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05-25-2020, 12:51 PM | #321 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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I liked the Keiko plot in this episode, mainly because it gave Takumi and Mari the chance to be the wet blankets to Keitaro's enthusiasm again. With all the Kusaka stuff in the last few episodes it's been awhile since we got some time with the original trio and I never get tired of Keitaro getting consecutive rejections.
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Faiz absolutely pushes how much you can get away with everybody meeting each at exactly the right times, though. I don't mind it much either, since I see it as all being part of that soap opera style. It kills the drama if everyone has to wait around for each other and/or make phone calls constantly, which is why we never see Keitarou providing any details when informing people Orphenochs are attacking. Like a lot about this show, it's something you can either live with, or not.
The problem is, when you're taking shortcuts to do things that are either a) totally nonsensical, or b) not that interesting, I'm going to wonder why you couldn't spend another minute closing that plothole. Like, if the meal at a restaurant is delicious, I'm probably not going to be too long-term grumpy at poor service. But if the meal's just okay, I'm going to remember the inattentive server a lot more.
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05-25-2020, 01:48 PM | #322 |
Warrior of Delusions!
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Not to get off-topic, but he had this thing where he'd create a mystery, spend a TON of energy on it, then when it was time for the payoff he'd basically go Why Do You Care About That Dumb Thing When There's This Even BIGGER Mystery. He loved asking questions, hated giving answers. Just bugged me.
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It's so weird how you misspelled "Peko"!
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05-25-2020, 02:28 PM | #323 |
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--2--
Also, holy shit does Takumi not like being pitied. The second-most important arc in this episode is how Takumi will mend things with Mari and Keitaro, who don’t get why Takumi’s protecting Orphnochs and fighting Kaixa. These are reasonable concerns! It’s just, I think Mari and Keitaro have 100% the wrong approach here. They beg and plead with Takumi to explain himself, to talk about his feelings, to share. And, man, no. The more you try and drag it out of him, the more he’s going to shut down. He basically goes fetal after his friends beg him for an explanation. After he runs away to brood, yet again, I was wondering how the show would draw Takumi out of his shell, put him back on the road to redemption. I wondered what character would be the one to reach out. It’s Yuuji, and it’s amazing. Of all the various Team Faiz/Team Orphnoch combos, I think I find Yuuji and Takumi the most entertaining. Usually, it’s because I find a monster asking a Kamen Rider to consider being a better person hilarious, but here it’s due to how Yuuji’s kindness overcomes Takumi’s gruff exterior in a super interesting way. He gets Takumi to open up a bit by not trying to draw it out of him. Yuuji clearly sees that Takumi has a problem, but he instantly realizes that Takumi doesn’t want to talk about it. So Yuuji starts to share his own problem, and how he can’t even really talk about it with Takumi. That sympathetic approach, it seems to work wonders on Takumi. When his friends want answers and explanations, it’s about their feelings, and the way Takumi is negatively affecting them, and that pressure is something Takumi can’t deal with. But Yuuji’s just telling Takumi that what he’s feeling is normal, isn’t something to be scared of. By making Takumi feel less like a failure, less like a burden, it gives Takumi permission to process what he’s feeling and try to live with it. Just, man, super smart writing for these two characters. It’s a little disappointing that Takumi didn’t whiff on every single pitch in the batting cage, but that’s the only real misstep the Yuuji/Takumi stuff had for me. Quote:
--4--
It all leads to a terrific double Faiz Fight, a fight so good it gets fight music AND the opening theme played over it. The visuals are so fun here, with Faiz and Armakillo fighting on top of cars, Faiz rushing Merderman (who returns just in time get immolated), Faiz getting two finishers, and Faiz getting his sword finisher through an exploding car. It’s all insanely high quality, and it feels like a reward for watching Faiz completely fall apart for the last two episodes. It’s such an awesome fight that Mari and Keitaro consider it to be a sign that Takumi’s back on the side of justice, and ready to defend humanity against Orphnochs. Once again, I sort-of like how the show keeps these characters in each other’s orbits without Takumi necessarily becoming, like, better as a person. He’s withholding to them in the beginning, and in the end it mostly just looks like he’s better and they’re okay with that. It could be a drawback, but I think it's a very unique kind of friendship. Some friends… it’s like you're friends, and it’s down to the core, but you don’t really talk about it. You know? There are friends that would never use that word. I feel like that’s Team Faiz and Takumi.
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05-25-2020, 05:46 PM | #324 |
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It all leads to a terrific double Faiz Fight, a fight so good it gets fight music AND the opening theme played over it. The visuals are so fun here, with Faiz and Armakillo fighting on top of cars, Faiz rushing Merderman (who returns just in time get immolated), Faiz getting two finishers, and Faiz getting his sword finisher through an exploding car.
It’s all insanely high quality, and it feels like a reward for watching Faiz completely fall apart for the last two episodes. It’s such an awesome fight that Mari and Keitaro consider it to be a sign that Takumi’s back on the side of justice, and ready to defend humanity against Orphnochs. Once again, I sort-of like how the show keeps these characters in each other’s orbits without Takumi necessarily becoming, like, better as a person. He’s withholding to them in the beginning, and in the end it mostly just looks like he’s better and they’re okay with that. It could be a drawback, but I think it's a very unique kind of friendship. Some friends… it’s like you're friends, and it’s down to the core, but you don’t really talk about it. You know? There are friends that would never use that word. I feel like that’s Team Faiz and Takumi.
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05-25-2020, 05:52 PM | #325 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
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Sometimes, introverts just need their space to process these difficult dilemmata. Kiba respects Takumi's feelings enough to not harass him and let him open up on his own. It's one of the major differences between Kiba and Keitarou, their approach to helping others. Keitarou is a chronic hero, he wants to solve other people's problems. Kiba wants to help people solve their own problems.
Also, "dilemmata"? Nice work! That is definitely a new word I learned today. Thought it was a typo at first, but, nope, plural of dilemma. Kudos! It's really growing on me. I mean, I liked it to start, but now I'm really liking it. Except, since Switchblade and Akiba Silver got me thinking more about Gaim, I can't get Just Live More out of my head.
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05-25-2020, 06:06 PM | #326 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Oh no! Don't let out of universe people like you also hooked up with Kusaka! Sure, Kusaka got some points right there, but grade-s-douchebags or villains can get a point occassionally while not being a righteous person. And even if Kusaka points out that Orphnochs are murderous and that Takumi's reluctance is dangerous, he also stated that he only fought to test his own skills, not for anyone, so why should Takumi actually fight in his point of view if no concern for greater good?
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For him becoming an Orphnoch, there's a gap in time between when Merderman attacks Morishita's car, and when Yuuji, Takumi, and Keitaro find him. I assume that Morishita's heart was burned up just before Yuuji found him. For him turning into an Orphnoch, it's the same emotional stress that triggered Yuuji and Yuka's transformations.
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05-25-2020, 08:51 PM | #327 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 19
--1-- Aw, what a sweet episode. I feel like I’m going to bring this one up a bunch if I ever see people declare Faiz to be the Mean Kamen Rider series. There’s such a sweetness to this story, to Keiko’s arc, and it’s all based in Faiz storytelling. It’s just, like, tuned to Aw instead of Yikes. --2-- Like, Keiko’s whole motivation and attitude, it’s no different than arcs we’ve gotten with Yuka or Takumi. She’s lost something important in her life, and being reminded of it makes her lash out. She ruins clean white clothes because clean white clothes used to make her happy, and now she can’t have them. She pushes people away because she’s been abandoned by her amnesiac mother, and she doesn’t want to be abandoned again. This… this is all very Faiz! It’s fun to see this stuff play out with a child, though, because it makes some of the more extreme pieces of acting out seem more realistic. Not that I’ve got a problem with extreme behavior with the cast of Faiz! It’s just, Keiko racing out of Team Orphnoch HQ because she’s having a tough time emotionally is a little easier to understand than, say, Kaido constantly racing out of Team Orphnoch HQ while Yuka yells after him. They’re all children, is maybe what I’m saying, and Keiko’s story is no different than any of theirs. She just gets to have a happy ending, while they’re still mired in their own neuroses. --3-- Boy, pretty fun to see all six members of the classic cast, though, right? If last time I was complaining (“complaining”) about how often folks just run into each other, this episode is the reason why I’m not mad about that storytelling choice. I love how intertwined the two casts are, how easily Mari can just be at Team Orphnoch HQ, or how Team Faiz will call Team Orphnoch to let them know how Keiko’s doing. That shit never gets old with me. And, in general, it’s cool to see Keiko float between the two groups, to see how each side deals with her. Team Orphnoch doesn’t really get a lot of time around her, but it’s nice to see that they welcome her maybe a little quicker than Team Faiz. Yuka sees a hurt little girl and immediately feels protective; Kaido sees a chance to preen; and Yuuji feels sympathy for someone lacking a family. It’s, again, not a lot (they really only get one scene together), but it makes total sense how they’d all react to Keiko. --4-- The return of Fungus The Clown makes a little less sense, if I’m being honest. It’s a part of this story that never really connects, thematically or plot-wise. He’s just a monster clown who scares a little girl, but he’s not really relevant to the story. For Keiko, it's not like this monster is some nemesis who's responsible for her mom's accident or anything. Her problems aren't even Orphnoch adjacent! (I mean, there's almost definitely some Smart Brain stuff at play, but it's incidental at this point in her story.) She's a girl who's had a tough go of it, and it's all about reaching her emotionally. Having an Orphnoch show up moves the spotlight off of Keiko, the character who this whole story centers on. The Orphnoch ends up being a thing that makes Keitaro scared, and Keitaro then has to overcome that fear to protect Keiko. But, like, this story isn’t about Keitaro being scared, it’s about Keitaro trying to help a little girl feel better about her tragic existence, as well as maybe trying to fix that tragic existence. Like, Keiko wasn’t mad at him because an Orphnoch attacked and he didn’t fight it, she’s mad because he blew up at her and told her to go away. Him fighting an Orphnoch is a) not smart, and b) not what she was upset about. Even for Keitaro’s arc, again, he wasn’t beating himself up about being a coward for the first part of this story, so having him physically protect Keiko doesn’t really solve his story. His story resolution is about reaffirming his desire to improve Keiko’s life, and he does that by being Keitaro, which is to say by doing a ton of laundry. Having that clown keep showing up, it feels perfunctory, irrelevant, a distraction. There’s a story they’re telling about someone protecting people’s smiles, and then a random monster shows up randomly. It’s my least favorite way of using a monster in a Kamen Rider story, and it’s structurally the only real problem this episode has. --5-- The fight against Fungus The Clown isn’t even the memorable fight from the episode! Faiz’s fight against Horsepower was pretty great (with Horsepower going to Four-Legged Drive mode), but the final Faiz Fight against Mr. J had one of the coolest finishes this show has had yet. Mr. J shows up after Fungus has been destroyed, and it goes back and forth for a minute. Faiz goes for his kick finisher, but Mr. J blocks it. But then Faiz boosts off of Mr. J’s block, puts on his duster in mid-air, and then brings it down with an Exceed Charge to finish off Mr. J. Holy shit. It was so impressive, and it’s the kind of thing I love to see a show do. It’s fairly typically for a tough enemy to be finished off with the hero just, like, trying harder, and that’s fine. Or maybe an ally helps out, and that’s usually neat. But when the hero has to fight smarter, when they have to combine the tools they’ve already got to beat someone that’s previously had their number (I mean, both of Mr. J’s other defeats are at Kaixa’s hands), it’s my favorite thing to see in a Kamen Rider fight. So, yeah, great fight for a surprisingly sweet episode!
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05-26-2020, 01:35 AM | #328 |
I have a problematic type
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Ah, poor Mr. J. So long, puddin'.
The important thing is that Chaco will be okay. In a lot of older tokusatsu from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, dogs were often killed off to show how scary and mean the monsters are. It's nice to see Chaco moving on to a good home, albeit one where the family is way too amused by their own laundry. |
05-26-2020, 05:56 AM | #329 |
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I’d say that the Shitten’Ou of Orphnochs that was Lucky Clover is broken, but as TV Tropes points out in its entry for this show under “Elite Four”, they were never a real example anyway.
Last edited by Androzani84; 05-26-2020 at 11:37 AM.. |
05-26-2020, 09:19 AM | #330 |
Standing By
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Yeah, Takumi's introversion is probably always going to make things difficult with Mari's bullheadedness (which worked great on Kaido) and Keitaro's clinginess (which worked great on Yuka). The fact that these three are still friends after eighteen episodes is maybe the most heroic thing of all!
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https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Categ...ending_in_"-a" Quote:
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So, not sure if you mean him becoming an Orphnoch, or him turning into an Orphnoch for the first time, so I'll take a run at both.
For him becoming an Orphnoch, there's a gap in time between when Merderman attacks Morishita's car, and when Yuuji, Takumi, and Keitaro find him. I assume that Morishita's heart was burned up just before Yuuji found him. For him turning into an Orphnoch, it's the same emotional stress that triggered Yuuji and Yuka's transformations. Quote:
--4--
The return of Fungus The Clown makes a little less sense, if I’m being honest. It’s a part of this story that never really connects, thematically or plot-wise. He’s just a monster clown who scares a little girl, but he’s not really relevant to the story. For Keiko, it's not like this monster is some nemesis who's responsible for her mom's accident or anything. Her problems aren't even Orphnoch adjacent! (I mean, there's almost definitely some Smart Brain stuff at play, but it's incidental at this point in her story.) She's a girl who's had a tough go of it, and it's all about reaching her emotionally. Having an Orphnoch show up moves the spotlight off of Keiko, the character who this whole story centers on. The Orphnoch ends up being a thing that makes Keitaro scared, and Keitaro then has to overcome that fear to protect Keiko. But, like, this story isn’t about Keitaro being scared, it’s about Keitaro trying to help a little girl feel better about her tragic existence, as well as maybe trying to fix that tragic existence. Like, Keiko wasn’t mad at him because an Orphnoch attacked and he didn’t fight it, she’s mad because he blew up at her and told her to go away. Him fighting an Orphnoch is a) not smart, and b) not what she was upset about. Even for Keitaro’s arc, again, he wasn’t beating himself up about being a coward for the first part of this story, so having him physically protect Keiko doesn’t really solve his story. His story resolution is about reaffirming his desire to improve Keiko’s life, and he does that by being Keitaro, which is to say by doing a ton of laundry. Having that clown keep showing up, it feels perfunctory, irrelevant, a distraction. There’s a story they’re telling about someone protecting people’s smiles, and then a random monster shows up randomly. It’s my least favorite way of using a monster in a Kamen Rider story, and it’s structurally the only real problem this episode has. Quote:
--555--
The fight against Fungus The Clown isn’t even the memorable fight from the episode! Faiz’s fight against Horsepower was pretty great (with Horsepower going to Four-Legged Drive mode), but the final Faiz Fight against Mr. J had one of the coolest finishes this show has had yet. Mr. J shows up after Fungus has been destroyed, and it goes back and forth for a minute. Faiz goes for his kick finisher, but Mr. J blocks it. But then Faiz boosts off of Mr. J’s block, puts on his duster in mid-air, and then brings it down with an Exceed Charge to finish off Mr. J. Holy shit. It was so impressive, and it’s the kind of thing I love to see a show do. It’s fairly typically for a tough enemy to be finished off with the hero just, like, trying harder, and that’s fine. Or maybe an ally helps out, and that’s usually neat. But when the hero has to fight smarter, when they have to combine the tools they’ve already got to beat someone that’s previously had their number (I mean, both of Mr. J’s other defeats are at Kaixa’s hands), it’s my favorite thing to see in a Kamen Rider fight. So, yeah, great fight for a surprisingly sweet episode! It's a shame Mr. J had to die since his interaction with Keiko showed he still had some good in him, which confirms what Takumi was thinking about Orphenochs in the previous arc. He just wanted to provide a good life for Chaco and he was forced in to his position by Murakami's threats. At least his death was honorable and Chaco got a new home. It's the worst part of being a Kamen Rider that Takumi understands now, having to kill potentially good people to stop them from killing other people.
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