Yeah, it connects not to the main hero, but to other leads; Mari and Kusaka... so it doesn't count even if it connects to the second most important? Though for this one, obviously Ryusei School is to be expected when Mari is hospitalized and dying. They gotta be worried about her.

If you wish you can follow him more, you would get it. Though his tendency mentioned here is a major source of hatred. Takumi vibe of wanting to stay away from those bullshits?

What did you expect then from the Faiz vs Horse Orphnoch showdown? And for now, Kusaka has given himself a record - a secondary Rider that has transformed into every Riders available in the series so far. And Kitazaki's apathy goes on higher level here to throw all the hard work.... or not? He was just deceiving Takuma and gives the gear to other Lucky Clover. Also the first showings on Rose Orphnoch... I know hels the boss but that includes high level in power too? He was never showcased anywhere in discussions.

The name of the show is Kamen Rider Faiz yeah..... but it's not "Takumi Inui" :p, and in this show, Rider Gears can be usrd by anyone... so it'd still fit the show if Kusaka regularly uses Faiz! So Kaido's act was famous enough to be recorded into newspaper... somehow.

This is something that’s been hinted at since the first episode, as remember Takumi wasn’t surprised about the existence of Orphnoc almost like he was already aware of them.

Honestly, no, it doesn't matter that much to me if it's a huge mystery that the main character doesn't have a stake in. If it's just a couple episodes, fine. An arc, okay. But a series-long mystery that's only viscerally important to supporting cast members? No, not for me.

The fact that some of the Ryusei School kids that show up to visit Mari in the hospital are brand-new is hilarious to me. Where are they coming from? Why did they show up for this, but none of the other tense situations? Is it a roster that they're moving down? Do they have on-days and off-days, and this was the on-day for Mihara and the other three? I don't get that group's structure at all.

It was neat! He's got a good Orphnoch design, and that explosion of petals was a good visual. I guess it just didn't stick in my memory? I like Murakami as a boss, as a negotiator. I'm not super into him as a monster?

Good point!

Yeah,if you ever make a Rewatch thread (in like 2023 or something I suppose), I hope Faiz would be a top priority. It's just so staggering how much the revelation recontextualize everything in the early episodes and your own character analysis, in a way that adds to them instead of contradicting them. So much food for retrospective thoughts!

Yeah, boy, there'd be a lot to dive into, that's for sure. I feel like every Takumi scene worked on an additional wavelength I wasn't receiving, and now I'm tuned into that frequency. Really bonkers to think of how much extra has been packed into this show that you can't even catch on the first go-around.

For now, I just feel like such an idiot. It was staring me in the face and I never saw it:

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...akkunorph1.png

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...akkunorph2.png

HOW WAS I SO BLIND

I'm so happy the Orphenoch has blown your mind the way it should! I don't actually remember what at all my own reaction to this was, I may have already known the twist beforehand? It is a really good twist though, that adds a juicy layer of context to previous scenes.

So while all that is happening, I want to mention how I absolutely do remember some of my feelings regarding that Delta stuff. First of all, Kitazaki just throwing away the belt is certainly unexpected, but like, why though. I was just getting used to Delta as this really menacing villain and then 'nah'.

At the same time, I was also in the same boat as you as when those two Ryusei people came to visit Mari in the hospital, I also didn't know whether they had shown up before or if they were new, so I kinda didn't bother registering them in my mind. That's why when one of them started talking about he didn't want any part of this, I was just like 'good for you, bye'. But then it turns out that's an actual character arc the show was playing out, and I was seriously baffled because with all the other stuff happening in the show, I had no idea why the show kept cutting back to the plight of a random guy whose name I didn't even remember.

But then he gets casually handed the Delta Gear and I was like 'wait... Is he just gonna be Delta from now on??? I guess I gotta catch his name now...'. It bordered on surreal to me. If Kitazaki had to arbitrarily throw away the belt, and if it had to find one consistent user instead of just being passed around... I figured it would maybe to go someone on Team Orphenoch, or Keitaro (I'm not even gonna pretend Mari is an option...).

Takumi being an Orphnoch is -definitely- one of the show's best twists, and I'm so happy it wasn't spoiled for you; these days it's just one of those spoilers that gets thrown out there as basic knowledge among fans even by official media, just like how Blade i̸̛̺̪̞̞̩̗̙̩̝͇̗͖̰̱͖͍͘ͅn̶̯̣̰̠̳̠̩͕̗͇͞F̵̵̢͙͈̖̱͖̼o̵̧̭̲͙͈̮̰͚̳̗̻͈͡R̡͍̖̲̣̥͙̲͚̣͖̺̪̫͢͠ͅM̶̡̦͉̙̳A̛̳̺̗̗͕̙͈͎̮͉̰͔͖t̶̨̛̳̜̘̦͉̭͓͝͞i̸̡̤̯̞̥͜͟O̢͞͏҉̦̝̪̩͉̤̼̲͓̼̘͕̣̱̺̖ͅņ̸̶̛̭͚̗͍̫̹̺̤͍̺͍͖̣͉̥̫͘ ̵͔̬̤̥͇̣́̕͢W̦̻͉̞̺̩̞̜̪͙̯͓͞I̛̗̖̤͉̦̳̝͙͝t̡҉͍̣̫̘̥̳͔̗̠̼͔̤̭̗̫̼̟̳̕h҉̷̛̭̺͖̻̠Ȩ̨͏̛͇͇͉͎̲̜̼͎̜͖̜ļ̸̛͡͏̲̺̭̪̳͓̱D̷̡̡̺̩̙̫̮̖̹͇̘͓̳͉̟̕̕



So I'm really glad you get to just enjoy this as is because I really, really liked it. I guess it's a little harder to appreciate now but "Kamen Rider has been the monster the whole time" is... not exactly new to the franchise, but it wasn't ever done as directly and as obviously as this and especially in such a way that recontextualises it all. It's one of those things about Faiz that I can't deny is great!

WAIT I JUST CHECKED AND THIS LITERALLY HAPPENS THE SECOND AFTER KUSAKA SAYS HE WANTS TO KNOW ABOUT TAKUMI'S PAST!!!

Dude! I don't remember catching that at all even on a rewatch! Gahhh, this show is so cool!

I remember near the beginning of the show you wondering why Takumi could use the Faiz belt and wondering if they'd even explain it. Well, they just did. The show's been setting this up the whole time.

Remember back when this thread was newly born when I said this?

This is part of what I meant. Back in the Showa Era, instead of being an instantly-generated costume, the Rider suit was what they looked like after a surgery to turn them into a monster. The human appearance was the ‘costume’. Here, they make it a more overt-monster, so it stands out. Like a lot of the old-school gang, Kamen Rider Takumi Inui (which by the way, translates as ‘dog’, if you didn’t know) is a modified human who fights for humanity’s freedom against an evil secret organisation, using their own technology.