REVIEW: Drive 47
And so Kamen Rider Drive has (effectively) drawn to a close and what a close it was.
I have never cried so hard at the ending of a TV show as I did for Drive, which I think really shows the power of not the storytelling, but the acting and the writing of the characters. The parts I obviously cried at were Heart’s death and Mr. Belt’s goodbye. Heart’s demise affected me especially since throughout the series we had seen him grow from a stereotypical bad guy all the way to a sympathetic figure trying his best to carve a place in the world for his people. We may have seen sympathetic antagonists before in Kamen Rider, but not to this degree. I cannot recall any Kamen Rider antagonist who indeed butted heads with the protagonists, but not for a truly noble cause; at least not in a while. Drive shows such a maturity with their antagonists by bringing in a moral ambiguity to their defeat. Of course initially this moral greyness wasn’t present, but eventually it blossomed into a great theme/plot.
However it would not have been as effective without Warabino Tomoya, who steals the show this week. His final moments should be heralded as not only the best moments of Kamen Rider, but genuinely some of the best acting I have seen in televison. To see that bravado and confidence broken down after he is gravely injured, with that wavering voice and saddened look on his face, broke me down. Then his final words pushed me over the edge, thus proving that despite a shonky plot, the writing is still top notch. I really, really, really hope Drive goes down in Kamen Rider history as having some of the best dialogue and antagonists.
But how could I also not mention Mr. Belt’s goodbye. It perfectly encapsulates Mr. Belt’s trust and love for his teammates as he praises everyone for their efforts, even applauding Gou for overcoming his father’s sins. Then of course his final goodbye to Shinnosuke proves the two to be the best dynamic duo. Praise must go to both Chris Peppler and Takeuchi Ryouma for their performances: both are able to convey the inherent sadness in the situation, yet are able to show that the two are okay with this: they both knew it was going to happen eventually, so why end it in tears? Another great thing with this scene is a beautifully appropriate use of the acoustic rendition of SURPRISE DRIVE, which perfectly encapsulates the triumph within the victory, but with its soft guitar and slowed tempo, conveys the bittersweetness within this victory.
On the topic of Takeuchi Ryouma, he also did a spectacular job this week conveying Shinnosuke’s brilliant character. The stern, yet soft look he gives as Shinnosuke displays his uttermost respect for Heart, the saddened, yet smiling look he has throughout the scene with Mr. Belt’s goodbye; all of it showcase not only how great a character Shinnosuke is, but also how fantastic an actor Takeuchi Ryouma is.
Story wise, there really isn’t much this week as it ostensibly is an epilogue. However I think this approach worked well for the episode. With an extreme focus upon the few scenes the episode had, the episode allows for the emotions and the events to have breathing room. For instance, if the scene with Heart was shortened or had random scene interrupting it, Heart would not have had the time to slowly and sorrowfully accept his death. On top of that, it would have caused some tonal dissonance and whiplash like last week.
However, there were some sacrifices made for this approach, namely the fight with Sigma Circular. Last week it really felt like it was going to be this huge climactic battle, but it lasted for about 3 minutes. This is not necessarily a bad thing considering we got Heart’s goodbye, but it makes the series have a very weird climax. But whether that is disappointing depends on your perspective: on the one hand it allows for a great character study and theme with Heart, but it doesn’t allow for a big superhero style ending. I think that not having the big climactic fight is alright. I’ve realised that Drive is more of a character based series, rather than a typical superhero series, thus making it okay to have the plot be side-lined for a larger focus on character development.
Which leads me to the tying of loose ends for our heroes. I really like the idea of Gou going on an Eiji-esque journey to revive his fallen friend. It really shows how much he has grown up since he is willing to dedicate his life to Chase. The rest of the SCU all get great endings to their stories, especially Kyu who writes a novel based on the events of the series. And you know what? I can dig Kiriko and Shinnosuke dating. The little moment of them in the car together was quite cute and they do work off of eachother well. Finally, it was great seeing the human Chase copied. Hopefully Chase will return (and judging from next week’s preview, he will).
Finally we have the scene with Ghost. Now I know it’s just a ploy to promote the next episode/series, but it opens up a lot of possibilities for not only Drive, but for the franchise itself. For Drive it allows for the previous dead characters a chance to return and for the franchise, Ghost seems to allow for a connective tissue between the series akin to how Decade was able to do previously. On top of that it easily allows for returning actors. It’s nice to see that Toei seems to care about a form of continuity again. I won’t delve into the appearance of Ghost since a) we will get more next week and b) I have an article in the making which will go into that better.
So yeah, episode 47 was a great success. It allowed for our characters to have satisfying conclusions to their stories and gave us a resolution for the Roimudes that did not betray their morally ambiguous intentions, yet allowed for the series to end without a future problem being created by the Roimudes still being around. Next week will be more like a treat before Ghost starts as well as before Movie Taisen 2016. RIP Heart, you died too soon.
