Kamen Rider Revice, Episodes 5-6
Again, depending on how I feel of the episodes in the future, I may do anywhere from two to five episodes per review. This was originally '5-8', but I rambled a bit too much for the episodes so I decided to split it into two.
Really been enjoying Revice, I feel!
Episode 5: The World Reforming Rider! Who is the Traitor?
This episode focuses a bit more on Daiji and the drama within the organization of Fenix, and a good chunk of it is, as the episode title asks, "who is the traitor?" And the very first scene already shows Kadota Hiromi, the other Fenix unit commander we saw in the first episode that didn't manage to activate the Revice Driver, doing some suspicious things and clearly being pissed at his demotion. Just at the same time that Hiromi does something suspicious, the lion and kong vistamps are stolen, and become part of this episode's plot.
Speaking of which, the main plot of the episode involves yet another guest star of the week, this time a hipster youtuber vytuber who records 'punishment livestreams', where Deadmans go off and beat up evil corporate bosses. It's not like he doesn't have a point, but exposing corruption is one thing, while recording what's basically a PG-13 version of a snuff film is a completely different thing. There's also a bit with Masao's grandfather being the one who asks Ikki for help in his little neighbourhood-helper gig, but otherwise I kind of find Masao's plot kind of one-dimensional, and I kind of like that Ikki calls out that Masao is just using 'making people happy' as a convenient excuse. We get the Lion Deadman (who's coloured like Kamen Rider OOO for some reason?) fighting against Ikki and Vice, and they blow up the deadman with a giant CGI T-rex skull.
The second half of the episode follows a follow-up plotline, and I do wonder if this episode was initially pitched as a two-parter? Fenix's higher-ups decide to use Masao as bait to flush out the traitor within Fenix's ranks, and while it's not much, I do like that there's some debates about how ethical this is, and the urgency of getting the kong vistamp back. Ikki kind of calls out Daiji on the obvious emotional manipulation here, making use of Masao's guilt to string a civilian into a potentially dangerous operation. Again, it's a small moment, but it's well-done that they address this. The episode is paced quickly, but things moving too quickly is kind of the reason why Fenix and everyone else goes along with the plan, so I can't really blame them for it.
Masao threatens to break the vistamp publicly, causing Olteca and Julio to show up in response. We get a fight between Revice and the Deadmans, As usual with this show, the actual physical combat between the suited actors is pretty well-done, and we get the debut of the Kuuga-based lion genome form.... but, also as usual, I really don't care for the CGI-combination form. They blow up Julio into a bunch of ink (he escapes), but then they get interrupted by the arrival of the absolutely badass-looking Kamen Rider Evil... while all of Fenix has been knocked out.
The side-characters feel like they get developed a bit more, with Sakura getting an interesting scene talking with her mother in the hospital about what 'righteousness' truly means, because she's a bit conflicted about seeing the whole situation with Masao and the corrupt businessman. Her mother, somewhat understandably, kind of tells her to not worry about things too much, but I really do hope she gets to do more in the series. Maybe she gets to become a rider, too?
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Episode 6: Evil's True Identity! Shocking Showtime?
This one follows up on episode five, and Kamen Rider Evil shows up to knock them out. Evil himself does the typical 'new toy' stuff of absolutely demolishing everyone in his path -- the special effects for his bright green slashes as he dominates Revi and Vice are pretty cool, and he effortlessly beat our heroes even before the opening credits start.
We also get to see the rather obvious red herring scene between the Fenix agents -- no, Hiromi suddenly pulling the gun on the unnamed Fenix goons isn't actually him betraying them. So since the identity of Evil is kind of obvious, the show immediately gives away who Evil is at this point because there's realistically only one more candidate -- Daiji. They do have a couple of twists on this, though, which I appreciate. Instead of Vice stealing the Twoside Driver, apparently he's in cahoots with mad scientist George, who gave him the driver.
The episode's villain-of-the-week is a corrupt lawyer, and the plot is honestly pretty standard. Evil lawyer Yasushi Kudo basically makes a career of using Deadmans to intimidate rival witnesses, leading to a winning streak in court. As they try to solve the case, we get to see some neat stuff. Ikki shows that he's a bit of a trickster even early on in the episode with his little hand-games, while Vice gets to set up a whole plan by abusing his ghost powers and possessing a client's phone to get evidence of the lawyer's association with the Deadmans.
The lawyer stuff isn't super interesting, but I did like it a lot more than the previous episode due to how elaborate it is for a plot-of-the-week. Kudo's actor also does a splendid job at making his character feel utterly reprehensible and feel like a smarmy, condescending jackass, which makes his defeat feel all the more cathartic.
After the initial fight against the absolutely bizarre-looking Kangaroo Deadman, who bounces around a bit and gets into a boxing match with Mammoth-Vice. We finally get the show debut for the Decade-inspired Megalodon form (previously only seen in the Saber crossover), before they use the lion form to blow up the kangaroo. There's a bit more of an extension where Kudo seems innocent, only for Ikki and Vice to bust in and find out that the lawyer's actually working with the judge. It's perhaps a bit too ambitious for a plot that they kind of rush through in a single episode, but all in all, I did enjoy it.
We get an interesting little foreshadowing, where Julio is disguising himself as a student in Sakura's karate class, trying to break Revice through his Achilles' Heel... while Aguilera and Olteca meet with Daiji. Or rather, Daiji's demon, Kagerou, who has possessed his body. It's... it's an interesting twist. I personally would rather have Daiji himself actually betray Ikki out of his own free will (or the demon influencing him), but Kagerou is a literal split entity like Vice. It does make the drama a bit less interesting than if it was Daiji himself, for sure. But other than that slight bit of disappointment, it's a pretty solid episode!
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Random Notes:
- I do like the little comedy-drama between the elite Deadmans in episode 5, with Olteca and Julio both being confused because none of them gave someone as 'boring' as Masao.
- Between practicing how he's going to 'break the thief's neck', and later showing up in the bath surrounded by a flock of rubber ducks, they really are dialing up the random-zaniness on George, huh.
- I don't think we've seen their stamps before, but Olteca is a wolf, while Julio is a giant squid. I really like Julio's wacky giant umbrella weapon!
- Vice briefly does Godai Yusuke's transformation pose when he turns into lion form.
- Between the Venom-esque eyes, the black-and-mint colour scheme, the giant horn and his first appearance, dang, Kamen Rider Evil is pretty cool.
- Daiji stole Hiromi's ID card for the theft in episode 5's cold open, and discards it in episode 6. It's a neat bit of storytelling, and I forgot to put it anywhere in the body of the review.
- The lady holding the smartphone with the camera being aimed towards the lawyer is so obvious that I have to call the lawyer a complete nincompoop for trying to blackmail her without making sure that she's not recording.
- A bit of a gag in this episode that I'm not sure will be relevant in the future or not is Buu-san, one of the recurring customers, somehow being able to obtain a lot of convenient information to the case, leading Ikki to wonder what job he works in.
- The evil lawyer's actor previously played the evil butler Alfred, or Kamen Rider Tyrant, in Gaim.
- Vice lampshades how the show is kind of not giving the Megalodon form time to shine, going 'yeah, is it time for us to finish this with the shark?' immediately before Ikki changes them into lion.
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