REVIEW: Drive 46
As we draw closer and closer to the finale of Drive, the feeling is starting to settle in that Drive wanted to do a lot, had a lot of good ideas, but got too greedy and stuffed itself too much. This episode really shows that.
Now the majority of this week’s plot is centred around the aftermath of Chase’s death, focusing especially on how Gou takes it. I love the way it played out. Gou finally admitting that Chase was his friend, using Chase’s Signal Bike and finishing off Banno with Chase’s Axe, with a great use of the “Iiteiiyo!” sound effect, but it felt… odd. It honestly feels like it was all supposed to happen within last week’s episode, thus making the break in between feel very artificial and out of place.
I guess what I’m saying is that the effort and focus was meant to go to Gou’s reaction to Chase’s death, but because it didn’t yield enough screen time, they had to jam a whole bunch of other stuff in, like Gen-san and Rinna for a brief few seconds before going back to Gou and Banno. The pacing is just really, really off this episode.
But honestly that could be because of the way these episodes have been presented. I was going to suggest that maybe the stuff with Gou would’ve felt less awkward in last week’s episode, but that’s not what is actually wrong. The reason why the pacing feels off is because of one simple thing: last week, this week and next week’s episodes aren’t presented as a three part-er. This one single change would’ve made it feel all the more natural, since in essence that’s all that these last few episodes are: one ling episode. I would feel *way* more comfortable with how it has been shown to us with one single change.
Nit-picking of pace aside, how is the stuff with Gou? As I said earlier it is amazing. The fight is actually really well done, with a great use of movement, where Gou glides around Banno as he attacks. I really have no clue how they did it, but it really did look great. Of course the best part was, after listing all of Banno’s sins, Gou ends his speech by saying that the worst was that he killed his friend. It was just a great pay off to a great character arc. Of course it wouldn’t have been possible without Inaba Yuu’s great acting; he seriously brought his A game to this episode. So what about the rest of the episode? Well… swiftly on the heels of one death, we promptly get another: Medic’s. Now I honestly didn’t see this one coming, considering that the show heavily emphasised not only their cooperation with the riders, but that the two were the last Roiimudes, in a heavy handed scene after they defeat the other last Roiimudes. On top of that she, for whatever reason, could not withstand Sigma Circle’s slowdown. I mean I guess Shinnosuke was in Type Triderdon and Heart is super strong or something, but it was still a little out of nowhere why she couldn’t move
Then on top of that she sacrifices herself for Shinnosuke as if she knew him or loved him. Now for full disclosure, I do ship the two and I agree that you could say that she was paying back a debt to him; But it felt weird and out of place instead. I think it would have been more emotionally effective for Heart to sacrifice herself for Heart and have her die in his arms considering how she is dedicated to him and all. But since this is a Kamen Rider show, expect her to be back sometime soon (and judging from various leaks, in Movie Taisen 2016). One final note is that I do like that Shinnosuke does get her “heavenly” glow around him, which is a really nice touch. Technically, this episode is actually one of the best we have had in a while. A real stand out effect is when the ultimate slowdown created by Sigma Circle and we get some great shots where all the actors are somehow perfectly still, while the camera pans around them. It could just be a simple composite shot, but it looks so slick. Praise should also go to the earlier discussed fight scene with Gou and Banno, with extra praise going to the panoramic shot of when Gou Rider kicks Banno.
So really in the end this is a really middling episode. The emotional pay off for Gou was indeed satisfying and well worth the price of admission, but it felt stifled and restricted between scenes that were irrelevant to it. It also suffers from that weird syndrome where a cliff-hanger is kinda weirdly resolved. Maybe I just don’t like cliff-hangers. But I think the issue I’ve had is that there is just so so much going on at once. This episode we got Medic dying, Gou coming to terms over Chase and Banno being defeated. That’s a lot to digest within 30 minutes! On top of that next episode we have Heart and Shinnosuke fighting which is even more drama to push in. That is too much. Drive is at a critical mass right now. Not enough time is spent on these, all really good, plot points and they feel rushed and glossed over, with only a superficial glance at their potential.
