[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 15 - “FLASH OF THE F - ROBBERY RIDER”



I really like the moves on this one. It starts off very Mystery Of The Fortnight, with its random client and easy objective, but then it slowly adds complications – Fuyumi’s a thief, Kenji’s brought Double into a trap – until it reveals that it’s not a standalone adventure at all; it’s a huge escalation of the series-long Philip plot. I love how smoothly the show shifts from one expectation to another.

It helps that the early stages of the episode never feel dull or padded out. The Arms Dopant is an amazing design (maybe the best Dopant so far, the Sonozakis included), and the idea of Shotaro fighting for his reputation is a great hook for an episode. It’s nice to see how differently Shotaro and Philip view being Double – for Philip it’s a means to an end, while for Shotaro, it’s a way of making Fuuto feel safer. Philip doesn’t really care what the city thinks of them, while for Shotaro it’s maybe more important than what they accomplish on a weekly basis. There’s an ideal they’re living up to, and a comfort they’re providing, and Shotaro resents anyone who’d take that away from Fuuto.

And the fights! Such good fights! The Arms Dopant allows for gunplay, bike chases, and even spark-heavy parking garage brawls. (I love a good spark-heavy parking garage brawl! It’s maybe my favorite set for a one-on-one battle in Kamen Rider. Feelings Fights are nice on a beach, but there’s a visceral edge to parking garage duels that I really dig.) It’s an episode with a lot of narrative ground to cover, but it makes sure there’s at least one good action sequence every few minutes.

But it’s the slow progression from Random Mystery to Huge Change that makes this episode so good. Saeko’s doing her thing in the background, and at first it all feels like the same vague Sonozaki Drama we’ve had over the last dozen episodes – Ryubei is cryptic, Wakana is distracted, Kirihiko is kept in the dark. (They all just instantly soured on that dude! I love it!) But Saeko’s revealed as the one motivating Kenji, and the scheme to ruin Kamen Rider Double’s reputation has a clear goal: to draw out Double, and recapture Philip.

Definitely was not expecting this story to go RAITO at the end, or even be a Philip story at all. They do this perfect sleight of hand by making this very much a Shotaro story (Philip is completely indifferent to the reputation of Double) until it is anything but by the end. Killer cliffhanger, for a terrific episode.

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DIE-A MEMORIES



-I honestly thought the Raito stuff came so much later in the series? It feels like a mid-series thing, not a reveal you’d get before the secondary shows up. (I also love that Double’s right half is named Raito. Did Aruto write this show?)

-If I was a highly successful professional thief, I am not sure I’d consider turning myself in just to get my homicidal partner to come to his senses. Fuyumi’s a very caring criminal!

-Fuyumi also dresses like Lara Croft at the indoor climbing wall, and it was, uh… a good choice.

-A total shame that Makura wasn’t around in the Jinno scene to crow about Double’s guilt to Shotaro. Of all the times for that dude to have a day off!