Recap: Kamen Rider Drive, Episode 45 – What Is the Roidmudes' Final Dream?

Drive 45

Banno has set up shop at the Promised Land, the Special Defense Center building. Otta tells Chief Jun, Rinna and Kyu that First Division had suspected the location all along.

About the guys, Otta says he couldn’t find anyone at the faux Promised Land, it was so devastated.

Drive 45

Suddenly, a huge explosion. Now The Pit is being devastated. Rinna and Kyu hurry to grab the Drivers they worked all night on and rush to escape the collapsing building.

Shinnosuke, Gou and Chase arrive to save Otta and Rinna. Shinnosuke says Gou’s quick thinking in using a Full Throttle Burst to punch all of them, including Heart and Medic, out of the electromagnetic field saved them.

They fight off the Roidmude, but Gou seems to be having some trouble. Chase helps him up, but Gou refuses.

The three of them finish off the Roidmude and the SID regroup in the now-destroyed Pit.

Drive 45

Chief Jun says he’s lost contact with the SSDC. Kyu runs in to show them the breaking news broadcasts of the situation. Suddenly, strange fang-like spikes pop out around the SSDC. Belt-san says they’re probably due to the Sigma Circular growing and when it’s fully grown, baaaad things will happen.

Belt-san adds that the top floor is protected by a secret barrier and that they need to upgrade Tridoron if they want to break through.

But how? Chief Jun gets some good news.

Drive 45

He brnigs them to an emergency Pit. Chief Jun explains that some volunteers approached him and insisted on helping the SID, so he asked them to prepare this location.

Drive 45

The head of that group of volunteers? Hayase!

Hayase says he couldn’t just sit around without helping his former partner, the Kamen Rider. Shinnosuke thanks him with a hug.

Drive 45

Gou marvels at Hayase’s determination and spirit, even while still injured. Chase wonders if this is what real buds are like.

Later that night, Rinna shows the others video of Banno and the six remaining Roidmude with him. This is it. The final battle. Which they will commence tomorrow morning.

Drive 45

Kiriko watches the news reports at the hospital and gets up to get dressed. But Shinnosuke calls her, wanting to see how she’s doing. He tells her to rest and let them take care of this.

Drive 45

Kiriko insists on helping, but Shinnosuke says she shouldn’t “You’re my most important… my most important… buddy.”

Kiriko understands and they hang up. Gou teases by commending his Shin-niisan on the smooth call.

Shinnosuke playfully punches Gou’s arm, but he notices Gou wincing. Gou says he’s fine.

One of the mechanics calls Shinnosuke and Gou is able to let his real pain out. He was badly injured when he saved everyone from the electromagnetic field. He hopes Shin-niisan will be able to protect Kiriko because he believes fighting Banno as he is now will surely result in his death.

Drive 45

Chase approaches him, knowing the damage he incurred from the effort earlier. He thanks Gou and tells him to leave the fighting to him so Gou can retire from the frontline.

“If you were in my place, would you listen if I said that to you?” Gou asks. Of course not. Which is why Gou won’t either.

Drive 45

It’s morning. And that means it’s time. The plan is to use Tridoron and the bikes to break through and work their way to the top. Otta and Rinna will standby to cut power to the building which should weaken the barrier. Chief Jun and Kyu will work on discharging the barrier completely.

This is it. Shinnosuke, Gou and Chase henshin and hop into their vehicles.

Drive 45

The SID salute their comrades as they set off on the mission.

As the three drive toward the SSDC, the fangs begin to pop out of the ground. Shinnosuke uses Midnight Shadow and Funky Spike to give Gou and Chase some protection as they push their way through the fangs and eventually into the building.

But they are immediately met by Banno and the Roidmude.

Drive 45

Just then, one of the Roidmude chases three SSDC members and converts them into data. Aha!!! So Banno is planning to convert all humans into data which he’ll be able to do during the Global Freeze. Once the building fuses with Sigma, it will become the control device of all the data.

Shinnosuke and Belt-san proclaim that Banno’s ultimate goal is to rule humanity as numbers, just like the Roidmude. It will be a world where no one can have a body without Banno’s permission.

Drive 45

Gou just laughs. “I’ve underestimated you,” he says. “I thought you were just a mad scientist. I was so naive. You’re actually a monster that will destroy humanity!”

Banno tells him to shut up and puts the guys in another force field. “Of all my creations, you are my biggest failure.”

Banno fashions some kind of electric spear out of thin air and sends it flying toward his son. But Heart and Medic catch and diffuse it.

Drive 45

Heart says they are here to thank Gou for saving them. But they are also here to deal Banno. That is, to destroy the top floor Sigma Circular. That would surely be a fate worse than death for Banno.

Heart and Medic say they will fight with Shinnosuke against Banno.

They all henshin and take on Banno and the three Roidmude.

Gou takes on his father. He tells Heart if he’s really thankful, he’ll let him take care of Banno. Chase tells Shinnosuke, Heart and Medic to go upstairs to the Sigma Circular while he fights with Gou.

The three reach the barrier, but the other three Roidmude are there as well.

As Chase takes care of the three first floor Roidmude, Gou and Banno battle.

Drive 45

Gou prepares a Full Throttle finisher, but his injuries act up which allows Banno to drill him down to the basement. Gou is forced to dehenshin.

Banno calls his son pathetic just as Chase jumps down to fight him. Banno focuses on Chase the traitor first and sends him flying right into the wall after destroying his Driver. That causes Chase to dehenshin.

Drive 45

Gou calls over to Chase. Banno picks up the Signal Axe and approaches his son, continuing his insults. “You are nothing but a disgrace to me. Allow me to put you out of your misery!”

Banno raises the axe. Gou apologizes to his neechan, but Chase morphs into his Grim Reaper form and takes the attack instead.

Drive 45

Banno slices into Chase. Chase manages to shoot at Banno, pushing him back. But Chase collapses into his human form and right into Gou’s arms.

Drive 45 Drive 45

“What the hell are you doing?!”
“It’s fine, Gou. As long as I can protect the ones Kiriko loves… I have no regrets.”

As Kiriko gets dressed to leave the hospital, she hears the thunder and sees the lightning from an impending storm. Just like the day of the Global Freeze.

Drive 45

Chase places the gifts from his human friends that have meant so much to him, his Signal Bike and driver’s license, in Gou’s hand. “We are not buds, but I want you to have them. It’d be a waste if they burned up with me.”

Drive 45

Chase suddenly jumps up and runs towards Banno. He grabs his waist, holding on to Banno as he explodes.

Drive 45

As does the 000 viral core.

Drive 45

Episode Thoughts

Another week, another Drive episode showing us glimpses of what could have been.

So this was supposed to be the beginning of the big final battle. But it definitely didn’t feel as epic as it should’ve been. All season, the Roidmude were pretty much without purpose. The realization of Banno’s endgame should’ve been preceded by a bunch of red herrings and faux-goals, but we really didn’t get any until Heart explicitly explained wanting to rule over humanity a few episodes ago. So Banno wanting to turn people into data feels more like a monster of the week plot rather than a dire world-ending disaster.

Other things that could’ve been more awesome with proper development…

The utter contempt Banno seems to have for Gou would’ve been so good if they actually had developed their family more than two random episodes. Banno continually telling Gou how he’s basically some failed piece of sh-t would be an amazingly vile, disgusting line if the foundation of a happy family and Gou looking up to his father was there to crush. It also would’ve given Kiriko something to do other than chasing after Chase before suddenly remembering she had feelings for Shinnosuke.

And speaking of Chase. Better development of the love triangle and focusing more on the idols unwittingly learning to become human would’ve helped pack a bigger emotional punch at the end. Chase’s sincerity in the last few episodes has been nice and all. And him handing Gou the Signal Bike and the license he’s loved so much (for a few episodes) is sweet. Though Chase had one of the more fully realized stories of the season, it would’ve felt much more meaningful with a deeper foundation in both Chase and Gou’s respective journeys.

Same goes for Heart and Medic who team up with the Riders. Even after Banno is finally revealed as the Big Bad, they’re still making it seem like Heart and Medic merely want to take care of Banno first before returning to their nonexistent plans from before he existed. Like last week with Brain, watching them get killed just as they’ve attained some major aspect of humanity or emotion would’ve been great to watch and given them all truly climactic finales.

4 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Drive, Episode 45 – What Is the Roidmudes' Final Dream?

  1. Yeah, this pretty much exemplifies Drive’s utter lack of love for its characters. And this isn’t just about the main characters, but also the supporting cast. Biggest example here is Hayase. The guy is pretty much teased as an important emotional pillar for Shinosuke in the first few episodes. Then, poof! he was gone for almost the entire season (save for two episodes) only to reappear as some sort of deus ex machina. Gou remarking at how closely knit Shino and Hayase is just feels empty since we really didn’t get any deeper into their relationship as portners. And we are not even talking about how underused the other SID members are in the story.

    Oh well, at least we can expect this from Rio Uchida (Kiriko) next :v http://www.jefusion.com/2015/09/rio-uchida-stars-in-live-action.html

    1. Speaking of, they really could used Kyu’s story with 072 to be a big turning point for the overall Roidmude/idol plan and humanity aspect. Better than just having Shinnosuke come to the Roidmudes’ defense all the time lol

      1. Yeah. Also, I could really contrast Drive’s use of 072 and Hayase with how Gaim effectively made use of Yuuya. Yuua appeared for only like one and a half episodes (the one being him in a dream sequence, with the half being the only one he is alive), yet his character has far more significance, not only in the overall plot, but also to lead characters’ Kouta, Mai, and Micchy. That, I say is an effective use of a support character.

Share your thoughts!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top