But you said you liked him throwing a rock through the Narumi Detective Agency, which was one of the deranged attitude problem he has. Even Akiko lampshades his attitude problem for him doing whatever he wants, albeit Chizuru isn't blameless either for not explaining. I do experience more commonly for something similar to Chizuru in ghostings though. At least Dango has guilt over this that he realizes that the site actually does kill people, and tries to make it up by making the request to Narumi Detective Agency regarding the site, so he's not all heartless, albeit employing Chandler's Law due to being in doubt. However Phillip still has skewed priorities, only being concerned about Heaven's Tornado and making sure that Dango would perform it later, and tries to reconcile the pair with the Gaia Library. Though yes, I do find it baffling of the miscommunication that escalates worse though it usually happens in KR, it's overdone here.

Apparently the solution Phillip finds to reconcile others is locking them in dark, cramped space, which Akiko claims as a cliche in school stories. It works as they're left with nothing to do, except make amends, but it is indeed baffling for Chizuru to not talk it out regarding just that, including to Dango to ask the reason she hides it, where she doesn't want for him to go easy on her. That'd be a misguided take of being independent or pushing the limits, like Miyabi's dream chasing before. Philip acting like that earns him a slap from Akiko's slipper though. Shotaro also thinks Philip's the real problem that he's hellbent when he wants to learn. And it's questionable logic that he claims Chizuru's leg wasn't hurt that badly just for his optimistic view of his clients. Akiko thinks Philip's changed regarding his expression watching Heaven's Tornado, but he remains the same, losing interest in topics he already learned.

The only partnership would be.. Dango with W instead, being one of the few bystanders who take part in the actual fight, as W
implementins some dance-like moves in the fight that confuses Cockroach and getting their Gaia Memories back. The idea to confuse the opponent is a nice idea but the execution still wasn't fully convincing IMO that Cockroach was more acting like sitting duck in some open windows like W and Dango handshaking.

Cockroach does have some precaution to have no detail in the publishing info of a manga about his own murders, and he relies on the fact that people would think it's actually dark fantasy, or being overconfident that he's invincible as Dopant (there are much others), but the move of publishing manga is still not a smart one for him, it'd just exposing himself to the likes of Shotaro, like revealing where he lives. Ikari is a horrific take of a doujinshi artist, making use of blog and manga for his rotten activities like murder that he views himself as hero for that. But I think it's also an interesting part about this 2 parter.

I mean, I liked that a rock was thrown through the window and Akiko reacted like it was no big deal. That doesn't make me a Dango fan!

KAMEN RIDER DOUBLE EPISODE 9 - “TREMBLING BEFORE S - I SAW THE MAID DETECTIVE!”

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Let’s dig into some Series Arc stuff!

There’s kind of two main things this episode’s interested in excavating for the viewer: Akiko’s relationship with her missing/deceased dad (sort of depends on who you ask in this one!), and putting the Sonozakis and Double on each other’s radars. There’s some very fun comedy around the edges, and a mystery assailant on the mansion grounds, but that’s just the frosting on this We Need To Tell You About A Couple Major Plots cake.

Both of them are necessary and organic at this point in the series, which is nice. It’s not like a switch suddenly got flipped and Akiko couldn’t stop pressing Shotaro for details on her dad – it’s sort of natural that, after a couple months of him not being around and no one talking about it, she’d feel like Shotaro was being a little less than forthcoming. Still, she doesn’t drastically alter her behavior for the sake of plot expediency or drama, she’s just, like, letting him know that she can see he’s hiding something, so he doesn’t really have the moral superiority to tell her how to do her job. It’s a nice alternative to the typical histrionics of this sort of Terrible Secret plot, to have Akiko just think that Shotaro’s being a secretive jerk, and now she can respect him a little less, so they’re even. Remarkably specific to this show’s terrifically weird dynamic!

The Sonozaki stuff is equally smooth in its deployment, where Shotaro doesn’t even realize the significance of the family he’s accidentally investigating. It allows the show to draw the two groups closer together in more oblique ways, which maintains the possibility of absurd character interactions, instead of the usual head-to-head confrontations that end in tears. Like, very fun to get Wakana geeking out over Akiko’s high-energy buffoonery! And excellent to have Kirihiko corner Shotaro just to spill his entire romantic history and goals, since he’s such a superpowered Wife Guy that he doesn’t have anyone else to share this stuff with! (It’s the best scene in the episode, Kirihiko starting off trying to be a stern influence on a wayward youth, but then he’s like Holy Shit Dude I’m Going To Be So Powerful Because Of My Awesome Wife.) Even Ryubei gets into the act, being old-guy-charming with Akiko. It’s the calm before the storm, but I like that this show opted for this kind of lead-in to a more overt Double Vs Sonozakis story.

Just a nicely understated escalation of two major plots, while still making space for a full mystery setup, dumb gags, and a neat Dopant. (He’s the incarnation of taste!) Absolutely solid W episode!

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-Are pastry chefs the most endangered culinary profession in Kamen Rider? It seems like every season has an imperiled patissier somewhere in it – sometimes as part of the cast! I assume it’s because kids love cakes and treats and the like, so it’s easier to explain why this person should be saved from a monster, but it’s seriously the most dangerous profession in Heisei.

One thing that sticks out in my head is that the Dopant this time looks like Alien Metron from Ultraseven. https://youtube.com/watch?v=CLKGtGlQ...lAuzwS0Rl3dw3I

And now for an especially trivial version of

Toku Veteran Alert

The head maid at the mansion is played by Shinobu Kawabata, who you may or may not recognise from this episode of Ryuki

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ka...20120610031057

But aside from that, she also had a guest spot as a villain on Tokusou Robo Janperson as a robot gangster selling menial labour machines that were intended to steal confidential data. She also had a recurring guest spot on Hurricaneger as Red’s boss at his ill-defined job.

Opinions on the overall thing coming next time.

This is one of those arcs where I feel like the viewers ability to enjoy it is in direct correlation with their Akiko tolerance level. I probably did not like this episode very much when it first aired as I was extremely Akiko intolerant at the time. I'm a lot more fond of the character now and it's still pushing my upper limits of Akiko shenanigans. The stuff going on around her, though, is pretty good; I'd forgotten about Kirihiko's confrontation with Shotaro and how incredibly goofy it played out. I don't know why I was ever under the impression that Kirihiko was in any way menacing as a character.

Switchblade-a Memories? (oh, I literally just got the "Die-a" pun; that took longer than it should have)

We got our first promo for the Decade/W movie. Still just reused footage from the first episode (do we see flashbacks of Sokichi getting shot more than we see flashbacks of Airi and Sakurai stargazing? I don't know and I'm not going to count, but maybe!), but we got the first "Begins Night" name drop. I started watching the show with the TV-Nihon subs back in the day before switching about halfway through the series to W-Time (later Over-Time) because they came out much faster. I mention this, because W-Time translated the movie name to fit the dialogue while TVN always kept it as "Begins Night," which in true '00s-era TV-Nihon fashion is technically English but not how a native speaker would ever use it.

I'm using my old W-Time subs for this rewatch and possibly the biggest thrill of the whole episode was that this is the first one that featured the classic "Kono bangumi wa goran no suponsaa no teikyou de okurishimasu!" tag after the credits. Between the new shows not doing that anymore and all the older shows having updated subs with DVD or Blu-Ray encodes, it's been a long time since I've heard that and it was a fun little jolt of nostalgia to experience it again.

Their debt is also caused by Shotaro buying hard-boiled novels. And there's a different slipper use, she rubs her slipper into one of his novels. Again, good thing that Akiko doesn't actually wear them, albeit it still can tear a page off. Shotaro treats them, obviously, as detective/life manual. Relatable excuse when someone is forbidden to follow your favorite medias (can be from parent) or if those are criticized, that they'll excuse their favorite media as something teaching. Shotaro does retaliate for once, by throwing Akiko's slipper away without her looking. Now Shotaro encounters Asuka's situation again relating to Akiko's father. It's lucky that they suddenly get many clients

Even the show lampshades about people hiding truth from girls in Shotaro not telling Asuka and Akiko. Phillip brings up this too that he may have to tell her about how they become Double, but Shotaro is revealed to have guilt complex, blaming himself for Sokichi's death. And about being undercover and Ace Detective.... Akiko stays loud in her undercover, being hyperactive (also being fine after jumping from heights), forcefully feeding Mick, and acting starstruck against Wakana, also not even hiding her identity or behavior. Akiko also openly exposes Mai in front of the family, potentially putting both in danger, considering there's missing pastry chefs and Mai's in top 6. Sonozaki family seems to have good public reputation as Mai sees it as a honor to become their chef.

After dancing 2 parter before, now there's patissier, with the one admiring being named Mai (here it's the daughter, but still).

Neat! Thanks!

OZC has Philip subbed as saying something like "The night it began" or whatever, but the fan in me will only accept Begins Night. That's what it's called, actual English language rules or expectations be damned!

It's nice that the build up to the Winter Movie feels so organic here. We're about five weeks out from it, and there's just this vague feeling of unfinished business, nothing more. It's way easier to deal with compared to the hard-sell of, like, Den-O.

All the Heisei Phase 2 hits!

KAMEN RIDER DOUBLE EPISODE 10 - “TREMBLING BEFORE S - THE ACE DETECTIVE’S DAUGHTER”

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I think the idea of exploring Akiko’s character through the lens of Shotaro’s relationship with her father is probably the most palatable way to attempt an Akiko spotlight story where she randomly accuses the round, constantly-snacking maid as being the Sweets Dopant because it just seems correct to her with absolutely no evidence.

This is a story where Akiko feels more three-dimensional and useful to the team, while still being a complete joke of a detective and in constant need of rescue. The show’s ability to keep all of her most, uh, unpalatable character traits while further integrating her into the cast… fun trick! She’s got a boisterous, bull-headed commitment to doing what’s right, but in a way that’s still clouded by jealousy and petty resentments. It shouldn’t work – and god knows it probably doesn’t work for most viewers – but I thought this episode (and the actor) did a great job finding a sort of emotional truth to a bumbling chatterbox that mugs unendingly. Akiko’s sort of terrible at being a detective, but she’s also exactly who you want as part of your detective show.

We also get more from the Sonozaki family, and if it isn’t as eye-opening as Akiko’s growth, it’s still a mix of tense world-building and delightful nonsense.

Let’s start with the tense world-building! While it’s incredibly funny to me that super-perceptive ace detective Shotaro can’t put two and two together to figure out why all the powerful lieutenants keep showing up to fights at the Enormously Evil Sonozaki Estate, I like that we’re still only inching toward a full confrontation between Double and the Sonozakis. (Although, shit, Kirihiko definitely figured out that Shotaro is a Kamen Rider!) The brief scene at the museum between Ryubei and Shotaro is both an excellent bit of clue-giving – Shotaro going Wait Magma And T-Rex And Anomalocaris was a nice way of spelling it out for inattentive viewers – as well as a chilling initial meeting for Shotaro and the big boss of this series. It’s conversational, and Ryubei comes off in a slightly creepy-but-genial way. It’s a good vibe!

But mostly, I’m here for Ryubei The Whimsical Dessert Lover. I like that he thinks Akiko is a pleasant distraction, and is willing to host his entire staff for dessert because something fun might happen because of it. He’s just game for anything, and that’s the best. The Sonozaki’s continued fascination with Akiko’s bizarre antics is honestly something that I wished this whole episode was about, rather than just a couple scenes. It’s way more fun to talk and think about than this two-parter’s mystery, that’s for sure.

Yeah, I mostly didn’t love the mystery in this one. It’s a resolution where they don’t give you the clues until after the culprit outs themself, which is basically a miss for any mystery. Like, you could guess it was Sasaki as the Sweets Dopant, but you’d only be guessing; her motivation doesn’t come out until two scenes after she blows her own cover. It’s a fun motivation, and I like the way it loops into the idea, shared by Mai and Akiko, of how hard it can be to follow in someone’s footsteps… but it’s not a good mystery. Minor criticism of this episode, but a criticism nonetheless.

Overall, though, this episode worked for me. I’m always here for Akiko’s embarrassing nonsense, but I’m more into it when it’s paired with thoughtful characterization and genuine heroism. I cannot believe I’m saying all these things about Akiko! This thread is getting so weird!!!

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-Ha ha, OH GOD, Akiko’s relationship with her dad. I don’t really remember how well Sokichi’s story worked for me in the upcoming winter movie (I hope we all enjoyed Shotaro saying Begins Night in a moody voice that might as well have been appended by Tickets On Sale Now), but I definitely disliked his Akiko-abandoning backstory in Movie War Core. I am not sure it’s healthy for either Akiko or Shotaro to be lionizing a short-tempered hat aficionado who skipped out on his family! He kind of comes off as maybe not that great of a guy!

Pretty nice two-parter for one I somehow did not remember despite the importance of it.

We get our first true crossing of our heroes and villains, and it's very tense and action filled as well. The more I end up rewatching this show, the more I end up remembering how much I loved the Sonozaki family as a villain group.

Hindsight is reminding me that "oh right, these episodes are actually very important" but that can wait till the time is right. But while we have seen Ryubei as Terror before, we never really get to see what he can do till now and it's insanely tense and menacing. Especially that scene with Shotaro at the museum. But I also enjoy how he's very much an old man enjoying himself.

That scene where he's like "Oh there's going to be a surprise" and then later going "Oh I thought the surprise was the dessert..." was hilarious.

Speaking of characters, Akiko... it was a mixed bag for me tbh. There are times where Akiko can come off as unreasonable, but this episode definitely showed she can be more than what we usually see her as. A good showing, especially in the second part, though the first episode definitely started to push my buttons when it came to her antics.

Only last thing I can say though is in regards to something people bring up. Listen, I get people want things translated properly and not stay untranslated like say Keikaku, Mou, etc. But like, Begins Night is not something that needs to be translated. Literally, they say Begins Night in the show in English. It's a purposefully given title, and that kind of thing does not need to be translated.

It is so crucial to Shotaro's character that he gave his origin moment a cool name! He says it all moody and mysterious on purpose! Translating it ruins the joke!