All in all, I'd say the "Volt Trilogy" has been one of the strongest Drive arcs yet with some of best episodes we've had since the opening arc in my opinion. The arc in general, to me at least, also felt like a good and proper closure to the beginning or first part of Drive what with all the revelations and big moments that happened in it. So to a certain extent, I see Drive really "Getting into gear" as it were starting from this arc, apologies if someone's already used that, and hopefully it keeps this momentum and quality going forward
.
This episode had some really great character moments, from Chase's loyalty to Heart and vice-versa, Shinnosuke's moment with Kiriko after he woke up, and Mr. Belt's anger at Shinnosuke's actions stating that there's no one else who could be Drive, were just really nice to see. Even the SCU Chief had a pretty cool moment, calling on a favor to get Shinnosuke access to the info he needed to help stop Volt. Proving he's not completely useless or just for comedy relief, just like the rest of the SCU when the chips are down :coolshades:.
I also liked the tie-ins to Episode Zero, with the Copycat Pirate popping up again as a source of info in regards to the human Volt based himself off of. And going off from his question of whether Shinnosuke really caught Lupin, I guess that means the Movie War happened in-between episodes 9 and 10?
Shinnosuke certainly seemed keen on having Kiriko look good for his birthday dinner, one that he appears to have intended to have with her alone...and then she and the SCU completely turn it around and ruin it
.
Kiriko in that dress though :anime:.
So, we get a giant CG spider car in this episode... yeah, the giant monster design for Drive could
really use some work :redface2:.
Shinnosuke was able to get Chase to let him go by making the latter realize just how many human lives were at risk because of Volt's plan. And no matter how much Chase hates Kamen Rider, and is loyal to his Roidmude brethren, he also feels some innate need to protect and value human life which puts him at odds with his Roidmude orders. And we finally get to see his normal Roidmude form, showing he's number 000, and it's quite different from the normal base forms prior to evolving. Not only that, but apparently his current form isn't permanent compared to the other Evolved Roidmudes. Taking what we know now, and some other guesses I've seen on the site, it's looking like Chase was the prototype of the Roidumdes and didn't rebel like the first three did. Instead, he chose to protect humanity from his brothers and with the help of Steinbert became Proto-Drive. Then Heart defeated him and, not wanting to kill his own brother, repurposed him into an enforcer for the Roidmudes. Definitely going to be interesting to see where Chase's story goes from here :169:.
And then we get the revelation that Volt's ulterior goal, and the one the Roidmudes were truly relying on him for, was to gather enough energy to revive Medic who may have been one of the original Roidmudes who rebelled alongside Heart and Brain. Whatever the case, it looks like she's important to Heart and that they share some special relationship :eyebrow:.
The climax of the episode had some nice action scenes, from the Tridoron deploying all Shift Cars, Kiriko helping to save the day, and the return of Drive's Rider Kick :thumbs:.
I take it from that scene at the end with Mr. Belt that all the current Shift Cars are accounted for and back in Drive's arsenal? So I guess now it's just a matter of seeing Drive use them in battle proper, so looking forward to that and the proper debut of Mach
.