I have some thoughts regarding Kaixa as well but I'm going to reserve them for his official debut. The character hasn't even showed up in person yet. And you can't really appreciate the suit from the teaser alone.

As for pronunciation, it's like "Kaizer" but without the elongation. The 3 in goroawase can be read as "sa", "za" or "mi". The x is probably just there to give him more of an X feeling.

Kaixa is pronounced like the letter he's named after, so, weird romanization choices aside (I think they just really wanted the "X" in there), it's pretty clear cut.

Also, I'm shocked Die didn't make a post that was just "Oh no!" like a dozen times with how happy everyone is to talk about [REDACTED]'s role in the show in detail based on the zero seconds of screentime Die's seen of him so far.

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 11

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz11a.png

--1--

OH SHIT IT'S HOUJOU!!! Everything after the Lucky Clover scene is an afterthought at best, since this episode peaks early with GODDAMN HOUJOU back on a Kamen Rider show. It's the star of Kamen Rider Agito, and I couldn't be more thrilled. Admittedly, he doesn't, uh, do anything this episode, but he's bound to return and that's almost all I need. The idea of Houjou being around (I might never call him Takuma) is so reassuring that his actual activities are irrelevant. Houjou Forever.

That shirt, though! Goddamn! Nice to see that Ozawa's been upgrading his wardrobe in the last year or so.

--2--

Speaking of couples! Yuka and Keitaro's story this time out is very sweet. It's not a lot of, like, plot or anything, but it's a very cute little date they go on. I like how their story is mixing the drama of a long-distance relationship with the optimism of a chance encounter, except it's only happening to two characters. It's fun to see them growing closer together, finding some joy, but (at least Keitaro) sabotaging it mentally with the regret of hurting the person he's unknowingly actually on a date with right now. It's ridiculously convoluted, and it relies solely on the two of them never saying their first names to each other or trading phone numbers, but Complicated Romance is such a core trope for superhero stories that I can't even muster up that much objection to it. It's goofy, but played very sweetly.

A ton of that for me is how expressive Keitaro's actor is. Yuka's incredibly damaged, and doesn't convey a lot of strong emotion, so it's really on Keitaro to sell you on the way this new relationship is important to the story. And, man, he really nails it. Some of it's the chemistry he has with Yuka, and some it's how much innate joy he has in a Resting Frown of a show, but some of it is how hurt he is when his friends don't give a shit about his internet girlfriend. That bit, where he comes in hot after getting a message from Yuka, and Mari and Takumi just blow him off, perfect. Team Faiz is just reflexively mean to each other. Shit like that is the heart of the show for me, and I need a little bit every episode.

--3--

I'm still enjoying the new combos the show keeps throwing at me, though, and this episode kills with the Mari/Kaido stuff. Mari just does not have time for Kaido's bullshit, and she immediately gets him to take care of himself. It's a nice counterpoint to the earlier scene of Yuka trying and failing to care for Kaido, mostly for how it exposes Kaido's feelings about caring for people.

Yuka's trying to be empathetic, to be nurturing, and that just reeks of weakness to Kaido. That's lacking a spine, that's being pathetic. Yuuji standing up to Kaido and calling him a friend, that's still lame, but there's some respect for having a perspective and defending it. Mari gets the best result, since she gives Kaido no room to act out. Do this! Right now! What is your problem?! Come on! Kaido's someone who wants to argue, wants to push buttons. Mari coming in and saying My Feelings Matter More Than Yours... it cows Kaido, gets him to realize that he might as well take the help since she ain't gonna buckle.

Plus, Mari and Kaido, so it's super funny. Her complaining that saving his life is already making her late so stop being a baby and put on a clean shirt, yes. Yes. These two, it's just one more killer pairing on a show that seems to have an endless variety of killer pairings.

--4--

And on the topic of killer pairings, wow does Faiz get his ass beat in this episode. The Faiz Fight against Mr. J (while Chaco looks on approvingly) is great for how much punishment Faiz takes.

The flipside of the way Faiz rushes through a fight, the way he's a burst of speed and strength, is that if he can't get a quick win he's probably not getting a win at all. There isn't a lot of staying power to Faiz. Here, he gets his finisher blocked and then just gets demolished. And it looks great! He really looks like he's going to get murdered. There's a bit, when Mr. J gets shot by someone offscreen, that Faiz cowers a little from the gunfire. It's a kind of vulnerability I don't remember seeing in other Riders, a sense that he's not great at taking punishment. I think that's an interesting attribute for a Rider.

--5--

Oh, and that offscreen gunfire came courtesy of the Mystery Rider, who it looks like will be a big part of next episode.

Which, that sort-of hung over this episode maybe too much, how it's all When Do We Get To The Kaixa Factory. What's in this episode was good, I enjoyed how relatively laid-back it was, but leaving another episode until the new Rider shows up gets distracting. Or, it did for me, anyway. A fun episode, but one that feels like it's killing some time until the new Rider can take the stage.

(j/k this episode had houjou a+ series best)

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz11b.png

...

.......

...................


That was Houjou's actor??!!

It... I almost did? But a) boy was I just skipping over all of those posts, so quoting them would mean having to look at them, and, uh, hard pass; and b) the problem with the Oh Nos is that sometimes it can read like an endorsement, a That Sounds Awful But Tell Me More, and I'd kind-of rather just ignore it for the time being.

Like, I get that Kaixa's a big deal! I don't want to dampen anyone's enthusiasm for a major character that has a ton of fans 17 years later.

As much as I like the Yuka/Keitaro plotline, this inane bullshit really riled me up.

I like the way the show's been testing Takumi for a while now (temporarily losing the belt, getting his first beatdown, the insinuation that someone else may be better at Kamen Rider-ing than him...), and how he responds in a way that's... very Takumi-esque, shall I say. It's indeed very interesting, the general idea of a more physically/mentally vulnerable Rider than what we're accustomed to. Ryuki had that fish out of the water element as well, but Shinji's also a way more self-assured person than Takumi is, particularly in knowing and truly believing the exact reason he's fighting for.

There's a precarious balance between portraying the humane and less heroic side of a Rider (it's relatable to get shook when things don't go your way!) and not having your supposed hero look a like a complete pushover, and the show's been nailing that so far.

Kaido is being overdramatic and forced of all his proclaims of hating humanity and wanting to kill them, that it's now obvious to see, not only to Yuka and Yuji. And it's explicitly clear... Kaido doesn't want to beat him with him hesitating to do his Grand Impact finisher. But Smart Brain is a company that forces Orphnochs to embrace that so....

Yuji finds out that Murakami and Smart Brain is an evil company who forces him to go against his ways, like what Kaido proclaims. Only that to Smart Brain Yuji full on resents him and not trying to get close like to Kaido.

And speaking of differentiating like Yuji, for Yuka what differentiates between a facade and a real wicked people? Like when she just decides to kill the people who harasses her. The backstory shapes her mindset and ideal, that she would be merciless to anyone she perceives as evil.

Or was it that Mari and Keitaro staying away.... like they're stalking Takumi and making various remarks of him lol. Regarding Keitaro supporting Takumi as Faiz, probably it's that anticlimatic in a sense that it's only 1 episode and happening coincidental to Kaido losing his belt? Also Keitaro just met Kaido, he doesn't get a chance to know him better like Yuka did, but he does for Takumi, that he sees the better side of him.

That Orphnoch is one of the major characters, as he's playable in the Faiz video game. Also Kaixa is chi symbol to Faiz's phi. You said his Rider name already despite the rule of giving nicknames when names aren't mentioned? (honestly should be as informative as possible like regarding names).

There's a part of me that, when you take into account how the show portrays Takumi still figuring out how to be Faiz, that it makes me a little incredulous at Keitaro's insistence that Takumi is the right man for the job. Like, this guy? Really? He's not exactly turning in an all-star performance!

But then I remember that Keitaro and Mari couldn't even Henshin, so it looks like Turning The Damn Thing On is maybe the most heroic criteria possible?

I think it's more that they're bullies, and she hates bullies. She doesn't really flip on them until they try to get money out of her, and I think that's a trigger for her.

Kaixa gets a pass the same way Faiz gets a pass: there are names I already know before watching this show. They don't call the hero Faiz right away, but, like, that's obviously Faiz. I can't pretend I've never heard of Kaixa before.

As for the other names... eh, I don't feel that bad about it. I put a disclaimer right up-front that this isn't a Wiki entry, so I hope no one's using this to actually experience Faiz for the first time.

Also, and maybe this is just me, I don't love having to read supplementary material to understand something I just watched. I like being able to process the show as a TV show, episode by episode. Sure, I could go to the Wiki and find out the exact names of everyone involved, including characters who won't be identified for a dozen more episodes, but that's a weird way to watch a show for me. I don't mind digging that stuff up later, but I think it's fair to ask a show to get the relevant information out in the show. If they can't do that, I'm going to fill in the blanks myself.

This is a big one. We kinda get the debut of the second Rider and we get the introduction of the show's next big faction: Lucky Clover. I hope it's not spoiling anything, but these guys aren't going to be dusted off like that first executive that reached out to Yuuji and Yuka. The show makes a big deal out of how scary these guys are and it is not artificial hype.

This is the one I was waiting for. I had a feeling you'd be happy to see him.

It's something that just barely works because of how formal the Japanese can be with names. Besides, surely they'll ask each other their first names at some point in the near future. The whole situation would be ludicrously drawn out and ridiculous if they didn't, right?