Kamen Rider Faiz - Fan Review

[SolRogue]

First off, I want to mention that this is my first review and hope that you would pardon my English grammar and such. Another thing I want to mention is that I wrote this 5 months ago and there can be some details that would need editing but whatever.
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This is my review of Kamen Rider Faiz(it is also titled as Kamen Rider 555), a Tokusatsu (live action) series following the work of the late Shotaro Ishinomori of the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai Series fame.

The plot of the series follows a unique story that not many superhero stories go on. Mentioning Faiz as a superhero
show is not a good term to generalize this when giving the plot.

The story goes by starting off by showing Yuji Kiba being all happy in his life and is in a coma after a car accident for a year and dies in the 5 minutes he appears(yeah, not a kid's show for America). He revives becoming a Ophenoch, the main 'bad guys'. Ophenochs is someone that happen to die, there is a chance that they are resurrected and can become a monster. Kiba then finds that everyone he knows has changed. Mari is traveling to Tokyo carrying a case with the logo of Smart Brain and is attacked by a Ophenoch for that case. Takumi then unwillingly fights it with the contents inside the case which stored the belf of Faiz. And at the same time this happens, Kiba kills the guy that his ex-girlfriend was dating in his Ophenoch form and then his ex-girlfriend later on where he is escorted by Smart Lady, the 'mascot' for Smart Brain where she helps out others 'just like him'.

Here are some of the characters in the show:

Takumi Inui-The Main Rider (as in the titular character) of the series that uses the Faiz belt. His personality is a nekojita (meaning that he doesn't like hot food), doesn't like to bond with people, apathetic, downright a ***hole to care about others. Yeah... a nice role model in a kid's show!

Mari Sonoda-She carried the Faiz belt and bike that her adopted father delivered to her. She wants to know why her father gave her the belt since it doesn't work for her. She has a dream of becoming a beautician.

Yuji Kiba- a young man that happens to be in a coma in the beginning of the series. He dies and then awakens as a Orphenoch. He wonders whether a Orphenoch can coexist with humans after he knows what Smart Brain's plans are.

Yuka Osada-a teenager that has been bullied by her other sister and other girls that she died unexpectedly, becoming a Orphenoch. She has extreme emotional stress in her past that lead to her killing everyone that makes her nervous. Kiba let her stay with him after Smart Brain met with both of them.

Ryusei School Students-A group of students that have a past connected to the Orphenochs and Smart Brain. They all share the same adopted father that also lead the school and are trying to find out more about him from the cases with the Smart Brain logo on them given to them. Mari is also included in the same school.

Smart Brain-A mysterious company that developed the Faiz belt and also house Orphenochs. Their purpose is to help with evolution of the Orphenochs become the dominant lifeforms instead of humans.

Orphenochs-The series' main bad guys. They are in a form of animals and are all grey. They are referred to as human's next evolution stage. They kill humans to get more Orphenochs to join Smart Brain's main goal.


In the series, the plot then progresses further figuring out what's the purpose of the belt?, why the ophenoch are trying to obtain it, what is Smart Brain planning to do with those belts. The characters are further introduced with their own side-story that further adds to the main story making them flesh out. I also said that this series is not going by traditional superhero plot of saving people from bad guys. It is drama heavy because of what happens during figuring out some of the questions and the answer still doesn't clear up that question. There is also the question of whether you are a human or Ophenoch and if you still have that humanity and can coexist together (obviously something of racism topic added in). This is where the line of saving people from the 'bad guys' since some of them don't want to kill but are force to do so. Another point is that there is a character that holds a grudge against them and kills them whether or not they don't want to kill other people.

Overall, I think is pretty decent as a show of having these elements in together while at the same time dislike it because it was in the format of a superhero show. I think this is similar to how The Punisher in the Marvel universe is a hero that doesn't save people like how Spiderman saves people in a certain manner.

I would suggest this show to people that like heavy drama dialogue, other Kamen Rider fans and those that are interested in a story that is very different from the normal.

Kamen Rider Faiz deserves a 5 out of 5 (haha, get it Faiz=5's) in terms of being a Kamen Rider show that astray from the same formula of a regular superhero show...

but deserves a 8 out of 10 of a show in general because it has dialogue that is being forced to you about 3~4 times about the same stuff, the characters can make the plot completely turn around in a full 180 and yet annoy the **** out of you for the entire run of the series.
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With that, ask me anything about the review or the series in general.