[MidoGreen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I'm actually going to go against type here and not go with my standard answer of Black/Hibiki/Agito. All three are fantastic, of course, but there is a glaring absence on your list of completed shows: Kamen Rider W.

W was the gateway series for a lot of people and there's a lot of reasons why many still consider it the best of the Neo-Heisei era. It's an incredibly fun show with a likable cast of main characters, deep and engaging villains, and some very memorable guest stars and monsters. Shotaro is easily one of the most enjoyable main Riders ever and handles both humor and drama very effectively. Philip is odd, but there's a lot of compelling mystery about him. Ryu is a great secondary Rider who adds a lot to the show's mythology and has a good story arc of his own. Akiko is... there.

The show has a good balance of humor, action, and drama (only Rider show to ever make me tear up and I am not ashamed to admit it). It does use the two-episode arc structure, but manages to still have several well-developed ongoing subplots that carry across much of the show (unlike, say, Wizard). The fights are very well done and include some of Koichi Sakamoto's best work as a director (and some of his last stuff that wasn't overly pervy). The suits look good in action, the mixing and matching of powers can be very fun, and the bad CGI only rears its head in the first couple episodes.

Not only is the story well done, but it also has one of the tightest mythologies in Rider history. Every film adds something that helps flesh out the world and its characters, some aspects of which carried over onto Fourze. There may not be as many W movies as Den-O, but they're generally used more effectively to help develop the W world, especially all of the stuff that involves Skull. I tend to think Skull is a little overhyped, personally, but I can't deny that he's still fantastic.

Let's see, what else...

The music is amazing. The supporting characters are all really fun and dynamic. The villains are mostly developed in detail and some actually become very sympathetic. The show does a great job of combining a noir feeling with modern tokusatsu. The list really just goes on and on.

Watch W, it's a great show.

This.