[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER 555 EPISODE 50

--1--





It's a good ending. It's a good ending.

I wouldn't say it redeems the choices the show made with Yuuji, though. There are ways to read into his decision to be a cold-blooded corporate asshole. You can see it as an emotional breakdown, hiding in cosplay because his worldview was shattered after the death of Yuka. It's just, there isn't much in 47-49 to support that. At least, not enough to declare it as a definitive motivation. Equally likely is that Yuuji's just a massively out-of-character dick now. (He is horrible to absolutely everyone in his orbit, and that's tough to square with a view of him as conflicted and hurting.) The fact that both of those are possible, that's not great storytelling. I don't think I'll ever fight for the Murakami Junior stuff.

But there's a back two-thirds to this episode that does some incredibly smart things, makes really good storytelling choices, and completely lands the ending for me. It was bumpy! I thought we wouldn't make it. But we're here, we're safe, and I'm happy.

--2--




The absolute smartest thing this finale did was say that the stuff from 47-49 that sucked? It doesn't matter. It never mattered.

The Ticking Clock is irrelevant, because everyone dies at some point. Sometimes it's soon, sometimes it's later, but life ends. The important thing is to cherish what you have, to give it meaning. And, whether that's fighting to save humanity, spending time with your friends, becoming a private investigator, or just doing laundry, living life is inherently meaningful. Existence is its own reward. Fighting for dominance, fighting for survival, it's bullshit. It's a distraction from what you have around you, what you're better off thinking about.

The Orphnoch King is irrelevant, beyond being something to have a fight against. Teruo doesn't factor into the story at all, permanently transforming into the Orphnoch King early in the episode. As a character, the Orphnoch King isn't one. He's a force of nature, a metaphor. He's all the ways we lose sight of our connections with one another, how we allow our fears to divide us, how we view things like safety and happiness as finite resources, stolen from one person to give to another. With friends at our side, with a refusal to view him as legitimate, he's easy to defeat.

Smart Brain doesn't really have a role to play. Lucky Clover doesn't really have a role to play. It's a story about Takumi and Yuuji, at the end. It's a story about acceptance.

--3--







The Yuuji/Takumi fight is perfect. It's a perfect fight.

Technically, visually, it does everything you want it to. It's beautifully shot, and, as the clear centerpiece to the episode, it's given plenty of room to breathe. They do so much with it, and it's a big reason why this finale worked so well for me.

There's a little bit of build-up, before things get started. It's them having a human face-off, a final moment to say This One Counts. There won't be any holding back, and no one's coming to save them. You see Yuuji's facade crack for the first time since 46, and it's crucial to feeling anything for this fight. You need to see some flash of Old Yuuji, some reason to feel conflicted about this final Faiz Fight. It does a great job setting the stage.

The battle starts as a Rider battle, Kaixa versus Faiz. There's clever gimmicks, like Faiz using his Shot to bust out of Kaixa's Slash. It's small, as Rider battles go. It's not a big pyrotechnic extravaganza. It's measured, though. Longer takes, more meat to the fight.

It transitions next into an Oprhnoch battle, Horsepower versus Wolfeyes. It's more brutal now. Yuuji's anger is spilling out, screaming himself raw. Takumi switches up into Faiz Blaster, and uses Yuuji's rage against him. He gets in close with his blaster, taking Yuuji out of his Orphnoch form and giving Takumi a perfect moment to end Yuuji's life by his own sword.

But he stops short. He refuses to kill Yuuji. Not because they were friends. Not because he doesn't think Yuuji believes every single thing he's said and done over the last four episodes. Not because Yuuji is good. But because Takumi protects humans.

Humans just like Yuuji.

And then the episode does the smartest goddamn thing in the whole goddamn series. There's a screen that the camera's been shooting through during this moment, slightly obscuring Takumi's statement. But as he finishes, as he reaffirms his belief that all humans matter, that every life deserves to be lived, he walks through a hole in the screen. He's liberated, assured. He doesn't hate himself, question himself. He’s freed from the rage and self-doubt, and he walks away. He walks away from Yuuji's anger and justifications. He leaves Yuuji, trapped on the other side of the screen, screaming and crying at the injustice of it all, at the idea that Takumi won't sink to his level, won't validate his bleak worldview. And in doing so, Takumi saves the day.

Yuuji ends up joining the fight against the Orphnoch King, proving crucial in ending the King's threat. And, like, I get it if that turn (or re-turn) doesn't play for people. But, god, I thought it landed so well. It's Takumi being the icon to Yuuji that Yuuji always was to Takumi. It's Takumi finally feeling certain in his choices, in himself. It's Takumi's accepting someone, even if he doesn't agree with them.

That idea... it's kind-of everything I wanted this show to say in the end? One of the best things we can offer one another is a chance to be happy. You do that by giving people support when they want it, and you let them make their own choices. Rigidity, expectations, judgment, these things trap people, leave them angry and scared. Accepting people, letting them feel like they don't have to be afraid of themselves, that's a gift we're all capable of giving each other. Takumi doesn't win the day by using the Faiz belt or his Orphnoch powers, he wins it by letting someone know that he wants them to have a chance at happiness, wants them to live their life.

That's why he's a hero.

--4--






The aftermath is sweet, if a little scattered. It's just checking in with every survivor, giving them each a little grace note.

Rina and Mihara are going to keep looking out for orphans, giving them the stability and support that turned them into two boring but essentially good people.

Kaido is off into the world, bruised but healing. Teruo was someone he failed to protect, and that's going to haunt him. But now he can be haunted by it, because he's a hero. He even said Henshin when he transformed!

Soeno is retiring, irrelevant but happy. He represents the group that never really contemplates a world outside of themselves, never considers the indignities an outsider group feels. He doesn't deserve to be unhappy, but his happiness comes at a cost he never knew other people paid.

Houjou lives, so I didn't end up having to hate this show. Kageyama also lives, ditto. They're both left at different ends of the spectrum: Houjou cowers as a human, abandoning his identity due to fear; while Kageyama luxuriates in power, confident in her supremacy.

--5--




Team Faiz, though... they're relaxing, they're happy. Sure, things were tough for a while there. They've been scared. They've suffered losses. (RIP Faiz CyKill, also I guess Yuuji) But they're together, and they've earned their happiness. Takumi even has a dream, and of course, it's Keitaro's dream. The joke of the beginning of the series became the moral of its ending. Takumi wants the whole world to be happy.

He definitely started with me.

It's a great episode, and a terrific end to the series. It's frantic and weird and heartfelt and funny and it's thoroughly unique. There's a gag where, as they're about to infiltrate the Smart Brain hospital and save Takumi, Keitaro drops an iron he brought with, and the camera stays on the iron as he runs back to pick it up. A dumb gag in the final, wall-to-wall episode. They didn't have time for the opening credits, but they sure as shit made time for that joke. Faiz!

I cannot tell you how happy I was to see this episode do the work. I honestly didn't know if they remembered how to make an episode like this, that ticked along with surface pleasures while simultaneously excavating all this thematic gold. It's a relief, to know that Faiz ended as well as I'd've hoped. They made a bunch of choices I don't think I'll ever love, in service of an ending I adored.

The ends did justify the means.