[Fish Sandwich]

Alright, I think I have some kind of problem at this point, because I've started rewatching Double and Faiz together. Why those two shows, you ask? Well, there's no particular gimmick this time. No secret connection to Zero-One or something arbitrary like that. Look, not even I'm crazy enough to watch the most fun and the least fun Rider shows together on purpose. But both are shows I watched extremely early on after getting into Rider, and I went through both of them so fast I can barely remember huge stretches of each.

In Double's case I also wanted to see how much better it is than I remember (and no, that's not an "if"), because it's probably the only series out there that stands a legitimate chance of making me question my assertion that OOO is simply head and shoulders above everything else.

For Faiz... look, I just really like Faiz, okay? I'm sorry, but it's always been my favorite Inoue show (sorry!), and now that it's been like 8 years and I'm no longer totally at the mercy of TV-Nihon's decrepit subtitles, it's been one I've always wanted to get back around to. This show left a huge impression on me, and while I'm totally prepared to eat my words if it turns out it's really as horrible as we all believe (and that one IS an "if"!), I have a good feeling about this.

So basically, just like the last time this happened, I had more than one thing I wanted to watch, and ultimately decided not to decide at all. Which in this case means absurd tonal whiplash. Seriously, do not try this at home, kids! I'm still doing the two episodes at a time shtick, but if I try to go all out and write huge posts for every set of episodes, I'm convinced I actually will go crazy this time. So I'm taking this more casually. I'll still be popping in here to say stuff, but I'm not even going to attempt to be comprehensive. If I can't remember half the stuff that happens, it's going to be super hard to talk about all the episodes in the grander context of the series, so I don't think I'm in a position to be very insightful. Maybe one day I'll do some proper sequel to the Kobayashi-thon by like, comparing all three of Inoue's shows or something (which sounds both fun, and horrifying), but right now this is more like some low-budget spin-off. Who knows, I might even skip talking about some episodes completely if I feel like it.

Faiz 1-2:

To set the tone, I'm barely even going to touch on the actual episodes for this one. Especially when the preamble went that long. So real quick:

- The atmosphere is great
- I forgot there was an attempted suicide in only the second episode. Geez.
- Takumi and Mari have great chemistry
- Man, do I love Justifaiz!

What I'm more concerned about at the moment is how completely terrible TV-N's subs for Faiz are. Please tell me someone else has done this show by now. It really deserves so much better than this. Inoue's dialogue is actually fairly sharp and punchy, but you'd never know it from the stiff, frequently mistranslated lines I somehow used to put up with. I think the highlight so far is Mari asking Takumi if she can ask him a question, and Takumi's response being "It'll need an answer, right?". You see, what he actually said was "that depends on the question". It's a curt, avoidant little line that informs the viewer a fair bit about the kind of person Takumi is, but if you make the mistake of trusting TV-Nihon, you're left with an exchange that I'm not even sure makes sense. If anything, I think what they have him say means pretty much the exact opposite of what it's supposed to.

W 1-2:

This is a really strong set of episodes that tells you pretty much everything the series is going to be about in a succinct manner, from the tone that can effortlessly switch between silly and serious, and other important things to get across right away, like the partner dynamic between Shoutarou and Philip. It's let down a fair bit in my opinion by a climax that probably looked a lot better as a script, with some special effects that aren't quite up to the job, and what might be my least favorite Rider monster ever? The T-Rex Dopant is just way too stupid looking for one of your debut monsters, and turning into a bad CG robot (?) doesn't help anything. I think this even legitimately got in the way of me enjoying the episode a bit back when I first tackled this show. Less so now, but it still seems like an odd choice. I think they're just going for deliberate, camp fun, but suffice it to say, when I think shows written by Riku Sanjou with dinosaurs, Double isn't what comes to mind.

Also, since this is something I definitely would've never noticed back in the day, I have to appreciate that Ren Kiriyama and Masaki Suda are specifically credited together. Like they both get top billing, because it's Double? Kiriyama's is even on the left while Suda's is on the right! That's attention to detail, right there.