[Kurona]

It's kinda wild that I started Faiz at basically the same time as two other people here; and I feel pretty bad that I seem to be the only one with not much positive to say!

Though... since my negative feelings haven't changed (I still find it very dull and find it pretty difficult to like any of the characters; Takumi and Mari's dynamic especially being very grating), I might as well go into what I do like? Because now I'm 8 episodes in, there's been a lot more positives since Episode 2.

- Justifaiz is pretty nice. I had heard it a lot before, but it still stands

- I really like that even beyond the much more computerised belt voice that sounds more like an onboard computer, how the belt is treated in general feels a lot more realistic. Neither it nor any of the gear is summoned out of thin-air, and there's multiple scenes where Takumi has to just fight barefisted until Mari or Keitarou can retrieve and chuck him the belt. I still LIKE Riders summoning their shit out of thin air, but this is still a nice change of pace especially when three preceding Riders all magic'd their belts on.

- Talking of Keitarou, he's nice and I like him, but I'm definitely getting Kagami (Kabuto)/Onodera (Decade) vibes from him. As in, he's very much set up as the stereotype of the Nice Boy rider and shown as very naive compared to our unconventional bitter arsehole rider. And despite me liking Decade, that's never a thing I like a lot. I never like one of the things I love most about the franchise being framed cynically. That said, yeah, Keitarou is nice and I like him.

- And while I'm on this train of characters I like, man; they really tried to please me since Episode 2. Our little Orphenoch trio has proven far more interesting to me with extremely different points of view and very sympathetic backstories for each. I can never quite tell what direction they're gonna take next despite sticking their feet in the mud, and I honestly found myself pretty surprised that Horseman just went and killed... uh... Gas Mask dude? It's honestly hard to tell which animals each Orphenoch is based on outside of the aforementioned Horseman. Still, it's nice that I've found characters to be invested in!

- Man, I was on such a huge Transformers kick before I got into Toku full-time like 2 years ago; I forgot just how much I missed having a robot that turns into a vehicle. Auto Vajin is great and I'm trying not to get too excited for an explanation on its pseudo-sentience and acting on its own because this is Inoue, and, uh. Inoue. But he's a bike that turns into a robot dude! He's basically the secondary rider! Screw Kaixa, we've got Groove/Arcee/Lugnutz/Prowl/Other Transformers Bike Name!


Still, I wish it'd tone down the pretentiousness and grandstanding about dreams juuuust a little. Episodes 7 and 8 in particular went on for way too long about that.