Recap: Revice Legacy: Kamen Rider Vail – Episode 3

Buu-san visits Mama Igarashi at Happy Spa. He is happy to see Papa Igarashi sleeping so peacefully, not knowing all they had to go through in the past. Mama Igarashi says that is for the best. He has lived a wonderful, happy life without knowing any of that.

Mama Igarashi continues her trip down memory lane by flashing back to that cold, dark cell. Vail tells Genta that Noah will surely kill Yukimi and asks if he’ll just sit by and watch a loved one die again like he did with his family before. Genta screams at him to shut up.

Hearing the scream, Yukimi is surprised that Genta is in the next cell. But both are relieved that the other is okay.

Genta tells Yukimi that they are in the research lab that has been conducting all kinds of experiments and he is not sure they will make it out alive. He apologizes. But Yukimi is resigned to her fate and says she’ll be reuniting with her mother and father sooner than she expected.

Yukimi says it has been hard since losing her parents and she is tired of living alone now. Genta feels the same way and says that he’s continued to live just to avenge the murder of his family by a demon. However, he has started to wonder if this daily slaying of demons is even worth it anymore.

“I guess we’re pretty similar in the end,” Yukimi says.

Genta tells her that the time they spent together wasn’t half bad as it gave him an idea of what a happy life is supposed to look like.

Genta and Yukimi hold their hands up to the wall, able to feel each other’s emotions.

Meanwhile, Doctor Karizaki is watching from the lab. The Noah Captain asks if the doctor has given any thought to his offer. But Doctor Karizaki says he cannot just abandon a project midway through.

The Captain says he knows Doctor Karizaki has reservations about this work and adds that there are better uses for his intelligence than this demonic research. Especially when Agariyama had a demon deliberately murder Subject 071’s family in order to manipulate him.

Doctor Karizaki remembers being in the room for that horrific scene.

The Captain begs the doctor to use his skills and intelligence to bring peace to the world instead. But Doctor Karizaki says he has already lost the right to do that.

Suddenly, Genta begins screaming in pain. Yukimi calls out for someone to help him. Noah officers drag Genta back to the lab and chain him to a table. Doctor Karizaki says Genta’s body is rejecting the Gifu cells. Agariyama says 071 is a failure after all and tells the doctor to dispose of him and the woman.

Vail speaks to Genta and says he’d rather not have him die here. He tells Genta to remember his reason for living and the scene of his parents’ death plays in his mind.

Vail asks Genta to allow him to lend his strength. That sudden burst of energy throws everyone in the room to the floor.

Genta begins to think about a new reason to live: Yukimi.

Genta pops up and knocks all the Noah officers out. He grabs the keys and hurries to Yukimi’s cell. They run into the hallway, but are met by the Captain and some Noah officers.

Suddenly, the Captain turns and shoots at the four officers with him. He admits that he is actually a mole from an anti-Noah resistance group that are working to prevent anyone else from ending up like Genta.

The Captain leads them out of the facility and are able to hide in a nearby abandoned warehouse. The Captain hands Genta the Driver and Stamp that he swiped from Noah.

After a second of hesitation, Genta takes them and henshins. He storms out of the warehouse in order to face and easily take care of the Noah officers that have chased after them.

Genta dehenshins and turns to look at Yukimi.

Mama Igarashi says this was the start of their do-or-die elopement.

Episode Thoughts

Just excellent. No, not the runtime though. Not even ten minutes? Boo!

But the episode itself was just so good. Most especially that entire escape sequence. So exciting. The build up of emotions about Genta and Yukimi’s horrible tragedies really led so well into that moment in the lab. Genta popping up, knocking everyone out, saving a terrified Yukimi and then the Captain revealing his true colors. It was so thrilling. And again, with such a great emotional foundation that really elevates the scene and just makes it even more impactful.

We know Noah is obviously some horrible, evil organization. But the reveal that Agariyama actually ordered the murder of Genta’s parents just to manipulate him into becoming one of their experiments is so horrifying.

Knowing these terrible tragedies, again, really adds so much depth and builds up that strong foundation for the Igarashis. That in turn allows us to understand them and relate to them and ultimately care about what happens to them. And I keep harping on it like a broken record, but the series has not done any of that recently. Which is a shame considering the season’s very strong start.

Once again, such great performances from Masanari Wada and Sakurako Okubo. And also Kensuke Takahashi as Doctor Karizaki too.

It’s great to see all of this pre-Papa Doctor Karizaki stuff as we still don’t know anything about him in-series. Without all this extra context-like stuff, he’s really just some hollow mask in the show. Seeing that he may not have been a mad scientist of some sort and actually was not in favor of such things as demonic murder; that really fills out Papa Karizaki’s mysterious appearance on the show. And also sets up the potential interactions between him and George in the future. I wouldn’t mind a whole miniseries chronicling what happened to have caused Papa Karizaki and George to separate. But I’d rather see that in-series of course.

Overall, another wonderful installment in this should-be-in-series TTFC miniseries.

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