Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider

Episode 8

When it comes down to it, the first half of this episode is meant to show that Yukarisu isn't anything special when it comes to Combatants. While this was hinted at in the Shimamura siblings' backstory, love seems to be the universal key to undoing the Shocker mind control. And in the wake of Yukarisu betraying Shocker right in front of Spider Man, it's clear that the organization is out to clean their own house.

It's here that we are introduced to Thunder Raiko, a Combatant who is sent to kill any others of her kind who have broken free. To Raiko, it's unimaginable that any Combatant would betray Shocker—as you'd expect from the mind control. However, that doesn't mean she doesn't want to understand why.

Time and again, she asks her opponents how they broke their mind control, and they almost always respond with the same words: “You wouldn't understand.” This is true. We even see another combatant tell her that love broke the spell, but she literally cannot understand that. If she could, she'd be in love with someone and wouldn't be hunting them down; she'd be hunted herself.

Interestingly, we learn that “love” has a pretty wide definition. For one, it's the love of a woman. For another, it's the love of his family. And for yet another, it's his love for his favorite idol group. This makes you wonder what freed Naoko from his mind control. Was his love for Shocker so strong that it broke instantly? Or perhaps it was his love for his hapless subordinates? Hopefully, we'll find out in some upcoming episode.

The back half of the episode follows our four Kamen Rider heroes (and lone female combatant) dealing with the revelation that monsters are real. While each can take on combatants and win easily, only Tojima was able to damage Spider Man in their fight. Thus, they decide to take a few days and train before having their own little tournament to determine the strongest.

While there is more than a bit of ego on display here—as each believes their Kamen Rider inspiration to be the strongest—they aren't wrong in training or even in fighting each other. Having an immediate goal is important—as is knowing what you're allies are capable of and what they aren't. And while this is all played for comedy, it works well in contrast to the blood-filled first half of the episode, which reminds us just what our heroes are up against.

All in all, this is yet another solid episode of Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider. Next week, we'll get to find out which one of our heroes truly is the strongest (and hopefully a monster won't show up in the middle of it after they've all weakened each other).

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Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.