History Series / KamenRider555

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Yuji Kiba]] killing [[spoiler:Masato Kusaka]] with the Kaixa Gear, which cemented his [[spoiler:FaceHeelTurn]] and new position on the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil.

* {{Irony}}: The primary henshin device for the series is a cellphone, in a series where PoorCommunicationKills is the norm and characters have no idea what to say to one another.

* InterspeciesRomance: Played straight with [[spoiler:Keitaro and Yuka. [[WolfMan Takumi]] and Mari could count as well.]]

* InconsistentSpelling: The show is called "555", while "translated" into English as "Φ's" or "Phi's", and the main character and all related merchandise is "Faiz". All of these are pronounced as ''Faizu'' in Japanese.
** The Orphnoch as a whole were previously called "Orphenoch" by English fans until the official spelling without the E was discovered.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The show is called "555", while "translated" into English as "Φ's" or "Phi's", and the main character and all related merchandise is "Faiz". All of these are pronounced as ''Faizu'' in Japanese.

Voted #7 series in the Heisei era and #7 product overall in NHK’s All Kamen Rider Popularity Vote.

* MidSeasonUpgrade: The Faiz Gear is one of two Riders Gears in the series to have more then one form. V-Cinext gave the Kaixa Gear an upgrade too as well.
** JackOfAllStats: Faiz's standard form
** LightningBruiser: Axel Form
** SuperMode: Blaster Form

* OnTheNextEpisodeOfCatchphrase: [[GratuitousEnglish "Open your eyes for the next Faiz".]]

* MidSeasonUpgrade: Faiz is one of two Riders in the series to have more then one form. V-Cinext gave Kaixa an upgrade too as well.

* MidSeasonUpgrade: Faiz is the only Rider in the series to have more then one form, though the upcoming V-Cinext gives Kaixa an upgrade too as well.

* AbortedArc: Remember how the Delta belt gave its users permanent superpowers even when untransformed? Neither did the writer!
* AlternateContinuity: TheMovie, which poses the question "{{what if}} the Orphnochs ''did'' rule the world?"
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Notably subverted: Orphnochs aren't evil by default. Smart Brain is the true evil of the series and the Orphnochs have little choice in the matter, as Orphnochs who refuse to do as Smart Brain orders are marked for death or tricked into serving them.

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Doesn't mean they necessarily stay that way, though]]

* AssholeVictim: Yuka's sister and her classmates. Their mistreatment towards Yuka causes her to commit killing spree towards bullies like them.

* BackFromTheDead: Every Orphnoch, but one non-Orphnoch example is [[spoiler:Mari Sonada]], who is killed in the latter half of the series but brought back to life after [[spoiler:Takumi]] makes a DealWithTheDevil.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: '''MASATO KUSAKA'''. He is after all, a selfish and manipulative asshole who wants to get anything for his own self-interests, including Mari.
* BastardUnderstudy: Kaido would get one in Yoshio Kobayashi, the Rabbit Orphnoch, who later tries to outdo him when they are both auditioning for a spot in Lucky Clover.[[note]]Interestingly, the actor who played Yoshio would go on to play another BastardUnderstudy in ''Series/KamenRiderKabuto''.[[/note]]
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Yuka Osada in ''spades''. Bullies beware. Later on, [[spoiler:Kiba after his FaceHeelTurn]].

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:They defeated the Arch Orphnoch[[note]]Not killed, just defeated[[/note]] but at the cost of Kiba's life and the end implies that Takumi is dying, but he still has Mari and Keitaro by his side so he isn't alone]].
** [[spoiler:[[Film/HeiseiRiderVsShowaRiderKamenRiderWarsFeaturingSuperSentai Kamen Rider Taisen]] has Takumi alive and well years later... only to reveal in [[Recap/KamenRiderDriveKR4Ep3DuelTheTrueIdentityOfShockersGreatLeader a spinoff of the next Kamen Rider Taisen]] that he was DeadAllAlong and he was only revived because of a time paradox. Though he may have been revived again alongside Kusaka as a result of another time paradox in Series/KamenRiderZiO.]]
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Mr. J is the first of the Lucky Clover to go.
** He isn't just the first to die, he's the first to die [[DeathIsCheap three times]] before the third one makes it permanent.

* BrokenBird: [[spoiler:Yuka Osada, [[IncrediblyLamePun literally]].]]

* ButtMonkey[=/=]DoubleStandard: Keitaro [[spoiler:in #41 at least. The fact it's presented as a comedy moment makes it even worse.]]

* ChekhovsGun: "The King's sleep is long".
* ChekhovsGunman: Teruo Suzuki, initially seeming to just be a normal child, who later turns out to be [[spoiler:the Arch Orphnoch.]]
* ChewToy: Itsuro Takuma becomes Kitazaki's bitch once the latter showed up. [[spoiler:[[WhosLaughingNow He later got revenge]]]].
** One can also claim that the Auto Vajin is Takumi's. He seemed to have jumped numerous times directly into enemy fire to protect his master. Notable examples being shot be [[MacrossMissileMassacre hundreds of missiles]] from the Side Basshar and the Jetsliger. Maybe enough to make a drinking game. Of course, when he started out [[UnwantedAssistance it almost filled Faiz with bullet holes itself]], so maybe it was just trying make up for that...

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Kyoji Murakami.
* CreatorCameo: [[Creator/ToshikiInoue Toshiki Inoue]], the main writer for the series, who wrote all the episodes and the movie, appears in the final episode as the construction foreman who tells [[Main/HeelFaceTurn Itsuro Takuma]] to put the muscles into himself.
* CreepyChild: Teruo, the [[spoiler:Arch Orphnoch/Orphnoch King.]]
* CyberPunk: Long before [[Series/KamenRiderDouble Double]] was brought in the picture, the show presented highly advanced technology presented by an evil MegaCorp, a secret conspiracy that gets almost everyone killed, transhumanist themes present in the Orphnochs, and nearly all of the main cast being [[AntiHero anti heroes]] at best.
* DarkerAndEdgier: This is one of the darkest entries in the series, with the focus on the monsters being as human as the people they try to kill, [[AssholeVictim the humans themselves not always being quite so innocent]], and the themes of death, betrayal and [[{{Irony}} fittingly for a show with a phone]] TransformationTrinket, [[PoorCommunicationKills communication problems up the wazoo.]] Taken to new heights in the novel, RapeAsDrama (Kusaka's [[LoveMakesYouCrazy raping of Mari]], [[DeathByChildbirth Yuka getting pregnant by Keitaro]] and Yuji beating the shit out of Kusaka for that.)

* DeadlyUpgrade: The Kaixa Gear [[ItOnlyWorksOnce kills most of its wearers after one use]]. The Delta Gear's power [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity is addictive]]. Becoming an Orphnoch: already ''effectively'' this because if it doesn't result in you going nuts and having to be put down by a Rider, it ''will'' result in Smart Brain deciding that this makes you a traitor to Orphnochs and placing you on ''their'' hit list: proves to [[spoiler:be this on its own. ''No one'' can take the conversion; all Orphnochs will suffer from a drastically reduced lifespan.]]
** In fact, all the Rider Gears are this: Transforming into a Rider consumes Orphnoch DNA, which for Orphnochs would cause their DNA to break down with prolonged usage. For humans implanted with Orphnoch DNA, the Faiz Gear is kind enough to reject the transformation if there is insufficient DNA to burn (with an ERROR message), however the more ruthless Kaixa Gear would allow for transformation to burn off whatever remaining Orphnoch DNA most human users have left in them, resulting in their death when they run out. The only reason Kusaka was able to survive multiple usages was due to the fact that he had a lot more Orphnoch DNA implanted in him. Similarly, while the Delta Gear seemingly comsumes significantly lesser Orphnoch DNA (to the point where users who couldn't use the Faiz Gear are able to use it), it will drive users insane and would usually end up getting themselves killed before we can see any potential long-term effects.

%% * DevilInPlainSight: Masato Kusaka. ''A thousand times'' Masato Kusaka.
%% * DisappearedDad: Hanagata, Mari's stepfather.

* [[ThreateningShark Everything's Even Worse With Sharks]]: the ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'' Net Movies have revealed that the Faiz suit was partially inspired by sharks. Note the sawtooth-looking mouthpiece and fin-like antennae.

%% * FallenHero: [[spoiler:Yuji Kiba]].
%% * {{Foreshadowing}}

* TheGunslinger: The Delta Blaster.

%% * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Naoya Kaido, on so many levels.

** [[spoiler:Saeko Yageyama, who killed Yuka, and in doing so was resposible for the death of Kiba, as that set off his HeelFaceTurn. Yet she's alive and well at the end of the series, if you call being insane, trapped in Rubber Suit form and possibly immortal "alive and well"]].
** [[spoiler:To say nothing of Kaido, who wears the Faiz gear on Smart Brain's behalf early on, is the only Riotrooper to survive, and gives the Faiz and Kaixa Gears to Lucky Clover. He's the only one of the three Renegades to survive, even though being the only one who did not become an Orphnoch naturally (as opposed to being "sired"), and therefore supposedly weaker.]]
*** [[spoiler:Fast forward to the Kamen Rider 4 mini-series, however, and it's revealed that [[SoleSurvivor he's apparently the only Faiz character who's supposed to be still alive by this point]]. Others like Takumi are only still around due to the constant paradoxes. [[FridgeHorror Whatever happened to everyone else couldn't have been good for him]].]]

* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: President Murakami's scenes in his office at Smart Brain HQ always include OminousLatinChanting, but it's not until an underling walks in and the audience needs to hear the following conversation that we realize he's listening to the BGM on a CD player while working or drinking wine.
** In the original televised airings, several scenes involving Aki Sawada would have [[Music/BustaRhymes "Pass The Courvoisier Part II"]] slowly overcome the scene's original music, reaching it's crecendo when he started killing people. However, due to the song's rampant use of [[NWordPrivileges the N word,]] this was removed in reruns and in the home video release.
* LoveDodecahedron: Played with and lampshaded in the first episode of the pizza house story arc (which leads to the debut of Faiz Accel and the unofficial "Flu Orphnoch").
** The entire main cast and few side ones have some form of affections for the other casts.
** Which are [[spoiler:Kusaka and Sawada were in love with Mari since childhood. While Kusaka is [[{{Yandere}} obsessed with her]], Sawada tries to kill her, so he can kill off his humanity. Kaido is also in love with Mari, but Mari at first was interested in Kiba. Kiba, himself was still reeling from killing his girlfriend Chie, and didn't really notice. Yuka was email friends with Keitaro and had feelings for him, but also had a massive crush on Kaido. While Keitaro was interested in Yuka, he later got his wish and they hooked up. For a time.... While the main character Takumi generally kept out of the mess, but he and Mari had BelligerentSexualTension.]]

* MerchandiseDriven: Sure, you have commercials promoting [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n27j5ESRvbw replica Faiz belts]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4KgtuvDKIo&feature=related Kaixa weapons.]] But did you know they also had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-scez5eXZw Faiz HOT DOGS, AND CURRY?!?]] Yep, that's further proof that [[CashCowFranchise Toei makes bank with the Kamen Rider franchise.]]

* MidSeasonUpgrade: Axel Form.
* MoodWhiplash: Sawada/Spider Orphenoch's debut shows him [[spoiler:setting a bus on fire and murdering all the passengers onboard.]] It's a plenty creepy and downright terrifying first appearance...or at least it would be if {{Music/Busta Rhymes}} singing [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbqSzH9VIec "don't this shit make a n*gga wanna jump"]] wasn't the only audio during the scene. [[note]]The DVD release [[ClumsyCopyrightCensorship replaces it]] with a generic techno song instead but the problem persists.[[/note]]

* NeverTrustATrailer: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3L_oXGBJU8 This preview for the first episode]] portrays Takumi as a villain and Mari as Faiz. The show, not so much...
* OopsIDidItAgain: And again. And again. And again.
* OnlyMostlyDead: Mr. J, who had three "lives".

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The Orphnochs are essentially zombies in a sense. BackFromTheDead? Check. Power to infect others? Check. They have also been compared to vampires, until [[Series/KamenRiderKiva the true vampires of Kamen Rider]] came along.

* PoorCommunicationKills: A series with phones as the TransformationTrinket involves a lot of communication problems. [[{{Irony}} Perfect.]]

** The series is full of this trope. The fact that Takumi and Yuji only meet both transformed or both untransformed for quite a while, and them having an increasingly awkward relationship thanks to horrible coincidences both help this along, but this problem - among others - would be so much simpler if not for the protagonists having abysmal communication skills.

%% ** Masato Kusaka, on so many levels.

* MidSeasonUpgrade: Axel Form

* ''Kamen Rider 555: Hyper Battle Video'' (2003) is a DVD episode that was distributed by ''Televi-kun'' magazine, where a Smart Brain weapon kicks off a MusicalEpisode.