Investigation Riders: Ryuki 29-32
Marriage Interview Battle (Toshiki Inoue): Previously on Kamen Rider Ryuki: Asakura took control of Evildiver and combined it with his other Monsters to form Genocider; Kamen Rider Odin revealed himself as the thirteenth Rider, with the power to turn back time to the beginning of the Rider War, as Shinji found out; and Reiko revealed to Yui that Shiro Takami died in America one year before...
These next two episodes are crack. In fact, I'd go so far as to say this particular episode is filler. They were both written by Toshiki Inoue, and I already alluded to it with episode 9, but I hadn't seen 555 back then, so I really didn't have a lot to work with there, but now that I have, here it is:
Toshiki Inoue is a good writer. Hold off all arguments first while I make my case. He wrote Choujin Sentai Jetman, which is by far the most popular season of Super Sentai. Yes, probably more so than Carranger. After twenty years, he went back to Jetman in the Gokaiger tribute episode and wrote amazingly, working alongside the original actor and the original suit actor who played Gai Yuuki/Black Condor and really showed off why this was season was considered the best. He also headed up Kamen Rider Agito, the series before this one. So it's clear the man knows his stuff.
The problem is that sometimes I think he forgets that. For a good critique of his series, see here He gets caught up in gimmicks, like the idea that characters can't talk to each other or it'll create conflict-a massive problem throughout Kamen Rider 555 and seems to hold too much to his original vision of how it's supposed to go rather than being more flexible if events in the series or character chemistry seem to point into a different direction for the ending (again, 555, specifically the character of Yuji Kiba). Sometimes he can pull really damn good things, like the revelation that Takumi Inui was the Wolf Orphnoch in Kamen Rider 555 (a fact that actually was completely consistent with what we saw with him throughout the series) or the storyline of the starcrossed teenagers who became Cobra and Snake in Kamen Rider THE FIRST. However, these flaws tend to be overbearing. 555 is overshadowed by its ending, and it continues into its movie, Paradise Lost, where again Yuji is shoehorned into the villain role despite it not really making any sense character development-wise or storyline-wise (seriously, he knew Smart Brain was out to kill all humans. A human supposedly betrays him to Smart Brain, so RAEGKILLALLHUMANS?). Kamen Rider THE FIRST does a pretty bad job building up its lead characters, Takeshi Hongo and especially Hayato Ichimonji, and for some reason, Hongo fails to explain repeatedly to his love interest, Asuka, that he didn't kill her fiancé, Katsuhiko Yano, who somehow ended up as Ichimonji. And it's never explained if Yano was brainwashed into becoming Ichimonji and why, or if Ichimonji was a Shocker spy from the beginning. Also, he's dying. Because it's dramatic that Hongo is special for being able to survive the Shocker-ization process without needing regular blood transfusions while Ichimonji is not. I was fine with it when I first saw it, but over time, I've soured to it more and more, and I have no intentions of seeing Kamen Rider THE NEXT.
So my point is that Inoue is a polarizing figure in Kamen Rider. You love him or you hate him. And being that I reject extremes and prefer to live in a world of blissful noncommittance (shut up; it's a word if I say it is), I refuse to take a side either way. I judge his writing on a piece-by-piece basis, refusing to let a part define the whole. And my vanilla opinion of this episode is:
What the fuck?
I'm not going to lie. This episode is a ton of fun. But it's filler, and really cracky, weird filler at that.
We return to the end of episode 27, where Reiko is telling Yui that Shiro Takami died over a year ago in America. But when Yui refers to him as her big brother, Reiko realizes she just shattered another family. Her lack of recognition about Shiro Takami being Yui's brother is understandable-Shiro spent the past thirteen years under the name Takami, so that's what his ID will automatically be recognized as. Legally, in both Japan and the United States, he is Shiro Takami. And as far as Reiko knows, he's just some guy that Yui was photographed with-possibly an old boyfriend, possibly a family member, possibly a friend, who knows? Shiro Kanzaki never came up because the only information known about him between thirteen years ago and now was his undocumented work at Seimeiin University, after which, he was reported as missing. So Reiko has no reason to suspect that the Shiro Kanzaki reported missing as of August 2001 is the Shiro Takami reported dead in April 2001. Yui is in denial, pointing out that she's met plenty of people who have met her brother since his supposed date of death, so cautiously-perhaps because of experience with Asakura and Akira-Reiko agrees that it must be a mistake. The revelation seems to come a little too early, since this particular lead continues for a little bit before mostly being dropped in favor of his actual work until the end, but this marks the beginning of the shift of ORE's investigation into focusing on Kanzaki. Both women are left mulling over this new information, and we're left with a shot of Reiko's necklace.
It's an incredibly hot day at ORE, and the AC is broken. Shinji falls trying to clean it out, and behind everyone's backs, he executes a perfect flip and landing, only to get knocked out by a bucket to his head. Yep, this is a crack episode. As a favor to a friend, Okubo shows Reiko a picture for a marriage interview. To his shock, Shimada really wants to try it, and Reiko decides to give it a shot for the experience. The date is brief, but a total disaster, since the guy is a self-martyring wreck of a man. Reiko leaves, eating a burger (or possibly anpan) while wondering where have all the good men gone. I bring up the food because this episode features a lot of it. Apparently, back during Jetman, Inoue replaced more blatant shiptease with eating. If that's the case here, then this episode must be a massive orgy.
Reiko hears breathing behind her, but when she turns to look, nobody's there. At work the next day, she tells the others she thinks she has a stalker. Shinji immediately suspects Marriage Interview Guy (whom we'll call MIG because his real name didn't come up until way later in the episode, long after I wrote this note) or some other man that Reiko shot down in the past. Because he admires her, Shinji swears to protect her. That night, somebody is following Reiko home, and Shinji attacks him...only to get his ass kicked. But before he blacks out, he discovers it's Goro with a bouquet of roses. There's a hilarious bit where Shinji first wakes up on Kitaoka's couch, but since he's half-dreaming, he hallucinates Goro and Kitaoka wearing makeup while Kitaoka has hair clips, scaring them half to death when he screams. With the Big Lipped Alligator Moment over, Kitaoka asks what's going on. Shinji accuses Goro of being the stalker, and the both of them burst into laughter before Kitaoka explains that Goro was delivering a bouquet on his behalf. Shinji realizes the real stalker is still at large, and they rush to Reiko's apartment, but she doesn't answer the door. Furthermore, Kitaoka discovers Reiko's purse outside. They run into Ren, who decided to investigate when he saw Reiko and picked up that something was wrong. Naturally, he and Shinji start arguing, with Shinji blaming Ren for not doing more and staying with a woman he hardly knows to protect her from a vague threat that may or may not have existed that he didn't know about. Ren puts the blame back on Shinji before Kitaoka breaks it up, insisting that this is no time to fight. Ren points out the absurdity of Kitaoka breaking up a fight, and Kitaoka has the decency to look ashamed at being caught behaving like a decent human being. Shinji points out the alliance they've formed is touching, now with Ren embarrassed, and Kitaoka insists that this is no time to be touched. Let Out Of Context Theatre commence! Putting stock in the stalker theory, Kitaoka asks Shinji if he has any suspects, and Shinji explains about the interview. So Shinji decides to set a trap, setting up Shimada with MIG. Make your memes as you will. But until they save Reiko, the three agree to a truce.
A little advice, boys? Leave the detective work to the professionals.
While spying on the date, Shinji briefly senses a Monster, but it vanishes. Unfortunately, Shimada gets drunk, and when she walks home, our three brave heroes watch her-still drunk, mind you-from the comfort of their car. Ren teases Kitaoka for falling for Reiko, since apparently, this fact is the only reason Ren agreed to cooperate with him-though, to be honest, I can't be sure if it's out of sympathy or for the sake of trolling. I'm leaning more on the latter. This clues Shinji in for the first time, and he starts fighting Kitaoka, nearly crushing Ren while the two slap at each other over whether or not Shinji has the right to ban Kitaoka from dating her. Not surprisingly, they lose Shimada. Shinji starts blaming them for not watching her, but a Monster appears. When Kitaoka punches Shinji out during his henshin pose, Shinji stomps on his foot and calls him unreliable. OUR HEROES. The fight is very slapstick, with Ryuki and Knight getting beaten up while Zolda watches, excusing himself as unreliable. When Zolda does decide to help, Knight runs like hell while Ryuki nearly gets shot. It's all for naught, and they lose the Monster.
So, the plan failed, they lost Shimada, and they lost a Monster. Now what? Why, use the same plan again, of course! This time, they use Yui as bait-seriously, why didn't her brother kill them for this? ajora informs me that Yui is using extremely formal speech. So, think Ahim from Gokaiger. Ren's watching this trainwreck while standing on Shinji's back, pointing out that if Shinji's wrong about MIG, then they've wasted a hell of a lot of time. It's bad enough that even the local kindergarteners are embarrassed by them. By Ren's explanation, Yui is playing along and pulling this whole excessively polite maiden act to get MIG to lower his guard and reveal his true nature. Which begs the question of how the hell does Ren know this? Did Yui pull this on him once upon a time? Where are the pictures? But it works, and Yui's able to get into the guy's apartment. By sheer dumb luck, the guy runs out to buy coffee, promising to be back, so that leaves her free to hike up her skirt, klutz out, tear up the apartment, and investigate. You know, so not just the boys can fail at being detectives here. Shinji and Ren are watching from a nearby fire escape-or that's the plan, at least, since they spend the whole damn time fighting over the binoculars. Seriously, guys? You're older than two. Grow up. With the trio failing all over the place, Kitaoka at least got some real investigation done and calls Shinji to let him know that MIG has a solid alibi for the nights of the kidnappings. But Yui's rampage got something done, attracting a neighbor's attention, who asked Yui to please keep it down. Yui recognized the necklace she was wearing as Reiko's, and off-screen, altered the boys, who let Kitaoka know. Turns out that Mari Takeuchi had once been the president of a company that got put out of business by one of Okubo's articles, so she's got a grudge against the paper. In addition to motive is evidence: Reiko's necklace is a rare design, so it's suspicious that Takeuchi would have one just like it. Shinji and Kitaoka begin arguing, so Ren threatens to quit the alliance out of sheer exhaustion, to which Kitaoka agrees, and Shinji concedes defeat.
So with the Great Rider Alliance of 2002 in shambles, Shinji decides to take matters into his own hands and visit Takeuchi, dressed in a suit and glasses and posing as a salesman. Turns out Kitaoka is already there, having thought of roughly the same thing (minus the glasses) to scope out the place. And he's deeply ashamed for it. Then Ren enters, having also thought the exact same thing, down to the glasses. This is where I start to get confused. Sure, I know that Ren’s actor, Satoshi Matsuda, wears glasses sometimes, but the character sure doesn’t. There’s no indication at all that either Ren or Shinji has anything other than perfect vision, and yet they both have a pair of glasses as part of their disguise-along with business suits they have no reason to own. These can’t be reading glasses because they’re able to wear them comfortably for normal viewing, and they look enough like real glasses that the woman lets them in the house rather than slamming the door on them immediately. And frames can be expensive-even cheap ones-so they wouldn’t have gone to get real frames with fake lenses. Especially not on short notice.
So there are two possibilities here. One is that they both shop at Clark Kent’s Disguise Emporium, where they get a discount on business suits and not-fooling-anyone glasses. Or two, they just had these in reserve just in case there was ever a situation where they had to go undercover, however unlikely it is given that Kamen Riders in this series don’t do the investigation thing-they just fight.
…Wow, Ren. You really are Batman. And I guess Shinji’s Robin since he thought of the same thing. Worse, when it comes to showing off their wares, the both of them just stole stuff from Atori and presented it to her. Barely holding back laughter, Kitaoka introduces himself as a lawyer, prompting Shinji to berate him in a whisper since they know this woman is guilty. At this point, rewatching the episode, it occurred to me-three years after first seeing this series, mind you. Why didn't they call the police? This isn't Rider business; this is a legitimate kidnapping case. Even if Shinji's reluctant to get them involved after the last kidnapping fiasco, Kitaoka's a lawyer with a lot of clout. He'd be able to get things going and with the three of them completely free from suspicion.
Anyway, because she's not an idiot, Takeuchi gets suspicious and runs off while they're distracted, but the Monster from earlier gets her. They go in and fight, but Knight and Zolda really don't pay attention to anything else than whatever they're beating on, so they ignore Ryuki pointing out that they lost their last lead to finding Reiko and Shimada. Fortunately, Ryuki hears the buzzing of the cicada Monster he'd sensed trailing Shimada back at the interview, and he follows it to find her and Reiko. And yes, by completely breaking the rules of the series and traveling through a different mirror. This is a frickin' plot point in an upcoming episode; you can't just ignore it whenever you want! He throws the Monster back into the Mirror World for Knight and Zolda to finish off-presumably, they took care of the other one while Ryuki was busy-and then Ryuki goes to save the women. There's an after-party at a Polynesian restaurant for our Riders, Yui, Reiko, and Shimada. Shinji reveals that MIG fell for Yui, which will never be referenced again. Kitaoka blames Shinji for terrible plans, Shinji flips out about Kitaoka crushing on Reiko, and everyone finishes their meal, satisfied.
Yes, a period rather than an ellipsis. Like I said, filler. Not bad, but weird.
Zolda’s Lover (Toshiki Inoue): This episode is also crack, but it’s not quite as fillerish, since it introduces a new character. In a very loose connection to the previous episode, Shinji buys Kitaoka donuts as thanks for his help rescuing Reiko and Shimada. However, Kitaoka’s characterization is suddenly more assholish than the previous episode, as he tells Goro to throw out the donuts after Shinji leaves, right in front of him (Goro pockets a powdered sugar, FYI). The camera work in this scene is annoying, with the camera supposedly being in Kitaoka’s point-of-view at times, but with mad zoom-like people are getting right in his face. I’d blame the director, but from the look of it, Hidenori Ishida’s done some pretty solid episodes of Kamen Rider. Admittedly, thus far, I’ve only watched Kuuga, Ryuki, Faiz, Den-O, W, OOO, Fourze, and four episodes and one Movie Wars of Decade, but I really can’t complain about the direction of the episodes I see on that list. Oh well. Another lawyer walks in, saying that a Megumi Asano, Kitaoka’s former secretary/chef/bodyguard/eyecandy, wants to sue him. For a broken engagement. Shinji is furious with Kitaoka for treating a woman that way, and Kitaoka insists that he did not have relations with that woman. You have no idea how long it took me to realize I could make that joke. He’s progressively flipping out since Megumi wants to take it to court, and Goro is getting depressed. Oh, so you want to go there, eh? C’mon, Inoue. We’re fans. Slash is kind of our specialty. Bring it.
Shinji goes to visit Megumi at her food truck on the beach. She reveals that she had worked for Kitaoka for three years and knows him and his vices better than anybody. She says that before he got rich and famous, he proposed to her on the beach, using a dumpling in place of a ring since he couldn’t afford one. And yes, since it’s on the beach, this means that Ryohei is shirtless again. No speedo this time, however. Shinji throws a tantrum in grief over Kitaoka being a dick, and he decides to call in Reiko, who chews out Kitaoka and insists he has to follow through with his engagement. Kitaoka continues to deny anything happened between him and Megumi and insists Shinji is being deceived. When Shinji says that he can see the truth in Megumi’s eyes, Kitaoka says Shinji should stare into his. Deeply. You know, call me crazy, but I’m starting to doubt that Kitaoka ever would have had a relationship with Megumi, not with all the man-love going around.
It’s not long before Ren gets dragged into this too, joining Shinji and Reiko to meet Megumi. Their black SUV from the Akira Asakura debacle is back and breaks down, so Ren and Shinji have to take off their shirts. Because. Stupid sexy Riders. While the boys are relaxing in the sun, Megumi tells Reiko that Kitaoka proposed again, in winter, using a hardboiled egg for a ring this time. Ren starts laughing and Reiko begins to doubt Megumi’s credibility, but Shinji is as convinced as ever. Still, Reiko goes back to ORE and starts writing a hate-filled article about the “enemy of women,” and Okubo is promptly scared of her. He realizes that he needs another employee to make up for the terrifying Reiko and the unreliable Shinji, though he flatout rejects promoting Shimada, since she’s already a handful.
The guys go to visit Kitaoka, but Ren suddenly asks Shinji for money, grinning. When they go in, Ren pulls out a wedding card and starts trolling, adding that he’s not going to the wedding when it happens. With even Ren giving up on him and Reiko thinking he’s scum, Kitaoka despairs, getting hit in the head with a painting of a heart. Goro asks what Megumi is like and why he fired her, and Kitaoka insists that she was a careless ditz. When he’d ask for tea, she’d give him a can of tea leaves, she’d pay more attention to killing a fly than the road when she was driving, and she once dumped spaghetti all over his head without even realizing it. It makes a great macro (thanks, ajora!). Goro decides to meet Megumi, but he still wonders why Kitaoka hired her. The two secretaries meet on a bridge with all the seriousness of a Rider battle, with lightning behind them. Goro asks her to leave Kitaoka alone, and she insists Kitaoka will grow tired of him too one day and throw him away, no matter how beautiful he is.
WOW. YOU WENT THERE. YOU WENT THERE, INOUE. I apologize for challenging you before. I tip my hat to you.
They quiz each other on Kitaoka’s favorite food (anything luxurious), his childhood nickname (didn’t have one because he didn’t have friends), his secret hobby (…it’s a secret. You tease), but Goro is wrong about his favorite saying (“millet stuck to wet hands”-something along the lines of getting something without effort). Despite losing, Goro jumps to Megumi’s defense when a bunch of thugs show up. Megumi, however, kicks off her shoes and awesomely holds her own, defeating them with ease, leading Goro to realize that Kitaoka hired her because she was strong and made an excellent bodyguard. He gets knocked out by her shoe, and she collapses suddenly, and they reach toward each other. Goro returns and explains everything to Kitaoka, Shinji, and Ren, who is just off-screen for most of the scene. Megumi confessed to lying about the engagement, but she was deeply in love with Kitaoka. However, she was sick. "Climax 10,” by far the most depressing musical piece in all of Ryuki, plays as you see the flashback to her explaining to Goro that she didn’t want Kitaoka to forget him after her death, hence the lies. She just wanted one date with him before she died. Ren insists that Kitaoka should go through with it, just to do something for someone else just once in his life. Though Kitaoka really doesn’t want to, Shinji and Goro gang up on him.
Kitaoka does go to see her, in disbelief that she’s suffering just like he is. A Monster starts to attack, but before Kitaoka can rush in, she crashes her bicycle and sends her food delivery flying. He manages to get her away from the Monster, sympathizing with it. It has noodles all over its head and cannot for the unlife of it figure out how that happened. He asks her out, and over an obviously green-screened sunset, we have Stupid Sexy Kitaoka again, at night they eat at a food stand, and it’s suddenly afternoon again with him in a tux, her in a wedding gown and veil, and they’re rowing a boat across the river. All of this is actually happening. While on the boat, he senses the Monster again, and he tells her to close her eyes so he can kiss her, but he pulls out his deck, mouths, “Henshin!” and jumps into the river. Looks like the pose and invocation actually are necessary in this series to transform. In the middle of the fight, Ryuki tackles the Monster and tells Zolda to get back to his date before wrestling the thing like Zeronos Altair and Date-Birth would years later. There is a pretty cool bit where during the Final Vent, Dragreder splashes in the water briefly, but the battle is just there because they suddenly remembered it’s a tokusatsu series. Kitaoka returns and looks more distressed about kissing this beautiful woman than a supposedly straight man should be, and finally, he just kisses her forehead. She’s disappointed, but before anything else, she collapses again, scaring the hell out of him. But during the date and the fight, Goro went to see Megumi’s doctor. Because this is Ryuki, the doctor just tells him her diagnosis: low blood pressure. That’s it. He’d warned her that it could be dangerous if she wasn’t careful, but she thought that meant it was fatal. Her collapsing was just the result of a sudden change in temperature. So Kitaoka’s relieved when she wakes up, but he goes catatonic when Goro calls to tell him everything.
Kitaoka, Goro, Shinji, and Reiko get drinks together at an outdoor café sometime later. Kitaoka tries to get Reiko’s attention, but she ignores him while Goro and Shinji become steadily more uncomfortable. Shinji apologizes, with Kitaoka still upset about Megumi, and Reiko has to apologize too. But then Okubo appears, revealing he’s just hired Megumi, much to everyone’s dismay. And Shimada is pissed at being passed over…
The Girl And Ouja (Yasuko Kobayashi): Two episodes of crack, and now we’re back to the serious stuff. In fact, we’re getting close to some very serious stuff, which will be in the next batch. It’s going to be fun. With all the crack that’s been going on, Asakura hasn’t gotten much in the way of screentime, and as he walks toward a docked ferry, he’s being attacked by his own Monsters. He hasn’t fed them for a while, so he’s starting to look really appetizing. Like a crazy-fuck boss, Asakura just grins at the prospect rather than being worried or anything.
At ORE, Megumi is adjusting to things. She had always wanted to be a journalist, but she mistakenly tested to be a secretary instead. She’s given Shimada’s beloved laptop, White Milky, and renames it Gosaku. She manages to crash it, however, and begins percussive maintenance, which makes Shimada go into a protective fit and tear it away from her. I think they’re going to be friends! Meanwhile, Reiko leaves for a few days for a secret investigation.
The Maritime Safety Center notices on radar that a ferry is drifting off-course more and more, and they send people to investigate. The ship is completely devoid of people, their luggage abandoned, but the investigators manage to find one survivor, a traumatized middle school girl named Mika. Shinji is given the assignment, but the gathered reporters at the hospital are given very little information on her. When another reporter mentions overhearing a nurse say that Mika saw three apparent monsters, Shinji fears that Asakura is behind it. At Atori, Yui thinks back to Reiko saying that Shiro died a year ago in America and wonders what’s going on. Ren gets a call from Shinji about his suspicions and agrees that it could be Asakura. The ferry is being sent along the same course for investigation, and Shinji wants Ren to come with him to investigate, using ORE’s press pass. He’s worried that if it is Asakura, he’s not going to be able to protect everyone on the ferry. Ren agrees, though Yui worries about him getting involved in Asakura business again.
The Riders board the ferry and see that Mika insisted on coming along, despite her near-catatonic state, which has Shinji confused. But Ren notices that she seems to be looking for something. The ferry takes off, and all seems to be well. Shinji and Ren investigate the ship, but by morning, they’ve found nothing. Meanwhile, Mika can only tell the detective on board that “that person” will come. The nurse attending her explains that Mika returned to the ferry to meet this mysterious person, and we see that Asakura is lurking on the ship. A Monster presence appears, followed by a scream, from the bridge. Though Shinji and Ren race there, they’re too late to save anybody, and they notice Asakura right outside. More of the crew spots Asakura and takes chase, alerting the detective, but they’re eaten. The detective goes to investigate, and soon after, Mika takes off. While Shinji and Ren search for Asakura and the nurse searches for Mika, the other passengers are evacuated to the lounge. The passengers begin to panic when they hear screams, and one of the reporters realizes that his guard is missing. Shinji manages to save the nurse from an arrow shot from the window. He warns her to evacuate, but she tells them that Mika is missing.
Mika remembers Asakura standing by her during the first attack, so she races through the ship to find him. She comes face-to-face with him, and he gives her an unsettlingly sane smile. Shinji and Ren run over to protect her, assuming that he’s the one behind it all. To their shock, Mika tries to run over to him, insisting that he’d protected her. Asakura tells them he doesn’t have time for this as three Monsters emerge. Shinji tells Mika to hide as he and Ren realize that this time, Asakura’s innocent. Well, relatively speaking. Ouja goes in to fight, followed by Knight and Ryuki. I’ve got to admit that this battle is a little awkward, partly because it’s in a very cramped space and partly because the bee-type Buzzstinger is shooting arrows. It’s hard to get archery right in battle like this, which is why toku usually goes for CGI. It looks a lot better in Super Sentai/Power Rangers, with Megumi in Liveman, Mei/Kimberly/Kat in Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, and Saya/Kendrix/Karone in Gingaman/Lost Galaxy. Use it carefully, is what I’m saying. Knight goes to scan his Final Vent card, but Ouja pulls his hand away and tells him not to interfere with his prey. The three Riders are distracted enough that Ouja is shot with an arrow. But again, he cockblocks their Final Vents, racing forward with his own. The Buzzstingers are able to deflect it by working together, and it’s only when Ryuki and Knight scan their Final Vent cards and Ouja pulls out his Unite Vent that they run. Notice that? It’s teamwork. They managed to slip in a moral subtly. Nice. Venosnaker is pissed, but Ouja walks away, insisting that he’ll have another chance. Asakura goes up a level and meets with Mika, while Shinji and Ren rush up. She clings to him for protection while Shinji and Ren try to explain that he’s the bad guy. She won’t hear it, though, and refuses to leave his side. I hesitate to say it’s Stockholm Syndrome since I’m not an expert in it and he wasn’t the one putting her in danger, but there do appear to be similarities. When another ferry arrives to rescue them, Asakura pushes Mika aside and dives into the sea. Looking at Mika, Shinji wonders if Asakura is capable of protecting others…
Secret Data Gathering (Yasuko Kobayashi): I’m not going to lie. This episode is a hard one for me. Not psychologically or anything, but it’s difficult analytically. It further tackles Asakura’s character development, and it’s really ambiguous. On some level, I want to say that he’s redeemable because of what we see in the series epilogue, but at the same time, it’s difficult to tell if he is doing something nice or not.
Asakura manages to swim back to shore, and his Monsters still threaten to attack him. His return has hit the papers, and just about everyone’s read it. Kitaoka jokes that he’s being treated like a star, while Goro hopes he’ll get caught, even though Kitaoka is sure it’s impossible. Sanako even brings it up while the boys are cleaning up shop, declaring that Asakura surely killed everyone on the ferry. Shinji reluctantly admits that there’s not enough proof to conclusively say it was him, but Ren is adamant that it was him. When Sanako leaves to watch TV, Shinji points out to Ren that they know the truth, but Ren points out that they really can’t say that in public. He asks Shinji why Asakura didn’t attack them back on the ferry, and when Shinji isn’t sure, he explains that Asakura is struggling to fulfill his end of the contract with his Monsters. One Monster is hard enough to feed, but three? Ren figures that they’re attacking Asakura now, though Shinji is distressed by the thought. I absolutely love this because it so furthers Shinji’s development. All episode, he’s got to struggle with this question: Do you save the bad guys? Do you care about the ones who don’t care about anybody? It’s the true beauty of Ryuki, that these questions are being raised and explored. Shinji also worries that Asakura might decide to feed people to his Monsters, and Ren agrees that a Monster might rebel if its contract is breached (something discussed back in episode 4 when Shinji revealed he could tell Dragreder still preferred the taste of human over the taste of Monster energy, and visited briefly at the end of episode 12 when Darkwing threatens to attack Eri despite Ren being right there). He particularly suspects it’ll happen with Metalgelas and Evildiver, since they were contracted to Shibaura and Tezuka and still loyal to them when they were forced into a contract with Asakura, so Takeshi the Homicidal Maniac might have doomed himself. Shinji’s even more distressed and asks Ren if it’s really okay to just watch someone die, even if it’s Asakura, but Ren points out that no one would miss him.
Having become friendly with the nurse he’d saved, Shinji is able to visit Mika in the hospital. She asks for Asakura, and the nurse says that she’s been doing this. Shinji tries to tell her the truth, that the police are after him, but the nurse stops him. Mika is still traumatized by her memories of the event. She ran and hid in the dark, crying for her parents as she heard the victims’ screams. Asakura walked over and stayed by her side all night, so she firmly believes he saved her. The nurse doesn’t know what he wants, but Mika latched onto him as a source of comfort. Sensing a Monster presence, Shinji realizes that the Monsters are still after her, but the presence disappears when he reaches her room. He tries to close her windows to offer some protection, but she stops him since Asakura is watching outside. She believes that he came for her, and Shinji has to struggle between her belief and his belief that Asakura is evil. Asakura senses his Monsters have had enough and eagerly awaits to see who will attack first.
Meanwhile, probably in America, Reiko meets with Prof. Potratz, who was Shiro Takami’s teacher at Ackley University in America. TV-Nihon has it as “Akleh,” but later we’ll see a document with the school’s name on it. It’s hard to make out, and at first I read it as “Ashley,” but it looks like either “Ackley” or “Achley.” I’m avoiding posting this screencap now since it is a major spoiler, even though I’ve already spoiled stuff. I’m eccentric this way. Potratz insists that Shiro was an unusual student and agrees to speak with Reiko, both unaware that Kanzaki is watching them from the Mirror World. He confirms that Shiro died in a tragic accident at the university. Though Shiro often spoke of the little sister he’d left behind in Japan, he hadn’t contacted her in more than a decade, so when he died, the university didn’t know how to reach her. Huh. Didn’t talk to her for over a decade, eh? Then why does Yui remember him telling her that he’d always protect her before he left for school, even though she admits herself that she hasn’t seen him since they were separated? And where did those photos of them in the teahouse come from? Very interesting. The accident happened during an experiment, but nobody knew just what Shiro was working on. According to Potratz, it was hard to even call it physics, since it was so advanced. He doubts that anyone could understand it. Reiko decides to show him the surveillance photo of Kanzaki, but when she looks up, he’s vanished, and she’s completely unaware of the Monster lurking in the mirror.
Shinji calls Okubo to let him know that he’s on a secret investigation and won’t be back for a couple of days. Okubo is pissed that nobody’s telling him anything and makes the mistake of threatening to send out the rookie, and Shimada is quick to rat Megumi out when she disappears with a note of “Secret Investigation.” Shinji runs into Kitaoka at the hospital, who is nervous to have been spotted and insists he’s on the job. Off-screen, Shinji explains things to him, and Kitaoka goes out to meet Asakura and troll him about not feeding his Monsters. Asakura points out that they’ll join him in a Rider battle, but Kitaoka refuses the challenge, preferring to watch Asakura destroy himself than to risk himself in a fight. Asakura insists he won’t die and will kill Kitaoka as soon as this mess is taken care of, and once Kitaoka’s gone, his Monsters attack, but he’s able to convince them to wait.
Mika calms down, and the nurse attributes it to Shinji’s counseling, but he denies it. He tries to close the curtains again, now that it’s night, but Mika insists she can see Asakura out there. He tries to tell her that she needs to stop thinking about him, but she again insists he protected her. She even remembers him taking her out of the dark and onto the deck of the ship, making her feel safe. When she finally falls asleep, Shinji doesn’t know what to believe. Ren arrives the next morning, telling Shinji to switch with him since he doesn’t want Shinji to get killed when Asakura inevitably gets eaten-kind of sweet, I guess? Shinji, however, can’t just let Asakura die. He explains that Mika needs Asakura and he’s amazed that he saved her. Ren argues that it wasn’t Asakura’s intent, but Shinji insists it doesn’t change what happened. Shinji fears that losing Asakura would make it impossible for Mika to recover, insisting that “everyone needs someone,” and “no one is better off dead.” I think both of these are important for the end of the series-the first for everything leading to the finale and the last for the epilogue. Let’s hold those thoughts.
Mika sees Asakura outside her window again and escapes the hospital to pick flowers for him. The Riders sense Asakura’s Monsters ready to attack, but Mika walks over with the flowers, putting herself right in the way of Venosnaker’s attack. Still, she manages to give him the flowers before passing out. Shinji rushes to her side as Asakura stares in confusion at the flowers he was just given, but when he finally senses the Buzzstingers again, he tosses the flowers aside so he can fight. Ren joins the battle too, to keep Asakura from winning. Shinji, meanwhile, stays by Mika’s side until she wakes, and she insists that she’ll be okay because Asakura is there. Zolda joins the battle too, and all three Riders are able to defeat the Monsters by attacking together. The alliance is very short-lived, however, as Knight has Darkwing run interference so Ouja’s Monsters can’t eat the released energy. But Dragreder stops Darkwing, and Ryuki asks for confirmation from the man himself that Asakura stayed with Mika on the ferry. Ouja admits he did, but that she was bait. Zolda and Knight are both disappointed in Ryuki for ruining their one chance to take out Ouja with a minimum of bloodshed and without them having to fight, and Ryuki has nothing to show for his actions. Still, in that moment of ambiguity I discussed earlier, Mika sees Asakura at her window one more time before he leaves. It's hard for the audience to tell if he's there out of one last shred of goodness in his heart or if he's just leaving that way because he's done using her. Shinji affirms to Ren that Mika needed Asakura, but Ren argues that Asakura doesn’t need anybody and he’s proven that. Shinji heads back to his bike, only to run into Megumi, who says she just saw him step through glass…
These next two episodes are crack. In fact, I'd go so far as to say this particular episode is filler. They were both written by Toshiki Inoue, and I already alluded to it with episode 9, but I hadn't seen 555 back then, so I really didn't have a lot to work with there, but now that I have, here it is:
Toshiki Inoue is a good writer. Hold off all arguments first while I make my case. He wrote Choujin Sentai Jetman, which is by far the most popular season of Super Sentai. Yes, probably more so than Carranger. After twenty years, he went back to Jetman in the Gokaiger tribute episode and wrote amazingly, working alongside the original actor and the original suit actor who played Gai Yuuki/Black Condor and really showed off why this was season was considered the best. He also headed up Kamen Rider Agito, the series before this one. So it's clear the man knows his stuff.
The problem is that sometimes I think he forgets that. For a good critique of his series, see here He gets caught up in gimmicks, like the idea that characters can't talk to each other or it'll create conflict-a massive problem throughout Kamen Rider 555 and seems to hold too much to his original vision of how it's supposed to go rather than being more flexible if events in the series or character chemistry seem to point into a different direction for the ending (again, 555, specifically the character of Yuji Kiba). Sometimes he can pull really damn good things, like the revelation that Takumi Inui was the Wolf Orphnoch in Kamen Rider 555 (a fact that actually was completely consistent with what we saw with him throughout the series) or the storyline of the starcrossed teenagers who became Cobra and Snake in Kamen Rider THE FIRST. However, these flaws tend to be overbearing. 555 is overshadowed by its ending, and it continues into its movie, Paradise Lost, where again Yuji is shoehorned into the villain role despite it not really making any sense character development-wise or storyline-wise (seriously, he knew Smart Brain was out to kill all humans. A human supposedly betrays him to Smart Brain, so RAEGKILLALLHUMANS?). Kamen Rider THE FIRST does a pretty bad job building up its lead characters, Takeshi Hongo and especially Hayato Ichimonji, and for some reason, Hongo fails to explain repeatedly to his love interest, Asuka, that he didn't kill her fiancé, Katsuhiko Yano, who somehow ended up as Ichimonji. And it's never explained if Yano was brainwashed into becoming Ichimonji and why, or if Ichimonji was a Shocker spy from the beginning. Also, he's dying. Because it's dramatic that Hongo is special for being able to survive the Shocker-ization process without needing regular blood transfusions while Ichimonji is not. I was fine with it when I first saw it, but over time, I've soured to it more and more, and I have no intentions of seeing Kamen Rider THE NEXT.
So my point is that Inoue is a polarizing figure in Kamen Rider. You love him or you hate him. And being that I reject extremes and prefer to live in a world of blissful noncommittance (shut up; it's a word if I say it is), I refuse to take a side either way. I judge his writing on a piece-by-piece basis, refusing to let a part define the whole. And my vanilla opinion of this episode is:
What the fuck?
I'm not going to lie. This episode is a ton of fun. But it's filler, and really cracky, weird filler at that.
We return to the end of episode 27, where Reiko is telling Yui that Shiro Takami died over a year ago in America. But when Yui refers to him as her big brother, Reiko realizes she just shattered another family. Her lack of recognition about Shiro Takami being Yui's brother is understandable-Shiro spent the past thirteen years under the name Takami, so that's what his ID will automatically be recognized as. Legally, in both Japan and the United States, he is Shiro Takami. And as far as Reiko knows, he's just some guy that Yui was photographed with-possibly an old boyfriend, possibly a family member, possibly a friend, who knows? Shiro Kanzaki never came up because the only information known about him between thirteen years ago and now was his undocumented work at Seimeiin University, after which, he was reported as missing. So Reiko has no reason to suspect that the Shiro Kanzaki reported missing as of August 2001 is the Shiro Takami reported dead in April 2001. Yui is in denial, pointing out that she's met plenty of people who have met her brother since his supposed date of death, so cautiously-perhaps because of experience with Asakura and Akira-Reiko agrees that it must be a mistake. The revelation seems to come a little too early, since this particular lead continues for a little bit before mostly being dropped in favor of his actual work until the end, but this marks the beginning of the shift of ORE's investigation into focusing on Kanzaki. Both women are left mulling over this new information, and we're left with a shot of Reiko's necklace.
It's an incredibly hot day at ORE, and the AC is broken. Shinji falls trying to clean it out, and behind everyone's backs, he executes a perfect flip and landing, only to get knocked out by a bucket to his head. Yep, this is a crack episode. As a favor to a friend, Okubo shows Reiko a picture for a marriage interview. To his shock, Shimada really wants to try it, and Reiko decides to give it a shot for the experience. The date is brief, but a total disaster, since the guy is a self-martyring wreck of a man. Reiko leaves, eating a burger (or possibly anpan) while wondering where have all the good men gone. I bring up the food because this episode features a lot of it. Apparently, back during Jetman, Inoue replaced more blatant shiptease with eating. If that's the case here, then this episode must be a massive orgy.
Reiko hears breathing behind her, but when she turns to look, nobody's there. At work the next day, she tells the others she thinks she has a stalker. Shinji immediately suspects Marriage Interview Guy (whom we'll call MIG because his real name didn't come up until way later in the episode, long after I wrote this note) or some other man that Reiko shot down in the past. Because he admires her, Shinji swears to protect her. That night, somebody is following Reiko home, and Shinji attacks him...only to get his ass kicked. But before he blacks out, he discovers it's Goro with a bouquet of roses. There's a hilarious bit where Shinji first wakes up on Kitaoka's couch, but since he's half-dreaming, he hallucinates Goro and Kitaoka wearing makeup while Kitaoka has hair clips, scaring them half to death when he screams. With the Big Lipped Alligator Moment over, Kitaoka asks what's going on. Shinji accuses Goro of being the stalker, and the both of them burst into laughter before Kitaoka explains that Goro was delivering a bouquet on his behalf. Shinji realizes the real stalker is still at large, and they rush to Reiko's apartment, but she doesn't answer the door. Furthermore, Kitaoka discovers Reiko's purse outside. They run into Ren, who decided to investigate when he saw Reiko and picked up that something was wrong. Naturally, he and Shinji start arguing, with Shinji blaming Ren for not doing more and staying with a woman he hardly knows to protect her from a vague threat that may or may not have existed that he didn't know about. Ren puts the blame back on Shinji before Kitaoka breaks it up, insisting that this is no time to fight. Ren points out the absurdity of Kitaoka breaking up a fight, and Kitaoka has the decency to look ashamed at being caught behaving like a decent human being. Shinji points out the alliance they've formed is touching, now with Ren embarrassed, and Kitaoka insists that this is no time to be touched. Let Out Of Context Theatre commence! Putting stock in the stalker theory, Kitaoka asks Shinji if he has any suspects, and Shinji explains about the interview. So Shinji decides to set a trap, setting up Shimada with MIG. Make your memes as you will. But until they save Reiko, the three agree to a truce.
A little advice, boys? Leave the detective work to the professionals.
While spying on the date, Shinji briefly senses a Monster, but it vanishes. Unfortunately, Shimada gets drunk, and when she walks home, our three brave heroes watch her-still drunk, mind you-from the comfort of their car. Ren teases Kitaoka for falling for Reiko, since apparently, this fact is the only reason Ren agreed to cooperate with him-though, to be honest, I can't be sure if it's out of sympathy or for the sake of trolling. I'm leaning more on the latter. This clues Shinji in for the first time, and he starts fighting Kitaoka, nearly crushing Ren while the two slap at each other over whether or not Shinji has the right to ban Kitaoka from dating her. Not surprisingly, they lose Shimada. Shinji starts blaming them for not watching her, but a Monster appears. When Kitaoka punches Shinji out during his henshin pose, Shinji stomps on his foot and calls him unreliable. OUR HEROES. The fight is very slapstick, with Ryuki and Knight getting beaten up while Zolda watches, excusing himself as unreliable. When Zolda does decide to help, Knight runs like hell while Ryuki nearly gets shot. It's all for naught, and they lose the Monster.
So, the plan failed, they lost Shimada, and they lost a Monster. Now what? Why, use the same plan again, of course! This time, they use Yui as bait-seriously, why didn't her brother kill them for this? ajora informs me that Yui is using extremely formal speech. So, think Ahim from Gokaiger. Ren's watching this trainwreck while standing on Shinji's back, pointing out that if Shinji's wrong about MIG, then they've wasted a hell of a lot of time. It's bad enough that even the local kindergarteners are embarrassed by them. By Ren's explanation, Yui is playing along and pulling this whole excessively polite maiden act to get MIG to lower his guard and reveal his true nature. Which begs the question of how the hell does Ren know this? Did Yui pull this on him once upon a time? Where are the pictures? But it works, and Yui's able to get into the guy's apartment. By sheer dumb luck, the guy runs out to buy coffee, promising to be back, so that leaves her free to hike up her skirt, klutz out, tear up the apartment, and investigate. You know, so not just the boys can fail at being detectives here. Shinji and Ren are watching from a nearby fire escape-or that's the plan, at least, since they spend the whole damn time fighting over the binoculars. Seriously, guys? You're older than two. Grow up. With the trio failing all over the place, Kitaoka at least got some real investigation done and calls Shinji to let him know that MIG has a solid alibi for the nights of the kidnappings. But Yui's rampage got something done, attracting a neighbor's attention, who asked Yui to please keep it down. Yui recognized the necklace she was wearing as Reiko's, and off-screen, altered the boys, who let Kitaoka know. Turns out that Mari Takeuchi had once been the president of a company that got put out of business by one of Okubo's articles, so she's got a grudge against the paper. In addition to motive is evidence: Reiko's necklace is a rare design, so it's suspicious that Takeuchi would have one just like it. Shinji and Kitaoka begin arguing, so Ren threatens to quit the alliance out of sheer exhaustion, to which Kitaoka agrees, and Shinji concedes defeat.
So with the Great Rider Alliance of 2002 in shambles, Shinji decides to take matters into his own hands and visit Takeuchi, dressed in a suit and glasses and posing as a salesman. Turns out Kitaoka is already there, having thought of roughly the same thing (minus the glasses) to scope out the place. And he's deeply ashamed for it. Then Ren enters, having also thought the exact same thing, down to the glasses. This is where I start to get confused. Sure, I know that Ren’s actor, Satoshi Matsuda, wears glasses sometimes, but the character sure doesn’t. There’s no indication at all that either Ren or Shinji has anything other than perfect vision, and yet they both have a pair of glasses as part of their disguise-along with business suits they have no reason to own. These can’t be reading glasses because they’re able to wear them comfortably for normal viewing, and they look enough like real glasses that the woman lets them in the house rather than slamming the door on them immediately. And frames can be expensive-even cheap ones-so they wouldn’t have gone to get real frames with fake lenses. Especially not on short notice.
So there are two possibilities here. One is that they both shop at Clark Kent’s Disguise Emporium, where they get a discount on business suits and not-fooling-anyone glasses. Or two, they just had these in reserve just in case there was ever a situation where they had to go undercover, however unlikely it is given that Kamen Riders in this series don’t do the investigation thing-they just fight.
…Wow, Ren. You really are Batman. And I guess Shinji’s Robin since he thought of the same thing. Worse, when it comes to showing off their wares, the both of them just stole stuff from Atori and presented it to her. Barely holding back laughter, Kitaoka introduces himself as a lawyer, prompting Shinji to berate him in a whisper since they know this woman is guilty. At this point, rewatching the episode, it occurred to me-three years after first seeing this series, mind you. Why didn't they call the police? This isn't Rider business; this is a legitimate kidnapping case. Even if Shinji's reluctant to get them involved after the last kidnapping fiasco, Kitaoka's a lawyer with a lot of clout. He'd be able to get things going and with the three of them completely free from suspicion.
Anyway, because she's not an idiot, Takeuchi gets suspicious and runs off while they're distracted, but the Monster from earlier gets her. They go in and fight, but Knight and Zolda really don't pay attention to anything else than whatever they're beating on, so they ignore Ryuki pointing out that they lost their last lead to finding Reiko and Shimada. Fortunately, Ryuki hears the buzzing of the cicada Monster he'd sensed trailing Shimada back at the interview, and he follows it to find her and Reiko. And yes, by completely breaking the rules of the series and traveling through a different mirror. This is a frickin' plot point in an upcoming episode; you can't just ignore it whenever you want! He throws the Monster back into the Mirror World for Knight and Zolda to finish off-presumably, they took care of the other one while Ryuki was busy-and then Ryuki goes to save the women. There's an after-party at a Polynesian restaurant for our Riders, Yui, Reiko, and Shimada. Shinji reveals that MIG fell for Yui, which will never be referenced again. Kitaoka blames Shinji for terrible plans, Shinji flips out about Kitaoka crushing on Reiko, and everyone finishes their meal, satisfied.
Yes, a period rather than an ellipsis. Like I said, filler. Not bad, but weird.
Zolda’s Lover (Toshiki Inoue): This episode is also crack, but it’s not quite as fillerish, since it introduces a new character. In a very loose connection to the previous episode, Shinji buys Kitaoka donuts as thanks for his help rescuing Reiko and Shimada. However, Kitaoka’s characterization is suddenly more assholish than the previous episode, as he tells Goro to throw out the donuts after Shinji leaves, right in front of him (Goro pockets a powdered sugar, FYI). The camera work in this scene is annoying, with the camera supposedly being in Kitaoka’s point-of-view at times, but with mad zoom-like people are getting right in his face. I’d blame the director, but from the look of it, Hidenori Ishida’s done some pretty solid episodes of Kamen Rider. Admittedly, thus far, I’ve only watched Kuuga, Ryuki, Faiz, Den-O, W, OOO, Fourze, and four episodes and one Movie Wars of Decade, but I really can’t complain about the direction of the episodes I see on that list. Oh well. Another lawyer walks in, saying that a Megumi Asano, Kitaoka’s former secretary/chef/bodyguard/eyecandy, wants to sue him. For a broken engagement. Shinji is furious with Kitaoka for treating a woman that way, and Kitaoka insists that he did not have relations with that woman. You have no idea how long it took me to realize I could make that joke. He’s progressively flipping out since Megumi wants to take it to court, and Goro is getting depressed. Oh, so you want to go there, eh? C’mon, Inoue. We’re fans. Slash is kind of our specialty. Bring it.
Shinji goes to visit Megumi at her food truck on the beach. She reveals that she had worked for Kitaoka for three years and knows him and his vices better than anybody. She says that before he got rich and famous, he proposed to her on the beach, using a dumpling in place of a ring since he couldn’t afford one. And yes, since it’s on the beach, this means that Ryohei is shirtless again. No speedo this time, however. Shinji throws a tantrum in grief over Kitaoka being a dick, and he decides to call in Reiko, who chews out Kitaoka and insists he has to follow through with his engagement. Kitaoka continues to deny anything happened between him and Megumi and insists Shinji is being deceived. When Shinji says that he can see the truth in Megumi’s eyes, Kitaoka says Shinji should stare into his. Deeply. You know, call me crazy, but I’m starting to doubt that Kitaoka ever would have had a relationship with Megumi, not with all the man-love going around.
It’s not long before Ren gets dragged into this too, joining Shinji and Reiko to meet Megumi. Their black SUV from the Akira Asakura debacle is back and breaks down, so Ren and Shinji have to take off their shirts. Because. Stupid sexy Riders. While the boys are relaxing in the sun, Megumi tells Reiko that Kitaoka proposed again, in winter, using a hardboiled egg for a ring this time. Ren starts laughing and Reiko begins to doubt Megumi’s credibility, but Shinji is as convinced as ever. Still, Reiko goes back to ORE and starts writing a hate-filled article about the “enemy of women,” and Okubo is promptly scared of her. He realizes that he needs another employee to make up for the terrifying Reiko and the unreliable Shinji, though he flatout rejects promoting Shimada, since she’s already a handful.
The guys go to visit Kitaoka, but Ren suddenly asks Shinji for money, grinning. When they go in, Ren pulls out a wedding card and starts trolling, adding that he’s not going to the wedding when it happens. With even Ren giving up on him and Reiko thinking he’s scum, Kitaoka despairs, getting hit in the head with a painting of a heart. Goro asks what Megumi is like and why he fired her, and Kitaoka insists that she was a careless ditz. When he’d ask for tea, she’d give him a can of tea leaves, she’d pay more attention to killing a fly than the road when she was driving, and she once dumped spaghetti all over his head without even realizing it. It makes a great macro (thanks, ajora!). Goro decides to meet Megumi, but he still wonders why Kitaoka hired her. The two secretaries meet on a bridge with all the seriousness of a Rider battle, with lightning behind them. Goro asks her to leave Kitaoka alone, and she insists Kitaoka will grow tired of him too one day and throw him away, no matter how beautiful he is.
WOW. YOU WENT THERE. YOU WENT THERE, INOUE. I apologize for challenging you before. I tip my hat to you.
They quiz each other on Kitaoka’s favorite food (anything luxurious), his childhood nickname (didn’t have one because he didn’t have friends), his secret hobby (…it’s a secret. You tease), but Goro is wrong about his favorite saying (“millet stuck to wet hands”-something along the lines of getting something without effort). Despite losing, Goro jumps to Megumi’s defense when a bunch of thugs show up. Megumi, however, kicks off her shoes and awesomely holds her own, defeating them with ease, leading Goro to realize that Kitaoka hired her because she was strong and made an excellent bodyguard. He gets knocked out by her shoe, and she collapses suddenly, and they reach toward each other. Goro returns and explains everything to Kitaoka, Shinji, and Ren, who is just off-screen for most of the scene. Megumi confessed to lying about the engagement, but she was deeply in love with Kitaoka. However, she was sick. "Climax 10,” by far the most depressing musical piece in all of Ryuki, plays as you see the flashback to her explaining to Goro that she didn’t want Kitaoka to forget him after her death, hence the lies. She just wanted one date with him before she died. Ren insists that Kitaoka should go through with it, just to do something for someone else just once in his life. Though Kitaoka really doesn’t want to, Shinji and Goro gang up on him.
Kitaoka does go to see her, in disbelief that she’s suffering just like he is. A Monster starts to attack, but before Kitaoka can rush in, she crashes her bicycle and sends her food delivery flying. He manages to get her away from the Monster, sympathizing with it. It has noodles all over its head and cannot for the unlife of it figure out how that happened. He asks her out, and over an obviously green-screened sunset, we have Stupid Sexy Kitaoka again, at night they eat at a food stand, and it’s suddenly afternoon again with him in a tux, her in a wedding gown and veil, and they’re rowing a boat across the river. All of this is actually happening. While on the boat, he senses the Monster again, and he tells her to close her eyes so he can kiss her, but he pulls out his deck, mouths, “Henshin!” and jumps into the river. Looks like the pose and invocation actually are necessary in this series to transform. In the middle of the fight, Ryuki tackles the Monster and tells Zolda to get back to his date before wrestling the thing like Zeronos Altair and Date-Birth would years later. There is a pretty cool bit where during the Final Vent, Dragreder splashes in the water briefly, but the battle is just there because they suddenly remembered it’s a tokusatsu series. Kitaoka returns and looks more distressed about kissing this beautiful woman than a supposedly straight man should be, and finally, he just kisses her forehead. She’s disappointed, but before anything else, she collapses again, scaring the hell out of him. But during the date and the fight, Goro went to see Megumi’s doctor. Because this is Ryuki, the doctor just tells him her diagnosis: low blood pressure. That’s it. He’d warned her that it could be dangerous if she wasn’t careful, but she thought that meant it was fatal. Her collapsing was just the result of a sudden change in temperature. So Kitaoka’s relieved when she wakes up, but he goes catatonic when Goro calls to tell him everything.
Kitaoka, Goro, Shinji, and Reiko get drinks together at an outdoor café sometime later. Kitaoka tries to get Reiko’s attention, but she ignores him while Goro and Shinji become steadily more uncomfortable. Shinji apologizes, with Kitaoka still upset about Megumi, and Reiko has to apologize too. But then Okubo appears, revealing he’s just hired Megumi, much to everyone’s dismay. And Shimada is pissed at being passed over…
The Girl And Ouja (Yasuko Kobayashi): Two episodes of crack, and now we’re back to the serious stuff. In fact, we’re getting close to some very serious stuff, which will be in the next batch. It’s going to be fun. With all the crack that’s been going on, Asakura hasn’t gotten much in the way of screentime, and as he walks toward a docked ferry, he’s being attacked by his own Monsters. He hasn’t fed them for a while, so he’s starting to look really appetizing. Like a crazy-fuck boss, Asakura just grins at the prospect rather than being worried or anything.
At ORE, Megumi is adjusting to things. She had always wanted to be a journalist, but she mistakenly tested to be a secretary instead. She’s given Shimada’s beloved laptop, White Milky, and renames it Gosaku. She manages to crash it, however, and begins percussive maintenance, which makes Shimada go into a protective fit and tear it away from her. I think they’re going to be friends! Meanwhile, Reiko leaves for a few days for a secret investigation.
The Maritime Safety Center notices on radar that a ferry is drifting off-course more and more, and they send people to investigate. The ship is completely devoid of people, their luggage abandoned, but the investigators manage to find one survivor, a traumatized middle school girl named Mika. Shinji is given the assignment, but the gathered reporters at the hospital are given very little information on her. When another reporter mentions overhearing a nurse say that Mika saw three apparent monsters, Shinji fears that Asakura is behind it. At Atori, Yui thinks back to Reiko saying that Shiro died a year ago in America and wonders what’s going on. Ren gets a call from Shinji about his suspicions and agrees that it could be Asakura. The ferry is being sent along the same course for investigation, and Shinji wants Ren to come with him to investigate, using ORE’s press pass. He’s worried that if it is Asakura, he’s not going to be able to protect everyone on the ferry. Ren agrees, though Yui worries about him getting involved in Asakura business again.
The Riders board the ferry and see that Mika insisted on coming along, despite her near-catatonic state, which has Shinji confused. But Ren notices that she seems to be looking for something. The ferry takes off, and all seems to be well. Shinji and Ren investigate the ship, but by morning, they’ve found nothing. Meanwhile, Mika can only tell the detective on board that “that person” will come. The nurse attending her explains that Mika returned to the ferry to meet this mysterious person, and we see that Asakura is lurking on the ship. A Monster presence appears, followed by a scream, from the bridge. Though Shinji and Ren race there, they’re too late to save anybody, and they notice Asakura right outside. More of the crew spots Asakura and takes chase, alerting the detective, but they’re eaten. The detective goes to investigate, and soon after, Mika takes off. While Shinji and Ren search for Asakura and the nurse searches for Mika, the other passengers are evacuated to the lounge. The passengers begin to panic when they hear screams, and one of the reporters realizes that his guard is missing. Shinji manages to save the nurse from an arrow shot from the window. He warns her to evacuate, but she tells them that Mika is missing.
Mika remembers Asakura standing by her during the first attack, so she races through the ship to find him. She comes face-to-face with him, and he gives her an unsettlingly sane smile. Shinji and Ren run over to protect her, assuming that he’s the one behind it all. To their shock, Mika tries to run over to him, insisting that he’d protected her. Asakura tells them he doesn’t have time for this as three Monsters emerge. Shinji tells Mika to hide as he and Ren realize that this time, Asakura’s innocent. Well, relatively speaking. Ouja goes in to fight, followed by Knight and Ryuki. I’ve got to admit that this battle is a little awkward, partly because it’s in a very cramped space and partly because the bee-type Buzzstinger is shooting arrows. It’s hard to get archery right in battle like this, which is why toku usually goes for CGI. It looks a lot better in Super Sentai/Power Rangers, with Megumi in Liveman, Mei/Kimberly/Kat in Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, and Saya/Kendrix/Karone in Gingaman/Lost Galaxy. Use it carefully, is what I’m saying. Knight goes to scan his Final Vent card, but Ouja pulls his hand away and tells him not to interfere with his prey. The three Riders are distracted enough that Ouja is shot with an arrow. But again, he cockblocks their Final Vents, racing forward with his own. The Buzzstingers are able to deflect it by working together, and it’s only when Ryuki and Knight scan their Final Vent cards and Ouja pulls out his Unite Vent that they run. Notice that? It’s teamwork. They managed to slip in a moral subtly. Nice. Venosnaker is pissed, but Ouja walks away, insisting that he’ll have another chance. Asakura goes up a level and meets with Mika, while Shinji and Ren rush up. She clings to him for protection while Shinji and Ren try to explain that he’s the bad guy. She won’t hear it, though, and refuses to leave his side. I hesitate to say it’s Stockholm Syndrome since I’m not an expert in it and he wasn’t the one putting her in danger, but there do appear to be similarities. When another ferry arrives to rescue them, Asakura pushes Mika aside and dives into the sea. Looking at Mika, Shinji wonders if Asakura is capable of protecting others…
Secret Data Gathering (Yasuko Kobayashi): I’m not going to lie. This episode is a hard one for me. Not psychologically or anything, but it’s difficult analytically. It further tackles Asakura’s character development, and it’s really ambiguous. On some level, I want to say that he’s redeemable because of what we see in the series epilogue, but at the same time, it’s difficult to tell if he is doing something nice or not.
Asakura manages to swim back to shore, and his Monsters still threaten to attack him. His return has hit the papers, and just about everyone’s read it. Kitaoka jokes that he’s being treated like a star, while Goro hopes he’ll get caught, even though Kitaoka is sure it’s impossible. Sanako even brings it up while the boys are cleaning up shop, declaring that Asakura surely killed everyone on the ferry. Shinji reluctantly admits that there’s not enough proof to conclusively say it was him, but Ren is adamant that it was him. When Sanako leaves to watch TV, Shinji points out to Ren that they know the truth, but Ren points out that they really can’t say that in public. He asks Shinji why Asakura didn’t attack them back on the ferry, and when Shinji isn’t sure, he explains that Asakura is struggling to fulfill his end of the contract with his Monsters. One Monster is hard enough to feed, but three? Ren figures that they’re attacking Asakura now, though Shinji is distressed by the thought. I absolutely love this because it so furthers Shinji’s development. All episode, he’s got to struggle with this question: Do you save the bad guys? Do you care about the ones who don’t care about anybody? It’s the true beauty of Ryuki, that these questions are being raised and explored. Shinji also worries that Asakura might decide to feed people to his Monsters, and Ren agrees that a Monster might rebel if its contract is breached (something discussed back in episode 4 when Shinji revealed he could tell Dragreder still preferred the taste of human over the taste of Monster energy, and visited briefly at the end of episode 12 when Darkwing threatens to attack Eri despite Ren being right there). He particularly suspects it’ll happen with Metalgelas and Evildiver, since they were contracted to Shibaura and Tezuka and still loyal to them when they were forced into a contract with Asakura, so Takeshi the Homicidal Maniac might have doomed himself. Shinji’s even more distressed and asks Ren if it’s really okay to just watch someone die, even if it’s Asakura, but Ren points out that no one would miss him.
Having become friendly with the nurse he’d saved, Shinji is able to visit Mika in the hospital. She asks for Asakura, and the nurse says that she’s been doing this. Shinji tries to tell her the truth, that the police are after him, but the nurse stops him. Mika is still traumatized by her memories of the event. She ran and hid in the dark, crying for her parents as she heard the victims’ screams. Asakura walked over and stayed by her side all night, so she firmly believes he saved her. The nurse doesn’t know what he wants, but Mika latched onto him as a source of comfort. Sensing a Monster presence, Shinji realizes that the Monsters are still after her, but the presence disappears when he reaches her room. He tries to close her windows to offer some protection, but she stops him since Asakura is watching outside. She believes that he came for her, and Shinji has to struggle between her belief and his belief that Asakura is evil. Asakura senses his Monsters have had enough and eagerly awaits to see who will attack first.
Meanwhile, probably in America, Reiko meets with Prof. Potratz, who was Shiro Takami’s teacher at Ackley University in America. TV-Nihon has it as “Akleh,” but later we’ll see a document with the school’s name on it. It’s hard to make out, and at first I read it as “Ashley,” but it looks like either “Ackley” or “Achley.” I’m avoiding posting this screencap now since it is a major spoiler, even though I’ve already spoiled stuff. I’m eccentric this way. Potratz insists that Shiro was an unusual student and agrees to speak with Reiko, both unaware that Kanzaki is watching them from the Mirror World. He confirms that Shiro died in a tragic accident at the university. Though Shiro often spoke of the little sister he’d left behind in Japan, he hadn’t contacted her in more than a decade, so when he died, the university didn’t know how to reach her. Huh. Didn’t talk to her for over a decade, eh? Then why does Yui remember him telling her that he’d always protect her before he left for school, even though she admits herself that she hasn’t seen him since they were separated? And where did those photos of them in the teahouse come from? Very interesting. The accident happened during an experiment, but nobody knew just what Shiro was working on. According to Potratz, it was hard to even call it physics, since it was so advanced. He doubts that anyone could understand it. Reiko decides to show him the surveillance photo of Kanzaki, but when she looks up, he’s vanished, and she’s completely unaware of the Monster lurking in the mirror.
Shinji calls Okubo to let him know that he’s on a secret investigation and won’t be back for a couple of days. Okubo is pissed that nobody’s telling him anything and makes the mistake of threatening to send out the rookie, and Shimada is quick to rat Megumi out when she disappears with a note of “Secret Investigation.” Shinji runs into Kitaoka at the hospital, who is nervous to have been spotted and insists he’s on the job. Off-screen, Shinji explains things to him, and Kitaoka goes out to meet Asakura and troll him about not feeding his Monsters. Asakura points out that they’ll join him in a Rider battle, but Kitaoka refuses the challenge, preferring to watch Asakura destroy himself than to risk himself in a fight. Asakura insists he won’t die and will kill Kitaoka as soon as this mess is taken care of, and once Kitaoka’s gone, his Monsters attack, but he’s able to convince them to wait.
Mika calms down, and the nurse attributes it to Shinji’s counseling, but he denies it. He tries to close the curtains again, now that it’s night, but Mika insists she can see Asakura out there. He tries to tell her that she needs to stop thinking about him, but she again insists he protected her. She even remembers him taking her out of the dark and onto the deck of the ship, making her feel safe. When she finally falls asleep, Shinji doesn’t know what to believe. Ren arrives the next morning, telling Shinji to switch with him since he doesn’t want Shinji to get killed when Asakura inevitably gets eaten-kind of sweet, I guess? Shinji, however, can’t just let Asakura die. He explains that Mika needs Asakura and he’s amazed that he saved her. Ren argues that it wasn’t Asakura’s intent, but Shinji insists it doesn’t change what happened. Shinji fears that losing Asakura would make it impossible for Mika to recover, insisting that “everyone needs someone,” and “no one is better off dead.” I think both of these are important for the end of the series-the first for everything leading to the finale and the last for the epilogue. Let’s hold those thoughts.
Mika sees Asakura outside her window again and escapes the hospital to pick flowers for him. The Riders sense Asakura’s Monsters ready to attack, but Mika walks over with the flowers, putting herself right in the way of Venosnaker’s attack. Still, she manages to give him the flowers before passing out. Shinji rushes to her side as Asakura stares in confusion at the flowers he was just given, but when he finally senses the Buzzstingers again, he tosses the flowers aside so he can fight. Ren joins the battle too, to keep Asakura from winning. Shinji, meanwhile, stays by Mika’s side until she wakes, and she insists that she’ll be okay because Asakura is there. Zolda joins the battle too, and all three Riders are able to defeat the Monsters by attacking together. The alliance is very short-lived, however, as Knight has Darkwing run interference so Ouja’s Monsters can’t eat the released energy. But Dragreder stops Darkwing, and Ryuki asks for confirmation from the man himself that Asakura stayed with Mika on the ferry. Ouja admits he did, but that she was bait. Zolda and Knight are both disappointed in Ryuki for ruining their one chance to take out Ouja with a minimum of bloodshed and without them having to fight, and Ryuki has nothing to show for his actions. Still, in that moment of ambiguity I discussed earlier, Mika sees Asakura at her window one more time before he leaves. It's hard for the audience to tell if he's there out of one last shred of goodness in his heart or if he's just leaving that way because he's done using her. Shinji affirms to Ren that Mika needed Asakura, but Ren argues that Asakura doesn’t need anybody and he’s proven that. Shinji heads back to his bike, only to run into Megumi, who says she just saw him step through glass…