REVIEW: Ghost 31
Long-time readers of my work know that I tend to be quite critical of not only the first episode within an arc but also of poorly done filler episodes, which in Kamen Rider sometimes goes hand in hand. Episode 31 of Kamen Rider Ghost is not a case of this. Not only is it a good first half of a two episode arc, but it’s main plot it inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, but develops a secondary character and during it we also get some genuine plot development. This is how you should do fillers.
So with the plot of adults being turned into children, despite sounding like a pointless mystery/plot, we get some honest to do character development of Shibuya and some good development too! Through the plot we learn his mother is a strong willed ramen shop owner and that his father, who passed away presumably when Shibuya was born, used to be a tough and kind-hearted delinquent; both in complete contrast to Shibuya. He gets involved personally in the plot as firstly we see him fighting with his mother over something, presumably to do with his strained relationship with her over his opposite constitution, but also as his mother gets turned into a child herself; Shibuya is indeed a key and important part of this arc’s plot.
Now this is fantastic as we are getting honest to god development of one of the two monks, who have just been background characters for most of the series so far. On top of that Shibuya’s story is extremely interesting and compelling. This is the sort of plot that I ask for when Ghost can’t or needs to slow down and have a few episodes that don’t have a large impact on the wider story. It is compelling, touching and emotionally resonant without feeling pointless. On top of that It didn’t feel like an awkward aside or B plot since the episode mostly focused upon this one plot with only a few, if at all any, side plots while following multiple perspectives and characters which all were relevant to the plot.
I suppose it has the focus it needs since the interesting plots with the main characters are, not at a point of resolution at all, but have reached an emotional peak where they can stay on for a little bit. Take Alain for instance, he’s gotten his big moment in the sun over the past few weeks and that arc of his story has reached a nice moment of accomplishment and resolution. Or Makoto for that matter, there isn’t anything pressing for him to deal with or get over; he can safely stay the same for a little while. The same can be said of Takeru as well since we are still far away enough from the end of his life where he can comfortably deal with smaller threats and he can still use Grateful for a while without it getting stale.
But the interesting thing is we do get some incremental plot developments with the latter two, with Alain not getting much without any negative impact since he has had an astronomical amount recently. With Makoto, although it was a brief moment, we did get a hint of what the Deep Spectre Eyecon truly is as he was able to not only activate one of the gates to the Ganma world our heroes were after, but also to briefly see the prayer room in the Ganma world. This brief moment didn’t take away at all from the main plot, actually helped it move along, was extremely intriguing in regards to what is happening with Makoto and was enough of a development of his story to satisfy me.
As I have already mentioned, Takeru also got some development in regards to his story concerning his newfound powers of being able to see people’s memories. At the end of the episode, after the professor from the Benkei arc returned, Takeru somehow transports himself, or his consciousness, to the past where he sees the professor, Saionji, the sage and his father meeting. Now it does come at the end of the episode, but it’s a good development of the main story (which is Takeru’s story) since we are not on the verge of learning far more about the Eyecons and the Drives. Additionally it’s a good cliff-hanger since there is no ridiculous danger that will be solved in the first 5 minutes of the next episode. I also think it’s a fantastic cliff-hanger since the audience wants to return based on the promise of more information and story, rather than an empty threat towards their favourite characters.
Apart from what I’ve said I do have a few bit and bobs I want to mention, that aren’t super important but I do want to point out nonetheless. It was nice seeing the professor from the Benkei arc again, firstly because it means he wasn’t dead and on top of that he can easily offer more insight into the Eyecons and the Ghost Driver; a promise of information I thought was lost when I thought he was dead. Either way it was nice to see that he is alive and going to impart some much needed information about the mysteries of the show. It was also nice seeing Takaiwa Seiji, the suit actor for a majority of the heisei era main riders, playing a role out of suit. I don’t think this character is particularly interesting or will amount to much, but it’s nice to see the legendary suit actor having a role out of suit.
If this is how filler episodes are going to be like, sign me up. Despite having a main plot that didn’t impact the overarching one that much, it still was very interesting, engaging and emotionally resonant. It felt focused, had a good resolution at the end of the episode, but had an interesting plot development at the end that has no reason to end cheaply and is making me want to come back next week. All in all, yeah it was a good episode and I hope Ghost continues with such quality in between the big plot points.
