Kamen Rider 555/Faiz (2003-2004) Episodes 1 and 2 “The Start of a Trip” and “The Belt’s Power”
After Kamen Rider Ryuki, its mirror world, and the abundance of Riders of all stripes fighting one another, Kamen Rider 555 returned some sense of normalcy back to the series with fewer Riders, another evil organization trying to take over the world, and other tried-and-true tropes—but still with a relatively mature feel. I was surprised that this series starts out with a romance—which quickly turns to tragedy. We have themes of a coma, familial betrayal, death and resurrection, attempted suicide, revenge killing, consuming people’s hearts, and human beings dissolving into dust. Our initial on-focus character Takumi Inui is the reluctant type, another itinerant ala Kuuga’s professional dream-chaser, who is forced into hero duty by young hairdresser Mari Sonoda, who snaps a transformation belt (or Gear) on him. The two episodes include many antics around mistaken bags (which gets tiresome), and even a visit to that favored venue of tokusatsu—an amusement park, this time Green Land (of which there are two in Japan). While apparently later more Riders show up, in the first two episodes we only have Faiz, and he might be one of the least likable heroes yet with his surly and ungiving attitude.
As with previous Rider series, Faiz has more animal-themed enemies—this time called Orphnocs, which are meant to be the next stage in humanity. Instead of a spider man and bat man appearing first, we get a fish man (hearkening back all the way to Kamen Rider X), a centaur, and an elephant. Unfortunately, the monster suits are a bland, monochrome gray, and when the Orphnocs transform into more animalistic forms (from bipedal to quadrupedal, for example), the CGI looks terrible. Fight sequences, too, are uninspired—but I might be biased after the award-winning bootwork from Dragon Knight. I don’t like the characters very much from the first two episodes, but there is a great hook with the hapless “villain” whose life is ruined as he returns to life as a monster. Giving a monster character a detailed and sympathetic background with more pathos than the heroes in the first episodes is a bold choice that adds character here, and may have inspired a similar monster character deep-dive in Kamen Rider the First–an original film that was released the very next year after 555 ended.
Note on the title—when I saw the series was called 555, I was reminded of a chat expression used in Chinese. When you type “555” in Chinese, it represents pitiful crying, as the pronunciation for “5” is “wu” in Chinese, and so the pronunciation can be a representation of the sound of weeping. I don’t think this hidden meaning was intended, but based on the first couple episodes, “Kamen Rider Weeping” feels a little apropos!
Kamen Rider Blade (2004-2005) Episodes 1 and 2 “The Indigo Warrior” and “The Mysterious Rider”
The return of the cards! After watching the first two episodes of Kamen Rider Blade, despite a return of the overused card gimmick, I really wanted to watch more. So many of these shows are quite enjoyable right from the start, and this one has a powerful set-up with another eerie mystery, and another set of intriguing characters. This time there is an anti-monster group called BOARD that includes an elite team of Riders who are regularly sent out to fight the latest round of mysterious monsters—in this case, the Undead (they are animal-themed again, and the first one that shows up is another bat man). The main character, Kazuma Kenzaki/Kamen Rider Blade, is a rookie and still doesn’t know well what he is doing… so when his senior, Kamen Rider Garren/Sakuya Tachibana, seemingly betrays everyone and destroys BOARD while collaborating with an attack by another Undead, Kenzaki goes on a tailspin, confused and traumatized by the tragedy. Alongside the drama surrounding Board and Garren, another powerful Rider appears who was not part of BOARD and has mysterious origins—and while he fights the Undead, he also attacks Blade with fire and rage in his soul. Just in the first two episodes, we have quite the intrigue sandwich!
Special effects are much better in this iteration, with judicial use of shadows and darkness to cover up flaws in the CGI, and stylish card-play mechanics. It feels a bit like Pokemon how the Riders defeat and trap monsters in their cards. The transformation sequences also take a new form, this time with the belt buckle projecting an energy shield through which the Rider must pass to transform. These extra touches, plus an array of powerful-looking armored Rider designs and medieval-style weaponry (swords, bows) lend the new series a refreshing spark. Acting and cinematography are still rough and amateurish, though, with some unfortunate scenes and quirks—I got tired of this journalist character loudly chugging milk REAL fast. Still, the battles are hard-hitting, the monsters don’t wait for the Riders to transform, and the music rocks. But man that opening credit sequence makes it look like we are watching Kamen Boy Band.