Masato Kusaka
Masato Kusaka, also known as Kamen Rider Kaixa, is the primary user of the Kaixa Gear and the tritagonist of Kamen Rider 555.
Despite being one of the main characters, he can hardly be considered a hero due to his manipulative and sociopathic tendencies, as well as his hatred of all Orphnochs, and is only really allied with the protagonists due to their shared opposition to Smart Brain.
Personality[]
When he was child, he was a crybaby and often to be helped by Mari, the reason of his desire of love to Mari. After the murder attempt on his classmate by Orphnochs, he developed a personal vendetta against them. However, his vendetta is not pure or just, as he will involve anyone to be in a dangerous position so he can gain the best advantage to destroy an Orphnoch.
Kamen Rider Kaixa
In general, Kusaka is calm and polite towards everyone, except for Takumi Inui/Kamen Rider Faiz. This, however is a guise to his true nature that even Takumi himself can see, he shows his true colors as a selfish, vindictive, and skilled manipulator who has no qualms of driving a wedge between Takumi and those around him like Kiba so he can have Mari for himself.
With his twisted personality, he loves to betray anyone as long as he achieves his goals and doesn't seem to regret it, no matter the outcome. He will join any physical routine for testing his strength and often to lap his palms. His behavior to dust his palms is because remembering his incident from the Orphnoch's beginning attack, as such his hatred towards Orphonchs is so fanatical beyond belief, to the point he preys on the likes of Aki Sawada or Takumi (who is also revealed to be one), regardless of whether they "have souls" or not and swore to destroy them all out of spite.
Unlike his foil, Takumi, whose reasons of fighting Orphnochs for the sole purpose of protecting humanity, Kusaka's reasons are all motivated with petty vengeance.
Other apperances[]
Grosteque Flowers[]
In the controverial non-canon spin-off novel Grosteque Flowers by Toshiki Inoue, the writer of Kamen Rider 555 TV series, Kusaka manages to be even worse than he already was in the show. In the past, Kusaka was a lonely and bullied orphan who only had his friend Mari to keep him company, but unbeknownst to her, Kusaka only saw her as a possession, rather than a real friend.
When his classmates are attacked by an Orphnoch, Kusaka generalized the entire race as being monstrous abominations who deserve to be destroyed by him, even if there are good-hearted Orphnochs. Upon getting hold of the Kaixa Gear, Kusaka took the chance to try and kill all Orphnochs and keep Mari only to himself. Kusaka was responsible for the murder of Yuka, another bullying victim and a close friend to Kiba, driving him to hate the human race.
Not satisfied with his crimes, Kusaka rapes the underaged Mari, not caring if the assault had left her hopeless and depressed. Kiba is so disgusted by this that he personally rips off Kusaka's limbs as punishment for his crime. Later, Kusaka resurfaced once again to make Mari's life a living hell, but was ultimately stopped and killed by Takumi Inui.
Upon the novel's release, Toshiki Inuoe was condemned by fans, including Kusaka's detractors, for portraying Kusaka much too repulsive.
Kamen Rider Zi-O[]
Kamen Rider Zi-O is the only instance where Kusaka is not entirely bereft of sympathetic qualities. Due to the time paradox caused by the creation of Another Faiz, along with the said Another Rider trying to keep his significant other (Karin Yamabuki) alive - as both of them were his classmates in the Ryusei School, he is more willing kill the said girl out of mercy to relieve her of the life imposed to her by Another Faiz. However, this doesn't change his hostile relationship between him and Takumi.