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What are you watching? (Kamen Rider Edition)
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11-11-2019, 11:35 PM
#
15661
Fish Sandwich
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
Faiz 49-50:
Alright, here we are. I'm uh... I'm still not really prepared for this. I've kind of been putting off properly talking about the final arc until it was over, which was a good idea for making sure I actually know what I'm talking about, but not such a good one for knowing what
to
talk about.
Faiz's final stretch is a real hard sell for a lot of people, for a lot of different reasons, some of which I sympathize with, and some of which I don't. On the broadest level, I've always been very satisfied with it, which seems weird to say, even to me. After all, Faiz doesn't end so much as it simply
stops
, right? Well, sort of. The way the storyline with the Orphenoch King plays out is unusual, to say the least, and things about the way the finale wraps up fly in the face of some of the most basic rules of writing a story. But at the end of the day, the truth here is pretty simple.
I was never watching Faiz because I cared if the Orphenochs would be defeated.
No, what I was invested in this whole time was always the characters, and the way they develop
around
this plot arc is what justifies its presence in the show.
That
part of it, the resolutions you get
there
, I've always felt great about. This was a character-driven series above all else, and one thing I can say with certainty, having gone on this trip all over again, is that I don't think Faiz gets enough credit for how great of a job it did at being that.
The main cast of Faiz is full of rich, multi-faceted characters, who have so much more going on than the vast majority of other Rider shows. It's the thing the show needed to get right more than anything else, and it totally nailed it.
Takumi is a wonderful protagonist. He's likely my favorite Rider lead period. Right away, being introduced to this snarky, brooding loner, and then being told he's the hero, it totally flips the script. Kamen Riders aren't supposed to be jerks, right? But here this guy is, refusing to even voluntarily involve himself in the plot for the first few episodes, and generally snapping at anyone who makes the mistake of trying to talk to him. It's delightful, and where the show goes right with him, is that rather than make that his entire shtick, a novelty that might wear off after a while, he's so much more than that. The layers you discover to him as the series goes on start rapidly adding humanity to his character. He becomes likable as a person, and the further you get in the show, the more clear it becomes that he's as heroic as any other Rider protagonist. Namely in that no matter how hard he tries, or how much he complains on the surface, he can't stop himself from helping others at basically every opportunity. He's fundamentally an extremely compassionate person, and when you realize that, everything else about his character falls into place. It suddenly makes sense why he worries about the things he does, or even why he starts softening up on Kusaka the more he learns about his past and motivations, despite Kusaka being the kind of person he his. All this, plus an absolutely amazing reveal partway through the show, that it turns out I could dodge talking about! But it's classic Ishinomori stuff through and through, to a level few other Heisei Riders have ever done. I love it and it's great. I love Takkun and
he's
great.
Mari is similarly probably my favorite Rider heroine, but I have a harder time explaining why. She's multi-faceted in such a balanced way it's hard to say there's a particular hook to her the way the other characters have. But then, I think being the closest thing to a "normal" person in the show probably IS her gimmick. Regardless, I've always enjoyed her chemistry and banter with Takumi throughout the series, and in general she's very spirited in this really endearing way. She doesn't just sit around waiting for other people to do things. She was totally prepared to just
be
Faiz is she could've, to the point where in episode 39, in a desperate situation, she tries transforming, already knowing it won't work, and then immediately picks herself off the ground and tries it
again
. That's determination right there, and there are few ways more effective to get me to like a character.
Keitarou is an adorable ball of sweetness. He's too good for the world. He's the nicest of guys, and on a rewatch, a more central character than I used to have him pegged for. His gooey, selfless heart is the emotional core of the whole series, and while jokes are made at his expense on occasion, he's far from being a glorified punching bag. All throughout the show, his kindness is shown to keep other characters on track, and he plays by far the biggest role in getting Takumi to start opening up and be more selfless himself. Unlike a lot of the other characters, he's also pretty much totally incorruptible, since that kindness comes entirely from his gentle nature rather than a defined moral code. The worst you can do to Keitarou is make him cry, and he bounces back from that pretty quickly. I really feel bad for taking Keitarou for granted for so long, especially since he's the guy he came up with the pet name for Takumi that I've long since adopted.
Yuuji is the show's definitive "other" protagonist, and an absolutely fascinating, one of a kind character I don't think Rider has done before or since. The idea that one of the heroes of the show could be a monster is, again, classic Ishinomori, and, in something that would be completely unthinkable today, he actually
doesn't
become a Rider on a permanent basis, furthering the contrast between him and Takumi. The relationship the two of them have, in their regular idenities, and their secret ones, is a highlight of the series. As Yuuji and Takumi, they end up developing a bromance that stands up there with all the greats of the franchise, and as Faiz and the Horse Orphenoch, they get a cool Rider versus monster rivalry going on. That's a lot of bang for your buck, right there, and of course, it only gets more complicated once their identities become known to each other, and they spend much of the rest of the series wrestling with whether or not to fight each other. I think Yuuji's big turn in the final act is a fairly common point of contention, but I see it as an entirely logical evolution of his character. Not only have we seen that he's more than capable of feeling vengeful towards those he deems to have done wrong, but throughout the show, he'd never had his moral stance tested in any significant capacity up until it happened. It doesn't seem at all unfeasible that seeing his closest friend hunted down by the police like an animal would be enough to make him crack, and even that process is given gradual development over the course of several episodes. It's also the culmination of the parallels constantly going on between him and Takumi. Yuuji losing his faith comes directly after Takumi finally locks his in, leading to yet more interesting development. After so much time with Yuuji being the voice of reason, now Takumi has to step up as the hero and be the one to talk sense into him. It's all very compelling, and the place he ends up in at the very end, stepping up for humanity one last time, is a satisfactory resolution.
Yuka isn't half the hero Yuuji was, and that's what makes her one of the most interesting characters in the show. Despite being one of the nicest people in the cast, she's also harboring a huge dark side due to how battered she's been in life. She's just as gentle as Keitarou on the surface, and yet also has a rather notable body count. It's hard to blame her for lashing out, given what she's been through, and as a result, the struggle she goes through for the first half of the show is compelling. I like that her big wake-up call is one of the bad guys basically telling her to keep up the good work, too. Ultimately, she's a victim of the world at the end, just as in the beginning, but in the meantime, she did manage to find some happiness when it probably seemed impossible to her.
Kaidou is not someone who can be tied down. He has absolutely no impulse control whatsoever, and as such makes huge, potentially life-changing decisions at the drop of a hat, without ever truly to committing to them. It can be hard to see the real character underneath that, but then that's what's so fun about him. A lot of his outward personality is little more than a front. Kaidou's true bits of character growth throughout the show are shown much more subtly than his wild actions, but they're what make him by far one of my favorite members of the cast. There's a delicious irony to the guy introduced raving about how he's going to use his newfound superpowers to go get revenge on people he doesn't like also being the member of the Orphenoch trio with the smallest trail of ash piles behind him. In fact, there might be no trail at all. It's not very explicit if that guy he choked out in episode 6 actually died or not, and even then, that was
after
said guy tried to murder
him
, which is more than you can say for some of Yuuji and Yuka's victims. The point is, for how frequently he revels in being a monster, Kaidou is a very human guy, and much more prone to doing good than ill. He gradually learns some lessons throughout the story, and through his relationship with Teruo, really finds himself by the end. The scene in episode 48 where he starts opening up to Yuuji about how he looked up to him, in a rare bit of honesty from Kaidou, is even one of my favorite bits of the series.
Kusaka is hard to get a handle on. He's way too messed up to be a hero, but the show never paints him as totally being a villain, either. Probably also because he's so messed up. I see Kusaka got a lot of hate, and I find it weird how rarely it seems to be of the "love to" variety. I can't speak for the rest of the fandom, but Kaixa is basically my Genm. Some of the most fun of the whole series is waiting to see what jerkiness Kusaka is going to get up to next. Is he going to make another absurdly patronizing remark to Mari? Will he flip out and try and kill someone again? What blatant lies might he tell someone this time? Just like Kuroto though, his depth goes beyond that, and ultimately, I would go so far as to call him a sympathetic character. He's someone dealing with rather extreme trauma, and when you consider how much his creeper obsession with Mari means to him, it should really say something that he's shown to put crushing Smart Brain above even that. His vendetta against Orphenochs is bullheaded, but in a different show, his desire for revenge might've been framed in a more positive light. But it's not here. No, one thing I think the show is clear on is that Kusaka is an antagonist before he's anything else, and one thing I picked up on way more this time around was how he's almost the exact opposite of Takumi in every way. Takumi is a good-hearted person with terrible manners. Kusaka is petty and cruel, but puts on an outward air of civility. Takumi never wanted the home he finds, but comes to truly respect Mari and Keitarou. Kusaka is introduced actively seeking to be a part of that home, but has trouble viewing other people as anything more than objects. Takumi is plagued with doubt, often to a fault. Kusaka never hesitates, often to a fault. The list just goes on and on starting from the moment Takumi tries to serve that tennis ball, and never stops. The two make excellent foils, and even though he was already, Kusaka is definitely one of my favorite secondary Riders after this rewatch.
Mihara... frankly doesn't deserve to be included in this list. I'm sure it was hard to tell if I was joking about how useless he was throughout these posts, or how awesome I thought he was, and that's because I don't know either, okay! I have absolutely bottomless pity for this guy, so I definitely like him. I always kinda have. But his inclusion in the show never taps the obvious potential I feel he had. He's introduced late enough into the show that too many things are going on around him, and as such he simply doesn't have much going on. He's like in an RPG, if you had a character join your party at level 23, when the rest of your guys are at 80. You know, he's not
totally
worthless. He can hold his own against mooks, but you're up against endgame bosses at this point, so good luck finding him a chance to show it. His actual personality is also very basic, and lacks the layers so many of the other characters have. He has a solid enough arc with learning to accept his newfound responsibility, but between that being
all
there is to him, and the lack of opportunities to make good on his newfound resolve in any impressive way, there's no getting around what a subpar addition he was to the cast. But I still love him, so leave him alone! No joke, my ideal concept for a continuation of Faiz has always been, and will always be, a Kamen Rider Delta series focusing on Mihara's further adventures and development as the lingering plot threads from Faiz are wrapped up in a nice bow. Yes, that's right, I'm possibly the only person on the planet to think up an idea for Delta fan-fiction. I told you. Bottomless pity.
So that's a rather exhaustive list of my opinions on the characters, which, again, basically
is
my opinion on the show's plot, so I think that covers a huge amount of why I love Faiz. The other characters are great too. Murakami is a fun big bad. I like his creepy Hakaider-inspired exposed flower brain as the Rose Orphenoch, and as an evil businessman, he's the best of the best, being surprisingly reasonable, and legitimately classy, while also being sure to make thinly-veiled threats to anyone who gets in his way. Lucky Clover are all pretty cool. J is simple but memorable. Takuma's development goes weird places, but I like it. Kageyama... could
really
use a name that isn't shared with some other Rider character (she gets called Saeko way more, but I figure that'd be even more confusing when I've also been talking about Double). Anyways, she's smarmy and creepy, which inherently works for a bad guy. Kitazaki's smug sadism is similarly enjoyable.
Beyond the characters, I also think Faiz is extremely solid on a production level. The performances from the actors are a lot more nuanced and less over the top soap-opera than Rider shows from around the same time. There are a lot of digital effects that hold up pretty decently, and let the show do things that would've been hard to do otherwise, like Faiz Blaster chopping up a train in its initial fight. The effect of the red lines forming around Takumi at the end of episode 6 also follows him along
seamlessly
as he gets up off the ground, which really impressed me. And of course, all the Rider Kicks and everything look fantastic even today.
All in all, it's a very impressive show that I think genuinely delivered on its obvious goal of injecting new levels of mature, three-dimensional drama to the franchise. It was absolutely mind-blowing to me seeing this show that's primarily aimed at children in elementary school asking existential questions about what it means to be human, and I don't think it's fair to write the entire series off because of an occasional overindulgence and some faults here or there.
Is the miscommunication
truly
that excessive? In this show explicitly about dysfunctional people? With protagonists including, just as some examples, a closed-off hero with a deep internal struggle he can't tell anyone about, a girl conditioned from a lifetime of emotional abuse not to expect people to listen to her, and a wannabe macho guy so unarticulate his catchphrase is a filler word? I have trouble buying that. I know this is going to sound dismissive, but it's hard for me to hear that complaint over and over and not take it the same way I might if someone told me musicals are bad because there's too much singing. The fact that these characters
aren't
able to talk things out is fundamentally built into the series, and I don't see why it's somehow less valid a way to drive the story than anything else.
I'm not even sure how "unrealistic" it is. The times where the show really pushes things are few and far in-between. For the most part, it's entirely common scenarios like people saying they're okay when they're not, or believing no one around them would understand what they're going through. Even the much maligned Keitarou/Yuka subplot is grounded in the idea that they, and most of their mutual friends, are on a last name basis with each other, which isn't that crazy a thing in Japan. If I told you Kazuma was my favorite character in Blade, how many of you would know who I'm talking about without having to think about it or look it up? The fact that they never ask for each other's digits is the only thing left to question at that point, and considering Keitarou is naturally timid, and Yuka spends most of the show focused on Kaidou, I'd even argue it's understandable neither of them ever makes that move.
So at the end of the day, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for the parts of Faiz that stretch it, because all the parts that don't, and there are so, so many of those, are genuinely great, as far as I'm concerned. It's a messy show, make no mistake, but for every plot thread that got tangled up at some point, there's at least two more the show totally nailed, and I was consistently impressed by how well Inoue actually did manage the complex network of who knows who, and how they know each other throughout the series. It's a much more dense plot than a lot of other Rider shows, with a lot to dig into. I'm generally not a fan of aggressively dark shows, but not only is Faiz considerably less joyless than it's made out to be, it consistently shines a light on the hopes that keep the characters going through their many hardships. It's an overarching theme to the series, evidenced most clearly by Takumi's iconic speech in episode 8.
I really, really love Faiz, if you can't tell. I talk about how much I miss the early Heisei style at pretty much any given opportunity, and truth be told, this might be the show I'm thinking of the most whenever I say that. It's a tough call, because I really love Ryuki and Blade, too, naturally, not to mention Kuuga and Agito, but something about Faiz clicks with me on this really deep level. It captured my imagination as someone just getting into Rider (I think I watched Faiz right after W, funnily enough, but it's hard to recall the exact order), and this rewatch definitely helped me understand why. I was legitimately a bit worried I'd find it didn't hold up for me personally, but that's very much not the case. This is easily one of my favorite Rider shows, which might not mean too much given what a big list that is, but I'd go to bat for Faiz just as readily as I would Ghost, or any other show I find consistently underrated. I didn't always convey what I feel makes Faiz great in every one of these posts, but hopefully I always conveyed a sense of enthusiasm for it, because watching it again was an absolute blast.
では、いよいよ最後のファイズ翻訳ミスコーナーです~!今日の翻訳ミスはこれだ!
「私ももうちょっとがんばってみようかな。美容師の仕事」
This is from the scene at the end of the series where Soeno is celebrating his retirement from the police with his daughter and Sawamura. Her line here, which follows after Soeno talking about how instead of just sitting around, he's planning to become a private detective, and is supposed to be something like "Maybe I'll keep at my job as a beautician a while longer too". The point here, that I think is obscured by the given translation, is that earlier in the show she was shown to be planning to quit, to give up on her dream, in favor of something easier to work towards. The whole scene is pretty critical to the show's thematic wrapup, so it's important to get this stuff right.
So that's the Faiz Mistranslation Corner all wrapped up, too. Hopefully I didn't bore anyone too hard with this? Or at least, for some reason I assume I'm the only one who cares about this stuff. Part of me also worries this whole thing was maybe a bit arrogant of me? That between picking on decade old fansubs and doing the little intros in Japanese that was probably pretty ropey at points, I'm projecting some kind of authority I really don't have.
I don't actually begrudge TV-Nihon for making these mistakes, nor Agony for not being able to fix them, and I think getting the gist of a show is better than nothing, but I also can't help but feel it's unfortunate how many simple misunderstandings (ironically enough) are getting passed on to Rider fans even to this day when the standards of the fansubs we get have gone up so much in the time since,
especially
for such a dialogue heavy show.
So please let me know if you found these sections to be of any value. I've still got like half a dozen mistakes I can remember just off the top of my head, so if you actually want me to talk about some more of them, I'd be happy to tell you guys if Murakami was
really
Smart Lady's piggy bank.
Spoiler alert:
He wasn't.
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