[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Honestly, as probably one of the bigger Mihara fans out there, I'd argue this is backwards. It's more like he's always irrelevant, even if he's there.

I concede. That is totally his thing.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Like I said, I don't know. I guess we'll always have Adel.

Now there's a guy with an interesting redemption arc!

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

--2--

Man, this episode was a blast. A hundred percent back to where I like Faiz as a show. The happiness feels earned, and the tragedy feels inevitable. Everything feels organic, consequential. It’s no longer weird outside forces pulling people apart or drawing them together, it’s all character logic and emotional dilemmas.

I mean, a Yuka spotlight episode? That reaffirms that she’s killed a whole bunch of people? That digs into whether or not she’s fooling herself by embracing a human life? Hell yes.

I’m really into the idea of Lucky Clover recruiting Yuka. It was teased a million years ago, but since then it's mostly been left alone. Here, she’s a natural choice after losing Sawada and having Kitazaki on the shelf. She’s powerful, subtle, and notoriously conflicted. With the right push, she’s someone who could do a lot for Lucky Clover.

And that right push is probably a full-on tactical assault, I guess? Jesus, it’s a million cops who swarm her outside the park. It definitely feels like the type of impossible situation that’s going to activate Yuka’s well-known Fight Or Flight Or Massacre response, and that makes for a suitably tense conclusion to the episode.

It’s just, how do the cops know about Orphnochs all of a sudden? I’m not sure if this is a plotpoint (as I’m hoping) or a plothole (as I fear). Nothing’s been public about Orphnochs, as far as I can recall. It could be that the cops have known more about all this than Soeno was privy to, so a special team of Orphnoch hunters could make sense. Or it could all be a Smart Brain ruse, making Yuka feel like Lucky Clover is the only way to protect herself. I hope we find out soon, ‘cause that was something that stuck out to me. Otherwise, I’m really excited to see where this all goes.

Yuka's much-anticipated conclusion arc starts here and this episode is a welcome breather after the recent melancholy revolving around Takumi and before the show prepares to plunge back in to the sea of darkness for its home stretch. The happy, innocuous and humorous scene at the theme park is completely detached from the main plot which is awesome since it's a reminder of why these characters are so great and that's all it needs to be. It's to the merit of the show that they have lives beyond the plot and actually get to hang out and have fun and we get to have fun watching them.

Unfortunately, Yuka's murders have finally come back to haunt her as both Lucky Clover and a secret science society want to bring her in for different reasons. I was surprised that she blipped on Murakami's radar considering she hadn't actually killed anybody since the Kaixa arc but he's right about her potential. The OP already foreshadowed that she could become an advanced Orphenoch and if she wasn't such a kind and generous person, she would have been the perfect candidate for Lucky Clover's vacancy.

And now she has killed again but this time it was in retaliation to the cops shooting her. She didn't want to kill them but they left her with little choice. What matters to her though is that Kiba saw what she did and knows that she isn't as totally innocent as he thought she was. She feels like she betrayed his trust in her. Team Faiz is back together again but now it's Team Orphenoch's turn to get shaken up and Yuka is at the center of the conflict. I have a lot of feelings about this arc since Yuka is one of two characters I find especially relatable, the other being Takumi, and it's the perfect balance of comedy, drama and romance. I've said that at least twice before but especially here, it's a rollercoaster of emotions, starting with an episode that happens to feature a literal rollercoaster.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

--4--

Also, look, credit where it’s due? Kusaka was completely on his asshole game this episode.

First, he gets an AOE Snark Attack in on both Takumi and Mihara to kick off the episode. In one bit of dialogue he sarcastically thanks Takumi for finally finding the resolve to fight while staring Mihara dead in the eyes, then tells Takumi that his resolve is irrelevant because he’s still an Orphnoch and he’ll eventually betray them. I mean, come on. How am I supposed to be mad at someone who’s that great at running people down verbally?

And then, and then, when everyone’s at the park? It’s just the six original members of Team Faiz and Team Orphnoch enjoying each other’s company, but as soon as Yuuji and Takumi start flirting, THERE’S KUSAKA, tagging along just to tell people they suck. It’s.. perfect? It’s the best deployment yet of Kusaka’s very particular set of skills, which is being the worst person alive.

I’m not saying I’ve, like, forgiven him or anything, but holy shit he’s so remarkably awful in this episode that I was dying.

I'm so glad to hear that your interest in Kusaka has been restored! I love how committed he is to being an a**hole to Takumi and Kiba that he showed up at the theme park incognito just to casually insult them. It's easy to take for granted how much he contributes to the comedic value of the show when his actions are inconsequential.

The dynamic between him and Takumi is so unique as well. It's neither the first nor the last time the Primary and Secondary Riders have been rivals but they seriously don't get along even out of combat and yet they still have some kind of twisted camaraderie between them while being as passive aggressive as possible. Kusaka would never consider another Orphenoch a comrade but he made an exception for Takumi even though he would rather kill him. Takumi respects Kusaka for being generally competent and unhesistant which in turn helped Takumi to become more assertive in his principles. It's intriguing how their perpetual rivalry and mutual dislike can actually be beneficial for development.

The theme park looks like the same one from the first Faiz vs Crocodile and Kaixa vs Crocodile fight scenes. Maybe?