It's to try and have the same effect that the song did for Shotaro backed when it debuted: A song to help showcase how Jinno's' newly introduced flaw is what makes him likable to those around him. It's definitely tone deaf to play it during a sequence which is meant to be comedic, though.

Anyway, this is the second two-parter in the show that I forgot like 99% of.

But whereas I blocked out the Akiko two-parter in Act 1 because I found it so insufferably annoying, this one I realized I blocked about because, frankly, it's so frikken boring!

Like, I was basically rolling my eyes throughout the entirety of it. The love triangle I gave no craps about. The forced Evil Wakana stuff. The mystery that barely even qualified as one. Just, all of it. And like, I normally love Ishida's' directing, but I wish Sakamoto had directed this one, because atleast then there'd likely be alot more energy to these episodes overall.

Pretty much all I got. Though I will note that I'm not sure why Makura is getting extra heat here? Dude's' shtick has not changed from the second he was introduced.

I remember that kid! I think he ended up being Hibiki's second-best apprentice, right?

I don't know if it's really that, though? The point is more that everyone is flawed ("Nobody's Perfect"), so it's better to recognize the hidden benefits to your flaws, rather than punishing yourself for not living up to some impossible ideal. Also, this show definitely has another cop who's incompetent, and he is not good!

It's so dull. I got two paragraphs into a write-up, and then had to call it. I was staring at the open document for a good several minutes, drawing a blank on anything else to talk about. The stuff with Rui and Uesugi... they're so bland! I don't care about either of them! Ever!

Nah, it was just some random toddler.

You're right! I was confusing him with Asumu. Sorry!

So, the yeti randomly appearing in the middle of a Japanese town in the early summer’s been mentioned, so I’ll get my other major thing of note off my chest. Wakana keeps threatening to bring Phillip over to her side, but despite knowing where he lives thanks to the Violence Dopant case, and having wrecked the place as base Claydoll (ie. Her less powerful form) in the Puppeteer two-parter, all she does is make vague threats. C’mon, Princess. What’s stopping you?

She probably knows that if she did she?d have to socially interact, even briefly, with Shotaro and Akiko.

That they still have too many episodes left in the season.

However, Makura kicks out Shotaro that his visiting time is over and that Jinno needs a medical checkup from a doctor. Makura just have a too rigid approach for the cop station, that Shotaro's stalling gets them to an argument again, and he had a big ego to use that as his golden age... by abusing your power? The attitude is seen on some of the police brutality to throw their weight around in the most nitpicky things, only that there are no violence here. Jinno's the one who unwittingly saved the day here by being the Agency's client, without even getting into the action, and Rui got Jinno involved due to him being guillible, thus she had to keep him safe from the potential lies from Uesugi, and flashbacks show her as one of the people who got affected by Jinno's infectious aspect of being gullible, going along with him even if he's fooled (though tbf, the 'lie' she told him of her friend being held hostage isn't a really obvious one unlike Look Behind You), thus redeeming her delinquent aspects, not fighting anymore, owing him for that. And as Jinno is cleared of his charges... of course, Makura sucks up to him, claiming that he knew he's innocent the whole time, but still he doesn't seem to value others as friends, only being an opportunist to get himself on spotlight.

Philip reports to his friends that his sister now has surpassed him in synchronization and can turn into Dopant in the Library. Akiko, once again, becomes a 'source of inspiration' with her question of Phillip sharing a half with Shotaro unlike Wakana, which reminds Philip when Wakana is at 50% synchronization, of which she's intangible in the Library. Philip praises Akiko again and worked on the solution he found. Taking Raito back is also the final stage of Museum, which Ryubee says will happen if Wakana does so. As Wakana interferes in Philip's Gaia Library search again, Philip now agrees to go into the Museum when Wakana tells the needed information from the Jewel Memory book... which she does. So even gullibility doesn't only apply to the good guys here, but a villain like her here, due to Wakana still having a faith Philip, probably from how both are comfortable with each other thus she's overconfidently thinks Phillip will choose her over others. I guess so far the comparison is about gullibility between the Xtreme fighters in good (for Shotaro) and bad side. But of course Phillip runs off, and Wakana now changes into Claydoll Xtreme, shooting red energy balls. Then Phillip is the one that synchronizes 50% to the Library, phasing through Claydoll, and reading the still-open Jewel Memory book at the required page. Here Phillip shows (or grows to) that he's not only book smart, he can outwit others too with a strategic mind.

Uesugi's a textbook depiction of sociopath, being a guy who is manipulating others while reading and exploiting them, as well as being willing to off anyone who gets in his way with little concern, while looking like a gentle and noble person to the others (which he drops the act at this point), hiding his true personality with his charm, further helped by the halo effect from his model occupation. I'd say so far, this is the most unexpected twist W did in Dopant cases so far, though I don't know if it's necessary (probably only for how Rui's name means tear drop, which she had when begging for Uesugi here), it's practically just swapping roles, that it's Uesugi who turned Satoru and the girls into gems instead of Rui, it's Uesugi who beats up others as Dopant instead of Rui, it's Uesugi who wrecks the pinwheels instead of Rui, it's Uesugi who had the twisted mindset of destroying things he cares about instead of Rui, while on the opposite case, it's Rui who wants to stop Uesugi and not the other way around etc.

Uesugi explains another aspect of his that he's a perfectionist, his twisted mindset comes from how the flaws of something he liked stands out more, including Rui's, thus he wants to get rid of it. This episode had a twisted sociopath take of it, but it does can happen, like some people at a fanbase of a media that starts to get nitpicky over every single thing that is 'bad' to them, outright losing their ability to appreciate the actual good stuff over time (not that people cannot criticize, but accentuating the negative is imbalanced). Uesugi decides to throw Satoru into the sea, but Accel Trial saves him, and it means it's the 2nd time he saved Uesugi's "friends", as he also saved Rui before with Trial's super speed. Accel describes Uesugi's overall plan is making Rui look guilty with Shotaro and Akiko as witnesses. Shotaro unwittingly helping Uesugi was the reason that Rui mocks his guilibility before, though actually Shotaro reveals that he finally figured it out at the wharf, looking at Uesugi hiding the detonator in the arm cast along with the Jewel Memory. So the series' method of exposing the manipulator is the usual single mistake that blows their cover.... kinda an easier take.

I guess that's the reason why Jewel Memory wasn't used as a primary offense by the Sonozakis despite it seemingly performing better than Weather to the Riders for example, it has a glaring flaw in the "eye of a stone" that splits the materials after Philip uses the Library trick.... turns out even Uesugi himself isn't perfect, and fittingly, (along with Jinno's gullibility), Nobody's Perfect plays after this. Again, this is a really easy route the series takes of an invincible enemy, of suddenly revealing its weak point, would prefer if there were more clever tactics getting around it.

At least he's a famous model who has a good publicity. Though didn't recall Uesugi wanting to kill Rui, just making her the guilty one.

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 43 - “THE O CYCLE - ELDERLY DETECTIVE”

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Wow, what a rapid recovery this show can make! After the last two episodes bored me to tears, I thought this one was an all-around winner. Fun stakes, clever exposition, great gags, and some genuine drama for Shroud. Perfect episode, maybe!

It helps that the Dopant Dilemma is both straight-forward in its consequences – a kid got turned into an old lady; that's bad – and absurd in its context. Like, there’s just this scumbag selling aged revenge? And he’s just at some table under a bridge? It’s such a flavorful antagonist that almost anything that would come out of it would be an improvement over last story, and it’s all the right mix of seedy and horrifying. This guy doesn’t care about anything, so everyone’s at risk. The Old Dopant is like a Terror Dopant that’s also sort of short-sighted and lazy, which is the perfect level of threat for a W two-parter.

And the story with the little kid… like, it’s a solid problem to solve to begin with, but it gets so much better when it sprawls out into this story of stage moms and traumatized children, because it’s looping in the larger story of this episode, which is the collateral damage that comes from selfishness and rage. Both of the little girls are getting victimized by this story: Miyu, for getting turned into a granny; and Kumi, for witnessing her mother’s villainy. Whatever Kumi’s mom thinks she’s getting out of this, the consequences make it all too horrible to be comfortable with, and bound to cause bigger problems down the road. This thing’s about people putting into motion revenge, and how uncontrollable that ends up being.

Which is to say, Shroud.

Shroud’s a ridiculous character, whose single-minded devotion to killing Ryuube through hate AND ONLY HATE is so tiresome that even Philip can’t help but roll his eyes at her continued insistence that Shotaro isn’t hateful enough to be part of Double. She’s a dumb character, and she’d need to be at least 20% less theatrical to come back into the range of feeling like a real character you could take seriously. Luckily, this episode correctly decides that Saeko is maybe the best Sonozaki going right now, and gives her the task of selling Shroud’s Machiavellian bonafides, which almost instantly makes Shroud weirdly compelling. The idea that Shroud has ulterior motives is self-evident – her name is Shroud – but the idea that she’s been creating monsters specifically to build more furious heroes is… it’s pretty great? It’s the best possible motivation for an opposing force in a noir-inflected Kamen Rider show, to have her be just as monstrous as Ryuube, but In A Good Way Maybe Question Mark. She’s unconcerned with anything other than getting her revenge, and little things like “enabling Isaka’s serial killing” are just the cost of getting the job done. Sometimes little kids have to get turned into old ladies, and sometimes a young detective’s family has to get flash-frozen.

The steadiness of that theme of collateral damage makes sure that there’s no fat on this thing – every single scene is helping tell the same story, and it’s a great story. (Saeko and Terui in a scene is CHEF’S KISS.) Assured storytelling in a compelling package, from bell to bell. It’s so great to see this show be this good, this close to the end.

—

DIE-A MEMORIES

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-This thing is also SO FUNNY. The old man gags with Shotaro are a blast, turning Makura into a reliable source of laughs, but the FangJoker fight is, like, peak Takaiwa. Nothing is more fun to me than that dude playing two different roles through two different halves of his body. Crazy to think that a tense fight scene can still find room for such a clever bit of physical comedy.

-We’re also seven episodes from the end of the series, so it’s time to remind everyone that Akiko has a huge crush on Terui. While that’s rarely my favorite thing (she is her most childlike when she’s trying to get Terui’s attention, and it’s just sort of creepy), I like how this episode continues to subtly imply that it’s more reciprocal than Akiko thinks. The bit where Akiko has a picture of them together, and Terui’s like Don’t Question Me… I mean, he’s just being bashful! He likes the Chief! I don’t know if this was ever going to be show where they got real romantic about it – god knows those two ain’t the characters for it – but I like how the steady accrual of small details actually makes their relationship feel like it comes from someplace other than the clear blue sky.

So this is an episode I actually have a great deal of stuff to talk about in. So for now, it’s time for the cast alerts.

Rider-lert!

So both of our feuding mothers were in separate episodes of Kiva. The one who calls the gang in (Ryoko Yui) appearing Yonemura’s two-parter as the older version of the girl Otoya was teaching, while the one behind this case (Yuki Higashi) appeared in two separate episodes as Yuri’s mother (Megumi’s grandmother), who appeared in a flashback solely to die. Both also got appearances in later shows, Yui as Neon’s mother in Geats and Higashi as Haruto’s mother in Wizard (who appears in a flashback solely to die. She really needs to stop doing that).

Aside from those two, one of the fortune tellers is a cameo from Satoshi Morota, who’s been a director for Rider since Blade (though the only series where he’s been the main director was Ghost). He’s had a few “Hitchcock” moments since he started, with the most notable being a recurring teacher on Fourze named “Mr. Morota”.