[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 22



--1--

I missed Kusaka! He’s the worst, but I missed him!

He’s a shit-stirrer, is his thing. It’s not that the show lacked for drama in his absence, but him showing back up propels so many plots that it feels like I just watched three episodes instead of one. He’s a busy dude!

--2--

First off, he has to throw shade at Takumi, which is always welcome. I love how casual he’s gotten with it, dropping his friendly demeanor that the others see, and telling Takumi that he owes his survival to Kusaka. Just the smarmy way that he demands Takumi’s thanks, and how happy he is that Takumi tells him to go screw. He loves rivalries, I think? I know he said he likes proving himself in combat, but I sincerely think he just likes conflicts. Physical, intellectual, emotional… he stirs shit so that he can get that rush of beating someone at something, anything. Even if it’s just that they got mad easier than he did, it’s a tiny victory for Kusaka.

Plus, like, so fun. So perfect for each other. Him and Takumi, it’s like the inverted version of Takumi and Yuuji. With Takkiba, it’s very sweet, very nurturing, them stealing little glances at each other. With Takusaka, it’s them being total jerks to each other until the room sets on fire, not even looking at each other. I’m shipping all of them!

--3--

And, man, shipping episode!

It’s all weird relationship drama, convoluted and captivating. It’s almost all centered on Mari, the somewhat surprising hub of these tangled emotions.

So, let’s see if I’ve got this right:

Keitaro likes Yuka
Yuka likes Kaido
Kaido likes Mari
Mari likes Yuuji
Kusaka wants to possess Mari, which is both irrelevant and incredibly relevant

It’s a lot for one episode! I think the show balances it all pretty well, finding time for all of these variables, as well as Takumi, Yuuji, and their feelings about these shenanigans.

I really dig how the one thing you can always count on Takumi to care about is relationship drama. He’ll opt out of most non-Orphnoch heroism, but he’s always got a taste for other people’s tortured romance. That makes him a great sounding board for Mari’s options, and I adore how much he’s supportive of her dating Yuuji. It’s so nice. I also love how he didn’t immediately vomit when she asked if she should date Kusaka.

The Kusaka thing… his whole scene with Mari in the van where he makes his appeal for her hand? It’s like cringe comedy. It’s so blatantly false that I was howling. (This and the You Guys It Was Killing Me Not To Call You Back bullshit from the beginning of the episode, huge fan, big supporter of Disingenuous Kusaka.) Mari is so visibly uncomfortable during his heartfelt (“heartfelt”) plea for her affection, and he just lays it on thicker. Like, she is clearly not into him like that. He’s embarrassing himself, and it’s brilliant.

Even better, when he overhears that she likes Yuuji, Kusaka somehow convinces him to go to Kamen Rider Warehouse for a chat. (Definitely a cool place to get dragged for a conversation with a guy who looks as intense as Kusaka, smart thinking from Yuuji.) He basically can’t decide whether to beg him for info on how to make Mari like him, or just beat the shit out of him. We don’t get the answer, unfortunately, because one-half of Lucky Clover’s Internship Program shows up for a fight.

--4--

The Lucky Clover stuff in this one was pretty fun! First, I didn’t realize that Murakami wasn’t a member of Lucky Clover, so that’s more clear to me now. (I thought he was in the group before he became president of Smart Brain.) Second, after not really caring about the dude who wanted to join and got immediately murdered last time, I was decently interested in the two new candidates. It’s mostly down to how involved Kageyama and Houjou are in the process.

(Let me quickly call out the delightful recurring gag of Live Action Hatsune Miku giving the Lucky Clover pitch to an Orphnoch, only for Kageyama and Houjou to shove her out of frame before she can finish. Houjou basically unfolds in out of her shadow!)

The two new Orphnochs are fairly distinct, a skateboarding street youth and nocturnal salaryman. While it’d’ve been fun to see Kageyama with the uptight nerd and Houjou with the disobedient slacker, I like that what we got feels like who they’d pick. I can see Houjou admiring the stoic effectiveness of the bespectacled nerd, and I can see Kageyama digging the iconoclastic flair of the hooligan. The two new characters are pretty well realized, and they still end up saying something about the older characters. Smart writing and design!

Having two teams of two gives us a really fun Faiz ‘n’ Friends Fight, with Faiz using Accel to take out the salaryman and damage Houjou (big day at Kamen Rider Stadium); and Kaixa teaming with Horsepower to square off against the other two.

(Incidentally, standing ovation to Kusaka and Yuuji sharing, like, one scene together before they learn each other’s secret identities. Takumi and Yuuji still dance around it in a great beginning to this episode, so everyone else gets to learn their secrets pronto. Amazing!)

That shot of Kaixa and Horsepower, back to back, swords at the ready, with the camera rotating around them… chills! Very exciting way to end a Kamen Rider episode!

--5--

This was a really good one, and it was good in a way that I think is more… typical? It doesn’t really tweak the format a ton, it just ratchets up the romantic dramedy, while still leaving room for monsters and fighting. This one… I think the levels were right. I love the weirder ones, the funnier ones, the emotional ones. This one, it’s a solid bit of Kamen Rider. And it’s mostly thanks to Kusaka!