[Sh Ranger]

Wow, that was fast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

1. I’m really enjoying what they’re doing with the Yuka storyline in this show. It’s definitely a new perspective on a monster plot for Kamen Rider. We’ve seen stories of monsters, and we’ve seen stories of people with the power to fight monsters. Usually, it’s about the need for a decent person to become a hero to save other decent people. Occasionally, it’s about less-than-decent people needing to find heroism within themselves to save decent people. But what Faiz is doing is new to me. It’s doing a story about beaten people being given powers, and then using those powers to punish wicked people. The folks that are getting killed by Yuuji and Yuka, they are the worst. Michiko gets saved by Yuka, and the second she sees her parents warming to Yuka, she lies and blames her for the accident. The girls at school target her early and often. None of these people deserve pity, which makes Yuka’s actions feel deserved, cathartic. It’s a way of muddying the water, of making it more difficult to condemn a killer. Yuka isn’t just having a tough time at school and a rough home life, she’s beaten and insulted and abandoned. It’s a not-uncommon horror story to tell, it’s basically just Carrie, but it’s a different look at the origin of monsters than I think Kamen Rider has done before. (It’s definitely not a part of Kuuga through Ryuki. EDIT: Unless you count 60% of Agito, which I forgot about. It's a gray area!) The individual moments of Yuka’s story still veer wildly between Relatable and Hilarious, that really hasn’t changed, but the overall feel of it is intriguing and compelling. For an isolated girl like Yuka to find someone like Yuuji at the end of this episode, another survivor of trauma who has the power to punish his abusers, that’s going to be an interesting friendship.

Yuka's little sister was so lucky the car knocked her down or else she would've been murdered in the gym like everyone else. She totally would've deserved it after getting Yuka kicked out for saving her but a reckless driver and sprained ankle pretty much spared her that karmic death.

It's crazy how extreme the bullies go to torment Yuka at every opportunity. This episode is always engraved in my mind for how terrible they make her life and even though my school life wasn't as bad as what she had to endure, it does bring back a few bad memories. That's why I find her so relatable.

Just to recap: They cut her bag, take her money, her parents don't care about her, they throw basketballs at her, she saves her little sister and gets kicked out as reward, agrees to go to gym so they can abuse her some more and gets her shoes stolen anyway, which are shown cut when she goes to gym.

That was the moment when she snapped and murdered them in vengeance. I don't blame her. Of course it was the wrong decision since murder is bad but they pushed her too far. They were terrible human beings. The only good thing in Yuka's life was Keitarou, a pen pal she only talked to in emails.

Speaking of Keitarou, he's an example of what makes a good human being, perhaps the nicest guy in the show, often to a fault. He goes out of his way to help others. No problem is too small or big for him. He has the courage to fight as a hero of justice and Takumi is fine with letting him be Faiz. The only problem is, as Cactus lampshades, "not everyone can be Faiz" which he proves immediately with his successful henshin. Like Mari, Keitarou is lacking something, but the fact that he tried is commendable enough. He'd make a great Kamen Rider, but Faiz wasn't meant for him. Takumi never wanted to be Faiz, but he's the best they got right now.