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

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

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

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

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 11

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

--1--

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

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

--2--

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

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

--3--

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

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

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

--4--

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

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

--5--

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

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

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

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

...

.......

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


That was Houjou's actor??!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeah, I think it helps that they're all so distinct, character-wise. It's not just a bunch of suits. You've got Murakami, a big bruiser with a dog, a bartender, and Nightclub Houjou (where my SHF, Bandai). There's also someone we haven't met yet, and that's a very cool detail to drop in on a group's first appearance. Like, here's the group, and there's one last mystery member. Smart!

So happy!

I think it's more that they haven't immediately traded phone numbers or email addresses. For two young people in the early-2000s, that's the part that feels unbelievable. Keitaro wears his phone around his neck in this episode, and has been in the midst of by-email romance since the first time we saw him.

But, you know, maybe Keitaro's working up to it. He's been professional (it's inappropriate to hit on a customer) and distracted (Yuka sprints away from him when they met on the street), so it's fair that they haven't gotten personal details out yet. And, they're on a date in this one, so they don't really need to trade numbers or emails. But, man, they need to deal with that point pretty soon.

I'm just going to say this upfront: I honestly don't consider it that unreasonable that a milksop pushover and an emotionally battered victim of abuse aren't in a rush to swap digits with each other.

Like, I'm not sure how invested I am in defending this plot point, but I can at least see where the show is coming from.

Something I wanna say actually while this topic is brought up? As someone who doesn't like Faiz, I've never really agreed with the "if only these people would just talk normally and stop having so many ~misunderstandings~" argument against it.

Because for me, that's just a basis of drama. I think it's fine that these people don't communicate well with each other because that can be interesting, and there's a lot of realism in there since none of these people have ever even met each other before.

Fair enough. I'm not all beat up about it, but it's a bit of a contrivance for me.

As a counterpoint, though, these two managed to get an online relationship going, so they must be okay putting themselves out there to some degree.

And, man, I don't know that I'd call Keitaro a milksop pushover in general, and he specifically doesn't come off that way in a dating context. He's a romantic! He went on one date with a girl who seems emotionally hollowed out and he's convinced he's in love with her! Dude only feels capital letter Feelings!

Sure! Like I said originally, Complicated Romance is a pretty standard story to tell when it comes to the superhero genre, so any objections are more of the Minor Quibble variety. I really liked the Keitaro/Yuka story!

Like, if there's anywhere in drama/melodrama where you want a decent amount of obfuscation and confusion to keep things humming, it's a star-crossed lovers storyline. It is dramatically appropriate for them to still not know each other's identities!

Then what's the other reason for it? Because yeah, majority, if not all the people who dislikes this has that as a reason.

Why didn't I like it? I just... didn't enjoy it.

I think I said in my first post on this thread, but I feel Faiz is a very, very marmite show. Either the characters and the drama work well for you and is exactly what you want, or it really, really isn't. For me I just don't like these characters and I don't like the cynicism. That's not necessarily saying it's bad - I have the same feelings about Ryuki, and I think that's amazingly well made - it's just not for me.

I do have some actual issues later on, but those issues imo are minor compared to if you're invested in these characters and their relationships. That's the core of the show, and everything else is gravy.

Yeah... I mean, that description is probably overselling it a bit, which is why I'm not sure how invested I am in defending the plotting here. I guess the thing I am sure about is that, at the very least, you can make a legitimate enough argument both ways.

Also, counterpoint to your counterpoint: people who aren't totally comfortable expressing themselves probably feel a lot more comfortable doing that when it isn't face-to-face. See? You can even spin that as evidence in two totally different directions!

Now, this, I won't ever stop defending. Put simply, my stance on Faiz's drama has always been, and will always be, that these characters can't talk normally because they aren't normal. Faiz is a show about broken people! You can still argue it goes too far in places, but I've never seen it as particularly fair to write off the entire show basically just for having that style at all. Faiz can be soapy and serious for the same reason Fourze is allowed to be energetic and goofy. That's just the kind of series they were making.

I guess (and I'm sorry to keep talking about this, but I like thinking about these characters) my read on Keitaro at this point in the series is that he's a very Putting Himself Out There character. Like, he invites two people, one prickly and the other objectively terrible, to live in his home after knowing them for maybe two days. He starts a business that's half dry cleaning, half butting into people's lives to solve personal problems. He's a guy that, to me, is totally comfortable blowing off work for a day to cheer up a girl he doesn't even know the full name of. He's the weirdo outcast of the six main characters because he understands and expresses his emotional needs.

None of this is about the numbers/email thing, that's incidental to the story they're telling, but I really like thinking about these characters. Hope this wasn't a nuisance!

So Faiz is basically a commentary about Fear & Irony of New Technology, where you have more ways to communicate but less things to say than ever :v

(*I think my issue was less about why they're not telling each other directly, but more about the show itself dangling the entire thing in obnoxious "ooh they cross each other's path again, will it be revealed this time?? .... of course not" way. But yea, at this point it can still be, ahem, justified.)

This is like, at least 50% of what these threads are about, right? I think you're fine.

Also, I guess the way I see it is once again, a different take on the same facts. Keitarou, he loves helping people out. He loves getting to know them and talking about their problems. He's easily excitable that way, and he's definitely sociable, but to me, none of that is the same thing as being able to express his more deep-down, personal feelings. He's not Takumi, obviously, but I feel like, I don't know, he'd just be the kind of guy to get uncomfortable when a conversation turns to him.

Wait, I just remembered! The annoying sighing! Remember that? How he refused to just tell Mari and Takumi what he wanted to talk about, got upset with them for not asking, and then, when Mari asks, immediately backs down from actually talking about it? That's exactly the kind of behavior I'm talking about.

Sure! That's maybe a possible actual read on this show! I mean, people were excited about the constant connection of cellphones, until they realized, wait, constant connection? Cellphones can represent that ways people try to navigate relationships, how we try to determine the appropriate amount of ourselves to make available to others. Faiz as a show is currently about a lot of the same things!

(And, I'm not even a little mad at the star-crossed nature of the star-crossed lovers, since half of the show has been about Team Orphnoch and Team Faiz crossing paths without realizing it. It's the gimmick of the show right now! And I think it's been pretty fun! Even if all it gave us was Yuuji imploring Takumi to be a better man, I'd defend it to my death, and we've gotten so much more out of it.)

No comment on the character, but that suit. THAT SUIT. It makes me feel some kind of way, LOL This series has made a lot of really good design choices overall, and this one is my favorite.

Your (probable) enthusiasm at seeing Houjou in this episode was a thing I have been anticipating since the series started and you did not disappoint :D :D :D I have absolutely nothing constructive to say here, but this 100% made my day today

But he never stops trying to get those things out to his friends. He'll be a little sad if they snap at him, and he knows when they're making fun of him, but he still tries to bridge that gap. He knows how little they care about his alleged girlfriend, and he still goes to them, all excited, when she finally messages him.

And, when Yuka wants to spend the day with him, she asks him to take her to a place that means a lot to him, where he's happy. And he does it! For a first date, he wants to bring her into his world. I think that's pretty sweet and brave of him.

Just my take!

Ha ha, happy to help! I can't take any credit, though, it's all Houjou! How can you look at that face and not smile?!

Translation cop back on patrol!

I do totally see what you're saying though. I don't even think this is "agree to disagree" so much as like "yes that's true also"? For me, anyway. Again, I can see this either way! Faiz has a very three-dimensional main cast!

They're pretty great! And thanks for the correction!

So Kamen Rider Die, what KRD Watches name do you give Centipede Orphnoch formerly Houjou of Agito? :lolol

Houjou! He's only gonna ever have the one name! It's like asking me how I'd repaint the Sistine Chapel. The man is a legend, and he validates this entire program by appearing on it. If anyone on this show deserves our respect, it's Houjou.

("Houjourphnoch", probably.)

He's also in season two of Amazons. He played zombie girl's dad.

Aw, dang! I watched Agito way after I watched Amazons, and I don't even remember her dad from Season Two. That's a bummer! I wonder if that'd've affected how I viewed Houjou. I saw OOO just a few months after Amazons Season 2, and when Dr Maki shows up I recognized him as the lunatic executive from Amazons. Made his Dr Maki stuff feel real weird at first.

It's weird how seeing stuff like that out of order can mess with your head. I remember the first place I saw Peter Capaldi was as Sid's dad in Skins, and then as a terrified government official in Torchwood, so when I eventually saw him in In The Loop and he's this vulgar force-of-nature, I was like Wait THAT Guy?! I didn't realize how the stuff I'd seen of his was the out-of-character stuff, not the swearing bonanza of his Malcolm Tucker work.

Speaking of Dr. Maki, Yu Kamio who played him is a polar opposite in Ultraman X where he is the noble commander and that was fun to see. Oh and Ukyo Matsumoto who was Taiga/Kamen Rider Snipe is in it as well playing a character nothing like Taiga.

For all people rag on this show for people not talking about their problems, doing that is an AMERICAN thing. In Japan, people DON’T talk about their problems because they are THEIR problems, not other peoples’.

I've always been more forgiving on this show's 'misunderstandings' than most people, but this is a completely nonsensical defense. Communicating your problems is not a completely foreign concept in Japan. The character's inability to do so comes from their unique character flaws (within reason when the drama is good, anyway).

The Start of a Ship (a pun on the title of Episode 1). Keitarou/Yuka and their romantic 2-person love triangle is a nice subplot that develops both characters in constructive ways. Keitarou plays an important role not just in making Takumi better but also restoring Yuka's faith in humanity, simply by being a decent human which is a novelty in Yuka's life so far. Unfortunately, Keitarou, morally the best person in the show, is convinced that their date means he's a terrible person for cheating on his pen pal, since neither of them know they're the same person they've been emailing for all this time. Yuka is also conflicted since she still has feelings for Kaido, who now has feelings for Mari. Looks like this love triangle has more than 2 people after all. Classic Inoue! It's awesome.

There's a comedic scene where Takumi and Mari are looking at the blurry school reunion picture and Mari asks Takumi who matches his type. It's funny how quickly Takumi changes his mind after realizing he picked Mari. It shows that Takumi is at least a little interested in pursuing romance, a theme which is starting to get more focus with this show entering the Kaixa arc.

I really like the location where Faiz & Kaixa fight Mr. J with the rollercoaster at the theme park where the first date of Keitarou and Yuka is simultaneously happening. It makes Kaixa's real debut here even more memorable and significant with him saving Faiz from his greatest challenge yet.

Your analysis of Faiz's defeat is interesting. I mentioned how cool his fighting style is, the way he doesn't bother escalating and doesn't hold back. But maybe there's a downside to that. As a member of Lucky Clover, the elite, Mr. J isn't some average MOTW kind of Orphenoch. While Kiba proved to be an equal match for Faiz in Episode 6, this is the first time where Faiz was fighting at a disadvantage. Mr. J is a crocodile and a tank. He no-sells Faiz's attacks and strikes as soon as he sees a gap in his offensive.

It's fair to process the show as TV show, and this isn't a wiki substitute, but that can come off as troublesome, especially if it's brought up to like, discussions involving whole Kamen Rider in general, if you have to talk about a certain part in the series, like a scene from episode involving the character not identified, and still using made up terms there (though tbf, some people also use the vague descriptions of that person if they forget their identity, like "Rose Grongi" or "woman with rose tattoo" for Ra-Baruba-De). To be fair I also usually dig up stuffs more at later, but it's more to avoid spoilers, and reading comments and infos from people here aren't much different that it's something you obtained out of the show and reading (plus places like wiki are edited by people). Then again..... like I said before, the whole internet has obscure infos for Phase 1 Heisei series, including the wiki! Have found the extremely complete one for Ryuki (the person's other complete one was OOO, Phase 2), but not yet about the others.

The Lucky Clover, now yeah you got a new team in Faiz, the actual villains team. The usually evil monsters (Orphnochs). Murakami is someone who puts up a facade in public, but somehow there are people who doubts him as a president.

A non-conflict story you like? So Faiz got the amusement park scene early on.... those people in toku can somehow spend enough there, either time (this is usually reserved for holidays) and money, right? Though regarding them not knowing, I mean Keitaro learned Yuka's name when she wrote on the laundry right? How did he somehow only know her surname (he calls her Osada-san)? And did Yuka learn Keitaro's name too? Besides, something that grates a bit other than the first display of "misunderstandings" (this one doesn't cause that big of a doom) that, if they don't ask for like, first name, or phone numbers, is that they seem to be less dedicated to keep in touch with each other, oh well, then again, Keitaro knows where Yuka lives, so it's not as problematic for them to get to meet. Though if they want to convey the happiness, should it be Yuka? She's the one who's damaged yeah, and she wants to be happy by asking Keitaro to take her into a place that made him happy, and show her changes, if only from that temporary situation. And even if they don't tell each other their contacts/identities.... this could be still probably solved if Keitaro does his usual sthick, like texting Yuka when they're together, then have Yuka's phone ring and her checking the message, and realize that the person beside her is her pen pal.... Tbf for Keitaro, he thinks Team Faiz has warmed up to him with Takumi smiling at him at the idea of him being Faiz... but poor him it's not to be the case later on.

Even if Kaido is not an evil person (only Takumi's level of terrible), he got what's coming for him here. Someone, a terrible one too, helping you out, only for you to instead lash out. Kaido isn't suicidal right? He proclaims that he wants to live, if live as an Orphnoch and doing their mission. Eh then again, Kaido thinks Mari's a burglar. Mari doesn't even properly introduce herself here unlike what she did to Takumi. While I already know some part of the series before, I never expect Mari and Kaido interacting alone like here. For Yuka, if I'm in her position (I've had some problems of that myself), if someone mistreats me, I'm gonna see how that person treats others. If it's like Kaido, who also mistreats others like Yuji, I wouldn't feel guilty and leave like that, because I know it's just the person being unpleasant overall, not specifically to me.

For having the coolest kick, this is an instance where finishers can be blocked like usual attack? The video games don't lie after all that when you screw up your finisher, the opponent will be able to block the drill kick (not dodging to the side). Oh, and that offscreen gunfire came courtesy of the Mystery Rider, who it looks like will be a big part of next episode. And speaking of game, oops I was wrong before, this is the major Orphnochs that is playable there, the Crocodile Orphnoch. Even if Faiz has beaten up, Crocodile Orphnoch hasn't shown his ability.... yet.

My point was that.... all the cynicism, and marmite, does that come from the miscommunications, which you tolerate?

Whoa, noble good guy Dr Maki sounds neat! Thanks for the heads-up!

Yeah, I can't really speak to any cultural differences, but Kamen Rider as a franchise (even in the early Heisei stuff) puts a ton of emphasis on doing the hard work of expressing your emotions, and the value of letting people in. One of my favorite things is how characters that try to exclude others, go it alone, they're usually punished by the plot for it!

I don't... I'm not sure if me complaining about the whole Yuka/Keitaro thing has given people the wrong idea. It's not a huge failing of this show that they don't know each others' names or personal info yet. I think it's, at most, a little goofy, and something I'd like to see them address to close off a loophole. Not resolve, but address.

In general, I'm not seeing the "misunderstandings" people have been talking about, and nothing about the interactions between Team Faiz and Team Orphnoch have been a negative to me. It's, honestly, some of the most fun parts of the show. Even within their groups, I think the characterizations have been compellingly nuanced, with some solid emotional logic to why characters respond the way they do.

Maybe there's stuff down the line that'll drive me crazy, but right now I think the plotting has been pretty great.

Yeah, this is getting to be a little bit of a romantic drama, with the Yuka/Keitaro stuff, that Mari/Takumi joke, Mari's crush on Yuuji, my undying affection for Houjou's presence... Things are getting a little heated on Faiz!

It'd been brought up in the previous episode, I think, that there's a faction at Smart Brain that feels he stole the presidency. And those dudes who attacked his car were maybe from that faction? (I don't really remember.)

I don't really understand what you're asking here?

I think, also, you misunderstand what I mean by 'marmite'. That's a type of jam, I guess, which is infamous for people either loving it or absolutely hating it -- and that's how I feel most people interact with Faiz, too. It's not describing a literal aspect of the show.

I also should say that despite what I said, I don't actually like the miscommunication. I think it makes sense for the character; I think it's a valid storytelling device; I think it has potential to be interesting and as I said, I don't think it's some big thing that dooms the show or even bad on its own. But it's also not something I, personally enjoy and I just get sick of the way it's used after a bit.

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 12

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz12a.png

--1--

Does everything on this show have to malfunction the first time it’s used? The first time we see someone use the Faiz belt, it’s Mari, and it doesn’t work. The first time we see the FaizCyKill, it attacks Faiz. (Deservedly, but the image of it is wrong.) And now, the first time we see Kaixa in action, he Errors out and dies. Twice!

I think it serves two purposes. First, it’s kind-of funny. Not laugh-out-loud funny, but unexpected and surprising. The show builds up to a big Hero moment, and then it, like, *sad trombone*. Second, it definitely keeps Team Faiz (and the new Team All-New kaiXa-Men, complete with Dennis Hopeless-esque RV) feeling like an underdog. The less-charitable view would be that they are hopeless screw-ups, but these plucky kids got me rooting for them. They’re trying so hard, you guys!

--2--

And they’re really trying in this episode. Takumi tries his hand at being a problem solver, and it’s really entertaining. I feel like he’s the friend that can’t ever listen to your problems, he has to give you a solution. Sometimes you just want to vent, but he’s like Just Do What I Tell You And Your Problems Are Solved. Takumi is… not the friend you vent to.

It’s neat to see how quickly he enjoys telling people what to do. His whole thing is not getting involved, but as soon as he does it’s like he’s addicted to it? After giving Mari some actionable advice (hey, why don’t you call some of the people in this photo that did not immediately turn to ash in front of you), he’s ready to fix Keitaro’s heartache, and it goes bad. He goes from being shocked that Keitaro is juggling two women (“with that face”!) to making it all about him and his lack of a love life. He’s helpful to the group for, like, one problem and then just flames out hard. Granted, trying to get involved in anyone’s romantic problems is S Class problem solving, even more so when it’s Keitaro’s weird one-woman-two-relationships thing, but he’s barely able to last a sentence before he goes back to not wanting to get involved. (That little slink away he does in the background as Mari levels her gaze at Keitaro is expert physical comedy.)

--3--

That domestic stuff, Team Faiz doing a scene together, the show did some fun stuff with it I thought. There’s a little musical cue I love, a little bit of acoustic guitar, that they’ve layered over some of the Team Faiz At Home scenes. It reminds me of watching Cowboy Bebop, that lazy energy, people just existing in a space together. I like it.

Visually they went surprisingly high energy. Mari’s expanded story of her childhood (excellent callback from a surprised Keitaro, crushed that Mari and Takumi had a backstory conversation without him) has this hilariously dramatic spotlight on her, taking what could normally be a dry scene of exposition and daring you not to laugh during it. Turns out she was one of several orphans who was adopted by a rich but emotionally-distant father-figure and trained for a mysterious purpose, which, y’know, that’s a totally normal thing to have happen. Or, no, it’s super weird, but the show doesn’t really dwell on it. Like, Takumi all but says to Mari that her childhood is unbelievably suspicious, and Mari’s delivery and body language during her story is basically Now That I’m Hearing This Out Loud I Can See How You Might Find It A Little Weird. It’s a scene that’s almost all exposition, but the lighting and performance keep it from being even a little dull.

Similarly, there’s a beautifully staged shot later in the episode. The, I don’t know, Jean Grey of Team All-New kaiXa-Men, she’s meeting Takumi and Mari for coffee. While she’s giving us some context for the episode’s first dissolving Kaixa, she says that they’ll both get more answers from Mari’s old teacher. Who is pulling up the RV outside the cafe during that sentence, and the camera tracks it over Jean’s shoulders the whole time, single shot. That seems like it’d be an enormous pain-in-the-ass to get right, and it’s for a scene that wasn’t even screaming out for a flashy camera move. Which is why I love it? It’s easy, on a show like this, to save all the crane shots and dolly rigs for the Faiz Fight or an Orphnoch debut. I love it when it’s used on a line of dialogue at the end of an expository scene.

Some clever, unnecessary directing choices in this one, and I 100% approve.

--4--

So, Team All-New kaiXa-Men.

As individual characters, they’re whatever. No one really stands out, since they only get one or two lines each. (Scott Summers bites it in the open, Jean gets the dialogue scene with Mari in the cafe, Warren Worthington III bites it in the second Kaixa fight, Bobby Drake tries to protect Hank McCoy But A Girl, and Substitute Xavier bites it at the end.) I love how half of the group is dead within their first episode. Fantastic.

As a group, it’s maybe slightly better than whatever? Mari having a Secret History is barely even something you could call a surprise at this point, since a) her parents died in a mysterious accident when she was a kid, b) she was adopted by the president of the country’s largest corporation who has mysteriously disappeared, c) she went to a mysterious school that was buried deep beneath the Earth, and, most damning, d) she is a teenage girl on a Kamen Rider show. I’d’ve been more shocked if she just cut hair for 50 episodes. There’s some fun to be had with the way the show piles on the Secret History tropes here, as though all of that other stuff was just too common, not special enough. Now she’s part of a group of mysterious orphans, and they’re all in danger.

It… I sort-of don’t care? I don’t know how much I’m supposed to care, though. I can’t tell if the show’s screwing around, or trying to do something serious. Again, half the group gets bumped off right away, and the show hasn’t started to get at Mari’s feelings on any of this (it is just so much exposition you guys), so I’m left trying to invest in a group of kids who get immediately murdered. Tough ask!

That said, I don’t know that I want the show to do more with these characters or this plot. I’m good with it as a gag, a parody of Secret History tropes. Trying to expand it, or make it more central to Mari’s story… no thanks? I mean, I’d love to regret saying that, to have the show find some angle on it that impresses me. In this episode, it just didn’t click for me.

--5--

And, man, there ain’t much else in this episode! A couple quick scenes with Yuka and Yuuji to reiterate some stuff (Smart Brain wants Yuuji to attack humans, Kaido’s on the mend), and a Lucky Clover scene that tells us they’ve got three lives each. They’re good scenes, but too brief to really discuss. I think the only other thing is that Faiz and the FaizCyKill actually, effectively team-up this episode?! It’s a stunning development, and I hope the show hasn’t squandered one of its biggest rivalries just to shock the viewers. I don’t think it’ll last, though.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz12b.png

So yeah remember in episode 10 when Kaixa is watching Takumi fight to tease the new rider? With the revelation that it's up to this point killed all of its users that means someone had to die to get that scene, and that's hilarious to me.

You dubbing the kaiXa-Men new names is probably going to be the most memorable thing about them to me personally from now on. Does this make Takumi Wolverine?!

Like, did Team All-New kaiXa-Men test this out, kill a friend in doing so... and then keep going? I mean, Jean says that they lost two friends to fighting Orphnochs (Gabriel Summers, who turned to ash last episode, and Scott Summers, who bites it in this one), but they had to have tried it out before just fighting with it. So they did, someone died... and they just kept going?

I mean, godDAMN. That's all info that's basically in this episode, but the idea of the test run ending in a death and they were like Mission Accomplished...

INOUE!!! I love these idiot kids now. The man's a legend.

It's tricky, because the look of Team All-New kaiXa-Men is so specifically the original five X-Men that I sort-of think it's on purpose? Just, the group by itself is so clearly the X-Men to me that, jokingly, I called that one girl Jean, and then the dead kid was Scott, and then Oh Shit Wait A Second.

With Team Faiz, it's hard to find the parallel? Takumi seems more like he'd be the Sunfire of the group, an uncharismatic powerhouse that everyone else is sick of immediately. Keitaro would be the Nightcrawler, all friendship and smiles. Mari... tough one. Maybe Banshee? I don't know. At this point, it feels like a stretch.