KAMEN RIDER FAIZ: A lookback [SPOILERS...sorta?]

[MegaRyu124x]

Wow. That's all I can say. (This is gonna be long...)

I had taken the liberty of watching a series I've been curious about for five years. Thanks to the easy-as-hell VeohTV, I had been able to watch and practically speed through the whole series in less than a month.

Back in the middle of June, I knew I was going to be bored. Now that school was done, I didn't want to touch my summer reading, and playing Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 everyday would get boring to me. I decided to watch another Kamen Rider series because, at the time, Kiva was leaving something to be desired.

I suddenly though, "Hmm, Faiz. Let me check it out." And so I did. And God was it so worth it.

The following review will have SPOILERS but you've probably already seen the series. I'm a late motherfucker.

To begin with, I didn't know what to expect. I re-read CoN's review on Japan Hero to get a sense of what it might be. All I concluded was that if I enjoyed Kamen Rider in general, I'd enjoy Faiz. That's the motive I went in with when I loaded episode 1. To enjoy it.

I did more than enjoy it. I fucking loved it. I related with it. I saw the tragedy. I saw the emotions. I saw the reasons and motives why everyone did what they did. It showed me a good Kamen Rider series.

Let's start with face value. I absolutely LOVE the Kamen Rider suits. The lightsabers, the weapons, the bigass bikes, AUTO F'N VAJIN, the lightsabers... the whole look gave it a subtle mood. The use of silver and metal made you remember that these were created for a dark purpose, but the lights made you realize they were being put to the greater good.

Characters. I loved the characters. Even people whom I thought I was going to hate (Keitaro), I ended up caring for. Takumi was a silent asshole who only did things that would help him. He wouldn't give a **** about anyone, but he slowly grew. At the end, I felt like he was the big brother you'd rely on.

Mari and the excess Ryusei-juku students were... well, interesting to say the least. Mari was the only one I cared for out of the Ryusei School alumni (well, out of the ones that mattered), and somewhere down the road I ended up caring for her well being. I cried when she died, but breathed a sigh of relief when she came back.

That's another thing about Mari. They brought someone back to life. And I don't hate it.

I was only 9 when I saw Lost Galaxy, but even I felt cheap and cheated when Kendrix was suddenly brought back to life in the end. It was one big WTF?! But for Mari, her revival made me realize how much I cared for her (which is surprising) and it was the first resurrection in which I didn't condemn the writers for. It actually had some meaning.

Kusaka, the bad mofo. I hated, hated, hated this guy 97% of the show, but the good hate. The bad guy hate. You hate him because he's ignorant, angry, racist (Orphenochs are sort of a race...), and rags on Takumi for caring for people who happen to be Orphenochs. But when he died, his character took a huge 180, and you later found yourself rooting for him. It was almost poetic. The one person who you're uncertain about (Kusaka's introduction) became the person you despised (most of the show), who ended up being someone you cared for and wanted to see live (his death, obviously). Now that I remember it, I think I yelled at my screen when Mari passed by Kusaka while he was dying. "MARI YOU BLIND BITCH, HE'S RIGHT THERE!"

The Orphenochs. There's Kiba, Osada, and Kaido. A trio of runaways who lived their life to protect those they cared about. They practically paralleled Keitaro, Mari, and Takumi. In fact, the interactions between Kiba and Takumi was done BEAUTIFULLY. Their lives being crushed and rushed into this world they had nothing to do with a day before was tragic. They didn't want this. They didn't need to do this. They had nothing to do with this. But they did. (Well, technically Takumi was already an Orphenoch long before, but it's obvious he didn't use his powers at all until the Ryusei School Reunion.)

I want to talk about Osada. She was kinda cute, but I thought she'd be a small two or three episode arc, four most, that happened early on and you'd forget it later. But she didn't end up like that. She grew I cared for. I'd hate it when she treat Keitaro like ****, but love it when they'd text each other. I'm glad they didn't throw away this subplot (until episode 43 I thought the writers completely forgot about it), and it made Faiz all the more better. I was absolutely in tears when she died.

I'm sure everyone loved Kaido. A carefree guy who loved life and did what he wanted, he was the comedic relief along with Keitaro. In fact, I loved the duo between them. They were the Bulk and Skull for the show, and I wished their humor could've been fleshed out more. I wonder what he ended up to be at the end, though. I guess that is left ambiguously.

Lucky Clover. Damn that waitress was hot, but this was one of the rare moments when I actually cared what the hell they were plotting. I'll keep this brief since I've taken up enough space, but let's just say they were on par with Rio in terms of best villains. I absolutely loved them. Takuma owns your soul.

Kamen Rider Faiz, overrall, was very good. But it asked and questioned many things that I wouldn't think a Kamen Rider series would ask kids. They played around with the idea of choosing sides. Humans good guys, Orphenochs bad guys. But the writers loved to twist it in a way that the Orphenochs were good guys and Humans were bad guys, and just when you get comfortable with that thought it becomes twisted again! I was in shock how many times they distorted who to root for, and I'm glad they did. Nothing was in black in white. Everything was gray.

I realized that Faiz also asked the same questions Babylon 5 would ask, but as fleshed out. Faiz asked "Who are you?" in the sense of "Are you an Orphenoch or a Human?" When Faiz asked "What do you want?", they'd mean "What is your wish?" and "Who do you fight for?"

Who are you? I'm a Human. I'm an Orphenoch. What do you want? I want to protect Humans. I want to protect Orphenochs. I want to make laundry pure white, etc. etc. It did these things and I am in AWE at how well they so.

Kamen Rider Faiz is definitely a series I'd love to watch again (if I wasn't already watching so many goddamn other shows). The characters are unforgettable. The story line is so twisted and tragic, it's almost artistic and poetic. It asked questions that a toku series wouldn't normally ask, and it distorted your perceptions of what is good and who is evil. That's one of the shining points of this show -- it showed perception and how much it can be distorted.

I love Faiz. I mean, yeah, I enjoy Kamen Rider in general. But this is the first time in which I loved every minute of it. Kabuto I liked but hated the filler episodes, Ryuki is awesome but some of it is very complicated, and Den-O is a great series but Kai was introduced much too late, and the overrall time travel concept was baffling, IMO. Kabuto and Den-O left some plot holes that you have to shake your head and say "What were they thinking?"

So, yeah. Those are my thoughts. If you've ever wanted to see Faiz, then I hope... well, I hope you didn't read this because then I spoiled the whole damn show for you. But if you haven't seen Faiz yet, go see it. It's one of those "must see" series for everyone, doesn't matter who you are.

...goddamn this is long.

 

[Skinwalker]

I agree. Though Blade is my favourite, Faiz was just the best. I loved the riders, the characters, the story, the drama. It had a great begining and great progression, great character development with the exception of that guy who was Delta whatever his name was (getting so little development I don't even remember his name)... All brilliant, until that horrible finale. The rest of the series, and the brilliant movie, made up for it though. And now it feels so sad that Kiva is no where near as good.

 

[Forever Knight]

Faiz was definatley an underated series. Most fans dislike it because they'd never have a shot with Mari.

 

[Domino 555]

People give a lot crap on Faiz for what it didn't do but I always liked it since it was my first rider and first toku, also if you liked 555 check out Agito it available on veoh too.

 

[Black Fang]

Toshiki Inoue tries to make Faiz into another Agito, but doesn't manage to accomplish that. For example, the focus on the police was mediocre at best, they simply stepped into the plot at random intervals unlike the cops of Agito and even ORE of Ryuki. The finale itself is one of the worst in toku. What kind of idiot would greenlight an ending where the audience is abruptly transported from the battle to some random point after it? How is the King still alive? How could Kiba have apparently died if he was behind the King when Takumi gave the final blow?

Some (but not all) other problems:

- Takumi, Yuka and Keitaro. Why the hell does Takumi keep quiet over her being an Orphenoch? He just babbles to his dimwit roommate about how he should find someone else, resulting in some pointless squabble. I'm glad Inoue hasn't done that in Kiva, and made Otoya yell to the world that Jiro is a monster only to fall on deaf ears.

- The power-up intros were the worst in NewGen Rider. They just appear out of nowhere and for no reason.

- The Rider gears themselves are pathetically impractical. You'd have to be a moron to design a system where you always have to insert a chip into your arsenal before doing anything with it, and that can fly off your body every two minutes.

- Takuma was an interesting character, but he was suddenly made into a pathetic coward. Now if he had kept his cool in public, but in private had some sort of inferiority complex coupled with his already present fear of Kitazaki, that might've worked. But he suddenly went from a "scholarly" figure to a useless little pushover. After playing such a fun guy like Agito's Houjou, this was really a disappointing step down for his actor and the audience.

- Why didn't SMART BRAIN ever try to eliminate Kiba, Kaido and Yuka in their apartment? They gave them the place, and then made them targets for destruction. So why the hell didn't they storm the castle,so to speak?

- Why didn't Murakami ever try to detain Takumi and/or Kiba whenever they visited him in SMART BRAIN HQ? To keep up appearances of being a simple tech corporation?

- Mihara was horribly executed. A reluctant, fearful hero is certainly a realistic concept and one welcomed by most. But a coward who constantly whines about wanting to go home is not something to look up to. Inoue dropped the ball yet again.

That said, Faiz is nevertheless a very interesting show. Not all the "good guys" are good, and not all the "bad guys" are bad. There is very little black and white. SMART BRAIN, an organization secretly preparing for war against humanity, made for an interesting antagonist and harkens to the OldGen days of terrorist groups. The movie in particular is one much liked by me for the setting, if not anything else: a ruined world dominated by the villains. Humans are nearly extinct, yet the Riders fight on against poor odds, and humanity still manages to find some moments of peace for themselves. It's quite a romantic image.

Is Faiz a bad show? Certainly not. Is it overrated at times? Yes. But it's definitely not a show to miss

 

[TuxedoK]

Faiz was my second rider series. (right after Kabuto) But still remains one of my top favorites.
It had interesting characters and the faiz driver is my favorite henshin belt.

 

[Inui Takumi]

Im in the process of watching for the second time while redownloading it for burning, and I have to say, though I can see the places where mistakes were made, it still doesnt take away from how awesome this show is. WARNING, EPIC SPOILERS AHEAD!

Takumi is still a good rider with a bad attitude (which he was born with as he mentions time and again), Kusaka is still my favorite character to hate, and Mari, Keitaro, Kiba and Kaido are great characters. Especially Kiba, he is an awesome person who is just trying to do the right thing. The few episodes where Takumi and Kiba worked together were hilarious and showed good chemistry between the characters. Kaido and Keitaro were great as teh bumbling duo as MegaRyu already mentioned. Osada is the only one I dont like this time around. The actress is cute and all, but I hate the character. Most of the time she is shy and following Kaido, but once in a while she gives either the stink eye or a seductive glare at Keitaro. Im like "Come on, make up your mind already."

The orphenoch designs were nicely done and I like the whole concept of acquiring more allies from their enemies, very sinister. the only two I didnt like was Takuma and Kitazaki. Takuma became the ultimate punk in the end, and Kitazaki was both irritating and confusing. I mean, the whole time before his intro, it showed how he turned things to ashes with his touch. So, things like glasses, cars he slept in, and people he attacked were desintigrated. And, Takuma was scared shitless of him because of that. But, there are time where Im like "dude, you just touched that, why is it not turning to ash?" Like the belt and the case its in, chairs that he sits in, etc. I know its small and meaningless, but I felt it could have been extended to everything, unless they said that he can control it, which I dont believe they mentioned.

One thing that shocked me about this series is how they touched on the subject of prejudice. Kiba, Osada, Kaido, and later Takumi, face the harsh reality that not all humans will see them as good people despite them not attacking them. It made the dynamic between Takumi and Kiba all the more interesting. I never expected to see that in a show like this.

I remember watching it the first time and before then, I was just getting into toku so I was in the middle of watching Boukenger and Kabuto when I decided to watch this during the waits for releases. I finished it all on youtube in like 2 weeks. It was gripping and I couldnt see a show that could top this. Now, almost 2 years later, I have watched just about all the Heisei era KR shows except Kuuga. Watching it again, though I can see what people were complaining about, I still really love this show and its still my second or third favorite, only beat by either Hibiki or Den-o (Im debating Den-o right now). I think that this show is still worthy of being shown to anyone who is interested and wants to start watching Toku. Its a great show with a great cast and great drama. Oh and those suits, boy do I love those suits. The Crimson Rider Kick is my favorite rider kick thus far. And despite what some (well, one) has said in this thread, teh whole system of using chips to activate weapons is a great idea along the lines of using cards to activate moves and weapons. I love the tech aspect of the rider systems and was done very well.

So yeh, overall, great show. Sometimes its underrated but people have their own opinions. But from what I have seen, many like the show and is usually in the top 5 of people's lists. If you havent watched it or the movie, get to either Veoh or TVN's forums and start downloading now.

 

[Forever Knight]

I've never seen a series get so much feedback, even if it's hate.


You love to hate Faiz.

 

[MegaRyu124x]

- Takumi, Yuka and Keitaro. Why the hell does Takumi keep quiet over her being an Orphenoch? He just babbles to his dimwit roommate about how he should find someone else, resulting in some pointless squabble. I'm glad Inoue hasn't done that in Kiva, and made Otoya yell to the world that Jiro is a monster only to fall on deaf ears.

He knew Keitaro had a hard on for Osada. Telling him that she's the enemy (at the time) would shatter his feelings. It made the revelation at the end of the series all the more sweeter.

- The Rider gears themselves are pathetically impractical. You'd have to be a moron to design a system where you always have to insert a chip into your arsenal before doing anything with it, and that can fly off your body every two minutes.

Can it be safe to assume that the Orphenoch they fought worked out and pumped steroids like a badass motherfucker? The belts were only made to protect the King, afterall. Anyone who'd try to harm the King would be human, thus not much of a need to have the power to kill an Orphenoch. Although there is that one line that baffles me. "To protect the King, they can kill the King..." or something like that.

- Takuma was an interesting character, but he was suddenly made into a pathetic coward. Now if he had kept his cool in public, but in private had some sort of inferiority complex coupled with his already present fear of Kitazaki, that might've worked. But he suddenly went from a "scholarly" figure to a useless little pushover. After playing such a fun guy like Agito's Houjou, this was really a disappointing step down for his actor and the audience.

Takuma's turn to cowardace made me love the show even more. It was like a fall from grace. The high and mightier they seem, the harder they'll fall to rock bottom.

- Why didn't SMART BRAIN ever try to eliminate Kiba, Kaido and Yuka in their apartment? They gave them the place, and then made them targets for destruction. So why the hell didn't they storm the castle,so to speak?

Bait. They knew they'd somehow lead them to the belt owners. Besides, Lucky Clover made a game out of capturing Kiba. To simply storm the place would bring an end to their "fun".

- Why didn't Murakami ever try to detain Takumi and/or Kiba whenever they visited him in SMART BRAIN HQ? To keep up appearances of being a simple tech corporation?

Pretty much, but in some ways, I sensed Murakami had the events planned out. He knew they were the belt owners, and the Orpenoch King had to be protected. Why kill someone who was going to protect your king?

- Mihara was horribly executed. A reluctant, fearful hero is certainly a realistic concept and one welcomed by most. But a coward who constantly whines about wanting to go home is not something to look up to. Inoue dropped the ball yet again.

I'll agree that Mihara wasn't done well, but I considered him a subplot more than anything. He didn't serve much purpose except backup, which I don't mind. If we spent too much time on Mihara who we really didn't care about, we wouldn't have time for the others that we DO care for.[/QUOTE]

 

[Black Fang]

He knew Keitaro had a hard on for Osada. Telling him that she's the enemy (at the time) would shatter his feelings. It made the revelation at the end of the series all the more sweeter.

So he's going to put his friend at risk just so he won't hurt his feelings? Come now, you would think Takumi is smarter than that. Sure, Keitaro may get killed but at least I didn't make him sad! This was all just a faulty attempt at drama.

Can it be safe to assume that the Orphenoch they fought worked out and pumped steroids like a badass motherfucker? The belts were only made to protect the King, afterall. Anyone who'd try to harm the King would be human, thus not much of a need to have the power to kill an Orphenoch. Although there is that one line that baffles me. "To protect the King, they can kill the King..." or something like that.

.... That didn't answer the question at all.

Takuma's turn to cowardace made me love the show even more. It was like a fall from grace. The high and mightier they seem, the harder they'll fall to rock bottom.

Oh come on. He was always scared of Kitazaki. It didn't just happen once the psycho appeared on screen. The whole situation was disgraceful. To see a character you like to end up this pathetic is great to you? Are you sure you're not suffering from "The newest show I've seen is great" syndrome? >.>

Bait. They knew they'd somehow lead them to the belt owners. Besides, Lucky Clover made a game out of capturing Kiba. To simply storm the place would bring an end to their "fun".

They were after the trio before Lucky Clover got employed, so that doesn't work. It's still a breach of common sense either way. If a bunch of people you can easily subdue is causing trouble for you, it's only logical to take care of them in the easiest way. Now if the trio had gone into hiding, or had one of them (probably Kaido since he was always schizophrenic about whose side he was on) assigned to turn the traitors in, things may have been different.

I'll agree that Mihara wasn't done well, but I considered him a subplot more than anything. He didn't serve much purpose except backup, which I don't mind. If we spent too much time on Mihara who we really didn't care about, we wouldn't have time for the others that we DO care for.

-___-" The reason we don't care about Mihara is precisely because of the poor execution. You don't excuse poor writing simply because you don't like a character. That's almost as bad as the poor writing itself. And if the character doesn't serve a real purpose, what the hell is the point of bringing him in?