Each belt has different rules around who can use it, with Delta being the most permissive and Faiz the most restrictive (Kaixa is actually on par with Delta in who can use it, but it will also straight up kill you if you weren't its intended target). I forget how much of this is clearly explained in the show itself, but I can tell you that there will be an explanation for how Kusaka can use all three Gears.

Yeah, this is stuff I really don't stress about, since if it feels like an error it's probably more that the explanation hasn't arrived yet. That's a lesson I learned on Ex-Aid, when the show makes a really big deal about the fact that Emu could immediately use the Gamer Driver when everyone else needed compatibility surgery. I assume that we'll get some clarification on what the deal is with the belts over the next dozen episodes.

That's true and Keitarou would have to adjust to the reality that all his friends are suddenly Orphenochs. Would make a good fanfiction though!

So it's like Mari's death is a thing that happens, whereas with Takumi, it tells us something we didn't know about him. Mari's death changes the future of the show, but the reveal of Takumi changes the past of the show, redefining him in a new way? Yeah, I totally get that.

It's more that Mari dying is a thing I expect the show to fix, while Takumi being an Orphnoch is a thing I expect the show to explore. Speculating on how something'll get fixed... I mean, that's what I'm watching the show for. But speculating on how something'll impact a character, or what it's saying about the story being told, that's shit I can't stop thinking about.

Welp, guess only word I have for you Die is WELCOME TO LUCKY CLOVER. :lolol

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 35

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--1--

Last episode, everything changed. Mari died. Takumi was revealed to be an Orphnoch. The entire premise of the show was cracked open, irrevocably altered. Nothing would ever be the same again.

What this episode asks is, Why Not?

Maybe this is another one that's frustrating to some viewers. There's an active attempt by the characters to sweep all these changes under the rug. There's a cute cookout scene that's very mid-20s, episode-wise. What you might expect to be about a bold new status quo (or, failing that, boatloads of exposition) ends up being a concerted attempt at Business As Usual.

But, man, I love that choice.

It all feels like exactly what people do in times of trauma. Nothing makes sense, everything's chaotic, there are no answers. But then there's this tiny chance of normalcy, and everyone grabs on for dear life. (I mean, god, look at most cities that reopening right now.) Mari died? Hey, it was just a wacky mix-up at the hospital! ("Oh! You thought I said your friend was ‘not alive’? You must've misheard me. When you asked if she had died, I said she was ‘naw, alive.’ Ha ha, whoops! What a crazy misunderstanding!”) Takmui's an Orphnoch and everyone knows it? Not if we never bring it up again! See? Everything's fine forever!

And, like, of course it isn't. As much as we might long for normalcy and the safety of predictability, things always change. Mari can put a big stupid grin on her face when her friends are around, but she can't hide her haunted look when she thinks no one sees. Takumi can force his Orphnoch form back in the closet, but he can't hide it away forever. These things need to be acknowledged, recognized, processed. Running from that... it's only going to work for an episode.

--2--

It's a good episode, though. Not what I was expecting at all, but I really do like the choice to try and act like nothing changed.

There's some very fun directorial decisions in this one. All of the back-half of the episode, it's upbeat dialogue and friendly activities (Keitaro really likes that grilled pumpkin, you guys), but the lighting is overcast, the atmosphere foreboding. It sells the impression that none of this repression is good, that it's not going to work.

And, man, that shaft of light that drops down as Takumi transforms into Wolfeyes, his Orphnoch form, it's such a stupidly fun choice. Cheesy in all the right ways.

--3--

This is, unfortunately, a weirdly tough episode for me to dig into! A lot of stuff happened, plot-wise, but it mostly feels like moving pieces around, or creating consequences for other episodes. I love the tone, the approach, but the individual pieces don't have much meat on them. There weren't a ton of conversations between characters, and what was there felt very... on-the-nose?

Like, the stuff with Takumi and Murakami/Kageyama, it didn't really pop for me. I like the idea of seeing Takumi have to navigate a different group, but this episode was very... transactional? It felt too plot-driven to me.

The Kusaka/Yuuji scene had the same limitation to me. (That opening punch, though! Second funniest thing in the episode!) It's just Yuuji saying that he knows Kusaka is a liar, and Kusaka wanting to know what the Orphnochs are all up to. There's a little moment I liked in it, where it's clear that Kusaka is suspicious because this feels like one of his schemes, but then Yuuji just goes ahead and says that out loud.

I didn't mind the Takumi/Kusaka talk, but it didn't really do a lot for me. It plays into the themes of the episode, that it's natural to try and pretend things haven't changed when it's too tough to find a new path, but that's really all their talk has to it. I like that Takumi trusts his friends (and Kusaka?!) enough to let them decide if he should stick around or not, but it's a scene that's mostly redundant by the time the cookout happens. That scene, it does it all in a more elegant way?

And, man, that cookout scene is pretty great. It's this nice mix of surface-level happiness with barely concealed terror, this group of people Faking It Until They Make It with their ability to coexist. It's forced in a way that's heartbreaking, and that's even before Lucky Clover shows up for their newest member.

--4--

My favorite, favorite thing about Team Faiz trying to go back to business as usual (including no one telling Mari that Takumi is an Orphnoch, my least favorite Kamen Rider trope) is that it all blows up in their faces in the first goddamn episode. Their attempt at a status quo does not even last an episode. Fantastic.

It's like, I'll give them the realism of these kids hoping that nothing has to change, but only for a minute. After that, yes, Lucky Clover wants what they're owed. Mari has to find out that Takumi is Wolfeyes, the (probably) same Orphnoch WHO WAS AT THE RYUSEI SCHOOL REUNION. They tried running from this. I get why they'd try, and it's important to show it, but it can't work. Everything's changed forever.

--5--

Plus, running away is 100% Mihara's thing, and I still love it. (He's going to try being a hero now, though, so I'm probably going to fall out of love.) The biggest laugh I got from this episode was from Mihara. The episode opens with this awesome Wolfeyes/Skullcandy brawl, with Takumi knocking Sawada off of a cliff while everyone else watches, stunned. The next scene is Mihara trying to give the Delta Belt back to Kusaka so he can go home. Yes. YES. I would never have gotten tired of that dude trying to quit after every single fight, and I'm worried that him committing to heroism is a huge narrative miscalculation.

I hope it's all a miscommunication!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz35e.png

Four years prior to Faiz, Mihara was rescue chopper pilot Sho Tatsumi aka Go Green in Kyukyu Sentai GogoV. Polar opposite of Mihara too character-wise.

*insert clever way of pointing out this is another Ishida episode here*

I would be down for this idea too. Just have every Delta fight from here on end with Mihara naively assuming it's his last one, and keep contriving increasingly absurd scenarios to force the belt back on him. Everyone else can be involved in this complex web of drama, where every difficult decision leads to the next, while off to the side, Mihara just can't go out for an ice cream cone without the guy selling it turning out to be an Orphenoch that wants him dead.

Fast and Furious "One last job" logic only it's the Ryuseii School alumni constantly showing up at his door and refusing to leave unless he helps them with a problem that is invariable Orphenoch related.

"Fine, there you go, I killed that hit-and-run driver who was really the Cockroach Undead. Can I go home now?"

Also an't believe my brain just thought of thishttps://frinkiac.com/meme/S07E01/104...5DRUQgREVBRA==
https://frinkiac.com/meme/S07E01/106...8gIkFMSVZFLiI=