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06-15-2020, 11:09 AM | #691 |
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06-15-2020, 12:02 PM | #692 |
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At first, I thought that. It seemed like the show was hinting at Kusaka's foul deeds with him unable to cleanse his hands of all of the blood.
But then they're like Hey Mari Got Hurt At The Reunion And Kusaka Got Blood On His Hands And He Blames Himself For Failing Her, and... I guess that's it? It's more literal, and a lot less fun. I don't know. I definitely like it better if it's guilt, and not guilt plus a memory. Quote:
I think there are a couple other wrinkles. First, Mari still believes in Takumi, so killing him eliminates a competitor for Mari's attention. Second, I think it's also that Takumi's reached the end of his usefulness. Kusaka doesn't currently have a huge problem keeping Yuuji alive, because Yuuji has a beef with Smart Brain and that can be leveraged for Kusaka's benefit. Takumi's joined up with Smart Brain, so he's got to go.
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I mean, it's such a Kamen Rider thing, isn't it, Suicide By Combat? (I mean, there're probably some roots in ancient Japanese society, but that's above my paygrade.) It's not just that Takumi wants to be killed by someone, but that he has to be defeated and killed. Dude definitely wants to feel punished!
This is the third time Takumi tried to get himself killed. First by Kiba after Mari's death, second by Faiz and now by Kaixa, who actually wants to kill him. Well the conclusion of her arc is yet to come but I think maybe there was a lot of unseen potential with her interactions like when Takumi asked her for advice about Kiba. She's an important character but she does feel detached from most of the story, possibly due to the focus on those Ryusei School guys ever since the Delta arc.
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06-15-2020, 01:12 PM | #693 |
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Well the conclusion of her arc is yet to come but I think maybe there was a lot of unseen potential with her interactions like when Takumi asked her for advice about Kiba. She's an important character but she does feel detached from most of the story, possibly due to the focus on those Ryusei School guys ever since the Delta arc.
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06-15-2020, 10:16 PM | #694 |
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KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 38
--1-- Alright! Had my Nando's for dinner, watched a Faiz, gonna have one of those Insomnia cookies from last night after writing this up. Let's talk Kamen Rider! One of the things I like about the villains on Faiz is that they're so much more competent than the heroes. Not more effective, necessarily (there're too many dead Orphnochs to claim that), but there's a professionalism to them that I really appreciate. To paraphrase Emma Stone in Maniac, they're not crazy, they're goal-oriented. (Give or take a Kitazaki, who's back like he never left. They even bring back up the Kill Kiba bet, which, how long ago was that a thing, a year ago? A hundred years?) I think a lot of it comes down not to the structure of the show, or the teamwork of the Orphnochs, but to Murakami. God, I really like Murakami. He's like a less ridiculous, more ruthless Kougami from OOO. I totally buy that this dude could both run a hugely successful company, and motivate a variety of monsters. There's a... calmness, maybe, to his performance? The same focus and dedication he applies to spreadsheets and mergers, I feel like he's that way with building up the Orphnoch army he needs to rule the world. (Or whatever his goal is. I genuinely don't know what this is all supposed to be leading up to, if I'm even meant to. In all of the fun emotional stuff, I very much lost the thread of what Smart Brain wants.) He's got a flexibility that I find difficult to root against, a sense that he's judging each circumstance individually rather than by some strict code. Like, the Evil Mad Bomber that got caught mad bombing, when Murakami tells Kageyama to get rid of him, it's not because he mad bombed a bunch of stuff against orders, it's that he got caught by the cops. That's refreshingly level-headed! In general, everything Murakami does in pursuit of his villainy, I get it. I get why he tolerates some people, and disposes of others. I get why he has faith in his plans, even if it's not clear that he should. I just... I think he's neat. He's an approachable villain, if that makes sense. --2-- On the other hand, Kusaka, which, maybe time to cancel that dude. He's confronted by Mari over him attempting to kill Takumi. She screams at him that she can't trust him, that she trusts Takumi more. He slaps her in the face. No. Just, no. I'm not sure the show knows what it's doing here? I hope it does. I hope it understands the weight of Kusaka hitting Mari in the middle of an argument. It treats the aftermath as... not exactly an explanation, but with enough There's Something You Don't Know that it's uncomfortable. I get that a monster like Kusaka would have some bullshit excuse for why he's sorry, he won't do it again, he would never, but she doesn't understand what's really going on, etc. But Mari hearing him out is... no. Just, no. Basically over Kusaka now. Your mileage may vary! --3-- Washing the taste of that scene out of my mouth, hey, let's talk about how the whole storyline about acceptance swings (briefly, but still) back to Mari. The show seems to make the point in this episode that it's not Takumi's responsibility to try and win Mari over to accepting him, it's Mari's. She screwed up. She hurt him, and she needs to fix it. There's a lot I've enjoyed about this storyline, and this is another super smart move. Takumi tried to fit into a shape she'd be comfortable with, and she turned him away. It's up to her to confront her biases, get over them, and patch things up with a friend she hurt. Like, that's it, that's all she can do, and it's a pretty mature story to tell. It's not just about apologizing, it's about becoming a better person to better support your friends. It's about acknowledging the innate humanity of everyone, even if you find it confusing or uncomfortable. It's about doing the hard work of, not excusing your mistakes, but confronting them and atoning for them. Just, man, real into this part of the show. --4-- Also, there are super-powered men fighting monsters, if that's something you care about. (I'm probably on the wrong board for that.) Both of the final battles had some very fun ideas in them, enough that I feel like I want to talk about them. I hope that's cool! It's tough to talk about Kamen Rider 555 fights, I've found. They're very fun, but, like, sort-of inessential? It doesn't feel like there's a lot of storytelling to them. There are fun effects, and good choreography, and neat designs, and cool songs, but a lot of what I have to say about them is There Was A Cool Fight. Doesn't really seem worth bringing up? With these, each had something that I felt elevated it above the baseline. The Kitazaki/Faiz fight, I love that Kitazaki has multiple phases to his Orphnoch form. I like that there's a slow, tough outer shell that he can shed to be a fast, lithe striker. It's a move I wasn't expecting in the fight, which made it really work for me. I thought we'd get indifferent Kitazaki, ignoring Faiz's blows, No-Sell Boss style. But then he's everywhere, running rings around Faiz Accel. It's a great twist in the fight, and a solid indication that Kitazaki is as serious as it gets. The Murakami/Wolfeyes fight was just gorgeous. (And funny, with an all-time great Mihara contribution, see below.) Two Orphnochs fighting can be a little bland, visually. It's two white suits, swiping at each other. With Murakami, we get this whirlwind of rose petals, enveloping both fighters and exploding around Takumi. It's a beautiful sequence, ending with some great shots of Murakami and Takumi, tiny in the frame, with Murakami slowly choking Takumi to death. It's a neat idea, to place it so far from the viewer. When it's up-close, large in the frame, you're Takumi. It's a fight for your survival, you feel like you can affect the outcome. When they push it out, farther from the camera, you're a helpless participant. It makes the action seem unstoppable, something you can only watch in fear. Smart camera moves! --5-- I'm generally liking how this series is approaching its final episodes. It's maybe not the mix of characters or stories I was expecting, but this installment really felt like it was tooled up to conclude things. The threads are all being pulled closer together, and it really feels like time is running out for the good guys. Thankfully, Mihara's ready to OH OUCH DAMN
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06-15-2020, 10:57 PM | #695 |
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Yeeeeeah Kusaka hitting Mari isn't great. Not that I find it particularly out-of-character for the people involved, but it's treated simply as just one more instance of Kusaka's facade cracking instead of the tipping (spilling, really) point that it should be. I don't think the show realises that action is on a completely different level from everything else he's done.
Better things to think about are Murakami. I don't know why I seemed to have completely forgot about him sometime after I finished watching the show, because he's actually pretty cool as the big-brained leader of Smart Brain. Not that much depth, but that's on par with Lucky Clover. Then again, I somehow also forgot that Kitazaki has an 'Accel Mode' of his own. If he was still Delta at this point, wouldn't it be funny if he just could move that fast on his own because he felt like it? Speaking of, Mari has a flashback that shows Kitazaki there during all the traumatic stuff, and it's probably fair to assume that he's more responsible for all that slaughtering that happened that day instead of Takumi. You mentioned that you like Mari has to make up for how she treated Takumi, and I do too, so that's why this revelation kinda bugged me a bit? Obviously I get why they wouldn't just have Takumi responsible for killing a whole bunch of Mari's old classmates, but the way this plays out now, it feels less like Mari is getting over her biases and more like 'hey it turns out I was just mistaken and never had any reason to be afraid of Takumi after all'. I wished her inevitable coming-around to Takumi would have been more remembering how close they've gotten over the last 30+ episodes and that becoming more powerful than her fears stemming from the past. Again though, maybe actually making Takumi responsible for her trauma would be too much, even if it was something like him going berserk due to a full moon or something, so I understand this decision. Last edited by FreshToku; 06-15-2020 at 11:02 PM.. |
06-15-2020, 11:08 PM | #696 |
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Yeeeeeah Kusaka hitting Mari isn't great. Not that I find it particularly out-of-character for the people involved, but it's treated simply as just one more instance of Kusaka's facade cracking instead of the tipping (spilling, really) point that it should be. I don't think the show realises that action is on a completely different level from everything else he's done.
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Speaking of, Mari has a flashback that shows Kitazaki there during all the traumatic stuff, and it's probably fair to assume that he's more responsible for all that slaughtering that happened that day instead of Takumi. You mentioned that you like Mari has to make up for how she treated Takumi, and I do too, so that's why this revelation kinda bugged me a bit?
Obviously I get why they wouldn't just have Takumi responsible for killing a whole bunch of Mari's old classmates, but the way this plays out now, it feels less like Mari is getting over her biases and more like 'hey it turns out I was just mistaken and never had any reason to be afraid of Takumi after all'. I wished her inevitable coming-around to Takumi would have been more remembering how close they've gotten over the last 30+ episodes and that becoming more powerful than her fears stemming from the past. Again though, maybe actually making Takumi responsible for her trauma would be too much, even if it was something like him going berserk due to a full moon or something, so I understand this decision. And, yeah, it's not great that Mari's epiphany is more about, like, Takumi being One of The Good Ones (ugh), but I'll try and withhold judgment until I see how the show plays it. In fairness, she was 99% of the way to fixing herself before she remembered that stuff about Kitazaki.
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06-16-2020, 12:15 AM | #697 |
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That sort of stuff wouldn’t bother me if this episode had spent more time on Takumi’s story, or even Kusaka’s story. (It sure as shit didn’t bother me last episode!) But this one has time for all these subplots with background characters, but there’s so many regulars we barely see. Even Keitaro’s just in one small scene. Maybe he’d do better with the blonde hair again?
I wonder that you think of this as a weird, but when I talk about people probably (just probably) can think of Kaido as inconsistent, you agreed with that. The thing is people also can watch fiction as escapism with all the powerful badass characters doing awesome things so they can feel the badassness by proxy. To see Mihara denying that, either it would deny their wish of watching this or thinking it's stupid for someone to be denied power in a dangerous hostile world. Quote:
Yeah, I think the show avoids some of the pitfalls of the trope by a) having Mari find out almost immediately and get mad at Keitaro and Kusaka for hiding it from her; and b) making her reaction less about Takumi being an Orphnoch and more about him being the Orphnoch that traumatized her. There's a specificity to it that overcomes a lot of the negatives for me.
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Feel hilarious that this discussion we just had... is brought up on episode 37, where Kusaka tried to push the same thing on Team Faiz regarding Takumi, bringing out Sawada who betrayed the Team Faiz' trust. I understand what you're talking about here though; Sawada's humanity is only a delusional optimism, while Takumi's humanity has been proven, albeit shaken by the Lucky Clover getting the recording of Wolf Orphnoch slaughtering Ryusei alumnis. And also others are trying to reach out Sawada who's closed off, but here Takumi's the one trying to reach out others with others closed off (though I don't really feel like others are closed off, except Mari at first, they're just shaken but they acknowledge Takumi's humanity and importance to them). Quote:
It's probably more that Yuuji sees a kinship in Takumi that he didn't before. They were friends who had a falling out, but now they have a shared experience. Yuuji, I think, is very excited to have that commonality with Takumi, and that's why he tells the others so quickly. This is a very big deal for Yuuji!
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06-16-2020, 12:27 AM | #698 |
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This is the point where I was probably a bit lower on the series than you are. There are still a few good stuff left (and when Faiz gets good it's really good), but Murakami didn't click for me (I understand your reasoning but he's just not that interesting to me for some reason), while the jarring transitioning between sub-plot/characters and uneven pacing have become increasingly noticeable. It felt like they're attempting to juggle too many balls than what they can handle.
I mean.. who really gives a damn about Mihara's story at this point of narrative and with everything else that's been going on (even with the occasional hilarity he provides!). Quote:
Yeeeeeah Kusaka hitting Mari isn't great. Not that I find it particularly out-of-character for the people involved, but it's treated simply as just one more instance of Kusaka's facade cracking instead of the tipping (spilling, really) point that it should be. I don't think the show realises that action is on a completely different level from everything else he's done.
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06-16-2020, 01:24 AM | #699 |
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--2--
On the other hand, Kusaka, which, maybe time to cancel that dude. He’s confronted by Mari over him attempting to kill Takumi. She screams at him that she can’t trust him, that she trusts Takumi more. He slaps her in the face. No. Just, no. I’m not sure the show knows what it’s doing here? I hope it does. I hope it understands the weight of Kusaka hitting Mari in the middle of an argument. It treats the aftermath as… not exactly an explanation, but with enough There’s Something You Don’t Know that it’s uncomfortable. I get that a monster like Kusaka would have some bullshit excuse for why he’s sorry, he won’t do it again, he would never, but she doesn’t understand what’s really going on, etc. But Mari hearing him out is… no. Just, no. Basically over Kusaka now. Your mileage may vary! Quote:
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06-16-2020, 09:14 AM | #700 |
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--2--
On the other hand, Kusaka, which, maybe time to cancel that dude. He’s confronted by Mari over him attempting to kill Takumi. She screams at him that she can’t trust him, that she trusts Takumi more. He slaps her in the face. No. Just, no. I’m not sure the show knows what it’s doing here? I hope it does. I hope it understands the weight of Kusaka hitting Mari in the middle of an argument. It treats the aftermath as… not exactly an explanation, but with enough There’s Something You Don’t Know that it’s uncomfortable. I get that a monster like Kusaka would have some bullshit excuse for why he’s sorry, he won’t do it again, he would never, but she doesn’t understand what’s really going on, etc. But Mari hearing him out is… no. Just, no. Basically over Kusaka now. Your mileage may vary! Quote:
--555--
I’m generally liking how this series is approaching its final episodes. It’s maybe not the mix of characters or stories I was expecting, but this installment really felt like it was tooled up to conclude things. The threads are all being pulled closer together, and it really feels like time is running out for the good guys. Thankfully, Mihara’s ready to OH OUCH DAMN
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