[Switchblade]

The folly artists on this show were obviously having a field day with this one and I'm glad they got the chance to just go ham on the wacky sound effects.

So I completely forgot that this storyline existed. There is not a single piece of it that made it into my longterm memory and nothing about it sparked any recollections, either. It's like I'm watching it again for the first time. I wasn't entirely excited at first because, even though I'm more fond of her with 14 years of hindsight and nostalgia, Akiko at full Akiko is A. LOT. Thankfully, that calmed down pretty quickly and the episode as a whole was a lot of fun. I will never get tired of the weird doll just pulling a knife out of nowhere.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't include this:

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

I don't know if they're intending to make this one a pseudo-horror story, or these are intentional so this 2-parter won't be too scary, that the doll's attacks in silly manners, as well as comical sound effects around those.

The producers are definitely having fun here. Beyond trying to fake out the audience (and characters) with a story about a possessed doll, we're in the mid-20s of a modern Kamen Rider show, so it's about time for things to get Extra Wacky.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Terui's the way he is cause he's on a serious quest for revenge for the murder of his entire family, which would probably make anybody in his position a little screwed up. So he's lucky to have cheerful Akiko to bring out his softer side.

I mean, Terui doesn't exactly get lighter with his vengeance a decade in the rearview, (and he for sure doesn't like questions any better!), so I think this is just how that dude is wired. He's not, like, demonstrative, so I think his tiny appreciations of Akiko -- coming to her rescue, always calling her Chief -- amount to what in any other series would be a romance arc. He's doing the best he can with his personality!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I wasn't entirely excited at first because, even though I'm more fond of her with 14 years of hindsight and nostalgia, Akiko at full Akiko is A. LOT.

When we got five minutes into this episode, and it was all Akiko before the credits, I was like Is This The Episode That Punishes Me For Thinking Akiko Was Fun. Except, no! No punishment! I loved it, I loved her part in it, and I feel like I'm going to enjoy this series more because of it.

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 26 - “P’S GAME - AKIKO ON THE RUN”



The way a Kamen Rider story can sometimes configure the two halves of its episodes is really a thing of… I was going to say “beauty”, but instead I'm going to go with “wonder”. Mostly in the sense that I wonder why the producers thought it would be a great idea to do a first part that’s all wacky hijinks and hilariously intrusive sound effects, and then a second part where Akiko has to rescue a doll that’s the physical manifestation of a dead girl’s hopes for her deranged and homicidal father. That– that is a swing! It’s a bit like making the first part of a series finale the HBV special, and it sort of works out just as well.

It’s not a bad episode, honestly. Nor does it make for a bad two-parter. There’s too much fun action to ignore (seems like every other episode needs to contrive a reason for Accel and Double to fight, though), the Sonozaki stuff feels like it’s hit a boiling point, and Akiko’s Narumi-given dedication to safeguarding the dreams of her client is frequently inspiring. The whole thing works, at a base level.

It’s just… sort of dull in places? There’s a lot of a little girl(‘s ghost) unhelpfully shouting LISTEN TO THE DOLLY, which grates pretty quickly. There’s an overall Less Fun tone to this half, which – while clearly intentional – just doesn’t have me as excited as I was to watch a child-sized puppet nearly murder two Kamen Riders. This is somber, as it probably should be, but the lurch of getting to this tone from last episode’s insanity… it just feels like I’m getting less than I was before. More my problem than the show’s, probably, but a problem nonetheless.

Still, I think this ended up being a cute spotlight on Akiko’s resolve and empathy, with a minor spotlight on Terui and Shotaro’s respect for her. (Shotaro is so nonplussed when Terui’s like He Knows You So Well!) I never cared about the dumb subplot of Philip building a new toy that takes up an annoying amount of space in this one, but that’s about the only part that outright misfired for me. The rest of it was well done, but tonally… not “incoherent”, but maybe “inconvenient”?

—

DIE-A MEMORIES



-The scene of that kid shouting LISTEN TO THE DOLLY while Akiko tried to talk about anything else felt like it went on for several hours. I also would’ve thrown that goddamn doll to the ground! And worse!

-It’s very funny to me that we hear the Gaia Memory shout WEATHER in this episode, so we know that Isaka (learned his name!) was the one behind the Puppeteer Dopant’s rescue, but in the initial Terui two-parter we suspiciously never hear the ICE AGE Memory sound off. You know, unlike literally every other Memory on the show. The producers are big cheaters in that story, is what I’m getting at.

[Enchilada645]

Honestly a rather nice Akiko focused two-parter. It hits the comedic beats so well that I wasn't expecting a genuine swerve into a sincere story about a dead girl's wishes manifesting through a doll to try and console her father. I do also like while it's maybe potentially seen by Philip as a side effect of Puppeteer, Shotaro and the way the show presents it as something very supernatural.

But yeah, this is another two-parter I remember... mostly. I remembered the first part with the wacky doll hijinks. The scene where it's cutting its way out of a box with a knife and using the Trigger Magnum are still vivid within my mind. The second part I didn't remember as much, but it was still nice to see how it all ended.

Speaking of... I completely forgot about the Wakana subplot and this suddenly makes later events make a lot more sense. Especially given that the Driver's the Sonozaki's have is to keep them from succumbing to the effects of their Gaia Memories, modifying that to make more like a direct injection isn't going to be good in the long run for Wakana. What I also completely forgot about was Claydoll being controlled by Puppeteer and the entire attack on Philip sequence in which we get to see Fang for a brief moment. It's such a sudden scene that I was legit caught off guard by what had happened.

On the mention of Fang, I do find it funny we haven't seen FangJoker in 4 episodes. Like I'm glad they aren't spamming it, but I do find it funny that the situation's haven't been dire or opportune enough to allow Philip to take the lead in transforming.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

On the mention of Fang, I do find it funny we haven't seen FangJoker in 4 episodes. Like I'm glad they aren't spamming it, but I do find it funny that the situation's haven't been dire or opportune enough to allow Philip to take the lead in transforming.

Yeah, this was the end of four more-or-less comedy episodes, where Double in general -- and Philip in particular -- isn't in any real danger until Clay Doll blasts down a few doors. (Like, Philip is barely involved in this story, and he ain't a big part of the Radiowave Clown one, either.) The other Dopants are a clown and puppeteer, so the basic Memories are more than sufficient to the task. Hell, the biggest danger Double faces over the last three stories is Accel!

[DreamSword]

Overall, there's alot of great stuff going on in this two-parter, to the point of being nearly perfect.

Let's get the big negative out of the way first: The bits with Wakana. Not only did I never like Weather Doctor as a villain, but these episodes lay the ground work for what will become the rest of Wakana's' arc, and it never sat right with me at all. I'll be sure to point out every bit as to why as we go along, but this was very much Strike One against both Weather and Wakana's' Story.

Heck, in these episodes along you just kinda have him conveniently knowing how to modify both Dopants as well as Drivers? Some dude who came out nowhere as far as the narrative so far is concerned? I don't buy it.

But, ignoring that, as I said before, this episode has alot of stuff I really dug.

First, there's the obvious Japanese folklore about how the love for an item can grant it a life of its own. It's a common story many shows have used, even multiple Kamen Rider seasons, and I tend to love them every time. W's' take on it being no exception. Just as the dad's' love for his daughter went into his book, her love for him went into Riko. I love how it's left ambiguous exactly how many of the shenanigans were the Puppeteer and how many were the doll itself.

Adding onto that is the meta commentary about author intent and how people interpret it. The idea that the critics were so sure that they 1000% knew exactly what was going on in the author's' head when he wrote the book is the exact sort of mentality you still see even onto today; The Toku fandom included. It's a nasty and presumptuous ideology to have, and can lead to accusations that are truly horrible. The most common of which being "They wrote a villain, ergo they condone said villain's' actions."

We also get introduced to the Frog Gadget, which is my favorite of the animal buddies for a very specific scene with it way down the line. Funny viewing it now though, in that it's essentially just an AI voice changer. Something tells me it'd cause a bit of a stir had this been made within the last year or two.

And lastly, well, some might've noticed(though probably not) that I haven't been harping on Akiko really at all lately, and that's because starting with the end of Act 1, the writers seem to have made the smart decision to tone her down alot, thus making her antics alot more tolerable and allowing her positive traits to shine alot more. I actually liked her all throughout these two episodes, and she even managed to get a few genuine laughs out of me. The key being that she never once goes out of her way to antagonize anyone. That's all it took. Shotaro's' line about "she'd never want anyone to cry" was a bit of a stretch though.

The only thing left to note is that I still don't agree with the Akiko and Terui pairing. Even if we keep it to these two episodes. Terui shows nothing more than bemusement and very basic empathy towards her, and on the side of Akiko, her gestures aren't really outside of her typical antics. It'd be like saying they both have a thing for Philip which, shipping from Shroud aside, I wouldn't buy either.

But yeah, really good stuff for the most part.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Heck, in these episodes along you just kinda have him conveniently knowing how to modify both Dopants as well as Drivers? Some dude who came out nowhere as far as the narrative so far is concerned? I don't buy it.

I can see it? All of the set-up scenes, before Isaka debuted, were all about how important he was to the organization. Since then, he's been revealed to be a medical professional, so... I can give them this one? He's got a vague Mad Scientist thing going on, so I don't think it's as preposterous as, like, Jinno suddenly reconfiguring the Double Driver or whatever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

The only thing left to note is that I still don't agree with the Akiko and Terui pairing. Even if we keep it to these two episodes. Terui shows nothing more than bemusement and very basic empathy towards her, and on the side of Akiko, her gestures aren't really outside of her typical antics.

Oh, for sure. In retrospect, it's easy to read into this first real Akiko/Terui story as being the foundation of their relationship, but it's not really that emphasized in the episodes. (Which is why I put it in the Die-a Memories section; that's where retrospective stuff lives!) The tone throughout the episode is, at best, Mutual Respect from Terui, and Gigantic Crush from Akiko. It's only years later that I can see romantic sparks there.

[Switchblade]

Yeah, the second part of this was way less fun than the first. Still a complete void in my memory, too. The next one, though, I definitely remember. It's impossible to forget Nao Nagasawa doing Zatanna cosplay.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Yeah, the second part of this was way less fun than the first. Still a complete void in my memory, too.

There's honestly nothing in the second part that can touch the doll's rampage in the first part. I think the second part has some interesting performances, and it's nice to get a reiteration of Akiko's detective bonafides. (I honestly love that she introduces herself in her flashback as a detective, since that's not exactly how anyone watching this show would describe Akiko's role in the group.) But, yeah, first one's got a killer doll with a random knife! Hard to top that, and the second part doesn't really try.

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 27 - “D WAS WATCHING - INVISIBLE MAGICAL LADY”



Stylishly-shot action and a leggy dame in/as peril? SAKAMOTO!

I mean, as recurring motifs go, I don’t want to kinkshame the guy or nothing. She’s a magician, so her episode-length fishnets aren’t exactly uncalled for. It helps that Lily’s a fun character for Team Double to assist, more integral to the story than the usual client that drops off a case and leaves. She’s someone that, despite her invisibility, is a constant presence in the story. She gets little moments with all of our heroes, to varying degrees of acceptance. (I really loved how much Terui INSTANTLY hated her. He’s got a type, and it’s more Akiko-shaped.) She keeps things manic and bubbly, right up until the point they turn impossibly tense.

Because this isn’t really a Dopant Mystery story at all. Lily’s for sure here for a mixture of comedy and thematic resonance, but this is 100% a story about Terui and his frequently deferred but increasingly inevitable Grim Vengeance.

As Akiko notes midway through, we are very quickly back to dealing with the debut version of Terui, not the more recently accommodating one that smirks at how much Shotaro does not want to be at a group dinner with him. (Terrific background acting.) This Terui is boiling over with unresolved grief and rage, and could care less about his duties as either a Kamen Rider or a detective. He’s here to execute a killer, and is fine with whatever that may cost him. He’s doing this for his family, after all.

Which is why it’s nice to have the tonally opposite Lily story act as a parallel to what Terui’s doing to himself. Lily became a Dopant to save her family’s legacy, because she has to bear the awful weight of surviving a tragedy that killed her parents. She did something incredibly dangerous, because she didn’t see any other way to honor the family she lost. Meanwhile, we’ve got Terui, who is ready to get himself killed in order to avenge a family that’s gone, in spite of all the living people who care about him. In each instance, their guilt at surviving a tragedy drives them to disregard their own lives.

(I mean, it’s not really a one-to-one thing. Lily’s trying to live up to her grandfather’s dreams for his family, while Terui is on a mission of violent revenge. Still, I feel like there’s enough overlap there to commend the episode’s attempt at thematic storytelling.)

The tension is exquisite in the second half, as Terui calls out Isaka for battle, and thankfully so is the action. You don’t book Sakamoto to shoot an episode of soliloquies and staring – you book him to handle the two debut fights of the newest, toughest lieutenant the Museum has to offer. The fights are clever in their staging, with the Weather Dopant laying in crisp, devastating strikes at leisure, acting as a counterpoint to Accel’s animalistic frenzy. Worse/better, the Weather Dopant is just way too powerful for either Rider to handle solo, at exactly the point in the story where Double can’t get Accel to cooperate. (Well... to be fair, every single story since Accel's debut has had the two Riders come to blows for one reason or another, so maybe Philip's hope for teamwork is less realistic than he'd like to think.) The Weather Dopant on its own would be a tough fight, but it’s even more devastating against two Riders that can’t work together.

It’s just a terrific episode of wacky Sakamoto tropes that slowly give way to self-sacrificing adults and kinetic fight scenes… the other Sakamoto trope!

—

DIE-A MEMORIES



-Hey, it’s that one lady from Fourze! I think! I honestly don’t remember her being a good actor, and… my opinion hasn’t changed greatly. I don’t think I’d go as far as Akiko, but her work was… adequate?