It’s a bit of a neat touch to show mostly old Dopant suits used by the wannabe cult before Energy’s big reveal. Definitely makes it clear how Dopants have gone from “defcon 1 threat” to “on the level of a mugging”.

And I have to wonder if somewhere out there, there’s a world where Wakana decided to try and take her brother’s place as Nate as of reviving him… But that’s what fanfiction is for. Maybe I’ll tell that story some day.

And now, the actor trivia, which is more mixed, so I don’t have a title to go with.

The kid who spurs Shotaro to action is the same actor who played the kid version of Shotaro earlier in the series (and in Movie Wars Core), probably for bookends purposes.

His older sister is played by Yui Koike, who would later play Ahim de Famille/Gokai Pink in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (one episode of which has the guy who played Kirihiko playing a villain of the week).

And finally, one of the thugs is another future Sentai vet. Shohei Nanba would later play Leo/ZyuohLion in Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger (though I doubt people would know it with the rather ridiculous looking wig he wears in that show)

It really was the equivalent of learning Kirihiko was one of the punks that picked on Ryotaro in an earlier episode of Den-O when Nanba was announced as Leo in Zyuohger. :lolol
Did not expect to see him years later as a yellow ranger in dreads, that's for sure. Speaking of Nanba, perhaps I should rewatch Zyuohger soon, it's been a while.

So, if I was trying to explain this within the world of W, I'd probably point out that these aren't people chosen to use specific Memories to which they're attuned -- it's just punk kids using whatever random crap they can get their hands on. The Cockroach Memory by itself is easily dispatched by Kamen Rider Joker in a quick fight; the Cockroach Memory wielded by a user chosen by the Museum is going to be a much tougher fight.

But, yes, it's really funny to see two-episode suits become background fodder by the end of the series.

Little Kamen Rider W and Sentai trivia. Both Koike, who played the sister, and Nanba, who played one of the thugs, were in anniversary sentai shows. Koike was Gokai Pink in Gokaiger, the 35th show, while Nanba was Zyuoh Lion in Zyuohger, the 40th show.

Terui (who can resist Utopia's mental attacks) also calls out Shotaro for refusing to henshin, not only endangering Wakana, but also Terui as well. Shotaro is to blame here for focusing more on Phillip and rather neglecting others here, though probably in his defense, as the henshin is their last, it's unknown too at this point if W can take on Utopia as well. Finally after Philip's anguish over what Kazu has done to the cast, attacking all the casts like Queen, Elizabeth, Santa-chan, Watcherman, Makura, Jinno (which how he got his phone), and Akiko, turning them into faceless, lifeless husks, now after seeing more misery from the other friends, Shotaro finally realizes that his focus on Philip dooms others, realizing the error on his ways as protecting his happiness (or for him, won't let any people cry) was more important than protecting his life, and now obeys Shroud's wish to make Philip smile instead, in line with his hatred of seeing others cry, and for now it's Philip. He apologizes to Philip, then takes Sokichi's hat to jump into battle. Though Philip's tears also awaken Wakana.

Utopia mocks Shotaro for confronting him without W... but Shotaro proves him wrong as W-B-X plays, by utilizing his good-ol detective combat skills, I myself kinda forget that Memory Gadgets can be a formidable asset in combat, like Fang fending off Phillip before he henshins as FangJoker before. Utopia's weakness is that he can't drain the abilities of non-living beings, like Sokichi's hat or the mechanical Gadgets. While teamwork is an important thing, it's also important to try to be independent, when you got to be separated or such.... or the teamwork is done not by Phillip, but by the Memory Gadgets, which binds Utopia (as Utopia's probably distracted by Shotaro using Sokichi's hat) as one of the Gadgets damage the machinery while Shotaro takes Wakana away. The Gadgets then destroy the lab, creating a huge explosion that engulfs Utopia as Shotaro takes Wakana outside and Xtreme Memory carries Phillip into the place. Still though an overall awesome scene, would like to see more of Xtreme Memory taking on Utopia, as it makes the most sense to fend him off as it can fend off some of the most powerful Dopants before. Phillip fully praises Shotaro for his accomplishment here, and indeed, Shotaro still didn't use W, but he's trying to fulfill Phillip's promise of protecting Fuuto alone. Didn't watch it, but this'd be probably similar to Ultraman Taro's finale, a mere human taking on the final threat (albeit Alien Valky isn't leagues above other monster; still a giant though) and takes advantage of the surrounding environment's explosions to take them down. Except obviously, Utopia survived.

Kazu really inadvertently screwed himself up, being rather pushy in his love to Saeko, as well as giving her Taboo Memory back, is what foils him here, despite that it'll favor Saeko's current enemies (and other family members). Kazu is one of those who took the NEVER case, which means he's a revived artificial soldier, as he can take Taboo's attacks as human. I guess other than Foundation X-arc Wakana (regarding Gaia Library), Kazu is an evil counterpart to Phillip, seen on their previous conversation regarding Wakana's state, as both have died but got resurrected (more on Kazu's in his stint as Eternal), and is a mostly emotionless smartass, but Philip is clearly very human, at worst cold, tactless, and pragmatic, while Kazu goes on outright ruthless, merciless, and callous territory. Though Kazu acknowledges in-universe that he's emotionless thus people have a hard time reading his feelings, and his love to Saeko is even shown in Kazu forgiving her aiding his enemies. But as you said, good catch that Kazu is a foil to Shotaro in how they treat Saeko and Philip respectively.

The Prism version of Double Xtreme extends the initial drop kick into bicycle kicks, giving even more attacks, though Double Prism Xtreme ironically is relegated into W's Rider Art on Super Climax Heroes game (its weaker special move, where Double Xtreme is the regular finisher). Like Terror before, Utopia's final battle is an anticlimatic one, though I'd say the Utopia one is probably done worse than Terror's (not talking about Utopia being overloaded though), as like what often happens in KR, Utopia didn't use much of his varied power against W, only fistfights. It's better for Terror before as his main powers are only 2, fear ooze and Terror Dragon. Kazu starts to count his sins... but apparently he thinks if loving (Saeko, perhaps) can qualify. This means Kazu doesn't even seem to think that his atrocities were wrong. Sorry to compare trash, but I think Philip here had some resemblance to Yui in late-Ryuki, as in an androgynous-looking companion who had died long ago as a child but got revived through the gimmick of the respective series, and is in the process of dying again where the main protagonist is desperate on saving them to the point of making mistakes until they realize the error in their ways... Kazu was the one that had his dying similar to Ryuki's body dissolving in Mirror World (as Philip dissolves into green data).

More of Saeko's character is shown here where she's the type to refuse help from others, wanting to prove herself to Ryubee which'd mean no one else has to help her in beating Wakana. If Wakana's defeat takes a lot of Kazu's work, it likely won't convince Ryubee that Saeko's the superior one. Thus even if Kazu's love is sincere, she rejects him for underestimating her. Saeko embodies the opposite of this series' theme, and didn't realize that the idiot Shotaro beat Ryubee due to helping each other. Kazu is the reason Saeko helps the heroes, such as warning about Kazu's plan to execute worldwide Gaia Impact, saving the cast while insisting for Raito to take Wakana, and hold off Utopia to let Wakana escape. If W is a modern/recent show, perhaps people'd (regardless if it's praising or complaining) depict this as redemption, but it's not as Saeko only does that out of hatred to Kazu, not because she realizes the error of her ways (of which Takahashi got a lot more vitriol of doing this), bad guys can fight other bad guys.

This sounds like depicting more abrasive/standoffish = more honest ('brutal honesty'), which I wish don't, as many unpleasantness can be justified as 'being honest'. Otherwise, I don't know which part of you thinking Saeko is treated as pawn/prize in middle part but I personally don't think Saeko is treated as pawn/prize throughout Isaka arc, it's her choice to make out with Isaka, to be Isaka's partner and aid him in overthrowing Ryubee, out of her own will, that doesn't take any agency away from her, it's her decision. And in the first arc, Kirihiko is the one used as a disposable pawn by Saeko, not the other way around.

Her dad, mostly, and beyond that... like, none of these guys ever really saw her. Kirihiko admired and respected her, but that was heavily influenced by his desire for status and power, which he gained through marriage. Isaka eventually grew to love her, but that was after months of dismissing her humanity in favor of her Dopant form. (Also, he definitely saw her as a weapon against Ryuube.) It's hard to say the men in this story -- all of them, any of them -- really saw beyond what Saeko represented for their aspirations and goals.

SERIES WRAP-UP

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Here’s the thesis statement, so you can start getting angry at me in advance: Kamen Rider W isn’t a story, it’s a setting.

This goes back to what I first said about Fuuto’s primacy in the premiere, but became more and more clear to me as the series progressed. A more traditional Kamen Rider story gives us a starting point – Yuusuke becomes Kuuga, Ryotaro joins the Den-Liner, Touma becomes Saber – and then progresses that character through a specific narrative – defeating the Grongi, solving the mystery of the rampaging Imagin, dealing with the various prophecies and whatnot of Calibur etc. – until the story is concluded, and the main character has faced their personal conflicts and flaws in service of illuminating the themes of the series. That’s a year of Kamen Rider: you go on a journey with these characters, in pursuit of a goal.

But that’s not really Kamen Rider W.

Sure, there’s the ostensible defeat of the Museum, but even that isn’t the conclusion of this show. (The real finale is them fighting a guy from a completely different organization, for completely different reasons!) This isn’t even a show that goes on a journey with the two characters that fundamentally changes them; the core dynamic is the same in the first two episodes as it is in the final episode. This show kicks off with Shotaro and Philip being dedicated partners with different strengths, and concludes in exactly the same way. Their relationship is tested throughout W, mostly to exciting effect, but it never fundamentally changes. They are partners from the first episode to the last episode. That’s the show. That’s it.

It’s a show that never really wanted to put the characters in opposition, or irrevocably change them. Revelations about Philip’s backstory only increase his bond with Shotaro, and Shotaro does not exactly have a wealth of layers to peel back. Shotaro never once views Philip as anything other than a valued (if occasionally frustrating) partner, and Philip’s belief in Shotaro’s abilities is the crux of multiple story climaxes. The closest we get to the team breaking up are in tiny ways that the show almost instantly swerves away from: Shotaro’s incompatibility with Philip’s evolution in the Xtreme Memory story feints at CycloneAccel, but the show never even tries out that concept; Philip plans to leave town with Wakana, but the very next scene after his fateful decision is the reveal that Wakana is now completely evil. We get teases and hints that the show is about to change, but then it becomes even more entrenched in its routines and habits.

And yet, that’s exactly what makes Kamen Rider W such a great show for new fans.

It’s not trying to have a complex year-long story with shifting allegiances and uncertain outcomes. It luxuriates in being a show that starts with a case being dropped on our heroes, which they’ll solve in the next 42 minutes. (Even the last two-parter! And they do! They solve it in two episodes!) It wants to hang out with a fun detective superhero team, with little bits of mythology accruing at the edges. Another show might’ve had Philip join the Museum for a few episodes, or had Shotaro feuding with Accel in a more serious way – this one never lets those options become more than a single scene’s hypothetical. The show’s narrative gravity is dedicated to a core where two brothers in a found family protect Fuuto in an action-comedy noir milieu. It’s built to have no beginning and no end. It is forever just your memory of Philip and Shotaro, in their office.

Because of that, it’s probably the easiest Kamen Rider show for fans of American superheroes. This is the unending Middle Act of Superman, and Spider-Man, and Batman – forever fighting battles, but never really concluding their story. Double is tested endlessly, but in ways that only reaffirm what we know about them. They’re fun to hang out with for an adventure, and those adventures will never end. Defeating the Museum was a story for a year, but it was never really the story of Kamen Rider W. They exist to protect Fuuto, which means they never need to reach the end of their story. It’s like Batman protecting Gotham City for over 80 years, but with more fun pop songs.

All of this… it doesn’t make W a bad show, even if it makes it a show where I found less to talk about. W is a vibes show, not a show with complex characters that are constantly surprising you. You could drop into maybe any two-parter on W and find plenty to enjoy. (I’d always laugh to myself at the Previously Ons that just recapped a one-off story that would not even be referenced in the current episode.) The series-arc stuff, outside the final few episodes, mostly felt like the producers treated it as an obligation. The real excitement and enjoyment was always, for me, in the Dopant Dilemmas. To see our heroes crack a case and save the day? That was always a delight.

The greatest strength of Kamen Rider W is also its greatest weakness: it’s a show that never wants to change, because it’s perfect from the start. The chemistry of the actors, the template of the episodes, the overall feeling of the show – it’s all exactly what you want a Kamen Rider show to be. It nails its premise so utterly, so quickly, that it’s like no one could see a reason to deviate from it over the next year. But that lack of risk makes everything feel too comfortable at times; episodes are delightful, instead of thought-provoking or challenging. Shotaro and Philip bicker and come together in Episode 2, and they bicker and come together in Episode 48. It’s fun, and the actors make it nothing less than memorable, but it’s safe in a way that Kamen Rider rarely is. More than any other show, this one felt like it was built to go on forever. The fact that it got an animated sequel over a decade later proves that it can. But the cost of that forever is maybe a lack of promise in the present.

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I've always been in the camp that enjoyed W's finale. This wasn't a show that was designed to be a tragedy; it was meant to be a show about two detectives whose skills combine together to solve mysteries and fight monsters. It wouldn't feel right to me to end on a note where one is dead and the other is struggling to get by without him (or where both are dead, as the teaser at the end of 48 wants you to think may happen). Does it rob some of the pathos from 48 when Philip comes back 15 minutes into 49? Yeah. Does it still feel good to see him after watching Shotaro still having trouble remembering he's gone after a year of in-universe time? Hell yeah. If I want a beautiful tragedy, I'll watch Blade. That's not what I'm here for with W.

Now, in response to your final thoughts, I generally agree. Sometimes a premise works better for episodic storytelling than serialized and W is absolutely one of those. It's basically the Kamen Rider version of a procedural: each fortnight brings a new case with a new client and a new monster. And it works really well here. It works well in tokusatsu in general; Sentai, Ultraman, and Showa era Rider were all built on episodic done-in-ones with the occasional two-parter to shake things up. The Heisei era really revolutionized things by doing more ongoing plot threads and character arcs, which sometimes leads to the assumption that every Rider show needs these, and that view is... complicated.

I absolutely get tired of Kamen Rider just doing episodic stuff. There's years of posts on this site of me bemoaning "monster of the fortnight" story structure, especially in early Drive threads. I think it's a format that works sometimes, but I also like it when shows feel like there's a more serialized plot. I think W is a place where the episodic structure works great because it's baked into the premise. I think it gets frustrating when we don't have any variation from that, which is where we get into my own complicated thoughts on W's legacy.

I love Kamen Rider W. It's been one of my top five - probably top three - Rider shows since it aired and this rewatch has done nothing to change that. Like Die said, it is a show about vibes and those vibes are immaculate. It's also something that led to what I've always felt was the stagnation of the Neo Heisei era. W took the format pioneered by Den-O and perfected it: episodic two-part arcs, main Rider with a non-human partner, generally lighthearted tone where few people get seriously hurt, serious vs. goofball dynamic with the secondary Rider, etc. It did all of this and was a huge success, which led to the next three years being minor iterations on that same set-up to steadily diminishing returns (any time this topic comes up I always think back to this post I made back in 2012). None of this diminishes W as a show on its own, but it is something that I can't fully divorce from it.

For myself, Kamen Rider W was and still is one of the good introductory shows because it carries the elements of a classic Kamen Rider show established during the Showa era but gives it a Heisei flavor to it. Shotaro and Philip together are the textbook Kamen Riders in that they each hold a tragedy/sadness of their own, be it the loss of someone close, originating from a place (or in this case, a family) of evil, but they run with it by putting on a mask and ride on to help those in need. It's this approach of taking a curse and repurposing it as a gift to benefit those around you that is I think what made the first generation of Kamen Riders from the 70s and 80s Kamen Riders, and this show making that point more obvious further cements the reason to start with this show to those unsure of where to begin after at least half a century of shows and movies.

The show really pays tribute to the early years of the series well. Aside from what I said about the origins of Shotaro and Philip, the choice of using green and black invoke to me the first two double riders, Takeshi Hongo and Hayato Ichimonji, aka Ichigo and Nigo, and the overall shape and form of the suit, though it may not be insectoid, have key design elements of the archetypal Kamen Rider design. Ryu is a nice tribute to both Kazuya Taki from the first show, an FBI agent who helped out both riders, and Shiro Kazami the protagonist from the second show Kamen Rider V3 by being an agent of a law enforcing entity, an eventual ally, and a rider whose tragedy involves the horrific death of his parents and sister. Lastly, Kamen Rider Skull is a nice tribute to what resulted during the culmination of the og Kamen Rider, Skullman, in that he was the catalyst for the titular rider to be born.

Anyway, those are my two cents and I hope you enjoy Fuuto P.I.

Yeah, I think for me... like, I famously do not think much of a lot of the mysteries and reveals that go into a year-long storyline. But! I think it's important that it feel like the final episode is the end of the story; that the core mechanism of the show has concluded, and there's nothing left to say with these characters in their current configuration. I don't get that from W, and that feels as much a problem of the premise (noir fiction generally is open-ended) as it is lack of boldness from the creative team. Show just wants to have its detectives detecting forever!

Oh, for sure. It's one of the Top 3 shows you can give to new viewers, no doubt. (Kuuga and Geats are the other two for me.) A two-part mystery formula is easy for viewers to key into, and the opposition basically being a crime family ranks pretty highly in verisimilitude, compared to other Kamen Rider villains who are mutant messiahs and immortal book warlords. W is, for better or worse, a very easy show to get into if you're unfamiliar with tokusatsu conventions.

Regardless, this decision W did is also controversial as it can be seen as undoing the emotional impact and the lesson to be learned from it, while there'd be those who'd prefer the cast not being stuck on depression as well as tolerating the revival due to another loss coming from it in Wakana's life. I also personally think Ex-Aid handled the similarly talked about revival (of Poppy and Parado) scene better, as it's inevitable when True Ending movie comes, and personally if they didn't get revived, I'd actually question the series from that, as Bugster has shown to possess immortality due to reviving before from Graphite. The series at ep. 48 still do have some loose ends, like Wakana and her Claydoll Xtreme powers, still thinking that she's the possibly strongest Dopant in the whole series, above Terror and Utopia too, thus ep. 49 needs to be done to tie in some loose ends, Wakana is "taken down" by talking her out instead which Shroud did, but still another version of Gaia Impact by reviving Phillip wasn't really touched upon or is revealed to be able to be done before, it seems to be made up for the sake of keeping the partners together. Best explanation is about how Gaia-related deaths don't make them totally disappear but contain them in the data; Earth memories... similar again to Ex-Aid's Game Overs?

Though Shotaro has rather poor way of coping, guess he also gets development here to acknowledge his shortcomings or his usual self resurfacing, where after learning that Shotaro is a Kamen Rider and that he seemingly backed up his hard-boiled speech before, Shotaro admits he's not strong too just like Akira, that he too can't do much by himself, only hanging on, nobody's perfect. Though Akira visits EXE alone, it's also lucky that Akiko placed the tracking device on Akira's shoe so they can follow after him. Shotaro now praises Akira for hanging on instead, which Akira now sees it as what it takes to be hard-boiled (not being shaken by a situation) while not being perfect, and returned the favor, now seeing Shotaro hanging on as a cool stuff about him. Finally making peace with each other, they had a gesture of friendship by pointing at each other. Yui also praises Akira for his bravery, and he claims he's learning to be hard-boiled. They're at peace now, so Shotaro playfully puts Akira in a headlock for this.

Wakana's version of Gaia Impact is giving Philip a physical body, and she did it due to the duty of Sonozaki family changing the world, and that Philip's best suited as he has the kindness required for it. The other relatives also each encouraging him to protect Fuuto, with Saeko turning stern instead of ruthless, Ryubee only having warmth on his son, and Shroud, well, she had seen the light before this. Each of the family bids farewell to him with Saeko even hugging Wakana as they disappear into data within Earth's memory. The scene is of course, meant to be the family finally being at peace after being screwed up, and Shroud's last contribution of redemption with her advice to Wakana, by proxy ending the unstoppable Claydoll Xtreme. But dunno if the scene would be probably glamorize the family too much regardless of their action in the series, especially Saeko's. This is probably proving Phillip's claims to be true that the Memories are the culprit of the family being evil, but Saeko abused Wakana due to Ryubee's abuse to her, it's not seen (in main series) when did Saeko became Taboo, but at least she should be inherently evil Memory or not if she didn't turn into Taboo at young age (Wakana's still a child).

Akiko using the Frog Pod to emulate Philip's voice, dunno if it's due to telling Akira about Philip, probably wanting to show more to him using Frog Pod... or a really misguided attempt in cheering Shotaro up. Either way it's a big mistake from her, as giving (intentionally or not) a pleasant-sounding lie is only a false hope and the truth will be discovered sooner or later, where she apologizes and even asks for Shotaro to hit her with the slipper. Obviously, Shotaro would get even more depressed from this, though he copes with it better compared to lashing to others before; he just leaves sulking out without hitting her with the slipper or even yelling at her (which she also asked). I'd think the appropriate 'payback' (or applying the lesson from the mistake) from Shotaro would be (dunno if Akiko learned in side media or such) him revealing to Akiko that her dad died long ago. Akira also gives a bit of payback to Shotaro to declare him being uncool for sulking to his gone partner, though it's resolved by Akiko revealing Philip died, thus realizing Philip being as important to Shotaro as Yui to Akira.

Wakana visits Shroud to make her awaken her power, performing Gaia Impact, as in what the flashback has shown. Yeah, at this point Wakana's still the same self from her at the beginning of Foundation X Arc, from her still planning to continue Gaia Impact at the absence of both Ryubee and Kazu. As well as her hostility to Shotaro saving her at the beginning dismissing him as Raito's dog. Shroud gives her a simple answer of looking it up in G̶o̶o̶g̶l̶e̶ Gaia Library. Wakana is surprised at Shroud cooperating with her, but Shroud assures her that they're a family, and urges Wakana to do what Wakana thinks is right. It's good to finally see a familial moment of Shroud with her child other than Phillip, but I think the episode is misguided if that's meant to be a good advice, as Shroud learned about the errors of her ways in ep. 44, unlike Kirihiko or Ryubee, as I thought both of them also did what they think is right. Reminder that Shroud is severely injured (she's masked/"kamen"), so now she succumbs to her injuries, though dunno why she holds Ryubee (who inflicted said injuries) in higher regard now as she longs to be with him at death.

While Philip's apparent demise naturally is going to leave a lasting impact to Shotaro big time (he openly cried about it), Shotaro had pretty poor coping mechanism here, the "lashing out in anger" type. Shotaro does have occasional meanness in his tryhard(-boiled) flick of pretending to be cool or such, but he did that, in greater scale of meanness than what's ever seen from him for outright petty reasons as in being overly aggressive for not getting the cat food he needed; which is like when a bratty child's needs is neglected, and mocking Akira who's on similar situation where he's useless without Yui, telling him to face it himself as a man. Even Terui was able to rein in his usual hostility (to questions), against kids at the end of ep. 36. Even Akiko also tries to warn Shotaro for being overboard here. Akira knows his place though that nobody's perfect, and as a kid he's still not fully mature and had to rely on others.

EXE's goal is to become Museum's successor by gathering all the remaining Memories. I think it's a reharsh of the ep. 17-18 2-parter, about youths meddling around with Gaia Memories, but with additional information of the series' end (Museum's demise). Shotaro's sole Rider, Joker, is a homage to the Showa KR Black, with Rider Punch and Rider Kick as finishers, but with purple energy rather than orange. While EXE's Anomalocaris didn't fought at his prefered environment, Cockroach didn't make use of any of his super speed to gain advantage, is it intentional to show that they're just greenhorns who are unable to use the Memories' powers effectively? Because KR as a franchise tends to underutilize character's powers in later appearance. This obviously applies to the pet shop worker a.k.a Energy at the end.

Historically, Shotaro is not great with kids, and he's exactly the sort of hot-tempered dork to needlessly escalate a prickly social interaction with a stranger. There's probably some truth to him being quicker to annoy without Philip around to level him out (he sort of says as much to Akira), but a lot of this is, like, Shotaro. Basic, everyday Shotaro.

For how he tries to give Akira manly advice... that's just him trying to act like Sokichi, instead of acting like Shotaro.

KAMEN RIDER W FINAL STAGE

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Look, I don’t know how objective I can be on this one: it’s a stage show that gave a prominent role to Mr. Fuuto, the best suit in all of W.

That concept – Akiko has accidentally become a Fuuto Dopant, represented by the honest-to-god Mr. Fuuto suit – is brilliant. It takes the lemons of The Actors Are Definitely Not Starring In This (short a couple brief Akiko scenes) and makes transcendent lemonade out of them. Seeing that suit bumble around alongside Double, Accel, and a slew of other great suits from the breadth of W… so great. Exactly the sort of thing that’s going to defeat my critical faculties.

Which is not to say this wasn’t a fun story otherwise! I like the idea of centering this Greatest Hits suit spectacular on how Akiko feels about Fuuto, since – as Terui points out – we’ve never really heard how Akiko feels about the town that the other three heroes have sworn to protect. She’s an Osaka girl, and it’s a nice reminder that her roots in Fuuto aren’t that deep. The story doesn’t really go anywhere significant, though, in that its resolution is that Akiko loves Fuuto, but still loves Osaka, but I like that this stage show at least kept Akiko central to the narrative.

Nice to see all the villains again, too, even if most of them have briefly reverted to their basic criminal/monster templates. Beyond Kirihiko taking it on the chin yet again as Saeko’s most pathetic suitor, the Dopants are just there to be fun enemies for the heroes to defeat. (It is galling to me that Kirihiko doesn’t express any anguish over Isaka of all people using Kirihiko’s son Mr. Fuuto in a villainous plot. Kirihiko raised him better than that!) Clay Doll continues to be one of my favorite suits, and it’s neat to see Eternal get a cool (and completely silent) fight with Skull. Every suit! They used every hero suit in this thing!

They even used them in an especially fun way, which is kind of the main criteria I have for these older stage shows, the ones that can’t lean on the chemistry of the live actor performances. (Build, basically.) Having the Fuuto Dopant materialize all of the basic Double configurations was pretty fun to see, but even better was that they grouped them by Philips for one attack run, and then by Shotaros for the final attack run. There was actual logic to it! Instead of just a scrum of suits! What a treat!

Seriously, this was one of the better stage shows. The plot doesn’t exactly make a lot of -slash- any sense (Isaka is just from another world? But he remembers the villains of this world?), but the Akiko-centric story blends well with every goddamn suit, providing a visually-impressive send-off to Kamen Rider W. Everything you want a Final Stage to do.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/w/finalb.png

Honestly, my favourite bit from this was Invisible Man Isaka trying to get Akiko out of the picture by… bribing her with plane tickets to Osaka.

Glad to see another member for Team Phillip Lives! To expand on what I mentioned here for DreadBringer's review a few years ago, I think Phillip being temporarily dead was a good way to push Shoutarou's qualities to the foreground and develop them, so that Double can be even stronger when Phillip returns. Despite Shroud's initial dismissal of Shoutarou as a weak link, his year of fighting alone as Joker proves that he's strong in his own right and will always defend Fuuto from those who'd make it cry. Phillip's revival is Shoutarou's reward for his courage and endurance and that's why I love this ending. Honestly, I don't think it even takes anything away from the tragic scene in Episode 48. I cried the first time and I still cried the second time even though I knew what was coming.

For a meta reason, there's the inevitable crossovers to consider and of course we need Double for that, not only Joker. I mean, sure, you could only revive Phillip temporarily, but that would just feel open-ended and unsatisfying. If the show had aired in the 00s instead, permadeath may have been more likely, but that depends on agreement between the writer and producer.

Yeah, you should! Actually, I need to rewatch Zyuohger sometime soon as well, it's been 8 years after all and an awesome season! But I also need to rewatch Kakuranger for the 30th anniversary and potentially whatever Sentai Die's going to watch.

It's a good scheme! It almost worked!

The weird continuity problem in Philip returning a year after Episode 48, though, is that it makes the timeline of Movie War Core maybe not work? If OOO is happening in 2010-2011, that means Philip wouldn't return until that show's finale. (Which is kind of hilarious to think about -- Eiji mourning Ankh's disappearance, just as Philip arrives to say he's been alive this whole time in a DX bird toy.) Unless every series after Double is perpetually taking place one year in the future?

I think we can safely assume that Ghost proves Kamen Rider shows do not necessarily operate in real time.

There's also Saber's 6 month interval that occurs between the final battle and epilogue, where Beyond Generations somehow happens and yet nobody questions how Touma is alive or how the Seiken Swords are still functioning?

Ghost's main plot occurs over 198 days exactly, so how does EX-Aid appear in the finale when he's not supposed to be active for another 6 months? Rather, how does he appear on a planet of dead people in the summer movie?

Or, like, there's the entirety of Super Movie War Genesis....

EDIT: Ninja-ed by Switchblade.

I want to say there's also a thing with Wizard's backstory that makes his Fourze movie appearance impossible? Either way, I'm mostly goofing around; I definitely will not be thinking about any of this tonight when I rewatch Movie War Core.

You know Die you bring up a good point, it is odd that despite having Kirihiko there, they didn't think to do some kind of bit with him reacting to Futo-Kun being the form of the Futo Dopant.

Anyway this was a blast. From Akiko as Futo-Kun, to getting to see all of the Ws and of course my favorite Rider of all time, Kamen Rider Skull.

I also found AR Isaka amusing, if only because he ripped off Shroud, and I like how it continues W having ties to Decade. We have an AR Skull out there somewhere, why not an AR Isaka?

Also while silent Eternal was funny, I found Terror Dopant who yells and sounds nothing like Ryubei even funnier. Cause at least there's this mystique to Eternal being silent, with Terror it's like, "Uh wait, who is this?".

Ryuube's furious because he was busy dancing with the memory of his wife, and then Isaka dragged him into some weird villain plot! Isaka is being very inconsiderate!

You see, the Time Vent card, in association with the Newton Eyecon, and the PuToTyra medals, all combined together in a horrific negative reaction with the Pausing and Hyper Clocking Up at the same time, and now they have the month of Smarch in Rider world.

I'm surprised that's still the case, since I'm pretty sure Touma spent a year in Wonder World trying to get these timelines back in alignment. He's a better writer than that! Mei wouldn't let him just make up an extra month!

originally posted on December 4th, 2021, as part of “Kamen Rider Die rewatches Legend Rider projects (and more!)”

KAMEN RIDER X KAMEN RIDER OOO & W FEAT. SKULL: MOVIE WAR CORE

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Not my favorite movie. I didn’t really love it the first time around, and I don’t love it now. The thing is, my opinion on the two sections/portions of this film – OOO and W – have sort of completely flipped around?

I really disliked the W portion on this viewing. Like, a lot. Setting aside the incredibly weird Daddy Issue stuff of having Akiko’s actress play Melissa, a woman who is in love with Skull (HER DAD), it’s a story that traffics in one of my least-favorite Kamen Rider tropes: Heroic Abandonment.

Skull’s portrayed as a stoic, suffering hero. He’s betrayed by his closest friend, called a monster by a woman he gave up everything to save, and unable to ever touch his daughter again. It’s a story all about the lengths Kamen Riders have to go to in order to protect the people they love, even if it means they have to cut those people out of their lives.

It’s horseshit. Even before he became Kamen Rider Skull, Sokichi wasn’t answering his daughter’s phone calls. (He totally forgot about her birthday!) He lives in a completely different city for reasons that aren’t established in this film, and I don’t recall from the series. He’s making a choice to ignore his responsibilities as a parent, way before he’s forced to abandon his daughter for her own safety.

(Which, two things. The No-Touching Spider in his body will only kill Akiko if he touches her. He could still, like, see her. Or call her. Like everything else in their screwed-up family, it 100% feels like Sokichi is looking for any excuse to bail on his parental commitment. The other thing… like, killing Matsu doesn’t kill the spiders? It dissolves the webbing immediately, but it doesn’t defuse the time bombs infecting everyone in the city? What… what did Sokichi even accomplish by killing Matsu, then? Everyone who didn’t already blow up is forced into a life of misery? This is what we’re calling a victory now?)

This should be a story about sacrifice and duty, but everything in it reads like a story about deadbeat dads with poor work/life balance. Which, honestly, fine. I don’t need my Kamen Riders to be completely logical and emotionally healthy. I like Faiz, you know? But there’s basically no judgment on Sokichi’s actions in this movie. Akiko is furious about the ways her life has been negatively impacted due to Kamen Riders failing her as friends, family, and lovers, but the moral at the end is just Her Suffering Is A Small Price To Pay For Justice. It’s an entire story where Akiko’s theatrical-but-honest emotional turmoil is brushed aside in the face A Man’s Silent Suffering. Whatever.

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The even more galling failure of the W portion is that the OOO portion is specifically refuting that worldview. The W portion is about how Kamen Riders are solely focused on helping people, even if they have to give up on happiness as a result. But the OOO portion is about how hollow and unfulfilling it is to solely dedicate yourself to anything! The OOO portion – which I originally thought was laughably bizarre and generally irrelevant – pretty much ended up being the only part of this story I liked.

It's Inoue, which was nice. Inoue Forever and all of that. (There's a bit where Eiji says that Nobu is still Nobu, which feels like a secret message between me and Inoue.) It does the Eternal thing of crafting a villain that reflects/inverts our hero’s shortcomings, but turned up to Evil. Nobunaga, a man whose name autocompletes with ‘s Ambition, is someone who is consumed by his need to attain, to control. He’s everything Eiji isn’t. Nobunaga sees the world around him as both a birthright and a banquet, all of it waiting for him to claim it.

But in seeing the world that way, he misses the point of it all. Nobunaga can’t understand how Eiji can find joy in a life without taking. What Eiji points out to him is that the world exists outside of the ambitions of men. The sky is blue. Art is created. It doesn’t need people to control it, because it doesn’t bow to that control.

It’s a pretty basic Stop To Smell The Roses moral, and it could probably only work when applied to the story of Oda Nobunaga. (It’s a bit like only being able to land a simplistic message like Don’t Bite People in a story with Dracula.) But I think it worked here due to its own bonkers commitment to the story of a cloned warlord who used his heretofore unrevealed healing powers to undo the damage he caused a woman he was stalking, as well as the proximity to a much less appealing story in Skull’s celebrated abandonment of his daughter.

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But at least Kamen Rider Birth shows up!

I like Birth okay, but its introduction here is like nearly every other Fan Service thing in this story: missing the point entirely.

It’s just the Birth suit, not either of the Birth characters. Date isn’t in this movie at all, and Goto’s turn as Birth is both noncanonical (pretty sure the series doesn’t let him be Birth for a good long while) and robbed of its significance. There’s a really great arc in the series about Goto becoming Birth, but here it just happens off-camera. Same thing with Tajador; awesome suit, fun to see it kick ass, but it’s almost unforgivable that it’s introduced with Ankh just showing up with the medals.

And, man, I said how great it was that A To Z managed to find time for its entire TV series cast, so here’s a movie that Ankh’s human form is in for about forty-five seconds, and the full cast of W is almost entirely sidelined for a prequel story. It’s a bummer. It’s a movie celebrating two TV shows, and it’s compromised versions of both.

Plus, not super crazy about the concluding section. The villain at the end, Kamen Rider Core, doesn’t make much sense, or have a defensible viewpoint. It’s just a monster that hates Kamen Riders, and thinks they make everything worse, all so Akiko can feel bad about holding the men in her life responsible for abandoning her. He’s a giant flaming Ghost Kamen Rider, and defeating him isn’t clever or anything. It’s just new power-ups and Early-Bird suit debuts. I had honestly completely forgotten about him, and now I know why.

Yeah, man, did not dig this one! The OOO stuff is good enough, but it sucks to not really have any Eiji/Ankh scenes. (I mean, they literally never share a frame, so I’m just going to assume that Ankh’s couple scenes were filmed separately from the rest of the cast.) The W stuff features my least-favorite W plot – Akiko and Terui’s totally unconvincing romance – and one of my all-time least-favorite Kamen Rider tropes. It’s okay to say that Sokichi was a good Kamen Rider but a shitty dad! That would’ve made the movie so much better! Instead, we get a middle section that exposes the lie the first part is telling, and then a third part that ignores the exposure.

Not one I liked rewatching!

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DIE-A MEMORIES

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-Ha ha, SAME. Same, Die from 2021! Still didn’t like this dumb movie! My April Fools’ Day prank was on me for rewatching 2/3rds of this stupid thing. (I skipped the OOO section – the only goddamn part I liked, naturally – since I’ll be rewatching this thing again next year.)

-While I had more patience for the Akiko/Terui wedding bookend this time through, it still would've been nice if we’d really ever seen their relationship progress beyond hints and innuendo and headcanon. We go from Akiko asking the audience to root for her in the summer movie, straight to her and Terui getting married, without really any work done in showing their actual relationship. Disappointing.

-Also, man, the giant flaming spectral Maximum Drive balls to do the final W story, and have it mostly be a Skull story that Double doesn’t even get to witness. WOW. I think the Accel V-Cin has those guys playing more of a part in it than this movie, which feels colossally misguided. Begins Night is fine, because it helps fill in some necessary blanks while also illustrating Shotaro’s unresolved guilt, but here it’s just… why? Why this story instead of an actual farewell to Kamen Rider Double? We really gotta see Young Shroud? (It is actually cute to see that vendor from the Beast/Zone story, though.) And, y’know, see above for how well this story conveys its weird themes of abandonment and manly suffering.

-Makura got a haircut! It looks good!

I really didn't care for this movie the first time I watched it, which felt weird because it was the first piece of W media that really didn't click with me. I think a lot of it was that I was excited to see Shotaro, Philip, and Terui back in action again after almost a year of OOO and what we got instead was this. Team W ends up taking a backseat to Skull and, frankly, I don't care enough about Skull/Sokichi to feel like I needed or even wanted a fully detailed origin story for him. It really wasn't what I wanted and was only the better part of the movie for me because it felt like the writer had actually seen the show they were writing a movie for which is definitely not the vibes I got from the OOO part (but that's a conversation for next year).

This time around I liked it more, but I still don't love it. I think a lot of that is just lowered expectations; knowing this was a Skull feature meant that I was able to just accept it for what it was. And what it was was fine. Sokichi is definitely a character that has a lot of style and it was very much on display here. The story was reasonably entertaining as a hard-boiled detective story, questionable reuse of Akiko's actress notwithstanding. The action scenes were pretty decent. Shroud's wig was even more laughable than normal. It's still probably my least favorite piece of W media, but I have an Eternal movie left to go through before I can make that call.

Yeah, it's... if this was just a completely disconnected Skull V-Cin -- Shotaro reading through old case files or whatever -- I'd probably be unenthused, but generally forgiving. The two things that tank it for me here are the aforementioned last-ever chance at getting a Double story (Legend Rider appearances and other characters' V-Cins don't count) turning into a glorified spin-off, and the fact that the lens for said spin-off is Akiko learning that her dad abandoned her In A Good Way. The latter is a recurring Kamen Rider trope that I find infuriating, and the former is just such a monumental bummer. The producers want to do a thing where cool-ass Skull deals with betrayal and sacrifice? I'm down for that. They want to do it during a Double movie and make it so Akiko is the one who needs to learn a lesson? Slightly less down for that!

Yeah, the OOO segment is really the highlight of this whole movie. Aside from that, the W segment is just a few quick “wink and nod” moments (like the cameo by kid Shotaro and his GF from the premiere). And honestly, the Bat Dopant looked more interesting after they retooled the head into Another Kiva. Speaking of which…

Rider-lert!

Our secondary villainess is played by Reon Kadena, latterly Alain’s sister Alia (and his mother Alicia through the magic of hair extensions) in Kamen Rider Ghost. Which I only knew because someone doing a video showing multiple transformation devices used by one actor (eg. The Garren Buckle and the Libra Switch) had a segment showing off the Bat Memory and the Proto Ulorder with the Necrom Eyecon.

Details for OOO coming when I’m contractually allowed to discuss them.

I would've never gotten there either! Thanks!

KAMEN RIDER W RETURNS: KAMEN RIDER ACCEL

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Basically the perfect Kamen Rider V-Cin, assuming you can get past some of the directing choices.

I mean, look. I love Sakamoto. This has got his hallmarks all over it: tons of out-of-costume stunt action, leggy dames, slow-motion sequences throughout, verticality in the costumed fights, and a solid grip on pacing. This thing keeps a remarkably tense atmosphere for the majority of its run-time, with a constant pressure that never becomes anxious or suffocating. It’s, in almost every way, exactly what this movie needs.

What it did not need was for the Director of Photography to juggle the camera during every single shot, nor did it need the Editor to make sure that no shot lasted longer than three seconds. Those choices created a film that is a rough watch, even as the story had me completely hooked. Basic chase sequences are rendered nauseating by how heavily the camera swings around the frame, and the really good fight scenes become difficult to follow as the edits keep the geography of the players obscured. Everything’s frenetic and frantic, which I get as an aesthetic choice – it’s to simulate how little room there is for Terui to breathe – while bemoaning it as a storytelling choice. I don’t know that the visuals needed to be this jittery.

Everything else, though? Perfect. Perfect movie.

I love how the two main threads, the Commander Dopant and Terui’s marriage, are really just about one idea: the way personal growth is hindered by both our past and the judgment of others. It’s a crime movie about how recidivism is the consequence of both the criminals and the cops, which is such a neat Kamen Rider Accel concept to explore. Terui’s a grim executioner who became a hero, and he’s also a grieving man who became a loving husband. His whole story is about finding reasons to live and abandoning reasons to kill, so he’s the perfect vessel to explore a tale of criminals who can’t escape the suspicion of the cops, and cops who can’t see a reason to extend grace to evil.

Like, the very fact that Sagami views criminals as evil is such a clever extrapolation of A Cop Who’s A Kamen Rider, and how the need for empathy is what really makes someone a Kamen Rider. Terui isn’t a hero because he detonates monsters or catches thieves; he’s a hero because he cares about the citizens of Fuuto, even the ones who’ve turned to a life of crime. Without allowing for things like rehabilitation and penance, what’s even the point of fighting for justice?

And how the movie ties that into the Terui/Akiko marriage is brilliant. Terui’s kind of a not great husband in this – he doesn’t communicate well with his wife, thoroughly and continuously, DON’T QUESTION ME as terrible spousal advice – but he’s trying to be a good husband. He loves his wife, and he shows it in the ways he knows how. His inability to call her by her name is because he respects her too much to not refer to her as Chief. She’s the boss, and he always wants her to know that. All of this lines up with the hard work that Terui’s asking Aoi to do – find someone that’s worth being a better person for, and live up to what they’ve given you. It’s not going to happen immediately, and you’ll always run the risk of falling back into old habits, but remember that they want you to succeed. Terui’s romantic comedy storyline is Aoi’s noir criminal storyline, all the way through.

All of that expert storytelling, with a non-stop action veneer, makes this a top-shelf Kamen Rider installment. It honestly might be one of my favorite pieces of Kamen Rider W entertainment.

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DIE-A MEMORIES

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-Androzani’ll run down the lengthy roster, but EVERYONE is someone in this movie. Top of my head, we’ve got Piano Man, Kekera, and of course Sawa. Easy to see why someone casting a Kamen Rider show a few years later that needed a secretive beauty who could also kick ass thought to bring her back full-time.

-The weirdest part of this movie is how much it feels like a pilot for a completely separate Accel spin-off series. There’s a real attempt to give this film a different vibe than W, complete with new recurring sets. Accel’s even got his own cafe to hang out in!

-Much like how the Skull feature smartly brought back folks from the Sokichi story in W, this one takes Lily and her grandad from one of the Terui spotlights and makes them his supporting cast. It’s cute!

-JINNO FINALLY NOTICED MAKURA’S HAIRCUT!

So this was a solid flick, not amazing but I did enjoy my time revisiting it.

I just do find it funny how much the plot has to twist and bend to fit a certain narrative in order to keep it going. There are things where this story would not work out well if something minorly different happened. Like if pickpocket lady decided to actually give Terui back the thing she saw him use to beat up the people trying to attack her the prior night when said same people show up again.

It was mostly an excuse for a handcuff fight scene which is pretty unique, that and the restaurant brawl gave me huge Yakuza/Judgement vibes. Though when it came to action sequences I did kind of start tilting my head and asking "But why bus though?" when it came to certain things.

Akiko... I like, kinda get where she's coming from. But once we hit the bus scene she regresses really badly and I honestly did not like most of her scenes until the very end.

Anyway Commander Dopant is cool and I do like how we find a bit of an excuse to bring in W to fight but not fight the main threat. Accel Booster is also fun to see in action. I do like that it's not even like its a pure flight based form, it's basically maxing out the idea of a motorcycle boosting and making it to where he can do that in various points of his body which in turn allows his gliding and flying.

Though that said I do like how it's very clever for them building up to Accel needing a different form due to being temporarily crippled. There's constant focus on his right leg getting struck, and when the main hit actually lands, it's believable because that leg's been taking a beating all day.

Speaking of forms though is like... is Trial a form that needs to be used in Rider Form to actually function? Because like "Oh no Accel Memory is gone" but what about Trial? And on that question... have we ever seen Terui go straight into Trial before? I don't think so...

Anyway random rambling aside, this was an enjoyable flick.

Ha ha, she's not at her most likable in the second half of this movie, no! But she lives in a world of insanity, so I think her instinct is to hop on a hijacked bus and threaten her husband with divorce until he tells her what in the hell is going on with this hot fugitive lady. It's not strictly helpful, but it's operating at a register that she knows Terui will respond to. (It's a minor thing, but Terui seems to genuinely enjoy Akiko's more manic episodes, so this is maybe a workable strategy for Akiko?)

I was thinking the same thing, and no, it doesn't seem like Trial's ever been used as a base form. (Xtreme, same deal I think.) Trial's a power-up for Accel, despite being its own Memory. I'd wonder about, like, Engine though. Is there any reason Engine can't work in the Driver?

True, the only time they go straight to Xtreme is in the finale, but they also have to start the transformation into Base W first.

Engine... I'd say it's the reason why the other Memory Gadgets won't work for transformations when being used in the Drivers. It's more a Pseudo-Memory than anything, good for a finisher, but not a transformation.

Oh, like the Bat Memory, gotcha. Makes sense!

Fun fact. The man who played Matsui, Shokichi's former friend, is actor-turned-politician Taro Yamamoto whose most notable role was Shogo Kawada in the live action adaptation of Battle Royale, aka the kid with the bandana in the movie.

This was more like it. I like this movie a lot. For someone craving more W it's a great slice of what was good about the show, albeit with the focus flipped to Terui and Shotaro and Philip in more of the supporting role. The plot isn't remarkable - especially with the show already dealing with both corrupt cop and good cop being accused of a crime plots - but it was serviceable enough and there were a lot of good character moments.

I have a long and well-documented crush on Yukari Taki, dating all the way back to Ultraman Ginga S, so obviously it was great to see her here. Great and a little surprising. I thought Yuko "Rinko from Wizard" Takayama played Aoi, but I was confusing this and the DiEnd Den-O movie.

One of the moments from this that has always stuck with me the bit where Lily was just carrying around divorce papers for Akiko and Terui. Great gag and a good callback to her episodes from the show. Also dig her grandfather's cafe; good vibes to the place and it's a pity it's only introduced here.

The credits contain a fantastic blooper where Renn Kiriyama accidentally throws the Joker memory when doing his transformation pose. Again something that I've always remembered, but I could never recall which movie it was from.

So you pretty much second guessed me by giving me an intro to my feature. Which is one that covers all three bases.

Ultra-lert!

So as pointed out, one of the new cop characters is Mitsutoshi Shundo, who would later play one of the soldier guys in Amazons and Kekera in Geats. But at this point, his most notable role was as Mizorogi/Dark Faust, the villain for the middle arc of Ultraman Nexus.

And our antagonist, is played by the late Minoru Tanaka (who gets the movie dedicated to him, which indicates when he died), who was previously Captain Sakomizu in Ultraman Mebius. Who character wise, is pretty much the opposite of Sagami.

Sentai-lert!
In addition to the return of Nao Nagasawa, we have another Hurricaneger veteran in the form of Kouhei Yamamoto playing one of the pickpockets. Not having seen this film in a while, I can?t tell you exactly which one.

General Alert

So as pointed out, we have Yukari Taki as our female lead, in her first major role in a Toku production (she?d auditioned for, and landed, the Pink in the previous year?s Sentai, but lost the role when she was unavailable to make the filming dates). After this, she was the girlfriend in the Gavan movie, the secondary female lead in Ultraman Ginga S and of course, Sawa in Kamen Rider Build. She also had guest spots in Ghost as a reporter playing Robin Hood and in Ryusoulger as a gym coach obsessed with following school rules.

And her father is Taro Suwa, who?s played several guest parts in Rider, Sentai and Ultra (and through the magic of stock footage reuse, Power Rangers, which gave the actor the fan nickname of ?Mr. O?Shaugnessy?)

And to conclude this (beyond Hasegawa pulling a Hitchcock as a drunk), the yakuza head?s bodyguard is Ayumi Shimozono, who at the time was one of the minor stunt actors for Rider, but later went on to be Sentai?s main female suit performer 2016-2023, and is currently suit acting Kamen Rider Majade in Kamen Rider Gotchard.

As for the film itself. I remember liking it quite a bit, especially the detail of giving Accel his own title sequence, as if we were watching his spin-off series.

Neat! Thanks!

The greatest decision the creative team made in this movie is to treat it like the Shinobi episodes -- here is a thing that's already underway, and we're joining it in progress. Lily and her magician grandfather own a cafe now! The whole team hangs out there! Lily has this fun subplot where she's always trying to steal Terui away!

Thanks for the thoroughness! I hope Eternal is a little easier to catalog!

Jumping the gun a little bit since we won't be going over this until tomorrow, but I feel it needs to be said while I'm still thinking about it:

W Returns Eternal is probably not the best Kamen Rider movie, probably not the worst, but it is definitely the oiliest.

This movie is a good way to create investment in Terui/Akiko (the Teruis) by focusing on their relationship and showing how they function in a domestic setting of marriage. I like how there's a balance between showing Terui's weird approach to romance while still showing that he's fully committed to Akiko. Maybe he respects her a little too much with the continued "Chief" calling, but even that can be considered a charming and cute quirk. If this movie wanted me to end up supporting the ship, then it succeeded. Accel Booster is pretty awesome! And of course, it wouldn't be an Accel movie without hearing Leave All Behind once more!

Actually, you're still confused. Takayama was in the New Den-O movie: Episode Blue.

You know, I always remember that was a trilogy but I never remember that the New Den-O one exists.