I like the change to three-parters for the cartoon. It gives the stories more room to breathe and to be a little more complicated than what we normally saw on the original series.

I'm pretty indifferent on the new opening theme. It's definitely not WBX, but it's not something I feel like I'd rather skip. It's honestly kind of forgettable. The ending theme, though... oh man, do I love that song. I'm normally not into jazz, but that sound is such a perfect match for this show and I really love the dancing animation that goes along with it. Absolute 10/10.

Again, not really an anime guy, but it feels for all the world that the brief for the sonic landscape of "animated Kamen Rider W" was just "Cowboy Bebop". Not a complaint, just an uninformed observation.

I'm not crazy about either song, really? I like the visuals for both the opening and the closing, but neither song is really doing it for me yet. Maybe after a few more episodes!

FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 3 - “BEWARE OF T - THE MASKED DEFENDER”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/w/fuuto03a.png

I guess the easiest way to differentiate the continuation of W with the original series to give Shotaro an arc instead of Philip?

Shotaro’s character arc on W… I mean, it was very much the supplementary story to Philip’s amnesia. It’s there in fits and starts, but him becoming a more confident and capable version of himself… it’s not a goal, like Philip’s quest for his missing memories is. Shotaro goes through a few discrete stories of failure and self-discovery, but they aren’t really in service of some underdeveloped aspect of his character, or some crucial piece of information that changes how we view him. They’re just good short stories that test his attributes, and solidify his resolve. They’re not really anything that pushes him permanently (or even longer than past a second episode) out of his comfort zone.

So, yeah, give him a new partner that’s also a love interest! (A million W fanfics suddenly cry out in anger.) Tokime is a character that’s specifically here to show a new side of Shotaro, and that’s a really good idea. Every time Shotaro’s had a potential love interest on W – as Philip points out to Akiko – they did not last very long. Now Tokime’s hanging around past the point where she’d traditionally leave Shotaro’s life for good, and it’s making things refreshingly weird. We get to see the apartment Shotaro apparently owns! (I honestly just assumed he slept in that little alcove off to the side of the office?) Shotaro has to deal with an apprentice-slash-partner-slash-femme fatale! Shotaro I guess sleeps entirely in his suit and hat inside a sleeping bag! This is all very cool and new!

That’s the absolute end of the episode, but it’s just the start of how refreshing and entertaining this wrap-up to our inaugural mystery was. The ability to stretch out a mystery into three parts not only gave us a middle section that was able to take its time with the character beats, but now we get a concluding chapter that’s a 10-minute long fight/chase scene with the Road Dopant – showcasing the visual inventiveness of the animation team – followed by a several minute long denouement where we not only find out the bizarre ways Tokime’s “powers” work (man, come on, a fishing line, get outta here with that) but an entire extra Dopant culprit!

Having Chuuta be a Dopant basically turns this into an advanced version of Kamen Rider W’s normal conclusions, and that’s incredibly fun. It’s not strictly necessary, and the episode would’ve been fine if he’d just been some lovestruck dope that simped off back to the farmland, but this episode delves deeper than that. From the first episode, we thought we were in a story about a man who was in love with something that was more dangerous than he realized, and we actually were – but not how we thought. Chuuta’s addiction to a USB drug metaphor breaks Shotaro’s heart, since that’s the part of Fuuto he’s dedicated himself to eradicating. Chuuta came to Fuuto as a farmboy, and left it a Memory addict. It’s an incredibly sweet moment in the show, to see Shotaro not only break down this guy’s bullshit facade, but also beg him not to let addiction ruin his life any more than it already has. To truly be the start of a new run of Kamen Rider W, you need to have a definitive half-boiled Shotaro moment, and this one was perfect.

I really, really liked how this all wrapped up. The action was high-octane and propulsive (W-G-X, the new version of W-B-X, as the chase music!), the mystery resolution was layered and surprising, and the character work was consistently strong. (I love that Akiko hired Tokime to be Shotaro’s assistant and then forgot to tell him. Akiko! Still my favorite member of Team Double!) While part of me has some slight trepidation about trading out Akiko for Tokime in the role of Partner That Actually Goes Outside With Shotaro, I have hopes the change will create a dynamic that’s as weird and different as this episode ended up. Great conclusion to a solid three-parter!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/w/fuuto03b.png

The most important detail retained from the original W? Shotaro still henpecks when using his typewriter.

And so we get to the end of the Road Arc, honestly a pretty fun conclusion. While I don't mind 3D Animation for Tokusatsu-related anime (since I feel 3D animation can be done decently well nowadays) it is nice to see some hand drawn 2D action.

Luna Joker being one of the first form changes we see was real clever. In live action it was fairly floppy and kind of janky. Here they're able to animate it with cool fluid and dynamic movements. Cyclone Joker actually incorporating the cyclone effect more consistently is honestly the best. And to cap it all off we get a sequel to the original's OP Theme as an Insert Song set to a real cool chase.

Honestly though the most shocking revelation to me is still that Shotaro owns an apartment. Especially after W hit us with such wonderful lines as "he's got nowhere to go but here" in regards to Shotaro. I do love that he's got it decked out all noir-like though. That big nerd.

The three-parter formula also basically allows us to have a heavier and longer ending to the arcs, letting us decompress for a bit longer compared to usual since we're able to stretch things out a bit longer.

As for Manga differences... there's actually a decent few.

-While the anime did add a few nuances to the fight, the major added part was the actual bike chase. W goes straight for a memory break after they enter the Shadow Futo.

-While the anime was very up front about confronting Chuuta from minute one of cutting to the detective agency, the manga did it a bit differently. The way it's framed is like the ending of a usual W Episode with Shotaro at his desk, Chuuta comes in to collect his bag and then notices something's wrong and Shotaro hits him with the "We know you're a Gaia Memory user" while revealing he had the Toadstool Memory before Chuuta arrived. A few actions are rearranged differently but oddly enough, Terui makes an appearance with Makura and Jinno here unlike in the anime where he's absent.

-So the ending fight of Heat Metal was actually cut rather short (likely due to them extending the Road Fight) but there are some fun things here. The Dopant being fought against was Cockroach Dopant which was stealing jewels. It's mentioned that the Memory is one of the easier ones to mass produce. And instead of a sudden cut from the sky to a park, W has to use Luna Metal to save the guy from falling.

Adding a new character to a show is always a gamble. They can feel like they're taking a lot of attention away from the existing characters and if they don't work they can really disrupt the entire show and how the cast interacts with each other. A situation like this, where we're revisiting a series and its characters years later and all of a sudden we have this major new character added into the mix. All that said, I think Tokime is fantastic and feels like she just slots into the ensemble perfectly.

There are elements of her that are familiar: the show itself points out the obvious parallels to Philip's backstory and her role in the field puts her into Akiko's traditional role, but she doesn't feel like she's muscling in on either of them in terms of her team dynamics. Obviously, the main focus here is how she and Shotaro interact as she's designed to be a love interest for him. I absolutely love their dynamic. Shotaro's whole thing is that he's built his life around a specific brand of performative masculinity and everyone else in his life is constantly calling him out on it. Tokime isn't fooled by this because, live everyone else, she can immediately see through it. She doesn't tease him over it, though; she plays along with it in a way that absolutely flusters him. He's the dog that caught the car and has no idea what to do with it.

I forget exactly how their dynamic evolves over the course of the series, but I know that it remained one of my favorite parts of the cartoon.

It's probably the way Sokichi taught him! That guy was too hardboiled to have fluid typing skills. (I assume his former partner did most of the typing.)

It's such a statement, that Double fight scene with the Road Dopant. The moves are all bigger, more fantastical. The fight has that anime speed to it that live-action can never, ever get 100% right. Really impressive debut for Double in animation.

My headcanon is that Shotaro specifically got this separate apartment in the year Philip was gone, because he couldn't live at the office without his partner there.

I think Tokime works well here because, like, where else could you go with the cast as is? They've never really wanted to evolve the core trio in any sort of risky way, so adding a new character with baggage is the only way do it. She doesn't distract from Akiko or Philip, because those characters already had their individual evolutions; Shotaro arguably didn't. (I also sincerely love that married lady Akiko is like Why Don't You Sleep With Her and Shotaro is sputtering and scandalized. AKIKO! My favorite!)

So here is the point Bandai announced a new set of CSM Gaia Memories to go with the previous CSM W Driver ver. 1.5 (which was reissued with said Memories for those who missed/ignored it the first time). Among other changes, the de-transformation now requires you to press the button on the Memories rather than removing them from the belt, you can change what finisher sound the Memory produces by holding down the button, and Cyclone and Joker have secondary “Lost Driver” modes which shorten their transformation sounds. And since the anime is using soundalikes, it means that Bandai doesn’t have to worry about not including voice lines because the actors are too expensive. https://youtube.com/watch?v=b8AyMALm...ucErbPK4VObPXp

And as another example of the Dopant designs not needing to be made into suits, we meet our big bad the Aurora Dopant, who has no neck (his face just floats on purple smoke). Speaking of which…

Special Guest Alert!

Aurora’s VA is Daisuke Endo, better known as (one of) the titular character from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. But within the world of Tokusatsu, he was New Den-O’s Imagin partner Teddy within Kamen Rider and the narrator, equipment voice and movie theme singer for Ultraman Taiga.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_OzYhd3k...qzh2XRSl5U0O_6

Next time: a takedown of toxic gamers in the form of another unpronounceable prehistoric creature Dopant.

That's the CSM Double Driver I bought! Definitely a little easier to preorder the reissue than track down and import the original. For that alone, I'm glad this show exists.

FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 4 - “THE TERRIBLE M - WINGS OF DEATH”

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Here’s a Delusion Diary for you: “What If Team Double Didn’t Work?”

Tokime is officially part of the group, which means it is time for everything to start breaking down in ways both funny and sad. Unlike Kamen Rider W, that introduced a dynamic that never truly broke down or seemed untenable, Tokime instantly feels both superfluous and distracting. She wants desperately to be included, yet she doesn’t seem to have a role that isn’t ably filled by someone that knows Shotaro better and works more naturally with him. (Even Akiko! That’s how bad things are going with Tokime!!!) Literally her first day on the job is one where she antagonizes Philip into a funk, and nearly gets Shotaro killed due to amnesia machinations. Not exactly winning material for the ol’ CV!

Luckily, all of that makes this story, from the character side of things, incredibly entertaining. While Shotaro and Philip have always bickered, they’ve always been partners; brothers, even. Tokime’s an interloper with a mysterious past, and she doesn’t get anywhere near the slack that the rest of the team affords each other. (Feel free to speculate that Philip’s jealous of Tokime romantically – not my read, but I wouldn’t fight you on it.) There’s genuine tension throughout the episode, as Tokime rants about Philip, Philip rants about Tokime, and Shotaro listens to two identical sets of complaints. While it’s a funny joke, it also highlights the legitimate question of Tokime’s place on the team: Don’t we already have an amnesiac partner for Shotaro that’s too blunt and lacking in social niceties?

It leads to a story that keeps Shotaro playing peacemaker, badly, as Tokime’s inexperience and Philip’s impatience make everything just a couple times harder than it normally would be. Shotaro’s trying to help another partner with a mysterious past that everyone else is weirded out by, but Philip’s never had a partner with a mysterious past that everyone else is weirded out by. Philip’s trying to deal with himself, and that’s new terrain for him. (Literally the one novel experience that he doesn’t enjoy!)

I’m maybe making this sound like it’s a tortured drama of Inoue-esque miscommunication and thinly-veiled resentments – which it still is! – but it’s also a very funny mystery where a programmer/cosplayer/idol is being hunted by the mysterious prehistoric bug Non-Genius Gamer M (where is Nico when we need her) amidst frustrating development cycles and a cadre of cosmeticians that try to assuage a very flighty young woman into doing about three too many full-time jobs. It’s a bonkers case for the Narumi Detective Agency, so the character conflicts always have this frothy hilarity to pivot back towards when things get too awkward and tense. A very watchable balance of tight character work and absolutely nuts investigative action.

I’m really glad that we’re delving so quickly into how a trio becomes a quartet, and I like that everyone’s a little at fault for things starting so poorly. Philip treats Tokime like a lab rat, Tokime doesn’t believe in forgiveness I guess, Akiko hired someone without actually seeing if she could get along with the rest of the staff, and Shotaro 100% neglected to loop Tokime in on how to do her job. It’s a mixture of forgetfulness and inconsiderateness, and it’s as dangerous to Team Double’s effectiveness as getting X’d in the back. (Shout out to Takumi’s good friend X, showing up in the post-credits short!) Great start to the next case.

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Oh god, this arc. Expect an essay from me when we reach the end of it. All I can say for now is that, intentional or not, these episodes hit me in a sensitive spot that I don't think I'll ever not be annoyed by.

Me, too! I cannot believe they're having Emu from Ex-Aid show up as a violent Dopant!

You know given the fact that a lot of the staff in this studio came from Studio Satelight, it's hilariously fitting they got a hand in creating an idol singing sequence that gets horribly interrupted by an attack. Given this happens in Symphogear on occasion.

I admittedly don't have much to say about this episode but it is a fairly "fun" start to our new dynamic of the Narumi Detective Agency.

We also get an interesting wrinkle in the Dopant attacks this time, in that we've got the term High Dope mentioned. All we know is that means this one is more dangerous. Though what better way to raise the drama after our opening episodes than by putting Shotaro out of commission at the end there.

It's also necessary because we basically just got a three-parter where Shotaro goes out on a limb for Tokime -- taking him out of action should force Tokime and Philip to work through their shit, which could be some very fun drama.

So basically it’s a common thing in anime seasons where the main villain was defeated in the first season, that the second season has to up the threat level by introducing some new gimmick for the villains, or by making clear that the heroes are woefully inept against the new villains. As En-chan mentioned, we’re introduced to the concept of High Dope, which if Magneira (Megnaura?) is any indication, stands a chance of actually killing the Riders if they’re not careful.

And on that cheerful note, let’s get to the casting thing-y.

Since I can’t think of one thing to put him under, the manager is played by Kenji Akabane, an impressionist who within Toku stood in for Super-One and AR!Faiz in Movie Wars 2010, Jiraiya in Kyuranger vs Space Squad and Gamel in Memory of Heroes. He was also the voice of Mashin Mach in Mashin Sentai Kiramager, by the same producer as W.

And for someone I can categorise…

PreCure-Lert!

Our idol lady Monaco/Megu is voiced by actual singer Machico (I have no idea what her real name is), who had a recurring role in KiraKira Pretty Cure a la Mode, before doing the first EDs for Healin’ Good and Delicious Party, and the OP for Tropical Rouge. Within Tokusatsu, she sang an insert song for King-Ohger, and the one Megu sings in this episode (there were likely pragmatic reasons for casting her)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=TP0AAlJP...rHNsSgmm8XaGdu

She was really good in this episode! Her comdeic aversion to the idol part of her job could've been annoying, but I laughed pretty hard at all of those scenes in Maxsoft. She did great!

It's funny, I assumed that I remembered this show really well because I just saw it a couple years ago and it's not like it's especially long. I completely forgot that Shotaro got taken out of commission in this episode, though.

Mostly what I enjoyed here was seeing Tokime come out of her shell a little bit and get more to do than be mysterious and flirtatious. The bit with Philip and her butting heads was a lot of fun. Generally speaking, get used to me liking stuff with Tokime; I enjoy a lot of aspects of this show, but our new member of Team W is consistently my favorite part. She's a good character and I love what she adds to the show.

That was such a great start to this story, because the previous kept Tokime at a remove; rightly so, since she was the suspect for a huge chunk of the three-partner. We only got little flashes of what she was like, and those flashes played into Shotaro's fascination with her. Here, she gets to be weird and mean, which is a nice alteration from her previous mode of spacey and flirty.

FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 5 - “THE TERRIBLE M - THE SOUND OF A LEAK”

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I don’t know if this one 100% came together for me? It’s a mix of a story I understood, but didn’t like, and a story I liked, but didn’t completely think worked in this episode’s larger narrative.

Let’s start with the latter! I was pretty into the story of Tokime and Megu in this one, where our perception of ourself comes up against our internal desires, and how we have to be honest with ourselves. Both Tokime – as essentially a court-appointed detective-assistant in an office where no one will give her any work to do – and Megu – as the browbeaten, overworked idol that only wants to be a programmer – are stuck in jobs they act indifferent towards. But, y’know, not completely the case! Megu actually really likes how excited people get when she performs, and Tokime feels an unexplained need to prove herself to Philip, risking her life to keep Shotaro’s client safe. They both like to think of themselves as merely doing what they’re told to, but then fate forces them to admit that the thing they’re doing actually does make them feel fulfilled. Much like Shotaro’s unfortunate ability to find lost pets, these two women have to confront their own attitudes and accept who they really are.

Which, now that I think of it, does sort of work alongside the story I didn’t like?

I didn’t really care for the Jealousy stuff. I got it, and I think the show did a decent job of both looping it into the case (with the Maxsoft employee who resented Megu’s ambivalence) and trying to show their work with Akiko’s rooftop scene with Philip, but it just didn’t land for me. I don’t think it’s believable that Philip is jealous of Shotaro’s quick connection to Tokime.

I definitely don’t begrudge the show taking the opportunity to tell a story of how platonic male friendships inevitably take a backseat to romantic relationships (I have definitely been both guilty of this and the victim of this at different times in my life), since it’s not really anything Kamen Rider shows have ever spent time on. It’s a more adult concept to explore, and good on them for the originality. I just don’t buy it from Philip. His relationship with Shotaro hasn’t seemed in jeopardy due to Tokime’s arrival, not least of which because Tokime and Shotaro don’t even share a scene in Episode 4 before Philip and her are at each other’s throats. Shotaro isn’t exactly forgetting about Philip to romance Tokime, so it’s weird that Akiko’s like Hey Jealousy and Philip’s like I Love That Song And Also Yeah Totally. There’s virtually no deep interaction between Tokime and anyone in the cast, but now we’re told that a character who never exhibited a single possessive action towards Shotaro is so blinded by jealousy that he’s taking it out on a coworker. Even if you could make this story work for Philip, this version is way, way too fast. It feels forced, and I don’t buy it.

Luckily (?), it’s completely dispensed with by the end of this episode. Philip is aware of his negative reaction to Tokime, apologizes to her, and then we’re only a a FangJoker Henshin away from the end of this installment. I didn’t love the storytelling decisions for about half this episode, but I can at least respect where the creators were coming from. Even with that distraction, I think this was still a solid enough episode. Terui shows up to be a badass supercop, Shotaro gets an incredibly funny scene that classically undercuts his cool facade, Philip maintains the spotlight in a credible way, Tokime naturally loses part of her shirt because anime, and the incremental progress from Aurora was just the right amount of tantalizing. Not perfect, but still fun!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/w/fuuto05b.png

Anime Terui looks like Light Yagami.

I don't know who that is, but, sure!

Yeah, this one's a bit of an odd one, even in the Manga which is a bit shorter than what minor stuff they did to extend the anime stuff like Terui's introduction since we cut that out from the first case.

-Most differences I can mention is Magi-P actually being there with the others when Megu wakes up, and the quick "Hey you know about the leaker too?" remark he gives Tokime is anime only. Because we get her questioning him and then suddenly we're pulling the phone out from the real leaker's hand.

-Oh, when Philip and Akiko are talking about m/m in terms of relationships, Philip is holding up a hotdog to eat. Feel like they should've kept that.

-Well there's one more, and it's kind of funny but I'll mention it next time since it'll fit better now that I'm remembering what the anime did.

Other than that, yeah this one seemed to have a few moving parts that didn't match up too well. I feel like the assistant being the culprit could've been foreshadowed better because the anime really does some heavy lifting to make it seem like Magi-P's the one doing it for some reason without doing much the other way. The Philip being jealous thing is kind of amusing to me but yeah it doesn't really fit well. I almost imagine it was brought up this early and ended this quickly because our writer wanted to jab at some ships.

But hey FangJoker, nice to see it show up rather soon. Despite introducing these concepts to newcomers, the anime and manga are not holding back transformations which is good since there's nothing stopping or stalling Shotaro and Philip from using some of their aces.

It's a much less compelling mystery than the last three-parter, that's for sure. The Dopant is a brand-new character that Megu tells us about, and the person putting Murder up to it had no personality until she broke down as she counted up her sins. It's not quite the Christie-esque resolution from Episode 3, you know?

That said -- and we've got another chapter that go still switch stuff up -- I like Magi-P as a fakeout because it seems like the reality is that he's just a phenomenally shitty bossy? His main programmer just got hospitalized, and he's yelling at her to go do the job she hates knowing it could get her killed. Good as a red herring, but kind of great as just a prick.

Fang showing up is especially neat, because it's sort of showing that even when it was just Shotaro and Philip as investigators, Philip had a thing that was just for him. Relationships are complicated! We don't need one person to be everything for us! I still don't care for how they told that story, though!

So a bit of a fun nod. Remember how I mentioned that one of the EXE guys in W’s finale went on to be Leo in Zyuohger. Well the EXE guy Terui makes his triumphant return beating up was modelled after the aforementioned Leo (the director said it was just a fun nod, and it’s not meant to be the same goon from the finale)

And I mentioned last time that second seasons with a new plot bring on more powerful opponents of the week. Well here, Phillip demonstrates how the heroes tend to pull out victories until they get the necessary upgrade: fall back on their more powerful forms/techniques that were only used in emergencies during the first season.

And talking of High Dopes, we get to see our big bad Aurora behind the mask of his Dopant form and learn his name is Yukichi Bando. And while we might never get the live stageshow for this anime subbed, I know they cast the guy who played Kirihiko in the role.

And talking of casting…

Rider-lert!

Like the others, Terui is voiced by his VA from Memory of Heroes, Makoto Furukawa. He had a cameo in episode 5 of Agito as a child actor, and as an adult, like Uchiyama and Hosoya, he was a monster in a previous Rider show, namely the second Katana Ganma in Ghost.

And to conclude, our end of episode skit is a revival of the old Healing Princess segments Wakana’s actress did during the show, only the joke so that the only segment is a Q&A with Terui… with a somewhat predictable punchline, if you ask me.

Sure, but this wasn't a situation where Shotaro and Philip started things off with Xtreme, though -- Philip and Tokime were about to get murdered by, uh, Murder, and Shotaro was a) not there, and b) too injured to be the base of Double, even if he'd been there. Seems pretty logical that Philip would use the recently-arrived Fang Memory? Definitely feels like an emergency!

Creepy gamer wants to murder woman video game developer. Going to slot this one next to the incel arc on Fourze for times when Kamen Rider got too uncomfortably true to life. This guy absolutely has a video on his YouTube channel bitching about Sweet Baby Inc. ruining his video games, is what I'm saying.

I appreciated the use of Magi-P as a red herring. Convenient disappearances and a reckless disregard for Monako's well-being definitely had me pegging him as the culprit at first. I guess he's just an asshole, not a murderer. He's actually the part I remembered the most about this arc, primarily because I got really tired of hearing people shout "Magi-P!" His name is the "desuuuu" of the W cartoon.

I've seen a lot of crazy things in Kamen Rider over the last 15 years of watching it, but I don't think I've seen anything that broke my suspension of disbelief more than the animators trying to convince me that Tokime is wearing a bra.

I assume the bra is frequently being kept in Shadow Fuuto, and is drawn out as necessary through the use of a fishing line.

FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 6 - “THE TERRIBLE M - WHITE FANGS”

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Whole episode of epilogue! Bold choice!

While there’s a bit of action at the beginning of this episode that was necessary to conclude the case, it’s hard to say that the story didn’t wrap up at the end of the previous episode, with Tokime’s newfound dedication to her role in Team Double, and Philip’s understanding of his own jealousy. With that fairly well wrapped up last time, everything that happens here is just cute moments with the cast and additional details for our guests; diverting, but nothing that feels crucial.

Like, boy, who really cares about Magi-P’s struggles with upper management? It’s nice to learn that he’s not a callous prick, but the result of his previous bold stands against the heartless corporate overlords was… for the heartless corporate overlords to get exactly what they wanted, executed by a guy who behaved like a callous prick who was so angry on the inside at how Monako was being treated (by him). There’s some nuance to it, but it’s a long way to go while also not really making it clear why this attempt on Monako’s life was worth coming clean about, but the other ones Magi-P was okay never visibly treating Monako with basic human empathy. It’s a reveal that’s sort of patting itself on the back, while also introducing more questions. And, again, who even cares?

Tokime’s integration into Team Double, via the approval of toys and Shotaro’s intimate knowledge of Tokime’s intimate apparel, was a little better, but still just felt like the show was filling up minutes. It’s the worst aspect of W’s original hang-out vibes, where the emotional investment in the cast covers up a lack of urgency in plot and storytelling. Terui makes coffee! We get the names for all the toys! Shotaro gets embarrassed! It’s nice to see, as a fan of these characters, but it’s not the most dynamic ending for a story.

But that’s not even the real ending of the episode, as we still have Bando/Aurora lurking around. After a story of Gathering Data (yay, my favorite villain strategy), Bando murders Murder and introduces two of our future High Dopes: Scream and Brachiosaurus. They’re neat designs, the dinosaur skeleton one especially, but it’s just a quick introduction to characters we’ve already glimpsed five times over in the opening credits. It’s fine, in the need to establish the opponents for our heroes, but nothing to get too worked up about.

Which was sort of this whole episode for me? Unlike the first three-parter, that made a case (sorry) for stretching the usual two-part W mystery out to a more layered three-parter, this one definitely felt too light on incident to warrant its runtime. There’s enough here for a solid two-parter at most, and this slow wind-down of a finale shows off how badly a third part hurts the pacing of the narrative. Kind of a bummer, to have this one limp its way out the door.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/w/fuuto06b.png

So yeah, as you said, we meet two of the other major villains, in the form of Brachiosaurus and Scream. While we don’t see who they are here, the credits show Bando with a gothic lolita girl, a Catholic schoolboy and a guy jacked like Ahnuld. I’ll let you guess who is who.

As for the plot, I can’t say it particularly stuck with me like the next one in both anime and manga did. Yes, we’re skipping part of the manga to get to the next episode, so I’ll recap what you’re missing.

Shotaro and co get hired by a rich family to find the cat that belonged to their late matriarch. Investigating, they discover that there’s been a litany of disappearing cats throughout the city, and use Mick as bait to find where they’re going. The answer turns out to be a Caracal Dopant on the sewers, actually a middle-aged woman going through a bad breakup. After saving her, Team W takes her to an offsite hospital (with Terui explaining that security at the main building was compromised and Murder was killed in his cell). And for the denouement, Shotaro figures out the rich family were more interested in the diamond hanging from grandma’s cat’s collar, since they’re baffled that she’d leave an expensive jewel to a mangy animal in her will. Even after Shotaro explains that she left it to the cat because all her heirs saw it more as a cash source than a sentimental item, they still demand the diamond. To resolve the story, Akiko throws the diamond into the trash and gives the cat to the former Caracal to help her recover.

Extra note: Tokime’s costume change is an original thing for the anime, done to get around foreign networks who wouldn’t let her old outfit past the censors.

So fun thing about the Manga since I'm reading along. Volume 2 which this anime pulls from, consists of 10 Chapters. 7 of those chapters is the Meganeura Case, the other 3 are a fun quick case involving cats. Truly we missed out.

But of those 7 Chapters, none of them reach the numbers the very first chapter of Futo PI did which was 60 pages. The other chapters since then have been 18-20 or so but yeah. It might've just been a case where they couldn't fit it all in one two-parter, but not enough to expertly fill it out.

That said, there's one major Manga change that involves last episode. And that's Tokime getting her outfit ripped up which was not in the Manga ha ha. The main reasoning for this is uh... I'm assuming certain censors thought Tokime was a bit too risque for the anime scene. So we get an original scene of her getting a new less see-through look which I think ends up looking better on her.

Other than that not much to say other than Philip having the most absolute hilarious one-liner here. I also dug how when in the water we had the Arm Fang act like a shark's fin.

Aw, that sounds like it'd've been a real fun story. I wish that the Murder/Megu story had been a two-parter, and we could've gotten a one-episode story of Shotaro finding a cat. It's, like, the main thing he's good at! Let the anime crowd see that!

It's a solid look! In that it looks good, AND the clothes look like they are solid enough to withstand a strong breeze!

TL;DR: Nerd gets mad that writers can't write video games.

There's some other stuff I'll talk about when it comes to this arc, but that's the main core of it, so feel free to skip this post if that doesn't interest you.

One thing Die inquired about is how well Futo PI stacks up in terms of just general anime, and that's sort of a tricky thing to talk about given how this a project that's directly tied to something else.

But absolutely one area that this anime touches on, in this very arc, is the use of idols. And sorry to say, but Megu's' entire deal is one gigantic, tiresome, trite cliche that I just can't stand in the medium. For anyone with any sort of anime experience, the line "She's like a totally different person!" says it all.

For anyone not familiar though, variations of that exact line are said in basically every idol story ever. The story of some shy/meek/nerdy/"useless" girl who totally has this secret beautiful side that she showcases through her songs and everyone just instantly loves her for it. With really nothing past that. It's very much just a vehicle for pushing CD sales and garnering simps towards your show.

So that was already strike one with me when it came to this arc. Strike two was the absolutely lie that was the claim that Philip was jealous of Tokime. Just like how I saw no evidence that Shotaro had to be the one to bear alot of the burdens in W proper, I saw no evidence of the jealousy claim here in Futo PI. Philip outright welcomed Tokime in, he didn't go "No, MY Shotaro!" like a middle schooler. The reason he got annoyed was because of Tokime not letting him explain himself nor attempting to understand his social awkwardness.

Add in the very reasonable reaction he has to Tokime being a liability on the current case and, frankly, I'm on his side. Tokime's' snapback of "Why didn't YOU beat the Dopant?" doesn't even fly because not only should she already know how Double works thanks to Akiko's' notes, but on that same token, why the heck didn't Tokime fight the Dopant? I don't see her taking any swings, hypocrite. If he were jealous from second one, he wouldn't've made her the Stag Phone.

And strike three? An incredible lack of understanding on the writer's' part of not just video games, but fighting games in general. To lay some ground work here, in fighting games, the general rule(though there are certainly exceptions) is that, if it's not something that outright makes the game unplayable, then it's all fair game. When you're playing fighting games competitively, the whole idea is the make the match as unfair for your opponent as possible. You're out to win, not make sore losers happy. Megu's' claim that M used "exploits and pure cheese" are a classic case of what us in the Fighting Game Community call "scrub behavior."

So let's break this down. Cheese strats? Let's name a classic one: Spamming projectiles. That's a legitimate playstyle called Keepaway or Zoning. If your opponent is doing nothing but shooting fireballs from across the screen, it's YOUR job to find a way around that. It not at all required by your opponent to just let you get some free hits on them. But we don't even get to see what exactly M was doing to be considered Cheese in the match they show. I guess you could maybe think he was doing an infinite combo? But not only is Megu blocking it with zero chip damage, but she's able to break out of it and win the match regardless. Therefor it can't be a true infinite.

Since that doesn't hold, let's now go for exploits. Exploits are certainly a bit more dicey when it comes to competitive gaming, as some do actually break the game(as in, causing it to crash and things of that nature). But again, there's no explanation or showcasing of how M was using exploits at all. And even if he were, again, some are considered perfectly legal. For example, "L Cancelling" in Super Smash Bros. Melee is an exploit of the physics engine that lets players cancel out landing lag, but it's seen as a legitimate and infact necessary skill to learn if you want to play the game to its fullest extent. So the idea that the crowd would boo M for anything like that is nonsense and more comes across that people are mad that their precious idol is getting beaten.

Which brings us to the last accusation: Cheating and modified data. Yet again, this requires explanation that we're never given. For anyone who has any idea how video games work, they know right away that this claim should be considered outright impossible. The match between M and Megu is played on a machine that the company itself provided, meaning there'd be absolutely no chance of M modifying anything. The only possible angle I could think of was that maybe Monrado lets you import your characters directly, and as such M modified his character in some way? But again, how so? Is it like a Dragon Ball XenoVerse 2 situation where some modders give themselves maxed stats? But even if that's the case, to what extent is that foul play? Monrado's' entire gimmick is that you're able to level your character up in single player, so what's the difference between, say, Megu grinding up to Max Level and M simply flipping a switch to do so? In terms of a basic comp match? Not a whole lot.

Going back to XenoVerse 2, if it's a case like that where cheaters can reach a level you're not normally supposed to be able to get to, then sure, that's one thing, but yet again, we are given no explanation or showcasing of anything, which leads my FGC brain to just jump to the more likely scenario that Megu is just mad that someone is having fun with a game they paid for in their own way. And while some might make the claim "Oh well she's the maker, ergo she should know what qualifies as foul play or not." That is not at all true. "Death of the Author" applies to video games as well. When your game reaches the hands of thousands upon thousands of people, there is absolutely no predicting as to how the playerbase will play the game and what fun they'll find in it. The creator has very little say in things at that point, and one misstep will get them(the players) agitated.

For example, one of the most popular fighting games of all time, Street Fighter III: Third Strike, is notoriously unbalanced. A balance patch was released for it ages ago that addressed things such as the character Urien's' unblockable setups. Thing is though, this upset alot of fans because, continuing with the Urien example, his unblockable setups are the only thing that at all make him a competitively viable pick. Without them he was worthless. Capcom would soon revert back to the base balance of the game and it's remained untouched to this day. To think the programmer has some sort of better knowledge on how the game itself will flow once it's released is, frankly, absurd.

Now, am I saying that this all means that Megu is a demon and that M did nothing wrong? No. Afterall, trying to outright kill someone over a video game loss IS kind of messed up. But what I am expressing frustration at is how no one on staff thought to, I dunno, google anything about fighting games? People have made video essays on this sort of thing, it's not that difficult to look up. Or heck, this is Japan, there are a ton of local fighting game tournaments they could've easily went to for fact checking. If an absolute shitpost of an anime such as Akiba's Trip: The Animation can get it right(seriously, their Street Fighter episode is amazing), then why can't Futo PI, the show with way more budget that by design is trying to appeal to nerd culture?

I get it, at the end of the day this is very much a Me thing and not alot of people will care when watching the episodes themselves, but it just so happened to hit a spot that I'm decently knowledgeable in, and as such its execution annoyed me. It's one of the many reasons I couldn't stand Nico in Ex-Aid.

So, yeah. By far the weakest arc in Futo PI for me. Not a fan.

Can we also talk about the fact that the entire Monrado programming team seems to be one (1) overworked young woman who also serves as the game's spokeswoman and singer/dancer? (That the top executive is happy to work to death one way or the other, as though it's easy to replace literally the entire company beneath you; leverage only works when your workers are actually disposable, asshole!) Also, this fighting game that's taken the city by storm only seems to include two characters? Which, I guess, the second question is sort of answered by the first...

I actually like the extended denouements that we get in the cartoon. It makes the stories feel a bit more like classic mysteries where they sit down and fully explain the plot to you after the resolution. Do I need in most of these cases? Probably not, but does it strike a comfortable vibe with me? Yes.

Yeah, but that's sort of my point -- the longer explanation in Episode 3 was great because it added nuance to the previous adventure, kept the emotional resonance going right up to the end, and also gave Shotaro a tremendous character moment. Episode 6 was just Here's Why This Jerk Wasn't A Jerk, and felt like a lot of time spent on ineffectively redeeming someone that I was not super curious about. I'm definitely not mad at the concept of a three-part mystery using a chunk of its final installment to add weight, but I think there's a way to do it without feeling like unnecessary padding.

FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 7 - “THE CLOSED K - DYNAMIC DUO, DESERTED”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/w/fuuto07a.png

There was a minute where I thought I was really going to like this episode. We’d just had Shotaro and Philip stranded in the mountains by a bomb cyclone (somehow not the name of the CycloneTrigger Maximum Drive), and the show cuts back to the quartet of Tokime, Terui, Akiko, and Mick. I thought, Wow, Yes. Taking the core duo away from the action for a storyline and seeing how Tokime’s attitude changes in their absence? Or just getting to see what Akiko and Terui are like when defending Fuuto falls entirely to them? That sounds like a really intriguing breath of fresh air.

And then that’s the last we see of those four characters, as the action shifts entirely and permanently to the Eyes Wide Shut version of that TELASA Revice mini-series.

It’s unfair to criticize this episode for merely being a closed circle mystery that tasks Shotaro and Philip with uncovering the identity (and motivation) of a murderous Dopant, all while the series’s big bad lurks in their midst. That’s both a totally on-brand setup for a three-parter, and the sort of thing that W's genre is known for. But it’s also… I don’t know, it’s a little predictable? The setup tries to cover its familiarity with weird details – a million K names, the history of this abandoned town, the main guy’s energetic response to Team Double, how constantly jiggly everything is – but it weirdly just feels drawn out and drowning in exposition. This whole episode is just Shotaro and Philip learning the premise of this story, and there’s also a fight with Alcohol Dopant to a draw. It’s intellectually compelling (like any mystery would be) without creating any real emotional investment. Kanna’s sort of interesting for her Either Victim Or Culprit status (Shotaro likes her, so she’s required to be important to the mystery’s resolution), but the rest of the cast is just a roll call of names, ages, and occupations. You’re gonna need all that in order for the list of possible killers to populate and be slowly eliminated, but it doesn’t make for visceral or charming viewing.

Which is why… man, I wish we’d’ve stuck with the characters left behind in Fuuto. While it wouldn’t be a real Team Double mystery, it’d maybe have been something that felt new and different. The joy of Tokime in the mix is that it creates new storytelling opportunities for her presence, and there’s still so many groupings she hasn’t been a part of. To lose her for a closed circle mystery with an almost needlessly convoluted explanation (the exposition goes on forever) is a disappointment, even if it feels churlish to blame a show for sticking with its main characters and genre instead of an idea I briefly had.

This episode was sort of boring? Not bad, and the weird mansion environment is too singular to be forgettable, but it was maybe a little too long spent laying out the parameters of a fairly standard mystery story. It is incredibly weird to be less into this show when the characters are actively doing their jobs, but that’s just how this one hit me. Less time solving murders! More time with Tokime not understanding how Accel’s powers work! Thanks!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/w/fuuto07b.png

Feel like I could see a case for what you wanted to happen if the episode wasn't structured the way it was. Like if we had that scene at the office at the start and Shotaro and Philip were a cutaway gag, alongside Terui getting a call or something then yeah I could see it. But we focus on Shotaro and Philip's situation instantly.

I suppose what doesn't help (or maybe helps for you) is they cut a lot of preamble out from the Manga for the Anime that focused on the two more heavily so as to not have this potential confusion. And that's not counting what other dialogue they cut out to slim down on things.

-So first off, Terui explaining Murder's well, murder, was handled in the mini-case that was Manga exclusive, so we had to put it in here.

-The biggest and major change is how long we see Shotaro and Philip in the snowstorm. The two manage to find a cave and some broken branches to start a fire and plan a bit. There's some bickering, and Philip suggests he use Xtreme to fly and get the tools necessary to get them out, though Shotaro points out he'd be waiting for hours and doesn't want to be alone. There's even the suggestion to use Sokichi's cabin as a place to stay but the two had already long passed it and it'd be too dangerous to get back there so their only hope was an village.

Anyway this was a surprisingly fun start for the episode for me, especially back when this first aired and I had no idea of what went on in the Manga. The idea of our two in one Kamen Sing-er Detectives getting to deal with a classic Mystery Murder Mansion case? Sign me up!

So, this is the first episode of the anime with a new writer, in the form of Atsuhiro Tomioka, best known for heading 10 seasons of Pok?mon (and being a staff writer on 15 others), Inazuma 11, the first 26 episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds and the current as of this writing Super Sentai, Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger. Though how much a different writer changes things up, and how much of it is due to the manga taking a different tact that week… it’s unclear.

And talking of Sentai…

Sentai-lert!

Keeping with a casting theme from W proper, our main female suitor Kanna is played by Mika Kikuchi, better known as Umeko/DekaPink from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger and one of the guest heroes in Engine Sentai Go-Onger’s summer movie (the other two of whom were Takumi and Undad). Within Rider, she’s had guest roles in episode 3 of Kabuto (one which I remember from back during the watch thread due to how seemingly no-one noticed or recognised of the episode’s guest stars) and as a newsreader in Heisei Generations.

It's honestly surprising that we didn't get anything like this in W. It's one of the classic premises of detective fiction... but it's probably also cost-prohibitive to do on a live-action Kamen Rider budget, now that I think of it.

Thanks for the behind-the-scenes details!

This is maybe my favorite of the cartoon's four major story arcs; I go back and forth over whether I like this or the opening one more. W was always influenced more by the hard-boiled detective branch of mystery, but this one puts Shotaro and Philip squarely into an Agatha Christie novel: isolated mansion, eclectic guests, sudden murder. Give or take an alcohol monster this is pure Christie. It's really fun to see W slot into this kind of story, especially when Shotaro gets to show off some of his deductive skills. I love it when the writers treat Shotaro as a capable detective in his own right instead of letting Philip do all of the mystery solving.

I also like the Alcohol Dopant, both in concept and execution. This definitely feels like something we'd never have gotten on the live action show, the concept is maybe a bit too adult for a kid's action show/merch showcase. It's sloppy and chaotic, but being full of booze also makes it both more reckless and harder to fight. The whole look behind it is also just way outside of something we'd get in a latex suit.