Kamen Rider W: Fuuto PI Discussion
 

Today the Kamen Rider anime begins!

https://beta.crunchyroll.com/series/GMEHMEWK0/fuuto-pi

Really good animation, good voice acting, and a good plot, even if you haven't seen W (like me) this show is still pretty captivating, this episode flew by and I hope the rest of the episodes can maintain this level of quality.

The two-in-one Kamen Rider returns! Now in anime form!

I have to say, as an anime fan all my life and who got into Kamen Rider around middle school and watched Kamen Rider W when it was airing concurrently at that time...it's so amazing for me to finally see one of my most favorite shows in anime form and depicted so faithfully and effectively. Like, they adapt Begin's Night! Anime Sokichi! Saeko/Taboo Dopant! Masquerade Dopants! And best of all, traditionally animated Kamen Rider action! I really expected to see them go CG, but the fact that it's all traditionally animated and fluid fighting goodness with W cracking heads is the best part.

(Even the episode title convention is the same as the original show)

Welcome back to the windy city of Fuuto, where our hard-boi...I mean, half-boiled protagonist Shotaro is waxing lyrical about his city like we never left. And taking selfies to show how cool he is.

It's weird hearing some of my favorite anime VA's voicing characters I associate so much with their live-action actors, but having already had experience with the Memory of HeroeZ game, the cast in this do a great job of embodying the characters and making them act and sound like themselves.

Ah yes, nothing is more Shotaro than finding a beautiful woman to go ga ga over who might also be more dangerous than she looks...and while this woman looks thirsty for something, Shotaro is feeling the "heat," which is to say her massive boobs.

So not only is our witch girl mysterious, she's also a thief who uses her powers to steal stuff. Can't have W without some crime and investigating going on! Although the client is more keen on seeing her again because he's head over heels than arresting her, although his insistence on getting his bag back seems suspicious.

I love how Philip opens up getting interested in this case and knowing Shotaro can't resist a Femme Fatale.

The Hardboilder in action! Also, Kamen Riders actually riding their bikes, as it should be.

Santa-chan! Watcherman! Too bad about Watcherman's phone though, he'll probably use the money Shotaro gave him for a new phone

Tokime is mysterious, graceful, and surprisingly agile. It seems like she's warping reality somehow. Is that her Gaia Memory's power?

Jin and Macky! Jin's back-scratcher! And they're still having to pick up Shotaro when he gets in trouble. Although the more pertinent information is that Tokime isn't just a thief, but possibly a murderer.

I don't trust that Katsuyuki Konishi character. He looks too seedy and villainous to not become a Dopant at some point.

Lily and her grandfather! Lily doesn't look like Nao Nagasawa anymore, but she looks cute as an anime character and as a redhead.

Kamen Rider isn't just for kids and moms anymore as we see Tokime taking a bath in a fountain and getting dressed. At least the men were gentleman about it (not that she seemed to care if they took a peek).

So where is Tokime's Gaia Memory? In her panties, because this is an anime now.

Dang, leaving off at the best part as they're about to transform! Guess we'll save W for next week.

The Opening is a very jazzy, low-key, noir beat by Mitsuru Matsuoka (who has a long history with this franchise and Kamen Rider). I'm still waiting for them to inevitably play the original Opening at some point.

Ah, so the next episode previews are the cutesy, chibi, Kamen Rider animes we've come to expect! Awesome.

Fun stuff all around to be honest, was curious to see how I'd enjoy this since I haven't actually fully read Futo Tantei, given well, lack of translations (that seems to be changing thankfully) but this was a pretty solid episode. A good mystery, some nice action.

The VA's are also pretty great, helps that this isn't the first time we've heard most of them given they've come back from Memory of Heroez.

And uh, can we talk about those opening minutes? Like goddamn I was not expecting to see Begins Night redone in anime style and with a pretty short but nice fight scene too.

Somebody just license it already!
I definitely wasn't expecting the Begin's Night flashback, Taboo Dopant, or W immediately cracking skulls.

The anime caught the vibe of live action double quite well IMO.

I didn't expect to like it that much. But i did.

W is one of my least favorite rider show (unpopular opinion I know) and I didn't like how the GARO animes turned out, compared to the live-actions. So I watched it expecting to be meh. But no. Good first episode. I'm kinda sad there is no transformation but it will come soon enough.

Decent at setting up a mystery so far, but nothing really grabbing or exciting. Just sort of okay. But it's only episode 1 after all

Episode 1 was well done. Despite being an anime episode coming out 10+ years after the show ended it felt like we're picking up right were Kamen Rider W left off.

I'm not a big fan of the hypersexualized witch, but everything else is wonderful

Wooh! The cry of the Xtreme Memory got me so hyped.

Strong first episode from a solely anime perspective. If you haven't watched W, you're not gonna feel lost since they establish/set up the basics of the premise from second one.

Following Shotarou through a job was a great way to get the viewer comfortable with what's going on. Also plenty of stuff that KR and W fans will love to see in terms of supporting characters and locations.

Would you believe she's actually toned down from the manga in this? :lol

Yeah that was pretty sweet.

I feel like adding the Begins Night recap was to assuage any concerns that the Kamen Rider aspect of the show may lack. IIRC that's not in the manga, at least not in the beginning, and the way W fights is much more kinetic and graceful than the live-action version could get, so it seems they were showing off what the anime medium can accomplish for that character. I almost wish that opening wasn't in just so the actual W reveal could've been more exciting, but there was probably some mandate to have some actual suit action in the first ep.

From what I read of the manga the story only gets better, and they did a damn good job adapting it. It wasn't 1:1 but it was paced very well. Shotaro's VA was great as was what little we heard of Philip, though I will say Akiko sounded a bit more generic but her performance was at least still very good.

Also I cannot express my delight at seeing Santa-chan and Watcherman in anime form.

I feel like including the Begins Night segment is gonna confuse people not acquainted with W or Rider, because you're gonna expect that to be followed up on as part of Shotaro's backstory... and then it's not, because they already did that in the show. It would have made a bit more sense to go with something near the end of W imo

Well depending on how far we get into the volumes in these 12 episodes and if we somehow reach Volume 6... I only say this in relation to the covers for the volumes I saw and it was a very Skull centric cover (I seem to recall Skull related chapters popping up too) so who knows we could end on Sokichi himself and stuff relating to Shotaro's backstory with him.

Just a guess and maybe not the perfect plan but hey who knows.

This was really fun. I'd actually planned to rewatch W before this began, but I completely forgot. Still, it really did capture the feel of the show, as I remember it. I did read the few chapters of the manga that got translated, but I think that the story just works better in action than it does on the page. I am not an anime person, but I'll definitely be following this.

I don't think the Begins Night opener's gonna confuse anyone really. It's a really quick and pretty concise origin story that can be referred back to when needed. Not to mention the episode did a good job of touching on some of the stuff shown in that segment without needing to hit the breaks and explain anything.

Lets the viewer put two and two together while offering intrigue about things.

...actually, yes.

https://i.imgur.com/3VpeU36.png

A pretty decent start!

Though I will say, this definitely does feel like the sort of premiere where you're meant to watch both episodes 1 and 2 in tandem.

That aside, I like the art style, the episode itself did a solid job at establishing what the general flow of the show is gonna be, and it was nice to get a tease how, as an anime meant for a slightly older audience, this show doesn't need to adhere to the same censors it would've had to had this been live-action.

Also, despite his hair being green in the flashback segment, I did like that once Philip shows up proper, it's shown that his green hair is actually a halfway done dye job.

Looking forward to the rest of the show!

Through lag and poor internet, I finally watched it.

As someone who read the Manga (some of it, from what translations I could find), it amazes me how faithfully this was done. But what impresses me more is how well the actors portrayed the cast almost on point. It really did feel like the characters, which, yeah, I know the writer worked on W (head writer was it?), but the voices worked brilliantly. Even if they're not the same voices, I like how it does sound like they've aged from the show, which I like.

The art style, from the Manga to Anime, I've always been reminded of older Manga from the style, and the animation also gives me that feel, so once again, I must mention how happy I am with the animation.

Speaking of... That reenactment of Begins Night was perfect! I could hear the voices as it played out from the show and W segment in the Decade X W Movie, and the animation was stellar! I was grinning like an idiot once W appeared (and will probably do so again in the next episode).

And the new theme song! While I do wish the singers of WBX returned for it (then again, they could still have a song in here), but I like it. It fits W perfectly, from the jazzy, hard-boiled (heh) atmosphere, score included, it really felt like watching W again (which I would absolutely love to do, or better yet, own. Make it happen, Toei!), so I'd say I enjoyed this, and looking forward to seeing the rest of it.

Probably already Anime Contender of the Year if you ask me.

What a nostalgia rush. For context, Kamen Rider W was my first Heisei Kamen Rider and the series that got me back into Kamen Rider (& Kamen Rider toy collecting) over two whole decades ago. It's one of my all-time favorite Kamen Rider series (Top 3 with Faiz and Gaim), and a series that I still think stands up phenomenally well today. Also, I have not read the Fuuto PI manga that this is based on, so I am going into this completely blind.

Now, usually, I'm very, very trepidatious when going into a sequel of a well-established franchise. These things usually don't turn out well, BUT, this one does not seem half-boiled or half-baked at all. The source manga has been going strong, and I can't help but be super hyped about a Kamen Rider anime. I think the last one I saw was the '90s SD one when I was in primary school.

And, for what it's worth, the first episode was indeed a banger. It hit many of the right notes, though it wasn't 100% perfect for me. Most importantly, straight out of the bat, my favorite thing about Fuuto PI was that it took advantage of the anime medium in a myriad of ways to do things that the live-action counterpart could not. Not only were the action scenes and camera angles more dynamic, but we also have classic anime fanservice and violence/gore. Not only would that have been far more inappropriate and grotesque in live-action, it also hammers home the fact that this adaptation is for those who have grown up with the original series.

I absolutely loved how they adapted the Begins Night scene straight out of Episode 1 (and the Decade crossover movie). It not only set the tone and reimmersed old fans into the world of Kamen Rider W, but it also allowed us to get accustomed to the new anime aesthetic by showing us something that we're already familiar with in the new style.

It was also super impressive how they recreated all the little details from the show verbatim. Usually, when it comes to anime adaptations, they have a tendency to change things up a bit. However, everything, from the suit design to the Stag Phone to Philip's book, to the Detective Agency... everything was pretty much spot-on. Even the sound effects like the beeps from the Stag Phone and the cry of the Xtreme Memory are all reused.

Of course, there are some things that I felt were missed opportunities, like how they couldn't get the original actors to reprise their roles or like how they didn't reuse the original music from the show (someone on YouTube will probably do it), but all in all, I think they did a great job with the setting and the characters. One of the best parts of Kamen Rider W was the huge cast of recurring characters that made the city feel real and lived in, and I'm glad to see them all back. (^o^)

Haven't read the manga it's based on, but so far it seems that at least this adaptation is mostly faithful.

It seems that even for Kamen Rider, the fights in the prologue seem to be faster, more dynamic, and raw in anime form, rather than the limited tokusatsu depiction. Makes me wonder what could happen if real life shootings aren't as limited as animation.

The anime format also altered the character's expressions compared to the toku depictions, with Shotaro feeling more nonchalant than in the series (also more smirking than in the series, where he almost never smiled). Firstly it seems that Shotaro and Akiko's personalities are exaggerated compared to the anime one, seen in their spat (I thought Akiko regressed back like the beginning of W self that time), but shortly after they're still the same protective and attentive people towards the clients (outside of the payment). Highlighted here for Shotaro as the client Chuuta Tsubosaki was an ordinary man squaring off against a beautiful woman who Shotaro did flirt briefly (I do really like Tokime's outfit though... a̶l̶b̶e̶i̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶l̶e̶n̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶s̶), Chuuta so far also planned little retribution against Tokime due to also being bewitched by her.

Tokime so far is the troublemaker and the main 'threat'. Didn't expect her to be this antagonistic to the cast in her debut. And didn't expect her to be this big of a threat, as she's not using any devices like Gaia Memories, just being her supernatural self (and also physical, in her knee attack to an expert fighter) in floating and the spell she put on Shotaro to got him into trouble with the cops (making way for Jinno and Makura), who she's also apparently responsible for murder of Tachikawa's men. She had bloody boots at that time and wonder how they got cleaned as the boots are taken off in her bathing scenes.

Oddly Shotaro here seems to try avoiding Philip's help until the end of the episode. There's the talk about Shotaro having his own agenda or such against a hot woman, but iirc in the main series he had squared off against a hot woman (as a threat or client) with Philip's help as usual, even if Tokime might be on another level compared to those.

Yeah, it really did knock it out of the park in terms of accuracy. Like you said, only missed opportunity was not using more music from the original, but I'm still holding out hope the next episode will begin with the classic henshin music buildup. :D

Ah, but until the end they weren't sure Gaia Memories were involved, and as soon as it was clear there was more going on Philip showed right up. I don't think it was them avoiding helping each other so much as neither party seeing the current situation as that much of a concern when it was assumed to be a simple serial pickpocket. Shotaro falls for pretty women all the time, and it's not like Philip was always involved with those instances.

It wasn't about any "agenda," Philip was just teasing Shotaro about his luck with women especially in regards to cases.

Maybe not right away, but I looked. Well, that was cool. It is immediately evident that the same team worked on the manga and later anime as on W (except for the main scriptwriter Riky Sanjo, the design of the Dopants, as in the original, was developed by Katsuya Terada, who could not resist the temptation to create monsters without live-action restrictions). Very competently added 3D, almost does not stand out from the background of the picture. I also liked the action, although it is unusual that the transformation was only in a flashback. Bloodiness and erotica were also unaccustomed, but if you perceive the anime as a continuation for the older audience of the original show, then just what you need.
I also liked a lot of small references, like the inscription "Ishinomori" on the container and characters familiar from W. What a great voice Watcherman has! Well, the fact that the denouement of the story will be in the next episode should not even be surprising: a two-episode format that worked so well in the original that it simply cannot be abandoned.

And some fan art that mixes the only two anime I'm currently watching in such a funny way:
https://dthezntil550i.cloudfront.net...99bd330954.png

And as someone who hasn't read the manga, I'm going to assume that the client is a real dopant, and Tokime just found his Gaya Memory in a stolen bag.

I was wondering if in the first episode of "Jeanne and Aguilera" Akiko mistaking Poppy for Phillip in the first episode of "Jeanne and Aguilera" could be a reference to his green hair in the anime?

There's that patented Kamen Rider W case recap with Fumihiko Tachiki! How I missed it.

And there's the Opening! It's not W-B-X Crime in the City, but it's pretty fitting and a solid Rider anime Opening, featuring the Narumi Detective Agency in their daily lives (with Tokime in tow), Terui radiating strong Bishonen husband energy, the new villains taking over from the Sonozaki's as well as teasing their Dopant forms, W and Accel busting heads, LunaTrigger and HeatMetal, and all of Accel's upgrade forms! The only thing we were missing is Extreme and FangJoker, but that's just me being greedy.

Boo! Still delaying the first proper Henshin sequence. And then Shotaro just leaves his driver behind out of pride. Well, sometimes you have to save the best for last.

Smilodon and Magma Dopant cameos! We even got to see the Sonozaki's in their Dopant forms! Even Nazca!

Nobody loves Fuuto more than Shotaro (other than Kirihiko Sonozaki), and he'll do anything to protect the sanctity of the city as well as the feelings of anyone who resides in it.

Philip did the thing! And it looks especially cool in anime form.

So they're dealing with the Road Dopant, who can enter into a shadow version of Fuuto but the strain of that causes them to cannibalize human beings as a result. That's pretty graphic.

Akiko said the line!

Is that supposed to be Akira Aoyama from the final episode of W? When a middle-schooler seems like he's getting more game than poor Shotaro.

I think the first major indication that Tokime isn't the Road Dopant was seeing her on that tree snarling at those teen girls. She acted more like a cat than a killer vehicle monster. Actually, her being cat-like might explain a lot about her mannerisms. It looks like her Gaia Memory is broken though, but is it somehow seeing into herself to give her powers?

Well, Philip is right that Shotaro seems enamored with Tokime and her smile is enough to wrap him around her finger...but sometimes even a half-boiled detective needs to follow his gut!

If you didn't think they showed enough of Tokime's bathing scene last episode, here's some good shots of her naked and in her underwear!

Tokime has amnesia? So even she doesn't know who she is, what she can do, or even why she's there other than knowing the answers to all her questions are in Fuuto. I guess that will be one of the driving questions of the series, especially if she's joining the main cast.

It looks Tokime might be falling for Shotaro herself when he defends her and brings her in close! She's cute when she blushes.

So the Road Dopant was one of Tachikawa's subordinates who had been killing his fellow men to feed the hunger his power induces in him. Also, Tachikawa mentioned wanting the bag as well as Tokime's head, so something definitely seems up there.

Just when Shotaro thinks he's going at it alone, Philip shows up to smash into the Road Dopant with the Revolgarry just in time for him and Shotaro to finally transform. And Akiko is there to pick up Philip, as always.

There it is! Cyclone! Joker! And together they form...Kamen Rider Double! And that Henshin was so beautiful. And they end it on the perfect scene of them saying the line...now, count up your sins!

The Ending shows that Ultraman isn't the only tokusatsu anime that can do a fun Ending sequence of everybody dancing, and it was a pretty cute and fun Ending. We also see Tokime ingratiating herself into the daily life of the detective agency, but my favorite scene is her with Shotaro's hat.

Mick the cat and Philip can both relate to being exasperated by Shotaro and Akiko's antics.

Another great episode, and that henshin sequence was killer. Amazing to see what the freedom of animation can do with a fairly standard transformation. Little flourishes like the W on his chest forming after the armour with a little wind venting on the Cyclone side and mystical glitter sparks on the Joker side.

Also Revolgarry! I always forget that thing exists but I like it a lot. I think the CG on this version may still be better than the original. :lol I also totally forgot they adopted Mick after the Sonozakis all died.

I will say, I don't remember liking Tokime much in the manga and this kind of reminds me why. She acts so aloof and obviously villainous, but as soon as it's made obvious she's innocent her whole personality changes. As soon as the plot no longer needs her to act mysterious the whole act drops and she starts reacting/acting like a normal human. A bit of a contrivance.

Also seeing Dopants actually animated is neat. They do a good job adding more movement in the eyes and mouth without being too removed from the "guy in a rubber suit" aesthetic of the original.

Definitely noticed this, but at this moment, it seems that she only starts to open up to Shotaro due to his tenacity and after figuring out that he has powers.

I think Tokime's change comes from her realizing Shotarou actually can be trusted and isn't just another person falling for her because of her looks. Their talk at the fountain before being confronted by Road Dopant definitely felt like a realization moment for both of them.

This episode had all the beats of a W episode down to a tee. Shotarou not wanting to do his client a disservice, him and Philip getting into a married couple spat, the red herring with the landlord not actually being the Dopant despite it feeling like he was, they know exactly what they're doing.

And seeing Akira again was a shock. Also puts into perspective how much time is supposed to have passed between W's finale and the start of this considering he was a grade schooler there and is now a middle schooler here. Same with the tease of Accel Boost in the OP.

Now this was a pretty fun episode, both the OP and ED are great in terms of sounds and visuals. I always do like it when an anime relies more on the instrumentals for an OP than lyrics, kinda like the Devil May Cry anime OP.

I also really like how they animated the Road Dopant. Thanks to the power of Manga/Anime, they're able to do a lot more crazy and expressive designs and this is definitely a good first outing.

https://i.imgur.com/LvTFiO6.png

This was overall... alright. The Henshin sequence is for sure the highlight, and certain beats like Shotaro and Philip being a married couple are on point, but when it comes to certain other factors, I felt it fell a little flat. The way the Dopat's' powers related to "Roads" is a huge stretch even for W, and I really don't like when mysteries end with "actually the culprit was this guy that you didn't even know existed for the majority of it." Also, Mick somehow changed species.

That all aside, it was a decent time to be had.

There is so much attention to detail in making this feel like W, that just wins me over at every turn. We get the recap segments with the bulletin board, so many shots in the opening paying homage to WBX, the Memory Voices, and the Archive segment. This show just nails it in those regards.

I don't know if people caught on to this yet, but Tokime is heavily inspired by the "dame" archetype from Noir Detective Stories that is a prominent theme for W, from the seductive smile, the curvaceous body, she's absolutely Shotarou's ideal woman. It should also come to no one's surprise at this point that she's a focal point in this series.

And boy, am I loving the animation for the Dopants and Kamen Rider W, just works great and is much better than using 3D CG for them. And the transformation scenes just look gorgeous! I could see the Road Dopant transformation in live-action, and W's having an extra flair, even displaying some details from the Dopant transformation into the sequence.

I'm loving this, even knowing the Manga, I'm enjoying this even more animated. I'm excited to see Accel in action after seeing the opening.

Even though Sado was the first person you saw every time they got transported back from the shadow world?

Roads being the henchman was pretty clearly hinted by the fact the "roads" kept leading back to the gang, and most of the victims were members of said gang. I didn't even remember the twist and I knew it was going to be the one goon who got named/spoke prominently.

Except that, not only is Sabu not even named until later on into episode 2, he only has like, one line before the reveal. There's nothing to really distinguish him from just a generic goon until that point. Heck, speaking of episode 1, the situation in which Shotaro runs into him is kinda impossible considering what happens. Did he manage to undo his transformation, cancel his powers, and just walk along with the gang within a split second and timing just right so Shotaro bumps into him? Kind of a reach.

I feel like the Road Dopant's identity was less important than the mystery about Tokime and whatever's really going on with Chuta.

I'd consider the identity of the culprit fair enough play since it doesn't expect you to narrow down a specific goon- Shotaro just deduces it must be one of them, and then they reveal themself. Of course, it's a little more fun for a mystery to get more specific, so hopefully future plots go more along those lines.

Anyways, the OP was just kinda alright for me, but loved seeing the cast get dancey for the ED. The nostalgia-bait photo backgrounds of the original set ruked too.

Wonder if we'll expect new riders in the show? Not just Double and Accel. Hope a female rider and a dark rider to join in. As well as a tertiary rider like a "KR Nasca".