Kamen Rider Agito Ep 4 Recap – There’s No Such Thing as Magic!

Welcome back to my ongoing recap series for the second Heisei era Kamen Rider show, Kamen Rider Agito!

Last week Agito had already run into a pair of monsters that were able to withstand the power of his Rider Kick. How is he ever going to be able to win the fight against them?

Oh, he just throws them through a tree. And where glowing exploding jump kicks failed to even scratch the Turtle Kaijin, being tossed through a tree seems to have severely injured the pair as they opt to burrow away rather than face off against Agito further. And for those of you who forgot from last week, yes these are burrowing Turtle Unknown. Yes some Turtles do burrow. No that does not make them any less ridiculous.

Shouichi cancels his Henshin only to see Mana nearby having seen the entirety of the fight, and when he tries to call out to her she understandably flees rather than deal with the situation, leaving both of them looking worried and confused as we jump to the credits!

Hikawa shows up way late to the battle, so by the time he gets there he only is able to find the already buried body. He calls in the rest of the police and they dig the man up and get to work on establishing bodyguards for his family. But Hojo is not going to let a little something like dead bodies get in the way of him being a complete jerk!

Don’t for a moment think he’s saying that like it’s any kind of lament. He directly accuses Hikawa of breaking the G3 system, and points out that since Hikawa is such a putz that’s probably why the G3 has been failing miserably, and people are dying because of it. Now I can’t exactly say I’m disagreeing with Hojo here but that doesn’t make him any less of a jackass for bringing it up.

Back in the G-Trailer Ozawa and Omuro have almost repaired the G3, and they’ve upgraded it! The bullets from the gun are stronger… which won’t matter at all because the Unknown use telekinesis to stop the bullets from hitting them. And the body armor for the G3 is reinforced and strengthened even though it doesn’t look any different so that they don’t have to spend any extra money in the props department! Also with Hikawa still being whiny and wondering whether Hojo would make a better pilot Ozawa tells him to basically not worry if Hojo was right or not, because even if he was right he’s still a dick. Which is a sentiment I can get behind.

Hikawa goes to meet with Mikumo at the research laboratory because she wants to show him the things that popped out from the dial cross last week. Hikawa thinks they look like DNA strands which I would laugh at but Mikumo actually agrees with him!

Mikumo and the O-parts researchers are trying to recreate the DNA strand which is messed up for like… let’s just go with three reasons for now. One, how the heck do you take some sculpture and figure out what gene sequences it’s supposed to represent without a code? Two, why are you implying you can make a creature out of DNA Mikumo? I’m pretty sure modern science doesn’t have cloning technology down yet. And last but not least even if you could do all that why would you think that this was a good idea at all? Seriously! In a world constantly under attack from ancient monsters maybe creating new ancient life forms is not the best idea?

But we’ve no time to fret over terrible, terrible scientific ideas because Shouichi has run away from home! He left a note like a little kid would and everything, and the Professor’s family is worried about him. Probably because last week demonstrated that without him around they would be likely to burn the house down the next time they tried to make toast. Mana asks the Professor about when Shouichi was found and it’s time for a flashback!

I’m not sure why schoolgirls were out biking on the beach, that seems kind of weird to me? But it’s a good thing they were I guess. It turns out Shouichi was found washed up on shore with no injuries and fully clothed so it didn’t seem like he was out swimming or anything. And the only thing he had on him was an empty envelope addressed to Shouichi, which was where they got his name from. There was actually a full name on the envelope (Tsugami Shouichi) which makes it seem rather odd that they weren’t able to track him down with that? Did they even really try or was the Professor just happy to get a free house slave?

Also Shouichi’s first words upon regaining consciousness were a worry for his rescuers shoes getting wet in the act which is a fine encapsulation of how sweet and stupid he is.

Ryou, meanwhile, gets a house visit from his worried coach.

See now I’m starting to wonder if Ryou’s coach is a stalker. I mean previously it seemed like he was the only person who cared about Ryou at all but now standing outside banging on his door for maybe hours waiting to be let in just… I can see maybe why Ryou has been avoiding this guy?

Ryou agrees to show his coach ‘everything’ and brings him in and locks the door and maaaaan… I don’t know if I like where this is going. Watch where you’re going show, this is a family friendly blog!

Shouichi returns to the Professor’s house just so that he can be sure that Mana and the family look after his vegetable garden, because he feels bad about leaving them. Not the family, the vegetables that is. And Mana is all about letting the vegetables just rot to teach Shouichi a lesson, which I mean yeah I’m not as sentimental about spinach as Shouichi is but that’s still pretty dickish.

Mana asks about the Unknown and his Agito Henshin but Shouichi says that he literally knows nothing of what’s going on. He is only acting based on his compulsions that he doesn’t understand.

It turns out that Shouichi ran away because he was worried about scaring Mana, but she tells him that she’s not scared at all because she trusts him. Now, far be it for me to disagree but considering we’ve already seen Shouichi lose control as Agito and attack a police officer you know it might be prudent to at least be a little bit scared of Shouichi Mana. I mean this is an amnesiac with magic powers who definitely has some sort of connection to the Unknown who have just started a series of public murders, it might be a good idea to express some caution.

Hikawa stops by the house for his appointment, to see if Professor Misugi can confirm for him that people have psychic powers. Professor Misugi, despite being apparently an expert of such things, has already shown he’s willing to go to elaborate lengths to humiliate a student who believes in ESP so you can guess how well this is going to go.

Shouichi interrupts the start of Hikawa and Misugi’s meeting to serve tea, and his first introduction to Hikawa involves Shouichi being a complete idiot.

It’s a real meeting of the minds. Also Mana introduces Shouichi as a freeloader which, I mean seriously the last episode was all about how the entire house would be destroyed if he was gone for a few hours, how are they still ragging on him so much? Of course then Shouichi makes a bad pun which implies that the Professor is a criminal once he learns Hikawa is a detective so… Shouichi isn’t exactly doing himself any favors here. Everyone’s kind of either a dick or an idiot in this scene, is what I’m saying.

The meeting is interrupted when Hikawa gets a phone call informing him of a sudden attack by the Gopher Turtle Unknown. We see the Turtle burst out of some water (not the ground but WATER like a proper turtle except he is the type of turtle that can dig GAH) where he goes to attack an entire family on vacation fishing. I mean even with like cute little kids and everything! But with the G3 still not repaired Hikawa is forced to once again rush to the scene unarmed. If only there was another Kamen Rider in the house!

Over at the O-Parts lab they’re trying to recreate the Ancient DNA, but at least one of the researchers has his head on straight.

Dude says he’s literally just doing what his boss ordered so he can get a paycheck. Man do I wish this guy would stick around and not just be some faceless researcher. Maybe if I’m lucky he’ll at least survive? I mean this is the kind of show where a literally faceless researcher doesn’t have good odds of that but I’m rooting for you Practical Researcher! You keep giving Mikumo lip for her terrible, terrible plan!

By the time Hikawa makes it to the crime scene it’s too late. The family (including the adorable kids) have all been murder-buried by the Gopher Turtle. Which seems like it should be really sad but it lead to me writing the phrase ‘murder-buried by the Gopher Turtle’ which gives you an idea of how hard it is to take seriously. No points for guessing that Hojo is a dick about the whole thing, though he does point out that since the bodies are hidden so well underground they’ll probably never know the full extent of the murders. A cheerful thought!

Hikawa returns to Professor Misugi’s to continue their chat and WAIT A MINUTE. Okay let’s just… pause a moment here. Hikawa ran out of this guys house to go investigate a murder, one which Shouichi didn’t also go look into for… I don’t know reasons? I mean in the past Shouichi has always psychically known where the Unknown are but this time he didn’t even react. Then Hikawa just came back and was like “Oh sorry I had to step out to see a dead family with adorable kids buried in the ground, want to explain magic tricks to me now?” Am… Am I the only one who finds this whole thing WEIRD!?

Oh and the Professor totally believes it’s ESP, and that the Unknown are after people because they can push coins into bottles and OF COURSE HE DOESN’T BUY IT.

Nope. It turns out it’s easy to fake photographs (though why you’d put a hand on a kids shoulder and mess with the time stamp of a photo you never intended for anyone to see is anyone’s guess), and there’s plenty of trick coins you can push into bottles (though why the professor owns not one but two of those coins to show off is also anyone’s guess.)

Then Shouichi brings everyone a bunch of snacks he prepared because they had a guest over and they all treat him like crap for bringing all this food they didn’t ask for. Shouichi does make another bad pun here but I mean come on he chopped up a bunch of vegetables and prepared them very nicely! Even Hikawa joins in on treating Shouichi poorly. Man and I thought you were a hero Hikawa!

Also it looks like the Gopher Turtle Unknown is up to more little kid murder… man…

Seriously Gopher Turtle, are cute little kids on the playground that much of a threat to the Unknown’s plans? Thankfully a bike cop who happens to be nearby runs out to grab the kid while the Gopher Turtle looms menacingly over her. Well, thankfully in the sense that there’s at least someone adult around for the Unknown to murder-bury I guess? I mean that’s not something I should be too happy for but small favors I suppose.

Hikawa is about to smash open the bottle he has to see if it is indeed a trick coin inside when he gets the call about the ongoing attack, but this time with the G3 repairs complete he’ll be able to take on the Unknown… I guess? I mean the last two times he didn’t even make it to the scene in time I don’t think having bulky power armor is going to speed him up at all. Shouichi races off to the scene as well, and on the way Henshin’s on his bike for the first time with a pretty cool ripple effect around him.

We also see that his bike changes… for some reason… into this new red and gold bike. But since Agito’s powers are basically magical in nature that’s a lot easier to understand than the transformations of SOME Kamen Rider’s bikes…*cough cough* Kuuga *cough*.

The Gopher Turtle stalks the Officer running away with the little girl, moves to strike and… is caught by G3, the first on the scene! Which seems weird since he and Agito left at the same time, he had to stop to suit up in a truck, and Agito has a psychic sense to tell him exactly where the Unknown are. But hey it let’s G3 actually save someones life so good going G3! Or I mean, you were doing okay until the Sea Turtle showed up.

Thankfully the girl seems to have been replaced with a doll at some point (seriously, it’s hard to tell in the still frame but in motion it’s obvious he’s just running around with a doll), so the stakes are slightly lower than before. G3 has been powered up with his repairs though so let’s see how he manages!

Hey Omuro that’s not true! There’s really no way he can beat even one enemy.

Thankfully Agito barrels into the scene, plowing through the melee and knocking everyone aside. Agito is able to grab the Sea Turtle and drag him away from the fight on his motorcycle while G3 takes the pause in combat to grab the GM-01 and GG-02, and takes the Gopher Turtle by surprise launching a grenade straight into his gut.

The Gopher Turtle shrugs off the attack at first, but after a moment his halo appears and he explodes in a rather lame fireball (it’s clearly been added in post, apparently G3 can’t even get any love from the special effects department.) But hey! It’s the first time G3 has actually taken down an Unknown! There’s no time to rest on his laurels though as he runs off to try and assist Agito.

Agito drags the Sea Turtle off somewhere that looks like an abandoned warehouse and set ups for another Rider Kick. Once again the Sea Turtle turns to absorb the kick with the shell on his back. Oh no! What will Agito do this time since he has no way of breaking that impenetrable defense and oh no wait actually this time the shell just breaks and the Sea Turtle explodes.

Now I mean I know I mentioned it earlier but seriously look at that explosion, and then look at this one the other Turtle got from G3’s finisher.

I’m just saying man. If you want the cool explosions you have to get your name in the title.

G3 meets up with Agito and asks if he’s a friend or an enemy, but Agito just wordlessly remounts on his motorcycle and leaves the scene. Agito always seems to act a lot colder and calmer than Shouichi does, and it leaves one to wonder just how much Shouichi is in control when he Henshins.

At the Professor’s house Taichi finds the bottle with the coins in it and SMASHES IT OPEN WITH A HAMMER.

Seriously that’s… I mean he pulls the coin up after and confirms that it actually is a real coin and not a trick one (for the audiences sake of course), but it’s like he didn’t even notice it was there before he broke it. It was like he just saw a bottle with a hammer nearby and was all about smashing it. Kid has some problems, is what I’m trying to say.

And at the lab Mikumo finds an evil baby with an evil looking symbol on the back of his hand where they were doing their incredibly ill conceived DNA research.

There, you happy now Mikumo? Now you’ve got an evil baby to take care of. Geez! Nobody ever listens to your humble Recapper do they?

So, Final Thoughts?

This episode has a pretty jarring scene in it… for people who used to watch Kuuga. And that’s not the incredibly plausible bike transformation! Seriously though Kuuga. Even now in my Agito recaps I’m not letting you live that down.

No it’s the fact that Agito doesn’t have to train or find a new power or come up with a strategy or anything to defeat the Sea Turtle Unknown. He doesn’t even have to talk about believing in himself more as he never even acknowledges on screen the struggle with the fight. It just… happens. That kind of thing would never have happened in Kuuga. And why? Because Agito is telling a different kind of story than Kuuga. The mechanics of the fights are far less important this time around. The Kaijin fights are still fun of course, but they’re more of a means to an end rather than an end in and of themselves. Even the fight against the Turtles this episode eemed almost an afterthought compared to the first meeting of our two Kamen Riders outside of their Henshins and the curiosity about what all could be going on.

It’s not bad! It’s just… a different focus in the story. Speaking of our ‘three’ leads though, Ryou was even more short changed this week than ever before. He got literally a minute of screen time. And considering a character is always left in limbo doing the last thing you saw them doing he’s now spent like a day locked up in his apartment with his coach. You’re the one making this weird Agito not me!

The evil baby is really not that surprising a twist, what with the really poorly conceived plan Mikumo was working on, but since we know so little of what the Unknown are up to it doesn’t really add anything to the mystery. It certainly seems like it’s going to be important but when literally all we have is questions adding more to the mix doesn’t do much. The reveal about the coin is also kind of weak since we know Mana has ESP, so the confirmation of there being ESP in the world isn’t that big a deal even if we know that that is likely what is making people the targets of the Unknown.

I’m not saying this was a bad episode! It’s got some fun bits, and the fight is okay, but really Agito is off to a steadily more and more dragging beginning as it tries to find what kind of show it wants to be.

And now, on the next episode of Kamen Rider Agito!

The O-Parts lab is closed down, just because they happened to unlock an ancient evil cross and use it’s knowledge to make one evil baby geez! Ryou’s coach runs out of his apartment in fear! There’s some weird kid in a turtleneck and Agito gets into a fight with yet more Unknown!

We enter a world post O-Parts next week in Kamen Rider Agito Episode 5: The Third Warrior! Hey, I wonder what that could mean?

Kamen Rider is Copyright Toei Company, TV Asashi, and Bandai. The Subbed version recapped in this article was produced by the wonderful folks at TV-Nihon.