[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 23



--1--

I feel like the show is still figuring out what it can do with Kusaka. There’s a… not a tentativeness, but a feeling out, maybe, of how far they can push him. This episode’s a Kusaka spotlight, and they pretty much give us a look at every aspect of his character.

It’s nice to see how much they can dig into him. We’ve seen him as a dick to Takumi, a creep to Mari, a rival to Yuuji, a menace to Orphnochs, and a powderkeg for everyone. What this episode has to do is take all of that, reiterate it, and try to make it all seem like facets of one (supremely unhinged) person. I think it was successful?

--2--

One of the big elements of Kusaka is his scheming nature. When I called Yuuji his rival, I just meant within the context of this episode. In reality, everything is Kusaka’s rival. Every interaction is a way to win, and a way to parlay that victory into more victories. Kusaka’s worldview is like a more murderous version of One Red Paperclip. He’s always leveraging whatever situation he finds himself in.

There’s a lot in this episode of Kusaka taking in information and immediately formulating a way to take advantage of it. Discovering Yuuji’s identity as Horsepower means a wedge to keep him away from Mari. Finding out about Lucky Clover means amoral teammates who’ll help him achieve his goals. He’s like a shark, but he can’t stop scheming.

It’s fun to watch him win constantly in this, because it makes it so much sweeter when he loses in the end. Kusaka’s basically playing on easy mode when he manipulates Team Faiz, and Lucky Clover uses that overconfidence against him. Him getting his ass beat is immensely cathartic, even if the scope of the story being told in this episode renders his corporal punishment a little regrettable.

--3--

And that’s not easy to say, because not only is Kusaka plotting Yuuji’s death in this one, he hits rock bottom with Mari and Takumi. Whatever amount of sympathy Mari had for him evaporates as he gets full-on Creepshow and demands she let him possess her. If last episode was cringe comedy, Kusaka embarrassing himself, this one’s horror movie terror. Whatever is churning around inside Kusaka bubbles up and explodes, with him screaming to a just-in-time Takumi that he needs to be saved from himself, and only Mari can do that. That losing his mother at an early age broke something inside of him, a wound he can sense but can’t heal. It’s a shocking display of vulnerability, explaining actions and motivations that are deplorable, grotesque.

That whole scene, it’s interesting to me in the way it’s defining Kusaka’s psychology without excusing it. He’s awful, and he’s hurting so many people. The things he’s doing are objectively wrong. But, like everyone in Faiz, it comes from a trauma he hasn’t processed. He’s earned our animosity, but he might also deserve some of our pity.

--4--

The rest of the cast is finding their way through their own poor decisions, at least the few of them who have meaningful screentime in this episode. (Seriously, it’s almost all Kusaka, Yuuji, and Lucky Clover this episode. Takumi doesn’t show up until halfway through, Keitaro and Yuka are each in only one scene, Mari gets one or two more.) The Love Polygon of the last few episodes gets some emotional maturity applied to it, to differing degrees of success.

Mari tells Kusaka she won’t date him, and I love that the show framed her decision not so much in choosing Yuuji, but in just not choosing Kusaka. She’s focused on her dream of being a stylist, and she doesn’t like Kusaka romantically. Like, that’s it. That’s excellent. Even when Kusaka presses her on her feelings for Yuuji, she shuts him down, keeping the topic on her lack of feelings for Kusaka. It’s a mature way of closing that door on someone, and I love the agency it gives Mari.

Kaido, on the other hand, might be a lost cause. After learning about Mari’s lack of feelings for Kaido, Yuuji tells Kaido to leave her alone because she's not interested and Kaido refuses. It’s romantic comedy nonsense viewed with an intensely skeptical eye, reframing it as harassment. It’s an ugly look for Kaido, but there’s a flash on his face that says he might be aware of that now. One can hope!

--5--

I’m curious how this episode played for other people. I liked learning a bit more about Kusaka’s psychology, and I really enjoyed the journey he goes on in this one. There’s a fun swing from Kusaka Is The Greatest Nothing Can Stop Him to I’ve Made A Huge Mistake in about twenty minutes of TV show.

But y’know, it’s also asking you to at least slightly empathize with Kusaka when he is at (to date) Peak Kusaka, and that’s maybe too big an ask for folks predisposed to viewing Kusaka as a two-dimensional bully. I mean, he’s awful to Mari and Yuuji, two of the kindest people on the show. Hard to find something worth saving in a dude who’d be horrible to them! I mean, Takumi’s one thing, but not Yuuji!