[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

The dude doing the full Dante Hicks "I'm not even supposed to be here today!" routine is played by Atsushi Harada, one of the rare Faiz actors to have a notable tokusatsu role before Faiz. In this case he was the Green Ranger on 1999's GoGoV, the show that was ported over to the US as Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue.

Neat!

That dude really finds some honesty in his performance, and it's the best thing about the Ryusei School story. I'm so incredibly into the thought of one guy feeling shackled to these other orphans he grew up with. It's bad enough he had to spend his childhood in a mysterious school for mysterious orphans. Does he seriously have to squander his adulthood with the same group, now that they've graduated to full-on sacrificial combat? It's a great time to have other plans!

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Originally Posted by Actar

Sadly, here's where the plot gets a little bit iffy. Hope the next couple of episodes do something to shake things up a bit.

Here comes my first Delta nitpick. Something that I found really annoying about Kitazaki Delta was that he never seemed any more powerful when transformed than in his Orphnoch form. In fact, many of his OP abilities are sealed away, so he never actually feels like the threat he's supposed to be. And as per gun-wielding hero tropes, the Delta Blaster is either underused or rather nerfed when it is used. It's one thing if he were too OP as Delta and got bored of it, but that really wan't the case at all.

I feel like it's the other way around, where Kitazaki felt too-overpowered as an Orphnoch, so he became Delta to have more of a challenge and get the other Riders' attention. (Which, ha ha, man, making the most powerful, feared form on the show a handicap for an Orphnoch? Hilarious.) Now that Delta isn't even getting to fight, he's fine giving it away.

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Originally Posted by Actar

Hell yeah. Not only that, but I love how the belts aren't locked to a single person. This is kinda meta, but this is why the Faiz Gear are some of my favorite belts, along with the belts from W and Gaim. If you have the roleplay toys, it's actually within the realm of believability that you'd be able to wear them and use them.

Also, if I remember correctly, this is the only time when we see all three belts together, being owned by one person. Don't mind me bragging, but while it took quite a bit of time and effort, I finally managed to recreate that scene with my CSM collection and replica cases!

Wow! Congrats! I hope they were all given to you by people who fought hard to obtain them but then didn't care anymore.

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Originally Posted by Kurona

Reading so many parts of that overview was... really amusing. Looking forward to your reaction on future episodes.

I'm glad to get this stuff down before everything changes. I like, I don't know, preserving that moment right before a reveal. (It definitely seems like one is imminent, from the chatter.) I hope that's fun for other people to read?

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

Given that Kitazaki gave up the Delta Gear in the same episode that new guy Mihara appears, you can see where this is going.

I mean, I guess I can now!

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Somehow, in an episode titled "Mari Dies", Die finds absolutely nothing to say about Mari's death....

HUH?!

Androzani84 and I were looking forward to your reaction.

Sorry to disappoint! My reaction was mostly that it was a a cliffhanger that I felt like would be resolved in the next episode with Mari not being dead. It's not a development I feel is more than a one or two episode blip, so it didn't do much for me.

If it turns out that she's 100% forever dead... I don't love it? There's the obvious trope of Now All These Men Are Upset of it all, but more than that, I don't know that I like it as the end of Mari's story. Her dying because she trusted Sawada and wanted to see the best in him is... it doesn't feel like where 30 episodes of Faiz were building up to?

So, yeah, felt like the middle of the story, not the end, so I wanted to wait to talk about it.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

You're actually not too far from the truth. Takumi wasn't quite at the "I want to be punished by my arch enemy" stage then, but now he's not just responsible for putting Mari in a hospital, he's responsible for putting her in an early grave and it doesn't get much worse than that. Imagine how vexed Kusaka's going to be when he finds out.

I think we interpreted it mostly the same way, except my take is that Takumi's change of mind is something that happened gradually from wanting to punish Kiba for deceiving him to wanting to be punished. He saw Mari die in front of him and there was nothing he could do about it. That was the trigger. He didn't just screw up, he failed his purpose as Faiz and that takes his self-loathing to a whole new level where his hatred for himself surpasses his hatred for Kiba, even giving up on being Faiz since he feels unworthy of it.

I said Takumi's guilt was excessive since his attempt to redeem Sawada wouldn't have been so reckless if only Kusaka hadn't intervened in his friendship with Kiba, screwing up his whole opinion of Orphenochs in the process. Kusaka can't see it but he's indirectly responsible for Mari's death by catalyzing Takumi's change in behavior. It's good that Takumi accepts the blame for his role in her death but the problem is how he deals with his guilt. He mopes, beats himself up and gives up on being Faiz and none of that punishment is helpful to anybody, least of all himself.

The thing I liked about Takumi in this episode is how established his behavior is at times of crisis, and that is to quit. When people turn on him, when he feels responsible for tragedy, he internalizes all of that judgment and gives up. To quote Achewood, Takumi "folded with a focus and intensity normally seen only in successes." There's something so pure about that, to me. That, as much as Takumi has grown and changed through the show, he's still got the reflex to give up that he did before the show began. He still inherently sees himself as what's wrong with a group, and his version of protecting his friends is limiting their exposure to him.