Sure, but this story made it pretty clear that Yukie wasn't a total sociopath. She definitely killed people -- which the conclusion is smart to point out -- but they were a variety of scumbags and criminals, not innocents. (Except for anyone run over by that one dude who drove his car through a neighborhood?) I'm on Team Double's side, she specifically sprayed those brands in a way that she knew Double could handle.

That is for sure Wakana projecting, yeah. Saeko's only regret is that she can't murder him all over again.

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 36 - “BEYOND R - LEAVE ALL BEHIND”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/w/double36a.png

Okay episode.

I wish I liked this one more? It doesn’t really do anything wrong, but a lot of its conclusions are either things I felt like landed better before (Terui’s heroic turn in… I want to say Episode 28?) or are things I was never particularly invested in (Saeko’s feelings about her dad). It’s an episode split between the Sonozaki family and Terui, but neither of them completely held my interest.

Let’s talk about Terui first, since this is his Upgrade Form story. Like I mentioned last time, I’m good with them landing this story on Terui’s protective feelings for Nagi outweighing his hatred for Isaka. While Shroud’s here to yet again get it wrong, I don’t feel like this story ever really tried to say that Terui’s motivation was anything other than saving that girl from Isaka. There’s no conflict in Terui, which makes his attempts to tame the Trial Memory come off less like a spiritual awakening and more like a fairly standard training montage. (And, look, I’m just saying: a guy who turns into a motorcycle should’ve been able to run that track on his own power.) It’s nice to see him succeed, and his victory over Isaka is pretty glorious, but this all felt like a semi-perfunctory Time To Close The Book On Isaka story, not anything that required a reexamination of Terui’s psychology. Not exactly the same as Shotaro having to reckon with the power of his weakness, you know?

And then there’s Saeko choosing Isaka over her family, and it’s… shot well? I liked how it all looked, and I like the escalation of tension within the villain group just as the heroes are becoming more powerful, and I like the idea that Isaka is – like Terui – finding a motivation beyond where he started from, but I kind of don’t care a whole lot. Saeko’s scenes with Isaka have always been too one-note for me (and that note is There Are Kids Watching), and I don’t know that she’s ever been portrayed with enough nuance to care about whether she feels like she gets enough respect from her crime-boss father. Isaka, meanwhile, is clearly just counting the 9.8 scenes until he’s offed, so his threats against Ryubei are a nice nod to an overall goal that is basically never ever going to happen. So much of the middle part of this episode feels like it’s killing time until Terui is allowed to leave the track, even if it’s the best version of killing time that I can think of.

It sounds like I hated this episode, but I really didn’t. It’s fine. The debut of Accel Trial is super cool, and this whole story is a gigantic win for the most appealing version of Terui. It just – it never felt like it had any fun twists on it, and so much of the Sonozaki side of things featured the inner lives of characters I was never terribly curious about. It’s a solid episode, but something this important to the character of Accel should’ve probably managed better than “solid”.

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/w/double36b.png

-Accel Trial!

-Not many Upgrade Forms are actually slimmer than the Base Form (not counting, uh, all of Kabuto and Ex-Aid?), but I really like it here. It sells Speed in such a simple way, which is very fun. The blue is also an easy flip from Accel’s red. Just a couple clean decisions that result in an attractive suit.

-I love that there’s a yellow mid-form change that doesn’t actually do anything… yet.

Yeah this was a fairly alright two-parter, and again as I mentioned earlier, Terui alongside our guest this time, Nagi, were very much carrying the entirety of this two-parter on their shoulders. Whether it was the revelation that Terui's necklace was a gift from his sister, the fact that he utterly fails and yet his presence is enough to stall out the worst case scenario, or even Nagi's desperate hope that Terui will manage to actually beat the sicko who has made her life a living hell.

Real good stuff.

I've already said my piece on Isaka, and this two-parter didn't really give me any actual nicer things to say about him as a character. Will say I forgot we got a "dream-sequence" of him using the Dopant's wings. That was a silly image I entirely forgot about.

And while I don't really care much for the Sonozaki stuff this time around... there was one bit I really loved. That was where we get a clear shot of only Saeko and Isaka alone as she's shaving him, following Saeko only to pan over with her again and suddenly Ryubei is there despite no signs of him being in or entering the room seconds earlier. It's such a horror movie-esque choice to do and I honestly loved that little shot as a result.

Accel Trial's debut is still as fun as I remember it being. It's a simplistic form but it's effective in how it's portrayed and I'm sure the suit actor appreciates the lighter armor on his upper body.

Also Shroud continues to be amusing to watch, mostly in her consistent repetition of the word "hate", reminds me of another guy actually...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ThyXkarFY

Anyway, I love the little touches with her. Mostly in the scene where Akiko's excited that Terui's going to get a better time and she's flailing around. And she actually touches Shroud who simply shrugs off the touch and actively backs away like "No, stop that".

So like I promised last time, here’s my general thoughts.

I’ve mentioned elsewhere that in the “Foundation X” trilogy, as I’ve seen it be called, that compared to others, the Second Riders tend to be stuck in their own subplots that have little to no impact on the main Rider’s war against he resident evil (at least compared to the likes of Cross-Z, who has jsut as much of an enmity with Evol as Build, if not a greater one, and Kusaka, who drives the plot with his one-sided enmity with Takumi pushing quite a few aspects of the plot forward). But out of the three, I like Accel’s storyline the best, mostly because it actually comes to the organic conclusion of Terui defeating his nemesis without giving into his worst aspects (compared with Meteor, whose enmity with Aries was aborted in favour of debuting Cosmic States), and there is some impact on the main plot, as Isaka’s romance with Saeko (which a few watchers either ignored or treated is disingenuous, despite the lack of evidence it’s anything other than a mutual romance) and their subsequent failed attempt at mutiny forces Saeko onto the streets, which will massively change the villains’ dynamic throughout the remaining episodes.

Yeah, as much as I was a little non-plussed to see such a straightforward Terui story, the execution is something I can't really complain about. It's a solid story of unstoppable heroism, leavened with a surprising amount of sweetness from Terui. If you're an Accel fan, I can't imagine that you'd feel disappointed by how he's portrayed over these two episodes.

Trial is blue and has an orange eye. The inetween yellow form has a purple eye. This is even more proof that base Accel should have a green eye.

Congrats on your 6000th post!

That color theory is only a theory though, based on the small amount of the EM spectrum that we can actually perceive. So you can't call that proof.

I get it, complementary colors and all, but I think the vanilla color scheme for Accel is fine the way it is. Besides, we already have enough badass red/red adjacent riders with green eyes like ZX, Garren, Amazon Alpha so I'm happy with what Toei and Bandai gave us.

Weather uses his ability to control the heavy rain so it exclusively targets W, trapping him and presumably could've drown him. Accel got trapped in a stormy cloud that releases lightnings. With 2 Riders immobilized, Weather checks on Nagi, and claims that the port will develop further the more fearful Nagi gets. As Weather mocks Terui's failure to protect, let alone revenge, W eventually turns Xtreme and frees himself from the rain, but Weather escapes. I guess this is a difficulty of 2-in-1 Rider for Xtreme that Xtreme had to absorb Phillip's body and fly to Shotaro's location, which can take some time? Nagi would hiss on Terui's failure despite his efforts as she runs off. If only Xtreme got a chance to show off against Weather in front of Nagi. Now Shroud initially refuses Terui's request of more power as he wasn't as revenge-driven as before, and refers to his failure of beating Isaka. So Isaka's mockery of him protecting was an indicator of Terui growing out of his revenge-driven demeanor.

Other than being scared, Nagi claims that she can't ask anyone for help due to obvious reasons. Still though, Terui refers to Gaia Memory before albeit she never knew the term, but it's a hint that he knows more about it. But it's still better to talk than bottle it up, and luckily she talked to 2 Kamen Riders, and Terui would only thank her to clear it up, even smiling as he presents her his necklace as a good luck charm. Later, Shotaro explains that Terui is similar in that his family was killed by Isaka too, thus he feels obligated to protect similar victims like her. She claims that she pushes others like Terui away for their own good as he'd die if he did so, but still, closing off to other people for their sake that doesn't need to resort to aggressive and hostile methods, it still makes her a jerk and can directly hurt others herself, like the kid or potentially Terui's reputation. Being rude isn't the only way to deal with this problem (of keeping people distant)... and they aren't completely right due to good intentions. Shotaro assures her that Terui is strong exactly due to his determination to protect, which was also Sokichi's teaching.

About Isaka's backstory of searching for a purpose in his life including becoming a doctor and studying biological field, but found it meaningless until he witnessed Terror Dopant's power, taking out several civilians, he's the type who's already depraved from the get go as he's only mesmerized by people being killed in front of him, instead of realizing that a doctor's job to save lives. He had gained many Gaia Memories and Living Connectors, but eventually he'd sought the very Terror Memory itself, and approaching Saeko was his means for that. But Saeko's only relaxed to know his true intentions as she believes Isaka can beat Ryubee. His goal too where he has an oath from 10 years ago to overthrow Ryubee and turn Saeko into the queen. It obviously won't be shown due to the show's target... but both would likely have a sex. Isaka's so intriguing to Saeko that even her cold and ruthless persona are tamed around him.

Nagi aggressively pushes a child away for asking about birds, who Terui helped after. Nice gesture of him for doing a cop's job of being helpful. A bit of reason of Nagi's standoffish behavior is said where she claims those who hang around her will die. Said gag is an absolutely underhanded move though. This highlights unfortunate double standard of gender where men have the default monster status and the people around will mostly believe a woman's claim without taking context into account... including Shotaro and Akiko, who slaps Terui with a slipper before realizing who it is. And this shows a hypocrisy from the girl as well, she claims she wants to prevent others being hurt, yet she slanders anyway, it can make Terui live as someone who got undeserved infamy, like being fired for it.. Shotaro and Akiko suffer the effects of the slander as well for being seen as the "pervert's friend".

I feel like you should be taking this up with Shroud!

Thanks! And oh god.

Sure, but it's still super funny.