[Fish Sandwich]

Faiz 37-38:

First off, I'd like to take a second to correct the mistake I realized I made in my last post saying Yuuji was the fifth Faiz. He's actually the sixth. Apparently Kusaka tricked me too, because I forgot to count him. So for those keeping track at home, that's Takkun (duh), that random goon from episode 4, Kaidou, Takuma, Kusaka, and now Yuuji.

Anyway, these episodes are fantastic. There's so much to talk about. First of all, the thought that 3 entire episodes of a Kamen Rider show can go by without the main hero being the main hero, totally unprecedented, I love it. It gives Yuuji his chance to shine while it lasts, even getting to do both a Rider Kick and a Punch, plus an appearance by Accel Form, but more than that, it really stresses how out of whack things are right now. The trick is, every other time this has happened, Takumi usually loses the belt in an episode where he's already used it, and then gets it back and uses it again in the next episode. Even though other people had a turn, it was always clear who the real star was. But right now, that's all out the window, and it's a perfect payoff and escalation to this show establishing early on that this kind of thing can happen.

Of course, Takumi still gets in on the action though. He even gets his turn as Delta, which is another fun little aspect of all the belts getting tossed around. The show specifically made sure to give the main two Riders a go at being the third. It's not dramatically significant or anything, but it's just kind of cute, you know?

Speaking of Delta, Mihara gets slapped around a fair bit here. Heck, towards the end of 38, he only gets as far as putting the belt on before getting smacked to the side. It's okay, though! He's a tough kid, I'm sure he'll bounce right back from this.

I believe this is also the first time outside of the opening (and the movie which was out by now) they actually used the fancy light-up version of the Faiz suit. And Kaixa. They saved it for a rather important scene, too. I remember always wishing they would've used those more, but honestly, considering that there's absolutely no way those poor suit actors can see a thing filming in the dark like that, I seriously can't blame them.

では、責めることが平気でできるファイズ翻訳ミスコーナーです～！今日の翻訳ミスはこれだ！



「姿を消せた？」

These episodes were rougher than they've been lately, and while there's a lot to pick from, this is the first thing that jumped out at me. This is Murakami speaking, having just received the news that Takumi went missing... or, er, "erased his form", I guess. I feel slightly bad picking on this one, since it's one of those translations that's technically accurate, if only in the most overly literal way possible, but I don't think anyone reading this would be able to figure out what the heck the conversation is actually about.

W 37-38:

I've updated my theory on the Masquerade Dopants in light of some new evidence. During 38's climax, FangJoker uses a Maximum Drive on a bunch of them, but you can still see them all laying on the ground after they explode this time. However, the next time the camera cuts back to where they were, there's no sign of them anywhere. So my new conclusion is that these guys are just really, really good at running away, and usually do so with such speed, the explosion effect hasn't even disappeared by the time they're gone. Like they basically use it as a smoke bomb?

It's one explanation, anyway. As for the episodes themselves, they're real good. It's another arc focused on Philip and Wakana, just like 13-14, and both written by Keiichi Hasegawa, so it's got everything that made those episodes great, but with the added drama of a status quo that's been changing over like half a year since then. I also appreciate Nobody's Perfect being played again over a big moment for Philip, after being used more for Shoutarou the first time. Once again, the show does a good job of keeping both the main protagonists on an equal level.

Also, Masaki Suda has mad charisma as Philip, by the way. I don't think I've specifically mentioned that yet, but it's seriously no wonder he hit it as big as he did after this show.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

Talking of Weather, unless I missed you saying so; how can you not bring up that awesome meta-fake out of him being the holder of the 'W Memory' when he's first introduced?

I'm a little lost on this one. Is there an entire plot twist I forgot about, or are you just talking about how they gave his Memory the same letter as the show? Because I have always thought that was neat, since he's such a major villain, and I did forget to mention that, but I don't think it's actually meant to trick the audience or anything. There's a clear difference between "Double" and "double-you".

Although to be fair, back when I originally watched the show and wasn't paying too much attention to the audio, I do remember being very confused for a while.