2003 - Kamen Rider 555 (Series) - Ultimate Riders Review

Kamen Rider 555, officially Masked Rider Φ's, also read Kamen Rider Faiz or Phi's) is a Japanese tokusatsu television series. It is the 13th installment in the Kamen Rider Series. It is a joint collaboration between Ishimori Productions and Toei, and was broadcast on TV Asahi from January 26, 2003 to January 18, 2004. And it was the first series to use TV Asahi's current logo. The catchphrase for the series is "Racing Instinct.".

Story

The Smart Brain corporation, the world's most powerful corporation, is trying to take over the world using Orphnoch, the "next stage in humanity's evolution", to covertly kill off the human population.

In pursuit of this, they develop three suits of power armor, called Rider Gears (each for Delta, Faiz, and Kaixa), to find and protect the Orphnoch King, who can fix a defect within Orphnoch DNA which causes their genetic structure to break down, leading to death. The Rider Gears are stolen by Hanagata, the Goat Orphnoch and former chief of Smart Brain. He sends them to his foster children (dubbed the "Ryuseiji", after the school they attended) so they can stop the Orphnoch from achieving their goal. However, Rider Gears were designed to be worn by Orphnoch, and humans are unable to activate the systems without undergoing genetic modification.

Publication Information

Title : Kamen Rider 555
Japanese : 仮面ライダー555（ファイズ
Genre : Tokusatsu
Created by : Shotaro Ishinomori
Written by : Toshiki Inoue
Directed by :
- Ryuta Tasaki
- Takao Nagaishi
- Hidenori Ishida
- Naomi Tamura
- Nobuhiro Suzumura
Narrated by : Takehiko Kano
Composer(s) : Hayato Matsuo
Country of origin : Japan
Original language(s) : Japanese
No. of episodes : 50
Producer(s) :
- Chika Hamada : TV Asahi
- Shinichiro Shirakura
- Naomi Takebe
- Takaaki Utsunomiya : Toei
Running time : 24-25 minutes (per episode)
Production company(s) : Toei Company
Distributor : Toei Company
Original channel : TV Asahi
Original run : January 26, 2003 – January 18, 2004
Preceded by : Kamen Rider Ryuki
Followed by : Kamen Rider Blade

A young loner, Takumi Inui, is unwittingly drawn into the conflict between the Orphnoch and humans and becomes Kamen Rider Faiz to save the life of Mari Sonoda, one of the Ryuseiji. Smart Brain begins targeting him in an attempt to retrieve the Faiz Gear.

Episodes

The Start of a Trip
The Belt's Power
The King's Sleep
My Name
Original
Trio × Trio
The Power of Dreams
The Protector of Dreams
Enter, the President
The Enigmatic Rider
The Enigmatic Belt
Friend of Foe?
Takumi's Spirit
The Fallen Idol ~ φ's vs. χ
Human Heart
Takumi, Revival
Narrow Escape from Death
Pure White Justice
The Beautiful Assassin
Accelerating Spirits
Masato's Confession
False Friendship
The Door to Darkness
The Dark Laboratory
Enter, Delta
Ryūsei School Breaks Up
Dark Clover
Excellent Bike
Masato's Trap
Origami Tears
Intertwined Threads
Mari Dies
True Form
The Resurrection Riddle
Restored Memories
Kaixa's Justice
The Wandering Spirit
Faiz 2
Proof of Humanity
Capture Commences
Broken Wings
Red Balloon
Final Mail
King's Awakening
A New President Appears
King's Appearance
Masato, Dying A Glorious Death
A Sign of Destruction
My Dream

Films

Kamen Rider 555 : Paradise Lost
Heisei Rider vs Showa Rider : Kamen Rider Taisen feat Super Sentai
Kamen Rider 555 : Hyper Battle Video
Kamen Rider 555 : Lost World

Video game

A video game based on the series was produced by Bandai for the PlayStation 2. It was a fighting game which featured many of the characters from the TV series. There were several modes of gameplay for either a single play and two players. It was released only in Japan near the end of the TV series on December 18, 2003.

Cast

Takumi Inui / Kamen Rider Faiz : Kento Handa
Mari Sonoda : Yuria Haga
Keitaro Kikuchi : Ken Mizorogi
Yuji Kiba : Masayuki Izumi
Yuka Osada : Yoshika Kato
Naoya Kaido : Mitsuru Karahashi
Masato Kusaka / Kamen Rider Kaixa : Kohei Murakami
Shuji Mihara / Kamen Rider Delta : Atsushi Harada
Rina Abe : Rie Kasai
Aki Sawada : Gō Ayano
Smart Lady : Hitomi Kurihara
Kyoji Murakami : Katsuyuki Murai
Hanagata : Koji Naka
Saeko Kageyama : Waka Inoue
Itsuro Takuma : Jun Yamasaki
Kitazaki : Ray Fujita
Sawamura : Koji Iwakawa
Hikaru Soeno : Manami Miwake
Teruo Suzuki : Kayato Watanabe
Joji Soeno : Taro Ishida
Masahiko Minami : Atsushi Ogawa
J : Kenneth Duria
Kazufumi Mizuno : Kengo Ohkuchi
Tetsuo Itagaki : Atsushi Fukazawa
Takako Shimaji : Chika Nakagami
Teruo's Shadow : Shun Kobayashi
Orphnochs (Voice) : Katsumi Shiono
Arch Orphnoch (Voice) : Hiroshi Yanaka
Narration, Driver Voice : Takehiko Kano

Guest actors

Chie Morishita : Mika Katsumura
Yuji Kiba's Father : Shinichi Kase
Yuji Kiba's Mother : Midori Takei
Akai : Katsuyuki Yamazaki
Eiichi Toda : Shigeki Kagemaru
Professor : Ichiro Ogura
Gorgeous Man : Masaki Tachi
Crab Orphnoch ( Voice) : Satoshi Matsuda

Songs

Opening theme

Justiφ's
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition : Kazuto Sato
- Arrangement : Kōtarō Nakagawa
- Artist : ISSA (of DA PUMP)
- Episodes : 2-49

Ending themes

Dead or alive
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition : Katsuya Yoshida
- Arrangement : Akio Kondo
- Artist : Shinichi Ishihara
- Episodes : 2-l
The people with no name
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Rap Lyrics : m.c.A.T
- Composition : Cher Watanabe
- Arrangement : RIDER CHIPS
- Artist : RIDER CHIPS featuring m.c.A.T
- Episodes : 21-32, 39
EGO ~ eyes glazing over
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition & Arrangement : Cher Watanabe
- Artist : ICHIDAI (of ROLL DAYS)
- Episodes : 33-38, 41-48
Justiφ's -Accel Mix
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition : Kazuto Sato
- Arrangement : Kazunori Miyake
- Artist : ISSA (of DA PUMP)
- Episodes : 40, Movie