[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 35






--1--

Last episode, everything changed. Mari died. Takumi was revealed to be an Orphnoch. The entire premise of the show was cracked open, irrevocably altered. Nothing would ever be the same again.

What this episode asks is, Why Not?

Maybe this is another one that's frustrating to some viewers. There's an active attempt by the characters to sweep all these changes under the rug. There's a cute cookout scene that's very mid-20s, episode-wise. What you might expect to be about a bold new status quo (or, failing that, boatloads of exposition) ends up being a concerted attempt at Business As Usual.

But, man, I love that choice.

It all feels like exactly what people do in times of trauma. Nothing makes sense, everything's chaotic, there are no answers. But then there's this tiny chance of normalcy, and everyone grabs on for dear life. (I mean, god, look at most cities that reopening right now.) Mari died? Hey, it was just a wacky mix-up at the hospital! ("Oh! You thought I said your friend was ‘not alive’? You must've misheard me. When you asked if she had died, I said she was ‘naw, alive.’ Ha ha, whoops! What a crazy misunderstanding!”) Takmui's an Orphnoch and everyone knows it? Not if we never bring it up again! See? Everything's fine forever!

And, like, of course it isn't. As much as we might long for normalcy and the safety of predictability, things always change. Mari can put a big stupid grin on her face when her friends are around, but she can't hide her haunted look when she thinks no one sees. Takumi can force his Orphnoch form back in the closet, but he can't hide it away forever. These things need to be acknowledged, recognized, processed. Running from that... it's only going to work for an episode.

--2--

It's a good episode, though. Not what I was expecting at all, but I really do like the choice to try and act like nothing changed.

There's some very fun directorial decisions in this one. All of the back-half of the episode, it's upbeat dialogue and friendly activities (Keitaro really likes that grilled pumpkin, you guys), but the lighting is overcast, the atmosphere foreboding. It sells the impression that none of this repression is good, that it's not going to work.

And, man, that shaft of light that drops down as Takumi transforms into Wolfeyes, his Orphnoch form, it's such a stupidly fun choice. Cheesy in all the right ways.

--3--

This is, unfortunately, a weirdly tough episode for me to dig into! A lot of stuff happened, plot-wise, but it mostly feels like moving pieces around, or creating consequences for other episodes. I love the tone, the approach, but the individual pieces don't have much meat on them. There weren't a ton of conversations between characters, and what was there felt very... on-the-nose?

Like, the stuff with Takumi and Murakami/Kageyama, it didn't really pop for me. I like the idea of seeing Takumi have to navigate a different group, but this episode was very... transactional? It felt too plot-driven to me.

The Kusaka/Yuuji scene had the same limitation to me. (That opening punch, though! Second funniest thing in the episode!) It's just Yuuji saying that he knows Kusaka is a liar, and Kusaka wanting to know what the Orphnochs are all up to. There's a little moment I liked in it, where it's clear that Kusaka is suspicious because this feels like one of his schemes, but then Yuuji just goes ahead and says that out loud.

I didn't mind the Takumi/Kusaka talk, but it didn't really do a lot for me. It plays into the themes of the episode, that it's natural to try and pretend things haven't changed when it's too tough to find a new path, but that's really all their talk has to it. I like that Takumi trusts his friends (and Kusaka?!) enough to let them decide if he should stick around or not, but it's a scene that's mostly redundant by the time the cookout happens. That scene, it does it all in a more elegant way?

And, man, that cookout scene is pretty great. It's this nice mix of surface-level happiness with barely concealed terror, this group of people Faking It Until They Make It with their ability to coexist. It's forced in a way that's heartbreaking, and that's even before Lucky Clover shows up for their newest member.

--4--

My favorite, favorite thing about Team Faiz trying to go back to business as usual (including no one telling Mari that Takumi is an Orphnoch, my least favorite Kamen Rider trope) is that it all blows up in their faces in the first goddamn episode. Their attempt at a status quo does not even last an episode. Fantastic.

It's like, I'll give them the realism of these kids hoping that nothing has to change, but only for a minute. After that, yes, Lucky Clover wants what they're owed. Mari has to find out that Takumi is Wolfeyes, the (probably) same Orphnoch WHO WAS AT THE RYUSEI SCHOOL REUNION. They tried running from this. I get why they'd try, and it's important to show it, but it can't work. Everything's changed forever.

--5--

Plus, running away is 100% Mihara's thing, and I still love it. (He's going to try being a hero now, though, so I'm probably going to fall out of love.) The biggest laugh I got from this episode was from Mihara. The episode opens with this awesome Wolfeyes/Skullcandy brawl, with Takumi knocking Sawada off of a cliff while everyone else watches, stunned. The next scene is Mihara trying to give the Delta Belt back to Kusaka so he can go home. Yes. YES. I would never have gotten tired of that dude trying to quit after every single fight, and I'm worried that him committing to heroism is a huge narrative miscalculation.

I hope it's all a miscommunication!