[Kamen Rider Die]

RIDER TIME: SHINOBI EPISODE 1 - “FIRST NINPOW! VOLUME: HATTARI'S ONE-SIDED LOVE"



I really loved how this episode both expanded upon and redefined the character of Kamen Rider Shinobi.

Like, I was expecting some slight adventure: a cheapy action-light online-only thing, filled out with reused suits and minimal cast. Instead, the production team created a whole world for Shinobi. There’re mooks and monsters and generals and siblings and parents and grandparents and and and. For a three-episode Fan Club spin-off, I love how dense this episode is with world-building and mythology. This never once felt like anything less than a full-series premiere, which is fantastic.

There’s a lot done to craft a complete character to Shinobi, as well. We didn’t really get to know him that well in his two Zi-O episodes, after all. We saw him in Sougo’s dream, as a solo hero using darkness to protect the weak, but that was just one fight scene. After that, we only got pre-hero Another Shinobi: a guy who longed for the power to defend people, but lacked the confidence in himself to wait for the right power. We never really got to learn about Kamen Rider Shinobi as a character, you know?

So it’s exciting to learn that three years after his Zi-O appearances, he’s not just some solo hero, but a fully-trained ninja, back from a worldwide training expedition. It’s great to see Shinobi living up to Sougo’s hopes for him. Shinobi’s done the hard work of gaining power the right way, and he’s a strong, confident hero in the aftermath. He’s practically a new man, brimming over with enthusiasm and excitement. Far from using darkness as cover, this Shinobi bursts into the light and runs wild. This isn’t the version that Another Shinobi and the Time Jackers robbed us of (not crazy about the new red costume), but everything about this new version feels like the happy ending Sougo wished for.

And the fun additional cast! I missed the part in Zi-O where Shinobi comes from a family of ninjas (or maybe they never said?), so it was really fun to find out that Shinobi’s world is one where he’s part of a team. And a team that follows Shinobi’s lessons about not giving into fear, and becoming more than you were… like, those are Sougo’s lessons, but coming out of Shinobi’s mouth. Shinobi gets to be the hero for his sister and cousins that Sougo was for him. I really love that.

Some extra Zi-O details dot the landscape, but they don’t overshadow what Shinobi’s story is trying to do. I liked the Sickle Chainsaw Monster, which feels like a reference to Woz’z Time Sickle, the thing that destroyed Another Shinobi. (Shinobi and his family’s swords all have the little Woz Time Sickle buttons on them as well, which is neat.) And there’s the generational aspects of the story, where Shinobi’s family sealed up a powerful demon, and now Team Shinobi is going to be responsible for sealing it up again. (Maybe the Demon King is an Oma Zi-O reference?) Even the addition of a supportive family feels like an inversion of the battling weirdos of Zi-O; a hopeful outcome that Sougo is trying to build for himself.

Boy, I had the best time with this first Shinobi episode. It’s a bright and colorful future, a welcome victory for Sougo’s work at salvaging Shinobi’s darkest days. The action is maybe even better than Zi-O’s: big and bold and chaotic, stuntpeople everywhere. I could watch another 46 episodes of this show.

Not too crazy about the big robot finale, though. Felt a bit Sentai?