[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 31





--1--

I'm sure I'm supposed to find Kusaka impossibly villainous. I'm supposed to be booing him when he enters a scene, hissing at his self-satisfied smile, longing for the moment when his treachery is exposed.

But instead, I am laughing my ass off.

The fact that this show had the goddamn brass balls to have Kusaka answer Takumi's questioning of last episode's events with an I Am Unbelievably Offended You Wouldn't Believe Me? That Takumi went in thinking that there's a good chance that a man who has gleefully manipulated him to his face and vowed to turn his friends against him might possibly be innocently mistaken, and he leaves the scene apologizing to Kusaka?

YOU GUYS. How can I be mad at that? That turn when he says "Guess I'm alone”? That little sigh of disappointment? Chef's. Kiss.

I mean, okay, yeah, I can't wait to see Horsepower and Faiz team up to punish Kusaka. Yeah, totally. But this way he has of deflecting all blame and coming out on top... only God can judge him. All the rest of us can do is delight at his awfulness.

--2--

And that dude is working overtime this episode to keep everyone apart. He's gaslighting Takumi, sure, but he's also worried that Mari might end up redeeming the actually-sort-of-cute Sawada. (Kageyama was right!)

The Mari/Sawada storyline is a good main plot to do when the Takumi/Yuuji plot might need to simmer on the back burner for a minute. (And it's smart to let it simmer!) Both storylines are about whether humans and Orphnochs can be friends. The Mari one, though, it's all about redemption, rather than overcoming mistrust.

I really like that Mari's got a storyline of her own that's still woven into the fabric of the show. They could've given her something with the salon she worked at for one episode a million years ago (holy shit, remember when Soeno was on this show?!), but, nope, it's all Orphnochs and Lucky Clover and the themes of the show. It's as dialed-in as anything, but it's still Mari's story.

It's, frankly, a lot of Getting To The Stuff in this episode. Honestly, the whole thing feels very transitional, very contemplative, which makes it tough to discuss. The Mari plot in particular is about her hoping there's still some humanity to Sawada, and Sawada fearing there's still some humanity to him. And, like, that's it? It's not a bad story, I'm really into it, but it's mostly just clarified in this episode, rather than moved forward.

--3--

The Takumi/Yuuji plot is pretty much the same. Both of them feel out-of-sorts after last episode, and neither wants to risk being hurt again. Yuuji decides to use Kaido as a go-between, wanting to know if Takumi actually betrayed him. He wants to salvage their friendship, but he doesn't want to make himself vulnerable. It's a totally in-character move.

It is also so obviously going to get screwed up by Kaido, and that's before Kaido relies on Keitaro to finish relaying the message.

Like, you know the second Yuuji says his message out loud that it's going to get garbled, confused. You know it. And, for real? I don't blame Keitaro or Kaido! They're barely aware that anything's wrong, and they certainly don't know that Yuuji and Takumi think they've been attacked and betrayed by the other. So, no, they don't understand the weight of the message they're supposed to convey, and they don't realize that they've made everything worse. Yuuji's search for an explanation is relayed as a severing of ties, and Takumi responds with a declaration of war.

Again, I get it if this all feels forced. It's a bit of a clunky device to have a misremembered message make a falling-out worse. But, for me, this isn't wacky Kaido and Keitaro screwing up. This is confirmation bias. It's Yuuji assuming he'll get hurt, so he keeps Takumi at a distance. It's Takumi waiting to be hated, so he responds with hatred. It's a frustrating spiral, these two people abandoning hope for sadness, letting their worst instincts lead the way. I get that it can feel exhausting to watch. I really do like how it's all rooted in character, though. Great story for that.

--4--

Similarly, A++ episode for Houjou being a terrified coward! The way that nightmare sequence was shot, with Kitazaki going for the handshake, glowingly lit from below, all smiles. Houjou smiles back, glad to be done with this anxiety-inducing rivalry. His hand dissolves, that over-the-top reaction, big and broad and so funny. And then he wakes up, leaving Kitazaki hanging. Fifteen seconds or so of pure joy.

There's a brief discussion about Lucky Clover getting back in sync, working as a team, but we don't really see it in this one. It's that goofy-ass Houjou nightmare, and that's about it.

--5--

Yeah, it's pretty much all about the Mari/Sawada plot (which is not the most robust story when they don't even share a scene until the end) and the Yuuji/Takumi plot (which, hey, they also end up not sharing a scene at all).

It's an episode about trying to kindle some hope, to allow for reconciliation despite everything that happened. It's all pretty tentative, folks dealing with their feelings first to understand what outcome they want. It makes for an episode of good scenes that somehow feels incomplete. I didn't dislike anything in this one, but it feels like it's more about mood than content, if that makes any sense.

Great mood, though.