In my opinion Takumi is more of a brawler/bar fighter, someone who relies on pure power over all else and has no real technique to his style.

Makes sense to me! Maybe he was the bouncer for that coffee shop? Am I... am I pitching Kamen Rider Road House?

And 18 out of the 20 main rider suit acting during the Heisei era were all done by one Seiji Takaiwa. The fact that one man alone managed to act out various fighting styles is quite a feat as you will see through your trek of Heisei rider shows. He started doing rider suit acting since Agito(previously suit acting red rangers in Super Sentai shows during the 90s most of the time) with the exception of Kuuga and Hibiki which was done by Kenji Tominaga and Makoto Ito respectively. He is now the suit actor for Kamen Rider Horobi in Zero-One after he stepped down from titular rider suit acting as of Zero-One.

That is super cool! I knew the broad strokes, like Takaiwa being the main Rider for the Heisei shows, but it's nice to be reminded. (Takaiwa was on one of the Fourze Net Movies where they talked to the stunt team. Tons of fun anecdotes there!) It is very cool that he could make each show's primary Rider feel so different. He's a legend!

To build onto this the only reason he wasn't Kuuga or Hibiki was because he was playing TimeRed and MagiRed respectively

Exactly. :)

Direction that does a great job getting across how the characters feel in an episode by Hidenori Ishida? I'd almost be surprised if I wasn't so used to this by now.

Also, I guess this one scene doesn't matter too much, and you didn't bring it up or anything, but as self-appointed translation cop, I feel obligated to mention this:

I don't know how big a deal this actually is, though. Like, on one hand, the only thing you need to pull from that scene is "Murder Make Cops Go ???", so you're fine, but on the other, most of the dialogue itself is pretty much soup, so...

It's always worth pointing out good work, though!

Yeah, I mean, that's pretty much all I got out of the scene, that the cops were starting to look into the Orphnoch murders. And that specific mistranslation is great because the next episode (that I'm about 40% done writing up) Sawamura tells Soeno that the only thing wrong with the bodies was that their internal organs were gone! And that's translated correctly!

I'm really liking the cop stuff on this show, incidentally. Soeno's got a great I Guess I'm Trying To Solve Monster Crimes Now demeanor, which is exactly the right attitude for the cop character on Faiz. Not an Oh God How Will We Solve This attitude, or a There's No Such Thing As Monsters, but a perfect combination of unfazed (unFaized?) and resigned. Like, I don't know, I guess there are monsters or whatever, we'll probably find out the truth, ehhhhh. (Also, I love that the higher-ups don't even give a shit about thirteen murdered teenagers?) He's great. Brilliant casting.

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 06

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1. So, Yuuji's trying to get more answers about But Why Monstering and all things Orphnoch from Live Action Hatsune Miku. She says that Yuuji needs to talk to the President, but he's not in. She teases him a little bit, and then walks him out. Yuuji pushes her over, and locks the door in front of her so he can race into the elevator and get to the President's office. Except, when I'm watching this scene and Yuuji pushes over LAHM, I thought he was just being an asshole. It didn't even occur to me that it was the first step in a plan. I'm so used to people on Faiz just being intentionally cruel (two of our hero leads shout insults at each other so much that the third hero lead begs them to stop) that I just thought Oh I Guess Yuuji's Being A Dick. And since everyone on this show is some degree of a dick, I totally forgot that Yuuji's the good one. Despite his two murders, he might be the best person on this show? He's generous and kind to Mari and Takumi, when they're caught breaking into his car. Which, holy shit, the first meeting of the Kamen Rider and Main Monster, and it's the Main Monster gently chiding the Kamen Rider into being a better man! Unreal! But that's this amazing show, giving the Monster a story about embracing his humanity while the heroes' plot is basically It Is Okay To Have A Little Theft As A Treat. The show is gloriously unpredictable with how it's telling stories between the hero and villain groups.

2. Although, "stories" is maybe inaccurate, since a big chunk of this episode is how both trios are finding their own equilibrium, and figuring out what they stand for. The hero one is a little bit more straightforward of the two, with Keitaro wanting to clean not just clothes but spirits (Keitaro and Onari in Rider Time: Existential Laundering) and a brief interlude where Mari tries again to contact her dad. The Mari story is mostly an excuse to have Takumi and Yuuji cross paths without knowing it. It's a funny scene, with Yuuji's magnanimity all the funnier in the face of Mari just throwing Takumi under the bus, but it's mostly a tease. The Takumi/Keitaro stuff is a little more integral to the emotions of the story, with Keitaro wearing down Takumi's gruff exterior through displays of competence, so that Takumi grudgingly acknowledges that helping people is a slightly cool idea, I guess. (He regrets saying a kind thing to Keitaro so fast! Like, by the second syllable you can see his mouth start to frown!) Like all of the character interactions with these three, it's got all the realistic tension you'd expect three strangers to have, but a bit of sweetness to make them worth rooting for. Which, uh, the Orphnochs also have! (I keep typing "villains", and then I'm like Well...) Their group is struggling with direction, with Yuka starting to embrace the freedom of being a different goddamn species as her previous tormentors, Yuuji clinging to the small bit of humanity he still has, and The New Guy being SUPER into killing humans. Like the hero group, it's a diverse, compelling mix of motivations. Just, both groups are so well-written! It's very difficult to root against either side!

3. Speaking of The New Guy, there's a new guy on Team Orphnoch! He's basically their Keitaro, a slightly wacky dude who understands what genre of show he's on and what his role is supposed to be, and is 100% okay with that. While Team Faiz is grudgingly following Keitaro's mission, Team Orphnoch is getting pulled deeper into the conflict thanks to The New Guy's mix of enthusiasm and recklessness. (He is totally their Keitaro! He's even got a heightened sense of smell! But not just for the horrors that lurk within men's hearts, like Keitaro! He also can tell what you had for lunch!) It's hard to get much of a feel for what he's going to bring to the group dynamic, since he mostly has his own side plot this episode, but I think having a pretty symmetrical Team Orphnoch to Team Faiz thing is a great idea. (Also, controversial comparison, but Team Orphnoch's Takumi is Yuka, not Yuuji. Yuuji is their Mari.)

4. With all of that team building, uh, not much space for this episode's Faiz Fight! It's mostly a cliffhanger anyway, as Faiz's fight against The New Guy is just a way to get our first Horsepower Vs Faiz fight next episode. And, man, I really like that we got to see Yuuji vs Takumi first, with Yuuji as the better man, and then when we get Horsepower Vs Faiz it's Horsepower coming to the aid of a friend. So good! So complex!

5. Another great episode of Faiz! I really liked the structure of this one, with Team Orphnoch left to their own devices to try and figure out how to live ethically in a world the disgards and devours outsiders, while Team Faiz mostly just squabbled and committed crimes. (Even Keitaro got chased by the cops!) This show! This goddamn show!

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What makes him the wrong hero for the mission? I think as you said there, Ryuki is the one where the Rider protagonist archetype is wrong for the mission (dealing with human villains), typically with monsters as the primary villains, they have no dilemmas. Also weak muscles? I don't think most of the Kamen Riders are fighters by default, especially when they first turn into tem, but they obviously can pack a punch because of the Riders' superhuman traits regardless of who you are.

Now both sides (Team Faiz and Orphnoch) will likely come together, with them approaching Smart Brain.... Keitaro is again kicked around here though... with him being left alone several times. And Keitaro lets Mari stay on his laundry... doesn't she have home? Takumi is also even rude to the one told him Mari's dad cannot be visited. Would decision-making part also consist of Takumi... speeding so that they have more work to do by helping Keitaro out? And speaking of decision-making... you won't see the last one (or even the tolerant ones) of this.

So yeah here it's shown Takumi's hidden depths that he's the type who pushes away people so that himself and them would be better off. That would actually make more sense if Takumi adopted that after he knows about the Orphnoch attacks, where a chance of people dying is easier. But it's never known the root of Takumi acting that way. He's apologizing partly because they potentially can die, with the belt at the time being out of their reach in Keitaro's laundry. Takumi should apologize more to Keitaro as he has done no real fault (except stealing the belt but... it's probably better for him at first) to him. It seems that the cafe owner was one of the few people who Takumi is gentler to? Ren has no hero's journey though as he was more like struggling and coming up to terms with his friends being the obstacle between his fiancee. And coincidentally you mentioned secondary Riders from Ghost... one of them being Makoto, with similar motivations as Ren at first (though the difference is Makoto wasn't a dick before his sister was taken away unlike Ren, means if his problem is gone he would... revert back).

Then who would give the exposition other than that guy? Yuji and Yuka doesn't know and wants to know. Orphnochs are the evolution of humans, survival of the fittest (and really shows with those not fitting just die, and not worth surviving). They say humans are winning because they outnumber them, but I wonder how they can beat him without using any belt? They can survive a fall from skyscraper!

"Just say what you want to say". Ah this also counts as poor decision-making? Well, just prepare yourself. Though as you said before, Keitaro wants to make those terrible people less terrible right? What about assuming he was just testing their concern to him? Then call out if they're being terrible like being uncaring (and guide them too, even if they likely won't listen)? So Keitaro (dunno about Yuka) really claims that they're dating, instead of just being pals.

Kamen Riders, by default, have Protagonist strength. They get to punch and tackle monsters before they Henshin, while every other character gets knocked out if a monster so much as glances at them. That's the genre of show this is!

And for Keitaro being the wrong hero for the mission, I meant it in a more general sense, since I have literally no idea what Faiz's mission even is yet. (Unless it's getting on people's nerves, in which case Takumi is definitely the ideal man for that mission.) It's more that Takumi is destined to be Faiz, and Keitaro getting the belt would inevitably lead to tragedy. Again, that's what genre this show is!

I get the impression that Mari doesn't know where her dad even lives anymore. They are not that close!

Which I am a-okay with! If there's some inciting incident, like he let a friend down in school and now he's sworn off friends forever, it's trite. If he just innately came to the conclusion that he's broken, and will inevitably hurt anyone who gets close to him, that is actually way more interesting of a character, and way more realistic. People don't... it's not like most of us are aware of why we act the way we do, you know? People can spend years in therapy to even be able to articulate their failings the way Takumi does. Delving deeper than that, getting to the why of those feelings... only in stories, man. And the best stories avoid it.

Having some dude show up to tell them the rules and then drop dead is expedient, but the point of stories shouldn't be to just relay information as expeditiously as possible! We should want something more dramatically interesting than that!

I'm telling you, I've seen that play, and he is not testing them. He wants to share, but he wants them to want him to share. He's being dramatic. Even when they eventually cave and ask, he tries to demur, to get them to ask more questions. Takumi nailed it, he's just being annoying.

Actually, having just taken a look at that scene, I'm not sure it was? The line from Sawamura is:

「内臓の一部が人間のものじゃなくなってるっていうんですから」

Which would be more like "They're saying some of their internal organs were no longer those of a human", which, like, I can't even remember at this point what that means or why the distinction would matter, so I guess it's very lucky "Murder Make Cops Go ???" is still the main takeaway from these scenes. It's apparently a consequence-free enough environment that all the errors just barely manage to fudge their way into still sounding okay. Just, "oh alright something wrong with the organs got it"

And yeah, Soeno definitely has a totally different energy from a guy like Ichijou or even Hikawa. If you told me Sawamura was literally just Omuro I might believe it though. :lol

Interesting how you consider Kaido the equivalent to Keitarou, since I previously made the comparison of Keitarou to Kiba as the nice guys, leaving Takumi and Kaido as the a**holes and Mari and Yuka as neutral. You make a valid point though. Kaido and Keitarou are polar opposites but they both play the wild card in their respective teams with Keitarou being the nice guy and Kaido being the guy who allegedly doesn't care about humans. I think there's more than one way to pair these characters together. How do you see Takumi and Yuka as equivalents and likewise with Kiba and Mari? I would like to see that perspective.

Now that I think about it, this show is kind of like a precursor of Lupinranger VS Patranger.

Destroying hearts is the Orphenochs' calling card but since we don't get to see the pseudo X-ray vision when Squid kills Kaido, we don't know what happens to him. Either his heart was destroyed and replaced by an Orphenoch heart or it mutated as a result of being injected with mutagen. This is only a head canon but maybe they found the failed Orphenoch heart in the gym class' corpses? That would explain how incompatible humans are able to reanimate for a short duration.

About the translations, I thought it was weird how they translated Master, which was already an English word. I don't remember them doing that in Kiva with Mald'amour.

Well tbf yeah, Takumi really shows that here, where he breaks free and knocks down Snake Orphnoch/Kaido.... but there's also protagonist that never does that without in Rider form, like Emu. And for Keitaro not being able to henshin.... even the likes of Mari also can't henshin, but the whole of this is a spoiler so just wait.

The Smart Brain is like... the school and guide for Orphnochs, it'd inevitably lead into that way, I don't see some other ways... It's like the reverse of a newbie Kamen Rider (some of the main protagonists at debut) being guided by others.

Yeah, no, though there's an act of Yuji pushing Smart Lady, both him and Yuka wasn't presented as an asshole or a villain even at their debut. If anything, Yuji was again, being an asshole to those deserving it (though he may not think she's evil yet). Smart Brain is the one to egg them into fighting humans. Everyone in Faiz showing some degree of a dick, that's the true point of Yuji and Yuka's story, that extends not only in main cast but also in others.. the thing is, Yuji is... the series "secondary Rider". But yeah even if Yuji already gives those 2 a chance damn Mari still manipulative by pretending to be miserable. And Yuji left anyway, robbing (pun intended) their chance to get what they want. And she thought he's the kind one and.... not Keitaro?

Keitaro cleaning clothes, is his own way to clean spirits and protecting smiles like some Riders using their power to do such thing. Even if the Faiz trio has financial problems before like their belt being sold and speeding fine before... they somehow can have a very fancy dinner as shown here. Keitaro promotes their laundry at the supermarket? Usually that kind of person promotes while standing in 1 place but he does it while being a regular customer. Dunno if Takumi thinks that Keitaro's mindset making him a fool overall at first before seeing his competence, making him change his mind about him and subsequently the idea of helping people. I don't know if the strangers here truly has realistic tension... as you say the people that Yuji or Yuka killed are the worst and these types of people (not Keitaro ofc, he himself claims on how unpleasant the other 2 are) are not to different from them.... except if realistically the whole human are the worst (like nihilist thinks). Obviously Keitaro has high tolerance, but And again, Orphnoch trio having sweetness on them... you expect them as the main group of villains who clashes? Then you're wrong...

How do you think that Naoya Kaido (the new guy) is their Keitaro? He's the more gruff and aloof between the three.... he's more like their Takumi, honestly. It's kind of reversed between the Team Faiz and Team Orphnoch, Team Faiz has 2 jerks with 1 mild, but Team Orphnoch has 2 milds with 1 jerk. Was Kaido denied from his job interview from behaving "inappropriately" with his enhanced senses as an Orphnoch?

More like Yuka is the other nice ones, and Mari as the other a**hole one in their respective team.

So the first time that Takumi fought, a major Orphnoch character, the Snake Orphnoch. They wouldn't kill him off immediately (regardless of how's his personality as a human)... right? And end it as a cliffhanger.

I guess I meant "correctly" in the sense that the statement lined up with what we'd seen elsewhere on the show. (I still don't speak Japanese!) At this point, we're just finding out how Orphnochs make more Orphnochs, and that they burn up people's insides to do it, and most of the time it just kills people, so that episode's investigative scene is so the cops can get that info about Yuka's murder spree.

Yuuji and Mari have the ability to drive their respective groups through a need for answers, concrete information, and a lot of their story is wrapped up in Smart Brain. Yuka and Takumi's stories are more about figuring out their own humanity, Yuka literally (she is a bird-lady who murders by the baker's dozen and kind-of thinks humans are terrible) and Takumi figuratively (maybe he doesn't love being an unloveable asshole?).

But, like you said, a lot of ways to compare these six characters!

So far, The New Guy's role in the Orphnochs was take a lot of their questioning and answer it with Hell Yes We Should Kill People. It's him embracing what a show like this would normally do, have the monsters out being monsters. Keitaro serves the same role on Team Faiz. He's got an awareness of them as a hero group, and wants them out doing hero things.

Also, the two of them are the High Energy members of their groups, the ones who show the most enthusiasm. The other four could just stay inside all day, but Keitaro and The New Guy gotta be out in the world!

But there are a lot of ways to compare these six characters!

Right, I wasn't trying to like, reprimand you, or anything. You just mentioned that line and I kind of couldn't help myself. I also think it's just really interesting how "tell, don't show" some of these scenes are? If this were Kuuga, we'd spent at least two minutes with Tsubaki looking at X-rays or something. I kind of don't blame TV-Nihon for having trouble parsing some of this stuff!

Anyway, I don't think anybody watches Faiz for the criminal investigation elements, which is why it makes me so happy to see how much the main cast continues to do for you. These main six characters really do have all kinds of fascinating parallels, and they're all so fleshed out it really is hard to say the two trios line up with each other in one particular way. Also, Keitarou is the man. I used to have it in my head he was just the show's punching bag, but on a rewatch, he's the MVP of that group pretty frequently. It's very telling that even Takumi has warmed up to him a bit already.

I really love that Takumi's opinion of him changes after Keitaro demonstrates the usefulness of patience and attention to detail. Like, Keitaro is basically saying Maybe Don't Quit As Soon As Things Get Difficult, and Takumi is shook by it, and views Keitaro in a whole new light. Takumi has a lot of very deep-seated problems! In his brain!

Keitaro sometimes can be needy as hell, but he's like the Team Mom/heart and soul/whatever metaphor you'd use for someone who prevent the other two people from driving each other insane (in this sense, he fulfills the same role as Yuuji's I guess).

But, I also think it's not wrong to call him a punching bag; Faiz has a terrific cast, it's just the way they're being used that... were often sub-optimal, IMO.

I joked before about Keitaro and Onari having a spin-off, and they do have a lot of similarities. They've both got that need to peacekeep, to defuse, and it's totally valuable in a story where folks are abrasive to one another. Without him, I can't imagine how you'd keep Takumi and Mari together for more than two scenes?

The punching bag thing... I obviously can't speak to the rest of the series, but even in this first batch, all three of the heroes are punching bags? They are all portrayed in unflattering lights, and they are dunking on each other constantly. I think Keitaro takes it more personally, and that makes him appear to be more maligned. But, man, in the last episode he comes out of it much cleaner than everyone else. But then, cleanliness is his trade!

So this doesn't really have to do with anything in particular, but I only just realized the shtick Die is doing with the 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. paragraphs in each episode post, and from there I remembered I came up with pretty much the same gimmick back when I was writing three paragraphs about every arc of OOO. Like, I don't really have any real point here, I just... thought that was a bit of a fun coincidence, I guess.

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 07

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--1--

Hey, what's got seven letters and doesn't usually make the smart words about music? ♪This guy♪ So, yeah, it's a very musical episode of Faiz! Let's see if I can manage to say anything of value about it!

First, I don't think I've ever talked about the theme song? I really like it. It's not as epic as my favorite Phase 2 Heisei tracks (I'm listening to the shit out of that Memorial Works compilation lately), but it's still pretty fun. I definitely find myself crooning Can You Feel each episode, so that's got to be some small success for the composers.

But, that fight song in this episode! Holy shit! So great! I'm already onboard with a great big Horsepower/Kaido/Faiz fight, but that fight song kicked it up a few levels. The fight itself was great, I love any fight outside Kamen Rider Stadium, but when that fight song kicked I might've leaned forward in my seat out of excitement. Really great song for a really great fight.

And then the classic guitar piece over the Faiz/Owlphnoch fight. So intense. There's a haunted feeling to it, since it needs to support both the Faiz Fight at the end of the episode, but also Kaido's tenuous connection to his past. It manages to fill both roles beautifully. The fight feels appropriately serious, while the Kaido scene feels wistful and sad. There's a dreamlike feeling to the scene, where the music is almost conjuring the fight, and the energy of the fight feeds back into the playing of the song. It's a great use of music to improve some already topnotch storytelling.

--2--

The storytelling this episode is all about dreams, a phrase that's said a few dozen times (I was not counting) and contributes to the big Why Does Takumi Have To Be This Way scene for the episode. Which, you know, I liked that scene! It's a good one! Takumi is being extra-jerky any time someone talks about their dreams, and it's clear that it's because he doesn't have one. The scene where he gets chewed out by both Mari (because he demanded she make him dinner) and Keitaro (for basically undermining everything he believes in) is really funny, and totally deserved. It's just, it's a little on the nose? I liked how Takumi's attitude was souring without him having to explain why, so having Mari just outright say that he's acting out because he envies people who have dreams... like, keep it as subtext! Give your audience some credit! Stating it like that, dragging it out into the open that way, it made me like that part of the story less.

Still, like I said, it's a fun scene and an entertaining way to build out Takumi's character. He's so irritated by people trying to reach a goal. I like that his default state is Unhappy, and that anyone who strives to be less unhappy makes him more unhappy. He's got a lot of really serious emotional problems! I'm not sure 43 more episodes, one movie, and a Hyper-Battle Video are going to be enough to fix him!

--3--

Team Orphnoch gets to deal with dreams, too, but mostly just through Kaido. (Yuuji's on bedrest after narrowly surviving the opening fight, and Yuka is almost entirely forgotten about.) Kaido's story is about how he feels like his dream was stolen from him after an injury, and now that he's an Orphnoch he's going to lash out and get some revenge.

The thing I really like about how the Orphnochs are portrayed in this series, at least our core trio, is that their rage is like Takumi's rage: it's a resentment born of desire. Yuuji's actions were against the people who robbed him of the life he longed for, one he still can't entirely let go of. Yuka's actions were because she wanted acceptance, and she could never obtain it. Kaido wants to hurt the people who are living out his dream.

I think the key scene for me in this episode is after Kaido storms his old guitar class with his new club banger Stupid Stupid Stupid (Dance To My Drums). He's about to get thrashed by a group of students, which is perfect, because then he can unleash his inner monster on them with no guilt. But then his teacher comes out, and Kaido's whole demeanor changes. He's polite, respectful. He apologizes for his actions. His anger isn't at his teacher, or the institution. His anger is at the people living the life he wishes he could reclaim.

And then you get the other half of that scene, when Kaido helps out a struggling first-year. There's a vulnerability to the scene that I found heart-warming. I thought it might go a different way, like Kaido would go nuts on him, or the kid would turn out to be the Owlphnoch. Instead, it's just this really sweet scene about a character trying to heal his own soul through the music he can't play any longer. It's... really not the direction I thought this show was going in, and I love that it tried this move. This is a tough show to predict, and I love that about it.

--4--

It's not impossible to predict, though. We're still going to get a Faiz Fight at the end of the episode, and it's against the mysterious new Owlphnoch. I really like the helmet design, how it takes the owl head and structures in a gas mask. They make some interesting choices in the body, how the pants seem puffier and there's a bit of a backpack. Visually, it makes the Owlphnoch feel more like a guy in a suit than, say, Horsepower. But I still really liked it? I don't know why, I guess! It just looked cool!

--5--

This was a weird one for me, where it seemed to backburner a lot of the recent revelations in favor of both a straight-up classic Monster Of The Week problem-solving story for Keitaro and his sidekick Takumi; and a character study on the newest member of Team Orphnoch. Live Action Hatsune Miku and Smart Brain barely get a scene, and there's nothing about Mari's dad or the origin of the belt or any of that. It's a very Basic episode of Faiz, if it's even fair to say that at Episode 7. I had a great time with it, though. This cast is great, and the story, small though it was, came out terrific. I'm completely okay just hanging out with these characters, so I've got no complaints if they don't want to push the series story forward. It's just a little weird to throttle back after just starting to explain some of this stuff.

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If they're going to name a show 555, I'm probably going to try and work that number into my format!

Which, I, uh, just slightly tweaked as you were posting that!

I wanted to do the 5 thing, partly for the show, and partly for my own workflow. The Ryuki posts were getting a little long for my tastes, taking a bit too long to put together, so I wanted something that would force me to be more succinct. Five points about an episode, that's it. Leave the rest to discussion.

But then I just goddamn kept writing sometimes, and I got sick of staring at unwieldy blocks of text, so I made the numbers more of a break than a list. Now I can have my paragraphs back! My precious, precious paragraphs!

Hopefully this'll make for better reading (and writing!), while still enforcing some discipline on me to keep from losing a night on these. We'll see! This last one was already longer than normal, so I'm probably just screwing myself over!

I like Justi-phis well enough, but I've always found it a little too similar to Alive A Life, which leads them to sometimes blur together in my head.

Two things here. First of all, it's really interesting to be going back and watching this while Zero-One is on the air, which is also focusing a lot on the idea of dreams right now. Very different approaches, but an amusing correlation at the same time.

Second, welcome to one of Toshiki Inoue's favorite story tropes: the artist with the career ending injury. It's an easy pathos well that you will see him come back to throughout his era on Kamen Rider, including another guitarist at one point (although not nearly as well as with Kaido). I'm not saying it doesn't work here, because it really does, but it's one of those things you'll notice repeating as you watch more of this guy's work.

Yeah, there's a little echo to Kino's story from Agito, where a promising talent is cut short by tragedy. I think I like this version better, because it's more straight-forward and senseless. Like, he just crashes on his bike and gets his hand run over. It's a very quick scene, instead of weeks of slowly doling out details.

That said, and no spoilers if I'm right, but my headcanon is that the driver who ran over Kaido's hand was also the truck driver who put Yuuji in a coma. After losing his truck-driving gig, I'm thinking that he ended up becoming a girls' basketball coach at a local high school.

Again, don't tell me if I'm right! Although I think I've cracked this plot wide open!

Then I picked a good time to get that thought out there!

I do like the new version better, though. Very cleanly!

So great it took you 6 episodes to comment on it! One of the many, many things I miss about early Heisei Rider is having regular insert themes. I mean, shows like Gaim prove that using them as occasional punctuation works too, but at the same time, Agito telling you to BELIEVE YOURSELF every week legitimately formed a huge part of that show's identity.

The song here, Dead or alive, is a favorite of mine. This won't be something you can really comment on for obvious reasons, but the lyrics do this super impressive thing where they're really motivational and empowering... but from a distinctly nihilistic perspective. It'd be a perfect theme song for Faiz, if its actual theme song wasn't already perfect.

Something of an Inoue staple, apparently, between stuff like Badaa and Kuuga's first fight in episode 27 of that show, or the climax of OOO's portion of Movie War Core. For Faiz, though, I mean, this fits like a glove. Very memorable scene!

I can see why these shows got away from regular insert themes for fights and the like. Even the best ones, it sort-of locks the fights into a specific (literal) rhythm, and that's going to build complacency in your audience. The very last feeling a fight and/or fight song should engender is "complacent". Coming up with different music to more directly fit each fight, I think it's a better way to go. You might miss some awesome implementations, but nothing can wear out its welcome.

That's funny you should mention that here, since this episode specifically used the insert theme at the start to free itself up to do the twist on the fight at the end.

The thing about having a status quo that strong is that it becomes more notable when it does get mixed up, and these shows did that with the music in some clever ways. There were quite a few episodes of Agito that used the insert songs to deliberately lull you into that complacency only to have the music cut out abruptly after the heroes start losing, for example.

We don’t talk about the OOO portion of a Movie War Core.

But, like, the fact that using the fight song in the beginning would free them up to not use it at the end is maybe a problem? I feel like the switch up in the music in this episode of Faiz wasn't so much a subversion of expectations as it was that they wanted to do the classical guitar piece at the end, so the fight song got placed in the fight at the beginning. It's like it had to go somewhere in the episode, which is maybe proving my point a little bit? Maybe? A tiny bit?

But you're right that there's a power to playing with the audience through musical cues, and letting them make assumptions that you can subvert. Good point!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/tn_birthday.jpg

You mean the part he teamed up with W to fight a giant flaming Ichigou? But that was awesome! A bit thin on substance but hey, it's two Kamen Riders spreading wings to beat up an asshole, I love it. Kinda weird that it was only preceded by a Skull movie, but hey, the current Rider being jammed into just the end of a Returns movie was a precedent set by Climax Deka. Wish they'd do it more honestly, it's kinda cool

Don’t worry, if I remember this show correctly (that’s a big if, since it’s been about a year since I started watching), something I find to be interesting about this show will be played.

Climax Deka doesn't deserve to set any precedents.

So here's a random question. Who has set their ringtone to the Faiz Driver's stand by noise during the good ol' feature phone days?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbqTEIP2pL4

I haven’t, but I had “Standing by... complete” as my voice mail alert for a long time (Kaixa version).

The fight had one crazy thing happening,... Horse Orphnoch blocking Faiz' Crimson Smash?! Well he was injured after that, but what makes Takumi also injured? I thought the intro sequence at Faiz video game where he does the same move was the unseen end of Horse Orphnoch (well, FYI, Yuji's actor has died for a long time), but it actually does happen in the series.... early part at that!

Keeping it as subtext? What do you expect in a work made by Inoue? Also it's shown here that Takumi still mocks Keitaro's childish dream, because it's only a story, not reality. Takumi doesn't have a goal or dream.... but as he seems to be worked up over others following a dream... does that mean he have a wish himself...? To prevent others achieving what he can't. His persistence of anti-dream mindset just shows like preventing himself from going further into their mission.... Takumi even gets physical at Keitaro at the laundry. And here Mari is the one to ask for Keitaro and Takumi to get along instead of the latter as she tries to pursue her dream.

As shown here, it's clear that Kaido is the Team Orphnoch's Takumi. His scenes just mirrors Takumi in every way, like Kaido calling Yuji who helps him annoying, similar to Takumi calling Keitaro that. Kaido is also abrasive on the other 2 of their respective teams like Takumi did for dreams above and chews them out. But man, did you forget that, Yuji and Yuka, both of them are avoidant of the idea of getting their resentments eating them up? Yuji fears about them becoming real monsters (which Kaido is ecstatic of0, and Yuka's hesitant when Smart Lady eggs her to do that. I mean even Yuji tries to talk out Kaido from revenge by retelling his own experience. For Yuka, her backstory mainly just shapes her ideal, not for revenge/rage and acceptance, it'll be seen later.

Was Kaido the one who's lonely at the top when he's mentioned as an expert in guitar, where it isolates him from other students and make them resent him? Like them trying to get back at Kaido here. And yeah with the first-year, Kaido isn't entirely heartless.... like Takumi too. Can his Orphnoch hand fixes his musical skills though?

Nice pun for the Owl Orphnoch and that's technically right, every Orphnochs are named simply after the animal they're based off. What if Kaido knows that the Professor was an Orphnoch too?

It seems that Smart Lady's thigh-high boots can be used as a... pocket.

The visual, which is AWESOME, is that Horsepower blocks the finisher and then literally knocks Faiz out of it. Like, the cone-thing that comes out of his laser-pointer goes one way, and Faiz goes the other way. I'm going to assume that that is super painful for Faiz.

I mean, for this story, sure, there are some similarities, but I don't think the show is trying to make direct parallels in general. There've been a few really good interpretations in this thread of how each of the three characters in one group relates to the other three. It's definitely open to the individual viewer.

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 08

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz08a.png

--1--

Oh boy, more stuff about dreams!

There’s some heady stuff in this one, and a ton of its storytelling is given over to What Is A Dream pontificating, but it came together alright for me. I liked what it was doing more than I liked the episode, if that makes any sense. It’s not that fun of a ride, and it doesn’t nail its climax as well as last episode, but it does the necessary work of building out the characters. I’d compare this type of storytelling to having to eat your vegetables, but I guess some people love their vegetables?

--2--

Speaking of broken people, let’s talk about Takumi.

I really loved Takumi’s pep talk to Mari in this one. She’s had a tough day, failing her tryout at the salon, and she takes it out on Takumi. After hoping Keitaro will team-up on Takumi with her, and being left hanging, she runs off to cry. And, twist, it’s Takumi who goes to console her. Immediately, I was into this scene. Takumi is the Zero Empathy Rider, so him trying to get Mari to come home was bound to be fun viewing.

But he doesn’t really do anything. He tells her that, yes, he burned himself on her scalding udon, as expected. And then he just says they should go home. And it works! It’s a nicely underplayed scene of two people who knew that she was being a brat, and the other brat knew she didn’t want to talk about it, so they just ignore it. For a franchise that’s frequently about Sharing Is Caring, it’s gratifying to have a scene that is explicitly not that. It’s a woman who doesn’t want to apologize to a jerk who doesn’t want to talk about it. Everyone knows what happened, and it’s okay to move on.

The next part of the scene has a ton of work it has to do, and it’s… I don’t know, it’s a little clunky. It’s one speech that has to start to pay off three different stories in the episode. Mari has to talk about what her dream of being a beautician means to her, and it has to link together her storyline, Kaido’s storyline, and set up Takumi’s Rider Thesis Statement. The last one worked best for me.

I enjoyed it as a way of finishing out Takumi’s exploration of why people have dreams. He went from jealousy last episode, to confusion this episode, to wanting to fight for dreams by the end. I liked that Takumi chose to fight for other people’s dreams because he recognized what they meant to people, even if he couldn’t feel what they did. It’s a neat twist on how sacrificial some Rider motivations can be. This one, it’s not that he’s giving up his dream, but he’ll fight so that other people can follow their dream. It’s maybe a small thing, but I love that Takumi’s doing it on an almost theoretical level, like he’s fighting to protect wishes or trickle-down economics, unverifiable phenomenon. Like, this is nothing he’s ever experienced, but people say it matters to them, so he’ll fight for their nonsense. That’s so Takumi, dedicating his life to protect something he not only doesn’t understand but also thinks is still at least 20% bullshit.

--3--

The main thrust of what Mari’s speech is trying to do is be the counterpoint to Kaido’s take on dreams. For Mari, for Team Faiz, dreams are what motivates us to be better people, what gives our lives meaning. There's struggle, but without that struggle we'd be less as people. For Kaido and Team Orphnoch, dreams are what haunt us, and other humans exist to keep our dreams just out of our reach. The struggle only has value if you can reach your goal, and falling short is a fate worse than death. Collectively, it’s a nice take on how having a goal can provide shape and purpose to life, but being too caught up on achieving a goal can lead to sadness and ruin.

It’s way more solid for Team Orphnoch, though, because *gestures at Team Orphnoch*. These three have been ground up in pursuit of their dreams, whether that’s love (Yuuji), art (Kaido), or not being emotionally abused 24/7 (Yuka). Kaido 100% feels robbed by the universe, and it’d be way worse if he found out “the universe” was his old guitar instructor, who is also Owlphnoch. (Something I wish someone didn’t spoil before this episode!)

It’s a really cool decision to have Yuuji and Yuka find out about Owlphnoch’s role in Kaido’s injury, but not tell him. It’s got the dual purpose of letting Kaido’s catharsis be his mentorship of the first-year, keeping that plotline nice and clean, while giving Yuuji new reasons to doubt humanity. Keeping Kaido out of those revelations means the Owlphnoch fight is against Horsepower, though, and it’s just not as compelling to me as the Faiz/Owlphnoch fight. They go back to the well of having mournful guitar-playing as the soundtrack, even though the two fights it’s over don’t really match the pace. And then halfway through they’re just like Okay Hard Rock Fight Song and that’s what we get over the monster immolations. It’s a smart sequence (no one on this show does Aggrieved And Confused like Yuuji) right up until it sort-of shrugs through the action. I love the idea of Takumi and Yuuji both protecting people without the people they're protecting even realizing it, but the actual mechanics of the fights were a little lacking.

But, still, the Kaido stuff was pretty strong. They’ve made him way more of the Brooding Bad Boy than I was expecting, and he really nails it. He’s got the chops to play psycho killer one episode, and proud mentor the next.

--4--

Also, damn, a whole lot of mentorship in this one!

It’s Takumi’s declaration, that he’ll fight so others can follow their dreams, that puts the button on the sort-of sub-theme in this episode of the value of mentorship.

Both Takumi and Kaido are frustrated by being on the outside and looking in. They see people pursuing dreams, and they hate it. Takumi because he doesn’t understand it, and Kaido because he misses it. But even if they can’t enact their own dreams, maybe they can work to help others achieve their dreams. Takumi doesn’t viscerally understand Mari’s connection to her dream, but he wants to give her the safety to pursue it. Kaido can’t ever play the way he used to, but the first-year can, and maybe with Kaido’s guidance some small part of his dream can live on.

Even the guest stars get in on the mentorship thread, with Owlphnoch as the mentor that needs to keep you in your place for their own ego, and Mari’s salon boss as the mentor that pushes you because they know you can take it. They’re not really that thematically linked (the salon lady seems too busy to want to destroy Mari’s hands, for example), but it’s nice to get a couple more examples of ways mentors can be complicated.

Speaking of complicated, one thing I’d love to get people’s take on is the ending sequence of Kaido destroying his guitar. It starts with Kaido showing pride in knowing that the first-year is good enough to be the Kaido he never got to be, so that Kaido’s dream can live on through him. And then he throws his guitar away, putting that part of his life to rest. It’s… I don’t know if I’m supposed to feel good about that? There’s a reading where it’s for the best, Kaido flushing out his toxic jealousy in favor of a fresh start. But the destruction in the final shot feels like it’s all a mistake, an abdication of his humanity in favor of a future as an Orphnoch. Thoughts?

--5--

Thematically, this was a super-stuffed episode. Dreams, mentors, it was a lot to unpack. (I didn’t even touch on how weird it was to have the FaizCyKill show up during Faiz’s fight with Bee-Plot and immediately get into a fight with Faiz. They have a real bitter rivalry going on!) I think there was maybe one too many speeches about dreams, but nothing in it was aggravating. It’s trying to do a lot, and the visible effort of trying to say Big Things sort-of worked against it here. The more laid-back Faiz is about telling its story, the more I dig it. This one felt like they were trying a little too hard.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz08b.png

My only thoughts about the guitar thing is that I hoped that was a cheap replica and that they didn't destroy a perfectly good instrument for the sake of being artsy!

The climax with the mellow guitar music over two different fights is one of the most memorable scenes of Faiz to me that stuck forever after just the first time I saw it. At some point, Takumi's speech about protecting dreams became just as imprinted in my mind.