[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Mmicb0b

unfortunately Faiz is a show with great ideas on paper but murky at best execution

Oof! Sorry to hear you didn't get much out of Faiz. I think it's fair to say we have very different views of the series (I think it's actually really funny?), but I'd agree it's not for everyone. Glad to hear that Blade is good, though!

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Originally Posted by Sunred

Can we expect Blade reviews after this or for a change of pace some other franchise i.e. Ultraman or Super Sentai.

It's going to be Blade next because I want to watch Blade next. It's going to be Kamen Rider shows for a while, because I want to watch all of the Heisei and Reiwa ones I haven't seen. To eliminate any confusion or mystery, here's what you can find on these boards for the next year or so, in exactly this order:

another couple days of 555 stuff: series overview, the movie, miscellany
Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Blade
Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Hibiki
Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Kabuto
Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Den-O
Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Kiva
Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Decade
Kamen Rider Die rewatches Legend Rider movies
Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Zi-O
Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Zero-One
Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Saber

...and then maybe some non-Rider stuff. A Sentai, probably, to start. I don't know! There's so much Rider to go! Nine series! A stack of movies!

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

Awooooaaaagggeereettghhh!!! That was my excited yell at reading you covering the final episoide. You ReOpened My Eyes For This Final Faiz.

Yay! I'm excited for your excitement!

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

Takumi and Kiba's final showdown. Even though Ryuki was the show all about riders fighting one another, I can't help but feel it's Faiz's final episode that we have to thank for things like Gaim vs Baron. I super didn't like Yuuji's turn in the last few episodes either, but in this episode, I was able to come around just enough to enjoy the climax of it. It really is all thanks to that conversation he and Takumi have, facing each other off just before transforming. Yuuji asks once again, a little angry, sad and incredulous all at once at why Takumi is so insistent on protecting humanity. You could read that as either him being frustrated that Takumi won't listen, or maybe him being sad that this person he considers a friend just doesn't understand the world like he thinks he does. I lean towards the more compelling and emotional interpretation of course.

Yeah, I think the heart of that scene is the feeling that Yuuji misses his friend. It's, honestly, what had been missing from all of the other Yuuji scenes from the last three episodes. Seeing him just slightly lose it, seeing him frustrated at how naive and oblivious Takumi was being, I bought in on that story.

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

It's so great, that when I look back on this episode from now on, I will only think about this climax between the two main characters! ...I kinda have to, of course, because what the heck even happened afterwards? The show certainly doesn't say so.

Remember how the Orphnoch King was going to like, kill all humans, but if stopped then all Orphnochs would die? Well of course you remember because that's been the big dramatic point the show has been driving in for the last few episodes. And then that just. Doesn't happen. Like, they didn't find a solution, they didn't even overcome it with the power of friendship or anything. The plot just stops existing. There is no rationalisation I can come up with, even as a personal handwave, for how Takumi's last Rider Kick leads to any of the scenes that comes afterwards.

It's definitely a love-it or hate-it finale. There's a bunch of plot stuff that becomes minor, and a bunch of emotional stuff that becomes major. That balance... it's not going to sit right with every fan! I get that!

That said, I think the epilogue feels pretty sensible? The implication to me was that, if defeated, Orphnochs would just have their clocks run out, which is going to happen for everyone but Kageyama. She got boosted by the King, but everyone else is just going to slowly die off.

As for defeating the Orphnoch King... the belts were established as being able to do that? There's a thing where Orphan Daddy tells someone (Yuuji? Kusaka?) that since the belts were designed to protect the King, they can also destroy him. A Rider Kick from Faiz's most powerful form seems like an acceptable solution to the Orphnoch King?

And, yeah, there's no big plan to defeat the Orphnoch King, but to quote The Way of the Gun, "I don't think this is a brains type of operation." Takumi just showing up and hoping he could beat a Metaphor Monster in a fight... that feels like a Faiz finale to me.

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

I remember the plane analogy you said, and thinking it was funny how you mentioned that the plane has to land. Because when it comes to Faiz's plot... It doesn't just not land, it is simply never to be seen again. I'm pretty sure Faiz's last episode left a lot of people feeling sour, confused or hollow precisely because those last scenes are so weird that they forget everything that happened before it.

But! After many years of stewing on it on and off, and thanks to some insight from both others who have watched this show and to this very thread, I am much more willing to just brush all that aside and focus on how much I appreciated the Takumi and Kiba aspect of the last episode. I mean, it's objectively a bad thing that all the story stuff in the last five episodes or so can be so easily brushed off, but that it's an option also speaks to the strength of the characters, I think!?

Yeah, I think the final episode honored the characters' journeys enough that I view 47-49 as a writer who maybe got a little in the weeds, but found his way back.

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Originally Posted by FreshToku

Anyhow, I heard there's a new show airing next week. Kamen Rider Brave? You might want to check your mail though, I heard someone got you a DVD of that movie you didn't get to catch in theatres a few months back.

My mom says my punishment is up on Tuesday! I can finally watch Paradise Lost! Plus, that kid I got in a fight with, we both agreed that Delta isn't that cool anymore. Not like Kamen Rider Braid!

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

So, because your complaint is about how Yuji becomes Murakami clone, what's the part of the old Yuji in the fight, other than him sacrificing himself for Orphnoch King of course. Was it him being more insane in this fight up to him throwing tantrums at the end of the fight? And you think the one that isn't received well by people was Yuji's re-turn? No you're wrong. I never hear people complaining about Yuji's turning back (but Yuji turning evil, sure I have) And I want to bring up the previous topic of "There’s wanting to see the best in people, and then there’s being reckless with your sympathy", what if Yuji didn't redeem after Takumi spared him? What if it bites back in Takumi's ass?

What I loved about it was that it's not about redeeming Yuuji. It's about allowing Yuuji to be responsible for his own choices, and how that's not something that has to weigh on Takumi anymore. The fact that Yuuji shows up to help Takumi defeat the Orphnoch King, that's a bonus, not the intention.

If it bites Takumi in the ass, it bites him in the ass. Part of acceptance is allowing people to make mistakes, to fail. But that wouldn't be a reflection on Takumi's mercy, that'd be a reflection on Yuuji's failings.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

And you say this is the reason why he's a hero, I do hate people who see this trait of sparing those as a weakness (because they think like that, they can continue doing their evil things and probably even bites the hero back in the ass, that it's better to just mercilessly kill him than gambling if he's redeemed or not... "the end justifaiz the means!"), but I want to hear more about this stance of a protagonist (preferably defending it!), is the benefit (like Yuji here) worth the gambling risk?

I mean, would it be better if Takumi was more ruthless? I don't think so. His whole mission, and the entire point of the show, is that everyone deserves the chance to be happy. Killing Yuuji would render that whole theme a lie.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

And this is the part of the ending that people criticize, that Orphnoch King is still alive, practically leaving the series with no ending, or just because the ending is practically a downer type, where the heavy amount of awful things more likely (I said, likely, not the checking in currently shown) to happen to the characters than good (Assuming that they haven't died yet), probably because Orphnoch King is still alive.

I mean, one way of looking at the Orphnoch King still being around is that what he represents, losing sight of the good in our lives, that never really goes away? There's always the risk that we'll fall back into old patterns, reopen old wounds, and it's because striving to be better doesn't end. Acceptance, growth, it's something that never stops.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

And also, for the gag of the Team Faiz infiltrating Smart Brain, what possesses Keitaro to go along with the morally ambiguous plan? It was an idea that comes from characters like Mari (stealing from Yuji) or Kaido (aiding Lucky Clover, possibly violates polices) who are plausible to do that, but why Keitaro agrees to do a quite reviled thing?

They kidnapped Takkun! You think Keitaro's going to shed any tears over Smart Brain's security or a trespassing charge?

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

Worth mentioning is that the originally intended to follow on from the final episode by including a short scene where Takumi meets the new guy, Kazuma Kenzaki, gives him a red-coloured baton and then both do their henshin poses. But for whatever reason, it was never released and we only know about it due to magazine pictures posted years after the fact. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20181217161532

They did try reviving the idea of a meeting between the two as a short story, but for whatever reason, it was never released and we only know about it due to Blade’s DVD commentary.

But the idea of a handoff between heroes wasn’t thrown out entirely. The other fellows adopted it as a yearly tradition. https://youtu.be/3P7_9rFd5Bc

Oh, neat!

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Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

Hey remember two months or so ago when I posted "Look forwards to a series-long trip into the Inoue Zone?" I'm so glad you did. You've not quite convinced me to go watch Faz ("Misunderstandings" is not a thread I enjoy, shame to say), but someone finding a new series to love? That's pretty neat.

Now I just need to finish these 6 episodes of Blade before you finish the entire show, and I'm set to actually *involve* myself in discussions next time!

I don't know that I'll ever buy into the "misunderstandings" tag this show gets (it just doesn't seem like that huge a part of its DNA?), but I'm glad it was a fun thread for you. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on Blade!

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I love the climactic 3-part showdown between Takumi and Kiba and how it escalates in to them using their final forms against each other. Kiba seriously loses his cool when Takumi spares his life due to considering him a human. He goes hysterical, infuriated by Takumi's insistence on protecting humanity even when Kiba rejects that part of him. It's like an insult to him, to be defeated in battle and denied death for being likened to what he thinks is an irredeemable and inferior species. Takumi's mercy is heroic though and shows that he's willing to forgive Kiba and wants him to restore his faith in humanity.

I don't know that he forgives Yuuji, though? Or, I don't think the resolution is about forgiveness? I think Takumi means it when he says that his friendship with Yuuji ended when Yuuji threw away his humanity. The end of the fight, it's about how it's not their connection that stays Takumi's hand, it's that Yuuji's a human who deserves to live. That's it. It's about how Takumi is offering Yuuji the same chance at life and happiness as everyone else, nothing special or extra.

I really like that element? I like that the fight is personal, but the resolution is impersonal.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Kaido said Henshin as early as Episode 7. Anyway, I want to talk about some foreshadowing here regarding Team Orphenoch. What was the first origami Sawada burned? A crane. Yuka died first. He burned a horse in front of Kiba, who died second. He never burned a snake though. Kaido lived and he deserved to since he was the only one who never killed anyone.

Whoa! That's amazing trivia!

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

This brings me back to what I said about where we want a show to take our favorite characters from the start to the end of their arcs. Team Faiz endured much suffering as they fought relentlessly to protect the happiness of others and they deserve to be happy themselves now that love and peace is restored. Whether Takumi lives for the next ten minutes or ten years as you phrased it, he lives without regrets or worries, knowing that he made his life mean something and found acceptance with his new friends, Mari and Keitarou. It's an emotional bittersweet ending that I definitely appreciated.

It's such a good ending.