Damn... missed some episodes, gotta be some work to do to reply.

Though fortunately I already watched this show, thanks to my country airing it on TV, and did my (almost no reply) own writing starting here.

Shotaro strives to become a hardboiled detective, hence the name of W's motorcycle, but Shotaro can instead become too tryhard instead for that, as Akiko noted, where she's his boss, (ab)using her authority to get Shotaro to comply for her needs like evicting him. However this behavior of Akiko also led for Shotaro to mistake her for middle schooler, which riles up Akiko further, and revealing that she's the daughter of the Chief that was killed a year ago. Further character reveal for them is that, Shotaro seems to not giving out hard truth by claiming the Chief won't be coming back, while Akiko is obnoxiously curious by shrieking something at something she doesn't know. Despite her bratty traits against Shotaro, Akiko doesn't seem to be all bad here though by her scene greeting some passerby before. The scene also establishes both of them as comedic, over the top expressive characters with Akiko's antics and Shotaro spitting water at revelations.

Shotaro got a clue about Windscale (on a hat) being the place Togawa used to work, but Shotaro is confronted by a cop named Shun Makura for interfering. Wanting to be hardboiled, Shotaro snarks back to him even refering to Makura as 3rd rate cop, escalating a fight. However it only makes them seem like cat and dog in front of Mikio Jinno, a senior detective. Shotaro got photos as more clues, while suspecting that it's related to Dopant, to Akiko's dismay of not knowing about it, even choking Shotaro with her slipper to force him to explain. To make it better for Shotaro there, Akiko doesn't actually wear her slippers, she wears sneakers. Shotaro calls Phillip for further investigation but the Magma Dopant actually appears, with Shotaro escaping and insisting Akiko to stay home for safety. Shows that Shotaro is equipped with detective gadgets like grappling hook.

Phillip is someone focused on explaining and gaining knowledge, asking for Akiko to not interfere while he's focused, and he's interested in learning new topics, but the ones he'd view as interesting, but not for those he already knows. He can get distracted to learn about takoyaki from Akiko's talk however, to Shotaro's dismay. Other than comedic moment there, so far Akiko holds back the case solving in 2 occassions in Shotaro and Phillip's (here) scenes and I get the division of her opinion comes from of her being hindrance. Shotaro finally explains about Dopants to Akiko, while confirming that there are sales about Gaia Memory. After very lengthy octopus explanation, it's revealed how the detectives work, Shotaro gives the keywords to Phillip, while Phillip searches for further information with Gaia Library, possessing seemingly endless information dump.

At Windscale however, Togawa is revealed to be the exact Magma Dopant, injecting the Gaia Memory in a spot of his body to change. Shotaro henshins into W CycloneJoker, using the pronoun "we", as he invites Phillip to get into battle. With the Riders being 2 person in 1, it employs both methods of using the Rider Belt the franchise is known; Shotaro wearing it manually (like Faiz), and the belt materializing around Phillip (original KR), and Phillip falls unconscious when they henshin, with confused Akiko taking care of his body. I also like about how the form's logo appears when they henshin/change forms, with W using CycloneJoker and then changing into LunaJoker (which can stretch right limbs like rubber) as Magma Dopant gains upper hand over his range.

Shotaro supplies W's weapons, while Phillip supplies W's powers, and the weapon side is the left part of W, accurately referenced in Shotaro's surname Hidari, which means left. W ends the fight with Maximum Drive attack Joker Extreme, though not that flashy, still a neat idea of literally splitting W's body into both halves for.. doubled finishing kicks, double the damage. Dopants fight wouldn't kill the humans using it, it'll revert them back to human while wrecking their Gaia Memory. However, Togawa is then taken by a T-Rex Dopant, and RevolGarry from the secret room emerges, taking Akiko and Philip along.

The more surprising one to me would be you finding Akiko annoying previously, cuz throughout your watches you do enjoy these kind of high energy antagonism characters, like the plethora of bratty childs from phase 1 Heisei, and how you like Nico (she's even worse as she goes towards morally ambiguous territory, being another Rider starting out as anti-heroic), while the one you dislike would be more of the "wooden" "boring" lack of high energy stuff. Of course I gotta know you'd like Akiko based on previous that.

Well, I guess even I do think she's more unbearable at this stage compared to later on, even though I don't think she's as bad as some people make it out to be (thanks to watching the brats in phase 1 Heisei or something like Nico). Dunno if I'm surprised or not that she's often nicer when not riled up (well... and Shinpei and Onari is someone as nice as many primary Riders) and does actively help the clients and people (more than Philip), while Nico (someone usually brought up to compare with) only does so at near the end (like characters such as secondaries), so overall she feels more like type B tsundere characters (e.g. Amy Rose).

Yeah it'd be rare, though not W's distinct thing to have experienced protagonist. I do wish that sometimes there can be more experienced and moral protagonists rather than the newcomer everyone looks down upon. Though neither approach is good or bad, just perhaps having a moral and experienced protagonist may will have the message of these shows appreciated better rather than being dismissed by audience. Though even then Shotaro too is made fun of being half-boiled, another case of moral victim as it's done due to his innate compassion regardless of tryhard nature.

It's Shotaro's take of "want to protect others' smiles" but kinda in opposite version, about not making people cry instead. For Philip, at the beginning he can be anti-heroic, with his "logical" ideas can involve something pragmatic and ruthless, but that doesn't seem to be brought up often unlike secondary Riders that also share equal dynamic to the lead Riders. Seems that lighthearted stuff made people think everyone in the cast is squeaky clean but just "quirky", if they have goofy interactions or such, not even Philip only but also people like, the Taros in Den-O, or Banjou in Build. And it's understated that Shotaro also acts like, his anchor by this to disagree with those ideas.

I brought up Akiko in Saber thread before to you when talking about Mei (about her being similar to Mei yes), but you didn't address those (particularly about Mei's admiration of Rintaro part) so didn't know. I understand that Mei is the heart as she's even more optimistic than Touma, for W though, Shotaro is the certified heart of the team, it's what acknowledged by his companions like Philip much later on, and also what transforms a hate-filled men like Terui into someone fighting for love of Fuuto. And despite above, I think Shotaro and Philip typically gets along well and interact in pleasant manner, they almost never got into intense fights. Dunno if Akiko also ranks up high/peak among heroine list like Mei, of which, I wondered why do you think the bar of heroines (not female Riders) is low.

Episode 2. HeatMetal.

Anywho, the setup for this episode I felt was pretty weak, especially in terms of the Philip stuff.

He's been in the business for a year now, in-universe, and only now is "Family" some sort of trigger word. Did they just somehow avoid it ever being uttered and/or heard until now?

I also still want Akiko to get thrown off a bridge at this point in the show, given that she actively causes more problems for everyone involved than anything, and is a massive hypocrite about it to boot. It's not funny, it's not endearing, it's annoying. Especially as Shotaro and Philip only become more likable in contrast.

Speaking of likable characters, we get a bit more with Kirihiko, and a very well done, subtle scene about how his new wife and family are manipulating him just as much as he tries to manipulate the people he sells Gaia Memories to. Not a bad start for my personal favorite of the villains in this show. Smart move in not revealing his full on Dopant form just yet, too.

This episode also has what is most likely my favorite gag in the whole show, given it's been stuck in my memory ever since I first saw it(the bit where Money Dopant asks just how many Memories Double has). And I love we continue to get bits showcasing the camaraderie between Shotaro and Philip, with stuff like Shotaro hooking his bro up with an autographed photo of Wakana. I have seen many other shows fumble stuff like that. In other Rider shows, even.

Overall, there's some good stuff here, some not so good. It's a decent episode.

I was not a seasoned enough fan to appreciate her qualities back then!

Ha ha, agree to disagree! I've found Akiko to be a delightful agent of well-meaning chaos.

He's great! I really enjoyed his moment of trying to flatter Wakana, and her immediately seeing through it. It definitely makes Kirihiko come off as a dude who is trying to insinuate himself into a family that is far more aware of his goals than he thinks.

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 4 - “DON’T TOUCH THE M: BETTING ON JOKER”

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Family! I hope you like hearing that word a bunch!

It’s a theme in this episode, but maybe oppressively so. It’s there in Philip’s memories, in Shotaro’s role as his big brother, in the Narumi Detective Agency as a found family, in Yuuko’s backstory, in the Sonozaki subplot… it’s 100% what this episode is about, so it’s not like I’m mad at its inability to elucidate or adhere to a theme. FAMILY! That’s the whole thing! I just wish that it felt like we were getting more than just A Bunch Of Family Stuff.

The Sonozaki/Museum stuff… it’s definitely there. It’s a plot that moves at a breakneck pace, but without really intersecting with this episode’s mystery at all, in any way. (At least last episode we got Kirihiko saving the Money Dopant.) It’s just here to flesh out the Dopant side of their group, and that’s all. We get to see Wakana’s Dopant form in action, Nazca gets a full reveal (as opposed to, uh, Kirihiko’s earlier “full reveal”) and a glimpse of the rest of the family’s Dopant forms in a cool/nightmarish wedding photo. Beyond racing through the wedding of Saeko and Kirihiko, there’s nothing in all of these scenes that narratively assists the mystery plot in this episode. It’s just, like, another thing that’s happening in Fuuto. While it’s nominally on the topic of Family, spoiler – a subplot featuring a family is sort of always on the topic of Family.

The mystery plot fares significantly better, as it’s both a tense battle to defeat the Money Dopant through either high-level mathematics or bluffing through use of the worse gambling partner, and also a fun exploration of Shotaro and Philip’s unsteady dynamic.

The bit that really landed with me is a two-part thing, apropos to Double. The earlier part is Shotaro trying to connect with Philip’s sense of frustration by quoting something Sokichi once said. It bounces right off of Philip, because he never knew Sokichi, and Shotaro’s invocation of his memory isn’t dealing with Philip’s current struggle. Philip feels an absence, and Shotaro’s like Let Me Talk Like My Work Dad. But later, when they’re at the Million Colosseo, Shotaro speaks from the heart and tells Philip that yeah, he’s following in Sokichi’s footsteps, but the result is him dedicating himself to protecting Philip. It takes what was previously a tossed-off detective cosplay and turns it into something personal and heartfelt. There's warmth and vulnerability where there used to be performative manliness, and it's Shotaro once again missing what makes him effective in pursuit of someone else's personality. It's always fun to watch that play out.

It makes for a strong episode overall, with a bonkers pre-monster confrontation (Old Maid!), and a solid story about the contours of the Double partnership. Also, a whole lot with the Sonozaki family! OH NO I SAID FAMILY AGAIN I’M SORRY PHILIP

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-Akiko running down Shotaro is like oxygen for me now, but I’m glad that Yuuko’s able to realize that Akiko is pretty awful at every aspect of her job. I like when there’s parity!

-I had a vague feeling that the Money Dopant was cheating at the casino, but I’m glad I misremembered that! This whole story avoids a lot of easy outs, and I appreciate that. Yuuko just sort of goes Money Crazy; she isn’t being warped by the Money Dopant or anything. Also, everyone knows a monster runs the casino, and everyone’s too greedy to care. I love that touch!

-Santa’s here! I don’t… I don’t know why Santa’s a character on this show? Very weird, even for a toku show!

Marina mourning for Togawa death reveals Shotaro's motivation that he doesn't want for anyone to cry and tries to prevent it happening and lamenting about his failure to Marina, while reminiscing their childhood. This establishes Shotaro's attempt to be hardboiled fails miserably, as discussed by his informant "Watcherman", due to his emotional true self, but it's a sign of his altruism. After escaping Shotaro finds a keyword in Windscale. Philip uses the new keywords to suspect Marina as the killer, with Shotaro noting that she also had grudge against Windscale with her boyfriend, but manipulates Shotaro into killing him as Marina attacks weakened Togawa as T-Rex after he's beaten. By this, I had kinda hilarious thinking that, these cases can be solved just by using Google. Philip's main advantage is him being search engine, which is... universal for people now!

Shotaro shows off his skills outside Rider by using Bat Shot camera and Stag Phone to electroute the Dopant, though it escapes again. I think Metal Branding, W's finisher attack as HeatMetal, is a really bland attack, just smacking the opponent with burning Metal Shaft (that I think should be standard attack of the form).

True to Shotaro's goal, he's mad by Marina making the whole city cry with her crimes here (also destroying buildings) and had contacted the authorities, but still tries to be lenient by just urging for Marina to turn herself in, but as someone with superpowers, Marina would make use for it to try to prevent herself being captured by the cops (only having human level equipment), and her deterioriating sanity to resort to eat Shotaro due to her love. True that Shotaro's approach does get Marina trying to get his sympathy by telling her sob story about the Windscale manager taking credit of her work and disposing her, but still, Philip being all about the knowledge exhibits thinking preference against feelings, relying on hard logic, but it still turns him cold and pragmatic by resorting to do what's "necessary" (these types are morally questionable).

Making things right means he was wrong before. It's more prevalent in characters like secondary Riders, but Philip is quite similar here to not only urge Shotaro to finish off Marina (where Shotaro believes in her and wants to reason), but also mocking him as halfboiled for not doing what's "necessary" (for other series, "naive" is often the word used for this). The type of character to mock morality viewing it as softness/weakness, and wants to prevent those people from doing what's right, as in "corrupting" them to fit their "superior" worldview, even Akiko (who usually holds Philip in higher regard) sides with Shotaro here. Him not understanding why Shotaro hit him is a sign of him learning about emotions more though, meaning Shotaro rubs off on him.

I think it's a constant presence up until now, tbh. And the jingles get louder and louder. It doesn't sit well with me either to have those toy accessories being depicted as something deadly. I mean in particular for swords that is meant to cut up stuff, for others, well, yeah, blunt things can still be deadly behind the force of Kamen Rider. But it seems to be made like that to make the show tamer for kids, along with how monsters now typically don't actually kill civilians. Thought it'd be what you like as well for the toys for phase 2, with phase 1 having less presence for it.

I enjoyed the Million Colosseo hustle as well, showing how Shoutarou and Phillip work as a team to outsmart Money Dopant. This also shows how Akiko functions between them, when she translates Shoutarou's well-meaning yet vague Soukichi-like wisdom in to something clear, to make Phillip understand and appreciate that Shoutarou is being genuinely serious here. Terrible advice for actual gamblers who don't need to take the risks, but in this context, it's a good moral that Phillip's pessimism prevents him from making a decision and that if he can't think of a solution using his own merits, then he should at least have faith in his partner Shoutarou when he takes initiative, or else they can't really call themselves the 2-in-1 detective. They're both halfboiled, which is why they need to rely on each other's strengths for balance.

True that Shoutarou is a solid candidate for heart, but I think he mostly shows that side of himself towards his clients and suspects, using emotional intuition to figure out motives and deliver effective pep talks to victims. The dynamic in the Narumi Detective Agency kind of places Akiko in the role of a mother, since it's usually her who tries to make decisive judgments for the direction of the company whenever Shoutarou's hunches come to dispute against Phillip's cold logic, or vice versa. The fact that Shoutarou and Phillip are able to honestly debate and make up after shows that their friendship is healthy and strong for sure. And yeah, Akiko ranks as my 7th favorite Heisei heroine, so fairly high. I think I generally liked heroines more often in Phase 1 and early Phase 2. Everything after that seems to be a mixed bag, IMO.

Agreed. For Metal finishers, I prefer Metal Twister.

Philip has a bit more functionality than Google (especially since AI started junking up the results), but, yeah, a lot of what Shotaro needs to research in order to solve a case is the stuff I check on my phone. Maybe... maybe me and my phone are the new two-in-one detective of the Windy City?!

Yeah, it's ironic that Philip is frustrated with Shotaro for just regurgitating information and quotes instead of applying himself to creating relevance from his learned experience. This is a fun cast who can't quite see their own flaws!

The one lesson learned from Kamen Rider W is that the green slipper is mightier than a rider kick. :lolol

This two-parter ends up being solid enough overall, though I can't help but feel like it was too much too early. The scene at the end, where Philip declares that he found/made his own family with Shotaro and Akiko would've hit way better if this had been like, episode 10 or something. As it stands now, while I buy it with Shotaro, with Akiko I have doubts. Not just because I find her annoying right now, but because Philip has only known her for like a week at this point.

Also, I keep forgetting to note this so I'll do it now: While I stand by my statement that I think the viewing experience is better as 40-minute chunks, the major upside of them being split as they are is that it allows W to have what I consider the best and most memorable "Previously On" segment in the franchise. Absolutely love the Detective Dartboard aesthetic of it.

I would buy a CSM Green Slipper tomorrow, if one existed!

I feel like it works okay for two reasons. The first is that Akiko is way less confrontational and aggressive with Philip than she is with Shotaro, so Philip is probably more positive about her presence. The other thing is... I sort of feel like Akiko being there completes the dynamic, and turns it from a partnership into a family. The last year has been a bunch of cases, and the two guys learning the boundaries of their friendship, but Shotaro just punched Philip in the face last week. With Akiko around -- as intense as her energy is -- there's more of a sense of stability and progress than there was before.