Kamen Rider 555 - Thoughts and Opinions

It's definitely one of the best Rider series. The dark & depressing tone throughout and general atmosphere is great. Sure, it has it's flaws, the plot wanders aimlessly at times, with a few gaping holes and the ending is rather poor. But then, all the Kamen Rider shows suffer from this in some form, I've never associated the Kamen Rider franchise with good writing, as it simply does not have it.

All in all, Faiz is one of my favourite Kamen Rider series, beaten only by Hibiki and I can only wish that Kamen Rider was still as good nowadays as it was back then!

I gave up with Kamen Rider after struggling through Kiva & Decade. Couldn't even warm to W or 000 at all, enough was enough. But I'm rewatching Faiz at the moment and still loving it, give me more shows like this anyday and less like the current crap that's airing.

Just started 555 (it was either this or Ryuki. I might just do both). I like Takumi. His interactions with Mari are just amusing to me.

Doesn't change the fact that his introduction is STUPID. What the hell is going through his head? "I'll just appear from nowhere when all the people around her just died and ask for my bag back. When she assumes it's my fault those dudes are dead, I'll just keep my mouth shut. It's not like she'll take my silence as confirmation or anything. Aw dammit, don't run away, gimme my bag back!"

And then saying "You can't run." once he's cornered her? What the hell is his problem? I already know that the people who can use the Rider-tech in this show aren't human, but is there any reason Takumi's this stupid?

I remember hearing from this site that OOO was supposedly gonna share some personality traits with him, but they decided to go with more of a Godai-type instead. I love OOO just the way he is, but at least the underwear thing is there. Seriously, strawberry boxers?

One thing that turned me away from the show initially was how this was the one Rider that seemed to really want to take itself too seriously, but that was only from watching the first episode. Yuji's introduction and the bait and switch they pulled by tricking us into thinking he'd be the hero was pretty cool, though.

I'm only three episodes in and Yuka's story was freakin' ridiculous. Yeah, I felt sorry for her, but there's no way I COULDN'T with all the mess in her life piling on to the point of parody. What the hell is everyone's problem with her?

She's the least favorite child of the family, her younger sister constantly takes her money, EVERYONE at her all girl school hates her guts (WHY?) so much that they attack her during a basketball game in gym class. This feels like some twisted nightmare, not something that's supposed to resemble anything realistic!

PsychoTherapist said:

I've never associated the Kamen Rider franchise with good writing, as it simply does not have it.

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HAHAHAHAAHAH... :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh: Not.

I kinda like Takumi's aura.. the passive type on the earlier episodes.. 555 is one of the best for me and one of the series that drawn me back to tokusatsu..

PsychoTherapist said:

I can only wish that Kamen Rider was still as good nowadays as it was back then!

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Heaven have mercy on our souls if anything resembling 555 ever came back.

I thought this show was good until it hit episode 40. From there, it took a massive nose dive, almost as bad as Kabuto. They introduced some random organization that was hunting Orphenochs, but never really explained why or where they came from. Then they randomly throw in that there is a King Orphenoch, and he was a kid, and Takumi was supposed to protect him, or maybe it was destroy him, or, I don't know, it made no sense. It was like the writers had no idea how to end the show, so they just threw some random crap together. Not to mention the show did not have an ending and the Lucky Clover lady went totally out of character by the end. Nevertheless, the last 10 episodes completely ruined the show for me to the point that I cannot even rewatch it anymore.

Come to think of it, that seems to be an ongoing theme. The last 10 episodes to 555, Kabuto, and Decade were down right dreadful.

Despite the absolute incoherence of the last arc of Faiz, I really enjoyed those episodes on a standalone basis. In relation to the whole show, it doesn't really stand up to a lot of the themes and the development of the characters. But I think it did have some good things, such as the Sawaki Tetsuya hunting down the Orphenochs and the final fight (And the King was sort of okay beyond him appearing out of nowhere from the kid).

I just think it would have been better executed had Inoue planned it ahead, since it wasn't that bad, just really half-baked. But Inoue really didn't plan ahead after this so...

But I really enjoyed Faiz despite it's flaws. It's my guilty pleasure really. Though, I never really liked Takumi (Or Handa Kento's acting), but the concept of the Orphenochs and the Smart Brain gear was really great I think. I'd really like to see a more 'evolutionary' theme that Agito and Faiz did. They did it in a non-horror way like Kuuga and I think it was incredibly intriguing.

Dr Kain said:

The last 10 episodes to 555, Kabuto, and Decade were down right dreadful.

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Kabuto's last 10 episodes weren't all that bad if you ask me. I felt despite all the holes it ended off on a decent note and left me in a good mood. Decent enough to keep me from looking at the movie yet (I've heard some bad).

The only thing that made me not think Kabuto was an even bigger mess than faiz, was that Kabuto at least had Gattack.

Five things come to mind...


Hot potato...:redface2:

DA PLANE! DA PLANE!!!:redface2:

DAT BITCH@$$ MASATO:shakefist

OSADA-SAN WAS...SCREWED!!! SCREWED I YELL YA!!!:shakefist

Riotroopers...before they were christened Kamen Rider...ONORE DIKEIDO!!!:shakefist