Regarding Shotaro's tryhard (for here, casanova) stuff, by wanting to act like knight in shining armor for her, Wakana is viewed as just dainty damsel in distress by the protagonists. As usual though, Philip's just more respected than Shotaro in general, Wakana's just another one like Akiko before to admire Phillip for his intelligence here, and acts pleasant to him while touching his hand. This is just typical Kamen Rider stuff to mistreat the moral cast (typically main Riders, but also others), like Kagami in Kabuto before. Wakana treating people differently, with her being two-faced to anyone like Shotaro or her assistants, making exception for Philip, also got Philip fascinated with her to Phillip is even more enamoured with her, seeing her nature as mysterious and complex.

This is a fun shake of the cast and W format, but this is also something frequently happens in people that I disagree with (sorry not sorry this may ruin your entertainment source here though). I think it's sad fact that, in general, power and abilities are appreciated over virtue, as shown by the difference of the perception of Shotaro and Philip, as ability is cool. but subtlety is underrated. It's easier to get mad at peoples' obvious weakness than it is to stand up and defend them and the hidden strengths. And for Philip's fascination, if often happens where audiences being fascinated with scumbag characters that can show soft side on occassion, deeming them as "multi-faceted and complex", and, often that they seem to think it's the only right way to write characters, and harp on any characters that aren't like that, particularly the goody types, who, yes, often mocked for being not deep and nuanced.

Wakana's entertainment business conflicts with Sonozaki family's goal, with them suggesting to give her a role in Gaia Memory distribution, but despite her troubles Wakana rejects them and denies it, causing a fight between her and Saeko in their Dopant form, showing Saeko's Taboo as being superior. Ryubee acts as he's helping Wakana, including breaking off those sister's fights problems, but she insists to take care of that. If Wakana seems disdainful of her entertainment business, I wonder what's the reason of keep doing it.

Yeah, recently learned that Motoko's role is the same as Riko's. Despite having watched both shows, I didn't realize for this one, such huge difference between Shion's looks (hair length) and demeanor for these 2 roles.

It is nice to get in on the ground floor for a change, yes!

I would assume that the folks in charge of production were pretty big fans of the Noir Detective genre; I don't know why you'd propose this specific concept and aesthetic (specifically that Shotaro loves detective fiction) without being a dyed-in-the-wool fan.

Well, Shotaro isn't looked down on because Philip's abilities are cooler or more useful -- he's looked down on because he's a cosplay detective that can't stop trying to sound cool. It's probably not as entertaining for the other characters as it is for the viewers!

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 14 - “Q ON THE RADIO - LIVE BROADCAST AT THE RIOT”

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And that’s the end of Act 1!

It’s a solid conclusion to the first chunk of Double, all the introductory beats. The only really unresolved conflict at this point in the show is Philip’s backstory, so it’s nice to get a two-parter that introduces the deep, inexplicable connection between Wakana and Philip, while also making it all but stated to Double that the Sonozakis are up to no good. There’s almost nothing else you could do that would feel like the show was accelerating its storytelling (*wink*), and the result is a two-parter that tells you the questions you should be asking, while teasing the answers to come.

(It is, honestly, weird to me how little Shotaro has any particular arc or goal at this point in the series. Akiko’s curious about her father’s absence, and Philip’s got his whole character description to worry about… but Shotaro’s just, like, hanging around. He’s solving mysteries, and helping his friends, and protecting Fuuto, but there’s only his Begins Night trauma to color that all in. It’s not like the show would work great with both halves of Double dealing with season-long mysteries, but it’s maybe helping me understand more why the Shotaro-heavy episode was such a miss for me.)

I really dug this episode, especially for how visually dynamic the show got for all of the Philip/Wakana stuff. When they’re having their cute moment in the doorway, the lights drop out, and we’re on a stage – the reality of the moment is traded in for performance and theatricality. It’s all heightened and metaphorical. Philip’s connection to Wakana is borne from something more primal and unshakeable, so it makes sense for those moments to become iconic inside the episode. Show didn’t need to get that smart, but I’m glad it did.

And, y’know, it’s not just beautifully-shot imagery and thoughtful examinations of human connection – we also get a bonkers Dopant mystery that involves both a Lovestruck Patsy and a Femme Fatale, because this show is now going for broke on its noir tropes. The Motoko scene near the end is hysterical for how quickly she goes from perfectly inconspicuous to screaming about her intricately plotted vengeance. It’s like the episode realized that it had a whole Dopant fight to finish (not my fave, too much CG) and an epilogue with Philip and Wakana, so she just WENT CRAZY, the end. (That flashback! Over the top, even for the show with both a Santa Claus and a cat monster!) Still, it’s a layered objective that kept the plot moving at a reliably fun clip for two entire episodes, so I’m not that mad at some finish line shortcuts. Fun mystery!

But the meat of this one is all Philip and Wakana, including my favorite beat in the whole story. Philip has the opportunity to find out every secret Wakana’s hiding through his access to the Gaia Library… but he doesn’t take it. Philip’s whole thing is insatiable curiosity, to an absurd degree (HEAVEN’S TORNADO), but he decides against it for Wakana. He’d rather get to know her, rather than learn her history from a book. He’s seeing the advantage of human connection, thanks to Shotaro’s influence. As far as ways to signal the end of an Act, that kind of character growth is ideal. Great end to a great episode, and a great first chunk of episodes.

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-Forgot to mention this last time, but I really enjoyed how all of the stops on Wakana’s sweets tour are from previous Double cases. I like when shows like this can check back in on past victims/culprits. (Yuuko kinda blurs the line!) Fourze obviously did it best with its summer movie, but I’m okay with a show this early in its run calling back a few clients.

-I genuinely don’t remember if I’d pieced the Wakana/Philip stuff together the first time I’d watched W. It seems insane to think I hadn’t – this episode all but shouts out the secret of their connection – but I may just be remembering it through the lens of future knowledge. Feels pretty overt, though.

Honestly a really enjoyable two-parter and probably a standout of all the episodes thus far.

There's a fun layered mystery where it definitely feels obvious, it's the manager. But also you have these striking scenes of the radio host co-worker and you're made to look at her as a suspect. Turns out they were both in on it, even if one forced the other into it.

It's just a real fun set of Wakana centric episodes where we get to dive into her lifestyle more and really dig into her character. Her interactions with Philip are definitely a highlight and it's fun to see a few wrinkles being thrown in this early. Hindsight is definitely a contributing factor I feel on "Wow these scenes are very blatant foreshadowing" but also I can't remember how I felt about the bits and pieces we get back when I first watched.

One scene I was surprised to see was Wakana actually transforming in front of the lady who tried to ruin her only to walk away. And I was like "Oh how are we going to solve the fact that she knows about-oh hi Kirihiko! Oh... oh this is how...". It's fun coming back to a show years after it airs cause small scenes like these catch me off guard despite knowing the broad strokes.

Likewise, it's always fun to see how they slowly work in the Movie Wars tie ins when you forget the more subtle ones. I remembered the obvious bits of Akiko asking about her dad around the time of Sweets. Or the hilarious scene of Masquerade just failing against Claydoll. But i forgot about the brief Skull imagery during the rumor segment of the first episode.

I know about Shotaro being a tryhard, but I think the half-boiled insults usually refer to Shotaro's emotional side to consider about the others' well-being which made him hesitate or putting trust on clients, this one would be about the moral decisions, where Philip mocks him over consistently. Being genius is an obvious strength, clearly bringing something to table with their knowledge, rather than this half-boiled stuff only carrying hidden strength on special occurence to people's eyes.

The Sonozakis, including Kirihiko, got various things wrong about each other. Kirihiko thinks Saeko is holding back and that her fight with Wakana is just sibling squabble about her blasts not killing Wakana, but it actually refers to Claydoll's ability. Kirihiko looks up the purchaser of the Violence Memory, and claims Saeko actually cares about Wakana due to having him look for it, though she denies it, but it's done to protect the Museum's secrets by having him kill Motoko. Saeko notes Wakana being happy, thinking it's her sticking to business, but it's due to her becoming true to herself, sticking to entertainment instead.

There are new kinds of gag from Shotaro and Akiko, about Akiko also pulling his ear. And when Shotaro notes that Phillip is spacing out after this case, he gets to retaliate to Akiko.. by slapping her with her slipper when she doesn't leave him alone (but by being concerned about him.. which is insensitive in Shotaro's eyes). Akiko gains upper hand in the slipper fight though by blocking the next attack and disarming it back. But both scenes aren't censored on my TV that time!

Saeko's name means cold child and it's meaningful for her behavior to bully Wakana to vent her childhood, which is Wakana's answer about being hunted by others, which she claims she feels it from her older sister, due to Ryubee tightly controlling Saeko's childhood but not Wakana's. Wakana had another sibling, a younger brother, who calms her down when she tries to retaliate, making her "kind again". Philip notes that there's kindness in her words just now and her true self is the kind little girl underneath, which means the bitchy persona is the fake act. Like fanbase propping up assholes as being kind inside when they show soft side on occassion on certain people (just selective treatment), I'd just disagree with this so far, she's acting that way solely to Phillip, the one that meets her standards (and the only one that claims she can be honest with), being nice only to certain person is hugely different for being nice person overall. Though there's a glimpse of her running over towards the knocked down Violence Dopant due to him being a pawn.

Motoko suggesting to put off Wakana's show in her news report before was a red flag, she's the real bad guy of this 2 parter driven by pure jealousy that Wakana's radio show is more popular than hers, should be obvious now why she asks to put off Wakana's show. Motoko is also utterly batshit insane, even the guy who sold Motoko the Violence Memory had doubts about that due to how crazy Motoko is, and she'd have no qualms to let a Dopant loose on the city in form of Ageo, who is a yandere himself to turn into a monster to make her like him. Philip's analysis about her is proven here as Motoko gives similar vibes to Saeko to Wakana, but said brother's words refrains Wakana getting even with Motoko, just leaving her be. I just disagree on why the display of being the "bigger person" has to involve them leaving their enemies be, never addressing her behavior, which W also did here, which of course, Motoko would expose Wakana's true nature as a monster afterwards.

Philip gains a growth and humanization as well here, growing out of his self-proclaimed 'little devil' persona, learning about emotions like feeling here, by asking Wakana to provide him keywords, like if she's been asked for her favorite scenery, which happened when she auditioned for Healing Princess show, discovering the culprit and Wakana gets back to work, but promises him to meet face-to-face later. Philip searching about Wakana's book in Gaia Library, refusing to read it, is played as dirty mind-like, but I thought, for being a "search engine man", searching the book would be like public figure's article on Wikipedia.

I really enjoyed how these two episodes used Kirihiko. He's sort of our POV character in the first Act for the Sonozaki side of things: the guy who can ask questions and learn things the audience needs to know, instead of a mountain of exposition from family members who'd have no reason to discuss this stuff. His presence lets the audience start to understand the genuine bond between Saeko and Wakana, instead of the constant antagonism we usually see. (I mean... it's sort of a genuine bond AND constant antagonism. Siblings, you know?)

Sure, but that's not really what's going on Episode 13. Wakana isn't looking down on Shotaro and praising Philip because of Philip's utility and Shotaro's lack thereof -- it's because Shotaro's being a weird pest, and Philip is actually trying to treat Wakana like a human being that needs help.

So Gingaman gets recommended not only by Sunred, but by you as well, even though you dislike Ryuki. Sounds like Kobayashi peaked at the start and then declined ever since. Kind of reductive that you would refer to Ginga Green as merely a supporting role though.

I guess this is an example where Shoutarou forgets his role as the heart by discouraging Akiko and insisting that her way of investigating is wrong, while Akiko despite her recklessness is actually being the most proactive in trying to solve the case on behalf of the patisseries. I think this is a good moral for Shoutarou, that there's more than one way to be a detective and Akiko has similar potential to Soukichi, but she does it in her own way and in her bad*ss moment, she shows true courage in her protection of her client.

Phillip seems like the kind of guy who would accidentally spoil himself about anything he's interested in, so it's pretty impressive for him to have access to information about Wakana and restrain himself from looking at it. While the information might be extremely valuable to know in advance, forgoing the opportunity means that he's able to reduce his personal bias, which is an important quality for a detective. Before looking for more clues, it's wise to analyze the clues you already have first and start forming a hunch, so I like how Phillip is starting to become more intuitive like Shoutarou and looking for value in the unknown.

Yeah, you got to respect Kirihiko's determination to stay relevant to the Sonozaki crime syndicate and earn their respect. Other than being a criminal, he's generally a pleasant guy, so it's a shame that his new family treat him with such indifference.

Can't complain. It had a well-picked cast, good setup, a red ranger who wasn't supposed to be a red ranger but becomes great, and the first gorilla ranger ever, which was nicely done I think.
Fun fact about Koji, it recently was revealed in Yasuhisa Furuhara's youtube channel when he interviewed Gao Red that Gao Red and Ginga Green were in a band together pre-super sentai. Kaneko who played Gao Red never mentioned if they went mainstream or even the indie scene but he started watching Gingaman at the time since his former bandmate was the green ranger and he seemed to have enjoyed it when it aired. Also, Maehara who played Ginga Red was a customer when Kaneko was working at something called a cafe bar, which apparently was popular during the 90s in Japan.

Sure, but I think it's also a case where Philip would rather learn about Wakana from Wakana, rather than just getting the facts. It's Philip starting to understand that the accumulation of knowledge needs to be balanced against human experience if it's to have any benefit.

KAMEN RIDER W: BEGINS NIGHT

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I think I enjoyed this overall, despite not really loving a lot of the details.

As a basic story, I like that it’s about the danger of letting grief turn into guilt. That’s a perfect noir story to tell, especially when applied to Shotaro’s fairly reasonable feelings of culpability in Sokichi’s death/”death”. Shotaro’s motivation has always been to earn Sokichi’s respect and/or admiration, and not only can that never happen, but now Shotaro will always feels like he let down the man he most respected. Telling a story where Shotaro has to learn to let go of that guilt and trust in his own decisions – which is what turns him into the man Sokichi always wanted him to be – is great little noir narrative. It’s a story full of guilt, grit, and eventually gratitude.

It’s also a story that bends over backwards to make everything you like about Double into A Sokichi Joint.

Like, I am fine with Shotaro (and, by proxy, Kamen Rider W) endlessly valorizing Sokichi. He works as an impossible ideal to strive towards, and that’s an okay piece of character backstory. But this movie works double-time (not sorry) to make Sokichi not just a piece of Shotaro’s backstory, but:

-the first Kamen Rider in this narrative
-the originator of Double's catchphrase
-the guy who named Philip
-the motivation for Philip to be a Kamen Rider

It’s a lot! It’s arguably too much! For a middle section of the narrative that’s all about making your own decisions and stepping out of people’s shadows, holy shit does this thing just sign Sokichi’s name to everything that put this show into motion! It retroactively makes a bunch of stuff in Act 1 less cool to me, and that’s a bummer.

(It also sort of boggles the mind that this movie decides to shove Skull into Begins Night, which is super weird. The movie tries to get around the question of Why Didn’t Sokichi Just Use Skull To Survive The Gunmen by adding in a personal code where he only uses Skull to fight Dopants, but it feels a little flimsy. He’s still going to have the Sonozaki Family trying to kill him! Taboo’s still floating around! Also, I don’t love the feral FangJoker form debuting here; feels out of place in the narrative.)

But, y’know, I did like the story being told, even if Sokichi always makes me roll my eyes. (Not my guy!) There’s some genuine sweetness to Shotaro throwing his entire life away because “Sokichi” showed up and told him he sucked, which is 1000% the half-boiled hero we know and love. The mystery is a neat one, and the action is – if not up to the grandiosity of the Decade section of Movie War 2010 – an improvement over the standard W fight scenes. (I don’t love saying it, but that Sokichi fight scene in the machinery room is iconic.) It’s an entertaining movie that’d be a great movie if it didn’t try so hard to prop up the legend of Sokichi. It was okay when he was just Shotaro’s Work Dad who taught him to love hats and detective fiction! That was plenty!

—

ONORE DIE-A MEMORIES

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-The Decade part of this team-up movie is still real weird, man. I absolutely adore the way it wants to culminate Tsukasa’s story in a touching recollection of all the ways he pissed people off over a year, but all of the Super Shocker stuff feels tonally dissonant. (Read the full write-up here!)

-The Crisis Fortress battle is laughably incongruent to the Kamen Rider W section of this movie, and basically comes off like a bonus Legend Riders stunt show. Fun to look at, but Double’s plot in this one ended way before Decade teamed up with him.

-Accel shows up in the end! Neat!

So, let me say that I did not have the same issues you did with Sokichi, purely for one fact. I was and still am, enamored by the aesthetic of Sokichi and more importantly Kamen Rider Skull.

My origin story in this franchise is watching Sokichi bust up some dudes before transforming into Kamen Rider Skull, busting out that sick catchphrase before some more cool fighting, to which I go "What is this show and why aren't I already watching it?"

After learning more about Kamen Rider I eventually dived into W and well, fast forward about a little over a decade later and I'm still hooked on Kamen Rider.

Nah, what bugged me more about watching this was honestly the hindsight with the Death/Dummy switch up. Mostly in the little details of how its an interesting twist, but watching everything again you kind of start questioning how Dummy is doing all of this. Especially when it comes to the Sokichi stuff he hides behind. Like, I get doing research into famous folks and managing to kind of pin down how they're loved ones would act. But Sokichi? That's where Dummy sort of loses me...

That being said I didn't watch the Decade portion after everyone watched Decade a bit back, so this was me experiencing... a thing. Like there are certain emotional things that work here, mainly Natsumi and Tsukasa alongside the Photo Studio Crew willing Tsukasa back via memories and photographs. But then you just have this weird disjointed, not at all connected segment that is just trying to throw so much stuff to get some kind of grandiose ending for Decade.

The stuff with Tackle is especially weird and absolutely not needed. As is the Showa Riders somehow getting involved and Decade just having a blank Skull card which he doesn't seem to recognize? Like, clearly he didn't kill Skull so what's up with that? Okay it's for some closure for Shotaro but still.

Then there's of course the crossover portion which continues off of the cliffhanger from Decade and... is hilariously disjointed. Like Decade gets reset for the most part and then they have to bring back everyone like not even 4 minutes later to get things back to how it was before. That's not even mentioning how setpiece to setpiece this feels instead of a natural organic battle.

That being said... I think the one bit I forgot about mostly but actually enjoyed? Ryubei and Eijiro being drinking buddies and the hilarious retcon of him being Dr. Shinigami because he had a Gaia Memory in him.

Other than that, I feel like the most important question is to ask, which do you prefer? Chicken breasts or thighs? Personally I'm a thigh guy.

Also hello Accel.

But yeah, this was a fascinating Movie Wars to return to since this was the first. Especially the Directors Cut which swaps the order of the segments and adds more to it. The first of its kind, and I'd like to say... it's probably not the worst if I'm being entirely honest. A rough first start, but there's definitely some bright spots here.

While it beggars belief that the Dummy Dopant could recall a conversation that only Sokichi and Shotaro had, it's the sort of thing I'm never going to kick about, because: Gaia Memories. They are the A Wizard Did It of tokusatsu storytelling logic, much like every single collectible in all of Kamen Rider. It's definitely a cheat (the only reason Shotaro thinks the Dopant is Sokichi is because he says something only Sokichi'd know) but it's the same narrative cheat these shows use continuously through the season -- Philip's Gaia Library is also a thing that becomes less realistic the further we get from Begins Night -- so I'm okay with it. It's not the kindest storytelling trick, though.

Also: chicken breast, absolutely, all the time, for lunch tomorrow.

So I mentioned way back when that the Decade half was a replacement for a solo flick that shared nothing but the costumes. I may have also mentioned that the Begins Night half was also conceived as a standalone feature. Though aside from the fate of the fake vicar (or as I dubbed him during a watch along, Bob Evil), and the scene with Ryubee and Photo Studio Grandpa out drinking, not much seems to have changed.

And a bit of a change from the usual feature.

Toku-lert!

(For those who’ve done way too many prominent roles to be tied to one franchise)

Our “victim” (as a how to guide on detective scripts I read at age 10 put it)’s dead sister is Miyuu Sawai, who is best known as the lead role actor n Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon and as the previous Pink in Ryusoulger. She was also Green Mage’s pregnant wife on Wizard, a mother suffering from the Gamedeus virus in Ex-Aid and one of the Amazons of the week in… erm, Amazons.

And for the Decade half, the Bee Woman is played by Nao Oikawa, who was also regular villain Kegareshia on Go-Onger and the lady with the TV hat from Build’s HBV.

Um, actually, according to the wiki, episode 8 is the end of Act 1.

Anyway, the Violence Dopant two-parter... I dunno, it ends up being just kinda there for me?

Like, it's competently done overall, but I really don't get any big emotional connection to the whole thing. I suppose it really just depends on how much one ends up liking Wakana and, maybe it's me knowing what happens in the future talking, but I just couldn't get super invested into the constant "You're actually super nice!" talk.

Honestly, my favorite two scenes are at the very beginning, with Philip and Shotaro singing along to one of her songs together, and the bit towards the end, with Kirihiko showing that, he might be a criminal, he does genuinely want to be in the Sonozaki family as an actual family member and not just a coworker.

Given how much he's been talked up during the entire stretch of the show so far, Sokichi better be important.

I won't get too deep into it, as I'm not trying to start any sort of argument, but I feel as though Begins Night is one of those tales that will highlight how much a viewer looks at a character via their debut versus how they end up.

But, looking at this special by itself without any future details at play, I like the guy, and I overall rather like how he ties into everyone overall. After all...

This is by no means a conflicting detail. Just because you are influenced by, learn from, or admire someone, does not in turn mean that you don't in turn also do things your own way or aren't your own person. Shotaro learned what it meant to be a great Detective from Sokichi and adores him. Doesn't also mean he can't proceed to forge his own path going forward, as he's already been doing with his Half-Boiled style.

It's a fun movie and I like it. Even if the Decade stuff conflicts with it heavily.

I remember being in the Rider fandom back in late '09/early '10. It was complete Skullomania (legally distinct from Street Fighter EX character Skullomania). Everyone was flipping out about how cool Skull was: the hat, the scarf, the helmet, the hat, the color scheme, the hat, the brief but cool fight sequences, the hat, and definitely the hat. He was absolutely the hottest shit ever for a couple of months. I was never that enamored with him, but it is a pretty great design.

So it turns out that I didn't have a copy of this movie on the external hd I keep all of my Rider stuff on. Wasn't in the Decade folder, wasn't in the W folder, wasn't even in the crossover movie folder that I started a few years ago. I must have deleted it at some point. I was able to find a replacement, though, so I'm still keeping up.

I think the movie is pretty good but a little disjointed. The Dummy case obviously serves as a means to set up the flashback, but it still feels like a second movie sandwiched inside of the first one (which is, of course, also part of a triple feature). I remember liking this more than I did this time through. Still fun, but not peak W.

I completely forgot this where we first saw FangJoker. I know the show does the heavy lifting with why it disappeared, but like the Sonozaki fight near the end, it feels like something that was crammed into the story because it's a movie and not because it naturally fit into the plot.

Neat! She's my favorite Build character!

While I'm loathe to stand in opposition to the definitiveness of the Wiki, I'm just going to go ahead and say that, starting with Decade, the end of Act 1 for a Kamen Rider show is always right before the Winter Movie. They might not've known it at the time, but this thing hits a gigantic act break at the end of Episode 14.

Kirihiko wants to be accepted so badly, and the Sonozakis just don't care about him. It's such a great contrast to the found family stuff of Team Double.

FangJoker's casual debut here is probably going to make me furious when we get to its eventual Real Deal series introduction. Imagine if Build's Hazard Form was introduced as just a form change Sento busts out in the Winter Movie, between OctopusLight and HawkGatling. Imagine how wrong that would be.

FUUTO PRESENTS: KAMEN RIDER W SPECIAL EVENT - SUPPORTED BY WINDSCALE

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It’s like, yeah, that’s about all there is to say about this one. It’s an 18-minute live stunt show explicitly designed to promote a then-current Kamen Rider theatrical film. That’s it. That’s the brief.

For that mandate… it’s fine? It’s another one of those Kamen Rider stage shows where the Riders fight a Shocker variant, because Shocker doesn’t ever require setup or exposition, and there’s no risk of it interfering with the writers’ plans for the TV series. On the other hand, it means there’s very little aesthetic or thematic connection between the various monsters and the
heroes – they’re literally not built to interact with Double. It makes these shows feel even more ephemeral and thin than usual.

There’s an attempt to tie it into the movie – Skull shows up to menace Shotaro, and Boo the Combatman is trying to deal with his hero-worship for Zanjiro – but it’s basically window-dressing for a whole bunch of tumbling and sound effects. Shocker’s plan is basic, even for them, and Decade’s just like Hey I Was Passing Through (...which is his whole thing, so I’ll allow it), so that’s the whole plot. And, I don’t know, that’s fine! It’s an 18-minute stunt show – I shouldn’t expect a nuanced three-act structure. It is 100% executing on its intended story.

But it’s just sort of… I don’t know, it’s clearing such a low bar, I guess. Aiming low and hitting your bullseye is not the sort of thing I want to applaud. It’s not bad, but it’s nothing to be proud of. It exists, and it told everyone to go see a movie. I hope that’s worth 18 minutes?

Literally the only thing I remembered about this stage show was the Death Dopant advertising the movie. Which tbh, is the best part. It's such a hilarious line to end on and kind of makes this stage show worth it for me.

Aside from that, yeah, it's pretty basic, even for special stages (So far Build and Revice are the only other ones I've seen with subs) it's pretty just there.

Like, I always want to give stage shows a pass because -- even by Kamen Rider standards -- they only exist to make kids cheer for suits and fights. And this one isn't even a celebratory Final Stage or whatever; it's just here to promote a movie! The end!

And yet, I still manage to sound like a sour nerd when I complain about them...

Atashi Kiitenai!

Yeah, never heard of this before. Sounds like the kind of thing I would have skipped, though, so I guess no harm?

Like Enchilada645 said, it's really just that one blatant movie plug from the Dopant that's worth noting, and you've already seen it in the screencap. Other than that, it's a fairly generic stage show with no live actors involved. Decade, though, which was nice.

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 15 - “FLASH OF THE F - ROBBERY RIDER”

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I really like the moves on this one. It starts off very Mystery Of The Fortnight, with its random client and easy objective, but then it slowly adds complications – Fuyumi’s a thief, Kenji’s brought Double into a trap – until it reveals that it’s not a standalone adventure at all; it’s a huge escalation of the series-long Philip plot. I love how smoothly the show shifts from one expectation to another.

It helps that the early stages of the episode never feel dull or padded out. The Arms Dopant is an amazing design (maybe the best Dopant so far, the Sonozakis included), and the idea of Shotaro fighting for his reputation is a great hook for an episode. It’s nice to see how differently Shotaro and Philip view being Double – for Philip it’s a means to an end, while for Shotaro, it’s a way of making Fuuto feel safer. Philip doesn’t really care what the city thinks of them, while for Shotaro it’s maybe more important than what they accomplish on a weekly basis. There’s an ideal they’re living up to, and a comfort they’re providing, and Shotaro resents anyone who’d take that away from Fuuto.

And the fights! Such good fights! The Arms Dopant allows for gunplay, bike chases, and even spark-heavy parking garage brawls. (I love a good spark-heavy parking garage brawl! It’s maybe my favorite set for a one-on-one battle in Kamen Rider. Feelings Fights are nice on a beach, but there’s a visceral edge to parking garage duels that I really dig.) It’s an episode with a lot of narrative ground to cover, but it makes sure there’s at least one good action sequence every few minutes.

But it’s the slow progression from Random Mystery to Huge Change that makes this episode so good. Saeko’s doing her thing in the background, and at first it all feels like the same vague Sonozaki Drama we’ve had over the last dozen episodes – Ryubei is cryptic, Wakana is distracted, Kirihiko is kept in the dark. (They all just instantly soured on that dude! I love it!) But Saeko’s revealed as the one motivating Kenji, and the scheme to ruin Kamen Rider Double’s reputation has a clear goal: to draw out Double, and recapture Philip.

Definitely was not expecting this story to go RAITO at the end, or even be a Philip story at all. They do this perfect sleight of hand by making this very much a Shotaro story (Philip is completely indifferent to the reputation of Double) until it is anything but by the end. Killer cliffhanger, for a terrific episode.

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-I honestly thought the Raito stuff came so much later in the series? It feels like a mid-series thing, not a reveal you’d get before the secondary shows up. (I also love that Double’s right half is named Raito. Did Aruto write this show?)

-If I was a highly successful professional thief, I am not sure I’d consider turning myself in just to get my homicidal partner to come to his senses. Fuyumi’s a very caring criminal!

-Fuyumi also dresses like Lara Croft at the indoor climbing wall, and it was, uh… a good choice.

-A total shame that Makura wasn’t around in the Jinno scene to crow about Double’s guilt to Shotaro. Of all the times for that dude to have a day off!

For additional punny naming, Shotaro’s oft mentioned surname Hidari is Japanese for “left”.

Anyway, as for the episode… it was the only one I saw with OZC’s subs (every other episode in kissasian is TV-N) and I wasn’t really keen on their translation choices (namely, subbing Arms’ broken English phrases into different English words entirely, such as changing “exactly” to “that’s right”). Needless to say probably, but I wasted no time in getting the TV-N version on my computer after I noticed that.

And speaking of the Arms Dopant…

Sentai-lert!

Our villain this week is played by Koichiro Nishi, who was the lead character Ryouga Hakua/AbaRed/AbareMax in Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger. About the only similarity he shares with Arms is speaking fairly good English for a non-native speaker (Ryouga was partially defined by being an interpreter).

Also, this was he last episode of the year 2009, so I have to wonder what a hell of a cliffhanger it was for those who saw this as it was airing.

I think it's exactly the right cliffhanger to end a year on! Saeko comes out of nowhere to tell Philip that his name is Raito, and wants him to come home? HUGE! Great cliffhanger!

Something I wanna say about the main trio, Philip overworking himself in training to become a "mosquitoweight" class boxer, due to Wakana's topic being weight management in boxing shows knowledge doesn't guarantee common sense and you shouldn't go overboard in working out, which'd be Philip's weakness for the team. Akiko can miisinterpret getting water as in taking a bucket of it to splash them... when Shotaro meant a glass of water. Akiko giving Philip clues for needed keywords is now acknowledged where she described as the "queen of inspiration". Shotaro's problem this time to not acknowledge her.

More about the Agency is revealed here so, Akiko has objections to help a fugitive like Fuyumi. Shotaro accepts it due to client's varying circumstances (and due to him being real Kamen Rider) with the condition that those 2 have to turn themselves afterwards. And like usual, Shotaro got called half-boiled again for this, but this shows that he'd only act casanova to woman he truly fancies instead of any of them (it's what I meant for my comment about Shotaro's concern for woman villain in the movie thread back then).

Regardless of Fuyumi begging him to come back to his senses, Kurata as Arms Dopant shows but this is a show of how much a power can corrupt (not supernaturally) that Kurata is addicted into using the Arms Memory. A reminder of how power can erode one's (already fugitive, as even the good-natured one can get a hold of this) empathy, less risk-aware, and cause more impulsive behaviour.

Jinno depicts Shotaro as being biased for "his friend" Kamen Rider to deny the accusations of Kamen Rider going after banks. Like Kuuga here, the cops like Jinno also doesn't know yet for now that Shotaro is Kamen Rider W. So this also displays a trait in Shotaro where, it's personal for him to smear Kamen Rider name, more enraged than usual and rushing Philip, because the Kamen Rider name was given to them by the city's people. Reminds me of the Cockroach Dopant before, another case of the MOTW wanting to attain hero status, this time directly using "Kamen Rider" title. Philip not caring about that of course continues about how he's not really into taking care of people's well-beings unlike Shotaro, where he mocks Shotaro for being half-boiled for considering that, as well as being called devil's scientist before. He's someone needs to be "tamed" not unlike Momotaros or Vice.

Ryubee takes chess game seriously as training to be displeased of Wakana losing due to losing in thought about Philip. He also thinks lowly of Wakana as immature and self-absorbed while placing his trust to Saeko. Saeko bullied Wakana for her freedom, thinking that she's the favored one, but it's unsure if Saeko is truly the unfavored one for this, with how Ryubee speaks regarding Wakana here. Their aim is revealed that Raito is Philip's true name, so Philip does deal with amnesiac stuff and false name, and that her aim is to bring back Phllip to Sonozaki family, using Arms Dopant and the army of Masquerade Dopants for that. And yes, I also think Philip's twist actually happened a lot faster than I expect. It's raito only because katakana takes existing English words (and other foreign words) and using Japanese letters to (which means, no 'l'). Of course, "right" and "light" would be turned into "raito" in katakana. Shotaro's surname Hidari also means "left".

Fuyumi rock climbing explains her being a member of Twin Roses. Fuyumi is a liar, and also has an evil laugh before, but it's not like Marina or Motoko before, they had limits to not spill blood, it's about drawing a line, preventing Kurata to do something that goes beyond their standards, not about being inherently righteous. Even bad people can have standards, like in Ryuki, Kagawa/Alternative Zero drawing a line to needlessly sacrificing people like Tojo/Tiger does. To be technical, superheroes also can get labeled as criminals, like Build.

About being a detective in various ways, I think I get that message in Zero-One, regarding Wazu, more, than this one. While Akiko's courage is admirable (and it's consistent that Akiko looks after her clients, and people around them, this isn't one-off thing), and I understand what they're getting into (because there'd be similar stuff on a side character later, and it happens too for Shotaro being mocked as "half-boiled" due to said heart role), her saving the day is just dumb luck that (like about how the true culprit is exposed, how it lures important people), happens by pure chance, so, this message will of course get dismissed, and even I have a hard time getting through this and implementing it - or I'm also the one who should try to learn this.

It's also a reminder to the audience that the Sonozakis are basically drug kingpins, with the Gaia Memories an incredibly-thinly veiled metaphor for drugs.

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 16 - “FLASH OF THE F - TAKE BACK YOUR PARTNER”

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Berserk forms! I love them.

At the heart of Kamen Rider is the idea of using darkness to fight for justice, and Berserk Forms are the inescapable consequence of that idea. We can’t truly know what the hero is risking until we see them succumb to their denied rage and/or guilt. (Depends on the Rider!) Beyond that… just, like, so cool. I love the distorted body language and horrifying visuals that go along with a good Berserk Form debut – the scene in this one with the burning Gaia Library? Iconic. A good Berserk Form goes a long way to deepening the stakes and characters of a show.

FangJoker's debut story is… y’know, okay.

I love the suit, first and foremost. FangJoker is a beautiful suit, with a classic monochrome color scheme (white, black, a little purple) getting a few tweaks to the Double suit – all them little scratches and gouges and sharp edges. It’s a beautiful suit, regardless of what I’m going to say next.

Which is that I don’t know that this episode does a ton to really center Philip’s struggle, nor does it bother to do a lot with the similar storyline of Fuyumi risking it all for her partner, Kenji.

Let’s start with the second part first! A lot of time is spent over the last two episodes to eventually parallel Fuyumi’s need to risk her freedom to save Kenji from his hardcore Memory addiction, with basically everything going on with Philip, Shotaro, and the Fang Memory. Philip’s fear of losing control in an attempt to save Shotaro is given a counter in Fuyumi’s blind faith in Kenji’s salvation, and… man, I just don’t think this episode all the way gets there? The point is that it’s irrational that Fuyumi wants to save a dude who is completely around the bend, hopped up on USB drives that are drug metaphors, but it sort of doesn’t layer as cleanly on the Philip/Fang/Shotaro dynamic as it sort of needs to, in order to feel like less of someone saying some random thing to trigger Philip’s own problem-solving skills. Kenji never once in this entire story comes off as someone worth saving, or certainly someone who is conflicted AT ALL about mercilessly gunning down anyone and everyone who even looks at him funny. (Dude sets a death trap for laughs!) I don’t know if the takeaway for Philip should really be You Have To Be There For Your Partner Forever Even If They Start Gleefully Killing People And Also Do Not Want To Stop Doing Metaphors For Drugs. Like, I think it’s okay to cut some people out of your life if they are toxic and/or homicidal, but maybe that’s too nuanced of a story for a show designed to sell toys to Japanese children.

Similarly, we really speedrun our way through the Fang story here, don’t we? Fang is introduced in the film as a cool powerup, nbd, and here it’s retconned (fairly, but still retconned) as a horrible violation of Philip’s self-control and autonomy. After that, we’re only a couple Refusal Of The Call scenes away from Philip risking permanent feral psychosis for a cosplay detective, and then a beautifully shot sequence of Shotaro Being There For Philip, and then no more Berserk Form. It feels… a little thin? I don’t know if this one needed to be a three-parter, or if we needed an earlier Fang appearance to really sell the danger (the movie did not help on this one!), or what, but even the conclusion to the story… I don’t know, it’s all a little quick for me. I’d hope for more than just I’m There For You Partner, since this sort of wasn’t ever really a story where Shotaro and Philip weren’t there for each other? Philip isn’t icing out Shotaro, and Shotaro isn’t refusing to work with Philip. There’s a sweetness to the way they’re both there for each other in the end – Philip, by using Fang to rescue Shotaro; Shotaro, by rescuing Philip from Fang – but it doesn’t really feel connected to their story over the last two episodes. It’s like the show was trying to fill in the blanks for Double’s story by pasting in the Fuyumi/Kenji stuff, but, again: not really similar dynamics!

All of which is to say that this concluding installment didn’t really click for me. I like the Gaia Library scene for both its startling imagery and its reaffirmation of the Double team, but I wish more in the episode either built up to it or connected with it. It’s this neat scene in isolation, but sort of clunky in the larger story of a one-episode Berserk Form narrative.

Still… great suit!

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-As much as it doesn’t help him seem redeemable at all, I like that Kenji decided to create a horrifying death trap to emotionally/physically torture Team Double. He’s a really great one-off villain!

-Completely unclear why Santa and Watcherman show up to the Narumi Detective Agency. I guess they really could be there for a Christmas party, just after New Year’s?

We're up to a phase of the show that I don't remember in much detail. I know the broad strokes: Fang, Accel, end of the line for Nazca, but I don't remember many details about the specific episodes. I had definitely forgotten, for example, just how hard this two parter goes. The Arms Dopant is incredibly violent and the way he shuts down W and then sets up that death trap for Shotaro is pretty crazy, then we have all the stuff with Philip and Saeko on top of that.

I really liked FangJoker's first fight on the series. I like the suit itself a lot and the choreography of both the mook fight and the battle against Arms himself was really good. I am, as always, a little disappointed that FangMetal and FangTrigger never happened, although I hear they show up in the manga. Can't really verify that since it hasn't been translated past the first 25-ish issues.

I first learned this a few weeks ago and I hate it. I don't mind characters having meaningful names, but I like it when there's at least some effort to be clever with it and the names being "Right" and "Shotaro Left" is not clever.

That said, I totally never put two and two together about Raito until just recently either so maybe I'm just salty about missing the pun.

Unrelated trivia time! Competitive climbing is really big in Japan. They have probably the most stacked team of climbers in the world right now, at least for the boulder and lead competitions. They won two out of the three women's medals at the 2020 Olympics in 2021 and they've already filled up three of their four combined competition spots for the 2024 games in Paris (the last spot will be decided during the Olympic Qualifying Series and will be very hotly contested between reigning Olympic Silver medalist Miho Nonaka and Futaba Ito).

This has nothing to do with Kamen Rider, but I fell in love with this sport during the last Olympics and have been following the annual world cup seasons ever since. I will take any excuse to gush over it.

You know it's been fun to see all the old Dopants again, but Arms especially. The one thing about shows is that they usually give you some good close-ups/suit acting so you can really feel the personality shine through. That gets lost when they become Monster #45 in a big crossover movie.

Also I'll be real, I don't feel there's a big retcon with Fang? Like, it shows up to protect Philip in the movie, he gets angy and W fights like a wild animal which is pretty much how Fang is at this point in time during this two-parter. The only oddity is W casually walking away with Shotaro's body. But like, it's fairly consistent in how it's portrayed and the scene of Philip swearing to never use Fang again could easily be placed after something like that.

That being said Fang Joker is a fun form, in that it's only a berserk form by technicality. See, the thing is I don't count a 3 minute appearance before it's solved as a true berserk form. If it lasted more than an episode and a problem sure, but I'd definitely say Fang Joker was a test run, especially given the following year in OOO with certain developments. And even then it was clear at that point that they weren't really certain of it (Drive don't count either) until Build.

Still a rather nice two-parter that starts as a regular case only to develop into the series running plot towards the end of the first plot. It's a fun swerve that I had forgotten about, and watching Arms systematically take down W really goes to show how far the right Memory will go. I was also surprised we got the Raito name drop this early too.

Considering how barely likely it is we'll be getting to seeing those anytime soon. Yeah I can confirm that the Manga plays around with W's forms and attacks. Fang Trigger and Fang Metal both make appearances and a later more final form as they say, gets different Memory combos that weren't seen in the show.

Speaking of combos though, I didn't bring this up earlier but I'm surprised at how often the Memory Gadgets are used to spice up the finishers. It really helps cement them as the robot buddy toy for me given they not only perform specific tasks that assist Shotaro and Philip on a daily basis, but can be used in combat too.

This is something I meant to bring up last time, but -- much like some people with competitive climbing -- I will take this opportunity to steer the conversation towards something I enjoy.

I love mooks! The best gift the Begins Night movie gave us was the Masquerade Memory, so we could see FangTrigger wallop the holy hell out of a bunch of besuited grunts. I love how creative and insane a good mass brawl can get, and there's nothing I like better in Kamen Rider than seeing some new suit demonstrate its capabilities by obliterating zero-level idiots. So fun, and easily 70% of what I like about FangTrigger's debut.

I don't want to make it sound like I thought this was a huge deal, or the main reason I thought the episode let its story down -- the easy write-off is that the movies and the shows are infrequently canonical, and the show's Begins Night could be slightly different than the film's.

That said... like, the movie doesn't even hint at the idea that Fang is something other than a Cool New Power for Double to use in their in escape. Double just kicks some ass, drapes a body over a shoulder, and sprints away from an exploding building. To drop a scene in now to say, Actually, it was a horrifying violation that Philip has spent a year running from... like, bit of a retcon.

Again, though: not a big deal! But definitely something I sort of squinted at between Begins Night and Episode 16.

I recall that Ninja Red's actor portrays the Sixth as well, so that's pretty cool. I liked how Lost Galaxy executed the plot with Red growing in to the role of Red, so I guess I already owe Gingaman some credit for being the origin of that. I'm planning to start watching later this year as my final* Heisei season and hoping it'll live up to all the praise I hear about it. Regarding the band, feels like this was common for Tokusatsu actors in the 90s and 00s. Geki Red and Rio, for example. Thanks for the fun fact.

*excluding ToQGer

Double CycloneCyclone is kind of a weird form if you think about it, since it's a clone of Shoutarou being operated independently by Phillip.

Double JokerJoker provides the easiest opportunity ever for a repaint Rider, simply by changing the silver line to black and replacing the Driver.

I guess one advantage of being Double is that they're resistant to being tickled by Final Form Ride, since they're already regularly bisecting and stretching themselves with their Joker Maximum Drives.

I think this was a satisfying conclusion (emphasis on conclusion) to Tsukasa's journey, allowing him to start a new one with his friends after becoming free from the burden of his past. However, it's annoying that we have to watch a Movie War to see this, especially at the time since people had to wait months after Decade "ended" before the movie was actually released. Toei totally deserved all the complaints they got for pulling that stunt.

How awesome is Decade Violent Emotion though?! Such a minimal change to the suit and yet he has the power to use all the Attack Rides he wants without additional Kamen Rides. Honestly, I'd consider Neo-Decade from Zi-O to be a downgrade from this in functionality, as he still had to use Kamen Rides before he could use the corresponding Attack Rides. In conclusion, Neo-Decade only removes the need for Form Rides, but Violent Emotion removes the need for both Kamen and Form Rides!

I enjoyed the longer runtime and alternate scenes of the Director's Cut as well. Surprising decision to switch the two thirds like that, but I recall that made it feel more climactic for some reason.

Huh, I didn't even recognize her! Probably due to the fact that Master Pink didn't have a lot of screentime compared to other Pinks, but she totally made a strong impression on me with her fun and caring personality in Episode 21-22 and Legacy of the Master's Soul.

Luck is a result of hope though. To get lucky, you first need to hope for something that is neither guaranteed nor particularly likely, which takes true courage as it means believing in yourself. The people who don't try will never get lucky and sometimes you need to rely on luck when logic fails. Fate has no concept of probability after all. Either something will happen, or it won't.

I think the most intimidating part of the FangJoker suit is how the Fang details extend to the Joker side as well. That's Shoutarou's side after all, but the Fang Memory is so strong that it just takes over the whole body and puts a lot of strain on Phillip's mind to tame it. Reminds me of Two-Face as well.

Same tyrannosaurus motif even.

I will probably always pick the original block of Heisei Rider as my favorite era, but if there's one area where I think it pretty consistently fails is the lack of mooks. Going all the way back to the original Shocker grunts, having a battalion of interchangeable, barely competent goons to beat up is a core part of Kamen Rider's DNA and W absolutely deserves credit for bringing the concept back. Not every show that followed had an equivalent, but it definitely became a lot more common again from this point onwards.

I still find it to be a mixed bag, honestly. As much as I love the conclusion and the character beats between Team Decade -- the Director's Cut in particular smartly makes Natsumi more of the central character -- I just find a lot of the goofy Super Shocker stuff to be at best a distraction, and at worst a garish detriment. (I don't at all understand what's going on with Narutaki, even by the standards of the series-long question of WTF Is Going On With Narutaki.)

As always, I came in through Ex-Aid, so my expectations are calibrated to that show's aesthetic and configuration. I need there to be some hopeless mooks to get demolished by the heroes!!! (Naturally, Geats is exceptional at this.)

Fang Memory is designed for Philip, thus it can go berserk to the point of almost attacking Akiko while Arms Dopant holds her hostage, as Saeko noted, to protect Phillip/Raito at all costs, while Shotaro tries to restrain the volatile form with the Joker half. Props to W's suit actor Seiji Takaiwa to convey the 2-in-1, like making the Fang half of the body more aggressive compared to the Joker half. Shotaro notes that this is Philip's fear of using Fang, Philip would still have standard decency despite can be pragmatic due to his logical approach, and it's solved by finding Philip in the burning Gaia Library. I'd say the finisher is better than the likes of Metal Branding or Trigger Full Burst, albeit still don't live up to my expectations (expectation set when watching a video of Climax Heroes' finishers).

They portrayed Philip rejecting Fang Memory's temptation in parallel to Kurata giving in completely to Arms Memory's, and inviting Fuyumi to do the same. Twin Rose had full honor among thieves, that despite Kurata's change, Fuyumi still had faith in him, to get him back, despite it being irrational, with no reason other than she genuinely sees him as partner, and this inspires Phillip with his own partnership to Shotaro. This shows that you can learn from anyone, but doesn't mean those that can be used as lesson are necessarily good people either. Great moment for Akiko in the game, holding Shotaro with a rope to prevent him falling to the spikes, even getting her hands bloodied, which is also acknowledged by the Arms Dopant. Shotaro also still blames himself for putting them in this situation. What Philip learns here isn't about the partnership, but to act irrationally for once, forgoing planning, by using Fang Memory to henshin into W's mid-season upgrade, FangJoker, despite Shotaro's protests. Yeah, sometimes too much planning can also hinder for taking too long to take action, and here Philip takes the "half-boiled" approach.

Saeko forces Philip/Raito to return due to how he's a chosen one who can help those who have him have the world in their grasp. Philip now realizes he's being treated like a property, and views Saeko as a threat due to her expression. Now he can deduce others' expression. The role is reversed between Saeko and Wakana that now, the former's the one being happy while the latter's spacing out, with Saeko planning to get Philip/Raito back. Well this'd probably make Wakana happy too. Saeko had no qualms bursting out from her exploding 360 Modena to become Taboo Dopant, really rich.. it's lucky that W saves a child with HeatMetal in front of the cops including Jinno, allowing them to restore their names.

SHOTARO HIDARI HARDBOILED DELUSION DIARY EPISODE 4 - “WHAT IF AKIKO WAS A PHANTOM THIEF?”

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I mean, yes, OF COURSE I would watch a W spin-off where Akiko and Philip are classy thieves. That’s a no-brainer. What we get here only hints at the possibilities, with Akiko dressing up as Fuyumi and Philip skipping Kenji’s drug addict fatigues to land entirely on Lupin I Guess. They make a heart, which doesn’t 100% seem like an effective larceny strategy, but when you’re dealing with a guard in Shotaro who just knocks a jewel off a table directly into the path of the thieves… I don’t know, maybe that heart and wink from Akiko are enough.

Good short, and I appreciate everyone making the fight against the Violence Dopant look as crummy as possible. (Akiko just, like, puts up her hands and bounces around. It is great.)

Again, love these little skits the actors get to fool around in.

That being said my favorite bit of this Delusion Diary is the lore that Shotaro has a locked chest in the back of the office that just holds little knickknacks he amassed in his time. Just seeing him fondly look through it was real fun.

Just finished the FangJoker two-parter. I come out of it liking it more than not. The whole reason everything about it works; The theme of emotion versus reason and the possible consequences of going out of control, all work so well because it's Philip who's at the center of it all. His characterization has been very firmly established at this point, and seeing proof of how he's grown over the course of the show via the trap he gets placed in all makes for a very engaging story.

The only real bit that kinda falls flat for me, and I guess I can extend it as a bit of the show overall, is that I'm never really invested in any of the Sonozaki's' as characters(unless one counts Kirihiko), but that's an overall minor bit in the grand scheme of things.

Had fun with this one, and if memory serves this was about the time were W started to "get good" for me back when I first watched it.

Taikawa clearly loves getting to do Multiple People Controlling One Body physical acting, ever since Den-O. He's had a couple moments in the last few episodes that were a lot of fun -- the bit at the end of 16 in particular, as Metal raises a fist to Jinno that Heat pushes back down!

I'm glad he kept his schoolboy casebook. That's an adorable note.

I'm a fan of that bizarre cabal of drug dealing relatives, but I don't know that 15/16 do a lot with them. Wakana bails like she's got a movie to film, which basically just leaves Saeko to carry things. (Ryubei is there for some stuff, but he doesn't do more than reaffirm the goals of the family.) All we're really getting out of this one from the Sonozakis is that Saeko and Wakana view Philip's importance in very different ways.

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 17 - “FAREWELL TO N - THE MEMORY KIDS”

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Kirihiko! What is there not to love about this principled Wife Guy doofus?

He’s the perfect foil for Shotaro. Kirihiko’s as image-obsessed as Shotaro, but in a more refined and dignified way. Kirihiko loves Fuuto like Shotaro does, and he even designed the town’s mascot. He cares about Fuuto, but in a way that prioritizes a potential glorious future over a chaotic and violent present. He’s a Shotaro that didn’t have the steady hand of Sokichi to guide him.

It makes for a fun secondary plot to this Afterschool Special of an episode, where Shotaro and Akiko attempt to reach a group of wayward youths who are hooked on USB drives that are drug metaphors. There’s not much to the angle besides the joke of Shotaro acting like he’s 60-years old all of a sudden – there’s not much to Touma than the panic of writers in 30s and 40s who can’t connect with teens, and Akane's currently just, like, Going Through A Phase. It’s not an episode that really builds out its mystery plot with a ton of nuance or specificity. (Like, Team Double is only a single Queen & Elizabeth guest appearance away from completely getting to the bottom of Akane's disappearance.)

But it does form an interesting idea of how you can care about something, but be so distanced from it that you don’t understand it. Kirihiko loves Fuuto, but his marriage to Saeko (and overall striver ethos) make him see Fuuto less as a collection of lives and more as a balance sheet, to be managed and eventually cashed out. It’s the same with Shotaro and Akane, where he just assumes she’s going to be a sweet kid forever, instead of growing into a complicated teenager.

I don’t know if it’s an idea that, y’know, goes anywhere this time, though. Kirihiko’s concerned that kids are getting Gaia Memories, instead of the usual cautionary tale scumbags and lunatics, and Saeko barely tries to even mollify him with assurances that it’s being looked into. (I appreciate her not just laughing in his face, like she clearly meant to.) But it’s not really a story that does more than allow for some character growth to be applied later to Kirihiko. We’re clearly setting up to a breaking point for Kirihiko, but this episode is all setup for that moment.

It’s an intermittently enjoyable episode, though. The Memory Kids stuff is vague and uninteresting, but Kirhiko’s spotlight is entertaining and offbeat enough to make up for it. I love how much him and Shotaro could be best friends, if it weren’t for the whole Drug Metaphor Kingpin thing.

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-What’s that? A handsome, effective detective rookie is coming to town? What a normal thing to talk about as a scene begins! (I kid, I kid. As far as teases go, this one’s barely obtrusive.)

-The whole Fang subplot in this one is peak W for me. It’s goofy, colorful, and eventually completely awesome. And it ends with a definitive Akiko Can’t Catch gag!

This scene is fun, but I think, this kinda undermines the potential personal rivalry between them both (unlike what comes after this), other than fighting in their alias (W and Nazca), including their faces being covered by the towels, until those come off from their face. I think by that, their clash is only limited here iirc to Kirihiko explaining about himself being the distributor of Gaia Memory which he sees as a path for human evolution, which as Shotaro pointed out, he's doing the opposite of Fuuto love with making the city cry instead for distributing evil tool. Nazca also still proclaims his love of Fuuto, not listening to W's protest about him actually making the city cry; he's deluded to consider his actions - he's the bad guy (yes, doing bad things for good cause is also an example) counterpart of Shotaro.

When a nurse reports that Yuichi'd be fine, not only Yayoi, but Akiko is relieved as well and consoles her, another showing of her dedication to the job and clients - those who are related to them too. The teens are interested to become superhumans, enjoying to fly through the city as Bird Dopant (I'd get behind this too), but, if even adults can get drunk with power like Kurata before, like what Queen and Elizabeth speculates, youth is even more suspicious to this, with Touma using Bird Memory to attack people and treat it like a game (that's outright Grongi thing, monsters who are all cruelty). The ace cop Jinno and Makura discussing about, foreshadows of an important character. And here's an actual cool moment for Shotaro, to flip-kick the Bird Dopant away as the Dopant charges towards him.

As usual, Shotaro has optimistic view on the clients, but it's bad here as it's kinda generalizing to think it's normal for kids typically wanting to run away from home at her age and she'll come back naturally. He gets it though from Queen and Elizabeth considering Akane hanging out as 15 year old to be suspicious that Shotaro doesn't really get kids nowadays. Akane gives me Yuuko vibes from ep. 3-4 to be cold to Shotaro and Akiko's pranks and refusing to go home. The youth seek freedom of having fun and cut down meddling adults such as detectives. Even I don't understand Akane's standoffish behavior earlier, or that she is a slight prick but has standards, or the side effects she suffered later, as she has been warning others about Touma's attacks.

Even Kirihiko doesn't know that a Memory can be used by multiple people, but also Yuichi suffering painful side effects on the area he plugged the Gaia Memory (without Living Connector), the skin outright melted. Kirihiko reveals to Saeko that he wants to use Gaia Memory to evolve humanity into ideal life-form. So Kirihiko does genuinely have good intentions, but he still uses the wrong means to achieve it, a well-intentioned extremist, along that he'd agree to sacrifice corrupt adults to achieve it, but he has limits on his atrocity to not involve kids while Saeko looked up for it. W's accusations of Kirihiko selling underages Gaia Memories is wrong though as are no records of underages buying Gaia Memories, with him waiting for Saeko's investigation to explain.

Adds another difficulty for W's fighting that Fang Memory moves on its own, and Akiko with Phillip failing to find it, to the point of Philip making a mess to look for it, making W resort to CycloneJoker, then CycloneMetal, and HeatMetal, thus he can't put down the significantly stronger than usual level 2 Nazca Dopant that uses super speed. Though Philip does find out that, like how it's designed, Fang Memory will come through him when he's in danger. I'd like it better if FangJoker utilizes his boomerang ability to deal with the flying Bird Dopant.