REVIEW: Drive Finale
With Drive’s plot effectively over, what does this extra episode bring to the table? Well it offers us an effective epilogue and conclusion to our protagonist’s character arc, but apart from that it doesn’t do much else.
So yeah, this episode is 100% about how Shinnosuke is dealing with the aftermath of not only all of the events of the show, but also with not being a Kamen Rider. This is a genuinely compelling plot and serves well as the end cap to the show. It’s great seeing Shinnosuke putting his all into the case of Neo-Shade so he can ignore the issues he is having with no longer being a Kamen Rider. Honganji even vaguely notes that Shinnosuke must move on when he gives him the assignment to take out the leader of Neo-Shade and recover the Newton Eyecon.
Props to Takeuchi Ryouma again for portraying Shinnosuke as again he proves he is the best to play our hot-headed cop Kamen Rider. On top of that it’s also great seeing Shinnosuke all grown up and not stalling; especially when he is faced with the exact situation that stalled him in the first place during the first global freeze. Additionally when he declares that he can still be a Kamen Rider without Mr.Belt was a particularly effective moment and shows how much of a genuine hero he is.
Another nice part of the episode is how they integrated Ghost into the plot. It’s great because, firstly, it eases us into Ghost easier since we have had quite a few tastes of him. But mostly I love it since it suggests a wider world again, much like we did W, OOO and Fourze. It’s really refreshing to see some kind of connective tissue between the shows that I really hope they will continue to use much like they did in MEGAMAX.
We also get out first look at Yurusen and frankly I’m quite excited. They are a sassy, rude and bossy comedic foil to Ghost/Takeru’s stoic and quiet nature. It’s a nice change from the usual character types we have been getting recently with Kamen Rider. Another thing we saw was more of Ghost’s fighting; I am liking what I see with Ghost having his very floaty and smooth style. But I do have to say it wasn’t directed particularly well as the camera work was quite stutter, rather than an expected smoothness to the camera movement. But I suppose this is due to the director being more used to Drive’s fighting and general style.
But that’s really where my praise ends. I know that I have said that I liked the cop drama aspects of Drive, but more and more I think I liked it because it tied well with the concept of Kamen Rider and was quite novel. As a straight cop drama, Drive doesn’t really work. This week’s plot felt so generic and weak that I left the episode with a feeling of emptiness.
On top of that, apart from Shinnosuke’s character arc conclusion, the story really didn’t conclude anything else. Now I understand that they are clearly doing this to allow for content later on, via V-Cinemas and crossover movies, but it makes the episode as a whole really pointless in regards to other characters. We get no conclusion to Chase and Gou’s story along with all of the other Roiimdues and secondary characters. Now again I understand they are doing this for a reason, but with such a weak and clichéd plot, the episode falls flat. I think the episode would have benefitted wonderfully from a real conclusion to Gou, Chase and the Roiimudes.
However the scene with Shinnosuke, Gou and Chase is more of what I was looking for. Seeing the three fighting together and their repartee is something that was so wonderful. This is where I really wanted the three’s relationship to end up, but again the show went elsewhere. It was honestly the best part of the episode.
So if you couldn’t tell I was severely disappointed at this episode. It was clichéd, dull and kinda generally felt empty and pointless. All of the stuff with Shinnosuke is gold, but apart from that it just eh. Last week’s episode felt like a truer end to Kamen Rider Drive and all of its various plotlines and character arcs. It was much stronger and I’m gonna look at it as the true ending to the show. So with that, we have arrived at my last Kamen Rider Drive review, until the various V-Cinemas and movies come out. It’s certainly been a ride and an enjoyable one at that. I’ll definitely have an overall review at some point after the crossover movie when we get a proper conclusion. It definitely has been a Nice Drive though.
