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06-10-2020, 04:31 PM | #581 |
Showa Girl
Join Date: Jun 2018
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06-10-2020, 05:13 PM | #582 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Takumi made a fatal error in trusting Sawada to take care of Mari. Between feeling betrayed by Kiba and seeing the consequence of his misguided judgement with Sawada, a complete stranger to him, he's starting to lose his faith in the humanity of Orphenochs. He also blames himself, due to his lack of self-confidence, for letting them deceive him. It's partially his fault, this time wasn't caused by inaction, he consciously made a decision and it was wrong. However, his guilt is excessive which is typical of his personality. He can't see past his mistake and he's determined to atone for it.
He's convinced that Orphenochs will eventually turn bad and should be destroyed, starting with Kiba, who conveniently wants to beat him up for attacking Mari, as Kusaka misled him to believe. You can see that as much as Takumi judges himself, he refuses to be judged by who he considers some heartless Orphenoch. He immediately turns hostile towards Kiba. These events have shaped him in to become a more indiscriminate killer of Orphenochs like Kusaka and it's not a good place for him right now. Takumi's guilt is maybe pretty justified? He made a few bad decisions, and his friend got hospitalized because of it. Sawada was a bad dude, with plenty of evidence to support that view. Takumi wanted him to be not a bad dude, because that'd mean Yuuji wasn't a bad dude. So Takumi went in wanting to be swayed, and that got a friend seriously hurt. So when Yuuji shows up blaming him, I think there's a part that wants to punish Yuuji because he couldn't punish Sawada. But I think there's a part of Takumi that wants to be punished. He messed up, and he needs to pay for that. If that means he gets beat up by someone he hates, all the better for his penance. Quote:
Oh okay, I see it now. About Mari in particular, I honestly felt at this point she's a shell of the super interesting, fun, girl we saw in the first few episodes. The whole Ryusei plot should've revolved around her and build up her character, and yet it felt like she's only there to provide sad/anguished reaction faces (sometimes not even that!). As I said, Faiz is still pretty good at making sure every major character gets plenty of screen time... so we saw a lot of her, but not enough about her. And it feels like she's increasingly fallen to the trappings typical to character of her ilk, namely she's primarily there to serve as the male characters' development and point of conflict.
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Man, what is it about Faiz where all these actors in it either had notable roles prior, or went on to have major roles after? I'm not imagining this, right? This kind of trivia is there for most shows, but it seems like Faiz has a neat casting choice like this every few episodes.
During my rewatch, I remember feeling like the acting in Faiz was a slight cut above its contemporaries, but between all the experienced talent and rising stars, I guess there was a good reason for that. Quote:
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06-10-2020, 10:53 PM | #583 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 33
--1-- hey guess who's back UUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHH --2-- So, yeah, the Ryusei School alumni. Jesus. It's not worth rehashing all the ways the Ryusei School storyline disappoints, but in the interest of new content, let me add one more way the Ryusei School storyline disappoints. Its main problem is that it's a huge, important, convoluted plotline that doesn't involve Takumi at all. He's friends with Mari, and he (on a good day) grudgingly tolerates Kusaka, but there's nothing in this whole Ryusei School story for him. He's constantly outside of it, asking questions but emotionally unconcerned. Worse, the few times that he tries to involve himself, to get the goddamn star of the show involved in the A-plot for an episode, he's rebuffed by these unwelcome guest stars. If you're ever going to do a plot like this on Kamen Rider, it has to emotionally connect with the hero. It has to. When you do it like this, where it's a glorified subplot that just blots out every other story (this episode starts with Yuuji and Takumi battling in a grudge match and then has no time to deal with it!), it feels intrusive and distracting. It's a story about nobodies that gets more time and attention than the star of the show. Just, it's such a dumb way to anchor the Ryusei School stuff. So dumb. --3-- But, y'know, fine, it's here, let's talk about it. The Ryusei School alumni ("Go Meteors!”) have gathered to visit Mari in the hospital, as she lays dying from Sawada's attack. They mostly end up more useless than normal, a shadow made of four humans that follows Kusaka around, but there's one part I loved. There's one dude who, right away, wants to bail. He's got work, and she's in a coma, so maybe he should just split, if everyone's cool with that. One dude blows up at him, accusing him of being heartless in abandoning Mari. But he's just like, I Did Not Sign Up For This To Be My Life. And I get that! That is a real human emotion to have about all of this! I love the idea of how the Ryusei School alumni seem to this one alumnus. He got a job, he's building a life, and these assholes keep dragging him back into Belts and Gear and Orphnochs and then this one girl he hasn't seen in years is in a coma now? And he's got inventory on Monday, and he was going to take his car in for an oil change today, and, like, no. You guys. The other students are like those high-drama high school friends you had who think you're still friends, while you're living an adult life and trying to escape their depressing gravity. This guy, I kind-of wish we could follow him more. But, I mean, he's almost definitely going to get killed next episode? --4-- The rest of the plot, I'm straining to remember. This one was... not a great episode. The Takumi/Yuuji stuff, despite an awesome intro, gets such short shrift it is criminal. They fight to a draw, which frustrates Kitazaki so much that he gives up the Delta Gear to Sawada, who views it as a crutch and gives it up to Kusaka. Meanwhile, Takumi once again feels so trapped by indecision and guilt (can't kill Yuuji, can't get killed by Yuuji) that he gives up the Faiz Gear to Keitaro, who can't use it so he gives it up to Kusaka. Kusaka has every belt at the end of this episode, and he mostly got them because everybody else thinks they're lame. This episode 75% didn't work for me, but that being how the Belts are treated? I love it. It's the ultimate Faiz thing, no one giving a shit about the main weapons of the show. (Houjou is so furious when he thinks Kitazaki threw the Delta Gear away, since they were killing themselves to get it!) It's such a fun, backwards way of moving pieces around, having it all happen through apathy and boredom rather than concerted effort. Brilliant. --5-- Besides that, though (and Kaido's hilarious moment), yeah, god, no way this one was going to work with so much of it being about Kusaka and the Ryusei School alumni. And, it's in-character, but I was getting a little sick of how much Takumi gets frozen out of the goddamn A-plot of the show. It's probably supposed to feel motivating for him, how much Kusaka is sneering at his weakness, but I found it sort-of infuriating. There's a point where I wanted to scream JESUS CHRIST KUSAKA I'M PRETTY SURE THE NAME OF THE SHOW IS STILL KAMEN RIDER FAIZ, YOU GIGANTIC SON OF A BITCH, MAYBE YOU CAN LET HIM BE A PART OF YOUR STUPID-ASS PLOT?! That level of frustration.. I don't know if that's what the producers intended. Feels like maybe not! Am I alone on this one?
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06-10-2020, 10:57 PM | #584 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
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Like, the core threads, the Mari/Sawada and Takumi/Yuuji stuff, yes. The idea of Sawada feeling conflicted about his nature and choosing to snuff out his humanity, that’s a perfect story to tell while Takumi’s trying to find a reason to patch things up with Yuuji.
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It’s just, man, a really distracted episode.
Like, prime example, Mari’s beating at the pier. Huge, emotional moment. Mari, bloodied, watches the symbol of her friendship with Sawada burn as she passes out. Next scene, Kaido and Keitaro are having an adventure in the city! Tonally, it’s an insane swerve. There’s a reason it’s in the episode, it’s more about the innate humanity of Team Orphnoch, but it’s a massively distracting shift. At least that scene has a reason to be in this episode, because, I love Houjou, but what in the hell was that Delta scene doing here? The only Lucky Clover stuff that works in this episode is the Kageyama scene, because it’s directly supporting the key plotline of the episode. The Houjou and Kitazaki scene, it’s like they’re filling a quota. It doesn’t do anything for the main plots in this episode, and it doesn’t do anything to set up another plot. It’s just a wacky scene of Houjou and Kitazaki’s rivalry, but it’s got no reason to be here.
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06-10-2020, 11:07 PM | #585 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 10,600
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Man, what is it about Faiz where all these actors in it either had notable roles prior, or went on to have major roles after? I'm not imagining this, right? This kind of trivia is there for most shows, but it seems like Faiz has a neat casting choice like this every few episodes.
Seriously though, it was fun to see Kouhei play a polar opposite to Kusaka.
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Last edited by Sunred; 06-10-2020 at 11:10 PM.. |
06-10-2020, 11:09 PM | #586 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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So all about Sawada burning origami foldings before he started his murder spree was his attempt to get rid of his humanity. Was Kaido's stronger resistance to the fire that he's forced to carry both Keitaro and the kid attributed to his Orphnoch body? I probably think that you just lumped the Delta scene here together for problems... I mean it's a new breed of Takuma and Kitazaki rivalry, him doing new stuff like trying to steal Delta belt. And also the first showings of Dragon Orphnoch.
For the Delta stuff in that episode, it just doesn't have any point, other than being funny. They'd had conflicts before, this wasn't really different enough to feel like an escalation. It doesn't tell us anything new, it doesn't alter the dynamic, and it doesn't pay anything off. It's total filler.
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06-10-2020, 11:20 PM | #587 |
take me to space
Join Date: Sep 2017
Posts: 1,406
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So much about your reaction to this episode makes me giggle but I won't say why.
Anyhow, I'm all for the way Faiz subverts many expectations of how these merchandise-driven superhero shows should be, the way big toys are just tossed around or discarded, or how the protagonist takes a backseat. But sometimes when nothing particularly good comes out of those decisions (like everything in this episode if you ask me), then I start to think the show is just doing umconventional things entirely for the sake of being uncoventional, instead of for the sake of the story. Admittedly, part of why I'm saying that is because I know ahead of time how some of these plotlines resolve (or how they don't), but maybe that's just a personal issue, like I'm not focusing on the present entertaiment enough and just thinking solely about how it'll pay off. |
06-10-2020, 11:30 PM | #588 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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So much about your reaction to this episode makes me giggle but I won't say why.
Anyhow, I'm all for the way Faiz subverts many expectations of how these merchandise-driven superhero shows should be, the way big toys are just tossed around or discarded, or how the protagonist takes a backseat. But sometimes when nothing particularly good comes out of those decisions (like everything in this episode if you ask me), then I start to think the show is just doing umconventional things entirely for the sake of being uncoventional, instead of for the sake of the story. Admittedly, part of why I'm saying that is because I know ahead of time how some of these plotlines resolve (or how they don't), but maybe that's just a personal issue, like I'm not focusing on the present entertaiment enough and just thinking solely about how it'll pay off. I really hope there's a point in the future where all I remember is how great this plot ended. I want to go to there!
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06-10-2020, 11:42 PM | #589 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Sep 2019
Posts: 104
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All I want to say now is, Open Your Eyes for the Next Faiz, Die.
(*but yeah, this is what I alluded to several pages back when I said Faiz has great characters that often end up being misused and led to a lot of frustrating moments. My frustration with Faiz was really not about not being able to connect with the characters (I love these kids from the start!), or even the misunderstandings (I can tolerate and justify some of them); it's when... the A-plot happens). |
06-10-2020, 11:49 PM | #590 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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(*but yeah, this is what I alluded to several pages back when I said Faiz has great characters that often end up being misused and led to a lot of frustrating moments. My frustration with Faiz was really not about not being able to connect with the characters (I love these kids from the start!), or even the misunderstandings (I can tolerate and justify some of them); it's when... the A-plot happens).
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