[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 27



--1--

It's late at night, I've had a very long day, I'm tired. Let's talk about Faiz!

Hey, speaking of things that are exhausting, the continued appearance of the Ryusei School alumni is maybe crushing my spirit? They are the worst. And not in the fun Kaixa way, but in the What If The Most Irritating Psychopaths Were In Every Goddamn Scene Of This Show way. They're just addicted maniacs, constantly screaming about getting more of their sweet, sweet dr-- Delta belt. There are no levels to the performance, it's just them loudly saying DELTA DELTA DELTA, DELTA IS AWESOME, I WANT DELTA. They're rabid dogs, and their schtick is so abrasive and unlikeable that it's no surprise that Takumi just Nopes right out of this plot in the first scene. It's terrible. These kids suck, and the high point of the episode is when they're murdered.

Other than, like, meat for the machine, I'm not 100% sure what the Ryusei School alumni are even supposed to be adding to the narrative. If it's supposed to be some element of the past that gives context to Mari and Kusaka's story, it fails massively. Every time these dinks show up, it's a message that everyone who isn't in their group is doing super great by comparison. They make Kusaka seem like the well-adjusted one. Having them around concentrates the story on the most paper-thin, annoying elements of the story. The more they show up, the worse it ends up making Mari and Kusaka's story seem, as the actors have to abandon present-tense conflicts and motivations to try and connect with poorly-conceived material. It's grueling to watch Kusaka try and focus these idiots, or to watch Mari plead for sanity. I just want them to follow Takumi's advice and leave them behind.

--2--

Especially because, man, I really thought we'd get a lot with Team Orphnoch this time out. The first scene with them is priceless, as Yuuji attempts to ignore/console a despondent Kaido. It's terrifically framed, a neat little piece of physical comedy, as Kaido croaks out a request for Sour Kelp. But then Yuuji's run to get Kaido some Sour Kelp is interrupted by Houjou, and it all goes a bit sideways.

Houjou's in... not a great place. He's on a losing streak, and it all started with his inability to kill Yuuji. Now, he's back at it. Except, he immediately loses track of Yuuji, and gets mind-bendingly spooked by Delta.

And, man, look. I'm sure Delta is really cool. He's a Weezer fan, judging by those shoulders, and, y'know, I enjoyed their first two albums a lot when I was younger! (A few years back they played all of the Blue Album in order at Riot Fest, and I could hear it from my bedroom. Fun time!) But, god, they are laying on The Almighty Terror Of Delta a little thick. We've got Houjou practically shitting himself from a partial glance of Delta. We've got two childhood friends abducting a third childhood friend to get to be Delta again. We had both Kamen Riders in awestruck terror of Delta just being in the same zip code as them. It's... like, under promise, over deliver. Maybe try that. I'm not sure if anything on this or any other planet could live up to this level of hype. If Delta deHenshins and it's four corgis wearing tiny hats, I'm still going to be let down.

--3--

The stuff with Keitaro and Takumi and Kimura... eh. I like the idea of exploring how Takumi can be a tremendous asshole while still fighting for people. That's... that is the premise of this show. That's the mission statement. What they did with it here, though, not super into.

I think it's that Kimura is just really dull? She's got no spark. The performance is all bashful fandom, and I get why her behavior would grate on Takumi. But, more than that, it's not really saying anything new about Takumi. Did you know that he's rude to people even though he's a hero? I mean, I've watched 26 other episodes of Faiz where that is the goddamn baseline, so, yeah, got it clocked. It's not even really exploring that idea, it's just playing it out and then giving a tiny sliver of regret from Takumi for being curt. (Not even really rude! He just doesn't love getting peppered with questions from a new coworker! That's a valid response!)

Kimura having a crush on Takumi instead of Keitaro, it's a funny premise. Keitaro really sells his infatuation for Kimura, as well as his frustration with Takumi. But, like, there's no real story there, just a funny premise. It doesn't really go anywhere.

--4--

The one fun thing about this episode is the Sawada twist. That one, the show did good on.

Sawada gets mentioned last episode, out of basically nowhere, as Mari's childhood bully who maybe also had a crush on her. Almost directly after that, the Ryusei School alumni show up and start talking about the Delta belt. Two and two is that Sawada is Delta. Itchy and Scratchy, the two jonesing psychopaths, are convinced he's got the belt. So they kidnap Mari to draw him out.

And it works! Sawada shows up! And immediately turns into Skullcandy, the bloodthirsty Lucky Clover candidate, vowing to murder Mari right before he kills his other two classmates.

It's a really solid twist, and one that honestly never even occurred to me. I love how it ended up bringing that Lucky Clover thread into the show in a surprising, relevant way. There's an economy to it that I really appreciate.

--5--

It's weird that all I can really compliment this episode on, besides that twist, is a few fun things around the edges. (Like, in the Faiz Fight at the end, it's an enclosed space, but the camera shoots from up in the rafters to give some wide shots to the fight. Very clever!) It's just I hate these goddamn Ryusel kids so goddamn much. Murder them all, and get back to the excellent cast that I am fully invested in. Like, one Kaido/Yuuji scene? In this whole episode? Why am I being punished?!