Kamen Rider Revice (2021-2022) episodes 1 and 2 “Family! Contract! The Devil Whispers!” and “The Devil is Just a Bad Guy?!”
I first watched Kamen Rider Revice episode one last year before catching Kamen Rider Revice: Battle Familia at the movie theater—a really kickin’ Kamen Rider movie, by the way. Watching it now, and the second episode too, gives the show a new sheen, since at this point I have taste-tested all the previous shows in the franchise leading up to it. Revice is the 50th anniversary special for the Kamen Rider world, and it takes ideas and themes from many previous incarnations—a supernatural threat released in a temple similar to Amazon; another power-up gimmick; multiple animal-themed versions of the hero with various powers; an evil monster that the hero must contract with in order to use his powers like in Den-O. However, along with these familiar tropes, Revice has developed new qualities and charms, and while I didn’t like the show much upon first viewing, its innovations strike better on this second go-around
The plot basics follow the discovery of demons (“akuma”) that exist inside all humans as a manifestation of their faults—and those monsters can be released with magical stamps (not postage stamps–kind of like a rubber stamp, but fancier). These stamps are first discovered in a Latin American temple, and subsequently an evil society known as Deadmans (modeled after stereotypical Mexican fashion and the Day of the Dead festival) begin developing their own stamps to change normal people into monsters and resurrect a super devil from the past. A high-tech organization known as Fenix (think SHIELD from Marvel—they even have a flying base) opposes Deadmans, and have developed tech that can use demon powers for good.
Meanwhile, our protagonist, Ikki Igarashi, lives for his job at the family bath house, feverishly working hard to please the customers and his demanding mother. However, Ikki has a problem—he can hear voices and sometimes sees a monstrous apparition (later named Vice) lurking in his workplace. When Ikki attends a special event put on by Fenix (Ikki’s older brother is a member), Deadmans attacks with an elephant-themed monster and a team of underlings. In the mess and chaos, members of Fenix convince Ikki to contract with Vice and transform using the newly invented battle equipment to become Kamen Rider Revi. Unfortunately, even after contracting and transforming, Vice is very evil and tries to eat Ikki’s mother. Even though the Ikki and Vice in their morphed state manage to defeat the Deadmans in this situation, Ikki is horrified at just how close his demon-other came to killing his precious family members. In a subsequent attack by a disgruntled gold caddie contracted with a monster mantis, Vice once again attempts to devour innocent bystanders. Ikki has to find a way to get Vice under control as Kamen Rider Revi is the best chance to defeat the horrors of Deadmans, because if he doesn’t, whenever he transforms, Vice becomes a part of the problem—and the issue only escalates as brother Daiji continues to push Ikki to join Fenix and fight for justice.
You know what’s great? A Kamen Rider hero who has his memories, who has and enjoys his job AND is good at it and is NOT a loser, AND who is NOT another orphan but has and lives with a loving and lovable family! Ikki is a real outlier in Kamen Rider fiction, and the introduction of a warm family atmosphere to the franchise (that isn’t another adoptive local eccentric father or just a supportive female secretary) is welcome indeed. Ikki does have trouble in his job at the bath house, but only because Vice torments him with comments and pranks—Ikki is not himself a nutjob, nor a nebbish nerd, nor a hypochondriac cooking dog poop in a kettle. Maybe most kids don’t want to work at a bath house, but I think Ikki is actually a great guy worth appreciating. The dynamic with Vice is also interesting, with Vice being downright wicked, and Ikki grappling with the implications of his dangerous tech (I am guessing after the second episode, that theme will mostly be resolved for quite some time). The relational beats reminded me of Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus books, which also dealt with contracting demons to fight evil—though in those books, the morality was more nuanced and troubling. Though working in a second Rider as part of the central transformation is a memorable way to add new dramatic substance, the pair can also “combine” with each other to form larger attack forms (it’s really ridiculous-looking), which allows for scaling and possible mini-kaiju battles in the future.
I am not the biggest fan of the Rider designs here, and I feel some qualms about adopting “Day of the Dead” pageantry for a villainous secret organization. Still, the acting is solid enough, the action has memorable and crazy permutations, and the central characters have interesting dynamics. This show has a lot of promise!