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Ikki, Vice and Sakura work overtime trying to deal with demons rampaging around the city. Director Akaishi, who everyone has just learned is still alive, pushes the narrative that Gifu actually saved his life and comes in peace. Because of this, he will no longer order the Kamen Riders to defeat him as the peace of the world rests on not provoking their new benevolent overlord.
After Akaishi’s public address, Daiji confronts him regarding releasing the demons that had been separated from the Stamped people which have now manifested as Juniors. Akaishi says there was a lack of urgent concern amongst the public even with the mandatory Stampinations. But everything is better now, all thanks to Daiji.
Daiji pleads with Akaishi not to attack civilians with demons again. Akaishi says as long as people get Stamped, there will be no reason to. But if they collect demons too fast, then it only makes sense to release some. In turn, the potential resistance from some people can also be used to their advantage.
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Meanwhile, Weekend hacks into the public broadcasts to deliver their own anti-Stamp message by appealing to the citizens’ right to freedom and choice. Papa Ushijima says they need to counter fear with an even stronger sense of hope.
Papa Karizaki comes in with Ikki after the latter told him about Doctor Akemi’s crucial info regarding defeating Gifu with Gifu power. They must quickly come up with a plan.
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Back at home, Ikki and Sakura try to convince Daiji to return to them so they can work together against Gifu. Daiji, however, says for the sake of peace and safety of humanity, they must not provoke Gifu. Sakura says that infringes on their rights and they cannot live without their freedoms.
Daiji says they can only submit to Gifu since they are no more options left. Ikki says they “might” have a plan. But Daiji scoffs at its uncertainty and asks his brother to choose between peace or freedom. Ikki is resolved to maintain both. Daiji calls him a “blind idealist” and leaves.
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George visits his father’s grave at the cemetery and remembers a visit from when he was a little boy. Little George left his treasure with his daddy at the time.
Big George says it would’ve been better if Papa Karizaki had stayed dead.
At Weekend, Papa Karizaki explains how they must capture the demonized Doctor Akemi and extract the Gifu cells from her which they will then use to defeat him.
George pops in with the idea to use Barid Rex to freeze Doctor Akemi, allowing them to enact their plan.
Daiji is out dealing with some of the extracted demons as Ikki and Sakura confront Director Akaishi. Akaishi summons the demonAkemi and the Hell Giftarian. Sakura wants the latter and leaves the former to her brother.
Ikki, Vice and Sakura henshin to take on their chosen foes.
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Back at Weekend, Papa Karizaki looks over George’s schematics for the Giffard Rex Vistamp. Papa Karizaki is impressed, but George says it is useless without Gifu’s cells. Papa Karizaki says they must trust Ikki and Sakura to get it.
George says this new Vistamp likely won’t be completed unless the father and son join forces. But before that can happen, George wants to know why Papa Karizaki injected Gifu cells into humans. Papa Karizaki says the demons inside him won out.
Papa Karizaki says he deserves any scorn he might receive from his only son. He has regretted his decision ever since.
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Papa Karizaki removes his mask to show his son his burned face. George looks away as Papa Karizaki says this is the face of a man who abandoned his family and helped demons.
George gets in his father’s face and says he is not the only one with scars that are difficult to heal.
As Daiji unleashes all his anger and frustration at the Juniors, Aguilera and Hikaru also henshin to help elsewhere. Sakura is still having lots of trouble against the Hell Giftarian even though she had been so confident beforehand.
Ikki does what he can to try and trap demonAkemi in ice especially as he notices she seems to be losing more and more of herself. He and Vice uphenshin to Barid Rex.
After Daiji takes care of his Juniors, a Fenix officer comes running up to the captain to show him a live video feed of Ikki and Vice battling Akemi. Daiji thinks they are sacrificing Doctor Akemi for their plan and he hurries over.
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Ikki and Vice trap her in ice. Doctor Akemi emerges in the face and says to use her body to defeat Gifu. Ikki says they will save her, but she repeats that she is sure they can defeat Gifu.
The Hell Giftarian slams Sakura through the warehouse wall, forcing her to dehenshin. Ikki and Vice momentarily turn their attention to the Giftarian. But that gives Director Akaishi time to use his palm eye to shoot demonAkemi from the back.
Director Akaishi escapes through the portal as Doctor Akemi begins to disintegrate. Ikki hurries over, asking WTF is going on. Just then, Daiji comes running in and knocks his brother out of the way, yelling him to stop.
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Doctor Akemi tells Daiji not to let his righteousness drive himself to loneliness. She hopes he can become a cool, strong man one day.
The demon doctor disappears and Daiji directs his anger and condemnation at his two siblings.
Daiji grabs Ikki and screams at him before punching him in the face. Why would they do that to Akemi-san? Vice tries to say Ikki was only trying to save her.
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But Daiji says this is just proof that Ikki’s busybody self cannot possibly save the world. Sakura and Vice scream at Daiji to stop.
Daiji is about to knock his older brother out. But Hiromi arrives to stop him.
“Tadaima,” Hiromi says with a smile.
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Episode Thoughts
Now, wouldn’t it have been nice if they had kept Hiromi hidden all this time. What an amazing moment it would have been for him to just suddenly pop up at this time. “Hey, he’s alive!” we would’ve said. But no, they spoiled his status with a Blu-ray press release and then in a clip show. What a waste of a good story. Which has sadly become typical of Revice.
So, one reason why that final scene of the siblings in conflict does not land is because they completely mismanaged their development. For one thing, the show did not use Hiromi’s “death” in a meaningful way to sort of jumpstart Daiji being lost. (Unceremoniously turning Kagerou into a comic relief character before killing him off certainly did not help either.)
But what a great story it could’ve been to have seen how Hiromi’s “death” and the revelation about their father affected their sibling bond. Especially when they had first started out with a fractured relationship before coming together in a unified way. When they went their separate ways around 28 or something, it was completely diluted by the fact that the show let two of the season’s biggest events go by like they were just regular episodes.
(I am suddenly reminded of that episode they went without opening credits even though it was hardly an episode that deserved that special treatment.)
Especially now that they appear to be delving somewhat into the Karizakis, having had a stronger focus on (or really just maintained the strong focus on) the Igarashis would have made the last few minutes of this episode really impactful and meaningful.
Instead, it just feels hollow and unearned. And again, zero impact for Hiromi popping up. (Though that’s also partly because it was plastered all over Toei’s various social media accounts. Thanks! lol)
Speaking of, I want a Karizaki TTFC miniseries. Something about George growing up pre- and post-Vail miniseries. Because we’re obviously not going to get such good story in-series.
Let’s learn more about their family life before Papa Karizaki went down the path of no return and then see George after his father “died.” George saying he too has scars was a great moment. And again, I wish this were a story or a part of his character from the beginning. At least, give us that hint and insight into his character from the start instead of merely portraying him as some shady Kamen Rider fanboy at first before completely rewriting his character later on.
The contrast between the Igarashis and Karizakis would’ve easily filled a couple episodes-worth of story. And maybe even ultimately work into the endgame if ever George or Papa Karizaki end up the final or secondary boss.
Elsewhere this episode, this moment was funny:
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As was this:
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I’m sorry. I can’t take them seriously at all. It’s like a bunch of children playing a game. And not in a fun ToQger-type of way. I could care less about Aguilera and Hikaru henshining and fighting Juniors.
Anyway, this episode may have been relatively okay compared to recent weeks. But still full of hollow scenes that could’ve been great had the show not abandoned what was going so well for them at the beginning.
Yeah, I’m kinda at the point where the meandering filler of the middle 12-18 episodes has really dragged this show down, and I have to say its more disappointing than in Saber where the issue was we were checking in on everyone so much there wasn’t really time to move forward. Here its just ‘Too early for end game, don’t know what to do’.
Or maybe just a failed second act new villain turnover, because there wasn’t a new villain. On that note: It would be nice if we actually could break from the 3 act, 3 villains/threats formula, its getting stagnant.
I agree. I think both Saber and Revice have unique problems. Revice does seem like it’s meandering and lost where they sometimes stumble upon something good (Episode 25), but end up going down the wrong path again.
And definitely agree about the formula. They can do big midseason climaxes without making it feel like different shows.
Lots of missed opportunities in this middle section of Revice. I agree that things that should be exciting and emotional and big have fallen flat because it really feels like they’re coming up with things as they go. Which is the opposite of how the season was at the start.
They have really dropped the ball a lot. And it is sad.
It’s really interesting to see the many different opinions on Kamen Rider seasons. I usually don’t agree with most of them. But I agree that Revice has collapsed a bit compared to how strong it started. They feel directionless right now. And it almost feels like they used up their story in the first 1/3 of the season and then didn’t know what to do anymore. An argument for shorter seasons perhaps?
That’s a good point. It’s like they sped through the story and ran out.
I’ll say it again. I’m glad the guys are fucking hot on this show. Otherwise… lol
Well, anything to keep you watching I guess lol
Have you seen the Hyper Battle DVD where George gets horny and wants Ikki and Daiji to make out. Like WTF? But also, why not give George a gay storyline on the show too. Let’s see it! Him and Hiromu maybe? or George and Daiji. Hot!
I fast forwarded through it and when I reached that part I did not understand what was going on there. WTF! lol Maybe it makes sense if i watch it all the way through.
say WHAT?! Okay now I have to watch just for that.
lol yeah. It was very strange. But I didn’t watch the whole thing yet, so maybe it makes sense and less weird in context? I doubt it though lol
I don’t think that the revelation about their father is something that makes sense to fracture the sibling bond. I don’t know why it’d put a rift between them. This is honestly the only way that makes sense to put a rift between Daiji and others, what can set him off is honestly when the situation is hopeless (Giff’s attack) and combined with his rigidity. Doubt he’d care that much about Genta to blame others. Other than that Daiji does turn closer into Junpei’s personality here.
Regarding George being “rewritten”, it’s probably not 100% well-handled, but he’s meant to develop as a better person after getting to know Igarashi’s backgrounds as Giff descendant and later changing his behavior. But what actually differentiates character development or them being rewritten? Because many do accuse characters as being rewritten, but only because they view them in status quo.
Isn’t that kind of my point though? After Episode 25, the siblings went their separate ways. And for what?
Initially, we saw Daiji being very concerned about Hiromi as of course they were comrades. And Daiji being very pro-Fenix, Hiromi was a bit of a mentor for him. If they wanted to drive Daiji down a hopeless/in despair path, why not start there and then use (a non comic-relief) Kagerou to further drive him down that path. And if they wanted to mirror what happened to Junpei, keep Kagerou more Vail-like and not some lovable asshole of some sort. Drive Daiji down that path of anger and hot-blooded-ness, reigniting his insecurities from earlier in the season. That of course would contrast with Ikki’s hopeful nature. And basically rehashes Daiji and Ikki’s conflict from early in the season. Only with all the new developments and revelations regarding their GIfu DNA, their father being used by the government, etc to fuel that anger even more.
Then with Sakura, it would be a perfect way to highlight how she had initially been this reluctant and cynical person with regards to these organizations. But now, she is fully on board with the (shady) Weekend and is more open to working with others, especially her new girlfriend.
With George, the obvious two roads for him at the beginning were either 1. Developing into the final boss or 2. A redemption-sort of story where he goes from shady evil scientist to honorary Igarashi family member and team player.
They didn’t do either. For 20 episodes, he was this shady Kamen Rider fanboy who didn’t care about anyone else or anything else but his experiments and developing the best tribute toy. One episode, he couldn’t care less about Hiromi slowly dying from the Driver. The next, he vigorously working on modifying the Driver to save him. This was also before the show revealed he had daddy issues as well. Which then opens up a whole other road that they’ve completely mismanaged too.
It’s not about the status quo with him. It’s about letting us see how he grows and develops from what he used to be to what he is now and can be in the future. With Papa Karizaki popping up out of nowhere, we now see how growing up without a father figure or even a family has affected him. And if they had properly set that up, it would be such an amazing story to tell. Especially in parallel or in contrast (they do either or both) with the Igarashi family. How stunning to see perhaps the Igarashis collapse yet George and his father reconnecting after we learn more about how George grew up. Or George even being folded into the Igarashis in place of maybe a Daiji or Sakura or even Ikki.
So many possibilities, yet they’ve chosen probably the roughest, foggiest roads where the destination does not seem clear at all.
Just that the going on separate ways part doesn’t mean those people are on feud. They’re families but they’re still their own individuals with their own wants and needs.
But fair enough for the other parts. Hiromi and Kagerou’s supposed demise were handled really poorly yeah, and the series already didn’t establish a strong connection between Hiromi and Daiji (they’re comrades, but not that Daiji is completely dependent on Hiromi) like your suggestion here for that to be the root of Daiji’s despair (it’s another mistake of the series to not focus enough on this, then again, Hiromi was intended to die at the first episode but kept alive due to the actor’s performance).
Unless you meant Akemi and Hiromi should be at least equal on Daiji’s eyes, but then again Daiji’s main source of despair wasn’t the death of his comrades but the current dire situation with Giff, and who died happened to be Akemi.
I’d think it’s true that George has not been shown much in how he grows and develops (the part of helping Hiromi in ep. 29 was presented as him trying to atone for what he did to Hiromi), or lately his KR fanboy traits hasn’t appeared yet (other than creating ViStamps), like he was a KR fanboy for the wrong reasons, like the chaotic and violent parts, and that when he redeemed he should actually implement the values KR teach.
Thats a good point. I didn’t even think about Daiji being more concerned about Akemi than Hiromi. The show should’ve played up the mounting losses to show wear Daiji down with every death. That includes Chigusa too. It’s not necessarily if he’s close to them, but to show that no matter his loyalty and fighting in a Fenix uniform, it meant nothing.
Yeah, George redeeming himself especially after Hiromi’s death would’ve been a great story. Especially if they connected with him learning about what his father did in the past. But it was all exposition. That’s why the clip show was weird a little, character-wise, for George because all of a sudden he wants to do this nice thing for Hiromi when just a few eps ago, he did not care that he was dying.
I think there’s still time to fix what’s gone wrong. Usually this kind of lost, hollow stuff comes in the late 40s in the final arc when the out of nowhere final boss appears. So they can right the ship if they want. But I’m not too hopeful. I’m like Daiji, just succumb to hopelessness until it’s all over. 😂
Haha, good comparison.