[Kamen Rider Die]

FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 6 - “THE TERRIBLE M - WHITE FANGS”



Whole episode of epilogue! Bold choice!

While there’s a bit of action at the beginning of this episode that was necessary to conclude the case, it’s hard to say that the story didn’t wrap up at the end of the previous episode, with Tokime’s newfound dedication to her role in Team Double, and Philip’s understanding of his own jealousy. With that fairly well wrapped up last time, everything that happens here is just cute moments with the cast and additional details for our guests; diverting, but nothing that feels crucial.

Like, boy, who really cares about Magi-P’s struggles with upper management? It’s nice to learn that he’s not a callous prick, but the result of his previous bold stands against the heartless corporate overlords was… for the heartless corporate overlords to get exactly what they wanted, executed by a guy who behaved like a callous prick who was so angry on the inside at how Monako was being treated (by him). There’s some nuance to it, but it’s a long way to go while also not really making it clear why this attempt on Monako’s life was worth coming clean about, but the other ones Magi-P was okay never visibly treating Monako with basic human empathy. It’s a reveal that’s sort of patting itself on the back, while also introducing more questions. And, again, who even cares?

Tokime’s integration into Team Double, via the approval of toys and Shotaro’s intimate knowledge of Tokime’s intimate apparel, was a little better, but still just felt like the show was filling up minutes. It’s the worst aspect of W’s original hang-out vibes, where the emotional investment in the cast covers up a lack of urgency in plot and storytelling. Terui makes coffee! We get the names for all the toys! Shotaro gets embarrassed! It’s nice to see, as a fan of these characters, but it’s not the most dynamic ending for a story.

But that’s not even the real ending of the episode, as we still have Bando/Aurora lurking around. After a story of Gathering Data (yay, my favorite villain strategy), Bando murders Murder and introduces two of our future High Dopes: Scream and Brachiosaurus. They’re neat designs, the dinosaur skeleton one especially, but it’s just a quick introduction to characters we’ve already glimpsed five times over in the opening credits. It’s fine, in the need to establish the opponents for our heroes, but nothing to get too worked up about.

Which was sort of this whole episode for me? Unlike the first three-parter, that made a case (sorry) for stretching the usual two-part W mystery out to a more layered three-parter, this one definitely felt too light on incident to warrant its runtime. There’s enough here for a solid two-parter at most, and this slow wind-down of a finale shows off how badly a third part hurts the pacing of the narrative. Kind of a bummer, to have this one limp its way out the door.