That would've been nice, yeah. Roachstar stealing the Memories becomes a minor hurdle in an already packed story, instead of what might've been the focus of any other episode.

I'm of two minds on this one, as is apropos for the Double thread. On the one hand/foot, yeah, it's not the best place to have a Memory port if you want to get the drop on someone, or do anything quickly. On the other hand/foot, at least it's in a place no one's going to accidentally see it? No one in the show is looking for Memory Ports yet, but it's only a matter of time before the cops start getting these sorts of details from Double.

This reminds me of Anomalocaris who just has the port on the palm of his hand. Which is like, "Uh..." especially when it didn't look like he was wearing gloves earlier. There were probably better places to put it.

You just wanted to type "Anomalocaris", but that's fine.

I understand for this one that, there are cases when heroes spared villains out of principle and, yes, one of the reasons can be about being optimism about them redeeming due to faith in human nature.

Dango implements Chandler's Law to add new complication amidst a burst of violence, in this case breaking a window. And he displays other problematic behavior later like talking down Makura (though Jinno agrees), and impulsively filling Chizuru's name on a contract killer's website in reaction to her problem. I guess the reason Philip's refered as little devil at the beginning, is due to this, he's extremely task focused, that he has tactless approach by forcefully turning on Dango's radio to test movements for Heaven's Tornado, while Akiko, childish attitude aside, still has proper etiquette to introduce herself to Dango (in pushy and loud way). And people also doubt Akiko being the chief, other than Shotaro, also Dango here.

So Cockroach Dopant sees himself as hero because he wants to exterminate the town's pests. "Fuuto doesn't need 2 heroes at once", even other than being a contract killer, heroes doesn't attack principals like that and wouldn't be so self-absorbed that another hero means threat. Even mid fight, Philip can get distracted thanks to Akiko calling Phillip that Dango's getting off the bus, thus they lose track of the Dopant. Like before regarding "Narumi" family name, this shows a consequence of refering to someone with family name only, that the Dopant mistakenly attack the principal of the school, as the schoolgirl informants point out that there's another Hoshino in the school, refered as cute.

And coincidentally, even Akiko also wears similar (pink) shoes as Mai does here (though not 100% here, there'd be later on that's exact one as Mai's). Particularly noticeable that I watched W after Gaim finished airing on similar TV channel. Dunno if there are dances that aren't "test run for Gaim" or not such as Ryutaros in Den-O.

Sure, but this isn't optimism, exactly -- it's assuming someone else will solve the problem for you, based on nothing you've witnessed to date. It'd be like, instead of finding a reason to spare a villain, the hero just went "I'm sure they'll reform at some point, so there's no sense trying to bring them to justice," and not even confronting them.

SHOTARO HIDARI HARDBOILED DELUSION DIARY EPISODE 2 - “WHAT IF AKIKO WAS ON THE CITY COUNCIL?”

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The best move this insane episode makes is to just have Akiko do Miyabi’s introductory scene from Episode 7 line for line, in the same manner as the original performance. It’s extra funny for not trying to be wacky or absurd… which is great, because the end of the dream sequence is Roachstar showing up to a synchronized dance with Akiko and Philip, who is dressed like Luffy from One Piece. No way to top that for bizarre non-sequitur humor.

The dream is funny, and the stuff around it – Philip instantly buying into Akiko’s sudden desire to be a politician – is equally agreeable. Tough to say a lot about a three minute short with about three jokes in it, but I think the execution here was top notch. Very funny stuff!

Honestly, if they ever bring back Yamamoto as Akiko for a reunion special, say when she is middle-aged for example, I could see her being the mayor of Fuuto and stuff.

But then how would she have time to lead Girls Remix?!?!

When they started to do the parody of the politician intro I just started grinning so much because of how perfect it was. Then in comes Philip in the iconic Bug Catcher Trainer outfit before Roachstar busts in and they all start synchronizing? Very great.

These don't have much to talk about, but man are they fun to witness thus far.

They are very cute little shorts! I appreciate how each one at least tries to tie into the four episodes that preceded it, which is honestly more than I could've hoped for. (I assumed beforehand that they knocked a bunch of these out in an afternoon and just plugged them in wherever.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Let’s dig into some Series Arc stuff!

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

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

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

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

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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

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

And now for an especially trivial version of

Toku Veteran Alert

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

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

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

Opinions on the overall thing coming next time.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Neat! Thanks!

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

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

All the Heisei Phase 2 hits!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Won't lie, I had purged like 98% of this two-parter from my memory.

And having seen it again all these years later, boy do I immediately realize why exactly that was.

I won't go too deep into it, but what it essentially boils down to is the episodes showcasing Akiko at her absolute worst, and then immediately trying to make me feel bad for her, which, sorry, ain't working.

Where I absolutely drew the line was towards the start of the first part, where Shotaro shows genuine concern for her and her safety, and even explains why he has good reasons to feel the way he does. And Akiko's' response is to do the verbal equivalent of spitting in his face over it.

As bad as characters like Shunpei or Onari can come across to some people, you know what they never were? Actively antagonistic towards the people they claimed to care about. I have zero patience for that sort of behavior, as well as entitled brats. And Akiko displays both attitudes throughout both episodes. It made me seriously question how I ever came around to her later on.

But hey, the episodes aren't complete and total washes, I guess? The two scenes that I did still remember are Shotaro and Kirihiko's' conversation at the gate, and Terror's' appearance during the courtyard fight. They're good scenes, especially in a vacuum. Just a shame that they're attached to two episodes that I very much did not have a good time watching. To the extent that at one point I thought "Do I even like W? Do I really?"

Such a letdown, especially when following a two-parter that I rather liked for the most part.

You and I already talked about this elsewhere, but I definitely didn't have a problem with Akiko's overall behavior in this two-parter. I think the second episode especially puts some of her earlier actions into a more reasonable context, and reframes some of Shotaro's actions as less understanding than they should have been. It worked for me, but I can see it didn't for you.

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 11 - “V FOR VENDETTA - INFECTED VEHICLE”

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Boy, I bounced off this one pretty hard. It’s not a bad episode or anything, but I found it incredibly dull. Beyond one good scene, and the image of a filthy Chevy Trailblazer as some sort of righteous instrument of vengeance, there’s precious little for me to even care to talk about.

Lemme start with that one good scene, though! It’s the interrogation room scene with Makura and Jinno. I love that Makura’s all We’ve Got You Now Shotaro, and then Jinno just comes and makes Makura fetch them lunch. (With double portions for Shotaro!) It’s a charming way to incorporate the police into a story that has a rapidly rising body count, while delivering some early clues for Shotaro to investigate. I just… man, I like the energy between Shotaro and Jinno. Jinno’s has such a professional camaraderie with Shotaro, while never really treating him like a peer. He just sees a well-meaning guy who can make his own job easier, and that’s worth some of his time. It’s a fun energy, man.

The rest of it was all just sort of there for me. Kouhei’s looking for revenge, the gangsters are clearly culpable, and there’s only a little bit of discussion as to whether killing a bunch of dudes is justified. (Spoiler: it isn’t!) The gangsters don’t stick around long enough to be more than a body count, and Kouhei’s defined solely by his need to vehicularly manslaughter for a sister we’ve never met. It’s all the vague shape of The Hollowness Of Pursuing Vengeance, but it never rose above that for me. There were no fun details, or clever moments to become more than just A Story About Revenge. (Even Akiko’s illness thing… fine, whatever.) Kirihiko showing up might as well be to fill some quota, for all he contributes to the plot.

The twist at the end, that the Virus Dopant is a different person altogether… good twist! Interested in how that rolls out! But it’s nothing that made the first 22 minutes of this one more fun to talk or think about.

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-The Fuuto PD Headquarters! We will be spending a lot of time here in just a couple weeks, and it’s a fun building. I like the water feature up front! Could house an Anomalocaris assassin, but it’s tranquil enough to be worth the risk.

So I’ll start with my delayed thoughts for last time: I liked the idea of Akiko trying to solve the case, but only doing so by pure dumb luck.

As for this two-parter… Yeah, nothing really stuck out. I even had to look up the following guest star.

Sentai-lert

The artist dude is played by Koji, who under his full name Koji Suzuehara had the supporting role of Hayate/GingaGreen in Seijuu Sentai Gingaman (which I’d recommend by the way, which considering my love/hate relationship with the writer and producer, is saying something).

Neat! Thanks!

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 12 - “V FOR VENDETTA - RAGING BEAST”

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The thing with Shotaro is… he’s maybe not the best lead character?

The failure of the previous episode, as I thought more about it, is that it put way too much of the narrative on Shotaro’s back. Philip was doing his dumb Idiots Don’t Catch Colds research, Akiko was worthless, Kirihiko was barely involved, the other Sonozakis were absent entirely, and there was only one City Of Fuuto scene (which was terrific). The monster plot felt thinly sketched-in, with both victim(s) and perps coming off as ideas rather than characters. That left Shotaro to carry the plot and the story, and it’s just asking way too much of a cosplay detective.

The value of Shotaro is that he acts as a way into all of the things that work in this episode: booksmart partners and scheming crime lords and duplicitous creeps and teasing informants and enraged victims. This one works because it has all the stuff the previous episode didn’t have. It lets Shotaro exist alongside so many fun details, instead of making him cover for their absence.

And those details are, without exception, incredibly fun. Like, the scene with Saeko and Kirihiko! Where he thinks he’s cracked the code on something that’ll win Saeko’s respect and solidify his place in the family hierarchy (basically, making him more valuable than Mick), and she’s like We Already Found Out That Was Worthless? Amazing. So fun to watch her destroy his ambitions and not-so-subtly remind him of what a disappointment he’s been as a husband/flunky. And that’s just the first thing that was more delightful than most of last episode – we also got a fun Queen/Elizabeth scene (Queen teasing Elizabeth about maybe hooking up with some art creep!), Philip handling the investigation into Sachi’s motivations, a couple fun monster attacks, and a few intriguing twists.

If there’s a thing that doesn’t work in this episode, it’s that those twists are maybe a little too convoluted. Sachi being the one who’s motivating this story, through the applied rage of her brother… that’s all fine. (It sort of makes the brother incidental to the overall plot, since he’s not a factor in this episode, and Sachi would’ve just killed those dudes anyway. There’s maybe some narrative value in viewing her vengeance like a virus, but it’s not really a thing that passes through multiple characters. Kouhei wants revenge for his sister getting run over, while Sachi wants revenge for that AND a completely separate thing that Kouhei never knew about.) But there’s a bunch of stuff that comes up in Sachi’s explanation/confession that’s just weird and coincidental – they can show it a hundred times, but it never feels logical or believable that she’d shove the Virus Memory into her arm instead of diving out of the way of an oncoming car. (Also, the Memory seller just happened to walk down the stairs when she saw her fiance cheating on her? What?) I appreciate that the story got significantly more complex than Family Vengeance, but it’s stuff that maybe would’ve worked better spread out across both episodes.

But that’s a small complaint, honestly. I’d always rather a story be too convoluted instead of too straight-forward. While some of the later details were distracting, the bulk of the episode was assured and packed with entertaining moments. I wish it had been the same for the first part of this story!

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-Not much in the way of future teases or memories in this one, but I did sort of recall that the sister was the Dopant at the beginning of this episode, despite the show pointing in the immediate direction of the art creep.

-Zero Nazca or other Sonozaki monster suits in this one! FAILING GRADE!

Honestly don't have that much to say on the two-parter.

I did enjoy the unorthodox usage of the Virus Dopant though, real fun stuff.

Aside from that, Shotaro gets to have some fun interactions with the side cast this episode, whether it was the officers or his informants. The fact that he almost calls himself an idiot in front of Santa, Queen, and Elizabeth was hilarious.

Also it's always fun to see when W actively has to switch to certain Memories because they're more effective. Like how Heat quickly became the go to Memory when it came to fully dealing with Virus.

That being said poor Kirihiko, the man seemingly got a W only for that to snap in half and form two Ls the minute his wife was like "been there done that" to him.

Shotaro calls out Akiko quickly apologizes this time when Shotaro calls her out for putting the client into danger. She seemingly accepts a room of improvement that she opens up that she's jealous to Shotaro as she only vaguely remember her father. This part iirc does seem to be a start when Akiko stops throwing her chief position to other suggestions. She still can't keep it to herself that she openly reveals that she's a detective that pretends to be a maid (with Shotaro flabbergastered at this), and assumes the fat Shirotsuka as the culprit, due to her having an appetite to sweets. This is a shallow judgment to base it on appearence, as Shirotsuka herself said. Only dumb luck saves the day as Sasaki is disgusted by Akiko's pastry and wants to take revenge as Sweets Dopant against Akiko. Her moment to smash the Sweets Dopant with a chair is badass though with W seeing the projections of Sokichi in her), at the end, Shotaro acknowledges Akiko's strength and that he's the one that needs to toughen up.

This seems to be a positive comment for the scene, but wonder if this'd be a part when you think a main villain, actual big bad, of a Rider is good (weirder than what you said about Akiko). Typically you have a low opinion on them, and, it's not unfounded as many others agree (and me too at some points, Riders typically have more memorable secondary villains than the main ones). Ryubee being like that explains for sure that he's not the main aggressor here, though Saeko had her own plans regarding W against her father's. And yes, Shotaro also notices now that the Dopants can be traced to the Museum due to the building displaying tyrannosaurus, magma, and anomalocaris, the types of Dopant he fought before.

Upon rewatch, I have alot more respect for this two-parter now than I did on my initial viewing of it.

It reminded me of just what exactly kept me going with W, when the previous two episodes had me questioning why exactly I able to stick with it at all. And the way it was all structured only helped with that.

Akiko is unbearable at the start as per usual, but then, we get to the good stuff.

Which is, basically, every other character, as well as the great world building and surprising amount of foreshadowing that the story has going for it. The Virus Memory being capable to interface with people's's consciousness; Sure, it's something totally new for the Sonozaki's', but we the viewer have a primary example of that in Philip, which in turn foreshadows his true nature.

There's also the interactions between Kirihiko and Saeko, which pretty much spell out the direction that things are headed in for those who found some of the previous scenes too subtle. Granted, Saeko claiming they already knew everything about the Virus Dopant is either a blatant lie or makes no sense, but whatever. It's merely a small drop in all of the other great character interactions going on, like between Philip and Sachi.

And of course, last but not least is Shotaro, who still remains my favorite character even now. Dude stood out a ton throughout both episodes, showcasing why exactly he's one of our two leads. He's not a detective that's solely out to find a culprit, he's one who does when he can to get to the heart of a matter. Not just because it's his job(like Akiko), but because he cares for all life equally, whether they be an outstanding citizen or a criminal. All throughout the episodes, his resolve is on full display, and it helps make him incredibly likable ontop of respectable.

These episodes reminded me. Yeah, Akiko might grate on my nerves to no end, but regardless of her, there's still a bunch of shining stars that deserve my attention far more, and I'm always happy to see them regardless. This is now a two-parter that I'll remember alot more fondly from here on out.

That is very fun! I appreciate that this part of the series is always trying to think tactically about which combos work best against each enemy. (Unless the enemy just steals everything but Cyclone and Joker...)

I'll probably have some frustrations down the line (I recall there being a late-series development that made me incredibly upset), but I'm currently very much enjoying the Sonozakis as a growing threat in W. I think the family itself is agreeably weird, while creating a neat threat for Double to become aware of. I think this version works!

I don't think she's saying she knew everything about the Virus Dopant, she's just saying a) they'd already done research about disembodied Dopants, so Kirihiko's revelation is old news; and b) Kirihiko's "lucky break" just ended up making the Virus Dopant less effective. She's mostly just acting disinterested because she enjoys seeing him figure out that he screwed up. They're a fun couple!

Akiko claims Shotaro won't catch a cold as he's an idiot (albeit it's still tactless to sneeze in Shotaro's direction). Philip uses that as a new topic to learn though, despite that idiot not catching a cold is an idiom. Akiko later checks out if Shotaro caught any disease when claiming about crying car though, as per Shotaro hating cryings, which sounds idiotic, but here it should sound plausible as there's Dopants. Philip also lowkey teases Shotaro by bringing up a topic of idiots enjoying high places... as Shotaro gets into the hood/roof of the Blazer. He also got accused as the killer by Makura despite caring for the rammed client. Even Jinno steps in to talks about how the client died from a virus, using a coroner's report. Makura's the worst case of having jealousy and petty resentments, of having to rely on private detectives, to the point that he's a jerk albeit often suffers misfortune for it. Being a law enforcement in a rather lighthearted KR show doesn't make one a paragon.

From before, yes Akiko does get a small improvement here that she's cooperative to follow after Shotaro's instructions and not throwing her boss status around for orders. Akiko pulls the best slipper use yet, by smacking someone deserving with it, Cross. Misleading part of Kouhei seemingly becoming a Dopant to take revenge on the gang, seemingly confirmed by how Kouhei talks about how there's 1 left of the gang. Shotaro's the type to reason with apparent evildoers if he can and claim the sister wouldn't approve of the revenge. Philip insults Shotaro as half-boiled again for saving Cross and not letting Kouhei take revenge, but they're in law department which is more fitting for him. as they wouldn't resort into death penalty for any crimes. Shotaro's explanation though is that him living in his city... then what about those who don't live in Fuuto then even if they're innocent? But overall still, being a criminal isn't justification for killing someone, at least not on its own, especially that Cross is a normal human, thus can be mitigated easier without a lethal force.

This arc had me thinking about The Little Sister, the fifth of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels and the one that's often cited as being the most cynical and misanthropic. I won't give away too much, but it ends with Marlowe confronting the real culprit behind the book's crimes and realizing that he can't prove it, meaning that they're going to get away with everything they've done. On the way out of the building, he passes by another character from the story who's pretty clearly on their way to kill the aforementioned culprit. Marlowe just lets him walk on by and keeps going about his day.

I was thinking about this a lot as I watched Shotaro trying to save the gangsters who ran over the sister. Marlowe, at least in that novel, wouldn't have gone out of his way to try to save those guys while Shotaro dives onto that foreign model car (a term that, as an American, amuses the hell out of me to see applied to a fucking Chevy Trailblazer) because he doesn't want to see even a criminal get hurt.

So half-boiled.

Makura... I don't know, he means well? He's an abrasive doofus, but he genuinely believes that Shotaro's casual attitude and lack of official status is a detriment to law and order.

Still: abrasive doofus.

Yeah, this is a story that's as noir as one of these monster-of-the-fortnight stories is likely to get. The whole thing's a bummer, no one really learns anything, and a manipulative scumbag basically gets away scot-free. It's just a story about the danger of vengeance, and the happy ending is I Don't Know Maybe Sachi Gets Out Of Her Coma At Some Point And Moves On With Her Life. (Shotaro is turning into a big fan of epilogues that are someone else's problem at some indeterminate point in the future!) As a Kamen Rider superhero story, it doesn't really give us a rousing climax. As crime noir, it does a good job, though.

SHOTARO HIDARI HARDBOILED DELUSION DIARY EPISODE 3 - “WHAT IF AKIKO WAS A MAID?”

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It is, uh, very interesting that Shotaro’s daydream involves a subservient Akiko and a subservient Philip fighting over his attention. Most of these stories so far have been about how little anyone respects Shotaro and how he wishes Akiko was more competent – a familiar fan refrain! – and this one’s no different on the surface. But the idea of the competent and dedicated Akiko fighting with the competent and dedicated Philip over who is the only one Shotaro needs? I mean, that definitely trumps Shotaro’s need to envision Akiko in a maid outfit as The Thing I Want To Mention From This Short.

Besides that, this one was as enjoyable and brisk as the preceding installments. Shotaro does the Ryubei scene from Episode 9! Philip duels with the stem of a rose! The Virus Dopant shows up as a referee! What else could you want?

The highlight of this one was Shotaro doing a Ryubei impersonation, mannerisms and all.

If anything the first portions of these little shorts are a nice look into the every day life of the Narumi Detective Agency, where as the latter portions are usually the actors getting to goof around and perform differently than how they usually do.

Being jerk is the approach, regardless of the intentions. These types can have absolute obliviousness to other people's perceptions of them. Nothing they do ever strikes them as out of proportion; they never realize that anything they are doing might ever be considered inappropriate, excessive, and/or cruel; believing they are actually right and others are in the wrong. By genuinely believing in good those can rationalize it or shrug the accusation off.

Didn't expect a criticism about Shotaro here, considering that, well, it's W, from my experience (albeit some have different ones like Mesnick) is that, this is one sacred cow series where it's the perfect golden standard for KR shows and people seemingly can't criticize it (except Akiko who is divisive). About the praise for Shotaro's dynamics like with Akiko, I know him or other characters standalone can be different, but for you, of all people Shotaro's the one who you deem as, rather than another main Riders who are sweet boys, who gets more hate from people due to being "cookie cutter". Shotaro gets less criticism for being "standard" compared to others, though he's almost always exclusively talked with Philip as a partner who fills each other's voids. And at the ending, Shotaro catches a cold.... either proving he's not an idiot or that the idiom is wrong.

More exposition here in how both Phillip and Kirihiko talks about how the Gaia Memory works by transforming their consciousness from intense rage and hatred, which Kirihiko finds as unique. Kirihiko then tells Saeko that from Nezu's information Sachi wears the Virus Memory before the Blazer hits her, where Virus Dopant left her comatose body and absorbs Kouhei's anger as well to take revenge, and apparently the Blazer the Dopant used was a different one, taken from a junkyard with a repaired body. This is also setup for Kirihiko's plan to develop this data and make up for the disappointments to Saeko, but this type of Dopant has a weakness too, the ones from mental energy will be weaker from transformed body, as Virus Memory should be able to kill entire city population, as opposed to just one at a time.

Philip has unseen ability, to contact Sachi's consciousness as its state is altered by Gaia Memory, telling her that Shotaro's trying to save her, and reasoning with her about attacking Yushima. Now Phillip implements something he deems as half-boiled before in Shotaro, claiming that he tries to save Sachi from succumbing to her rage and despair. She gives in to her hatred though and expelling Philip, albeit at first Sachi refrains from taking revenge on Yushima proposing to another woman, but does so after the accident, which Philip claims she's under the control of Gaia Memory. This makes for a good twist that the victim's the one wreaking havoc this time, despite suspicions that she's in coma. I think Kouhei's just natural reaction, but Shotaro gotta know the real source to stop the rampage, about the unrelated stuff Sachi had that Kousei doesn't know about. About the move of trying to talk down someone from revenge, the one doing the talking is often seen as the one in at fault, as the one wanting revenge sees them as pompous (as the talk's often about being the "bigger person", I disagree with that too though) with others supporting them.

Yeah he's ruled out by Virus Dopant appearing separately from Yushima and wreaks havoc, which means Yushima's the Dopant's target instead. The one causing problem here is just a scumbag normal human, but yes he does fair share of villainy outside of Dopant fighting as well, like using women for his art, conning people into marrying him, and tossing the girl he's with into the monster to escape.

Philip in particular seems to relish getting to be an emotional weirdo.

I think it's less that Shotaro as a character is bad, and more that the show assumed that Shotaro was deep and nuanced enough to carry the entire episode. He's not, sort of by design. He needs a lot more characters around him in order to be the most compelling version of his character. Episode 11 didn't give him the tools to succeed!

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 13 - “Q ON THE RADIO - PRINCESS UNDER FIRE”

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A+ episode, pretty much all the way through.

Wakana is my favorite Sonazaki member, and I feel like this episode is a great reason why. This is a story where she’s being targeted by a deranged Dopant stalker (the Gaia Memory is “Violence”? What?) and yet the tension for her isn’t physical danger or a loss of security – it’s that she likes her dumb radio job, and this psychopath is ruining her reputation. The story is adamant that that all the things we saw before are true for Wakana – the brattiness, the hostility, the manipulation, the haughtiness – while asking us to find some sympathy as she risks losing the one escape she has from a supernatural crime family. And it totally works.

Some of that, of course, is because of Wakana’s interactions with Shotaro and Philip. She completely doesn’t remember Shotaro from earlier in the season, which punctures his ego in exactly the right way. He basically immediately falls out of love with her, because he always needs to be seen as A Cool Guy – he even does his internal narration back to her as a pick-up line! (Also funny is that Wakana seems to have already forgotten that Akiko was her wacky maid a couple weeks back, and I think I love that script oversight -slash- genius narrative decision.) But Philip, that’s the interesting part. She respects Philip, and Philip consistently has her back. He never doubts the need to protect her from the Violence Dopant, and he never takes the bait of Shotaro’s badmouthing. Between Shotaro’s uncharacteristic ambivalence to saving a beautiful woman, and Philip’s uncharacteristic insistence on working this case, Wakana’s presence shakes up the W format in really entertaining ways.

And, like… a lot of it is the performances. Everyone’s doing their best work this episode, perfectly nailing exactly what the script requires of them: Wakana turns on a dime in most scenes, switching between Performative Innocence for dopey dudes and Petulant Menace for anyone stupid enough to get in her way; Kirihiko is always colossally out of his depth, while giving off an unearned air of superiority; Saeko is Just Trying To Help, but generally trying to ruin Wakana’s happiness for sport; Shotaro is crestfallen that a woman he didn’t know is different than he imagined, which is a perfect trait for a half-boiled detective; and Philip mixes his usual genius focus with a rare bit of pride in his results, since they seem to make Wakana happy. Everyone in this is great, to a startling degree – like, this is only the 13th episode! They should still be a little rough around the edges!

But no, they’re all great, and even the mystery is a fun little runner for the episode. It’s a mystery where each stage gets the cast involved, rather a problem they have to deduce well after the fact. It’s more Escape Room than Crime Scene, you know? Fun energy.

This one was… man, best episode so far? Really, really great. I could watch Wakana do that little side-mouthed *TT* for another half-hour, easy.

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-Hello, story-right-before-the-winter-movie! Creepy skull-faced urban legend makes a fiery appearance in the first radio show portion of the episode, while the Masquerade Memory makes a quick, laughably-underpowered showing against Clay Doll.

-Pretty sure I remembered the culprit(s) of this one, so I didn’t want to talk too much about the effectiveness of the actual mystery part of the mystery plot. Feels pretty obvious who the main Dopant is in this one, at the very least.

-Huge episode for Philip’s secret past, obviously. Nice to see the show playing fair with the eventual reveal, even if Philip’s need for secrecy seems to flare up in direct proportion to Wakana’s presence in the plot. Double hasn’t connected the dots yet on Wakana being a part of the organization that Philip was rescued from, so there’s kind of no major reason why Philip can’t be seen by Wakana… other than Massive Plot Reasons.

Yeah, this is also a favourite two-parter of mine, partially for putting the focus on Wakana, but also because after 12 episodes of instant reveals, obvious suspects or a lack of real buildup, we have an actual mystery, complete with our bad guy using a voice changer so it’s not immediately obvious.

And now, a double dose of the main feature.

Ultra-lert!

The late Shion Nakamaru, who appears here as Wakana’s radio host rival had two major appearances as antagonists in the Ultra Series. Specifically, the ill-fated Riko Saida/Dark Faust in Ultraman Nexus and Alien Pedan Harlan in Ultra Galaxy: Mega Monster Battle.

Rider-lert!

The director of Wakana’s tour is Tomonori Okano, who played several minor roles in Heisei Rider, but is most notable as Old Man Sakurai in Den-O and its movies.

I got another bit of Raymond Chandler deja vu thinking about this episode. Chandler's first novel, the Big Sleep, concerned a wealthy older man with two daughters. He hired Marlowe to find out what trouble the younger one, an unstable wild child, was getting into, but it turned out that the older sister and her husband were the ones that were tied up in much more nefarious dealings.

The comparison completely breaks down after this point, especially if you watch the movie, which has a much more flirtatious dynamic between Marlowe and the older sister that is 100% not reflected in Shotaro's interactions with Saeko (especially since I honestly don't remember if they ever have a conversation with each other). And while Marlowe does have to drag the younger sister out of a pornographer's studio/opium den, she at no point gets smashed into dozens of tiny shards (probably; it's been awhile since I've read the book).

Still, I have to feel that, assuming the writers read up on their Chandler while prepping the show, the book may have had at least some influence on the Sonozaki family.

Wow. Did not recognize him without two hats stacked on top of each other.