Recap: Kamen Rider Revice, Episode 47 – Karizaki’s Rebellion, the Price of Transforming

George proclaims that things are not over yet as he stands before a sea of mass-produced Riders sprawled out on the floor.

An oblivious Vice greets everyone from the baths to brag about their “big wins” of the year. First it was the Deadmans and Olteca, then it was the sibling squabble and finally killing Akaishi. He also mentions other random stuff they had to deal with like Vail wanting to kill the Igarashis. But the world is at peace now and they don’t need to henshin any longer. That will very much help Ikki not lose any more memories.

Out in the living room, Mama Igarashi turns the TV off when a commentator discusses how the human inheritors of Gifu DNA are still running around so it is not yet time to relax. She tells her boys to ignore the chatter and just be proud of what they’ve accomplished.

Daiji and Sakura head out for the day and carefully avoid the dominos Papa Igarashi and Ikki have been laying out around the living room. Lovekov provides no such courtesy, however, and just slithers across the dominos, ruining the father and son’s hard work.

Papa Igarashi is a bit frustrated since this was supposed to be their big domino comeback. Ikki apologizes for not remembering that they had set up dominoes before. Mama and Papa Igarashi says there’s nothing wrong with not remembering everything since they can easily make new happy memories now.

Outside, Hana arrives to say goodbye to Sakura. Since Hana has done what she can to help, she will now leave and atone for all her evil deeds as Queen Deadman. Sakura asks if they’ll ever meet again and Hana just laughs before walking away.

Hiromi and Hikaru are cleaning up at Weekend HQ. Hiromi sees Papa Karizaki’s belongings and wonders why George never came to collect them. Hiromi helps Hikaru carry a chest up the stairs and is immediately exhausted. Tamaki asks Hikaru about a big black stain upstairs, but Hikaru says it’s always been there.

Daiji, meanwhile, finds the dead mass-produced Riders as George confronts Hana downtown.

Ikki and Vice head over to guest on Bon’s first post-rehab YouTube livestream. Bon thanks them for helping him and also for helping put a smile on his grandfather’s face.

Tamaki, however, interrupts the happy times by calling Ikki over to where George has completely wrecked him and Hana. Ikki is shocked to see this new Rider is George.

George says he has finally completed the ultimate Rider system created by a human for the sake of humans without the need for demons. As long as Gifu’s remnants exist, true peace will never come. So George is resolved to destroy all other Kamen Riders in order to secure humanity’s future and declares that this is his final responsibility.

George henshins to Kamen Rider Juuga.

“You’re saying we don’t belong in a world at peace?” Ikki asks. George concurs.

Vice stops Ikki from henshining and instead henshins alone. George is far too powerful for Vice, but something malfunctions and he has to retreat for now.

Hiromi confronts an exhausted George who says he is just trying to bring about true peace. Hiromi asks if that really is his true goal and George scoffs. “What else could it be?”

Back home, the siblings discuss George’s sudden hostility. But when Mama and Papa Igarashi walk in, Ikki thinks they are customers and asks them to wait a moment while they open and prepare the baths. Everyone is stunned.

Vice speaks with Mama and Papa Igarashi, explaining what is happening to Ikki. Papa Igarashi says Ikki is part of their family, with or without memories. Mama Igarashi asks for more time to process what is happening.

Outside, Ikki apologizes to his younger siblings for not telling them sooner about his memories. Daiji says that, if anything, his hesitation in episode one is to blame for Ikki’s current predicament.

Ikki doesn’t regret anything though, especially if it’s for the family. Sakura doesn’t understand what the point is if memory loss is the price.

Kagerou interrupts and says you have to lose something to gain something. That’s the inherent fact they accept when forming contracts with demons. Sakura tells him to shut up. But Kagerou tries to explain that whining about it won’t change anything. Instead, they must simply take George down.

Daiji regains control of his body. Sakura admits that Kagerou has a point and they should fight. But Daiji cautions that George is far too powerful now and they might not stand a chance, especially since they do not want Ikki to henshin.

Daiji suggests they just hand over their Drivers and Stamps to placate George enough. If that doesn’t work, then they will have no choice but to fight. Though they will still not allow Ikki to join them.

Ikki protests. But Vice, having listened from around the corner, insists that they will not budge. Vice hands Daiji his Driver and Stamp and leaves it to him and Sakura.

At the cemetery, George tosses the old demonic Drivers in his possession at his father’s grave.

Next day, the siblings, Vice and Lovekov meet with George. Daiji says there is no reason for them to fight. George says he has his own reasons and that they should fight for their family instead.

Daiji approaches George and says he will hand over all their Drivers. In return, George must not take anything else from their family.

George says that defeats his purpose then. He punches Daiji to the ground and prepares to henshin. Sakura approaches and asks if he’s okay with her not holding back. George laughs and says that will just help prove his case.

As Hiromi finds the Drivers at Papa Karizaki’s graves, George, Daiji and Sakura henshin. George has no problem taking care of them though and quickly forces them both to dehenshin.

Ikki leaps forward to grab his Driver. Vice warns that Ikki will completely forget his family if he henshins. Daiji and Sakura plead with him not to do it.

But Ikki shoves Vice out of the way and warns George not to touch his family.

Episode Thoughts

So there are times when an episode of either Kamen Rider or Sentai just starts off on the wrong foot and it leaves my mood sour for the next 20 minutes. This was definitely one of those episodes.

They had the gall to lump the family’s conflict with Vail alongside “a ton of other stuff” like Papa Ushijima and Weekend, Lovekov’s tantrum and whatever the hell Kagerou was doing inside of Daiji.

That absolute disrespect! And it certainly explains a little why the season easily lost its way if they regard what was actually their strongest aspect as some throwaway detail.

Then they bring back Bon, who was actually a good character. But that just brings back memories of when the show was actually still good.

Llike Kagerou said, however, it’s no use whining about it now. It’s Episode 47, after all.

And with three episodes left after this one, they decide to finally give George something to do.

It was around Episode 25, after the big Papa Igarashi/Vail reveal that the show did a complete 180 for George’s character.

I’ve wanted the show to give George his own story. Especially with the introduction of his father and the very little bits and pieces of his childhood. But the show instead focused on other, less interesting nonsense. Now that they’ve exhausted all that irrelevant stuff, they pull George’s mad scientist angle back out of the trash bin.

Instead of steadily developing George’s character throughout the season, they build him up very well in the first quarter of the season then shove him into the shadows for half the season, completely neutering his character and now they finally give him something to do. But it’s too little, too late.

I’ll say again, the Karizaki Family story deserved its own arc. Or at the very least, deserved to be one of the main threads running through the season. If not, then it deserved a TTFC miniseries. Definitely more than whatever the girl power miniseries is that they’re releasing now.

Now, I don’t know what the spin-off series is about. But I do know there’s an audience for innuendo-laden all-female web exclusives. So I wouldn’t be surprised. But I’ve also mentioned that pretty much all of the non-main series content of Revice has been better than the main series itself. So perhaps I’ll love this one too. We’ll see.

Still doesn’t excuse the fact that they completely wasted what is probably one of the season’s biggest potential story sources with George. And are only now tacking it on to the end of the season to fill out the 50-episode order.

Are we finally getting to George feeling jealous of the Igarashis being a happy family? I dunno. As well as that might tie in with the Igarashis on the verge of emotional collapse with Ikki’s memories (not his whole being, let’s be clear) fading away, it’s really just another great example of Revice just dropping the ball. It really is that proverbial fumbling the ball at the one-yard line. They initially set the stage for story touchdowns and then just fumble the ball away.

The moment the rest of the family finally learns about Ikki’s situation should’ve been a huge, powerful moment. Here, it was a dud. Even if the atmosphere for the siblings’ talk was particularly cinematic, the emotions and depth just wasn’t there. What a shame.

Anyway, we’ll see what happens. We’re almost there y’all lol

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