Don't be mean to Takeru he only died 3 times :P

But also thanks for reminding me there's a spin off of Drive staring Shinnouske, Takumi, and Yuuto, that seems really fun, so I might watch that now.

Drive's got good movies! I hope you enjoy rewatching it! I'm also sorry that you're liking to spend much of tomorrow asking Who's That Guy.

unfortunately Faiz is a show with great ideas on paper but murky at best execution (so 90% of Innoue's works outside of Jetman) especially towards the end, IT honestly feels like Innoue didn't understand what made Jetman(His carrer defining work, the show he more or less tries to make everything he does this show included) good tbfh though given some reviews I've seen of it I kinda want to watch it too see if it holds up or if it really is a show you like when your younger because "it's dark it's cool it's not power rangers" but call bulls--t on as you get older" which this show is the epitome of. If it's your first toku show outside of Power Rangers you'll think it's the best thing on Earth especially if your younger because dark tone, edge, absolutely no happy thoughts here whatsoever. However when you get older you realize tone isn't everything that makes a story good Even if I prefer when shows take themselves seriously this show takes itself WAY Too seriously, everyone here is an asshole or idiot or both 90% of the plot only happens because people don't tell each other shit. The Only 2 likable characters are Yuka and Kiba and Yuka dies because MUH EDGE and then Kiba turns into a fucking idiot who turns evil for no real rhyme or reason and the ending felt rushed like it felt like they planned the Takumi vs kiba fight for the final episode but then nothing else after Blaster's debut.

Fortunately after Kuuga(which I haven't seen but doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy) and 3 not so great outings you get too what's IMO the best Rider series of the 2000's BE WARNED Though the first few episodes aren't very great unless you like memes then oh boy your in for a treat, but once you get past them it becomes amazing(people say Gaim is the Ryuki of the 2010's but honestly IMO it takes more queues from Blade) also another Warning this show's ending is EASILY the most divisive ending of any Rider series you either like it or not and there's very little inbetween

Can we expect Blade reviews after this or for a change of pace some other franchise i.e. Ultraman or Super Sentai.

Awooooaaaagggeereettghhh!!! That was my excited yell at reading you covering the final episoide. You ReOpened My Eyes For This Final Faiz.

Takumi and Kiba's final showdown. Even though Ryuki was the show all about riders fighting one another, I can't help but feel it's Faiz's final episode that we have to thank for things like Gaim vs Baron. I super didn't like Yuuji's turn in the last few episodes either, but in this episode, I was able to come around just enough to enjoy the climax of it. It really is all thanks to that conversation he and Takumi have, facing each other off just before transforming. Yuuji asks once again, a little angry, sad and incredulous all at once at why Takumi is so insistent on protecting humanity. You could read that as either him being frustrated that Takumi won't listen, or maybe him being sad that this person he considers a friend just doesn't understand the world like he thinks he does. I lean towards the more compelling and emotional interpretation of course.

The actual physical fight is only so-and-so, but it's fine because all the emotions are there. The most key moment for me, as small as it is, is when Super Horsepower brings down his sword on Faiz Blaster, who just utters Kiba's name once, just stands there and takes it before firing away. You already mentioned the screen thing in depth but it is really good, like the kind of cheesy melodrama visual that is kinda a lot but I was totally into it. The last lines shared before Takumi walks off is a great punctuation mark to the whole thing.

It's so great, that when I look back on this episode from now on, I will only think about this climax between the two main characters! ...I kinda have to, of course, because what the heck even happened afterwards? The show certainly doesn't say so.

Remember how the Orphnoch King was going to like, kill all humans, but if stopped then all Orphnochs would die? Well of course you remember because that's been the big dramatic point the show has been driving in for the last few episodes. And then that just. Doesn't happen. Like, they didn't find a solution, they didn't even overcome it with the power of friendship or anything. The plot just stops existing. There is no rationalisation I can come up with, even as a personal handwave, for how Takumi's last Rider Kick leads to any of the scenes that comes afterwards.

I remember the plane analogy you said, and thinking it was funny how you mentioned that the plane has to land. Because when it comes to Faiz's plot... It doesn't just not land, it is simply never to be seen again. I'm pretty sure Faiz's last episode left a lot of people feeling sour, confused or hollow precisely because those last scenes are so weird that they forget everything that happened before it.

But! After many years of stewing on it on and off, and thanks to some insight from both others who have watched this show and to this very thread, I am much more willing to just brush all that aside and focus on how much I appreciated the Takumi and Kiba aspect of the last episode. I mean, it's objectively a bad thing that all the story stuff in the last five episodes or so can be so easily brushed off, but that it's an option also speaks to the strength of the characters, I think!?

Anyhow, I heard there's a new show airing next week. Kamen Rider Brave? You might want to check your mail though, I heard someone got you a DVD of that movie you didn't get to catch in theatres a few months back.

So you mean that, in a face of life or death, the characters just get an answer from this like Takumi finally deciding it only matters of how much worth your life is even if he potentially dies quickly as an Orphnoch? Which is like what Kitaoka learned by the end of Ryuki? But yeah, the fighting for dominance, probably it's because most humans, normal ones (and not the ancient ones) anyway, doesn't live to fight others, they are more used to doing daily mundane things like all you described above (but those who are taught to fight and be violent from the upbringing, they will obviously have fighting for dominance, war, etc. as their daily "mundane" things, so it depends more on which group of species, on which era, etc.). And for Orphnoch King, he's the final boss of the series, which unfortunately is on the usual brand of "shoehorn a final boss in latest part of the series without properly introducing them because of not enough time; what some thinks of Daguva from Kuuga, dunno about Gamedeus in Ex-Aid). I've never seen a discussion about Orphnoch King's power, but so far from what I get other than the physical stats outclassing every others seen, he can spam fireballs (much deadlier than I thought), fire lasers from his fingers, and also there's still the tentacles.

So, because your complaint is about how Yuji becomes Murakami clone, what's the part of the old Yuji in the fight, other than him sacrificing himself for Orphnoch King of course. Was it him being more insane in this fight up to him throwing tantrums at the end of the fight? And you think the one that isn't received well by people was Yuji's re-turn? No you're wrong. I never hear people complaining about Yuji's turning back (but Yuji turning evil, sure I have) And I want to bring up the previous topic of "There’s wanting to see the best in people, and then there’s being reckless with your sympathy", what if Yuji didn't redeem after Takumi spared him? What if it bites back in Takumi's ass? And you say this is the reason why he's a hero, I do hate people who see this trait of sparing those as a weakness (because they think like that, they can continue doing their evil things and probably even bites the hero back in the ass, that it's better to just mercilessly kill him than gambling if he's redeemed or not... "the end justifaiz the means!"), but I want to hear more about this stance of a protagonist (preferably defending it!), is the benefit (like Yuji here) worth the gambling risk? For the fight itself, the fight's more grander in the movie. And for the Faiz Blaster, where in this series, the only Super Strengthened Crimson Smash (that's the name) he used on was Orphnoch King. because Faiz Blaster debuted in Paradise Lost, you would get a much more clearer view of the kick (still the best, though it's shakable by Faiz Axel's multiple Axel Crimson Smash). But also, the one Blaster that hit Yuji wasn't some ordinary attack like the phone guns, it was a finisher! Photon Buster. But he wasn't killed.

Rina and Mihara are orphans once, and that makes them return the favor to others orphaned. And with Kaido saying Henshin... he lacks the pose! He should've still brought out the Ichigo pose he used when saving Teruo! For Takuma, he redeems himself to live as a normal human, but I didn't realize he actually still have a final say to Kageyama. Kageyama is the one that gets off scot-free from her villainy, she killed Yuka and thus set off Yuji's turn (from other sources), yet she managed to survive the end of the series, albeit insane and trapped in her Orphnoch form. And this is the part of the ending that people criticize, that Orphnoch King is still alive, practically leaving the series with no ending, or just because the ending is practically a downer type, where the heavy amount of awful things more likely (I said, likely, not the checking in currently shown) to happen to the characters than good (Assuming that they haven't died yet), probably because Orphnoch King is still alive.

For the ending, yeah, I detailed above why it's bad for people (which is the opposite of you saying "they're relaxing, they're happy, they've earned their happiness"). And for Takumi inheriting Keitaro's dream, I wonder how would he react to others now, or how the reaction from others (to Takumi, not Keitaro) who laughed at that dream before. And also, for the gag of the Team Faiz infiltrating Smart Brain, what possesses Keitaro to go along with the morally ambiguous plan? It was an idea that comes from characters like Mari (stealing from Yuji) or Kaido (aiding Lucky Clover, possibly violates polices) who are plausible to do that, but why Keitaro agrees to do a quite reviled thing?

Have you read the other pages of this post? Those should may give you new, proper insights of the series that might just be misunderstood. Most of them are people who like Faiz, with strong reasons of why they do.

For Takumi dying, probably people forget/ignore the parts of this episode, where what he said to Yuji, it's not about how long you live, but about how it's living the life to its fullest. The actual point of the ending of Takumi dying.

Worth mentioning is that the originally intended to follow on from the final episode by including a short scene where Takumi meets the new guy, Kazuma Kenzaki, gives him a red-coloured baton and then both do their henshin poses. But for whatever reason, it was never released and we only know about it due to magazine pictures posted years after the fact. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20181217161532

They did try reviving the idea of a meeting between the two as a short story, but for whatever reason, it was never released and we only know about it due to Blade’s DVD commentary.

But the idea of a handoff between heroes wasn’t thrown out entirely. The other fellows adopted it as a yearly tradition. https://youtu.be/3P7_9rFd5Bc

Hey remember two months or so ago when I posted "Look forwards to a series-long trip into the Inoue Zone?" I'm so glad you did. You've not quite convinced me to go watch Faz ("Misunderstandings" is not a thread I enjoy, shame to say), but someone finding a new series to love? That's pretty neat.

Now I just need to finish these 6 episodes of Blade before you finish the entire show, and I'm set to actually *involve* myself in discussions next time!

I think Kiba accelerating Takumi's decay was a gambit to convince him to live as an Orphenoch by bringing him closer to death. The major flaw in this plan is that Takumi was never a person who cared about his life. He no longer believes he deserves to die but he's willing to for humanity's sake. Kiba wants him to live for the sake of living, without a purpose, and that's empty. Takumi would rather die a human than sell out his soul for a life that isn't worth living.

The ethical problem of Takumi having to kill a kid kind of just solves itself conveniently with Teruo being consumed by the matured King, which is still very dark to happen to a kid but at least the King is now an acceptable target. He doesn't appear to be sapient like other Orphenochs, maybe to emphasize his lack of humanity and what it really means to embrace being an Orphenoch and succumb to the amoral will of nature. It's not something a human should strive to be. Smart Brain boasts that Orphenochs are humanity+ which is true anatomically but looking down on humanity for being weak and throwing away their humanity to become stronger doesn't make them more deserving of their existence. Everybody has a right to exist and to fight to protect their existence and fill it with purpose.

I love the climactic 3-part showdown between Takumi and Kiba and how it escalates in to them using their final forms against each other. Kiba seriously loses his cool when Takumi spares his life due to considering him a human. He goes hysterical, infuriated by Takumi's insistence on protecting humanity even when Kiba rejects that part of him. It's like an insult to him, to be defeated in battle and denied death for being likened to what he thinks is an irredeemable and inferior species. Takumi's mercy is heroic though and shows that he's willing to forgive Kiba and wants him to restore his faith in humanity.

Kiba is still conflicted but in the end, he wants to believe that Takumi's way is right, that the ideal he gave up on was still worth fighting for. Although the final battle against the King isn't quite as epic as Takumi VS Kiba, the location where it happens is awesome! The rarely seen Kamen Rider Stormdrain is an awesome backdrop for any exciting climactic fight. Takumi also appears as illuminated Faiz for the first time.

Kaido said Henshin as early as Episode 7. Anyway, I want to talk about some foreshadowing here regarding Team Orphenoch. What was the first origami Sawada burned? A crane. Yuka died first. He burned a horse in front of Kiba, who died second. He never burned a snake though. Kaido lived and he deserved to since he was the only one who never killed anyone.

This brings me back to what I said about where we want a show to take our favorite characters from the start to the end of their arcs. Team Faiz endured much suffering as they fought relentlessly to protect the happiness of others and they deserve to be happy themselves now that love and peace is restored. Whether Takumi lives for the next ten minutes or ten years as you phrased it, he lives without regrets or worries, knowing that he made his life mean something and found acceptance with his new friends, Mari and Keitarou. It's an emotional bittersweet ending that I definitely appreciated.

Legendary cameo!

Sometimes the hero dies. Takeru was alive at the end of his show but his luck ran out in the novel when his heart condition from Heisei Generations came back to finish him. What matters is that the hero lives on in their legacy and people's hearts.

Kamen Rider 4, which you watched, functions as an epilogue for Takumi, revealing what happened to him after the Final Faiz, giving closure to years of ambiguity. The title, Kamen Rider 4, obviously refers to the eponymous 4 but it could also hint at Faiz's relevance, being the 4th Heisei Rider. Riderman and Kuuga are also "4" but they're not actually relevant to the movie.

As you're now aware, the flashback to Kusaka's death in Kamen Rider War was very different to what actually happened which should raise suspicion about the authenticity of Takumi's recollection.

Blade is actually the only Heisei Rider season I haven't watched yet. I intend to change that before Die reaches the Day of Oma.

Something something timelines something something Onore Decade.

I mean, I've only seen Den-O, most of Decade, and I'm almost done with Blade, so you're beating me!