[Dr Kain]

All right, so we couldn't wait until tomorrow and watched the last 5 episodes a little while ago. Wow, that was incredible. This is the first Kamen Rider series where I did not feel the ending was written at the last minute, because it did not do a stupid cop out, it did not leave any questions unanswered (well outside of Foundation X, but it seems like they are behind the events in OOO, which was unexpected and kind of cool), and the reasonings for Philip's return seemed pretty valid and not as convoluted as other "resurrections" have been in various series. Not to mention there was no random main villian appearing at the last minute as other series have done.

Overall, the show was well done. It was finely paced, and every episode being a 2 parter really helped make things move in it. I will admit, there were times I was hoping for some single episode stories, but that did not drag the show down. I think the only major complaint I have with the show is that it was very Japanese. What do I mean by very Japanese? Well, it was predictable. I guessed Philip was going to be the brother the moment Wakana mentioned she had one. I knew Shroud was going to be the mother from the moment she was introduced. I knew Philip was going to return somehow in the end. Almost all of the mysteries were easy to figure out in the first 5 minutes of the episode. I think there was only one episode that I did not guess correctly on who the Dopant was, which was the episode with the virus. The episode titles did not help at times either. Like "The End of R" obviously stood for revenge, which meant it was Izaka's final episodes. The same went for Kirihiko with the episode titled "Farewell N."

Other than that though, I loved the show. The rider designs were well done. I loved how W's normal forms had kind of an 80s feel to them while the Xtreme form felt more like a modern series rider. All of the characters were done great and grew on you. Even the main villians got enough screen time that you really felt for them at times and loved them. Terror is probably the best leader of an evil organization I have seen in a long time. He cared for his family, but lost himself and his feelings for them in his quest for power, but the writing for him was done with extreme care. In fact, I cannot really think of a time when any of the characters contradicted themselves from episodes back as other series have done. Oh, and they actually developed a relationship between two characters that felt natural and not forced. Speaking of characters, I think my favorite characters are Philip, Wakana, and Ryuubei. Although, Shoutarou was pretty awesome to, so he is up there. Come to think of it, this series is hard for me to really pick an absolute favorite character, which is not something I am used to with a rider series. I mean, Kiva was easily Wataru and Maya, Blade was Leangle and Hajime, Ryuki was Ouja, 555 was the Lucky Clover lady, etc. Design wise for the monsters though, definitely goes to Taboo, Utopia, and Clay Doll Xtreme. However, Terror, Nazca, Death (well, the design for Death that Dummy used), and Skull were incredible as well.

Outside of a few instances, even the episodes were entertaining to watch. My least favorite would be the two parter with Gene, but other than that, I did not really have any episodes I absolutely hated. There were parts I disliked, but that was about it. The only thing I could say that was a let down was the pacing of the movie, because the first 50 minutes moved at such a slow pace that I kind of wished I had watched the theatrical cut.

Finally, I am really looking forward to watching OOOs now. If for nothing else, to see how the build up of Foundation X continues forth because it is strange to have two rider series that connect with each other (honestly, I have never seen any of the series that do connect, as I have not seen Black RX yet). I still have to watch the Accel and Eternal movies, and I will get to the vs movie when we are watching OOOs, but until then, I am very impressed with this series and am glad I had the chance to watch it all in one weekend.