Oh, for sure. I just have more fun thinking about the character-driven stuff. The plot stuff can be a ton of fun, too!

I mean, they're in the soap opera parts now, but they used to get their own stories.

They hadn't given up on Takumi as the 4th member, I thought? It felt like Murakami still thought he'd come around.

Sure. For me, it's that I find Mihara so funny that it feels like people who are mad at him are missing the joke.

Yeah, I thought it all hung together better in this one, but you're not wrong about how jarring some of the story choices can be. There's an effectiveness to it, how it's drawing parts of the narrative together, but it's not as pretty as it could be.

I think a lot of it for me is context. When it's a fight scene, friends attacking friends feels... metaphorical? Everything is a physical manifestation of their words, their feelings. Kusaka slapping Mari in the face in their living room because he's upset at her during an argument, utterly inexcusable. And, like, there's a realness to that kind of evil that... I don't want to deal with that reality in Kamen Rider. I don't think it's a specific kind of real-world evil that the show is built to address properly.

I hate making gifs, but sometimes something needs to be a gif.

It's very much a moment that, subjectively for me, is the irredeemable moment. He's done scummy things, slimy things, but this felt... unforgivable for me. I don't know. There's maybe a way that the show treats it as unforgivable that can get me to be less offended by it all, but we'll see. Not something I feel like giving the show a lot of slack on.

Murakami's just so professional and disciplined that he realizes that he needs to take care of the real threat first, then loop around and grab the Delta Gear. Then there's the added psychological benefit of knocking Mihara aside which a) rattles Takumi, b) scares Mihara, and c) I gotta assume makes Murakami feel like a million bucks.

Who even needs the Delta Gear, that stopped being cool years ago.

I heard Delta was so cool, he was the first person to think the Delta Gear was uncool.

Nice of you to finally talk about the fight scenes in an episode only to call no attention to how Takumi becomes Delta here, and then pointedly refuses to use the gun in favor of his usual "punch the guy in the stomach until they give up" strategy. I mean, sure, Mihara wasn't blasting away either right before that, but that's just what makes it so much more embarassing. Takkun can completely fail to take advantage of the Delta Gear's actual strengths, and still win.

Anyway, now that Kitazaki's finally shown his monster form as the Dragon Orphenoch, I figure this is a great time for some more trivia. The motifs of Lucky Clover's Orphenoch forms (a crocodile, a lobster, a centipede, and a dragon) were all directly taken from a group of antagonists called the Hakaider Squad from Kikaider 01, the sequel to classic non-Rider Ishinomori series Kikaider.

That might not mean much to you as someone who doesn't truck with Showa, but you probably at least remember Kikaider's guest appearance in Gaim to promote his reboot movie. It's kind of hard to forget Professor Ryouma putting his brain into Hakaider's body and going on a rampage. Which brings me to my next point, that Hakaider's iconic exposed brain was the inspiration for Murakami's see-through dome in his Rose Orphenoch form. Hakaider's overall design was also the inspiration for Kaixa's design, which is evident in the color scheme and overall silhouette. The two takeaways here are that someone who was desiging things for Faiz REALLY loved Hakaider, and that choosing a character who's name is taken from the Japanese word for destruction as Kaixa's motif maybe tells you something about Kusaka's character. Actually, about Kusaka...

I'd argue that slapping Mari isn't that far from anything Kusaka normally does. The man is a bigot, a thug, an attempted murderer several times over, and a nearly pathological liar who constantly engages in gaslighting and other kinds of emotional manipulation without remorse due to his sociopathic inability to acknoweldge the autonomy of people that aren't himself. I reject the idea that there are different levels of unacceptability to all of that. I feel like putting any one of his sins above another diminishes the weight of the things he's done. Wrong is wrong, and, from my subjective point of view, that's really the end of the story. I don't think the show needs to do much more than it is to address this. It may not directly admonish his behavior through the other characters, but Kusaka is being swallowed whole by his own madness by this point in the story, and I don't think even Inoue is insane enough to ask you to just brush behavior this reprehensible off.

All that being said! I do understand where you're coming from here, especially if this kind of thing is a particular hot button issue for you to begin with. This absolutely feels different from your everyday terrible Kusaka, but I would personally suggest the issue isn't that the act is more heinous, but that it's only heinous. When Kusaka hits Yuuji in the face, it's so out of nowhere it becomes darkly humorous, right? When he cooks up some elaborate scheme to turn people against each other, he's trying so hard it's hilarious, right? Hitting Mari the way he does here, that's none of those things. It's a lot more visceral than normal. It goes back to what you were saying about context, but that slap is a lot less... theatrical, than his usual stunts, for sure. A lot less fantastic. Mari recoiling in fear in the next scene when an "apologetic" Kusaka tries to stroke her face is legitimately a little gut-wrenching? I mean, right now I'm playing devil's advocate for a guy who might actually manage to qualify as the devil, but it's not like I truly disagree with anything you're saying. Hitting people for not agreeing with you is bad! And it's petulant, too! Don't be like Kusaka, kids! I think there was some other show with a protagonist who talked a lot about this kind of thing? I can't remember his name right now, but he was probably a very Cool Guy.

And, I mean, I get it. Kusaka's a manipulative sociopath for the length of the series. The first time he meets Yuuji, he tortures him. He's tried to murder Takumi multiple times.

But, for me, there's a level of villainy I'll accept from Kamen Rider, and there's a level they are ill-equipped to deal with narratively. Two costumed people screaming their issues at each other while punching and kicking, yeah, of course. Schemes and duplicity, sure. Kusaka hitting Mari, it's an escalation with real-world consequences that I don't think this show is ready to address. Since that's the case, I'd really rather they stick to metaphorical versions of these issues.

Like, I wouldn't enjoy a Fourze episode that tries to tackle teenage drug addiction and how damaging it can be for a recovering addict to reenter a judgmental peer group. That is going to be impossible for that show to handle honestly, seeing as it's full of astrology monsters and toyetic gimmicks. But! Make it a story about a kid who's addicted to Astroswitches, and I'm totally onboard.

I don't know if that makes any sense? My reaction to the Kusaka development is... I don't know if people think I'm being unfair? Maybe it's no big deal to folks. I don't blame anyone who thinks it's well-established as how Kusaka behaves. For me, it feels like the show going to a place it is not prepared to see through.

Late response but yeah.... so even if Izumi is not chosen to be Faiz he's still chosen to play a role of someone else instead.... still good then. Also for Takumi it's not about him hiding it, but also from how he was apparently bloodthirsty by slaughtering Ryusei School alumnis, so OOC. Assholes aren't inherently psychopatic or villainous.

Ha yes, the villains are more competent and goal-oriented than the heroes, which also makes for something that work less well to you... Which is not that much interiority to Lucky Clover, no sense of who they are when they aren't in Lucky Clover. Because they're solely focused on their mission, where heroes can neglect or be distracted by the daily stuff. The heroes change and grow because they're as you said, less competent than the villains, albeit the villains aren't necessarily more effective, but there's not much to change or grow for the plans. The thing for Murakami and Smart Brain is that as Orphnochs are the evolution of humans, they want the Orphnochs to replace the humans as Orphnochs are superior (blatantly power wise).

Keitaro too for confronting him, the one person that idolizes Kusaka... now probably has finally seen his true colors. "Your mileage may vary" hahaha.... actually for this one, you just joined in the majority of KR fandom (not for people here perhaps), for the Kusaka bashing, and here, you just see for real, why Kusaka is so infamous within the KR fandom. Though for this one, I feel you're talking about this subjectively? As others have said, while this is an escalation of Kusaka's insanity, with him finally lashing out at the only one person he cares about, the one person he acts nice to, this isn't worse than any acts Kusaka has committed before (or in this episode hey? trying to spread more of Takumi's infamy like to Mihara). I mean the thing you've complained about Kusaka before was him interacting with Mari like.... getting in the way of Kaido/Mari.... so his way with Mari is the only thing that makes you complain about Kusaka like this one and treat this as a far worse thing he has done? That's quite subjective, treating an important character bad doesn't make the act worse than his acts to a less significant character just because it has more spotlight... or because a bias to a specific thing.

Real right, Takumi being an Orphnoch isn't his fault (other than the mysterific Ryusei School massacre flashback), you cannot change that (at least no found way currently to erase your Orphnoch inside) but the way a friend treats that to make him feel unacceptable, that's the actual wrong move and the thing you should take responsibility of. And yeah about apologizing, if you want to apologize, freaking back it up, not just uttering that word. Honestly I've lost trust in a mere apologizing word because that can be used as an excuse to get away from your faults. With you talking about how Yuji being the only one can properly approach Takumi.... her "dating" with the only man she likes, should remedy the methods.

"If that's something you care about"... lol, that's obviously the main reason and the appeal for tokus like KR and the reason people watch it. For me being one of those who actually care and tolerate about the parts not about that in KR series and wishes for people to also think like that.... For the fights, I've talked about various things of it previously like a finisher in Faiz, cool looking as it may be, can be blocked like in Faiz vs Horse Orphnoch's first fight. I guess for Dragon Orphnoch, his ability to turn things into ash seems to be unchanged as his blows don't have that effect on Yuji Faiz, unless for prolonged one like Kitazaki stomping on Faiz. Also I never knew that Dragon Orphnoch has his own Axel Mode. Just strangely for one of most significant Orphnoch, and Faiz version of Ouja, Dragon Orphnoch only truly fought now. And ha.... you said you weren't into Murakami as a monster? What you described here, is actually what makes me intrigued to Murakami as monster, not to mention, with so little info about him as a monster otherwise. Also I wanna know about his power level compared to other Orphnochs, because flashy =/= actually powerful. The stereotype is that the leader is the most powerful yeah but...

So Mihara scene is a proof that Kusaka fully being cordial (at least on outside, dunno what he wants to get from them if he's two-faced too) to any Ryusei School students (though in flashback he was only concerned about Mari) right to actually believe what Kusaka told him about Takumi being a threat.

I was half-stirring shit with saying them being in soap opera parts (this can still hold truth though) but real talk? The real one holding soap opera parts? Kusaka! (that I've said multiple times that never get response unlike the characters I mentioned here) Turning on the TV and have it air a soap opera program recently just served as a reminder of how soap opera-ish his sthick are, about constantly scheming with exaggerated expressions to create drama and animosities based on lies and slanders while relying on two-faced personality.

For Murakami it's adding more variation to me. It would be generic if all the villains are equally as sadistic and remorseless as the other Lucky Clover members, like Saeko, Takuma (outside his fear of...), and especially Kitazaki, the most evil person in the series. He's more businesslike in his approach, prefers negotiating with others, and is seemingly more tolerant of any misdirections while also seemingly more sensible and knows more than any of the other straightforward villains, unlike other villains who has more brutish approach with usual throwing power around. Also for villain vs threat, villain is about how you act, not about which position you have in the story. Kusaka is just on the protagonistic side, because he fights off Orphnoch due to racism, but the fact is actually, a rather unknown one, protagonist isn't synonymous to hero, and antagonist is also not synonymous to villain. Those 2 words are just roles. Protagonist is the main character, the character story revolves around, antagonist is anyone opposes the protagonist, regardless of their morality. There are various villain protagonists in stories. Kusaka is one of the protagonists, but doesn't mean he can't be framed as villain (only as a threat) because he's in that position.

I don't think I really find the villains lacking in specificity anymore. At one point, sure. But recently (mostly with the arrival of Kitazaki) I've got a much better sense of what each of them is about. Like, there's a real sense of what their group dynamic is now, how they behave around each other. It's gotten a lot better!

Yeah, it's not that it's hard for me because it happens to Mari, it's that the visual of Kusaka slapping Mari in the middle of an argument that takes place in their living room is a loaded visual. That type of story element... they are opening a door to some incredibly difficult storytelling that I don't think they want to walk through.

I mean, I don't know how much more I can say about this. When I see Kusaka hit Mari in the middle of an argument, it takes me out of a TV show where men in colorful suits punch monsters. It so far removed, for me, from the sort of allegorical storytelling that allows for relatively consequence-free violence and peril. This is... it is an order of magnitude larger than the usual Kusaka Is Terrible. There isn't enough distance for me to be able to view it as a story. The can of worms that they've opened!

And, again, as always, I don't know. It is super subjective! I just got a real tough time watching this show try and add regular-world evil to the cartoony evil they normally traffic in. These things aren't apples-to-apples substitutions.

I did say that, yes! I liked his monster stuff here, but I still prefer him as Smart Brain's president. Like, I think I enjoyed the scene where he's on the phone with Kageyama more than I did the Orphnoch fight? I like how he approaches his Lucky Clover team as though they're valuable employees who he has to be a little sweeter to. He can't boss them around, he needs to cajole them a little, make them feel like they're doing him a favor. I love that stuff.

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 39

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz39a.png

--1--

I love it when a show comes up with an inventive way to resolve a cliffhanger. Last episode had Faiz completely at Kitazaki's mercy. How were Yuuji and Mari going to survive?!

Hey, what if some kids were flying a balsa wood plane, and Kitazaki wanted to do that instead?

It's such a perfect, in-character thing for him to do. All he wants is to be entertained. Fighting Faiz is okay, but doesn't that plane look way more fun? And then he just walks away, leaving Yuuji and Mari to escape. It's completely character-driven, totally established, but still wildly unpredictable. I'm so happy when shows can get a cliffhanger resolved using only what's at hand, only the things a character would do. Great writing!

--2--

The Ryusei Reunion stuff, though. Not crazy about how that story played out.

For a season-long mystery, it's important to pace it well. You can't just go There Is A Mystery And We Won't Solve It Until The End. That makes a show a slog. You've got to make the audience feel like it's being solved, create little milestones of clarification, while still withholding enough so that you can have that Big Reveal in the final act.

Misleading the audience is a great way to both resolve and add tension. You can do stories where the mystery seems solved, feels solved, go do other stories for a while, and then maybe make some firm details seem a little less firm as new information comes to light.

The trick, though, is that the lies you tell the audience have to be believable enough to be plausible, while leaving enough wiggle room to reframe things down the line. Make your lie too solid, and the truth will feel unsupported, tacked on. But if you make your lie too implausible, it's hard for the audience to feel shocked about the reveal.

So it was for me and the Ryusei Massacre, which shock of shocks sees Takumi absolved. I never, ever, for a single second thought he'd somehow murdered a group of kids and forgot about it, so the only tension was in waiting to find out what really happened. That made, for me, a lot of the Kusaka/Mari stuff feel pretty dull. Without believing Takumi's capable of this crime, I just couldn't invest in his eventual acquittal.

(I honestly don't know how much the show expected me to believe Takumi was even a little bit culpable? I don't think they ever played it as less than absolutely serious, so it's not like Takumi Is A Killer plays as too grandiose to be a real theory. I want to think that they knew we'd know it was false, but nothing on the show as played supports that. Tough to give them the benefit of the doubt!)

And, I mean, the way we got there depends on multiple false memories and a few convenient amnesias, which are rarely hallmarks of solid storytelling. It's been a season to get here, and it's hard not to feel frustrated. I don't know why Mari didn't remember that she and all of her friends had been murdered. I don't know why Kusaka lied about not being at the reunion. I don't know why every single murdered kid forgot they'd been murdered except for Sawada. I don't know why Mari's memory came back when she got extra murdered. I don't know why Mari remembered it wrong for several episodes. I just... it's so much contrivance for a plot that's fundamentally still not that interesting to me.

It still feels like a distraction from what this show excels at, in that it mostly excludes, at least on an emotional level, two-thirds of the cast. It's still a plot that only really affects Mari and Kusaka, and mostly just Kusaka. (I genuinely do not care about the fates of the other Ryusei doofs, so please don't bring them up as relevant characters.) Mari wasn't really haunted by the events of the reunion prior to two episodes ago, and she doesn't even want to know what happened for her sake, she wants to know to help Takumi. And Takumi gets dragged into it, but his story with Mari is about something so much bigger than being accused of a homicidal rampage. It's about how Takumi reconciles the person he is with the person people see, and it's about how Mari can make Takumi feel safe to solve that problem. Adding in the But Maybe He Murdered stuff... it's gilding the lily. It's unnecessary.

Just, man, a long road to get somewhere I didn't enjoy visiting. Hoping this plot is in the rearview!

--3--

Real happy to see Takumi interacting with Team Orphnoch, though. Hey, remember them?

I hope I'm not the only person who wanted to see Takumi get incorporated into their dynamic for a few episodes. Unfortunately, it's probably just this one scene. It's great to see Yuka's excitement, Kaido's puffed-chest button-pushing, and Yuuji finally getting Takumi into his be--- Yuuji seeing to his friend's safety. (I loved that, when Takumi went missing in the woods, it was Yuuji who found him, not Mari. TAKKIBA FOREVER.) It would've been nice to see more of that, but I feel like this is all we'll get.

--4--

And, man, this is a little bit of a Thank You But I Wanted More episode, because holy shit Mari and Rina simultaneously putting on the Delta and Faiz Gear?! I absolutely gasped in excitement. I was so happy with Mihara's weird I Don't Want To Go To School Today tantrum, where he fakes a debilitating injury so he doesn't have to be Delta again, that I wasn't even prepared to see Rina be all gung-ho and show up to the fight herself. And Mari! Throwing on that belt, ready to do her part.

So of course my joy is immediately snuffed out.

The Rina part was almost gallows humor, with her getting in zero offense and losing the belt in about three seconds. Worst showing ever for Delta, and a real disappointment for me personally.

Mari's part in the fight was weird, with her continuously trying to activate the Faiz Gear despite it never ever working for her. At first, I'm like, Why is she still trying? But then I remembered that, as a Ryusei School alumnus ("Go Meteors!"), she will keep getting shocked by the belt forever and never stop trying to use it. Like everyone who went to that school, she doesn't understand that pain is how we learn not to do things. It's like Orphan Daddy always said, "You can't spell 'Ryusei School' without 'OUCH'!"

--5--

I'm honestly pretty glad we finally got what's hopefully the final word on the Ryusei Reunion. I want that plot to be done. The meat of it, the What of it, it's fine. There was an Orphnoch attack. The Why of it is maybe/probably still to come, and I'm not even mad about that. I'd like to know what the point of that plot was, even if I feel like it took too much attention away from the character-driven stories that defined the show for me.

Still, yeah, happy to move on from the mystery of what exactly happened a year or so ago, and get back to stuff that matters in the here and now. 'Cause, like, a satellite made Faiz red all of a sudden? And I'm curious what that means!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/faiz/faiz39b.png

This is actually one of the most derided moments in all of Faiz. A lot of people complain that it's a cop-out way to keep Kitazaki from killing Yuuji. I agree with you that it's in-character, though, both in the sense that Kitazaki would wander off from a fight and that he would feel bored even in the middle of a battle.

You're not quite done yet. The show still needs to get around to explaining both why the students were attacked and how they un-died. Both of those answers are coming.

Yeah, when it happened, I was like Oh Of Course. Even setting aside the darts scene from the previous episode (which this visually pays off), Kitazaki doesn't fight to win. He fights to relieve boredom, and that's about it. He bailed on the Faiz/Horsepower fight because they wouldn't let him play. The second something more interesting happens, he'll do that. This is all very established behavior! Crazy that it bugged some folks.

I figured! I'm just glad that the dull mystery of it, the What Happened part, that seems done. Whys are more interesting to me than Whats, so that could be fun.