Regarding Shotaro's tryhard (for here, casanova) stuff, by wanting to act like knight in shining armor for her, Wakana is viewed as just dainty damsel in distress by the protagonists. As usual though, Philip's just more respected than Shotaro in general, Wakana's just another one like Akiko before to admire Phillip for his intelligence here, and acts pleasant to him while touching his hand. This is just typical Kamen Rider stuff to mistreat the moral cast (typically main Riders, but also others), like Kagami in Kabuto before. Wakana treating people differently, with her being two-faced to anyone like Shotaro or her assistants, making exception for Philip, also got Philip fascinated with her to Phillip is even more enamoured with her, seeing her nature as mysterious and complex.

This is a fun shake of the cast and W format, but this is also something frequently happens in people that I disagree with (sorry not sorry this may ruin your entertainment source here though). I think it's sad fact that, in general, power and abilities are appreciated over virtue, as shown by the difference of the perception of Shotaro and Philip, as ability is cool. but subtlety is underrated. It's easier to get mad at peoples' obvious weakness than it is to stand up and defend them and the hidden strengths. And for Philip's fascination, if often happens where audiences being fascinated with scumbag characters that can show soft side on occassion, deeming them as "multi-faceted and complex", and, often that they seem to think it's the only right way to write characters, and harp on any characters that aren't like that, particularly the goody types, who, yes, often mocked for being not deep and nuanced.

Wakana's entertainment business conflicts with Sonozaki family's goal, with them suggesting to give her a role in Gaia Memory distribution, but despite her troubles Wakana rejects them and denies it, causing a fight between her and Saeko in their Dopant form, showing Saeko's Taboo as being superior. Ryubee acts as he's helping Wakana, including breaking off those sister's fights problems, but she insists to take care of that. If Wakana seems disdainful of her entertainment business, I wonder what's the reason of keep doing it.

Yeah, recently learned that Motoko's role is the same as Riko's. Despite having watched both shows, I didn't realize for this one, such huge difference between Shion's looks (hair length) and demeanor for these 2 roles.

It is nice to get in on the ground floor for a change, yes!

I would assume that the folks in charge of production were pretty big fans of the Noir Detective genre; I don't know why you'd propose this specific concept and aesthetic (specifically that Shotaro loves detective fiction) without being a dyed-in-the-wool fan.

Well, Shotaro isn't looked down on because Philip's abilities are cooler or more useful -- he's looked down on because he's a cosplay detective that can't stop trying to sound cool. It's probably not as entertaining for the other characters as it is for the viewers!

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 14 - “Q ON THE RADIO - LIVE BROADCAST AT THE RIOT”

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And that’s the end of Act 1!

It’s a solid conclusion to the first chunk of Double, all the introductory beats. The only really unresolved conflict at this point in the show is Philip’s backstory, so it’s nice to get a two-parter that introduces the deep, inexplicable connection between Wakana and Philip, while also making it all but stated to Double that the Sonozakis are up to no good. There’s almost nothing else you could do that would feel like the show was accelerating its storytelling (*wink*), and the result is a two-parter that tells you the questions you should be asking, while teasing the answers to come.

(It is, honestly, weird to me how little Shotaro has any particular arc or goal at this point in the series. Akiko’s curious about her father’s absence, and Philip’s got his whole character description to worry about… but Shotaro’s just, like, hanging around. He’s solving mysteries, and helping his friends, and protecting Fuuto, but there’s only his Begins Night trauma to color that all in. It’s not like the show would work great with both halves of Double dealing with season-long mysteries, but it’s maybe helping me understand more why the Shotaro-heavy episode was such a miss for me.)

I really dug this episode, especially for how visually dynamic the show got for all of the Philip/Wakana stuff. When they’re having their cute moment in the doorway, the lights drop out, and we’re on a stage – the reality of the moment is traded in for performance and theatricality. It’s all heightened and metaphorical. Philip’s connection to Wakana is borne from something more primal and unshakeable, so it makes sense for those moments to become iconic inside the episode. Show didn’t need to get that smart, but I’m glad it did.

And, y’know, it’s not just beautifully-shot imagery and thoughtful examinations of human connection – we also get a bonkers Dopant mystery that involves both a Lovestruck Patsy and a Femme Fatale, because this show is now going for broke on its noir tropes. The Motoko scene near the end is hysterical for how quickly she goes from perfectly inconspicuous to screaming about her intricately plotted vengeance. It’s like the episode realized that it had a whole Dopant fight to finish (not my fave, too much CG) and an epilogue with Philip and Wakana, so she just WENT CRAZY, the end. (That flashback! Over the top, even for the show with both a Santa Claus and a cat monster!) Still, it’s a layered objective that kept the plot moving at a reliably fun clip for two entire episodes, so I’m not that mad at some finish line shortcuts. Fun mystery!

But the meat of this one is all Philip and Wakana, including my favorite beat in the whole story. Philip has the opportunity to find out every secret Wakana’s hiding through his access to the Gaia Library… but he doesn’t take it. Philip’s whole thing is insatiable curiosity, to an absurd degree (HEAVEN’S TORNADO), but he decides against it for Wakana. He’d rather get to know her, rather than learn her history from a book. He’s seeing the advantage of human connection, thanks to Shotaro’s influence. As far as ways to signal the end of an Act, that kind of character growth is ideal. Great end to a great episode, and a great first chunk of episodes.

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-Forgot to mention this last time, but I really enjoyed how all of the stops on Wakana’s sweets tour are from previous Double cases. I like when shows like this can check back in on past victims/culprits. (Yuuko kinda blurs the line!) Fourze obviously did it best with its summer movie, but I’m okay with a show this early in its run calling back a few clients.

-I genuinely don’t remember if I’d pieced the Wakana/Philip stuff together the first time I’d watched W. It seems insane to think I hadn’t – this episode all but shouts out the secret of their connection – but I may just be remembering it through the lens of future knowledge. Feels pretty overt, though.

Honestly a really enjoyable two-parter and probably a standout of all the episodes thus far.

There's a fun layered mystery where it definitely feels obvious, it's the manager. But also you have these striking scenes of the radio host co-worker and you're made to look at her as a suspect. Turns out they were both in on it, even if one forced the other into it.

It's just a real fun set of Wakana centric episodes where we get to dive into her lifestyle more and really dig into her character. Her interactions with Philip are definitely a highlight and it's fun to see a few wrinkles being thrown in this early. Hindsight is definitely a contributing factor I feel on "Wow these scenes are very blatant foreshadowing" but also I can't remember how I felt about the bits and pieces we get back when I first watched.

One scene I was surprised to see was Wakana actually transforming in front of the lady who tried to ruin her only to walk away. And I was like "Oh how are we going to solve the fact that she knows about-oh hi Kirihiko! Oh... oh this is how...". It's fun coming back to a show years after it airs cause small scenes like these catch me off guard despite knowing the broad strokes.

Likewise, it's always fun to see how they slowly work in the Movie Wars tie ins when you forget the more subtle ones. I remembered the obvious bits of Akiko asking about her dad around the time of Sweets. Or the hilarious scene of Masquerade just failing against Claydoll. But i forgot about the brief Skull imagery during the rumor segment of the first episode.

I know about Shotaro being a tryhard, but I think the half-boiled insults usually refer to Shotaro's emotional side to consider about the others' well-being which made him hesitate or putting trust on clients, this one would be about the moral decisions, where Philip mocks him over consistently. Being genius is an obvious strength, clearly bringing something to table with their knowledge, rather than this half-boiled stuff only carrying hidden strength on special occurence to people's eyes.

The Sonozakis, including Kirihiko, got various things wrong about each other. Kirihiko thinks Saeko is holding back and that her fight with Wakana is just sibling squabble about her blasts not killing Wakana, but it actually refers to Claydoll's ability. Kirihiko looks up the purchaser of the Violence Memory, and claims Saeko actually cares about Wakana due to having him look for it, though she denies it, but it's done to protect the Museum's secrets by having him kill Motoko. Saeko notes Wakana being happy, thinking it's her sticking to business, but it's due to her becoming true to herself, sticking to entertainment instead.

There are new kinds of gag from Shotaro and Akiko, about Akiko also pulling his ear. And when Shotaro notes that Phillip is spacing out after this case, he gets to retaliate to Akiko.. by slapping her with her slipper when she doesn't leave him alone (but by being concerned about him.. which is insensitive in Shotaro's eyes). Akiko gains upper hand in the slipper fight though by blocking the next attack and disarming it back. But both scenes aren't censored on my TV that time!

Saeko's name means cold child and it's meaningful for her behavior to bully Wakana to vent her childhood, which is Wakana's answer about being hunted by others, which she claims she feels it from her older sister, due to Ryubee tightly controlling Saeko's childhood but not Wakana's. Wakana had another sibling, a younger brother, who calms her down when she tries to retaliate, making her "kind again". Philip notes that there's kindness in her words just now and her true self is the kind little girl underneath, which means the bitchy persona is the fake act. Like fanbase propping up assholes as being kind inside when they show soft side on occassion on certain people (just selective treatment), I'd just disagree with this so far, she's acting that way solely to Phillip, the one that meets her standards (and the only one that claims she can be honest with), being nice only to certain person is hugely different for being nice person overall. Though there's a glimpse of her running over towards the knocked down Violence Dopant due to him being a pawn.

Motoko suggesting to put off Wakana's show in her news report before was a red flag, she's the real bad guy of this 2 parter driven by pure jealousy that Wakana's radio show is more popular than hers, should be obvious now why she asks to put off Wakana's show. Motoko is also utterly batshit insane, even the guy who sold Motoko the Violence Memory had doubts about that due to how crazy Motoko is, and she'd have no qualms to let a Dopant loose on the city in form of Ageo, who is a yandere himself to turn into a monster to make her like him. Philip's analysis about her is proven here as Motoko gives similar vibes to Saeko to Wakana, but said brother's words refrains Wakana getting even with Motoko, just leaving her be. I just disagree on why the display of being the "bigger person" has to involve them leaving their enemies be, never addressing her behavior, which W also did here, which of course, Motoko would expose Wakana's true nature as a monster afterwards.

Philip gains a growth and humanization as well here, growing out of his self-proclaimed 'little devil' persona, learning about emotions like feeling here, by asking Wakana to provide him keywords, like if she's been asked for her favorite scenery, which happened when she auditioned for Healing Princess show, discovering the culprit and Wakana gets back to work, but promises him to meet face-to-face later. Philip searching about Wakana's book in Gaia Library, refusing to read it, is played as dirty mind-like, but I thought, for being a "search engine man", searching the book would be like public figure's article on Wikipedia.

I really enjoyed how these two episodes used Kirihiko. He's sort of our POV character in the first Act for the Sonozaki side of things: the guy who can ask questions and learn things the audience needs to know, instead of a mountain of exposition from family members who'd have no reason to discuss this stuff. His presence lets the audience start to understand the genuine bond between Saeko and Wakana, instead of the constant antagonism we usually see. (I mean... it's sort of a genuine bond AND constant antagonism. Siblings, you know?)

Sure, but that's not really what's going on Episode 13. Wakana isn't looking down on Shotaro and praising Philip because of Philip's utility and Shotaro's lack thereof -- it's because Shotaro's being a weird pest, and Philip is actually trying to treat Wakana like a human being that needs help.

So Gingaman gets recommended not only by Sunred, but by you as well, even though you dislike Ryuki. Sounds like Kobayashi peaked at the start and then declined ever since. Kind of reductive that you would refer to Ginga Green as merely a supporting role though.

I guess this is an example where Shoutarou forgets his role as the heart by discouraging Akiko and insisting that her way of investigating is wrong, while Akiko despite her recklessness is actually being the most proactive in trying to solve the case on behalf of the patisseries. I think this is a good moral for Shoutarou, that there's more than one way to be a detective and Akiko has similar potential to Soukichi, but she does it in her own way and in her bad*ss moment, she shows true courage in her protection of her client.

Phillip seems like the kind of guy who would accidentally spoil himself about anything he's interested in, so it's pretty impressive for him to have access to information about Wakana and restrain himself from looking at it. While the information might be extremely valuable to know in advance, forgoing the opportunity means that he's able to reduce his personal bias, which is an important quality for a detective. Before looking for more clues, it's wise to analyze the clues you already have first and start forming a hunch, so I like how Phillip is starting to become more intuitive like Shoutarou and looking for value in the unknown.

Yeah, you got to respect Kirihiko's determination to stay relevant to the Sonozaki crime syndicate and earn their respect. Other than being a criminal, he's generally a pleasant guy, so it's a shame that his new family treat him with such indifference.

Can't complain. It had a well-picked cast, good setup, a red ranger who wasn't supposed to be a red ranger but becomes great, and the first gorilla ranger ever, which was nicely done I think.
Fun fact about Koji, it recently was revealed in Yasuhisa Furuhara's youtube channel when he interviewed Gao Red that Gao Red and Ginga Green were in a band together pre-super sentai. Kaneko who played Gao Red never mentioned if they went mainstream or even the indie scene but he started watching Gingaman at the time since his former bandmate was the green ranger and he seemed to have enjoyed it when it aired. Also, Maehara who played Ginga Red was a customer when Kaneko was working at something called a cafe bar, which apparently was popular during the 90s in Japan.

Sure, but I think it's also a case where Philip would rather learn about Wakana from Wakana, rather than just getting the facts. It's Philip starting to understand that the accumulation of knowledge needs to be balanced against human experience if it's to have any benefit.

KAMEN RIDER W: BEGINS NIGHT

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I think I enjoyed this overall, despite not really loving a lot of the details.

As a basic story, I like that it’s about the danger of letting grief turn into guilt. That’s a perfect noir story to tell, especially when applied to Shotaro’s fairly reasonable feelings of culpability in Sokichi’s death/”death”. Shotaro’s motivation has always been to earn Sokichi’s respect and/or admiration, and not only can that never happen, but now Shotaro will always feels like he let down the man he most respected. Telling a story where Shotaro has to learn to let go of that guilt and trust in his own decisions – which is what turns him into the man Sokichi always wanted him to be – is great little noir narrative. It’s a story full of guilt, grit, and eventually gratitude.

It’s also a story that bends over backwards to make everything you like about Double into A Sokichi Joint.

Like, I am fine with Shotaro (and, by proxy, Kamen Rider W) endlessly valorizing Sokichi. He works as an impossible ideal to strive towards, and that’s an okay piece of character backstory. But this movie works double-time (not sorry) to make Sokichi not just a piece of Shotaro’s backstory, but:

-the first Kamen Rider in this narrative
-the originator of Double's catchphrase
-the guy who named Philip
-the motivation for Philip to be a Kamen Rider

It’s a lot! It’s arguably too much! For a middle section of the narrative that’s all about making your own decisions and stepping out of people’s shadows, holy shit does this thing just sign Sokichi’s name to everything that put this show into motion! It retroactively makes a bunch of stuff in Act 1 less cool to me, and that’s a bummer.

(It also sort of boggles the mind that this movie decides to shove Skull into Begins Night, which is super weird. The movie tries to get around the question of Why Didn’t Sokichi Just Use Skull To Survive The Gunmen by adding in a personal code where he only uses Skull to fight Dopants, but it feels a little flimsy. He’s still going to have the Sonozaki Family trying to kill him! Taboo’s still floating around! Also, I don’t love the feral FangJoker form debuting here; feels out of place in the narrative.)

But, y’know, I did like the story being told, even if Sokichi always makes me roll my eyes. (Not my guy!) There’s some genuine sweetness to Shotaro throwing his entire life away because “Sokichi” showed up and told him he sucked, which is 1000% the half-boiled hero we know and love. The mystery is a neat one, and the action is – if not up to the grandiosity of the Decade section of Movie War 2010 – an improvement over the standard W fight scenes. (I don’t love saying it, but that Sokichi fight scene in the machinery room is iconic.) It’s an entertaining movie that’d be a great movie if it didn’t try so hard to prop up the legend of Sokichi. It was okay when he was just Shotaro’s Work Dad who taught him to love hats and detective fiction! That was plenty!

—

ONORE DIE-A MEMORIES

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-The Decade part of this team-up movie is still real weird, man. I absolutely adore the way it wants to culminate Tsukasa’s story in a touching recollection of all the ways he pissed people off over a year, but all of the Super Shocker stuff feels tonally dissonant. (Read the full write-up here!)

-The Crisis Fortress battle is laughably incongruent to the Kamen Rider W section of this movie, and basically comes off like a bonus Legend Riders stunt show. Fun to look at, but Double’s plot in this one ended way before Decade teamed up with him.

-Accel shows up in the end! Neat!