So I'm not a fan of Justi-Faiz but the bit at the start of the chorus is very good and I'll often catch myself singing that line and only that line how's that for a Faiz hot take.

Do you know how many times I'll randomly sing "Can You Feel" in a day? A lot. A lot of times.

It's all about "Ima hitori-hitori no mune no naka", I'm telling you.

I can't ever really remember/pronounce Japanese enough to sing along with it... except for "Double wo sagase", from the end of the Double theme song. Look out for Double! It's a good rule!

Oh, I copied this from the wiki. I can go off sounds, and while I'm sure some wil tell me I'm not experiencing toku properly unless it's in the original Japanese, allow me to retort - no.

Ditto. It's the repetition of the hitori-s.

Back with the discussion of the episodes, I think episode 24 might just have my favourite cliffhanger in Kamen Rider EVER. You know they’ll get the Faiz and Kaixa gears back, but the question is how they’re going to do it without backup gears to fall on? Or indeed, another Rider with his own gear?

It's a really great cliffhanger!

If it were any other show, the How Are They Going To Get Out Of This One factor would be off the charts. For Faiz, though? I feel like an elaborate, episode-long heist is as likely as the scene after the opening credits just being Takumi and Kusaka having already regained their belts. I'm not really counting on the show having a stellar answer for this cliffhanger! It's... it isn't really what this show's about, you know?

God, I remember this scene. It was just... it was just so funny how after almost a whole half-season of the main villains trying to get their hands on the belts, Kaido just does the stupidest thing and gets them in two seconds. Ridiculous.

It gets back to why I love the episodes where it's all romantic comedy and people taking jobs at pizza places. The plan to pretend to be cops in order to waltz away with belts in broad daylight, it's utterly ridiculous and completely in-character for a plan Kaido would make. There was probably a whiteboard full of ideas Kaido had that were either partially-formed fragments ("Coat them in oil and maybe the belts slide off", "Distracted by solar eclipse???") or stuff they'd already bought props for ("We are the Kamen Riders' dads and we demand the belts", there's a pile of wigs and fake beards alongside a shirt that says Proud Parent Of A Kamen Rider).

This character is so cartoonish that a cartoony plan completely works within the reality of the show. It's so great.

My roommate and I sang Justi-Faiz during a Cosplay Karaoke a few years back, it was a great time.

https://66.media.tumblr.com/7af51c6f...99qqo1_640.jpg
(I'm W and my buddy is Diend)

Ha ha, that's awesome! And a killer lineup of characters. I'd watch that Movie War!

https://66.media.tumblr.com/c1dd720c...e24aaa4df1.jpg
I'm just assuming the Lucky Clover be like this, from what I've heard.

You're thinking of a certain AU... but I'll leave it there for Die's sake

I feel the management structure for Murakami and Lucky Clover is that he's a very I Don't Like To Think Of Myself As A Boss boss. Let's just all collaborate. I want you to feel like you're being heard.

The more I think about it, I'm pretty sure Murakami is Hank Scorpio.

https://media.giphy.com/media/xT5LMJ...t04w/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/3orifa...PIas/giphy.gif

I think I've seen that. And I'd forgotten that I'd seen it. Time really do be like that.

I can't say nothing except that with it already happened, just pity for the bad things happened there, and just learn to prevent that happening again. Also with you talking about police brutality, for some reason I thought it's related to Kaido and Kouhai at the end...

I don't know if it's because Lucky Clover isn't as dysfunctional as the 2 trios? Or it's because they don't impact the 2 trios that much other than being the occassional target as per Smart Brain rules? (which will reduce their internally generated sthick?) Them being solely focused on their mission (this one can be a good or bad thing depending on the person tbh IMO, including Team Faiz and Renegades' emphasis on daily life)? Wondering. About Kusaka, so yeah his hatred for Orphnoch still exists and related here, he only wants to be the pretender to Smart Brain and destroy them from the inside, though I don't know what decides Kusaka to do this, he only recently know Lucky Clover (or Smart Brain)? With 50% fine of killing him, that'd hinder Kusaka's scheme against them I suppose, rather than him being targeted Orphnochs yet again (he relishes on fighting them), and that Kusaka has met his match, Lucky Clover being another schemer that he'd not easily manipulate.

Nice job breaking it, Yuka... for you to jump into the conclusions of her Mari-ing (pun intended) and interested in becoming a bride, something's wrong with you (not morally or sanity, but your perception).... If a girl is not interested, a much more extravagant level of flirting like that (jumping to marrying!) would be even worse. Other than that, Kaido gets another chance to be a mentor yet.. again. Though obviously in his own twisted ways of convincing someone to be drunk with power (and talking about standard evil plan). He saved him before knowing he's an Orphnoch though... Also the 2 Orphnoch fought like Takuma before, but why this time the belt isn't as easily removed? And even if the cartoonish vibe of the plan is the appeal... I wonder how did they get a police's outfit (and changes in that) or a police car/bike.... in such a short time. Also here comes a female Rider.

Oh, an excuse to keep the heroes alive!

It's good to see everyone appreciating how great Justifaiz is, but if we're talking catchy Rider theme songs, there's really no beating Be The One. The flow of the repeated "e" sounds in "nanika wo tasuke, sukutte dakishime, kokoro ni furete, to~doku yo, tsutaware" is unreal. This is only barely on-topic and I'm going to have to apologize to Die for getting the song stuck in his head again, but you know, I just feel these things are important to say. I really needed to send this message and let it ring out. :p

On the actual subject of the thread, though, I love Kaidou's dumb plan immensely too, and what's crazy is, I remember during my rewatch thinking the way Takkun and Kusaka undo their transformations before giving chase to two monsters was pushing it... and never once stopping to ask if Kaidou's plan itself crosses the line. It truly does fit his character so well I'd never question it. It is the absolute definition of "just stupid enough to work".

Also, real talk? I think Murakami is a pretty fair boss all things considered. He makes big shady power plays, and is quick to throw out threats to anyone who crosses him, yeah, but he also gives his underlings a lot more space than most evil leaders in tokusatsu. The main bad guy in a Showa Era series would've executed Mr. J just for having the nerve to still be alive after his first failure, and then genetically re-engineered Chaco into some mindless killing machine to make up the difference. Murakami is just the best of the best trying to make sure humanity isn't the lowest of the low! Encouraging evolution is a noble goal, right? :D

More minor translation cop business for episode 24: Kusaka telling Takumi his past is "with Mari" should definitely be more like "is the same as Mari's" for clarity's sake. I think TV-N felt a little unsure of how to handle it because the word issho can mean "together" in a lot of different ways, but this one actually is meant to be a cryptic hint to future plot revelations.

Be The One is indeed very catchy, but have you considered:

S U R P R I S E

~sekaijuu ga Drive~

Dang it, is this how I just made Die feel?

Because it's not a bad feeling at all!

I think the thing that really ended up working for me with Lucky Clover is how we first see them hanging out, having a drink. It sets a unique tone for them as a group. I think I called them a "social club" before, rather than a villain group, and that's a very fun dynamic. Even groups that we see hanging out in other series like OOO or Kuuga or Drive, those scenes are largely about specific power structures and immediate goals. With Lucky Clover, it feels more like they're just enjoying some time at a bar, relaxing, and then they'll go do villain stuff later.

Well, Yuka's setting Kaido up here. She wants Kaido for herself, and that'll never happen as long as Mari is a possibility. She knows how Mari would react to a proposal (not well), which is why she suggests it to Kaido. It all blowing up in his face was exactly what she wanted!

I pretty much just want to see Kaido winning constantly with cartoon premises. There is no limit to the idiotic stuff you could have him try. Like, I gotta think Kouhai talked him out of dressing up as Mari and trying to trick the belts off of the Riders that way, or maybe having the two of them create a pantomime ride machine and, when one of the Riders got on, they'd jump out and grab the belt. All of these ideas, none of them are too stupid to have worked.

He's a really solid supervisor! I mean, Hank Scorpio is pretty much a dream boss, right? With Murakami, he's not great to his Smart Brain employees, but he really treats Lucky Clover with an appropriate amount of respect. He wants results, but he understands the difference between someone failing and someone being a failure.

Third favorite theme song, W-B-X.

Second favorite theme song, Be The One.

First favorite theme song, SURPRISE DRIVE. It has the best opening, that squealing guitar and propulsive drumming, the announcer saying "START -- YOUR ENGINES", the staccato rhythm right up until "Fire Up/Ignition", and then the guitar speeds up... it's so good! It's the best theme song for a Kamen Rider!

Brb, I'm gonna go write a Kamen Rider theme tier list and post it in a thread, seems like a valuable use of my time.

I’ll just say this:

There is only one Kamen Rider theme song that‘s so catchy it randomly pops into my head at least once a week.

https://youtu.be/trT3e7juaCs

Well if we're talking catchiest Showa openings the answer is obviously Amazon!

https://youtu.be/wYHDAf6xidA

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 25

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz25a.png

--1--

Kusaka has some of the best facial acting of anyone in a Kamen Rider, ever. I think maybe 60% of it is those eyebrows, the ridiculous intensity they add to everything he says or does. But he really does make a meal out of every expression, finding some little tic or flared nostril or slightly curled lip to really drive home how messed-up he is.

It's an acting choice that probably wouldn't work on another show. There's not much that's small about Kusaka's choices, you know? The character is very broad, as portrayed here. But Faiz is such an overheated show, it's hard to say it doesn't work. It works great for me, anyway.

--2--

Which is good, since there's a shit-ton of Kusaka in this episode. There're only two plots, and Takumi and Kusaka are really the only reps for Team Faiz's plotline. (Mari's in one set-up scene, and Keitaro gets so into his role as a cleaner that he vacuums dirt instead of saving Kusaka.)

Normally, I'd think a story where Takumi and Kusaka would have to work together to escape from Smart Brain HQ would lead to a bunch of buddy comedy bits, insights into how they'd work together to survive, that sort of thing. Nope! It's all weird Ryusei Cram School ("Go Meteors!”) stuff, and it's... I mean, there ain't a lot here.

It's shot well, I'll give it that. The transition from Smart Brain's clean surfaces and fluorescent bulbs to the Ryusei School's damp atmosphere and purple lighting takes us from a heist story to a horror story in one scene change. It's terribly effective at heightening the tension, making survival seem unlikely. It's very cool to watch.

It's just, other than some cool fights, it's way more mysterious than it needs to be. My rule of thumb for mysteries is One Answer For Every Two Questions. A worse ratio than that, you've lost my interest. Here, it's all questions. Why is the Ryusei School in the basement of Smart Brain? Why is there a new belt? Why is it killing people? What does Orphan Daddy want? Why is he in the Ryusei School? Why is he screaming at Kusaka to FIGHT? Did he get Shiro's script from Ryuki by accident? Is Kusaka going to have to keep killing Orphnochs to save Mari from a coma? Does this make Takumi Shinji, or Kitaoka? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

All of these questions will probably be relevant at the end of the series, but right here it was just too much, too fast.

--3--

And that's a shame, since the Kaido plotline totally delivered for me.

Kaido's someone that has maybe the broadest range of anyone in the cast. Last episode, it was pure comedy. Him swooning over all of Yuka's compliments, his ridiculous marriage proposal, the fact that the fake monster attack he does with Kouhai uses Thriller choreography... it's a whole episode of him being a giant cartoon.

But then this one, it's pure sadness. He wanted to be rid of his humanity, but he can't do it. He doesn't see the value in the family he's made, but he can't throw them away. There's a sweet story about acceptance in this one, about Kaido concentrating on what he has rather than what he doesn't.

It's amazing how well the actor sells it, making Kaido's return to the fold of Team Orphnoch feel both like the best of bad options, as well as something he's grown to love.

--4--

Both stories get incredibly cool fight scenes to close out the episode.

The Takumi/Kusaka vs Faiz/Kaixa fight does some fun tricks with lighting and shutter speed, making the fight appear quicker and more disorienting than normal. I liked how, despite the appearance of Orphan Daddy, the fight's won by Takumi using what's at hand (a killer belt) to get the belts back on our heroes. (Last episode's fight was all about undressing, while this one has undressing and dressing! Escalation!) It's a fun fight.

The Horsepower vs Rabbitpunch fight, it's a decent brawl that has a great, emotional hook in the middle. The disappointment Kaido feels in Kouhai, the way he tells Kouhai that if he needs to hit someone, hit Kaido... so great. While the Rider fight is stylish and clever without having much weight behind it, the Orphnoch fight feels like it's about something, something that matters to the characters beyond their survival.

--5--

Yeah, the Orphnoch stuff really landed for me, while the Faiz stuff was fun to watch but nothing I'd really dwell on.

Except for Kusaka's facial expressions as he revisits the figurative and literal ghosts of his past, because those are glorious.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz25b.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz25c.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz25d.png

Actually, I was asking about why Lucky Clover stuff isn't on par with the others like the 2 trios.

I forgot to talk over about theme songs. I already talked about my opinions to Justifaiz early on, and I also have memorized all its lyrics (and lemme test myself here without looking at the other sources).

Hirogaru uchuu no naka can you feel
Chiisa na hoshi no hanashi wo shiyou
Tell me the truth shinjite ta mirai ga
Kurure sarou to shiteru

Kanashimi wo kurikaeshi
Boku ra wa doko e yuku no darou

(Chorus) Ima hitori hitori no mune no naka
Me wo samase the time to go
Tsuyoku aru tame ni
Mata mamoru koto to tatakau koto
Dilemma wa owaranai hashiri tsuzukete mo
The end Justifaiz the means!

Ashita no kono sora sae keep you real
Eien ja nai kamo shire nai
Over again messeeji wo okuru
Byouyomi wa hajimatta

Boku ra ni wa mada kiito
Yaru beki koto ga aru no nara

(Chorus)

Also instrumental version of the song used in Climax Heroes (that got replaced by People With No Name following Fourze, a song that I don't get as invested as Justifaiz)
[URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU47OnesWuU[/URL]

Oh! Sorry, I didn't get that.

I guess, for me, it's that we spend way more time with Team Faiz and Team Orphnoch. We've seen them change and grow. For Lucky Clover, there's not that much interiority to the characters, no sense of who they are when they aren't in Lucky Clover. You'd have to completely reorient the show to make them work as well as the other two groups, and I'm not sure it'd be worth it?

Man, I don't know if that's right, but it looks pretty right to me! Excellent work!

Orphan Daddy here making his appearance with that exact same Mirror World sound effect (or at least something really similar), and immediately telling Kusaka to 'Tatakae!' was very surreal. Just imagine that he handed Kaixa a Survive Card and it wouldn't be much more out of place...

Honestly, all of the early 70s, horn-based theme songs tend to blur together for me. Amazon, in particular, I can never fully remember.

For today's casting trivia, Orphan Daddy is played by the late Koji Naka, who had formerly played mentor figure Master Kaku on Dairanger. He passed away in 2015, the same year as Yuuji's actor, Masayuki Izumi.

Look since we’re wasting threadspace talking about themes, I’ll just share my personal favourites here and move on to talking about the episode. https://mobile.twitter.com/4thdocact...63352606052352

Given what I’ve heard about Inoue not getting along with Yasuko Kobayashi, I can’t help but wonder if the Rabbit Orphnoch’s name (Yoshio Kobayashi) and horrific death are a coincidence or a take that.

Also, we learn that the third rider gear is designated “Delta”. Expect him to show up soon.

YES.:rock: I mean I kinda dozed off during the middle of the show but boy does that theme song get a person upbeat. Kamen Rider Eternal really did that song justice.

Oh boy, here we go again. Yuka isn't spiteful enough to sabotage Kaido's love for Mari. She just wants what's best for him. You've got it backwards. Yuka isn't trying to destroy Kaido/Mari, she's trying too hard to make it happen. She's projecting her own desire on to Mari to understand why such an infallible guys keeps getting rejected and concludes that the only thing better than being his girlfriend is being his wife. From her perspective, she would agree to marry Kaido if he proposed to her, so Mari should agree as well. It doesn't work since it's too much escalation and she fails to consider that maybe her idolization of Kaido isn't universally shared by all girls.

Yuka's suggestion may have damaged Kaido's chance but she didn't do it intentionally! That's why she was watching from behind the wall, waiting for Mari to finally reciprocate his love and annoyed when Kaido is rejected once more. She thinks she's trying to do Mari a favor by giving her what she would want and feels that Mari is being ungrateful and doesn't realize how great Kaido is. It's the same when Mari calls him an idiot, Yuka can't see how anybody could fault him.

His eyebrows are so expressive that the Kaixa manga caricatured them to resemble an X. I call them Kaixabrows!

Takumi said he would repay his debt to Kusaka for getting back Faiz Gear and this is how he does it, by saving him from Smart Brain. I also love how the secret elevator transitions from the rescue to the horror of the mysterious Ryusei School and underground dark laboratory with the failed prototype Gears and the first appearance of Mari's and Kusaka's adoptive father, the former president of Smart Brain. It's way more than they bargained for and Murakami knows they saw something they shouldn't have, sending Takuma and Saeko to pursue them as Faiz and Kaixa respectively with no apparent way for Takumi and Kusaka to defend themselves. It's definitely a major plot twist and a payoff for the ambiguous trapped miner subplot that had been otherwise irrelevant until now.

Kaido's life goes in a circle. His dream was over before he was turned. He thought becoming an Orphenoch would give him new purpose but he couldn't bring himself to kill humans. He thought Faiz would give him new purpose but career was short-lived as he couldn't bring himself to kill Kiba. He thought a relationship with Mari would give him new purpose but she wouldn't reciprocate. He thought joining Lucky Clover would give him new purpose but once more, he couldn't bring himself to kill Kiba.

Kaido already has something important that he takes for granted, his friendship with Kiba and Yuka. He led Rabbit astray so when Rabbit attacks Kiba and holds Yuka captive, I think it's a great development for Kaido who previously only cared about himself to accept responsibility for his mistake and come to their aid the way they came to his. He's like Takumi in that way, a man without a dream, but he has a purpose. He didn't ask for it, he didn't want it, but it's something that belongs to him. He doesn't want to lose his friends in Team Orphenoch even if he won't admit it.

I guess I'll be the first to mention this as well but the last piece of Kaixa Gear, the Kaixa Pointer, dramatically fell through the ceiling in to Kaixa's possession. Unlike Shot, Pointer has a unique design shaped like binoculars. Functionally, it's the same as Faiz Pointer but twice as strong!

I think they could've omitted Kaixa Shot so then he could equip Pointer in the left slot instead of the rear which looks like it would be harder to reach and easier for others to pickpocket. Notice how Faiz's rear slot is always empty.

Good job! I only bother to memorize the first verse of most songs. However, you know the second verse has its own lyrics for the chorus right?

My top 5 Heisei KR theme songs are:

5) Warera Omou Yueni Warera Ari
4) Justifaiz
3) NEXT LEVEL
2) Life IS Showtime
1) Be The One

I thought I was being pranked. I'm like, did Inoue not watch any episodes of Ryuki besides his own? Did he not know that a disembodied voice commanding people to fight was basically the main character of the show? Like, it's funny, but it is enormously distracting. I honestly couldn't focus on what Orphan Daddy was saying because I was just thinking about whether or not I actually heard someone tell a Kamen Rider to TATAKAE.

It would be like if midway through Ghost, you heard someone shouting TIRE KOUKAN as he used the Enzo Ferrari Eyecon in the middle of a huge revelation. Like, it'd be awesome, but there's no way I'm paying attention to the next twenty seconds of TV show.

Neat! And sad!

Oh, golly, I hope not. That'd be a bummer.

Yeah, I sort-of figured! Exciting!

Everything about that theme song is designed to get you hyped for a adventure program. Perfectly designed. But I'd expect nothing less from Eternal!

Maybe I'm misinterpreting it, but in Episode 24, Yuka slowly smiles as she watches Mari scream at Kaido that he's an idiot while attacking him with flowers. I definitely feel like she set Kaido up!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/yuka1.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/yuka2.png

Perfect! Love it!

I just love how last place Kiba and Yuka are for Kaido. He's basically lost everything, and they're what's left, so okay fine. It's such a perfectly Faiz emotional climax. What on another show would be a stirring declaration of friendship and togetherness is just I'm Less Terrible At Being With These Nerds Than I Am At Everything Else.

When I saw Kaixa's new gear, and I saw that it was double the barrels of Faiz's, all I could think of was Tarn from Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye. He's such a Megatron fanboy that he has two fusion cannons. I definitely said this out loud during Kaixa's finisher:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/megatron.png

The Ghost theme song is one that really didn't work for me, until it all of a sudden did. Snuck up on me for sure. Good list!

:eek:

:)

I think it'd be quicker to list the ones that don't work for me? Kabuto, Wizard and Drive. Rider (and Toku in general) is consistently good on OPs

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 26

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz26a.png

--1--

Torn on this one!

Aesthetically, this episode is sumptuous. The cinematography is jaw-dropping. The music (or lack thereof!) is perfectly deployed to heighten every emotion. It's an episode that eschews all of the things that make Faiz Faiz, in favor of finding a new way into these characters, this premise. There's a grounded nature to what's happening that makes it all feel like a slow collapse, the inevitability of misfortune.

Narratively, it's kind-of a nothingburger? It goes in hard on the return of the Ryusei Cram School alumni ("Go Meteors!"), bolstering the dwindling ranks of nobodies with a few more nobodies. You could cut almost all of the dialogue scenes with the human characters and just have them all saying Delta Is Coming. Almost all of the narrative energy is centered on Kusaka's reactions to what's happening, and holy shit do I not like Kusaka in that way.

This one, it's like lipstick on a pig.

--2--

Pretty great lipstick, though!

Visually, it feels like the director read this script and went Oh Man I'm Going To Have To Save This One. So many fun tricks to make a bunch of shitty dialogue scenes work at all.

The best one, by a mile, is the one with Houjou and Kageyama and Murakami. They're in this art gallery, and it's rectangles of flat colors, each of them looking at a different painting. As the scene starts, the camera focuses on the person listening, not the person talking. It's a brilliant choice, making the reaction matter more than the action. It matters more how someone is processing the information, how they're conveying it on their face, than what the information is. (Mostly because the information is that Lucky Clover doesn't like that Murakami is keeping secrets. There is not a lot there!) It sucks you completely into the scene.

The other scenes are no slouch! The scene where Takumi finds out Kimura is a nekojita, and he gets up from the opposing couch to sit next to her and be polite, and it's all one shot. The breakfast scene, where the action (Kusaka and Mari) is one shot, and the reaction (Takumi and Keitaro) is the other shot, a bisected setup. A beautiful static shot of a doorframe, and Kusaka leans back into it to start his line.

And, god, every single one of the new Orphnoch's scenes. The way the bus he's on goes into the tunnel, blacking everything out, and he's illuminated by the burning origami crane? Yes.

--3--

And the sound! Such smart choices!

Up until the end, it's all diegetic sound, which pays such enormous dividends for this episode. Even if you don't notice it, it's changing your perception of the story. Instead of fun music or tense music or spooky music, there's just... scenes. It's not telling you how to feel about it. It's not leading you emotionally. It's just saying Here. Here is a story. It's happening. Watch.

And those scenes with Skullcandy, the EDM Orphnoch, amazing. Amazing. The first attack was brilliant, only the second scene in the whole episode with any music in it. (There's a radio playing as Takumi works the counter.) The camera zooms in on his headphones, music filling the soundstage, slowly drowning out all of the incidental noises. Then a monster enters the frame. No screams, just panicked victims, trapped with a monster. The music not sculpting the emotion, but adding to the wrongness of the scene. This isn't right. This isn't what a monster attack is supposed to be like.

The second attack twists it, leading with one track and then zooming into the headphones for a harsher, more aggressive track.The killing happens with club lights and dance music, wrong, all wrong. The last victim is another Orphnoch, caught up in the carnage.

It's all so purposeful, finding a way to let us know that this isn't just a more powerful monster, but a killer that we haven't previously had to contemplate. This isn't a funny monster, this is an inhuman beast. It's taking Faiz, the funny show about jerks, and making it into an episode of Kuuga.

--4--

I got a little disappointed at the way the big Fighting Score came up after Kaixa ran after the Drop Bear Orphnoch. (What in the hell was it doing on top of a wall?) I thought they'd go the whole episode without non-diegetic music, and I was so ready to knock points off for ruining it. But they did it so they could drop it all out again. Kaixa rounds the corner and sees the tunnel. He freezes. It's just the sound of him breathing, hard. It's fear. You can hear it in his breathing. Faiz rolls up, sees Kaixa immobilized. He tenses. It's all tension, speaker to speaker. The Orphnoch stumbles out of the tunnel, burning in red flames.

Delta.

It's Delta who did this.

--5--

And, like, hopefully I described that in a way that sounds like it worked it pretty well! That's the stuff I like talking about, the stuff that works. Because I could've done points 2 through 4 on how much no one cares about random Ryusei Cram School alumni ("Go Meteors!"), how it's ridiculous to think the show's effectively heightening tension by killing them off, how I don't love that Kusaka wants to keep Mari in the dark to protect her (one of my least-favorite tropes!), how I don't really get why Lucky Clover is so worked up about Murakami keeping secrets when he immediately tells them what's going when they asked, and just basically how dull I found the story that all of this smart construction was in service of.

There's such craftsmanship here, but it's covering up a pretty forgettable plot.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz26b.png

so this is the episode I will die on the hill for the original music choices in the broadcast version. You know the super generic music that plays whenever the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is going on a murder spree? Guess what song is playing? if you guessed that it was one that had the N word in it every other line you'd be correct.

And to explain why I love this it isn't because of the song as a matter of fact I to absolutly hate music and speach with slurs in them, it's because the fact I can say with proof (as far as I'm aware at least) that this happened in a show aimed at 6 year olds to sell role play toys crosses so many lines it goes from terrible to a surrell form of hilarious

Aside from Mari and Kusaka there are maybe three Ryusei students you need to bother trying to remember. Their main role is to serve as Faiz’s version of Star Trek’s redshirts. There are a lot of them and they die very easily, but there always seem to be more waiting in the wings.

Today’s casting trivia: young Mari is played by a girl named Aoi Yuki, who would grow up to be a professional voice actress. Among her roles are the title character from Gen “Gaim” Urobuchi’s Madoka Magica and Yurusen from a Kamen Rider Ghost.

Oh thank goodness, it wasn’t just me. I could have sworn there was originally a rap song that kept playing during Spider’s scenes, but it wasn’t here this time. I wasn’t sure if I misremembered something or not.

Oh, yikes! That is super unfortunate! I've seen that happen at least one another time, when (I think?) Shinji in Ryuki is wearing a shirt that says he's an asshole or something? It's, like, all of these negative words and it's on a shirt worn by the heroic nice guy. So weird.

Incorrect! I will remember none of them.

Neat! Thanks!

You may remember two. One of them will definitely defy any form of long-term memorization, but I'll talk about him in a couple days.