REVIEW: Drive 45

So…uhm…wow. This week was a real gut-puncher. As we were finally getting the teamwork and cohesion between our riders, that happens and wow. Now the majority of the episode doesn’t surround it, but it still overshadows the whole 20 minutes beforehand after it happens.

Of course I am talking about Chase’s death. It didn’t come as a surprise, since with the news cycle of tokusatsu, nothing in the show is much of a surprise anymore, but it still had quite an impact. Having Chase sacrifice his life for someone who outwardly hates him is quite an act of heroism and altruism that really propels the pathos of his story and how great a character is. Mind you, he did die to protect what Kiriko loves, but I can let that slide for now. On top of that we can only assume, from next week’s preview, that from this Gou will get some much needed character development. Hopefully from his all-but-in-name friend’s death, Gou will abandon his hatred of Roiimudes and become a better person. Some may say that Chase’s death was used to propel Gou’s own story, but I have to disagree. Chase has always kind of been a tragic figure since pretty much for the majority of the show he had no free will and then he was struggling with his burgeoning humanity; in short this really is the only way for his arc to be fulfilled. On top of that it really propels both of their characters: Gou will get over his hatred of Roiimude and Chase will sacrifice himself for the greater good (and probably come back because hey this is Kamen Rider).

But it is difficult to say what the true aftermath of Chase’s death will be. We do get a hint of Kiriko’s reaction/feelings to this via a lazy pathetic fallacy of a storm coming over the city, but what of the others? Judging again from the preview, not much; It really looks like due to Drive’s breakneck pace, Chase’s death will be buried under the rest of the plot and even more tragedy; Drive is trying to do so, so much that a death of arguably one of its protagonists is swept under the rug to be designated as a B-plot to the rest of the show.

Now you could easily say that this means that Drive has a complex narrative, but it really doesn’t. It’s so overloaded with, to be perfectly honest, good ideas that everything is snowed under and cannot have some time to breathe and really sink in. Take Shinnosuke’s relationship with Hayase, another plot point this week, for instance. The way the two’s reuniting was presented; it felt like the audience was supposed to get a big emotional reaction, but because this subplot only came about three times in the course of the episode so far, it felt really empty.

But it did propel Chase’s story a bit more since it made him comment that this is how friends are like, much to Gou’s chagrin. In the end it seemed like everything did revolve around helping these two’s development, which is again really, really nice considering they have been made as the backup essentially to give way for the main plot. These two deserve all the focus they are getting and more. One final note on these two is that Chase’s ‘final’ action of giving Gou his Signal Bike and driver’s licence, Chase’s ‘treasures from humans’, really hits you emotionally since Chase is giving this to someone he truly believes hates him. It is emotionally manipulative, it is cheesy and it is clichéd, but it’s still so so effective. Props to Inaba Yu and Katono Taiko for their performances this week; Katono, despite having a mostly monotone role, was really able to convey the tragedy and hurt within Chase; while Inaba perfectly portrayed Gou’s simultaneous hatred towards Chase and his eventual anguish at Chase’s death; the casting is again excellent.

But what about the rest of the episode? Surpisingly with its bleak ending, the episode has some really uplifting and triumphant moments. To begin with we get our three Riders finally using their Rider kicks together, with the added bonuses of the return of the Trideron in the kick along with the bikes being added into the mix. On top of that we get a great moment where all three of our riders as well as Heart and Medic all transform together to take down Banno. I am of two minds on these triumphant moments however.

On the one hand it’s amazing to see these moments after a build up of the whole series behind it, but on the other hand they seem out of place considering we are close but not at the end of the series and with the ending of the episode. However I truly believe this dissonance is deliberate; it lulls the audience into a false sense of security and thus, to those not jaded by the spoilers, makes Chase’s death all the more shocking.

Apart from all that it’s an alright episode; It doesn’t suffer from the burden of a mystery of the week and the acting is solid, as usual, and all of the plot points are solid. But as mentioned earlier, because of Drive’s gluttony over plot points, the episode is brought down in quality a bit, but that’s more of a problem with the show overall, rather than the episode itself. RIP Chase 2014-2015 (?)

#kamenrider #reviews #drive