I really like your take on the ending. This is one of the parts of Faiz that gets a lot of scorn. The popular opinion is that it isn't an ending: the Orphenoch King and Kageyama are still alive and Takumi is still dying (or maybe died? Curious to see your take on that). In a lot of ways it feels like the show is leaving a lot of sequel hooks that never get picked up on because Blade is wholly unrelated to it. I can't lie and say it's one of my favorites, but I get all of your points and they do go a long way to re-contextualizing it. The show was all about the characters and it is a satisfying resolution for them.

I'll still say this about the ending, though: I want a spin-off show about Mari, Keitaro, and Kaido breaking into secure facilities with laundry equipment.

Thanks!

Yeah, I feel like Inoue tossed in a bunch of red herrings, plot-wise. It's stuff that feels like it's going to be a big deal (Orphan Daddy) that isn't a big part of anything. There are definitely a few things that, if you're feeling less-than-charitable, are a distraction. There's a lot of 47-49 that just really really muddies the water of what the show's been trying to say. They don't end up harming the ending, I thought, but it's not at all a smooth series of episodes to get here.

The leftover stuff with Kageyama and the Orphnoch King... part of me was like "Oh, this'll be a thing in the winter movie with Blade," until I remembered that they don't do those yet. As such, sure, that's a dangling thread. But, like, it's hard for me to imagine fans that invested in the Orphnoch King? Like, if you're saying the fandom views it negatively, I believe you, but I honestly didn't care if they swept that part of the story under the rug. Thematically, I thought it got dealt with as much as it needed to?

The Takumi part, I got two answers for. The first is that the show makes it explicit that Takumi is doing all of this because he knows that he could die at any minute. His life isn't measured by its length, it's measured by its depth. Whether or not he dies in ten years or in ten minutes, it doesn't really matter.

The other answer is that I knew Takumi showed up in later movies so I wasn't super worried about him. This is why I don't like hearing spoilers! I ruined the ending for myself!

There are a billion possible Faiz spin-offs, and they're all good.

*Slow clap into resounding applause*

Die, your final line of that write up, *Chef's Kiss*

I'm so glad you liked the ending, and I'll bet if you ever re-watch Faiz you'll actually enjoy it even more. There's so many subtle hints to where the story is going if you already know where it ends up.

Also, "Horsepower and Wolfeyes" are gold, sir. S Tier nicknames.

I remember way earlier in this thread, I think around ep 16 you said something like "This show doesn't create a story/mythos then put characters in it, it takes characters and then builds a story/mythos around them" and I think that's true of the Orphanoc King, he was a plot device to frame the final arc of each character.

I believe that the official word is still that he died shortly after the series ending. His later appearances are either non-canon, or the result of time-altering shenaniguns from later movies, depending on how you want to interpret them.

I hate to double post, but I just wanted to point out that Faiz wouldn't appear in another movie until Decade, and appearances in movies should largely be considered Alternate Universe versions of the Riders. They don't always take into consideration the shows canon, or change it around in some way to suit the story of the particular movie.

Aw, gosh, thanks! I didn't know if that last line... I didn't want to make it seem like I was reaching for it? I don't really edit a lot (proofread, sure, but not edit) so the path to get to it was a hundred percent a surprise to me. It felt like a good button. I'm glad it worked for you!

It's a pretty good ending, and I'm sure there are dozens of hints to all sorts of stuff that went over my head this time. I'll probably rewatch it at some point in the future... when I'll've forgotten so much of the plot that it goes over my head again.

And thanks for liking the dumb nicknames I give the characters! Horsepower was the first thing I thought when I saw that costume, but Wolfeyes... I let that one percolate a bit. It's a bad habit that you all should stop encouraging! These television shows about people in rubber costumes punching each other because of emotions, this is serious. Serious!

There are enough continuity differences between the show and Takumi's later appearances that you could argue it's not the same version of the character.

Basically we are all telling you the same thing because some of the shows you have yet to watch are going to have endings contrary to later movie appearances.

I said that? Dang! Good point, Die!

But, yeah, he's finished off in a way that makes him more of an obstacle than a character. It works pretty well for the ending.

My main memory of Faiz pre-watching this show is the movie he's in with Kamen Rider X. (It's a Gaim one, I think? I'm pretty sure it's the one where Shotaro and Kaito chase a corgi, which is the most important detail in the film.) I dimly recall there being a thing on the wiki where they mention that Takumi's memory from the movie, a flashback to someone's death, was changed from how it happened on the show. So, I figured that post-series canon is... fluid.

Still, it didn't really detract from the show, thinking Takumi was alive. I sort-of always assume the title hero survives on a kids' superhero show? I mean, Ghost died about twenty times on his show and still was alive at the end!