[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Magnugiga

Yuka and Yuuji finally meeting up at the end of Ep 4 gave me chills for multiple reasons. At this point, the show had put a lot of effort to make them sympathetic figures and justify their actions, but it's also made clear that these two have cold, deep-seated anger, for the rest of the world (Yuka moreso than Yuuji) and they've basically reached a point of no return in terms of what they've did. It's a brilliant set-up for the eventual collision with our dorky group of 'heroes', and at the time I was watching, I got simultaneously excited and scared for what's going to happen next.

Yuuji's performance is, like, 80% of why that end scene works. He's got this way of... it's not that he's underplaying the melodrama, but it's like he's internalizing it? You see it in his expressions and in his delivery, where it's like he's still trying to process everything he's going through. That, for me, it tamps down on the easy hysteria of what Inoue's building, and it creates space for me to empathize with Yuuji's journey. That dude basically has me completely won over.

The other 20%, it's the super smart way the episode leaves out Yuuji until that final moment. It's half Hell Yes and half Oh Shit, and I love it.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

If you think the noise during the Exceed Charge sequence is noisy, then it’s probably for the best you’re not trucking with Showa for the moment. The show I’m currently working through has an accordion at the end of his transformation (and the start of the OP), and it kind of gets irritating after 4 episodes (since that’s where I’m at).

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

Personally, I love that winding tech noise Faiz's gear does. RIP to your ears though, Die.

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Originally Posted by Sunred

The Faiz Driver voice is just SMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTH as butter.

I love the Faiz Driver voice! I unbelievably hate the whine of the Exceed Charge! I might have to have my remote handy for Faiz Fights now, be ready to shoot the volume down at the finish.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Unfortunately, while it's a little contrived how all the terrible abuse Yuka suffered is compressed in to 2 days, that abuse could totally happen in real life to a person with no friends or popularity. This is an introductory arc in a superhero show rather than a school drama so I guess Inoue wanted to make it as dramatic as possible. I talked about how it brings back bad memories, but when I first watched it in 2015, I was still in high school. It's a totally different experience rewatching it now since I can identify with not just who she is at the start but who she's going to become as the show progresses.

Yeah, Yuka's story has this weird thing where the specifics are insane and hilarious, while the story is intense and sympathetic. I mean, I'm going to remember her getting hit with MULTIPLE BASKETBALLS probably forever, but the rest of what I think about is the broad strokes of a shitty school life, an abusive home life, and the boy she hopes will make it all better. There's like an alchemy to her story, where I laughed until I wanted to cry. Very weird experience.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Keitarou acts a lot like a typical heroic Kamen Rider and his name even has the first 3 kana of "keitai" which makes it even more ironic that he can't become the cellphone Rider. He plays an important role in the Faiz trio as an equivalent to Kiba in the Orphenoch trio, being the moral center of the dynamic that keeps Takumi from being too apathetic and unmotivated. He may not be Faiz, but he's as much a part of what Faiz is as Takumi. There are "Kamen Riders" and then there are Kamen Riders and that's the ideal that he wants to imprint on Takumi.

It's weird, because Keitaro has some of the same mannerisms as Shunpei from Wizard, who I really hated (clingy, pushy, desperate to prove himself, barely tolerated by the hero)... but I really like Keitaro. I think the difference is that, with Shunpei it was all hero worship, while with Keitaro you can see him trying to fix Takumi and Mari. He realizes almost immediately that they are terrible people, which is why he takes the burden of Faiz on himself. But at the end, he's trying to make the best of a bad situation, and trying to harness their skills and goals towards justice. He's got a real clear purpose on this show!