[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I got into Kamen Rider, as I've mentioned in at least one of these threads, by watching the first episode of Decade and then backtracking to go through all of the other Heisei shows that had been subbed at the time (i.e., everything but Kuuga). W started airing during this period and it became the first show I watched live as it aired. As such, it would always hold a special place in my heart even if I didn't think it was still one of the best shows in the franchise. It also turned me on more to classic hard-boiled detective fiction, which led to me devouring most of Raymond Chandler's novels over the course of a few months (put Playback off for a while, but eventually read that, too). Also lead to reading some Hammett, some Ellroy, and 2.5 consecutive playthroughs of La Noire. To this day, I still have a major aesthetic soft spot for post-WWII Los Angeles that can all be traced back to W.

That's a great anecdote! Thanks for sharing it!

I've always felt like W is the perfect starter show for Kamen Rider, since it's mostly two-episode mysteries where the heroes try and help out someone being preyed upon by a monster, and that's the perfect format for Kamen Rider. (I love Geats, but the Geats format of larger blocks of thematic exploration are a bit Advanced Class for anyone's first Rider show.) Most Rider shows in Heisei work on two-episode mysteries as their structure, but always have to slightly dress it up in contrivance or toku-specifics -- Den-O's time travel, or Double's alternate realities. Here, it's just A Mystery, usually brought about by someone walking in the front door of the Narumi Detective Agency and saying I Have A Mystery. It's very expeditious!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I gotta put more blame to Akiko though. Shotaro tries to warn her about the casino being run by monsters to no avail, while Yuuko's behavior riles up Akiko enough to blow their cover, although it's a sign of her standing up to what's right with her treating family as less important to money.

Akiko's definitely not going to take advice from a theatrical weirdo like Shotaro, so this was always going to end up with Akiko blundering into the villain's lair. I'm okay with it!