TFW2005
Hisstank
Thundercats
TokuNation
Toyark
Home
News
Garo
Godzilla
Kamen Rider
Metal Heroes
Power Rangers
Super Sentai
Ultraman
All News Categories
Forum
News & Rumors
Power Rangers
Kamen Rider
Super Sentai
Other Toku Series
Toys and Collectables
Marketplace
Creative
Galleries
Companies
Bandai Japan
Tamashii Nations
Saban Brands
Bandai America
Toei
Characters
Kamen Rider Ghost
Kamen Rider Specter
Kamen Rider Necrom
Mighty Morphin Green Ranger
Dino Charge Red Ranger
Toylines
S.H. Figuarts
S.H. MonsterArts
DX Mecha
Megazords
Legacy
Shows
Kamen Rider Ghost
Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger
Power Rangers Dino Supercharge
Power Rangers Movie 2017
TokuNation.com
>
TokuNation
Integration
User Name
Remember Me?
Password
Rules
Register
Community
Today's Posts
Search
Community Links
Members List
Search Forums
Show Threads
Show Posts
Advanced Search
Go to Page...
Thread
:
Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider 555
View Single Post
06-03-2020, 12:03 AM
#
436
Kamen Rider Die
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 26
--1--
Torn on this one!
Aesthetically, this episode is
sumptuous
. The cinematography is jaw-dropping. The music (or lack thereof!) is perfectly deployed to heighten every emotion. It's an episode that eschews all of the things that make Faiz
Faiz
, in favor of finding a new way into these characters, this premise. There's a grounded nature to what's happening that makes it all feel like a slow collapse, the inevitability of misfortune.
Narratively, it's kind-of a nothingburger? It goes in
hard
on the return of the Ryusei Cram School alumni ("Go Meteors!"), bolstering the dwindling ranks of nobodies with a few more nobodies. You could cut almost all of the dialogue scenes with the human characters and just have them all saying Delta Is Coming. Almost all of the narrative energy is centered on Kusaka's reactions to what's happening, and
holy shit
do I not like Kusaka in that way.
This one, it's like lipstick on a pig.
--2--
Pretty great lipstick, though!
Visually, it feels like the director read this script and went Oh Man I'm Going To Have To Save This One. So many fun tricks to make a bunch of shitty dialogue scenes work at
all
.
The best one, by a mile, is the one with Houjou and Kageyama and Murakami. They're in this art gallery, and it's rectangles of flat colors, each of them looking at a different painting. As the scene starts, the camera focuses on the person
listening
, not the person
talking
. It's a brilliant choice, making the
reaction
matter more than the action. It matters more how someone is processing the information, how they're conveying it on their face, than what the information is. (Mostly because the information is that Lucky Clover doesn't like that Murakami is keeping secrets. There is not a lot there!) It sucks you completely into the scene.
The other scenes are no slouch! The scene where Takumi finds out Kimura is a nekojita, and he gets up from the opposing couch to sit next to her and be polite, and it's all one shot. The breakfast scene, where the action (Kusaka and Mari) is one shot, and the reaction (Takumi and Keitaro) is the other shot, a bisected setup. A beautiful static shot of a doorframe, and Kusaka leans back into it to start his line.
And, god,
every single one
of the new Orphnoch's scenes. The way the bus he's on goes into the tunnel, blacking everything out, and he's illuminated by the burning origami crane?
Yes.
--3--
And the sound! Such smart choices!
Up until the end, it's all diegetic sound, which pays such enormous dividends for this episode. Even if you don't notice it, it's changing your perception of the story. Instead of fun music or tense music or spooky music, there's just... scenes. It's not telling you how to feel about it. It's not leading you emotionally. It's just saying Here. Here is a story. It's happening. Watch.
And those scenes with Skullcandy, the EDM Orphnoch, amazing.
Amazing
. The first attack was brilliant, only the second scene in the whole episode with any music in it. (There's a radio playing as Takumi works the counter.) The camera zooms in on his headphones, music filling the soundstage, slowly drowning out all of the incidental noises. Then a monster enters the frame. No screams, just panicked victims, trapped with a monster. The music not sculpting the emotion, but adding to the wrongness of the scene. This isn't right. This isn't what a monster attack is supposed to be like.
The second attack twists it, leading with one track and then zooming into the headphones for a harsher, more aggressive track.The killing happens with club lights and dance music, wrong, all wrong. The last victim is another Orphnoch, caught up in the carnage.
It's all so purposeful, finding a way to let us know that this isn't just a more powerful monster, but a killer that we haven't previously had to contemplate. This isn't a funny monster, this is an inhuman beast. It's taking Faiz, the funny show about jerks, and making it into an episode of
Kuuga
.
--4--
I got a little disappointed at the way the big Fighting Score came up after Kaixa ran after the Drop Bear Orphnoch. (What in the hell was it doing on top of a wall?) I thought they'd go the whole episode without non-diegetic music, and I was so ready to knock points off for ruining it. But they did it so they could drop it all out
again
. Kaixa rounds the corner and sees the tunnel. He freezes. It's just the sound of him breathing, hard. It's
fear
. You can hear it in his breathing. Faiz rolls up, sees Kaixa immobilized. He tenses. It's
all tension
, speaker to speaker. The Orphnoch stumbles out of the tunnel, burning in red flames.
Delta.
It's Delta who did this.
--5--
And, like, hopefully I described that in a way that sounds like it worked it pretty well! That's the stuff I like talking about, the stuff that works. Because I could've done points 2 through 4 on how much no one cares about random Ryusei Cram School alumni ("Go Meteors!"), how it's ridiculous to think the show's effectively heightening tension by killing them off, how I don't love that Kusaka wants to keep Mari in the dark to protect her (one of my least-favorite tropes!), how I don't really get why Lucky Clover is so worked up about Murakami keeping secrets when he immediately tells them what's going when they asked, and just basically how dull I found the story that all of this smart construction was in service of.
There's such craftsmanship here, but it's covering up a pretty forgettable plot.
__________________
Currently working on: Go-Busters is next! Archive of previous shows on
KamenRiderDie.com
!
Last edited by Kamen Rider Die; 08-03-2023 at
08:14 PM
..
Kamen Rider Die
View Public Profile
Send a private message to Kamen Rider Die
Find More Posts by Kamen Rider Die
TokuNation News & Rumors
Hasbro Licenses Power Rangers Toys to Playmates Toys
Discotek Media Licenses Mobile Cop Jiban
What's going on with CSM?
Ultraman Arc Trailer
2024 Kamen Rider after Gotchard Rumor
More New Posts
FOR SALE: Various Figuarts
Super Sentai minipla appreciation thread!
How is Everyone Today- New
Kamen Rider Gotchard Episode 32- "The Great King Appears! The Doll's Dilemma!"
The Official Toku Subs List
Kamen rider SHF for sale
S.H. Figuarts (Toku Related) Thread
Kamen Rider Die rewatches Kamen Rider W (and watches Fuuto P.I.)
What are you watching? (Kamen Rider Edition)
What are you watching? Other Toku Series Edition
Current Poll
How Would You Rate This Episode?
Excellent!
Good
Average
OK
Poor...
»
View Poll Results
»
Comment On This Poll
»
This Poll Has 0 Replies
Search Forums
»
Advanced Search
All times are GMT -5. The time now is
09:20 AM
.
Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Powered by
vBadvanced
CMPS