REVIEW: Drive 36
So remember when I said that episode 25 of Drive was the best one? I was wrong. This takes that triumphant feeling that 25 had and amps it up by a million. Not only does it have a great plot, it has great acting and some really great action. Truly this is the best that this show has offered so far.
So the episode does indeed start where last week’s episode left off, but as I have been saying week in and week out, when the cliffhanger is not resolved within 5 seconds of the episode opening, it works well as a plot device; this is especially so with this week’s plot. So for those who don’t remember, Shinnosuke is trapped within the Special Crimes Unit office with Nira pointing the gun that killed his father at him. Nira and Brain, who appears up shortly after the episode starts, being great villains monologue their plan to Shinnosuke, and boy howdy is it evil.
What the two plan to do is shoot Shinnosuke with the gun that killed his father within the SCU office and say that Shinnosuke attacked Nira and that they shot him in self-defence. So it’s a really devious plot, one that is for sure in line with the rest of the show and is definitely demonstrating its quality. It also demonstrates how Drive, and possibly Kamen Rider in general, benefits more from a longer from in regards to how its plots are spread over episodes. This is show in this arc with Nira as the thief Roiimude since it has been going on for three episodes and has greatly benefited from it due the complicated plot been given time to breathe and be explained properly.
Meanwhile Heart and Brain are still at it, with Gou even going as far as to use the full throttle of Dead Heat to defeat him. However this is not enough and Heart overpowers him. Heart tries to take back the Bannou-tablet however; it is able to fightback with weird electric tentacles. Now something to note is that Heart and Gou are very similar: they are both impulsive and hot-headed. Furthermore dead-heat is based on the dead zone that Heart uses. It’s a shame that these two didn’t have that much of an arc together; however that may be more due to the two not being around autonomously much recently.
Back at the SCU office Brain/Nira reveal that the poison that they put in Yukari will kill her in 30 minutes so as the sacrifice that Shinnsouke’s dad made will be utterly pointless. God. What a great evil plot. On top of that we are getting spoilt rotten by Iida Kisuke’s acting as Nira. He is simultaneously able to be ridiculously evil and funny at the same time. Like holy shit. Give this man an Oscar. Nira has to go down in Kamen Rider history as one of the best villains of all time.
So while all this is happening, Chase is able to find Yukari and with the help of Bannou and Gou, they are able to save Yukari. It’s really nice seeing Chase and Gou interacting more often again, especially with their dynamic of hating, but respecting each other. Meanwhile back at the SCU office Nira pushes Shinnosuke further and further, eventually forcing him to take his gun out. Nira even goes as far as to call Shinnosuke’s father a dog. This pushes Shinnosuke so far that he in fact does shoot, but he deliberately misses, this giving Nira a chance to shoot him.
Something I haven’t mentioned in this review yet is Takeuchi Ryouma’s acting in this episode. Now I know I’ve mentioned how good of an actor he is before, but this episode shows it even more. We see Shinnosuke’s pain and anguish with the whole situation in Takeuchi’s face perfectly. His acting is so good that it’s difficult to separate the actor from the character. So now that Shinnosuke is “dead’, I’ll get to that, Nira and Brain hold a conference announcing Shinnosuke and Yuakiri’s “death” and falsely blaming it all on the SCU. However they appear up and reveal that not only is Yukari alive, bit that with a clever use of Dimension Cab’s powers, Shinnosuke was able to survive being shot.
Now I do know that the Shinnosuke death fake-out has already been used with the Type Trideron arc, here it is still repetitive but I’m willing to give it some slack considering that it is under different circumstances and is dealt with in a pretty clever way. So the SCU finally incriminate Brain and Nira and the three riders transform together and take the two out. This scene is great not only for having pur three riders finally transform together, but the action is actually pretty good. Gou and Chase have this great flow of movement taking out their respective enemies and Type Trideron is of course a treat to watch. And so Nira is finally arrested and the case of Shinnosuke’s father’s death is finally closed. We then end on Brain being tormented by Medic and Heart vowing to deal with Bannou.
So holy shit, that was a great episode. With a fantastic and inventive plot and amazing acting, this episode has shot up to become my personal favourite episode of this season. Again Drive has shown me that is a fantastic show and I hope to god it does not peter out.
