[Enchilada645]

Let's see the last time I actually watched W was in... 2012 as the first Kamen Rider I've ever watched...

Yeah I think a Rewatch is in order, it'll take a bit to catch up but I'm here!

W's Search/Don't Touch the M:

Gonna clump these first four episodes together since I don't have much to say on them. But man is it definitely weird revisiting this show seriously after like... 12 years or so, I forget when in 2012 I first watched it.

When it comes to the first two episodes, I remember them very vividly. It might be because Toei Tokusatsu World ended up releasing them during their "First two episode" releases and that's how I remember. It might also be because I tried to do a W Rewatch around the time the Decade thread ended but that didn't end up panning out past Episode 2. Either way, both episodes are rather simple in that they're presenting the world and characters to us. Normally I wouldn't focus on the background the characters are in, but Futo is a heavily unique location to the franchise. Any chance they can get to put pinwheels or anything that represents wind blowing, they do. It really helps add to the location and makes W's setting a standout among every Rider before and after.

Also, Double himself is definitely one of my favorite Riders in concept and execution. Having a fairly experienced Rider from the get-go, with a few rough edges, is rather fun. Not to mention the Driver system in how we get our base set of 9 forms from the start. It's unique to see a Rider have a fully decked out starting kit, and the main reason they show off new forms is because they need a new strategy in battle. I totally don't regret getting a Doublerdriver... even if I cannibalized half of it for reasons we will understand later.

I'd rather not get too wordy, so I'll just say that rewatching has definitely surprised me in that I had mostly forgotten about certain details. 3 and 4 definitely feel like a good conclusion to the starting setup that is introducing us to all our major players which I had assumed mostly happened in 1 and 2.

But also... I did not remember that Shotaro and Philip didn't actually use the name Kamen Rider until the end of Episode 4 happened. Like I recalled they had it to where Futo treated it like an urban legend of sorts, but I didn't remember the term being coined during Wakana's radio segment and our detective duo rolling with it. I had thought they had that title pre-Magma/T-Rex Dopant case but I guess not. Speaking of our detective duo... Akiko very much surprised me. Given what I recalled of her, and her mostly mellowing out throughout the series, I had thought I'd find her annoying, but I don't. I suppose hindsight definitely helps but despite knowing how these characters end up, I'm excited to see them grow all over again.

Shotaro Hidari Hard Boiled Delusion Diary:

This is fun because this is something entirely new to me. Like, I didn't even know this existed until I read the list of what we'd be covering. It's very exciting and it basically boils down to giving us some fun skits with our lovable trio. This mini-episode gets extra points for bringing in the fabulous T-Rex Dopant. Some people may find a giant T-Rex head slapped onto a human body silly, I find it endearing so I'll always root to see this suit return.