[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

There’s so much space to this episode, so much silence. It’s a very introspective design, built to make a viewer focus on details. Everything in this episode is about what Yuka’s not saying to her friends, so things like overlapping dialogue, quick edits, background music, it’d all be a distraction. Instead we get long takes, tense pauses, and a light soundtrack.

*snip*

I already posted it, but that single shot where they switch out Kageyama for her Orphnoch form? Insane! That’s all done in-camera! But it’s also key to the storytelling, where the danger comes from how quickly these things can happen.

Hey did you know this episode is directed by Hidenori Ishida? Is that my catchphrase now? I feel like I'm saying this a lot!

But yeah, this episode has him written all over it. While I was skimming through this one on the off chance of catching some translation errors, I couldn't help but notice the scene where a rift starts forming between Yuuji and Takumi very deliberately has each character saying their lines without the other in-frame. It's jarring, and in a technical sense, arguably "bad" direction, but by refusing to show them on-screen together past the establishing shot, it works wonders to emphasize a sense of distance between the two of them. It's the kind of crazy stuff I'd expect from a guy who lit like half a dozen cars on fire back in Kuuga's final episodes for only like a couple seconds of footage.

Oh, and speaking of errors:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

「人の優しさや、好意が辛い時ってありますよね」

I'll say upfront that this isn't as bad as it looks just from this one line. You still get the broad idea of Yuka's monologue here from the ones after it, and compared to what a trainwreck the last two episodes were, these ones were fine.

However, that doesn't change the fact that this is a mistranslation. What Yuka actually said here was considerably more blunt. It's, (very) roughly, "There are times when people's kindness and affection are painful". She goes on to elaborate that this is because she feels unworthy of being treated so nicely, which the subs got more or less correct. But this initial line, it's immediately impactful before she even starts explaining, and gives you a fantastic idea of the kind of headspace Yuka is in. The way it's translated here simply doesn't get any of that across, and given the context, the idea that Yuka would even have this thought to begin with is questionable.

I'm maybe a little extra picky when it comes to Yuka's dialogue specifically because it tends to be some of the show's most interesting. Fortunately, these errors don't seem to have prevented you from enjoying what I would agree is an exceptionally interesting late-game Faiz episode.