[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 3 - “BEWARE OF T - THE MASKED DEFENDER”

Shotaro’s character arc on W… I mean, it was very much the supplementary story to Philip’s amnesia. It’s there in fits and starts, but him becoming a more confident and capable version of himself… it’s not a goal, like Philip’s quest for his missing memories is. Shotaro goes through a few discrete stories of failure and self-discovery, but they aren’t really in service of some underdeveloped aspect of his character, or some crucial piece of information that changes how we view him. They’re just good short stories that test his attributes, and solidify his resolve. They’re not really anything that pushes him permanently (or even longer than past a second episode) out of his comfort zone.

Other than that, it's not the first time Shotaro got himself praised for being "half-boiled" instead, and Tokime's just another one, like Akiko defending him that Shotaro isn't merely a tool to fight as W, or Philip acknowledging it right before they get W Xtreme, that his half-boiled persona also makes things work. Here Shotaro displays seeing the good in others, as he acknowledged that Tokime had did some help like scaring away the students from Road Dopant's attack. In this case it seems an objective view he had on her as he do remind her that stealing is a crime. Shotaro in general does put his complete faith and trust in his clients.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

So, yeah, give him a new partner that’s also a love interest! (A million W fanfics suddenly cry out in anger.) Tokime is a character that’s specifically here to show a new side of Shotaro, and that’s a really good idea. Every time Shotaro’s had a potential love interest on W – as Philip points out to Akiko – they did not last very long. Now Tokime’s hanging around past the point where she’d traditionally leave Shotaro’s life for good, and it’s making things refreshingly weird. We get to see the apartment Shotaro apparently owns! (I honestly just assumed he slept in that little alcove off to the side of the office?) Shotaro has to deal with an apprentice-slash-partner-slash-femme fatale! Shotaro I guess sleeps entirely in his suit and hat inside a sleeping bag! This is all very cool and new!

Although her moments with Shotaro here might be pleasing to watch, it's technically still her invading him like kissing without (outward) consent, and treating his house (it's a surprise reveal that he lives there instead of Agency...) as if it's her own as soon as she knew the address, namely... sleeping on Shotaro's bed, and worse, she did with her boots on. Someone else's bed! I mean, Shotaro did get upset when seeing this:


And I wish that for him being upset like complaining why she sleeps on his bed, he'd go like Ikki here:


I mean, Philip actually did:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Having Chuuta be a Dopant basically turns this into an advanced version of Kamen Rider W’s normal conclusions, and that’s incredibly fun. It’s not strictly necessary, and the episode would’ve been fine if he’d just been some lovestruck dope that simped off back to the farmland, but this episode delves deeper than that. From the first episode, we thought we were in a story about a man who was in love with something that was more dangerous than he realized, and we actually were – but not how we thought. Chuuta’s addiction to a USB drug metaphor breaks Shotaro’s heart, since that’s the part of Fuuto he’s dedicated himself to eradicating. Chuuta came to Fuuto as a farmboy, and left it a Memory addict. It’s an incredibly sweet moment in the show, to see Shotaro not only break down this guy’s bullshit facade, but also beg him not to let addiction ruin his life any more than it already has. To truly be the start of a new run of Kamen Rider W, you need to have a definitive half-boiled Shotaro moment, and this one was perfect.

Chuuta is quite an unremarkable and average man, and it's fortunate that no one at Narumi Detective Agency picked up on that (right treatment), before knowing his true nature. But turns out that, yeah Chuuta does get ridiculed for being mediocre in-universe which was one of his motives of becoming a Toadstool Dopant, to become superhuman and get back at the public humiliation. And the reason he's after the bag was because there's his Gaia Memory inside, trying to avoid the police by contacting the Agency to deal with apparently supernatural Tokime. Humiliation aside, so he's a case where it's not that he's good person without power, but is just harmless.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I really, really liked how this all wrapped up. The action was high-octane and propulsive (W-G-X, the new version of W-B-X, as the chase music!), the mystery resolution was layered and surprising, and the character work was consistently strong. (I love that Akiko hired Tokime to be Shotaro’s assistant and then forgot to tell him. Akiko! Still my favorite member of Team Double!) While part of me has some slight trepidation about trading out Akiko for Tokime in the role of Partner That Actually Goes Outside With Shotaro, I have hopes the change will create a dynamic that’s as weird and different as this episode ended up. Great conclusion to a solid three-parter!

Shotaro's romance too, is a part of him playing hard-boiled detective, femme fatales are usually their preference and it's usually doomed romance. Same goes for Shotaro in his woman preferences being femme fatale, Unfortunately, for Shotaro, the right part about acting hard-boiled is.... him always getting doomed romances. So now it makes sense why Shotaro avoids Tokime so much despite a clear interest in her. After all, femme fatales typically aren't morally sound, as that type also tend to make use of their sex appeal to trap others for their own selfish needs. Chasing after those type is inherently risky, like girls chasing after bad boys, of which obviously, there are no guarantees they aren't immune to their bad treatment.