Well...

http://i59.tinypic.com/n4e5ps.gif

http://i62.tinypic.com/etxsls.gif

Even with that in mind, why is Phillip telling off Shotaro - and Shotaro letting him - if it's MEANT to be Phillip losing his temper?

Suzu's just making a joke. W's sides are not soley controlled by their respective guys. The two aren't operatingly W independantly, they're LITERALLY one, with Shotaro having dominent control since, well, it's his body. Either "half" can control either side. Phillip is sort of like an onboard AI when using the base six memories. He can assume control when Shotaro lets him, but cannot force control.

Likewise it's switched when they're FangJoker. Whoever's the body gets to call the shots in the end, with the "soul" half riding shotgun and offering a second dynamic. They actually often use this mechanic of W to their advantage.

It's interesting looking back on Shotaro and Philip. Philip REALLY seemed distant at first, which is of course the point. Shotaro was also way less competant, largely due to him trying to come across serious and tough like his boss. The two' developement and dynamic is easily the highlight of the show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGf9qtIeyBg

Ah okay then. With the way the actor conveyed his movement I assumed it was an equal split.

Nah, it's not quie as even as they let on. Generally the two act evenly in control, but Shotaro is physically W, and Philip is the "soul" without spoiling too much. This is especially true eariler on, pre-movie, when they're less in-sync.

This is reflected in their memories. Philip's are all elemental, esoteric abilities (fire, wind/speed, and distortions/illusions) with bright colours, while all of Shotaro's are physical abilities (weapons, hand-to-hand skill) and subdued colours.

I agree with this statement. Faiz and Blade are some of my big favorites.

Thanks for the info all.

Okay, skipping to episode nine of W!

This episode was nice since it focused on Akiko and showed she isn't a complete waste of space. Although her overacting and attempts to squeeze laughs out of every movement is pretty infuriating.

I remember a big part of my dislike of the first few episodes is how much she was on screen, and how annoying she was the whole time. Luckily the Papa arc dropped her into the background, for occasional, but utterly annoying gag scenes but I can live with that since they were infrequent.

Simarly, I find Shotaro and Akiko's bickering really annoying. I get the undercurrent of sadness, as at this point Akiko doesn't know the truth and Shotaro is just trying to protect her but the bickering scenes are too drawn out and lose their purpose.

ALSO how dense is Shotaro? Has he never heard of CCTV? Just transforming right there in the Sonozaki house and hanging around their gates.

This weeks Dopant was awful, that is one of the worst suits I've ever seen and Terror isn't much better. But still seeing W save the day, then fight the monster, is still as enjoyable as ever. And Sonic Shaft was cool - Metal is a Memory I really enjoy in general, something about fighting with a staff is just really cool to me.

I'd love the Heat Metal Sic, but I don't really want Lunar Trigger.

W 10 - as Shotaro continues to grow as my new favourite main Rider.

I'm sorry but that scene where they introduce Terror is so naff. Really a lot of the action was pretty uninspiring this week, although I must say I really did like when Nazca chased W on foot, while W fought him off with one badass bike, Joker Grenade was sweet as well. And it was nice to see Akiko find herself.

Did we really need to see Nazca's bum? With his fucked up relationship with the Taboo bitch? The things you do to climb the ladder...

Before I watched W, I thought anotehr Dopant was the main villain. Then I saw Terror...

It's not a terrible villain design, but it's clear that something changed as the series went on and later-appearing dopants have much better designs. It's very odd, and not exactly "terrifying."

Yeah I'm not gonna lie, Terror Dopant for me sucks on the design. It's the head that kills it for me.