REVIEW: Amazons Season One FINALE
So here we are. The final episode of Amazons season 1. Right off the bat I will say that it was a pretty solid season finale, but it did feel a bit underwhelming at points. But I’m really going to chalk that up to the series needing to have a few loose ends dangling to pick up in season 2. Read on for a more in-depth analysis of Kamen Rider Amazons episode 13!
So as I said earlier, I felt that this season finale felt a bit underwhelming and that’s because the scale of it all felt a bit too small for me. It felt like there wasn’t a big blow off confrontation between Haruka and Jin. We did get a fight between the two protagonist Amazons, however it wasn’t conclusive: both Riders (presumably) left their final fight without that much damage done to each other; which lease to the final battle being quite underwhelming. On top of that, this fight and the scenes surrounding it made up the majority of the episode thus, if this scene was underwhelming and it was the majority of the episode, the episode was underwhelming.
However, the very localised and small fight at the end can easily be seen as having merit, despite its underwhelming nature. This is as the fact that the fight was small was the point of the fight. It’s meant to be this sad and small endless fight between the two and by being underwhelming, the fight is actually serving a greater thematic purpose. This small scale fight also shows that the scale of the programme and its problem has been drastically reduced since it is now a fight between only two Amazons. I really like this idea of these two figures, endlessly locked in a battle between each other over the fate of their race. Again, it’s a bit too small scale for me, but I do also see it as working rather well and that it’s thematically/artistically interesting.
Apart from the somewhat disappointing ending, that maybe isn’t that underwhelming and might be as such for a point, how was the rest of the episode? Well considering that the scenes on the beach were a majority of the episode, an in depth dissection of those moments may be worth doing. So firstly, having the majority of the episode on the beach is really interesting since it’s such a large contrast to the usual urban sets that the majority of Amazons was based in; it does give the episode/season finale a sense of difference and specialness because of its unique setting. On top of that the openness of the area led to them being surrounded and overwhelmed; something that would not happen in an urban area for them and so furthering the episode’s uniqueness and specialness. At the very least the fact that its set in a place so different from other episodes shows that the extermination team are trespassing in an area that is not theirs/human; which is the whole point. Thus I can easily say that the setting itself was a really good move.
Apart from the setting, what happened during scenes on the beach before the final fight were also quite interesting and good. Like for instance the moment when the team was surrounded and then suddenly saved by Haruka was such a great blow-off, FUCK YEAH moment; which are far and few between in Amazons. Another neat touch was the Omega suit being damaged and scratched up. It showed some growth for Haruka and it also made the suit look a bit closer to the original Amazon; thus showing both character growth and being a nice call back. Staying on the topic of Haruka, it makes a lot of sense that he made this little community of Amazons to look after and it again shows a lot of character development. It’s nice that he’s finally come to a conclusion about his ideology and view of the world; again it was nice to see him grow and become stronger over the course of the episodes and for it to all culminate in this episode.
Similarly, Jin has also changed quite a lot since the beginning of the show, but rather than a positive change, it’s a bit more sinister. Rather than changing his views on Amazons, it seems like Jin has lost his mind to his quest to kill all of the Amazons and is now a monster hunting them down, as shown by how he eats Amazon hearts instead of eggs now. It honestly feels like they are making him up to be this sort of mythic threat towards the Amazons; a sort of boogeyman for them that only Haruka can defeat. It all just demonstrates how far he has fallen in his quest for humanity; the road to hell is paved with good intentions. At the same time however, it’s also nice seeing him at the end collapse into Nanahana-san’s lap, thus showing that he is not completely a monster; so who knows how he’s going to be like in season two.
I’ve talked about Haruka and Jin, so I think its high time I talk about our friend’s the Nozoma Peston Service. First off I really liked that we got to see a glimpse of their personal lives, which also sort of explained why they joined the extermination team in the first place. The only complain I have about that sequence was that Nozomi’s personal life wasn’t really clear; was she an orphan? Or was she a volunteer at the orphanage? If her age was cleared up, I think this sequence would have made more sense and had more of an impact. But overall I really liked seeing the team’s personal lives. In regards to how the team ended up by the end of the episode, it was nice to see the team want to save Mamoru in the end, even despite the fact that he ate Misaki’s arm. Conversely, it was quite sad that they weren’t too concerned for Haruka. Then again he was never really truly part of the team so it makes sense that they didn’t support him fully. However I did notice that they were more hesitant in choosing who to side with in the final fight, which is a nice parallel to the first time the team saw the two Amazons fight. In the end however it was really heart-breaking to see Mamoru walk away from the team; but it again shows a great deal of character development.
So I just kinda wanna finish off with a quick look at the state of the Mizusawa family at the end of the show. So firstly I liked how we didn’t see all of the interaction between Haruka and Mizuki until the very end. This was because the slow reveal over the course of the episode really teased the audience and made them want to hear what was said more and more, until we heard the full story. The way they did it was good, but in the end it wasn’t a big dramatic moment for me since the Haruka/Mizuki relationship was always really creepy and weird to me since they are siblings and the whole situation there is a bit too incest-y for me. But what was more of a dramatic moment for the Mizusawa family was that it turns out Haruka is properly Reika’s son, and that he’s a full human/Amazon hybrid. It was a genuinely shocking moment, despite it being still kind of obvious at the same time. Similarly the director sort of revealing that he actively helped this all happen because he wanted to do some experiment to see what humanity does, was also simultaneously shocking but predictable.
So in the end, I think this was a very fitting ending to a season. Yes the final fight felt a bit too underwhelming for my tastes, but I think it’s fitting for a season finale. Everything tied up quite well in the end to be quite honest, but I am struggling to see how season two is going to go. But that might not necessarily be a bad thing since it’s going to compel me to continue watching. But all in all, I think episode 13 of Kamen Rider Amazons was a fantastic finale to this first season of this bizarre spin-off of a kid’s show.
