emotions of the performances, like how Daiji is noticeably shaking throughout the fight, exactly like Kagerou says.
Throw in some more solid material for Sakura and Aguilera, plus a great reminder of how much Ikki has grown when he's only barely tempted to interfere with the Evil/Live battle, and I'd say you have a pretty dang strong episode overall. Part of me wishes it didn't end when it did, because I'm hyped to see Holy Live in action some more, but then, that just shows how much I liked what they did here, doesn't it?
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