Kamen Rider Revice, Episode 48: Proof of Determination! This is... Japan's No. 1 Busybody!
It's... a bit weird? Again, maybe how lackluster the ending to the Giff storyline is ends up affecting me a bit, but it is kind of odd that we build up George Karizaki only to resolve him in a two-parter. I do feel that it's kind of right for the character, lest he gets dragged out so long and ends up being another Daiji, but I would think that at least four episodes would work for him? But I guess the final two-parter is going to focus entirely on Ikki and Vice's relationship, because I really don't see an excuse to have too many action scenes after this.
The episode starts off with Juuga beating up Sakura and Kagero as they rush in to try and stop Ikki from having to transform... but Kagero uses the convenient and never-really-seen-before power of the Bat Vistamp to summon a swarm of bats to spirit them away. Okay? Hiromi later shows up and meets the Igarashi siblings, telling the audience what we can piece together in the previous episode -- the drivers left carelessly in Masumi's grave tell us what George is really thinking about -- his 'all demon riders must be eliminated' is a thinly-veiled excuse for him to surpass his father's creations with his own. Also, abandonment issues are in place.
And... I don't know. On one hand, there are some pretty great buildups to the two Karizakis' conflict. And George has been a bit unstable. But the fact that the whole 'inner demon' stuff really still feels like a bit of a non-sequitur (unless you watch the movie Battle Familia) and the leap from George having abandonment issues into going full-on loco... it's not terrible, but it's not great either. We get more drama over the fact that Ikki will lose more of his memories if he transforms.
And... and it's all very great drama that the episode kind of kills by having this storyline of Ikki, Hikaru and Hiromi run around and look for George's belongings for a clue. While Revice has never been a serious-all-the-time show, it is kind of off-putting to have the wackiness of 'oh no the mirror hides a hidden door' when George and Ikki's respective dramas are really just prime material for good acting.
A bit better is Sakura, Hana, Daiji and Tamaki in the hospital, but it's really just repeating a lot of the dialogue we've seen being exchanged between Hana and Sakura, although the little bit of affirmation that, yeah, Sakura is as much of a busybody as her big brother is kinda cute. And the discussion between the two younger siblings about how being a massive busybody is so integral to Ikki's personality and the core of his person is at least relevant to the climax.
What is genuinely well-done, though, is Ikki returning to Happy Spa, and with his amnesia, isn't sure how to interact with his parents. And just like anyone dealing with these sorts of issues, the show really does take a surprisingly mature and genuinely dramatic moment with Genta putting up a brave front and going "you'll always be our precious son no matter what", but when the other children arrive in the scene the two parents just shuffle off into the kitchen and break down and cry, something that not even Vice finds the heart to interrupt.
The second half of the episode is almost entirely action scenes, and... there really isn't anything too special, which makes me suspect that they really are stretching the budget since the final Giff battle. But without too many fancy special effects, it does make the simple choreography between Juuga, Ikki and Vice is a bit more primal. The resolution is basically choreographed and pretty easy to see -- Masumi always loved George and even when he was designing his own drivers, he used George's childhood inspirations. A great moment of how Ikki roars about how George still has memories of his father, something that he lost during the previous fight. They exchange final kicks, then Hiromi shows up with the childhood drawings they find in the secret room, and George just breaks down crying and admits that he wanted to stay with his daddy a lot longer.
And... and it's not the best reason and best-written character development, but damn, Hamao Noritaka, George's actor, really did give it his all showing a man who's really broken by all the shit happened to him and finally admitting that, yes, all he wanted to do is to be truthful to himself and admit that he does miss his father... and he regrets not having a chance to say a proper goodbye thanks to the conflict they had.
A great part of this fight, of course, is that Daiji and Sakura are just watching, helplessly, hopefully, trying to hope for the best, that maybe after this fight Ikki won't lose his memories. Of course, at the end, Ikki doesn't remember who his younger siblings are and it's just abso-fucking-lutely heartbreaking to see Sakura and Daiji cry while also trying their best to put up a smile.
One of the more genuinely dramatic episodes in Revice, honestly, and... it's just such a shame that the resolution to the conflict was so... predictable and telegraphed, and most of it kind of came in a way that disrupts the tension and narrative in that secret room subplot.
Random Notes:
- At around this point in time, Jeanne & Aguilera Girls Remix Episodes 1 and 2 came out, and... it's a nice little acknowledgement of giving Hana a bit of a plotline as she tries to look for her past family, and also gets a bit pissy with Sakura. The conflict between the two is a bit too immature for what we've seen of the two in the series proper, though. I do really like that we do have a gathering of all the women in the Heisei Riders' history, with Izu, Poppy, Reiko and Akiko (from Zero-One, Ex-Aid, Saber and W) showing up as part of Sakura's backup. Also, Rinko and Yua (from Wizard and Zero-One) have a brief cameo. The first episode focuses more on the new accessories for Jeanne and Aguilera, but otherwise is mostly setup. The second episode... I'm glad that the focus is primarily on Hana and Sakura, I guess, although the short runtime means that there is barely any time for Hana's little doubt about being part of a family to be developed. It just feels kind of... awkward. Kanon and Sawa (from Ghost and Build) show up, and the villains are kinda one-note... but overall, as far as crossovers go, it's okay.
- Reika and Sakura acknowledge their meeting during Beyond Generations, and it's cute that Sakura has kinda seen Reika as her 'oneesan'.
- Akiko's actor had a pretty recent role in Ryusoulger, so I wasn't too surprised that she agreed to come back (plus W had its anime!) but Poppy appearing is genuinely surprising!
- Black Satan and Ms. Titan comes from Kamen Rider Stronger. These movies really do like bringing Showa villains back! And the evil version of Tackle is, I guess, an evil version of Stronger's sidekick.
- It is very hard to unsee that Jeanne's new accessories are retooled versions of the Zero-One briefcase guns, but even harder to miss the fact that Aguilera's new weapons are repainted versions of Ryugen's giant kiwi-chakrams. Shit, they didn't even bother painting over the kiwi rinds!
- Okay, Asukara Yui can sing!
- So that's where the triceratops vistamp that Masumi tried to use comes from.
- Daiji gets a very good line in this argument, where he throws Ikki's "what good is peace when your family isn't there to enjoy it with you?" back at him.
- Yeah, Tamaki, I know you're just trying to lighten up the mood, but damn that's a terrible impression of Ikki.
- There is a nice little moment where Hiromi calls George, who is being all emo looking down at the city, and goes "we really should've at least gone to have a bite once." Hiromi and Karizaki's dynamic is overshadowed by all the George/Masumi and Ikki drama, but it's nice that the writers still remember that it was there.
- Also a nice scene before the fight is just a short five second scene of Vice just hugging his legs feeling guilty that his contract is causing the Igarashis so much guilt. It's so quiet, no dialogue, no nothing, but the body language and the
- That was a great GODDAMN out of George in the middle of the fight.
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