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05-21-2020, 07:53 PM | #281 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 15
--1-- Hey, it's a Yuka spotlight episode! It's a bit of a mixed bag! Yuka's a character I'm intrigued by, played by an actor who seems slightly outclassed by the material. Of the three Oprhnochs, she's maybe the least-talented actor, in so much as Yuuji's serenity and Kaido's raw charisma helped them pop even before we knew their whole deal. With Yuka, it's been fifteen episodes, and while I sort-of get her deal, I'm having trouble investing in her emotionally. Some of it's the performance (she's not really finding the core of her character, emotionally; it feels like it lacks an honesty to the portrayal), but some of it is how confusing Yuka's actions are. And, right up front, I love that they're confusing. I love that she's a difficult character to pin down, because it makes her journey so much more fascinating. But it can also keep a viewer at a distance. I'll admit, I was not expecting this episode to really be about Yuka. Yuuji or Takumi, absolutely. Kusaka or Kaido, probably. But Yuka? Surprising choice, especially in the story they decided to tell. Yuka's core problem is that she has no real sense of self. She's never felt comfortable owning her feelings, making demands of the world around her. She's buffeted by fate, grasping for dear life at any shred of connection. While other characters are deciding how best to navigate a dangerous new world, she's following everyone else's lead. Except for when she kills people. Then, and maybe only then, she feels like herself. And it's killing her. She doesn't want that life for herself. She judges that life, and tries to change herself back into someone who'd never do those things, couldn't be that person. Even if it means being miserable. There's a Closeted feeling to Yuka's story, as she desperately denies what she needs in order to be what other people expect, or to lose her desires in making someone else happy. It's, I think, the reason why she throws herself at Kaido. I don't think she has any real interest in him. Honestly, I don't think she has any real interest in Keitaro, online or IRL. But those relationships are a safe harbour from thinking about herself, from having to come to terms with who she is and what she needs to feel like herself. The Takumi scenes are the same thing, her caring for him because of what Yuuji would think of her, or how sublimating her needs into being a caregiver (she's literally faceless for one shot, she's a role instead of a person) absolves her of any self-interrogation or reflection. She's always throwing herself into someone else's arms, because she doesn't trust what she wants to do with her hands. Huh. Maybe I'm not having any trouble at all investing in Yuka? Maybe her spotlight wasn't a mixed bag? Maybe this episode was a goddamn home run? --2-- Because I thought the rest of the story was pretty much aces. Kusaka has ramped up from last episode's Maybe Not The Best Guy to this episode's 67% More Weaselly. There's a cruelty to him that I think differentiates the kind of asshole he is, a qualifier maybe only necessary on this Kamen Rider series. Takumi can be horrible, but usually in a blunt, insensitive way. Kusaka treats the rescued Yuuji like a hostage, someone he's happy to watch suffer. Whatever version of him was The Good Guy has all but vanished, leaving a bully in its place. It's not something that ends up getting a ton of play in this episode, but it's fascinating to watch develop. --3-- I mean, I guess you see it a little at the end, him being a bully, once Takumi picks sides in the Faiz Fight at the end. Yeah, really thought this was going to be a Takumi story, and it's not really one. His point in the story is to observe Yuka's struggle and try to make sense of it. His perspective is limited, so he's maybe viewing her as more of a conflicted soul than she really is. Or, I guess, viewing her conflict as a metaphor, rather than her individual problems. (Well, everyone's always projecting onto Yuka, so why not our hero?) She saved him back at the river, and he can't figure out why. She's an Orphnoch, and they're monsters, and Faiz kills them. Suddenly, it's more complicated. The whole episode makes it complicated, with Kamen Rider Kaixa being a grotesque sadist, while the deadliest Orphnoch nurses Takumi back to health. It makes this story less about sides, and more about people, and that's so rewarding to watch. That choice Takumi makes to defend Yuka, to see a humanity that may actually be killing her and try to protect it, it's something that I think the show almost entirely earns. I might quibble a bit about it giving Takumi a more empathetic outlook than we've seen from him before, but a) dude had a near-death experience and that gives him a pass for at least a day as far as making uncharacteristic choices, and b) it means he'd have to fight Kaixa and I don't think that's a tough choice for Takumi to make. Much like previous heroic moments from Takumi, there's a little bit in the performance where he doesn't even seem to know why he's risking this fight for Yuka. It's a rash, almost selfish decision, to fight Kaixa. He's got a gut feeling that this is all wrong somehow, that someone who'd save his life doesn't deserve to be beaten the way Kaixa is beating her, no matter what species she is. (The show does a great/horrifying job of making the Kaixa/Yuka fight entirely one-sided, keeping Kaixa firmly in the role of sadist once again.) He's saving Yuka, but it's more that he's saving the idea of complexity, of a world that isn't binary. He's fighting for a world where monsters can save people and Kamen Riders can be assholes. --4-- He's also FIGHTING. That Faiz Fight at the end! Man! It's a barnburner for sure, with Faiz holding his own against Kaixa in a swordfight (maybe if Takumi could've punched a few times during that fencing duel he'd've gotten a point or two) before everything escalates to Ride Machines and missiles. I'm not crazy about Kaixa's ED-209 motorcycle (which came from... where?), at least in its CG mode. The bike itself is cool, though. Love that sidecar! Definitely love the Gundam amount of missiles, too! --5-- So weird. Thought this one wasn't that great, but now I feel like I really loved it? There's not really much I could point to as a mark against it. Yuka's actor has a tough time in a scene or two, but the character is pretty fully-developed in my brain now. Whatever deficiencies she might have, I guess I don't really care that much? The story they told with the character was strong enough to paper over those flaws, at least in retrospect. Most times, I feel less good about a middling episode after writing about it. Here, it's like I found way more to love about it. Finding beauty in something you thought you didn't like? How Faiz!
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05-21-2020, 08:04 PM | #282 |
The Immortal King Tasty
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Really interesting how you accidentally had a complete turnaround on that episode while writing about it.
Yuka's acting is maybe down to the directors not giving her the best advice or something? I feel like she's halfway onto something, but it tends to mush together into this sort of bland emptiness, which is broadly appropriate for the character, but really not on the same level as most of the other main cast, who give standout performances constantly. Just look at Kusaka. That guy is fun. Still, her character development is pretty great, which is why this next translation error was one that really got to me. Quote:
「木場さんなら、見捨てたりしないと思うから」 Yeah, Yuka's dialogue gets messed up a lot. Just for context, this is from when Yuka and Kaidou are looking for Yuuji and find Takumi instead. Kaidou recognizes him from when they fought earlier in the show, and tells Yuka they don't have time to bother helping him, and Yuka's counterargument here is actually more along the lines of "if Kiba were here, he wouldn't abandon him". Pointing out that Kaidou would've been happy to grab Yuuji out of a river is a complete non-observation when they both know that already and came here planning to do so. What this is actually about, which is critical to the plot of the episode, is how much Yuka looks up to Yuuji's unwavering sense of morality. Throughout these episodes Yuka is trying to shake off her inner demons and become a better person, and it should really go without saying that the pervy snake dude is not the one acting as a role-model for her.
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05-21-2020, 08:52 PM | #283 |
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Part of me wants to start faiz so I can read along with this thread, the other part knows I'd be cringing and wincing a lot from the miscommunication, and no one having any info, and that same part also knows that I can't speak Japanese, so I'd get real confused by the mis-translations.
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05-21-2020, 09:55 PM | #284 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Yuka's acting is maybe down to the directors not giving her the best advice or something? I feel like she's halfway onto something, but it tends to mush together into this sort of bland emptiness, which is broadly appropriate for the character, but really not on the same level as most of the other main cast, who give standout performances constantly. Just look at Kusaka. That guy is fun.
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Part of me wants to start faiz so I can read along with this thread, the other part knows I'd be cringing and wincing a lot from the miscommunication, and no one having any info, and that same part also knows that I can't speak Japanese, so I'd get real confused by the mis-translations.
As for the miscommunication... I can't speak for anything that happens later, but in fifteen episodes the most I've seen of miscommunications is some minor details in the Yuka/Keitaro scenes, and that shit is highly debatable. But, there's a thing in this episode I thought people might get upset about, and it didn't bother me at all. Takumi sees that Yuka's an Orphnoch, and very quickly realizes that she's Keitaro's new/old girlfriend. He tells Keitaro to break up with her. Not asks, tells. He doesn't give a reason beyond that he has a bad feeling about her. He doesn't tell Keitaro that she's an Orphnoch, or that she murdered a half-dozen people. He just curtly tells Keitaro to leave his girlfriend while all of Team Faiz tells him he's horrible. I can see people saying Hey Why Not Share That Information. I can see that lack of communication feeling like a strain on credulity. But, man, it felt like exactly what Takumi would do, and exactly how he'd very stupidly try and solve someone's problem. He'd think he was sparing Keitaro's feelings by not telling him the truth about Yuka, and he'd also just assume that Keitaro would do whatever he says. Of course he'd make things worse. And that's why it doesn't bother me. Miscommunication, I think of that as people not sharing information for bad reasons. The CW-style We Have To Keep This A Secret Even Though Every Year We Keep A Secret And It Blows Up In Our Face. That's shitty storytelling. What this show has is terrible people who don't have fully developed communication strategies. They are weird, flawed people, and friendships are going to be tough for them. They may be guarded, or wary, and that's going to lead them to portion out things someone else would spill out. But I get that it's a fine line. Takumi's tactic is exactly the shit that Ren and Shinji would pull on Yui in Ryuki, and I hated it. Here, I feel like it works because no one's pretending that Takumi is doing the right thing. He's trying to protect his friend's feelings, but he's very bad at it. That lack of endorsement works for me, keeps it as a character choice rather than a story choice, if that makes sense. I hope that explanation makes sense! Short version, I'm not seeing the rampant miscommunications that other people have referenced!
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05-21-2020, 11:07 PM | #285 |
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Kaixa's counterpart of Auto Vajin, SB-913V Side Basshar appears here! But yeah sometimes the Riders' human form performance isn't always consistent to their Rider fighting like here for Faiz holding against Kaixa. Then again, AFAIK there were few showings of what Riders can do in human form (some non-main Riders are the ones to get that, like Alain before becoming Necrom). Quote:
Part of me wants to start faiz so I can read along with this thread, the other part knows I'd be cringing and wincing a lot from the miscommunication, and no one having any info, and that same part also knows that I can't speak Japanese, so I'd get real confused by the mis-translations.
I've seen more people's views, and someone more insightful do say that the first 13 (or 15 in this case?) episodes of Faiz were actually so good, and that the infamy comes out later. I don't know how will you respond to those, but probably people make it out as the bad things are the whole series and ignoring the good parts like that. Last edited by DreadBringer; 05-22-2020 at 06:15 AM.. |
05-21-2020, 11:21 PM | #286 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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So to sum it up from your takes, Yuka is overall, a people pleaser right? Her abusive backstory shapes her into 2 modes, the one where she puts the burdens on herself to please other people like by becoming what other people expect - to make people not hostile like they usually are to her, or her being a troubled from the trauma she received by killing people she perceived as bad - because obviously, all the hell those kind of people give.
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And speaking about acting.... I don't know if acting must be all about goofy, or over-the-top, or larger than life, or laugh out loud, or in your face and wide-angle lenses, or other kinds of that. People usually cite that as bad acting or no personality, but it can be just the people mindset that they just throw that term to those they think “this person doesn’t stimulate me”, or “this person doesn’t interest me”. Also a term to say someone is not extroverted, that because they can’t figure their personality, it doesn’t exist. A rather lazy and egocentric view of other people tbh, and a very superficial judgement. And that there's no such thing as " no personality". The person refered as such may be a little hidden if they are very shy, but they have a personality.
Uh, I did not for a second think that Kusaka knew that Yuuji was an Orphnoch. This was just an injured guy that he could watch suffer.
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05-21-2020, 11:34 PM | #287 |
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I'm not sure if I'm entirely getting what you're saying, but the problems I have with Yuka's actor, it's that I feel like I'm not seeing honesty in her performance. She's hitting marks and saying lines and portraying emotions, but it doesn't feel like Yuka, it feels like an actor. Like I said, I think the story they're telling is solid enough that it's mostly just that she's not elevating it, instead of being a distraction. I don't know if that addresses your comment?
My previous post "People usually cite that", I refer "that" for "actor who doesn't act larger than life". |
05-21-2020, 11:57 PM | #288 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
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Oh sorry, I didn't make it that clear. I'm talking about how some people can consider any actor who doesn't act goofy, or over-the-top, or larger than life, or laugh out loud, or in your face and wide-angle lenses, or other kinds of that (or just those who doesn't portray types of characters they like), basically acting as a "normal" person, as bad acting or displaying no personality. Though even those qualities I mentioned can also have limits, like Shunpei.
My previous post "People usually cite that", I refer "that" for "actor who doesn't act larger than life". And, like, that's sort-of Yuka's identity, though? Yuka's core motivation is deference-as-survival-mechanism, and that's going to take the form of her acting differently to please the people around her. Like, an artificality to her performance is a feature, not a bug. It's just, that inherently keeps a viewer at a distance. It's tough to square the circle of Artificiality That Exhibits A Deeper Truth, is maybe my ultimate point. Tough job for a young actor.
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05-22-2020, 01:12 AM | #289 |
I have a problematic type
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Ah, now this is some peak Faiz: Kusaka is a complete dick and Takumi makes a situation worse by refusing to explain things. Not a bad episode by any means, but it is very Faiz-y.
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05-22-2020, 02:08 AM | #290 |
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Reading through this thread has convinced me that die and fish should team up to do a podcast about kamen rider together as they mesh so well in personality. Then again fish is one of my favorite people here as is die, so I may be biased.
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