[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER 555 MOVIE: PARADISE LOST





--1--

I was wondering if the movie, with its shorter running time, would try and touch on any of the show's themes. And, it does, for sure. The idea of humans and Orphnochs coexisting is the stated premise of the film, the goal of the heroes.

The thing I found interesting, though, is that the movie ended up bringing up other ideas that tie into that theme that the show never really explored. It made for a fun experience, a sort-of supplement to the main narrative rather than a condensed version of it.

There's a smaller runner about the ways corporations and the media help shape attitudes about various groups, either endorsing coexistence or denouncing it. Smart Brain's power in the story isn't Riotroopers or Emperor Belts, it's the way they reframe the human insurgency as bloodthirsty terrorists, or how they're able to normalize Orphnoch existence. It's something I'd hoped the show would explore, but they never really did. Smart Brain being run by and for Orphnochs became just a trivial detail. We spent more time with Murakami and his crew at Lucky Clover than we saw the scientists at Smart Brain doing much to further their cause. It felt like a missed opportunity in the show, so I'm glad it got some use in the movie.

--2--

The bigger thing the film deals with, thematically, is the fears of an in-group. An in-group's irrational fear of accepting an out-group is that the out-group's culture and morality will supplant their own, so the in-group is justified in never giving an inch to the out-group. This film is like a human supremacist's fever dream, with humans left to eke out a subsistence on the edges, while Orphnochs live openly. (Like, if you wanted to tell me that canonically this is all a nightmare Kusaka's having, I'd be into that theory.)

It's a concept that... I mean, I guess you need to address it? There's an absurdity to it that keeps it from feeling like an Unless We're Vigilant warning. I kind-of love how the nightmare scenario for humans here is They'll Take Our Jobs. It's... man, they are not subtle with the concept they are satirizing!

There's a darkness to it, as an idea. It's maybe not something you want to be seen as tacitly endorsing through metaphor? But it's done so ridiculously that I appreciate them trying it on as a gag. This is a real fear that people have, that outsiders, people different from them, will take their culture from them and leave them as the outsiders. It's a fear that convinces people to demonize outsiders as a form of self-preservation, and it needed to be addressed somewhere in the Faiz narrative. I guess a non-canonical movie was as good a place as any?

--3--

So, and maybe I'm wrong on this, but I don't think I'd've assumed that Takumi's reveal as an Orphnoch in the movie was something that'd happen in the show. The whole movie is so bonkers and separate from the show that I'd probably think the Takumi thing was another weird choice in a weird movie. (Murakami is just a head in a jar and no one ever comments on it! Inoue was just like Takumi Has A Ponytail And Murakami Is A Head In A Jar. That was how he wanted to tell this story! It's so weird!) It's important to the climax of the film, and it ties together the main theme of humans and Orphnochs being similarly capable of either heroism or villainy, but it's not something the film spends a ton of time on. I would probably have written it off as some weird-ass 11th-hour Inoue choice.

(I mean, that's maybe too dismissive of it. It's integral to Yuuji's story in this that Faiz not just be a human he's friends with, but a fellow Orphnoch who choose to fight for humans. It's not just a random choice. But it's also so close to the end of the film that I don't know if the film needed it as a plot point.)

The Yuuji turn here, it avoids the Murakami Junior stuff that bugged me in the series, but... I sort-of hate it?

The Oga costume is awesome, and the rage that consumes Yuuji feels a lot more visceral and substantial than what we got in the series. I'll give it that. But, man, having it be because Smart Brain tricks him into thinking Mari betrayed him and got his friends killed? Lame! Lame choice! It moves Yuuji's turn from a moral collapse into an unfortunate misunderstanding, and I hate that so much. In the show, it's Yuuji's decision to do every horrible thing he does. He falls on his own, which makes him picking himself back up feel earned. Here, he's been lied to by the bad guys, and then changes his mind at the last second because he feels bad about it. Like, I can't stress this enough, Yuuji's turn has to be a fully-informed decision or it fundamentally doesn't matter. I get that there's less time in the movie to make that turn work, but, maybe don't do it then? There's a great fight in there with Oga and Faiz (in a Falls Count Anywhere match, which is how you know it's final), but this is all a misunderstanding and it bugged the shit out of me.

I get the Misunderstanding tag against Faiz now! It's not great!

--4--

Good film, though, besides that.

The story's smartly centered on Mari and Takumi's bond. They become friends super fast in the show, so the movie gets a lot of juice from how long it keeps Mari and Takumi apart. Having the story be about how much these two need each other in their lives, I loved that. The series kind-of spent more time with Mari in Kusaka's plots as time went on, so I really liked how integral their early-series bond was to this story. Takumi needs the motivation and encouragement that Mari provides, and Mari needs someone in her life worth rooting for. (That is to say, Kusaka is very very Kusaka in this movie, to hilarious effect. He's cinematically full of himself in this!)

Plus, shit, the whole movie is pretty much about Mari. She's a bad-ass revolutionary, she's a party organizer, she's the reason Yuuji falls and the reason he sacrifices himself... she's the star of this one, and she does an amazing job.

The new Riders have some awesome suits, too! (Figured I should finally talk about them.) Kamen Rider Oga was a design that took me a minute to get into, but I ended up really liking it. I like the skirt on it. I like the way the horizontal lines on the Omega symbol form the lower part of the face.

I liked Kamen Rider Buzz Lightyear's suit better, though. That white and purple! So good! Wasn't crazy about the very rubbery jetpack, but the suit itself was stunning. And that first fight he had, against the mutinous Smart Brain salarymen, very cool! He has a fluidity to his combat that felt unique among the Riders. My favorite of the two new Riders.

--5--

Yeah, fun movie. Great to see some old friends again. (My heart, when it was Team Orphnoch teasing Kaido for always saying he's going to break bad when he never ever will!) The post-apocalyptic nature of the movie was probably the best way to tell a story that hit on the themes of the show, leveraged some of the character relationships, but didn't try to rush anything so it lost impact. (Well, the Yuuji stuff, maybe.) I don't know that I cared so much about the Mina/amnesia stuff, but it was relatively brief and I will let Inoue have his melodrama.

I don't know if it feels like I've said a lot about this movie? I liked the themes, I love these characters, it was a fun diversion. Seems like it would've been fun to see in a theater?



(Tomorrow's going to be some Faiz miscellany I've got in a folder, and we'll see what in there is worth talking about. Thursday is a final wrapup post for this thread. So don't forget to come back!)