[Sunred]

It's nice to see Nagasawa come back to the genre every once in a while, be it reprising the role of Hurricane Blue from Hurricanger or saying hi to the fans in small roles like Lily.

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

Though Akiko lashes out at Horinouchi that he didn't love his child thus doesn't understand what she wants, she does not slap him with slipper though..). He won't even believe that what Rika wants is only for Akiko to get her doll back. I guess never meet your heroes then. As usual Akiko is fearless in the face of a Dopant, like ep. 3, having faith the Riders will intervene. Then Riko requests her to not make her dad cry. Now as Akiko goes after Horinouchi, he rants that he made the book so a part of Rika lives forever, but got criticized and they claim he didn't love his daughter (technically, making his kid seem to be a big deal is true, but not loving her part is false), accusing Akiko as one of them, refering to the early episode confrontation, though he didn't realize that Akiko was a fan of the book. Still Akiko's criticism of him that time is right about committing crimes in the name of his daughter, it's his problem of not being able to take criticism (Akiko one), the familial love may be true, but he takes too much pride in that he's the type to insists that non-families mind their business. Though I don't know what about Akiko's claim of the book winning awards or such, or Horinouchi only takes the negative side.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

Akiko apparently did meet Rika, approached her as a stranger when Rika was crying, helping her by picking up the dropped doll. The origin of Rika insisting Akiko to listen to the doll is shown here as Akiko 'talks' with the doll before returning it to her, convincing Rika that dolls can talk, before giving Rika her introduction card so she can come to her for help (this moments is a genuinely selfless gestures as that was a non-client work, but has advantage of raising the Agency as well), which Rika did in last episode. Akiko spontaneously tells her that her dad has become Dopant. The doll she brought disappears again, but she attempts to take Rika to a police station to keep her safe. Wow, a contrast to Shotaro about how they deal with kids where he maintains the lie against Asuka while Akiko tells the truth right away here.... or not, as Rika turns "listen to the doll" thing broken record, Akiko finally confesses that she'd care more about a living being like her rather than the doll... and that she's only pretending to talk to the doll to make her smile. More like it's exactly the same as how Shotaro dealt with a kid before instead, lying for the same reason too to make them smile.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

Even Akiko's finally sick over the plea to listen to the doll and.. shoves the doll away. Then she learns about that doll being named Riko by Rikako as a present from her dad, after learning Terui's narrative, is the doll assuming Rikako's appearance. Akiko feels guilty over the previous doll, and goes back into the bench, but it's too late as it's taken away by a garbage truck (I mean why garbage men? The doll isn't beat up.. even after taking Rider's attacks). Akiko comes across Watcherman with a new bike which he won from an auction. Akiko is forced to "borrow" his bike to chase after the garbage truck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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”?

Terui is baffled about Akiko's treatment of the doll, but though perhaps not fully understanding the situation, Shotaro explains how Akiko's that way; she'd not let dolls cry too. This 2-parter is Akiko-centric, giving her focus and fleshing her out more, and involves a good amount of morality, albeit to me her pushing Shotaro roughly sours it a bit (I'd say at least this Akiko empathy stuff isn't one-time thing, unlike Nico in Ex-Aid, like to Akane before). W arrives to catch her, but to Shotaro, she's being mean again of complaining of being late, something that even Accel tells her to not be upset to Shotaro, as he understands her best. Seems that it's about Terui and Shotaro making up in certain thing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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.

Yeah, like Die said, Wakana had good setup and establishment early on, but since Isaka, Wakana feels like pushed aside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

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.

Though this 2 parter had her shoving Shotaro down a floor level. She also "borrows" Watcherman's bike... like Yuusuke did at early Kuuga to a police bike.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Though this 2 parter had her shoving Shotaro down a floor level. She also "borrows" Watcherman's bike... like Yuusuke did at early Kuuga to a police bike.

The difference in those two examples being 1) that she was only returning fire that Shotaro was already shooting, and B) it was an emergency.

[Androzani84]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

-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?

Your opinion has authorised dreamcastegirl to authorise me to give you the kiss of death. Expect a horse?s head tonight.

But anyway, on with the regular feature.

Sentai-lert!

As you surmised, our guest this week later played Haruka in Fourze. But before both these shows, Nao Nagasawa was the female lead Nanami Nono/HurricaneBlue in Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger. She also had a career as an idol, which proved short lived when someone had the bright idea to tie in to her presenting an edutainment programme on speaking Spanish. She was also the eponymous character in the Ultraman Max episode ?Zetton?s Daughter? before W. After Fourze, aside from reprising the role of Nanami for anniversary reunions and crossovers, she was also the female villain in Kamen Rider Ichigou (the one who wields a sword instead of turning into a monster) and a relationship advisor in an episode of Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger.

As for the episode? I mostly remember it for the looping ?Maximum Drive? cliffhanger and the fact the Invisible Dopant?s design can be summed up by this quote by the late Douglas Adams.

?Any old fool can design a visible spaceship, but to design an invisible one? that takes craft.?

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Your opinion has authorised dreamcastegirl to authorise me to give you the kiss of death. Expect a horse's head tonight.

Folks are entitled to their opinions! I didn't think she was any great shakes in this one, with her outfit doing a lot of heavy lifting for the character. Most of the fun she brought to the episode was in how everyone else responded to her, not in anything in particular she did or said.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Your opinion has authorised dreamcastegirl to authorise me to give you the kiss of death. Expect a horse?s head tonight.

But anyway, on with the regular feature.

Sentai-lert!

As you surmised, our guest this week later played Haruka in Fourze. But before both these shows, Nao Nagasawa was the female lead Nanami Nono/HurricaneBlue in Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger. She also had a career as an idol, which proved short lived when someone had the bright idea to tie in to her presenting an edutainment programme on speaking Spanish. She was also the eponymous character in the Ultraman Max episode ?Zetton?s Daughter? before W. After Fourze, aside from reprising the role of Nanami for anniversary reunions and crossovers, she was also the female villain in Kamen Rider Ichigou (the one who wields a sword instead of turning into a monster) and a relationship advisor in an episode of Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger.

Nao wasn't just the face actress for HurricaneBlue, she was also the main suit actress. She was also one of the leads on Daimajin Kanon and a villain on one of the Garo series. If there were a Mt Rushmore for tokusatsu actors, she has definitely earned a spot on it.

[Sh Ranger]

She was also the protagonist of Travelers Dimension Police, starring alongside Kinoshita Ayumi who we talked about a few episodes ago and Takayama Yuko who portrayed Rinko in Wizard.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

She was also the protagonist of Travelers Dimension Police, starring alongside Kinoshita Ayumi who we talked about a few episodes ago and Takayama Yuko who portrayed Rinko in Wizard.

Three guesses who directed that and the first two don't count.

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER W EPISODE 28 - “D WAS WATCHING - LIFE-OR-DEATH TWIN MAXIMUM”



It’s the episode where Terui officially joins Team Double, and I thought it was a remarkably nuanced journey for him from Grim Executioner to Grim Executioner Who Will Also Bring You Back To Life.

No, I kid. I like how this episode took its time in moving Terui from his oft-stated desire to get vengeance for his dead family at all costs – up to and including sacrificing his own life – to someone who acknowledges his duties to the living. This was… not a small movement! Terui’s insistence on the primacy of his own pain has been one of his three character traits (alongside not asking him questions and wearing nothing but leather) since his debut, and any story that asks him to consider the effect his vendetta is having on both his friends and the people he was given power to save is going to need to do its homework.

And I felt like this one did? So much of the last episode was about reestablishing that Secondary Rider Accel hasn’t quite dropped his motivating trauma, so much as he hasn’t been in a position to remedy it. As soon as Isaka is taunting Terui with a chance at killing him, we have to start grappling with Terui’s homicidal fixation, and maybe figure out a way to explain things to him in a way that redeems his humanity and sense of duty. Centering it on Lily’s parallel sense of familial obligation is a great start, but putting Terui into the role of Apoplectic Half-Boiled Detective is the clincher. Him accidentally parroting the advice he shrugged off from Shotaro? It’s one of my favorite things from his debut story, him realizing that Shotaro’s weakness is actually a strength, and making it a part of this story feels like a worthy bookend to Terui’s emotional growth. He’s able to finally understand that sacrificing himself doesn’t please the dead, it wounds the living, and he owes it to his friends to be the man they believe in. It’s less him discovering his own sense of justice and heroism, and more him reestablishing his obligation to the people who depend on him. It’s not his But Why Heroism; it’s his Oh Right Heroism.

In an episode so (rightfully) devoted to Terui’s struggle to look past his own pain, this is not one that gives the rest of Team Double a ton to do. Both Philip and Akiko are here to try and talk/beat some sense into Terui, which is mostly a fruitless struggle. He needs to come to his own conclusions, and they’re only here to question him. And, y’know, we are all aware by now of how he feels about questions. So, as a result, it’s mostly the Terui Personal Growth Episode, guest-starring Team Double. (I mean, Shotaro’s recuperating for the majority of this episode, so he’s even more of a guest-star!) They do a good job, and the arguments they bring up are necessary, even if Terui pretty much disregards them all for half an episode. Some cute moments – Akiko’s ribbing of Terui’s inability to admit he cares what happens to Lily, Philip’s expertly-delivered receipt for Terui’s earlier punch – but it ain’t their spotlight.

This was an episode all about Terui living for the living, instead of dying for the dead, and I’m glad it was done as thoughtfully and deliberately as it was.

—

DIE-A MEMORIES



-Ha ha, tea with the Sonozakis! I have not been loving the Isaka/Saeko stuff, which might also explain why I don’t really remember any of it. He’s weird and devious, she’s completely smitten, and the whole thing arguably has less chemistry than even the Akiko/Terui “relationship”. I loved seeing how Kirihiko navigated a nest of vipers in the most delusional way possible, to his immediate embarrassment and eventual demise, but the Isaka/Saeko plotting… I just don’t care? It would maybe help if there were some sense of what exactly the two of them were even usurping at this point; some plan or goal that they’re coopting for their own power. Instead, it’s just a nebulous power struggle percolating underneath Saeko fawning over a serial killer, and I care way less than that description would suggest.

-On the other hand, I appreciate how, perhaps in lieu of a coherent strategy or motive, the Isaka storyline with the Sonozakis is the place where the show just gets incredibly weird with its randomly included nudity and eroticism. If it’s not a monster suit getting slobbered over, it’s one of Saeko’s suitors taking their clothes off to please her dad…

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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

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.

Jinno narrates Frank's story that his son (intended successor) and wife died in a car accident, thus he grooms Lily to be his successor. A lost family case back-to-back after Horinouchi, and Frank doesn't seem to be maddened, unlike Horinouchi, showing that Horinouchi would be in the wrong. And yes, the camera shot shows off Lily's legs a lot. Akiko thinks she sucks for accidentally hitting confetti which means clumsy. Lily performs Frank's most famous trick, disappearing act.. like Houdini. She succeeded in performing so, though Philip, like Akiko, thinks she's not star-material yet. When Shotaro bumps into Lily, who was invisible before she materializes on top of him, Lily's abnormally cheerful as she's all wide smiles even while apologizing for that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

The Agency trio, along with Terui, are having a dinner at a fancy restaurant, due to Akiko getting 4 free tickets, which she spends the extra 1 on Terui to Shotaro's displeasure. I mean, what did Shotaro expect that she simps for Terui? And Shotaro's lucky that she wants to treat him, while the other 2, Akiko views them in high regard, albeit Akiko obviously cares about Shotaro, just not viewing him as good. The reason to invite Terui is actually a plausible one that he regularly helps them... without asking for return. This actually makes Terui realize that he can charge them, though it's a joke. Shotaro notes that Terui's able to make jokes too, with Phillip also noting that Terui has been accustomed to them. But still, for someone to point out that Terui can make jokes, Shotaro barely smiled too, albeit he has moral ground as high as most of primary Riders.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

Lily's introduction to Terui doesn't go as smoothly due to Terui's comments that Lily as 'heavy', which continues the tension as she defends herself. Terui still possesses outwardly rudeness like usual without shame. As Akiko has met both, she introduces both to each other as both ask her simultaneously. Knowing that she's a Dopant, Terui accuses Shotaro of being naive and instantly arrests her on the spot. Though all of the previous Dopants have been evil which justifies this, Terui seems to display a prejudice against Dopants here, further showing that he's still not fully tamed. But it seems that this 2-parter had W's take of a good "monster", like Ghost's Cubi or Ex-Aid's Burgmon, while Isaka's the threat in this 2-parter. Though there are some teases of her 'true' nature of Lily wanting Isaka to examine her body, where Akiko thinks Lily turns out evil, but her true intention is to be in control of the Memory instead of being normal again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

A similar case of an uncontrollable Memory is seen in Wakana. What pisses off Wakana Saeko being interested in Isaka rather than Saeko's abuse, and that she had a problem with a rampant Memory, as Ryubee notes. Wakana reports that Isaka looked into her Driver, which makes Ryubee suspicious. Saeko's attracted enough to Isaka to display petty jealousy on Lily, complaining about how a failed Dopant can be more important than her and throwing a pencil holder into Lily as well. Now it's revealed that W stands for Weather, in Isaka's Memory. Isaka explains his murder that he merely kills for the sake of experiment, he's a proud and unrepentant villain, and is power hungry too, using Lily as lab rat. Terui's hunger for vengeance just makes him reckless and lashing out at the other's warnings. When W arrives, he gets attacked by Accel for getting on his way, as W insists him to work together. Shows about how individualism seen in harsh revenge-driven people is actually a hindrance.