[Switchblade]

Faiz is easily my least favorite Rider series (unless I'm allowed to count the second part of Hibiki). There were some very cool ideas in the show, it had some good characters, and the designs were great. But none of that really helped with all the poor concepts and execution that plagued the show.

When people bitch about Toshiki Inoue's writing, about 70% of it is talking about Faiz - so much of the show's plot could be easily resolved if two characters would just sit down and have a goddamn open conversation. But no, everyone in the entire series is intentionally and ludicrously vague about everything, as if they assume - despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary - that everyone else clearly understands what they're really intending to say. There's nothing wrong with characters keeping secrets or making mistakes, but Faiz takes it to such extreme levels that it becomes totally ridiculous.

Second, the show is stupidly dark and depressing, again to ridiculous levels. Yuka's backstory has to be one of the most over-the-top bleak stories I have ever seen and it doesn't get much cheerier. You can tell that the writers were trying to go for a more melodramatic approach to the show, but they went way too far overboard and it becomes almost comically depressing.

The ending is shit. I don't know what the Inoue was thinking by leaving virtually every damn plot point unresolved - maybe he was angling for a sequel series, I don't know - but it does not leave you walking away satisfied. Honestly, it's right up there with the last ten minutes of Lost on the "terrible series finales" scale. Really, it was just one of the many points in Faiz were it seemed like Inoue wrote himself into a corner and, instead of finding a way out of it, just gave up.

The belt swapping was a neat idea that got horribly overused.

Kusaka. 'nuff said.

Also, Mihara. I dare you all to try and remember who this guy is without googling it.

Now, after all that you probably think I completely and totally hate Faiz. Well, I don't. I don't like it very much, but it does still have its redeeming qualities. I like a lot of the characters when they aren't being stupid. The suit designs are great and the monster designs are really cool, even if the lack of color works against them in a lot of cases. The movie is great, too, although, again, it cops out at the end. Still, it's not a show that I really look back on fondly and not one that I am really interested in watching again. But then I used to think the same about Ryuki until I rewatched it and remembered all the parts I liked about it. I may do the same with Faiz someday, but I kinda doubt that anything will ever raise it up much in my opinion.