[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 10



--1--

This episode felt… I don’t know, a little slim. Maybe it’s because, like, 90% of the energy was on the Team Orphnoch side, leaving Team Faiz to only have a few funny scenes and a few set-up scenes. And, weirdly, the show didn’t seem to realize it? All of the tension in the episode evaporates after Kaido loses the belt, but there’s somehow still the climactic Faiz Fight to go. It makes for an episode that’s got one huge, indelible shot (see above!) and a bunch of other stuff in it. It’s like they didn’t know what story they were telling?

--2--

Because they are 100% telling a story about Kaido’s self-deception. Even Yuka, who is loath to rock the boat, straight-up tells Kaido that it’s abundantly clear that he doesn’t want to kill humans or hurt people. I mean, he took a job where he only fights Orphnochs, and he’s convinced himself he’s on the side of Orphnochs. He is really not seeing the contradiction there.

Yuuji sees it, though. When Kaido calls him up to get murdered for being too Pro-Human, Yuuji calls his bluff. The fight’s solid (I love how the suit actor does the thing where Kaido picks his fingernails as The Next Faiz, rather than Takumi’s wrist-snap), but it’s the final moment that maybe saves this episode. (It’s not bad, it’s just kind-of forgettable.) Yuuji tells Kaido that Kaido can’t beat him, but what Yuuji means is that Kaido doesn’t want to beat him. Kaido wants to fight and kill Yuuji because that'll prove Kaido doesn't care about saving humans. Yuuji wants to save humans. If Kaido can kill him, that'll prove that Yuuji was wrong. His argument for saving humanity dies with him. Kaido has tried to convince himself that he’s an Orphnoch, he’s a killer, he doesn’t have to care about humans, he’s not a human, humans are terrible, he doesn’t have to care. But he does, and he’s not a killer yet. Yuuji saw his bluster for what it was, and let him discover the truth.

--3--

It’s a hell of a shot, that Faiz Finisher just millimeters from Horsepower’s face. More than that, it’s yet another deeply empathetic moment from Yuuji. He’s got a bunch in this episode alone. I loved the moment when Murakami’s like You’ve Disappointed Me and Yuuji’s just Why Should I Care About That? It’s not adversarial, but simply noted to Murakami. Don’t assume that Yuuji is looking for your approval or respect. For a character that’s searching for direction, for some way to define himself, Yuuji manages to give off such a mature, calming aura. He’s open and considerate with Mari when she coincidentally drops by with his dry-cleaning. He’s able to give Kaido space, but willing to be stern if things get out of hand. He’s maybe the best?

The downside is that he’s still very much in a mode where he’s defining himself by what he won’t do, same as Kaido. If there’s a problem for me with this episode, it’s how the Team Orphnoch stuff feels maybe a little too introspective. It’s fun to see these characters interact, and god bless any time they run into Team Faiz out in the world, but it means that there’s an entertaining episode where not a lot really happens. Most of what moved Yuuji and Kaido forward in this episode is in maybe one minute’s worth of story. It’s a good minute! But it makes the rest of this episode a little, if not forgettable, then inconsequential.

--4--

And, honestly, some of that is because the Takumi story is funny without really growing his character. Or, I don’t know, it does, but it also doesn’t do a great job of writing itself out of last episode’s really smart developments.

The whole episode this time, Takumi is hilariously adrift without the Faiz belt. I don’t know if his brain was inside that phone, but he’s like a zombie in this one. It’s terrific, and it’s clear to everyone around him that, like Kaido, all of his assertions are because he feels exactly the opposite. Him shouting I DON’T LOVE BEING FAIZ AT ALL is because he misses it so much. It’s stupid funny to watch, and it made what little of Team Faiz was in this episode really work.

But they needed to end the plot, get Takumi back as Faiz, and holy shit did they shortcut it. Keitaro swipes the belt from an injured Kaido, mostly because Kaido was being mean to Yuka. He gives the belt back to Takumi to fight an Orphnoch, mostly because he felt sorry for him. (I mean, he totally respects Takumi in general, but that belt toss is probably 70% pity.) Takumi gets to smile because he’s Faiz again, and still accepts the honor of being a Kamen Rider with a definitive I Love This I Guess It’s No Big Deal Whatever You're The One Who Cares Not Me. (Him and Yuka, they don’t love being honest about their feelings!) It’s a story that should be all about Takumi asserting his desires, owning his feelings, and instead he just mopes until someone gives him the belt back.

And, like, that’s funny as shit. It’s totally in the spirit of this show for Takumi to internally change while externally staying the same. It’s just, there’s almost no catharsis to Takumi becoming Faiz again. It’s totally anticlimactic. You can spin it as a cunning subversion of storytelling tropes (Takumi never ever articulates why he wants to be Faiz), but it’s still totally anticlimactic. Worse, it’s placed after a genuinely emotional, fully-earned moment between Kaido and Yuuji. They had an episode-ending story beat, and then they were like Now Here’s The REAL Ending, and… no? Weird choice. Weird, unfulfilling choice.

--5--

Or, shit, maybe it’s totally irrelevant. Maybe no one was even paying attention to the Faiz Fight, because of the shadowy new Rider lurking on top of Gills Bridge. (There’s a tension I get when I see that bridge. I’m both excited over the big Gills/Agito fight that occurred there, and depressed when I think about how bad the next two episodes of Agito after that were. Complicated feelings about Gills Bridge!) I don’t really have much to say other than… it looks like we’ll be getting a new Rider soon! I like that they seem to be the X to Faiz’s O! It’s probably Kaixa, which is a name I think I’ve heard more often than Faiz! I’ll know for sure in another episode or so!