[ShyGuy]

Finished W, which was a rewatch as W was actually the first Rider show I watched in full. Gaim was what got me into KR in the first place but as it was ongoing at the time, I decided to try another one with it that I could watch in full, and chose W. I thought it was great at the time, and it really solidified my interest in Kamen Rider. I was excited to rewatch it to see if I still felt the same years later, and I’m happy to say I did. In fact I think I actually liked it even more a second time.

One of the things that stands out most about W when starting it is that it’s a very structured show, going with the common two-episode arc setup. A show like this lives or dies on the strength of its characters, because an episode structure like that can get very old very fast if it doesn’t have the characters to carry it. Thankfully, W’s cast is the biggest highlight of the show.
The leads all have great chemistry, and really sell the relationship between Shotaro and Phillip. Having a Rider who’s two people could have easily led to a lack of development for each because of trying to cram in so much for two characters, but that didn’t happen here. Both Shotaro and Phillip each get great development and depth. I think Phillip gets quite a bit more overall, considering how much of the story ends up revolving around him, while Shotaro doesn’t actually get that much in comparison. We never actually learn much about him despite his status as a lead, such as where he came from, why he wanted to be a detective, or any of that. His personal history, background, and deeper motives are never really explored. Despite that, he’s a fantastic character and his ridiculous personality, genuine heart and concern for his clients, and dedication to protecting Fuuto as W make him an excellent lead. A huge part of that is Kiriyama Renn’s performance, I can’t say enough good things about it. Easily one of the best lead performances in a Rider series and I think my personal favorite.

Most of the other characters are great too, I like Ryu a lot as a secondary Rider and his very serious attitude is a fun contrast to the complete absurdity of the personalities that make up Narumi Detective Agency. I remember in my first watch of W Akiko annoyed me quite a bit, but I found her much less bothersome this time and enjoyed her for the most part. Not sure why I felt differently this time, but maybe it’s just because of my greater appreciation of the show as a whole now.

One of the other great things about W is the tightness and cohesiveness of the writing. It’s easy to take something like that for granted, but I really appreciate it after so many of the earlier Heisei shows noticeably lacked it (Especially anything written by Inoue). The characters remain consistently characterized throughout, the overall story never really stumbles or falls into awkward plot holes, and it feels like there’s a real sense of space and location. That last point is kind of a small thing, but one that bothers me regularly in a lot of other Rider shows. For example characters will be interacting in a city, transform and jump off screen, and suddenly they’re fighting in the middle of a forest. Or they’ll be in the middle of a fight, suddenly stop for no reason, and go right back to talking about how to beat the villain they were fighting literal seconds ago. This kind of thing was fairly common in earlier Heisei, but W does away with it almost entirely. The transitions into and out of fights flow much more naturally and the locations have a sense of believable continuity, it doesn’t feel as much like they’re constantly teleporting to random set pieces. Maybe I’m just super nitpicky about that kind of thing but I really appreciated how W did such a good job of that overall.

The only real point of weakness in the show to me is the villains, for the most part. The Sonozaki family were just never that compelling to me as characters, especially Ryubee. He’s just kind of a generic, standard villain without much real depth. I know they start giving him some background and motives near the end, but it came too late and too little to salvage my lack of interest in him. Wakana and Saeko are better, but Wakana is inconsistently characterized throughout and it gets kind of jarring. The only villain I ever really significantly enjoyed was Isaka, mostly because Dan Tomoyuki was so good at playing him as an unnerving and weird creep.

Some minor disappointment in the villains though is really the only complaint I have about W, I really enjoyed pretty much everything about this show. The cast is a lot of fun, with one of my favorite main Riders in the series. The story is constructed well and manages to maintain both the regular 2-episode arcs and a more overarching, greater overall story without compromising either. And the overall look and feel of the show is great as well, the W suit is one of my favorites and the noir-themed style and soundtrack worked really well and give it a unique tone among Rider shows. I don’t think W quite reaches some of the emotional depth and thematic heights that some of the other shows do, such as Build or Gaim, but something about it just really clicked with me and I think it will always have a place among my favorites.