[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I don’t know if it’s Faiz specifically, but I really enjoy emotionally dense episodes like this one, both as a viewer and as someone writing about their viewing experience. Give or take a Ryuki episode that had a hundred ways in and no ways out, they’re the most fun episodes to talk about. (Even that Ryuki one got to be fun in its own neuroses-inducing way!) Like, I really enjoyed trying to talk about the Build episodes with the Hazard Trigger. When it’s all emotions driving it? That’s my stuff.

Plot-heavy episodes, honestly, not always that fun to talk about. So much of what makes a plot work isn’t in the details, it’s in the overview, the arc. Talking about one segment in a long-form plotline, it’s like trying to delve into one sentence in a paragraph. Sometimes it’s a really good sentence! It might use some neat words! But sometimes, it’s just getting you from the previous sentence to the next.

Episodes like 36 for Faiz, though, that’s where it feels like you’re having a discussion with the writer. The machinations are pushed to the side, and now it’s time to talk about the heart of the story. Who are these characters. How do they feel. What would it take to break them. These types of episodes, they’re so dense, like I said. So many details to obsess over. They are, honestly, so fun to try and talk about. I’m glad I’m doing them justice!

Yeah, I know what you mean. You could have an awesome plot in theory but it's meaningless if you don't get to see how it affects the characters and more importantly, you need to care about them. Generally, I think this show does an excellent job of making the main characters feel complex and dynamic and I appreciate how the emotions of the disbanded Team Faiz is at the center of this plot, I think it needed to be about them and how they're dealing with this.

I guess this is why you had so much to say about the Takumi reveal. I mean, I expected you to have a lot to say since it's a pretty big deal, but the way it changes everything is what makes it important. The status quo has been destroyed and the characters don't know how to move forward. Smart Brain are now chasing Takumi like a gang of loan sharks (which is ironic since Faiz has a shark motif), looking to collect on his deal with Murakami. Takumi's in a difficult position. He owes them, but what they want, he can't do it. He can't join Lucky Clover if it means being an enemy to humans. Kusaka claims to owe Takumi but this is the second time that Takumi has got Kusaka out of a bad situation after saving him from Smart Brain and it doesn't look like Kusaka intends to repay him.

In addition to the echoes of Takumi that Mari and Keitarou saw, the cat licking Mari could've been a metaphorical reminder of him, due to being a nekojita.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Yuji just tells his trio outright that Takumi is an Orphnoch... in contrast to his interactions with Takumi before. I guess Keitaro has restored Yuji's full faith to Takumi right? And now the one he's suspicious to was Kusaka. Yuji becoming Faiz cements his position as the deuteragonist of the show, even if the secondary Rider is Kusaka. Also now I wonder what's the deal with Takumi's past! It's informed that he gained Orphnoch from an accident, apparently that Takumi killed the Ryusei reunion, and he's aware all this time that he's an Orphnoch, that he tried to deny with becoming Faiz. Also with him apparently carrying Lucky Clover's mission (one of the things that make Sawada obviously evil was him joining Lucky Clover you said? see Takumi here).

Izumi originally auditioned for the role of Takumi and even though Handa was chosen instead, it's cool that he still got to be Faiz part-time. Kiba seems to be the only person other than Takumi who shows expertise at using Faiz. Takumi made a good choice for his successor but Kiba assures him that he will become Faiz again someday.

If Takumi didn't seem aware that he was an Orphenoch, it's probably that he was trying to hide it from himself ever since whatever happened at that reunion. He's a guy who prefers to run from his problems rather than confront them so it makes sense that he wouldn't bring it up until Mari's life depended on it. There's definitely a lot of mystery surrounding his involvement in the reunion. But I've already said too much yesterday.