I'm struggling to finish the original 70's Amazon show.

It's only like 24 episodes and I feel like I could power through it for the sake of completion, but I'm only on like episode 6 or 7 and it's taking a long time to get through it.

I think the fact the main rider really can't talk or anything makes the show hard to get through. There's no real story happening, he's an amazon, there's a monster of the week, he fights it. the end.

But I'm determined to watch every episode of every series, but I'm struggling hard with this one.

Honestly Tōbei Tachibana is the only character I keep watching for. I really liked him in the other Kamen Rider shows and of course in Ultraman as well. He's a great character, always a very likable person. But he's the only character in Amazon that's the least bit interesting.

Mole Beastman alone is worth watching Amazon for. You should see him soon or it's about time he becomes a returning character.

thanks for the encouragement. I'm glad it's a short season.

Oh, weirdly I watched episode 1 of Amazon probably around 10 years ago now and I actually liked what I saw of it! The only pre-2000 Kamen Rider show I've finished is Kamen Rider BLACK some time last year, now that's a good one!

Amazon does start talking eventually, too. It’s somewhere between episodes 11 and 13, if I remember correctly.

As much as I love Kuuga, if it's not your thing, it's not your thing. Personally I always hate it whenever people insist I try to slog through something when I'm not enjoying it.

Faiz 39-40:

I love these episodes so much. The whole reason Takumi is in the position he's in right now is because of how far he was willing to go to save Mari's life, so it's almost poetic that it's her faith in him that starts to turn things back around. It's just inherently satisfying to see how much these two care about one another considering they so did not start off the series that way. But now, not only is Takumi willing to basically throw away his entire life to save hers, Mari is just as willing to go talk to the guy who killed her if it will help Takumi.

Seeing Takumi finally become Faiz again is likewise a fantastic payoff. The anticipation is at fever pitch. If you were watching this on TV at the time, you would've gone an entire month counting this episode without seeing the hero as the hero. You couldn't ask for a better time for a final form to make its debut. So when Takumi sees Mari in danger and grabs that belt, almost out of instinct, it's crazy exciting. They even use Faiz's epic hero theme straight out of the movie!

Mind you, Takumi isn't totally over his issues at the end of 39. How could he be? He's dealing with problems big enough that they don't exactly go away all at once. What finally seals the deal for him are his interactions with Sawada, an Orphenoch who, in the end, couldn't let go of his humanity even when he was actively trying to. So by the end of 40, Takkun is back in action, fully determined and ready to do a sweet three Rider transformation to a remix of his own theme song (again, straight out of the movie).

Oh, and about that third Rider. Mihara goes through some hard times here. You know, he's doubting himself too and everything. Kinda gets his girlfriend run over by a truck a little? But hey, when all is said and done, he's right there with everyone else, ready to fight.

では、何の迷いもないファイズ翻訳ミスコーナーです～！今日の翻訳ミスはこれだ！

https://i.imgur.com/OwWSjXt.jpg

「俺は何度でも君に襲い掛かる、君が生きている限り」

This is supposed to be future tense. "As long as you're alive, I'll never stop attacking you", or however else you want to say it. The point is, Sawada isn't merely reminding Mari he's been a threat to her, but specifically saying he will continue to be one. It's a failed attempt to intimidate Mari, and likely a failed attempt to convince himself that he's more of a monster than he is.

W 39-40:

This is a goofy set of episodes that does a good job of elevating itself by making the standalone plot connect to the overarching drama, having Akiko trying to prove a point to Philip after the last arc's events. It's far from my favorite arc of W, but I really do respect how it keeps the tone light and gives you a breather without feeling disconnected from what's been happening in the rest of the show.

あぁぁ、あとこれのこと話したいから、突然のダブル翻訳ミスコーナー！今回のミスは…

https://i.imgur.com/QLjabHd.jpg

「亜樹ちゃんが変えた！」

Believe it or not, TV-Nihon's not the only sub group that messes things up. For context, this is the climactic scene in 40 where Tooru finally learns to speak up, and the line right before this is Philip noting that "Kawai Tooru has changed." A huge look of shock hits Philip's face, and he follows that up with this line, which should be "Aki changed him!". This line is basically the fulcrum of the whole story arc, where Philip realizes it is possible to change a Dopant, which gives him the push to commit to saving Wakana, but Over-Time (or W-Time or whatever, I'm watching the OZC version anyway) apparently misunderstood what Philip was so surprised about, and assumed he was pointing out that Akiko isn't around, as though he knows she's in danger already.

This whole moment was my favorite part of the whole arc, so I was pretty upset seeing it botched like this. So much so that I broke the rule I set for myself of only doing one error per post. Err, uh, I mean... it was obviously implied I was talking specifically about Faiz, so this is totally fine! Yeah, that one.

Faiz 41-42:

One thing that really jumps out to me about episode 41 is just how... warm it is. It's very much a calm before the storm kind of deal, before the show moves into the last act, but again, it's always cool seeing fow friendly all these people have become over time. Takumi and Yuuji are finally bros, Takumi and Keitarou are bros, Takumi and Kusaka... uh, well, Kusaka isn't trying to kill Takumi anymore. Okay, not everything is going great, but there's a very clear emphasis now that Takkun is back with everyone on showing how much happier they are when they're together. It's sweet.

Things start going south rather fast in 42, when the series-spanning, occasionally hibernating arc of Soeno and Sawamura's investigation into the murders caused by the Orphenohcs starts paying off in earnest. Look, I know it took them a while, but not everyone can be as competent as Ichijou from Kuuga, okay? Actually, I think Jinno and Makura would've gotten this done quicker. Although that depends on if Ryuu is there or not...

Tell you what, I'll get back to actually discussing Faiz's plot as soon as I work this out.

Riiiight after I mention Mihara's continuing adventures this time, now that he's cementing his position as Kaixa's unofficial sidekick. With a mentor like Kusaka on his side, I'm sure he's on the path to becoming a true hero of justice!

では、いつものファイズ翻訳ミスコーナーです～！今日の翻訳ミスはこれだ！

https://i.imgur.com/J6QqriA.jpg

「元気そうで良かったよ、本当」

The subtitles for these episodes were downright appalling . This line here, which should be "I'm really glad you're doing well" (the last time Keitarou saw this kid was in a burning building), is far from the worst offender, but since there are so many lines on this level, and since, even knowing the actual dialogue, I don't understand the police's mad scientist plan well enough to explain it, I've picked this one instead, largely for the cruel, ironic value. Because frankly, with subs like this, I am most certainly not doing well.

It's worth noting that part of the problem here is that, the further I've gotten from episode 30, the more 1:1 Agony and TV-N's subs seem to be getting. Although Agony did make sure to add some extra color to this other line from 41, so that's something.

https://i.imgur.com/vK72cWK.jpg

W 41-42:

Alright, before I run out of chances to mention this, Double's opening is perfect. Not the song I mean (well, that too), but visually, the way it's put together is simply flawless. It's flashy and cool with shots like the ones involving Double standing in front of those fans, but it's also exceedingly cleanly and easy to process, expositing a lot about the show entirely through visuals, as any good opening should. It even follows the basic narrative pattern of the show, going from "client shows up", to "investigation", and then "cool superhero stuff" at the chorus. It's so well thought out, I could pretty much write an entire paragraph like this describing why each individual shot is cool.

But then I've got the actual show to talk about, so maybe some other time. Funnily enough, this arc is all about how cool Jinno is. They even play Nobody's Perfect once in each episode over flashbacks of him just to make it that much more clear. After the last arc's detour into wacky film antics, this one is a nice, familiar, straightforward detective story. The mystery at the core is very solid, with another memorable antagonist, and some good twists you probably won't see coming right away. At least, it fooled me for a second, and I've already seen these before.

I touched on this back during the Virus arc, but since then it's also become a regular thing for Double arcs to have some line of dialogue or repeated phrase that keeps coming back up throughout, with the context around it always changing a bit each time. The one here, where Shoutarou keeps insisting that Jinno isn't easily fooled, but is instead great at being fooled, is a particularly nice example. By the end of the story, you really do come to understand what Shoutarou means by that, and I like that we got a plot that calls a bit more attention to the fact that these two are buddies. Their odd little friendship has always been fun in the scenes where it comes up.

Also, it's no wonder I became so fond of Accel Trial when the show gets so much mileage of it. The absurd amount of times Ryuu has run in from offscreen just in time to save something/somebody from oncoming danger would almost be grating, if it weren't so awesome.

Faiz 43-44:

A whole lot of change happens in these episodes. But one thing that doesn't change is that Keitarou is the man. Seriously, I can't believe I ever used to think he was a lame character. It really should've been obvious when even Takkun has nothing but nice things to say about him at this point.

One thing I think was done really well here was how the show balances all the misery and cruelty going on with a lot of genuine human kindness and compassion. It pulls the rug out from under that for drama, of course, but the emotions themselves are never... invalidated, I guess? A show that's going for cruel twists at the sake of everything else would probably reveal at least some of this stuff to be a lie or whatever, but that's never really happened in Faiz. I've still got a couple episodes left to eat my words, but this show hasn't done a lot to upset me.

Although Mihara sure did a lot to upset Kusaka when he stood up to him to protect Takumi. See, this is the kind of spine I knew this guy had in him the whole time! Getting Kusaka to back down from one of his fits of murderous rage is something very few people can claim to have done. Mihara's the top dog, man. Kusaka even goes to him later for help taking on Kitazaki because he knows he can't cut it himself.

では、おなじみのファイズ翻訳ミスコーナーです～！今日の翻訳ミスはこれだ！

https://i.imgur.com/6abuc3Z.jpg

「人の優しさや、好意が辛い時ってありますよね」

I'll say upfront that this isn't as bad as it looks just from this one line. You still get the broad idea of Yuka's monologue here from the ones after it, and compared to what a trainwreck the last two episodes were, these ones were fine.

However, that doesn't change the fact that this is a mistranslation. What Yuka actually said here was considerably more blunt. It's, (very) roughly, "There are times when people's kindness and affection are painful". She goes on to elaborate that this is because she feels unworthy of being treated so nicely, which the subs got more or less correct. But this initial line, it's immediately impactful before she even starts explaining, and gives you a fantastic idea of the kind of headspace Yuka is in. The way it's translated here simply doesn't get any of that across, and given the context, the idea that Yuka would even have this thought to begin with is questionable.

W 43-44:

This is Keiichi Hasegawa's last arc, and I think he left on a high note. I'm very impressed with how long Double was able to keep doing standalone plots while still building the overarching storyline. The show handled a fairly tricky situation with aplomb. If you didn't have Shoutarou and Philip taking on new cases, it would stop feeling like a procedural show about detectives, and yet, if you only do that, you risk being unable to have a sense of rising tension as the end of the series approaches.

These last few arcs have done a spectacular job still focusing on the episodic plots, while showing how the status quo is changing, and making it clear things are going to come to a head sooner rather than later. These episodes in particular also gave the plot loads of thematic cohesion, with an all around emphasis on revenge, as it pertains to the Dopant, the client, Shroud, and of course, Ryuu, who ends up taking center stage here, leaving behind his own past once again to prove a point about how anger isn't the only way to solve problems. There's not much to complain about here. I guess the action was relatively underwhelming, especially for something directed by Koichi Sakamoto. But if we're talking about Sakamoto and Double...

Faiz: Paradise Lost

Good to see this movie. Going back through ALL of it... is also part of this rewatch.

No but seriously, you guys have no clue how much I LOOOOOOOOOVE Paradise Lost. This is without a doubt my favorite Rider movie, bar none. It's too freakin' good, man. I don't even which nice things to say first.

I guess starting with the broad concept is logical, right? I've always been fond of the Rider movies like this that were explicitly off in their own world, and Faiz took it the farthest. It's like the show, but if things took a bad turn at some point. It's got a post-apocalyptic flavor you don't see often from this franchise, and yet, watching it again coming straight off of the show, what struck me was how well the narrative condenses so much of the series into a movie-sized package.

Actually, the narrative is general is really good in Paradise Lost. The only hint of Rider movie nonsense is the weirdly elaborate explanation that has to be contrived for Takumi to not have his memories for the first half, but even that exists to serve an actual plot, rather than some pointless crossover or something. Aside from that, it's basically a bunch of character arcs more or less straight out of the show wrapped around a new context, resulting in something that, despite the huge difference in scale, stays true to the premise, themes, and characters of the source material. It's almost bizarre, in that it's the exact opposite of so many other Rider films. Instead of watching characters you barely recognize in a world that's allegedly the same as always, you see exactly the people you know and love, in a world you barely recognize.

There's also an extremely tight focus on Takumi and Mari, further adding to the cohesion and giving things a clear emotional core. The decision to hold Faiz back in the Faiz movie was also just genius. It's like I'm always saying about the show not giving a crap about what you expect. You get Takumi in one fairly quick flashback where he gets horribly defeated going up against an army (the kind of absurdly huge scenario made for the big screen), and then it's not until almost exactly the halfway point (although it's less close in the theatrical cut) he properly enters the story. It's like the most hype thing ever.

Or at least it would be, if all the action in this movie wasn't so amazing. You've got everything here. Faiz doing cool hero stuff while glowing in the dark. Faiz doing cool hero stuff in a big arena under a spotlight. Resistance dudes with machine guns going up against Orphenochs and squads of Riotroopers on dirtbikes. Kaixa's doing his thing. Psyga's there. Oh man is Psyga there. Is it any wonder this guy is my favorite movie Rider when he just strolls into scenes flying around on his jetpack shooting the place up?

The direction throughout is also pretty stellar. It was directed by Ryuuta Tasaki, who's basically the director for Heisei Kamen Rider, and while I find a lot of his work on TV to be workmanlike and good without being particularly remarkable, a lot of the shot framing and everything here very much jives with me. If two people holding hands in the mud isn't the perfect summation of what Faiz is about, I don't know what is.

The whole thing also screams production value, as all good Rider movies do. The movie sells the atmosphere of the bold new, Orphenoch-dominated world quite well, and of course, there's a climax that even Momotaros would be jealous of. The obligatory fight with a big stupid CG monster is one of my least favorite Rider movie tropes, because outside of a few exceptions, like True Ending and... uh, actually maybe it's just the one exception. The point is, I find this stuff drags things down, because it always ends up looking cheap, and less impressive than just two dudes in suits punching each other would be. So Paradise Lost wins major points for having its dumb CG monster be one of like half a dozen threads going on during the ending, which includes Faiz taking on two different Riders in separate fights, him trying to protect Mari (making the stakes much more immediate and tangible than usual), and of course, it's all happening in front of a crowd of 10,000 actual people, who I'm kind of jealous of for having the opportunity.

Working in crazy amounts of extras, in contrast, is one of my favorite tropes in Rider movies, and I don't think they've ever quite topped this first go at it. It counteracts the cheapness of the dumb monster amazingly well, especially since at points Faiz is right up against the crowd. It just looks good.

This movie basically has it all, with the notable exception of Delta, who isn't given so much as a cameo, despite being on TV by the time this originally came out. The belt, anyway. Mihara didn't exist quite yet, which is a shame. There IS a Mizuhara, but, pfffttt, come on, that guy's a total chump.

Anyway, yeah, Paradise Lost is the bomb. I actually use Kaixa Day as an excuse to watch it at least once a year. No joke! Although I didn't quite make the time the past year or two...

After all, I'm only human.

もうかなり長くなってんだけど、劇場版でもファイズ翻訳ミスコーナーです～！今日の翻訳ミスはこれだ！

https://i.imgur.com/sxzoJ8y.jpg

「オルフェノク全体を憎むのは、おかしいよ」

As usual, a lot of sloppy and occasionally straight up backwards lines abound here, like this one, where Mari is supposed to be saying it's wrong to arbitrarily hate all Orphenochs. She's sticking up for Yuuji in this scene and saying it's okay to trust him. The idea that Orphenochs exist who don't hate humans is not a hypothetical to Mari when she's friends with no less than three of them, all of whom are currently in the room.

W Forever: A to Z / The Gaia Memories of Fate

This one is also the bomb. It's right up there with Mega Max in terms of legendarily awesome Rider films. It totally rewrote the book on what the summer movies could be, and being Double, did it by being simple, clean, and effective.

And also high-impact, in this case, because this is the movie where Koichi Sakamoto decided cameras don't need to be stationary. Like, ever. I think there might've been a couple entirely still shots, but even in the ones that are largely stationary, the camera is still subtly bobbing about. The sense of energy the entire movie has is nuts, even outside of the action scenes, which are all completely spectacular. Any Rider movie that has some good bike action is a win in my book, and that's only the tip of the iceberg here.

It's all in support of a story that avoids overcomplicating itself so hard, it's basically a video game. I know when people say that, it's usually not a compliment, but hear me out. The strength of any given Double arc in the show is always directly tied to how interesting the villain is, so the movie takes it to the next level. We've got the final boss, and his gang of goon mini-bosses, who are introduced at the start, and spend the first half of the movie tearing up the place, before the heroes turn things around and start working through them one by one until the movie ends. It doesn't need to be any more complex than that in terms of structure, especially when Eternal is such a memorable bad guy.

The emotional core of this movie revolves around Philip, taking his family woes straight out of the show and delivering a sort of extra chapter that doesn't change anything, meaning you aren't "forced" to watch the movie, yet on its own merits explores the characters in an interesting way. The parallels the movie draws between Philip and Daidou aren't particularly deep, but they work, and it gives the story a good hook.

Shoutarou isn't left out either though, getting to do a ton of the heavy lifting in the back half as he single-handedly starts turning the tables back over after the darkest hour. The way the movie almost immediately presents you with that hole in the ceiling is some great foreshadowing, and even makes up for the fact that his new belt is given to him by a ghost (and you thought Faiz Accel's debut made no sense!), but really, even then, Kamen Rider Joker is just plain awesome.

As is this movie, if you somehow aren't getting it yet. Like the show itself, it's the gold standard every other summer movie should be trying to live up to.

Oh, and on a side note, it's hilarious to think people say Kamen Rider has gotten less dark over time when this movie's villain shoots his own mother to death with a handgun, onscreen.

I've seen all the Heisei and Neo-Heisei minus Kiva, Decade, Drive, and Gaim... and W and Fiaz are in my top 5 so I'm happy reading your reviews of them.

Another thing I really liked about the Faiz movie that I never see mentioned is The Blue Woman was great, ... and ruthless!

Honestly, if any Kamen Rider character were to canonically have the ability to show up as a ghost with the ability to interact with the physical world, it'd be Kamen Rider Skull. Guy's as cool as that don't let being dead stop them from helping to save the day. If I remember correctly, that's not even the only time he shows up as a ghost. Life and death have no n meaning to Sokichi

Yet another reason I'm looking forward to my eventual rewatch of W. This movie was just so solid and I'm looking forward to my second run!

Preach!

Faiz 45-46:

You know, Faiz Blaster has been in two fights so far, and in exactly none of them has he actually used his namesake weapon to shoot something. Takkun is actually about to for a second here, but the Orphenoch he's up against using Yuuji as a human shield kinda throws that plan out the window. Naturally, he just goes right back to punching things like he always does.

So that's fun, as are these episodes, crazy enough. Despite being in the middle of some heavy drama, they're a lot lighter overall, with a lot of time spent on Kaidou's wacky adventures trying to be a surrogate big brother. Heck, the main cast even makes time to play baseball! Not that Murakami can afford to take things as easy as the heroes with what happens here, but hey, at least he's not a head in a jar. He's pretty active about solving his problems, though.

Mihara also manages his second finishing move on a monster here. It turns out being Faiz's sidekick works out a lot better for the kid. That whole showdown with Kitazaki did not go according to plan. Come to think of it, I'm not sure Kusaka even had a plan. In retrospect, maybe hanging out with him isn't the best idea.

では、まずい考えを正すファイズ翻訳ミスコーナーです～！今日の翻訳ミスはこれだ！

https://i.imgur.com/zKdWv1N.jpg

「オルフェノクに対する見方を変えることになるでしょう」

Hey, dialogue from crazy police guy I actually understand well enough to explain! He's telling Murakami here about a new discovery they've made that will likely "change the way we look at Orphenochs". As in, the information he's uncovered has caused him to fundamentally reevaluate his solution to dealing with the Orphenoch menace. Nothing about anyone's allegiances.

W 45-46:

This is just an all around solid arc that does a great job starting to wrap the show up. Terror was always one of the more fun examples of a bad guy who mostly just stands around, and like a lot of this show's villain exits, his characterization here is the best it's ever been. You get a great grasp on who he is, and some of what he may or not have going on under the surface.

The whole shtick of Shoutarou being paralyzed with fear just from being near Terror also allows the show to pay off not only everything it's built up with him not technically being Philip's ideal partner, but also things as far back as the question of whether or not he has the courage to ride with the devil. Just brilliant. Accel even fights a dumb CG monster as a dumb CG flying bike, and inexplicably, I find it totally works. I think the experience the effects guys were getting was starting to pay off by this point.

All this was still wrapped around the usual format of doing a job for a client, by the way.

Nearly a decade after I've seen it the first time, and Xtreme Dream kicking in as W takes on Terror and Accel turning into a big flaming 'A' in the sky is still the most hype thing in the world that sends me flying back from the screen from sheer excitement.

Faiz 47-48:

I gotta say, Kaidou is something of the MVP of this whole final arc. Everyone else is dealing with all these huge problems, but he knows how to focus on what matters. He's out there looking after orphaned children, finding a promising new line of employment, heck, he even gets to rock a suit for a while. Some of these other characters should really take some inspiration from how much he's gotten his life together.

I guess Murakami was trying that, to his credit, but all things considered, he probably could've been a bit more graceful about it. I know it's embarrassing as the CEO of a huge corporation to lose your job, but that's no excuse to hop on a heavily armed hover-bike and start shooting missiles at people. Being the best of the best means knowing how to quit while you're a head- uh, I mean ahead. Actually, on second thought, I guess dying to ensure the future of your race is a pretty classy exit.

Clearly I've still got Paradise Lost on the brain, but one thing the TV series has on the movie is Mihara, who gets up to all kinds of adventures here. He's had his belt stolen, but he shows some gumption and immediately takes it back at the first opportunity, leaping straight back into action to get in on a sweet triple Rider Kick with Faiz and Kaixa. Which isn't even the only all-star team-up he's a part of this time, since Kaidou asks him for some backup later. Most people would probably want a break after all that excitement, but then most people aren't Mihara.

では、最近休んでないファイズ翻訳ミスコーナーです～！今日の翻訳ミスはこれだ！

https://i.imgur.com/iGtD61z.jpg

「折角だ……全員まとめて命もらうよ」

This is a fairly simple mix-up, but Kitazaki has just showed up with his Lucky Clover pals, looking to take out Teruo, in line with Smart Brain's current goal. He's not talking about his group being there, but rather saying that since Takumi (and Mari) are here too, they might as well just kill them all, even though they aren't the targets. They're kind of unscrupulous that way.

W 47-48:

https://i.imgur.com/uqCuFgy.jpg

I'm not crying, you're crying!

*sniffle*

I really love these episodes. Actually, I'm just going to come out and say upfront I consider episode 48 in particular to be a high point for this entire franchise, let alone Double. Like, everyone involved should just be extremely proud of having made it.

But I should probably wind things back for a second. This arc is another one that gets basically everything right, starting with the basic premise, that, after an entire series that never deviated from the basic format, for this final two-parter, Philip is the client this time. Which means, on top of still keeping to the format, you get that obvious extra weight of this being something personal from the start.

Once again, the partnership at the heart of the show is thrown into question, and just like every other time, the angle is totally unique and allows the show to explore its dual protagonists in new ways. While Philip drives the narrative forward, I think these episodes are ultimately a little more about Shoutarou. You get to see him at his absolute most half-boiled, in every sense of what that means, from his kindness to his coolness, as he spends the arc wrestling with indecision about transforming into Double one last time. Saying goodbye just isn't easy, after all.

This is also a farewell for Saeko and Kazu, too, and in keeping with the show's high standards, they both get very satisfactory resolutions. Kazu in particular, for someone who entered the show so late, really owns these episodes, having a bizarre sort of charisma despite his entire gimmick being an inability to properly display emotion. Also like the other main villains, you end up with a more complex impression of him by the end, too. He's also crazy tough as Utopia, especially since Double ends up beating him largely by exploiting a loophole in how his powers work, which is clever.

But, yeah, Shoutarou and Philip. This is kind of the ultimate possible story to do with them after a series, and the drama between the two here is hard not to get caught up in. There's a lot of raw emotion and nuance to it, given the nature of the thing they're arguing about. Shoutarou is upset in the first place because Philip is basically asking to die, and Philip, despite appreciating Shoutarou's concern, can't help but try to do something he needs to do. It's the kind of drama that works not only because you can see both sides, but because the characters themselves can too.

So episode 48 is riding real high already by the time Shoutarou decides to accept his responsibility, donning the hat he's finally become worthy of wearing, and single-handedly destroying Utopia's whole operation with just himself and the Memory Gadgets. It's fist-pumpingly exciting stuff, and that carries right into the actual fight with Utopia, which is short but sweet. I've always especially loved the touch of how the transformation is choreographed. Having the Xtreme Memory kind of spin up a cyclone around the two of them as they're running to preserve the dramatic impact, rather than the usual thing of sucking up Philip, which might've hurt the mood.

It's inspired, just like the entire farewell scene that comes after. The way it's shot is just brilliant. The subtle transition from the outside world to Double's usual mindspace. The decision to specifically not have Shoutarou looking at Philip. It's perfect. And so is everything else about the scene. Having the acoustic version of Cyclone Effect would've been cool anyway since it's Double's main insert theme, but the fact that the song just works so freakin' well as a ballad is a major bonus. It helps that the lyrics of the song, to begin with, avoided being about how strong and amazing Double is, like the usual fare, and were instead about how great it feels to have a great partner. This is all topped off by the actual performances of Ren Kiriyama and Masaki Suda, who really gave it their all, even more than usual. Kiriyama in particular is a master of pretending to cry, which is quite the talent to have in a scene this sad. Philip is a bit more subtle, since he's clearly trying to stay strong for Shoutarou's benefit, but by the end even he lets the facade slip a bit.

The subsequent reveal of what Philip's gift to Shoutarou was that ends the episode is really what pushes things into straight up gut-punch territory though. Or like, double gut-punch territory, I guess. Establishing it around halfway into 47, before most of the drama, and then paying it off right at the end like that makes it that much more powerful of a moment, and a great way to show that these two will always be partners.

Always.

I've been wondering how you were going to feel about the ending episodes

Nearly a decade later and I'm still bawling over everything from the W 48's climax onwards! It's too good...

I even felt bad about Taboo.

Did not see that coming

Imo 'W' is a very high mark for the franchise

Faiz 49-50:

Alright, here we are. I'm uh... I'm still not really prepared for this. I've kind of been putting off properly talking about the final arc until it was over, which was a good idea for making sure I actually know what I'm talking about, but not such a good one for knowing what to talk about.

Faiz's final stretch is a real hard sell for a lot of people, for a lot of different reasons, some of which I sympathize with, and some of which I don't. On the broadest level, I've always been very satisfied with it, which seems weird to say, even to me. After all, Faiz doesn't end so much as it simply stops, right? Well, sort of. The way the storyline with the Orphenoch King plays out is unusual, to say the least, and things about the way the finale wraps up fly in the face of some of the most basic rules of writing a story. But at the end of the day, the truth here is pretty simple.

I was never watching Faiz because I cared if the Orphenochs would be defeated.

No, what I was invested in this whole time was always the characters, and the way they develop around this plot arc is what justifies its presence in the show. That part of it, the resolutions you get there, I've always felt great about. This was a character-driven series above all else, and one thing I can say with certainty, having gone on this trip all over again, is that I don't think Faiz gets enough credit for how great of a job it did at being that.

The main cast of Faiz is full of rich, multi-faceted characters, who have so much more going on than the vast majority of other Rider shows. It's the thing the show needed to get right more than anything else, and it totally nailed it.

Takumi is a wonderful protagonist. He's likely my favorite Rider lead period. Right away, being introduced to this snarky, brooding loner, and then being told he's the hero, it totally flips the script. Kamen Riders aren't supposed to be jerks, right? But here this guy is, refusing to even voluntarily involve himself in the plot for the first few episodes, and generally snapping at anyone who makes the mistake of trying to talk to him. It's delightful, and where the show goes right with him, is that rather than make that his entire shtick, a novelty that might wear off after a while, he's so much more than that. The layers you discover to him as the series goes on start rapidly adding humanity to his character. He becomes likable as a person, and the further you get in the show, the more clear it becomes that he's as heroic as any other Rider protagonist. Namely in that no matter how hard he tries, or how much he complains on the surface, he can't stop himself from helping others at basically every opportunity. He's fundamentally an extremely compassionate person, and when you realize that, everything else about his character falls into place. It suddenly makes sense why he worries about the things he does, or even why he starts softening up on Kusaka the more he learns about his past and motivations, despite Kusaka being the kind of person he his. All this, plus an absolutely amazing reveal partway through the show, that it turns out I could dodge talking about! But it's classic Ishinomori stuff through and through, to a level few other Heisei Riders have ever done. I love it and it's great. I love Takkun and he's great.

Mari is similarly probably my favorite Rider heroine, but I have a harder time explaining why. She's multi-faceted in such a balanced way it's hard to say there's a particular hook to her the way the other characters have. But then, I think being the closest thing to a "normal" person in the show probably IS her gimmick. Regardless, I've always enjoyed her chemistry and banter with Takumi throughout the series, and in general she's very spirited in this really endearing way. She doesn't just sit around waiting for other people to do things. She was totally prepared to just be Faiz is she could've, to the point where in episode 39, in a desperate situation, she tries transforming, already knowing it won't work, and then immediately picks herself off the ground and tries it again. That's determination right there, and there are few ways more effective to get me to like a character.

Keitarou is an adorable ball of sweetness. He's too good for the world. He's the nicest of guys, and on a rewatch, a more central character than I used to have him pegged for. His gooey, selfless heart is the emotional core of the whole series, and while jokes are made at his expense on occasion, he's far from being a glorified punching bag. All throughout the show, his kindness is shown to keep other characters on track, and he plays by far the biggest role in getting Takumi to start opening up and be more selfless himself. Unlike a lot of the other characters, he's also pretty much totally incorruptible, since that kindness comes entirely from his gentle nature rather than a defined moral code. The worst you can do to Keitarou is make him cry, and he bounces back from that pretty quickly. I really feel bad for taking Keitarou for granted for so long, especially since he's the guy he came up with the pet name for Takumi that I've long since adopted.

Yuuji is the show's definitive "other" protagonist, and an absolutely fascinating, one of a kind character I don't think Rider has done before or since. The idea that one of the heroes of the show could be a monster is, again, classic Ishinomori, and, in something that would be completely unthinkable today, he actually doesn't become a Rider on a permanent basis, furthering the contrast between him and Takumi. The relationship the two of them have, in their regular idenities, and their secret ones, is a highlight of the series. As Yuuji and Takumi, they end up developing a bromance that stands up there with all the greats of the franchise, and as Faiz and the Horse Orphenoch, they get a cool Rider versus monster rivalry going on. That's a lot of bang for your buck, right there, and of course, it only gets more complicated once their identities become known to each other, and they spend much of the rest of the series wrestling with whether or not to fight each other. I think Yuuji's big turn in the final act is a fairly common point of contention, but I see it as an entirely logical evolution of his character. Not only have we seen that he's more than capable of feeling vengeful towards those he deems to have done wrong, but throughout the show, he'd never had his moral stance tested in any significant capacity up until it happened. It doesn't seem at all unfeasible that seeing his closest friend hunted down by the police like an animal would be enough to make him crack, and even that process is given gradual development over the course of several episodes. It's also the culmination of the parallels constantly going on between him and Takumi. Yuuji losing his faith comes directly after Takumi finally locks his in, leading to yet more interesting development. After so much time with Yuuji being the voice of reason, now Takumi has to step up as the hero and be the one to talk sense into him. It's all very compelling, and the place he ends up in at the very end, stepping up for humanity one last time, is a satisfactory resolution.

Yuka isn't half the hero Yuuji was, and that's what makes her one of the most interesting characters in the show. Despite being one of the nicest people in the cast, she's also harboring a huge dark side due to how battered she's been in life. She's just as gentle as Keitarou on the surface, and yet also has a rather notable body count. It's hard to blame her for lashing out, given what she's been through, and as a result, the struggle she goes through for the first half of the show is compelling. I like that her big wake-up call is one of the bad guys basically telling her to keep up the good work, too. Ultimately, she's a victim of the world at the end, just as in the beginning, but in the meantime, she did manage to find some happiness when it probably seemed impossible to her.

Kaidou is not someone who can be tied down. He has absolutely no impulse control whatsoever, and as such makes huge, potentially life-changing decisions at the drop of a hat, without ever truly to committing to them. It can be hard to see the real character underneath that, but then that's what's so fun about him. A lot of his outward personality is little more than a front. Kaidou's true bits of character growth throughout the show are shown much more subtly than his wild actions, but they're what make him by far one of my favorite members of the cast. There's a delicious irony to the guy introduced raving about how he's going to use his newfound superpowers to go get revenge on people he doesn't like also being the member of the Orphenoch trio with the smallest trail of ash piles behind him. In fact, there might be no trail at all. It's not very explicit if that guy he choked out in episode 6 actually died or not, and even then, that was after said guy tried to murder him, which is more than you can say for some of Yuuji and Yuka's victims. The point is, for how frequently he revels in being a monster, Kaidou is a very human guy, and much more prone to doing good than ill. He gradually learns some lessons throughout the story, and through his relationship with Teruo, really finds himself by the end. The scene in episode 48 where he starts opening up to Yuuji about how he looked up to him, in a rare bit of honesty from Kaidou, is even one of my favorite bits of the series.

Kusaka is hard to get a handle on. He's way too messed up to be a hero, but the show never paints him as totally being a villain, either. Probably also because he's so messed up. I see Kusaka got a lot of hate, and I find it weird how rarely it seems to be of the "love to" variety. I can't speak for the rest of the fandom, but Kaixa is basically my Genm. Some of the most fun of the whole series is waiting to see what jerkiness Kusaka is going to get up to next. Is he going to make another absurdly patronizing remark to Mari? Will he flip out and try and kill someone again? What blatant lies might he tell someone this time? Just like Kuroto though, his depth goes beyond that, and ultimately, I would go so far as to call him a sympathetic character. He's someone dealing with rather extreme trauma, and when you consider how much his creeper obsession with Mari means to him, it should really say something that he's shown to put crushing Smart Brain above even that. His vendetta against Orphenochs is bullheaded, but in a different show, his desire for revenge might've been framed in a more positive light. But it's not here. No, one thing I think the show is clear on is that Kusaka is an antagonist before he's anything else, and one thing I picked up on way more this time around was how he's almost the exact opposite of Takumi in every way. Takumi is a good-hearted person with terrible manners. Kusaka is petty and cruel, but puts on an outward air of civility. Takumi never wanted the home he finds, but comes to truly respect Mari and Keitarou. Kusaka is introduced actively seeking to be a part of that home, but has trouble viewing other people as anything more than objects. Takumi is plagued with doubt, often to a fault. Kusaka never hesitates, often to a fault. The list just goes on and on starting from the moment Takumi tries to serve that tennis ball, and never stops. The two make excellent foils, and even though he was already, Kusaka is definitely one of my favorite secondary Riders after this rewatch.

Mihara... frankly doesn't deserve to be included in this list. I'm sure it was hard to tell if I was joking about how useless he was throughout these posts, or how awesome I thought he was, and that's because I don't know either, okay! I have absolutely bottomless pity for this guy, so I definitely like him. I always kinda have. But his inclusion in the show never taps the obvious potential I feel he had. He's introduced late enough into the show that too many things are going on around him, and as such he simply doesn't have much going on. He's like in an RPG, if you had a character join your party at level 23, when the rest of your guys are at 80. You know, he's not totally worthless. He can hold his own against mooks, but you're up against endgame bosses at this point, so good luck finding him a chance to show it. His actual personality is also very basic, and lacks the layers so many of the other characters have. He has a solid enough arc with learning to accept his newfound responsibility, but between that being all there is to him, and the lack of opportunities to make good on his newfound resolve in any impressive way, there's no getting around what a subpar addition he was to the cast. But I still love him, so leave him alone! No joke, my ideal concept for a continuation of Faiz has always been, and will always be, a Kamen Rider Delta series focusing on Mihara's further adventures and development as the lingering plot threads from Faiz are wrapped up in a nice bow. Yes, that's right, I'm possibly the only person on the planet to think up an idea for Delta fan-fiction. I told you. Bottomless pity.

So that's a rather exhaustive list of my opinions on the characters, which, again, basically is my opinion on the show's plot, so I think that covers a huge amount of why I love Faiz. The other characters are great too. Murakami is a fun big bad. I like his creepy Hakaider-inspired exposed flower brain as the Rose Orphenoch, and as an evil businessman, he's the best of the best, being surprisingly reasonable, and legitimately classy, while also being sure to make thinly-veiled threats to anyone who gets in his way. Lucky Clover are all pretty cool. J is simple but memorable. Takuma's development goes weird places, but I like it. Kageyama... could really use a name that isn't shared with some other Rider character (she gets called Saeko way more, but I figure that'd be even more confusing when I've also been talking about Double). Anyways, she's smarmy and creepy, which inherently works for a bad guy. Kitazaki's smug sadism is similarly enjoyable.

Beyond the characters, I also think Faiz is extremely solid on a production level. The performances from the actors are a lot more nuanced and less over the top soap-opera than Rider shows from around the same time. There are a lot of digital effects that hold up pretty decently, and let the show do things that would've been hard to do otherwise, like Faiz Blaster chopping up a train in its initial fight. The effect of the red lines forming around Takumi at the end of episode 6 also follows him along seamlessly as he gets up off the ground, which really impressed me. And of course, all the Rider Kicks and everything look fantastic even today.

All in all, it's a very impressive show that I think genuinely delivered on its obvious goal of injecting new levels of mature, three-dimensional drama to the franchise. It was absolutely mind-blowing to me seeing this show that's primarily aimed at children in elementary school asking existential questions about what it means to be human, and I don't think it's fair to write the entire series off because of an occasional overindulgence and some faults here or there.

Is the miscommunication truly that excessive? In this show explicitly about dysfunctional people? With protagonists including, just as some examples, a closed-off hero with a deep internal struggle he can't tell anyone about, a girl conditioned from a lifetime of emotional abuse not to expect people to listen to her, and a wannabe macho guy so unarticulate his catchphrase is a filler word? I have trouble buying that. I know this is going to sound dismissive, but it's hard for me to hear that complaint over and over and not take it the same way I might if someone told me musicals are bad because there's too much singing. The fact that these characters aren't able to talk things out is fundamentally built into the series, and I don't see why it's somehow less valid a way to drive the story than anything else.

I'm not even sure how "unrealistic" it is. The times where the show really pushes things are few and far in-between. For the most part, it's entirely common scenarios like people saying they're okay when they're not, or believing no one around them would understand what they're going through. Even the much maligned Keitarou/Yuka subplot is grounded in the idea that they, and most of their mutual friends, are on a last name basis with each other, which isn't that crazy a thing in Japan. If I told you Kazuma was my favorite character in Blade, how many of you would know who I'm talking about without having to think about it or look it up? The fact that they never ask for each other's digits is the only thing left to question at that point, and considering Keitarou is naturally timid, and Yuka spends most of the show focused on Kaidou, I'd even argue it's understandable neither of them ever makes that move.

So at the end of the day, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for the parts of Faiz that stretch it, because all the parts that don't, and there are so, so many of those, are genuinely great, as far as I'm concerned. It's a messy show, make no mistake, but for every plot thread that got tangled up at some point, there's at least two more the show totally nailed, and I was consistently impressed by how well Inoue actually did manage the complex network of who knows who, and how they know each other throughout the series. It's a much more dense plot than a lot of other Rider shows, with a lot to dig into. I'm generally not a fan of aggressively dark shows, but not only is Faiz considerably less joyless than it's made out to be, it consistently shines a light on the hopes that keep the characters going through their many hardships. It's an overarching theme to the series, evidenced most clearly by Takumi's iconic speech in episode 8.

I really, really love Faiz, if you can't tell. I talk about how much I miss the early Heisei style at pretty much any given opportunity, and truth be told, this might be the show I'm thinking of the most whenever I say that. It's a tough call, because I really love Ryuki and Blade, too, naturally, not to mention Kuuga and Agito, but something about Faiz clicks with me on this really deep level. It captured my imagination as someone just getting into Rider (I think I watched Faiz right after W, funnily enough, but it's hard to recall the exact order), and this rewatch definitely helped me understand why. I was legitimately a bit worried I'd find it didn't hold up for me personally, but that's very much not the case. This is easily one of my favorite Rider shows, which might not mean too much given what a big list that is, but I'd go to bat for Faiz just as readily as I would Ghost, or any other show I find consistently underrated. I didn't always convey what I feel makes Faiz great in every one of these posts, but hopefully I always conveyed a sense of enthusiasm for it, because watching it again was an absolute blast.

では、いよいよ最後のファイズ翻訳ミスコーナーです～！今日の翻訳ミスはこれだ！

https://i.imgur.com/LEPI4AO.jpg

「私ももうちょっとがんばってみようかな。美容師の仕事」

This is from the scene at the end of the series where Soeno is celebrating his retirement from the police with his daughter and Sawamura. Her line here, which follows after Soeno talking about how instead of just sitting around, he's planning to become a private detective, and is supposed to be something like "Maybe I'll keep at my job as a beautician a while longer too". The point here, that I think is obscured by the given translation, is that earlier in the show she was shown to be planning to quit, to give up on her dream, in favor of something easier to work towards. The whole scene is pretty critical to the show's thematic wrapup, so it's important to get this stuff right.

So that's the Faiz Mistranslation Corner all wrapped up, too. Hopefully I didn't bore anyone too hard with this? Or at least, for some reason I assume I'm the only one who cares about this stuff. Part of me also worries this whole thing was maybe a bit arrogant of me? That between picking on decade old fansubs and doing the little intros in Japanese that was probably pretty ropey at points, I'm projecting some kind of authority I really don't have.

I don't actually begrudge TV-Nihon for making these mistakes, nor Agony for not being able to fix them, and I think getting the gist of a show is better than nothing, but I also can't help but feel it's unfortunate how many simple misunderstandings (ironically enough) are getting passed on to Rider fans even to this day when the standards of the fansubs we get have gone up so much in the time since, especially for such a dialogue heavy show.

So please let me know if you found these sections to be of any value. I've still got like half a dozen mistakes I can remember just off the top of my head, so if you actually want me to talk about some more of them, I'd be happy to tell you guys if Murakami was really Smart Lady's piggy bank.

Spoiler alert: He wasn't.

I really enjoyed the mistranslation corners from you, and I never got the impression you were deriding the fansubbers for it (well, maybe once or twice).

I'm one of the people who feel bummed out by Faiz due to the flaws being what were most memorable to me right after I fininshed, but your write-ups have been reminding me that there was a lot of good too, so I personally really appreciate that.

Gotta say while I respect your analysis and opinion, personally I really disagree about the endgame and Yuuji.

My issue with the end isn't as simple as "The Orphenoch weren't defeated." My issue is that the entire final act basically flies right in the face of the idea of the humans and Orphenoch living in harmony; Something Yuuji was really fighting for.

The twist about the Orphenoch double doesn't make sense in terms of Yuuji given that, unless I'm totally misremembering the beginning, Yuuji evolved into an Orphenoch naturally. So the process of being one becoming a drain on a human's' body really shouldn't apply to him.

Not only that, it really is just mean. "You want peace and harmony? Well screw you, the 'others' are all fated to become dust and their leader is literally evil incarnate. Oh, and at the end of it all, he wins. Every character you grew to know and love fought for literally nothing and they get nothing." It makes the entire story pointless, ontop of screwing over literally everyone but the bad guys.

I still really love Yuuji, but man, I really didn't like that final act.

I love Mari as well, simply because a lot of her assholeishnis can be traced back to losing her family at such a young age and then later losing her surrogate father as well. She's afraid of change or that people can change. That's why she is so mean to Takumi for a good part of the series, she can't fathom that she was wrong about him which makes her accepting him after his big reveal so much more meaningful. She actually grew past this fault of hers and it's great.

I would still say he has one major fault, he avoids problems. IF something happens he can't emotionally deal with he just goes on as nothing has happened. The best example is during the Takumi reveal where he just throws a grill party and doesn't even acknowledge the reveal in any way shape or form, or when he ignores the fact that his Drycleaning business is making less and less money. Still a great character though.

Here I might disagree. I personally think her fate at the end of the show is the world catching up to her. Yes, her past was awful and I personally don't hold the first kills of the Orphenochs against them since it's mixed in with their confusion on what they really are. It's what they do afterward what I judge them by and Yuka turned out to be just as bad as her family and only near the end of her life started to realize that she had done something wrong, before that she just hide it to look good for Yuuji. She turned her life around far too late and suffered the consequences in my opinion.

Agreed, Faiz justifies its miscommunication with its characters and it does it well.

All in all, Faiz ended up as my sixth favorite Rider show and the only thing that will decide if it sinks to seven are the last three parts of ZI-O. And thank you for touching on so many things I feel about this show as well.

W 49:

Sticking up for Faiz is fun and all, but it's going to be nice taking a break from that, and finishing up talking about Double. After all, nothing controversial ever happens in this show!

https://i.imgur.com/6Rwpakj.jpg

Oh, well. I guess I shouldn't pretend I didn't see this coming.

Double's finale probably isn't the absolute most perfect last episode a show ever had, but it does a lot right, and the central point of contention in its plot is something I've always been more than fine with.

Above all else, it totally nailed giving us a version of Shoutarou having trouble moving on, while still trying his best. Those moments where he does things out of force of habit hit pretty hard, and seeing Kamen Rider Joker reframed as basically being the "wrong" version of Double is quite the spin. It's very clear that without Philip around, things just won't ever be the same.

Until they are the same, that is.

I think Philip's ressurection is still a fairly hot topic almost a decade later, and I gotta say... I can't help but take the show's side on this one. The way I see it, Riku Sanjou was caught in this catch 22 scenario. Either he didn't do a final arc with Shoutarou and Philip's partnership being broken up, and throw away the chance to do what is almost mathematically the most intense, memorable possible final storyline the show could have. Or he does do that, and runs the risk of completely destroying the series with an inexplicably downbeat conclusion that could clash with the overall tone.

Or, and hear me out on this, he could do it Half and Half.

It's almost genius, framed like that. What better show could there ever be to essentially have double endings? An opportunity to defy all logic, and let the show have its cake while simultaneously eating it. Did it work out in the end? That's up to you to decide. I can only speak for myself, as someone who went into the show already knowing how it ended, and say nothing about episode 49 of Double invalidated the prior two for me. I consider Shoutarou and Philip's last conversation in 48 to be the single most emotional scene I've witnessed in Rider history, and that was always built entirely on how much the characters believed what was happening. Because when I'm watching the show in preparation for a subpar crossover with OOO, it went without saying I wasn't going to be fooled into thinking Double was gone forever.

Another point in the show's favor is that, rather than using a haphazard excuse to crowbar that happy ending in, Double covers its tracks pretty much flawlessly, establishing right away that Philip's "death" was never the same thing as actually dying, right down to him specifically saying his body is going to disappear in his initial explanation to Shoutarou. So, purely in terms of how it works mechanically, the twist is rock solid.

So forgive me, I just can't watch Shoutarou getting so excited about having his partner back that he expresses it by screaming at the top of his lungs, and not feel some of that excitement myself. And even if this was some terrible finale, I don't think it could diminish what is by all means a fantastic series.

If I could describe Double in one word, it'd be "unburdened", for sure. As cool as Zero-One has been so far, it frustrates me a bit seeing it tout itself as the start of a new era for Rider, when, regardless of what Japan as a whole is up to, that started right here, and is still going strong. This is the show that threw off all the shackles of everything that came before it. It streamlined everything about the franchise. The hero's base form doesn't even have a weapon. The structure of the series is based on tightly focused, controlled two-parters. The largely episodic plots have more freedom to get creative. The pacing is more relaxed. There's only one extra Rider, perfectly designed to contrast with the main one.

Every way you look at it, Double kept things as simple as could be. Yet, at the same time, it also brought its own completely unique identity to the table, by being a detective show, mixing in all sorts of crime fiction tropes with existing Rider ones to create something fresh.

The series exudes confidence, and perhaps nowhere else is this more evident than in the portrayal of its protagonists. Shoutarou and Philip are imbued with absurd amounts of charisma by Ren Kiriyama and Masaki Suda. Kiriyama is quite possibly the single most expressive lead Rider's ever had, bringing to the table a huge amount of range when it comes to his body language and the looks on his face. Suda, meanwhile, gives Philip a competent, cool, and collected demeanor that would likely leave a lot of people surprised to find out Double was his first ever acting gig.

The sharp writing helps a lot by giving them so much to work with. Double's scripts are consistently punchy, staying light on their feet and delivering an extremely wide range of different story concepts, all while still making time to move overarching plot threads forward without either of the two ever interfering with the other.

All along the way, you get to see Shoutarou and Philip's relationship develop and grow in a way, that, in retrospect, hasn't really been done a lot elsewhere in Rider. Namely because it actually feels platonic for once. These two don't immediately feel like they're just made to be with each other. You get to see in Begins Night how their first meeting was rather inauspicious, and by the time the series picks up, they're still ironing things out. There's a feeling of professional distance between them. They don't necessarily know everything about each other, and they don't go out of their way to pry. There's even a sense of one-upsmanship to some of their banter. But it's still clear right away that they have a deep mutual trust and respect, and that only becomes stronger the more obstacles the show throws their way.

The value of teamwork is one of those very cliche messages that also became so ubiquitous for a good reason, and Double does a great job with it. It takes that central concept of two people working together as one superhero to emphasize the why of working together. Having reliable friends at your side who can cover for your weaknesses is important, because no matter how close you get, at the end of the day, Nobody's Perfect. There's a real delight to seeing that teamwork in action, and one thing I especially appreciate is how consistently Double using his brain(s) is made central to defeating Dopants. It becomes downright awesome once Xtreme enters the picture, and Philip just starts announcing he's researched the perfect strategy against an enemy in the time it takes to sneeze.

This also isn't a show that's particularly hung up on central themes or anything like that. Like pretty much any show I've seen with Riku Sanjou as the main writer, above all else, Double is here to entertain you. There's such a strong emphasis on simply being fun that it probably qualifies as part of that streamlining process I was talking about.

The end result is a show that I don't think can beat how impossibly well-rounded and considered OOO is, but is still the one I'd recommend to anyone above any other Rider show, especially for first time fans-to-be. It is the ultimate crowd-pleaser. It's immensely, immediately charming, and will satisfy the taste buds of all but the most uptight viewers. It's the gold standard for what Rider can be right now, and considering how well the formula it created is still working, that's not liable to change anytime soon.

And with that, I've wrapped up the bulk of this rewatch, but just like last time, I've still got the extras to go back through. I'm not sure how many of them I'll actually want to write something about, but at the very least, both of the W Returns movies are coming right up, and I think I'm required by some kind of law to talk about the Faiz HBV, which means I might as well do Double's too.

I'll tell you one thing. I'm sure not watching Movie War Core again anytime soon.

Also, even though this isn't the end quite yet, this still seems like a good spot to say thank you to everyone who reads my ramblings. I tend to go on for a while when I get into these moods, and it always makes me happy to see other people finding enjoyment in what I have to say.

Aww, c'mon; you just recommended earlier in this thread that viewers only watch the W part of Decade x W, and you won't follow that logic for W x OOO? :p

Either way, yeah, it's been great seeing your thoughts on W -- to a degree that I really want to get to my rewatch very quick; which is annoying when I want to watch Blade and Black/RX and rewatch Decade before that and... aaaah! Tokusatsu really has this double-edged sword of having so much great content to watch, but on the other hand, there being so much great content to watch

... point is, I'm looking forward to it. For the longest time my opinion on W has been that it's generally good but I feel other shows done its aspects better (I must preferred, for instance, the two partners focus in OOO. But that is OOO...), and honestly it's been so long I think it deserves a better shot than that.

Philip's death is always one I've felt conflicted on, and definitely one that feels like a corporate mandate given how post-Decade Rider characters just are incapable of dying. Ultimately I feel it does cheapen Philip's initial sacrifice... but I just do not want Philip dead. Maybe the somber tone it would leave would fit the light noir theming of W, but for a show built so much around its two main leads and their partnership, I just don't think I would want the series to end without them alive together and happy together.

Huh, people actually debate that? Never knew. Thought it was just me and my bud I watched W with. He was glad Philip came back, whereas while I don't think it ruins anything, I do think the show would've been better off had the finale been about learning to deal with loss and moving on(in other words, Philip staying dead).

Personally, my real point of contempt with the last episode was Wakana's treatment. Both Sonozaki sisters got a progressively shorter end of the stick as the show went on, and the last two episodes basically felt like the script had finally gotten tired of putting them through the wringer.

Anyhow, Philip's revival has never taken away from the emotional climax of 48 for me, and the show ending with W energetically beating on an average Dopant before saying their catchphrase one last time towards the camera is perfect.

Now you just have to finish things up by watching W's tribute arc in Zi-O- Oh, wait.

You're not wrong. Taboo is one of my favorite KRider villains of all time. The design of the monster suit is brilliant, and I was pretty shocked by the way she's eventually just broken and cast aside like a piece of garbage.

And I do think Phillips death would've had much more emotional weight if he'd stayed dead, but it still manages to hit pretty hard when it happens even though he comes back.

W was the first Rider series I just totally fell for and binge watched in just a couple/few days. I'd been watching a lot of Showa era things and just figured, "let me try something a little newer." And I totally fell for the designs and characters, the flashy style of fighting, the monster designs (I really love monster suits, must be the Godzilla/Gamera fanboy in me.)

So it has been fun reading Fish Sandwich waxing philosophical about 'W'. I agree with most of the observations but I'm an easy sell because for some reason it's just been a real favorite.

I really like all the Kamen Rider series I've seen, but for some reason 'W' just has characters I really liked very much and enjoyed watching.

Even Akiko I find adorable even though for some reason a lot of people seem to dislike her.

As someone who dislikes her, it's because she's really annoying during the first act of the show. Granted, she does develop and has some great moments later on, but it wasn't enough to get rid of all the times she got under my skin. That's just me though.

I guess it's just people see different things. I thought she was funny and cute in the first episode.

And I liked when she immediately was willing to take risks and go undercover and put herself in dangerous situations for the team.

(doesn't mean I'd want to get hit with a green shoe, but as a character in a show I found her funny and cute,... endearing might be a good word. I didn't want to see her get hurt. And I liked how she panicked when Phillip fell over, "No one told me about this!" )

Not being able to read Japanese I always suspected their was an in-joke regarding the shoes I couldn't read. Because I'm pretty sure I remember the words on the green slippers she hit people with would change. And I wondered if there was a side-joke to what the word was vs the situation or person she was hitting.

Alright, before I move into the last chapter of this rewatch, there's something I want to get out of my system first. Namely all the runners-up and otherwise unused mistakes that almost managed a mention when I was going through Faiz. I feel like I'm going to regret it if I don't get this stuff committed to writing before I forget.

というわけで、復活のスーパーファイズ翻訳ミスコーナーです～！今日は完全ルール違反の翻訳ミスオンパレードだ！

https://i.imgur.com/2syNVvI.jpg

「質問によるな」

This is the mistake from episode 2 that set me on the road to creating this little corner, so I figure while I'm here I might as well give it the full treatment, with the picture and the original quote. For a quick reminder, Takumi is saying whether or not he'll answer a question from Mari "depends on the question".

https://i.imgur.com/rgm6knz.jpg

「人数足りないんだから」

In this bit from episode 4, the other girls on Yuka's basketball team are doing their usual shtick of tormenting her. She then gets told by this one not to skip practice, but not because it's boring without her. Granted, the implication that's it's boring without her around to make fun of means the broad meaning is still intact, but the actual reason given is that they won't have enough people without Yuka. I think the implication that she's considered so worthless by the rest of them that they only keep her around out of absolute necessity is a bit more devastating, but maybe that's just me.

https://i.imgur.com/5rAajmD.jpg

「で…でも、死体が発見された場所は、バラバラじゃないですか？」

This whole exchange between Soeno and Sawamura from episode 5 is pretty messed up, and not just because they're talking about the deaths of a bunch of high school girls! There's a lot I could get into, but one thing I'd very specifically like to call out is this line here. Sawamura didn't say a thing about the bodies being mutilated! He just said they the locations they were found in were scattered. This got misinterpreted as the bodies themselves being scattered, and the followup line where he states, factually, some of those locations, is now rendered as a hypothetical because of this initial mistake.

It's been a while since I actually watched these episodes, but I believe the implication here, is that, since people killed by Orphenochs revive for a bit briefly (something played up much more this early on), the girls Yuka killed tried going about the rest of their day before properly kicking the bucket, and because of this, Sawamura is skeptical that the deaths are directly connected back to the school, unlike Soeno, who's sure something happened here, but not what.

https://i.imgur.com/yC8XvE5.jpg

「あなたは再三の警告にもかかわらず、今まで一度も人間を襲ったことがありませんね？」

This line from episode 10 was in an unfortunate category for a while. I knew it was wrong, and it was majorly bugging me. But since, and I can't stress this enough, I'm not any kind of expert, I didn't know what was right, preventing me from using it as the mistake of the day.

But then Murakami used the word 警告 in the movie and I realized I'd been blanking on that the whole time.

Smart Lady is actually telling the Snail Orphenoch here that, in spite of Smart Brain's repeated warnings, he's yet to attack a human. This is crucial! He hasn't even attempted to attack people. He was introduced as someone stealing food from people's homes, while being so polite about it, he even cleaned them up while he was there. It's not until he's threatened with getting murdered by Faiz here, and then getting caught stealing, that he actually works up the guts to go for it.

https://i.imgur.com/Cc4JWaw.jpg

「三原くんは知らないかもしれないけど、乾さんはファイズとして今まで立派に戦ってきたのよ」

Mihara debuted literally right as Takkun's break from being Faiz began, and it still hasn't ended by the time this line from episode 38 is said. What Rina, who has been around to see these things, is saying to Mihara isn't "did you forget how...", it's "maybe you don't know, but...". The poor kid has enough problems already without people trying to gaslight him.

https://i.imgur.com/uKVbkUC.jpg

「俺、たっくんのこと怖くないから」

This is from in episode 41, when Takumi is being welcomed back into the group after certain big story events leave his friends fearful of him for a while. So I'd just like to note that, far from uncharacteristically talking about what he wants in this delicate time, this is actually Keitarou reassuring Takkun he's not scared of him.

https://i.imgur.com/w73dkP3.jpg

「木の間に、引っかかって飛べない風船」

This line, from episode 43, is another one that's correct, but inexplicably missing part of the sentence. Yuka makes the comparison she's drawing much more explicit in the full line, which would be, working with what's already there, "A balloon caught in the branches of a tree, unable to fly".

https://i.imgur.com/4rqWL1N.jpg

「あなたはお払い箱なの」

And of course, I couldn't leave everyone hanging after teasing this line from episode 46 earlier. The short story is that Smart Lady just told Murakami he's been fired. The long story is best explained by someone smarter than me!

But since I'm here right now, and this is a weird enough flub to warrant elaborating, the gist of it is that Smart Lady used an idiom that literally means "payment box". The etymology of that apparently has something to do with Shinto purification rites and wordplay, if you're wondering, but that's the part someone else would be better at telling you. To be fair to TV-Nihon, I didn't know this word either until I had to go look it up, but from what I can tell, it's not something that would ever be used literally, and even then, I don't think "piggy bank" would be an appropriate translation.

The fact that Murakami is out of a job is probably obvious enough anyway, but this line makes Smart Lady sound like... actually I'm not even sure what this sentence implies, but it's way off the mark!

...Okay, I think that about covers it. Covers the things I most wanted to comment on, anyway. There are actually still mistakes I haven't touched on at all. That includes both ones minor enough I wasn't too worried about, and also bigger ones that I simply can't explain easily enough. Even just talking about that conversation between Soeno and Sawamura was something of a struggle. Not to mention anything there might've been that simply flew over my head entirely, the same way it did both the groups who have worked on this show.

I touched on this when I finished Faiz, too, but critiquing bad translation is seriously not something I'm qualified for. I'm aware there's an armchair critic aspect to this. The classic "well do it yourself then if you're so smart" scenario. But that's just it. If I'm smarter than these people at all, it's not by much. I'm attempting to punch well above my weight every time I do this, but I really have a passion for these shows, and I think these things are worth pointing out.

The subs available for Faiz are not very good, and while I don't know if good subs would magically raise everyone's opinion on it, there's no doubt in my mind that the guesswork-heavy translation we have available is not doing anyone any favors, especially for people who are fans of the show, who won't be able to dig any deeper into a lot of the subtext, because it's been paved over.

I guess that's what I hoped to illustrate through this whole process. TV-Nihon's subs for Faiz weren't bad because they said nekojita a lot, or even because the dialogue was wooden. They're bad because they are, objectively, indisputably, incorrect about a large amount of what happens. Agony tried to step up to the plate, and I give them credit for that, but even with them you still aren't getting a particularly trustworthy set of subtitles.

So hopefully someday none of this is an issue anymore. Either way, I'm going to get back to talking about the shows themselves now. Er, well, some movies, actually, but you get the point.

Nope! The real Message for Double was to go watch a better movie instead! :p

In all seriousness, part of the reason I think that might actually work for 2010 is that once Shoutarou stands up to fake Skull, the story is basically complete, and the fight afterwards is a formality. In Core, the reveal of why Soukichi stayed away from Akiko comes at the very end, so you really do have to stick around to get the full experience.

They do in my experience, at least. I've always seen people fall into the basic camps of "Double was really good", and "Double was really good... but that ending". I don't think anyone is at each other's throats about it, but it seems to split fans.

:(

That was one of the craziest things about this rewatch to me. That used to be how I felt, but now after seeing it again, I think she was actually at her strongest in some of those early arcs. Her banter with Shoutarou works great because, despite throwing herself recklessly into danger, she often makes extremely legitimate points about things, and is generally more competent than she appears. That bit in the Sweets arc where she smashes a chair against the Dopant to protect their client is also, like, by far her coolest moment in the whole series, and it's only 10 episodes in.

To me her best/coolest moment was when she told off Clay Doll about how stupid she was being. I gained alot of respect for her after that.

W Returns: Accel:

Remember earlier when I said I don't actively care about Accel, and how much of a lie that turned out to be? There's actually still one more caveat to that, and it's this movie, which is so awesome I basically worship it. Okay, I guess "worship" is a bit of an overstatement, but I think any other word would be understating it, so I'm in a tricky spot here.

The point is, this is the first, and what I'd probably still consider the all around best Rider V-Cinema. Specter's comes close, with a deeper story, and like, the best final fight ever, but Accel is absurdly tight in its execution, and a total blast to watch. The character is so suited to the concept, too. Accel always looked made for a starring role, and he got it. It's no 49 episode series, but it doesn't need to be.

Speaking of that story, though, it's good. There's a lot I like in it. I like Aoi, and I especially like the villain that ends up holding a mirror to Ryuu and showing what's changed about him over time, but there's also a lot that doesn't exactly blow me away. Honestly, Akiko and Ryuu's romance, having seen the show twice now, came right out of nowhere and didn't add a whole to the series, and as the dramatic crux of this film, it can be a little hard to sympathize with Akiko on this one. Although I'm also not even sure how much the audience is supposed to. It's not the most flawless narrative ever. But who cares about the narrative? Do you know who directed this thing? I'll give you one hint:

https://i.imgur.com/3piD1K0.jpg

Aw yeah, that's right, Sakamoto's back at it again! This is in the running for most Sakamoto thing Sakamoto's ever directed, too. I mean, the guy who loves getting actors in on the action, doing a movie where the hero loses his powers for the bulk of the story? He couldn't have signed up fast enough. This is the trick to the story, too. It isn't some deep thing that's going to teach you life lessons and have amazingly complex characters, but it's very clear that's largely because that isn't what they were going for. The script is absolutely fantastic at providing clever setups for action scenes. The pacing is marvelous. The tension is ever-present. On that level, the story isn't just good, it's almost perfect.

The whole thing has this super-charged feel, and it's crazy fun tagging along with Ryuu on what turns out to be one heck of a busy day. You get to see him hit the mean streets, really diving into the Fuuto underworld as he beats the crap out of people in basically any scenario they could come up with. He's in seedy back alleys! He's got a woman handcuffed to him! He's got backup from Jinno! He's in seedy clubs taking on half a dozen goons! He's improvising lockpicks, and jumping out of parking garages from heights that should break his legs! He's even got a jetpack by the end!

That's all the movie needs to work, and it's so, so good at it. It's one of the most edge of your seat exciting Rider flicks out there, and the more emotional beats of the plot still hit more than well enough to get you invested. They're also operating on that same heightened level, which I think goes a long way towards explaining why Akiko is so exaggerated here. This is the same movie where convincing someone they can still change involves Ryuu jamming an egg in a dude's mouth and telling him it tastes delicious while pointing a gun to his head. You've come to the wrong place if you're looking for subtlety.

So I say don't do that. Just leave all subtlety behind, sit back, and enjoy the thrill ride. Trust me, it's gonna make you satisfied.

W Returns: Eternal:

Meanwhile, this one has never done a whole lot for me. I'm pretty sure I only ever watched it the one time (maybe twice?), and I was really looking forward to giving this movie another chance. Because I don't think it's bad at all. First of all, you've still got Sakamoto directing.

https://i.imgur.com/xH47S7s.jpg

Which is a plus.

But beyond that, all logic dictates to me that this would be the better film out of this duology. It's a much more involved story about a group of underdog anti-heroes, and the tragedies of their past, present, and future, all done in a style that gives off very strong 80's action movie vibes. There's a ton to love here, but for whatever reason, the pulse-pounding, stylized thriller about a cop on the run, racing against time, clicks with me way more.

Trying to put that aside for a second, I really do think this movie did an excellent job at fleshing out NEVER, and Katsumi in particular, without going too far, and retroactively painting them as some kind of misunderstood heroes. In part, it gets around that by simply having the real bad guys here be that much more scummy, but there still is a sense of moral ambiguity to the whole thing, and the emphasis is more on how NEVER were not put into a great spot in life to begin with, working with what was already established in the summer movie nicely. Of course, Eternal himself was just plain cool, and Mitsuru Matsuoka is delightful, so even on that most basic level, this movie works.

The action is less intense overall than Accel, but it's also grander in scale, which... doesn't quite compensate, I think. Actually, this might be the whole reason I like Accel so much more. Something about Eternal leaves me bored by comparison. Maybe it's all the psychics running out fighting by standing around instead of doing awesome martial arts, maybe it's that scene early on of NEVER fighting random goons that goes on maybe just a bit too long, but this is definitely the thing about the movie that works the least in my opinion. But again, it's Sakamoto during one of the most consistently impressive periods in his career. It's still way better than average, so that isn't enough to explain it.

Honestly, I'd rather hear other people talk about this movie than myself. I feel like there's gotta be people out there who love this one the same way I love Accel, and it'd kind of be nice to be more sold on it than I am. It's a good watch, but it doesn't quite resonate with me the way other things do.

On second thought, "by far" was a bit much, because you're absolutely right about that scene being awesome. I'm gonna go ahead and call it a tie.

Eternal was never a movie I found myself enjoying a lot, and it certainly didn't help having that character at the end go "and the moral of the story is: these terrorists were nice, actually, and you shouldn't think badly of them".

Accel as a whole hasn't really stayed with me, but a lot of its scenes definitely have. Most of which you've already gone over; but some other parts that still stick out to me are Booster jumping through the air and Shotaro & Philip basically getting arrested at a bar. Just a lot of fun stuff going on in this one, and I also appreciate that it (alongside Core and Megamax) continued to establish the Dopants as a criminal threat that W and Accel were still fighting. I think that's another part of what works about W's setting so well to me -- it's something that doesn't really stop when you stop watching. You get the feeling that you're just seeing a snippet (albeit, a very large and extremely important snippet) of their lives, and that their stories and battles continue on outside of what you see. It's far more believeable than many other Rider shows for that reason.

The flip-side to that being the implication that there will never be an end to the Dopants, and as such the fight they continue to have is ultimately pointless as there will be no conclusion and nothing new for the characters to move on with in their lives. It's part of why alot of the Kuuga staff didn't like the idea of there being a sequel.

Or maybe I'm just thinking way too hard about it. Either way, I prefer for one threat to end and a different one to begin in my stories(usually).

Only in the same way that there's never an end to criminals in the real world, which is what W is set up as -- a pair of detectives and a policeman fighting criminals.

Kamen Rider Taisen:

This is not a great movie, but I've always liked it a fair bit. It's like the awkard halfway point between the generally quite awful Super Hero Taisen films, and the generally quite good Heisei Generations movies. Something that exists right in this period where Toei was clearly trying to get their crap together when it came to doing these big fanservice events, but still hadn't really figured it out.

There's a lot of the usual pointless glorified suits with unfitting voices, on one hand. OOO's habit of whiffing on Rider Kicks hits a new low when he gets Rope Armed out of the air by Riderman and then explodes. Black and Black RX are apparently partners now. Kenichi Suzumura is voicing Fourze for some reason. J is boiled down to being "that big one" again. It's got all the hallmarks of the era of movies that started during Decade.

On the other hand, it's also got, for one of the first truly notable times, returning actors who are actually allowed the screentime to matter. Hiroshi Fujioka is back, in person, and while he only gets two scenes, he owns every second he appears, and the fact that he was there at all legitimately had a huge amount of novelty to it at the time. Then, of course, you have Takkun, who's the reason I'm doing this right now. He gets by far the meatiest part of all the guest actors, especially when he gets to share the spotlight with X for the 13 minute segment of this movie that plays out like some lost episode of Faiz. Which is awesome! Going that length of time with what is largely just human characters talking, with no absurd doomsday devices or overly complex plans getting in the way, does not happen in movies like this, and I savor every minute of it. Takumi is great here, and just on a side note, I appreciate the detail of him going from his initial necklace from the show to the on-brand phi one from later once he becomes a Rider again. I appreciate little touches like that. I also appreciate that Haruto was also in this movie and got to tell Takkun he'd be his hope. I appreciate that a lot, actually. You gotta understand, back in 2014 I thought it was going to be cool just to have my two favorite Rider protagonists in the same movie. I scarcely expected them to even interact, let alone what I got. I'm probably the only one who cares, but that's exactly why I love that moment so much. I swear they actually made it specifically for me.

The story that holds all of this together is unfortunately leaning a lot more towards typical crossover nonsense. I actually like Fifteen quite a lot. A cool looking skeleton guy who can use all the heroes' powers. That's neat. As an actual character, though, he's a little underbaked. Which isn't even the movie's big problem, which is instead that it makes the Showa Riders look like huge jerks. Hongou must've got up on the wrong side of the bed that day. I'd joke that the overly complicated plan he comes up with to stop Badan was just a pretense to wail on the new generation, but it stops being a joke as soon as he drops even the pretense, and just sicks his crew on the Heisei Riders for no reason whatsoever. The ending to this movie is the stupidest and best thing ever. The real one I mean. Not the Showa one that's basically a lamer version of the same thing. No, I'm talking about Kouta's legendary defense of some random flower on some beach. It's such an over the top, absurd way for the conflict to resolve, I can't help but love it. I mean, I've got to agree with Hongou on this one. If your dedication to protecting life is hardcore enough that you'll try tanking a Rider Kick to save foliage, I think it's safe to say your kindness isn't making you weak.

So I don't know. It's the usual noisy mess for the most part, and it doesn't make much sense, but by the time it wraps up, and that new version of Dragon Road starts playing, it feels like it comes together into something that's maybe more than the sum of its parts.

Kamen Rider 3:

Toei's next attempt to get their crap together went even better, because they remembered they already did this right once, and just decided to make Let's Go Kamen Riders again. Don't you dare think I'm knocking it for that either. I love Kamen Rider 3.

And what better place to start than with... Kamen Rider 3! They really went all out to make this a character deserving of such a big part. Digging up an obscure bit of Rider lore, and basically totally retrofitting it into this new thing. His suit design is stellar, being agressively modern, yet mixing in so many classic design elements, as well as its own inspired new ones, like the straight up broken shackles on his wrists and ankles. Kuroi as a character is fleshed out enough to be legitimately interesting, with a proper arc, and the clever spin on the "friend or foe" angle where you're fed so many mixed messages it legitimately becomes hard to guess exactly what his deal is, all backed by a pretty strong performance. I especially love the emphasis on the body language of him clenching his fists throughout. Plus, his theme song is great, and he's got a sweet car.

The plot surrounding all this is, as I suggested at the start, a blatant reuse of Let's Go Kamen Riders' central concept of Shocker winning, and the altered timeline that would create. It's hard to call this a bad thing. It wins some points right away by having an opening done in 4:3, and in general, the attitude the movie has towards the franchise lacks that weirdly detached, borderline cynicism that defines your average spring movie. The different cast, and unique angle of Rider 3 also prevent it from truly feeling like a bland repeat of Let's Go, too. But like that movie, the plot is actually fairly digestible. Not as much, mind you. There's still a fair amount of weirdness, to be sure, but you won't be scratching your head constantly trying to figure out what's going on, and who thought it was a good idea. It's a focused enough story that the thing that stands out most is how pointless and random Ninninger's inclusion in the climax feels, and at least the reason why they put that in the movie is obvious.

The guest stars here are all pretty good again too. You've got all the Riders from Blade back (mostly as voices, but still), Zeronos as the obligatory Den-O representation, Black, who actually evolves into RX as part of the narrative, in case you needed proof how much tighter this movie is compared to normal, and of course, Takkun. He isn't very important this time, but it's always a joy to see him, and he says something about protecting childrens' dreams at one point, so what more do you want?

Kamen Rider 4:

Hey, hang on a second. I think my brain just got in top gear! Takkun was in Kamen Rider Taisen, where the Showa Riders had beef with the Heisei Riders for being hung up on people they care about dying, saying that was leading to the bad guys' plans succeeding. A year later, Takkun is the focal point for Kamen Rider 4, a story about how the Heisei Riders being hung up on people they care about dying nearly allows Shocker's latest plan to succeed. Do you guys realize what this means?

The Showa Riders were right the whole time! And here I was saying they're jerks a second ago! I guess it was just tough love.

Anyways, I don't actually like Kamen Rider 4 that much. There isn't much in the way of memorable action, the plot kinda drags in spots, Rider 4 himself feels like an afterthought with zero actual relevance to anything. Both times I've watched it now, I mostly just feel bored the whole way through. The most fun I had this time was when it hit me that the fact he only appears in suit, combined with the history rewriting nature of the plot resulted in my newest fan theory, that Rider 4 actually just is Katsumi Daidou, remodeled by Shocker, and that's why he's voiced by Mitsuru Matsuoka. The fact that my mind was wandering enough to think this up should tell you a lot about how engaged I felt by the story.

Which, you know, I don't want to just crap on this thing like it's some pile of trash, either. That's really not my style. A lot of the ideas here are extremely creative and interesting, but there's so much that confuses me, I just can't get into it. A lot of the details of the plot seem kind of sketchy to me, and I gotta say, watching this right after going back through Faiz, I actually like it even less now.

I remember being impressed by, if nothing else, how Kamen Rider 4 really went for it when it came to bringing some further closure to Faiz, but in retrospect, I'm not sure how good a job it does at that. On a basic character level, the way it digs into Takumi's head is fairly servicable, but I don't even know if this is supposed to be the same character from TV. I think the immediate assumption about that flashback in Kamen Rider Taisen was that it was simply showing things figuratively rather than literally, but the timeline might just be that messed up. Because Kamen Rider 4 digs itself deeper by showing edited bits of the final scene from Faiz, to make that show's ending look more tragic than it was. It's totally, completely, irreconcilably at odds with what happened, and a lot of the implications it makes about what happened really rub me the wrong way as a Faiz fan, all the more so because it still skirts around giving proper details. Maybe these ones are meant to be figurative too, but I can't tell you.

So, yeah, it turns out this one might've legitimately upset me a bit. I don't like being so negative, but I just can't think of anything nice to say here. It was cool seeing a bit of the Murmur Mansion movie mentioned in episode 20 of Drive. It doesn't have voice acting either, so Roidmude Kyuu's attack on that press conference must've got the job done. I guess that's the moral of the story? Terrorism works? Man, every way I look at this thing, it's bumming me out.

Eeeeeh, that's a pretty extreme exaggeration of what actually happened. I don't know how much clearer the movie could be than "I know Katsumi was a bad person. But he wasn't just that."

I get where you're coming from here. I kind of had it in my head that might be the movie's big problem going in this time. But I honestly think it walks that tightrope quite skillfully. Nowhere in the movie does anyone forgive or excuse Katsumi's actions. I think the point is more just to do an "evil isn't born, it's made" kind of deal. It adds complexity to how he got there, but it never tries to deny the fact that he did.

Oh that's definitely what the impression was in the text, but I always felt the way it was portrayed was just a bit too much in Daidou's favour? It always rubbed me the wrong way; maybe I should chalk this up as yet another reason for a W rewatch.


Kamen Rider Taisen is pretty much exactly as you described for me. There's a lot of great stuff in here - it's just that it's often disjointed, and as you said; very much bogged down by the trappings of the Taisen movies. Reduction of characters to Just More Suit Riders where you never really believe Kabuto or Amazon are there; and certain actual characters being characterised in a way that's just mindboggling. They finally were able to get Hiroshi back in person and this is what they're doing with Ichigou's character given that opportunity, huh?

Regardless, I started that off agreeing that it's great, right? Because it is. I think I even slightly disagree on Fifteen's character being flat - it's not incredibly complex, but it works well for the needs of the story and well enough that that scene of him and his wife near the end is heart warming and breaking at the same time. There's so much wrong with this movie yet so much it does right in equal measure, and that's definitely one of them -- makes a great contrast with the themes of the movie and arguably, Gaim as a whole; which is part of what makes it work well to me. Certainly more than the previous two SHTs, this actually feels like a movie -about- Gaim to some extent, and he's not even in it that much! I think, actually, this movie gives me a greater insight into what on earth Gaim was supposed to be about more than the series itself!

And as someone who doesn't even like Faiz, by god, they really went the mile in making me like Faiz. There's a lot about Takumi's characterisation I enjoy here and it makes me want an entire Faiz/X crossover movie or miniseries. It's just so down to earth, yet also has that diner scene to kick it off for that wonderful dash of so-ridiculous-it-works I love in my Kamen Rider. Also, Kusaka comes back to be absolutely terrible! Kind of get a kick out of him being portrayed so unambiguously as an asshole and him getting evaporated by Haruto and Keisuke's hope wave or whatever. Haruto and Keisuke should hope wave more terrible people like that; do TheBee next.

Like... it's really funny how much better this was on rewatch recently. I absolutely hated it when I first watched it - which was pretty early on actually; Gaim was like the fourth Rider I ran through - but this time round? Could not help but get a lot of smiles out of it. Even the Toqgers' random cameo just feels so right for them; they're all in character and it's been so long since I've seen them that it really tugged at me. Sidenote, Toqger is a really good series that gets what Sentai's all about.

Oh I really loved Kamen Rider 4 the first (and second time!) I watched it. I never minded it giving Faiz it's own version of the ending (all they really explicitly add on top of the original was that Takumi dies, and everything else can be taken as either having been the same if you want). That it actually referenced Kiba too, when 3 and Taisen never did, and Kaidou being there too all did a lot to make me feel like this was trying it's best to be a sort of Faiz 10 Years After Special, and it worked for me really well on that.

Plus, I really liked the climax and the accompanying music of the final fight, even if Type Formula really doesn't look like it should be any good in a fistfight.