| “ | What a shame... I thought we could be friends. | „ |
| ~ Kaixa taunting Faiz |
| “ | What would you know?! Mari... She is the only one that protected me at my absolute worst and stayed by my side... She is the only one that can replace my mother! | „ |
| ~ Kusaka explaining his obsession with Mari to Takumi |
Masato Kusaka is one of the main protagonists in the 2003 TV series Kamen Rider 555. He constantly switches from Anti-Hero to Anti-Villain and is even considered a Villain by some of his own allies, This due to his immense hatred towards the Orphnochs and Takumi, with his past also having something to do with them.
He was portrayed by Kohei Murakami.
His Evil Ranking[]
What Makes Him Heinous?[]
- He rejects to help Takumi in a Fight with the Crocodile Orphnoch out of anger, And even when Keitaro tries to tell Masato to do something, He simply starts to wipe his hands and ignore him.
- In episodes 15 to 18, He ends up fighting with Faiz (Takumi) with him constantly trying to brutally kill him by either stabbing, exploding or even desintegrating him, Although Kusaka thankfully fails and abandons this murder attempt.
- Blackmails and Manipulates Yuji Kiba in Episodes 21 to 23, By making fun of his appearance as an Orphnoch or by how his love for Mari is not sincere, And that he will just cause Mari's demise if he keeps going with her, Saying that he is too much of a menace and a target for Smart Brain. After this, He also brutally kills an Orphnoch in front of Yuji just to show him a demonstration of what would happen if he keeps coming after Mari.
- Sides for a short while with Smart Brain just to get information, non caring about risking the identity of his other allies.
- Kidnaps an Innocent Orphnoch and attempts to murder him in a brutal way alongside the others, Being stopped by Takumi.
- He uses the Faiz Gear to make himself look like Takumi, Which makes him fight with Kiba (The horse Orphnoch), Which ends up when the latter gets brutally beaten up and leave in an unconscious state, After this, Masato makes Kiba hate Takumi even more (And later on, Kusaka lies to Takumi by telling him that Kiba is going after his group, Which sets them up for a fight).
- Tries to Kill Takumi once more by shooting him with his gun, Which ends up in a huge explosion that destroys part of the street.
- In one scene, He gets pissed off at Mari for not telling him the truth about his feelings (And also because of her trusting Kiba and Takumi instead of him), Which ends up in a discussion where Kusaka punches Mari and tells her that she belongs to him, Although Kusaka later tells Mari that he is sorry for what he did, But his act is still there.
- Blames Takumi for Mari's death, Telling Kiba that Takumi intentionally leave Mari at his mercy against Sawada, Which pisses Kiba even more, And makes them fight again.
- He indirectly kills Sawada, despite the latter told him that he wants to change and be an ally, With Masato telling him that he will never forget what he did, And after this, He starts to fight him and injuring, However, This stops when Masato is attacked by some members of Lucky Clover, Although Sawada still died due to his wounds, Which leaves Mari totally heartbroken.
- He gets more and more jealous of Takumi and constantly sabotages him in his fights, Although he only stops doing this due to the fact that Kiba was after both of them.
- Over the series, Masato has Genocide urges and attempts, By him wanting to Kill all of the Orphnochs by himself, Even trying to do this one time, Although he eventually backed-up thanks to Mari.
- Masato never apologizes to Takumi for what he does and never fully befriends him, Staying as a Jerk and a Sociopath until his death.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- He has a genuinely tragic and sympathetic backstory, With him having to watch his mom get killed in an accident, Which leaved him with Trauma in all of his childhood.
- Despite sometimes acting Toxic with Mari, He still protects her no matter what, And even saves other allies from getting killed by Orphnochs.
- While it is still debatable on whether he really loves Mari or if it is only an obsession, He definitely sees her as his only chance to have motherly love and someone who he could express his genuine feelings to, Showing that some care for Mari there is sometimes genuine.
- He at first did actually try to befriend Takumi for their own good, Although he eventually drops the towel after 2 attempts and becomes his enemy on his list.
- Masato is an On & Off in the series, Having some heroic and villainous moments, And there are times where he actually does the good by killing Orphnochs that actually deserved it (Although the same goes for Innocent Orphnochs) and he actually has the goal of not letting Mari and his other friends die once again, Going insecure about this over the climax, With him even trying to call Mari to be with him till the end in his final moments.
Trivia[]
- Him and DJ Sagara are currently the only two Kamen Rider villains to be Inconsistently Heinous.
- Even though his original counterpart is just Inconsistently Heinous, His version from the novel is easily considered as Pure Evil due to his much more heinous crimes and also for the fact that he ends up being the main antagonist (Unlike the TV series version), therefore making him one of the only secondary riders who's status changed for other works (Alongside Keisuke Nago, who is curiously another secondary rider that was written by Inoue a.k.a the writer of 555), Since most other riders stay the same even for novels or mangas.
- In the next year, there will be a movie called Kamen Rider 555: Paradise Regained, which serves as a continuation of the original series, this could change or boost Kusaka's status on this wiki.