On the other hand I do find the expression that the screen makes after saying "Nice driving" to be odd.

The happy face of Belt-san can look a bit odd thats true but I dont mind it so much. Another thing I find quite funny is that except for Gaim we had the trope of a sidekick character that turns out to be some kind of object thing since Double....and now we actually got a sidekick that is just an object :lol

Because he has a deep voice and serious demeanor and then the screen tries to be as cute as it can. :lol

No, no, you've got it wrong, Belt is the star, cop dude is the sidekick. :p

You can blame Bandai for that :lol

Poor Shinnosuke.

Now all Trideron needs is a turbo boost that it can only use once per episode then we'll be set. :lol

Not a bad start, some good worldbuilding while leaving the villains a mystery to figure out. Theme song is ok, not great. The fights were fun though, hope they can keep that up.

This was a good episode and I think drive is off to a start. I'm freaked out a little by the sentient belt but I digress

So yeah, episode 1 of Drive certainly throws you in at the deep end doesn't it?

Honestly, enjoyed it well enough but not the strongest of openings. While it's very plot focused, it's a mystery set up so right now we're not getting that much plot. And I'd say the characters in ep 1 were defintiely sacrificed for the plot. Two parter so we'll see how things go, but felt they're a wee bit bare bones. To use a pertinent example, W sets up the mystery, some of the dealer plot, a strong base line for Shotaro and Akiko, and begins the intro to Phillip, lots of character, lots of plot. Drive sets up the mystery, but the character traits we learn are all plot focused. And we learn little to nothing about the other primaries. KRITT is kinda cool though...although i wonder how long he's been sitting in the car without being fiddled with :D

Fights were fine. Very flashy and cg heavy but grand. Standard entertaining. Although I suggest we ready ourselves for the vanishing of the rider kick in a few episodes.

So ok start, little muddled but decent enough. Bring on Ep 2.

Neat. I thought the belt actually talking to him was pretty nice.
That aside, nope. I did not enjoy this beginning one bit.
Like, shit. The show expects you to do your homework on who's who going in :lol

But really, the action was mediocre, the shift cars driving around and fighting was a bit too silly for me to swallow, and it should have saved off on the tire changes until next episode.
Though his Maximum Spider/Ragnarok finisher was neat.

I will continue watching, however. Pilots tend to be one of the worst episodes of a series, so it's nothing new, really.
FULL THROTTLE

I just Kamen Rider Drive Episode 1 on Dailymotion (Sub Only)

I find the opening a brutal way to begin the Kid-friendly Show.

Riku Sanjo have improve on his writing on Drive.

I thought Talking Belt is a great idea. I was worried that they might hired over-the-top actor like That Doctor from Kyoryuger but they hired a calm actor to play Belt to pay homage of K.I.T.T.

But during the opening scene, There was another Drive before Shinnosuke. That got me a question, Who is that Drive?