Kamen Rider Revice, Episodes 24-25:
Episode 24: Bring Back Dr. Karizaki! Inverse Operation!
We continue the whole Ikki/Vice switching storyline, and... and it's okay? I don't really care for the slapstick gags of Vice trying to take over Ikki's job, or how George claims Ikki will die of hunger as a ghost, but they don't irritate me either. I guess it's to give us a bit of a sense of time since we're also taking some time to show that Gifu is nearing his resurrection and that some other characters like Sakura and George are taking some time to collect their thoughts. George has taken to investigating a bit about Papa Genta, and in a relatively long bathing scene, George brings up a couple of oddities that finally ties in to the bizarre "he has no heart!" X-ray scene from forever ago. At least this twist has been foreshadowed, even if Genta hasn't really done anything?
Olteca and Aguilera continue their not-quite-partnership, though it's pretty clear that Aguilera isn't particularly happy with the arrangement. The demon within the Demons Driver is also seemingly on the same page with Olteca, and their evil plot for the two-parter is kidnapping George. And... and George himself kind of becomes the focus of this two-parter. I'm of two minds about this one, really. On one hand, I really do like the focus on George and that we're actually acknowledging just how shifty it is. On the other hand... beyond acknowledging it and Vice deciding to trust George at the end of episode 25, we... really don't get too much out of it? George decides to not be as much of a dick, I guess? But I suppose having an instant cure to the shadiness that George had when he gifted the clearly-dangerous Demons Driver to Hiromi would cheapen his 'sins', so to speak.
I really do find it interesting that Vice is the one who's completely unwilling to trust George throughout this two-parter, while Ikki is the voice that trusts him. It boils down the conflict into something simple, but... but I really felt like George hasn't really "earned" this blind trust from Ikki, y'know? I felt like we're kind of missing a catalyst, unlike how Sakura or Hiromi's stronger moments had been throughout the show.
Speaking of Sakura, she's meeting with George's dad, Karizaki Masumi. Apparently, the Rolling Vistamp was supposed to stop Vice from going berserk, but ends up with an unexpected soul-swapping side-effect. George meets Sakura and her Weekend friend, but before any real conclusion could be had, Olteca shows up, we get an action scene with a Giffterian, and George gets kidnapped by Olteca. George continues his whole 'I do this For Science!' nonsense, agreeing to help boost up Olteca while also warning the villain that the process of upgrading the Demons Driver would also alert Fenix to their location.
I do like the little argument that Sakura, Vice and Ikki has about whether to trust George or not, and I feel like Ikki does a pretty great compromise -- agreeing to not do George's plan until Vice is completely satisfied, but also that they still have to save George from the Deadmans. We get an action scene as Olteca transforms into Kamen Rider Demons and fights Jeanne, and then Vice and Ikki kind of talk it out? Again, Ikki's speech about how George allowed them to become Kamen Rider Revice is a neat point and all, and George turns out to not have betrayed them and sabotaged the Demons Driver, but I also really do think it's not impactful enough. The moment is more about Ikki and Vice trusting each other more than George proving himself, and... I dunno. It just kind of feels off thanks to that.
Anyway, Vice and Ikki swap places, he transforms into Jack Revice. I think he shows off a bizarre power for the first time of drawing some elemental symbols in the air and they transform into CGI blasts? Was Jack Revice able to do that before? Olteca gets bamboozled by George sabotaging his driver, allowing Jeanne and Revice to beat him and send him running away. We close off this episode with the revelation that Vice is now able to manifest in Ikki's body Kamen Rider Den-O style, represented by Ikki's actor wearing two tiny cartoonish horn accessories.
Episode 25: Revive! Vail!? Memories of The Igarashi Family
Meanwhile, in the midst of Ikki/Vice civilian hijinks, Sakura and Daiji discuss about their 'secret'. I do like that Sakura was briefly panicked, thinking that Daiji has caught on to the fact that she's affiliated with Weekend, but Daiji's just discussing about how Kagerou's been acting up as Gifu's resurrection draws near.
George tries to talk to the Igarashis about this mysterious bathhouse fire, but gets waylaid by Olteca, Aguilera and a couple of Giffterians. We get a triple-transformation and our heroes very easily beat up the Giffterians... but as they have been for the past couple of episodes, they explode into motes of light that get absorbed by Gifu. Only instead of merely being ominous, when it pulsates, all of the demons -- Vice, Lovekov and Kagerou -- all start to pulsate with Gifu.
As the villains are about to take down the Igarashis, suddenly someone wearing a repainted Demons Driver show up -- it's Papa Genta! Except instead of the cringe-comedy wacko happy-go-lucky dad we're familiar with, Genta is all cold and calculating. Turns out that he's been controlled by the demon Vail, and he emotionlessly transform with the Kabuto Vistamp into Kamen Rider Vail. Kamen Rider Vail shows off some typical 'first debut overpowering' attacks by absolutely beating the shit out of two Giffterians who kind of show out of nowhere. In one of the cooler moves, Vail grabs one of the Giffterians by their Alien-esque head ridges and just squeezes it until it explodes.
Olteca and Aguilera book it, but Vail doesn't seem to care for the Igarashi siblings at all, going straight to try and murder them. He recognizes Ikki and calls him 'boy', and after Ikki's earlier comment about how he remembers nothing about the fire, it's clear that some sort of memory suppression is going on here. There's a neat moment of Daiji and Sakura trying to protect Ikki even when not transformed, but, of course, Genta takes over the body just in time, forcibly undoing the transformation before passing out. Buu-san of all people turn out to be in the conspiracy, and helps to recover Genta. I really do like this, by the way. That all these seemingly-pointless recurring characters turn out to be somewhat significant in the greater scheme of things.
The shock of meeting Vail has jogged Ikki's memory, and he gives some exposition to Sakura, Daiji and George about the mysterious Igarashi fire. It's honestly a pretty interestingly interwoven backstory that feels kind of organic. There's a fair amount of little hints about how the Igarashi siblings were special (they can transform with no side-effects, unlike Hiromi) and all, and the handwave about contracts and memory loss does help to somewhat smooth over why Ikki and Vice never mentioned any of these in the past. We get the revelation that Kamen Rider Vail, at one point, rampaged and set Happy Spa on fire, and very nearly killed little Ikki. That was when Vice manifested for the first time, helping to beat Vail while also suppressing Ikki's traumatic memories of the incident. George also ties in some backstory too, noting about how Karikazi Senior and Genta were part of a government organization that initially uncovered Gifu and then tried to reverse-engineer Gifu's powers, instead creating the Vail Driver and Kamen Rider Vail instead. We get the explanation that Genta is a special being -- his heart had been laced with Gifu DNA by Karizaki Senior in order to save his life, which is why he's able to transform into Kamen Rider Vail.
Ultimately, it's a bit sudden, but I do appreciate that this is all given to us at this point to really shake up the story a bit more than just fighting Deadmen and Gifu minions. Not every hero needs to have an elaborate backstory, but I do kind of like that it's the parents that are involved in this. Genta, in particular, is basically just a mixture of the original Kamen Rider Ichigo backstory with Kamen Rider Kuuga's 'ancient hidden demon' power source, isn't it? Ultimately, I did like this revelation a fair bit. While it's a bit clunky and awkward, I did appreciate how this episode basically ties in all the disparate plot threads of Revice -- Fenix, Happy Spa and Gifu -- into one.
Random Notes:
- I tried to think of a funny Orphnoch 'drinking heart' joke for Genta, but couldn't think up of a good one.
- I guess the whole 'Vice going berserk' was why Jack Revice behaved like Hazard Build or PuToTyranno?
- Sakura's Weekend friend is called Ushijima Hikaru. He really doesn't leave much of an impression, does he?
- I really like how George says 'daddy' all the time. But more than that, I really like that his immediate reaction to anything bizarre is just a loud 'GODDAAAAAAAMN!'
- I don't exactly remember if one of the other Kamen Rider shows did it before, but I do like the little spin-around of Ikki and Vice switching places. I think it's a shot lifted from the opening.
- If Vail isn't in the Demons Driver, would it still be functional?
- Episode 24 and 25 has scenes of Olteca forcibly turning cultists into Giffterians and Aguilera is clearly upset about that, actually trying to stop Olteca in 25. It's a couple of neat little showcases of how Aguilera is slowly defrosting and presumably going to join our heroes in the near future.
- Where Vice spasms and Kagerou presumably tries to take over, Lovekov's little 'berserking' just consists of her ramming against Jeanne ineffectually. Bless you, mascot character.
- I really like Kamen Rider Vail's design, by the way. The insect-elytra cape only on one arm, and the design of the side-profile of a beetle running up from one arm all the way to the horn jutting out the side of the face; and the side of the beetle motif on Vail's mouth becoming some kind of gas mask... it's such an unconventional, asymmetric design.
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