[DreadBringer]

Something I wanna say about the main trio, Philip overworking himself in training to become a "mosquitoweight" class boxer, due to Wakana's topic being weight management in boxing shows knowledge doesn't guarantee common sense and you shouldn't go overboard in working out, which'd be Philip's weakness for the team. Akiko can miisinterpret getting water as in taking a bucket of it to splash them... when Shotaro meant a glass of water. Akiko giving Philip clues for needed keywords is now acknowledged where she described as the "queen of inspiration". Shotaro's problem this time to not acknowledge her.

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Originally Posted by 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.

More about the Agency is revealed here so, Akiko has objections to help a fugitive like Fuyumi. Shotaro accepts it due to client's varying circumstances (and due to him being real Kamen Rider) with the condition that those 2 have to turn themselves afterwards. And like usual, Shotaro got called half-boiled again for this, but this shows that he'd only act casanova to woman he truly fancies instead of any of them (it's what I meant for my comment about Shotaro's concern for woman villain in the movie thread back then).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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 of 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.

Regardless of Fuyumi begging him to come back to his senses, Kurata as Arms Dopant shows but this is a show of how much a power can corrupt (not supernaturally) that Kurata is addicted into using the Arms Memory. A reminder of how power can erode one's (already fugitive, as even the good-natured one can get a hold of this) empathy, less risk-aware, and cause more impulsive behaviour.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

-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!

Jinno depicts Shotaro as being biased for "his friend" Kamen Rider to deny the accusations of Kamen Rider going after banks. Like Kuuga here, the cops like Jinno also doesn't know yet for now that Shotaro is Kamen Rider W. So this also displays a trait in Shotaro where, it's personal for him to smear Kamen Rider name, more enraged than usual and rushing Philip, because the Kamen Rider name was given to them by the city's people. Reminds me of the Cockroach Dopant before, another case of the MOTW wanting to attain hero status, this time directly using "Kamen Rider" title. Philip not caring about that of course continues about how he's not really into taking care of people's well-beings unlike Shotaro, where he mocks Shotaro for being half-boiled for considering that, as well as being called devil's scientist before. He's someone needs to be "tamed" not unlike Momotaros or Vice.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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?)

Ryubee takes chess game seriously as training to be displeased of Wakana losing due to losing in thought about Philip. He also thinks lowly of Wakana as immature and self-absorbed while placing his trust to Saeko. Saeko bullied Wakana for her freedom, thinking that she's the favored one, but it's unsure if Saeko is truly the unfavored one for this, with how Ryubee speaks regarding Wakana here. Their aim is revealed that Raito is Philip's true name, so Philip does deal with amnesiac stuff and false name, and that her aim is to bring back Phllip to Sonozaki family, using Arms Dopant and the army of Masquerade Dopants for that. And yes, I also think Philip's twist actually happened a lot faster than I expect. It's raito only because katakana takes existing English words (and other foreign words) and using Japanese letters to (which means, no 'l'). Of course, "right" and "light" would be turned into "raito" in katakana. Shotaro's surname Hidari also means "left".

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

-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 rock climbing explains her being a member of Twin Roses. Fuyumi is a liar, and also has an evil laugh before, but it's not like Marina or Motoko before, they had limits to not spill blood, it's about drawing a line, preventing Kurata to do something that goes beyond their standards, not about being inherently righteous. Even bad people can have standards, like in Ryuki, Kagawa/Alternative Zero drawing a line to needlessly sacrificing people like Tojo/Tiger does. To be technical, superheroes also can get labeled as criminals, like Build.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I guess this is an example where Shoutarou forgets his role as the heart by discouraging Akiko and insisting that her way of investigating is wrong, while Akiko despite her recklessness is actually being the most proactive in trying to solve the case on behalf of the patisseries. I think this is a good moral for Shoutarou, that there's more than one way to be a detective and Akiko has similar potential to Soukichi, but she does it in her own way and in her bad*ss moment, she shows true courage in her protection of her client.

About being a detective in various ways, I think I get that message in Zero-One, regarding Wazu, more, than this one. While Akiko's courage is admirable (and it's consistent that Akiko looks after her clients, and people around them, this isn't one-off thing), and I understand what they're getting into (because there'd be similar stuff on a side character later, and it happens too for Shotaro being mocked as "half-boiled" due to said heart role), her saving the day is just dumb luck that (like about how the true culprit is exposed, how it lures important people), happens by pure chance, so, this message will of course get dismissed, and even I have a hard time getting through this and implementing it - or I'm also the one who should try to learn this.