[Sunred]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I'll be back in August for "Kamen Rider Die watches Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters"!

Super Sentai fans after seeing Die's great reveal

[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I'll probably talk more about it in a few months, but it's largely a mixture of the suit designs and the creative team.

The same creative team behind Kamen Rider OOO, the overall second most financially successful season of the Heisei Era after Zi-O. Sadly, Gobusters had a rough time in that department. For example, the complexity of the mecha was a serious problem for Bandai to replicate in DX merchandise, resulting in inaccurate proportions and limited articulation.

I think the show itself is pretty good though, with a lot of likable and deep characters that I hope you will enjoy delving in to. I already rewatched it 2 years ago, so I doubt I'll rewatch along this time, but I'll definitely have opinions to share about it!

[DreadBringer]

Dunno if you running other show would mean old ones would be replied, but I don't watch Sentai, so gotta pick up where I left off.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s for sure trying to feel like an episode of Kamen Rider W, with all the accouterments and filigree you’d hope for – the Narumi Agency office, Watcherman, Santa, even Lily’s cafe from the Accel film. It’s as close to a continuation to W as you’d dream of, if you were dreaming of an animated continuation of W. The voices are good, if not 100%. Akiko’s is dead on, Philip’s evokes the character well, the various side characters are in the right range, but Shotaro’s misses some of the weird vulnerability and childishness that I’m used to. It’s a good voice, but it’s a little too generic-sounding for me. But that’s minor! The episode absolutely feels like Fuuto, and that’s half the battle of creating Kamen Rider W in a new medium.

Unfortunately, Shotaro and Philip's actors are too busy thus they're replaced with someone else, even in the stage show Fuuto PI. Shotaro here is voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya (same one as memory of heroez) rather than Renn Kiriyama. For anime format, Akiko stays with one model of sneakers rather than changing them throughout episodes.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The meat of this episode… it’s good? It’s good. Tokime is a hilariously designed anime girl to this untrained eye (this show is way more LOOK AT HER BOOBS than I’d care for), but she’s a femme fatale in a noir world, and that’s a solid hook for a Shotaro-led opener. Chuuta’s a fun client, with his slightly horny but still well-meaning need to redeem Tokime. The detecting Shotaro does is all about establishing his connection to the city, which is crucial for caring about his character. The bizarre shadow realm that Tokime’s accessing is a neat Only In Anime visual, and that’s really what I want this show to be: not an animated version of the stuff W did, which is comfortable and no small task, but an animated expansion of W’s aesthetic.

About the realm Tokime's accessing, tbf the Gaia Library is kinda similar for live action W and it's handled well too. Even the effects here in the anime isn't much different from the live action. Tokime's outfit is one of my favorites of the franchise. Both Chuuta and Tokime were hard to figure out (not criticism) in this episode.

[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Dunno if you running other show would mean old ones would be replied, but I don't watch Sentai, so gotta pick up where I left off.

Feel free to post your thoughts here, but I'm not sure how strong my memory is going to be as far as responses go. I've already forgotten a lot of details!

[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 2 - “BEWARE OF T - THERE’S THE CULPRIT”

That’s the biggest change to this animated continuation of Kamen Rider W – the three-part mystery structure. It allows for this episode to stretch out more, to slowly and incrementally create tension within the core Shotaro/Philip dynamic, and then leverage that to bring Tokime into the fold, rather than a two-part version that’d basically just be the Marina story from W’s opening all over again. As it is, this thing HEAVILY cribs from the opening W two-parter in playing Shotaro’s faith in a beautiful woman against Philip’s analytical detachment, setting up a brief hiatus of the two-in-one detective’s partnership. It all feels a little samey, at least for a couple scenes.

W was made of two-parters because they're... double-episode packs. Fuuto PI was also made with newcomers in mind, Tokime acts as the audience surrogate.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Where this one deviates, in a subtle way, is that part of Shotaro’s belief in Tokime comes from the exact same place as his belief in Philip. Shotaro sees a super-powered amnesiac that’s being vilified, and he sees someone that probably just needs to be shown some kindness. (Also, she can’t stop taking her clothes off around him, which likely doesn’t hurt.) Shotaro feels like Tokime is in the same place that Philip once was, and Shotaro is always willing to ride with a devil like that. But not like that.

Tokime is indeed made as a counterpart for Philip which plays a part later. Maybe this part she's made suspicious because detective plot of making her seemingly a suspect for Road Dopant.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Shotaro wants to solve the case of Tokime partly because he doesn’t want Chuuta to get the wrong idea about Fuuto, and that’s worth more to me than a dozen more amnesia-stricken characters. Which is probably what I’m going to get!

Not sure if the decision based on Fuuto would mean moral uprightness or more about beneficial selfishness about city bias, like how Shotaro won't let thugs die because they live in Fuuto.

[DreadBringer]

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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.

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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:

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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.

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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.

[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 4 - “THE TERRIBLE M - WINGS OF DEATH”

Tokime is officially part of the group, which means it is time for everything to start breaking down in ways both funny and sad. Unlike Kamen Rider W, that introduced a dynamic that never truly broke down or seemed untenable, Tokime instantly feels both superfluous and distracting. She wants desperately to be included, yet she doesn’t seem to have a role that isn’t ably filled by someone that knows Shotaro better and works more naturally with him. (Even Akiko! That’s how bad things are going with Tokime!!!) Literally her first day on the job is one where she antagonizes Philip into a funk, and nearly gets Shotaro killed due to amnesia machinations. Not exactly winning material for the ol’ CV!

Dunno about your feelings here, but usually if a female character puts the main cast in bad position, she'd be instantly hated by the fandom by large (and there's some quite nasty remark about her in the Fuuto PI discussion thread). Otherwise, Akiko can be occassionally teasing in the main TV series, but here that trait of hers is much more significant here than usual, to solve Philip's problem above. It's instead used to assure Philip that he's gaining more humanity, even if it's a rather negative trait here (of jealousy), but that also means it can be understood and be dealt with.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Luckily, all of that makes this story, from the character side of things, incredibly entertaining. While Shotaro and Philip have always bickered, they’ve always been partners; brothers, even. Tokime’s an interloper with a mysterious past, and she doesn’t get anywhere near the slack that the rest of the team affords each other. (Feel free to speculate that Philip’s jealous of Tokime romantically – not my read, but I wouldn’t fight you on it.) There’s genuine tension throughout the episode, as Tokime rants about Philip, Philip rants about Tokime, and Shotaro listens to two identical sets of complaints. While it’s a funny joke, it also highlights the legitimate question of Tokime’s place on the team: Don’t we already have an amnesiac partner for Shotaro that’s too blunt and lacking in social niceties?

About you saying that they're brothers, there's something really problematic that can debunk that. In the summer movie, Philip punches Shotaro and lashes out to him and his other allies, and claiming that they aren't family thus Shotaro can't truly understand him. when Shotaro suspects Maria to be untrustworthy. That really destroyed Shotaro emotionally to the point that Shotaro's self-esteem is further hurt and Shotaro questions his judgment with Philip trusting Maria, a woman he barely knew, over Shotaro, as well as what he really meant to Philip. He also doesn't apologize for hurting Shotaro for this (but more for himself being wrong about Maria). Philip really took Shotaro, the man who pulled him out from a blank state and gave him everything, for granted, and doesn't appreciate the bond with him and the other main casts enough to hurt them over supposed biological mother.

[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

FUUTO P.I. EPISODE 5 - “THE TERRIBLE M - THE SOUND OF A LEAK”

Let’s start with the latter! I was pretty into the story of Tokime and Megu in this one, where our perception of ourself comes up against our internal desires, and how we have to be honest with ourselves. Both Tokime – as essentially a court-appointed detective-assistant in an office where no one will give her any work to do – and Megu – as the browbeaten, overworked idol that only wants to be a programmer – are stuck in jobs they act indifferent towards. But, y’know, not completely the case! Megu actually really likes how excited people get when she performs, and Tokime feels an unexplained need to prove herself to Philip, risking her life to keep Shotaro’s client safe. They both like to think of themselves as merely doing what they’re told to, but then fate forces them to admit that the thing they’re doing actually does make them feel fulfilled. Much like Shotaro’s unfortunate ability to find lost pets, these two women have to confront their own attitudes and accept who they really are.

Overall it's about Shotaro wanting to become a hard-boiled detective, but him being used to find lost pets is a humiliation for him as a proof of how he's actually half-boiled. Though here, for once, compared to how Philip and Terui are often the one to be shilled, here, it's Shotaro who is valued the most by the client for opening her eyes of the positive side of her (and Shotaro's job) of making people smile. I'd wish Shotaro instead used his own phrase of "not letting others cry" instead there. Feels opposite too for the girls that Tokime wants more to do (proving herself for more work), but Megu wants less to do (letting go of her idol obligations).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I didn’t really care for the Jealousy stuff. I got it, and I think the show did a decent job of both looping it into the case (with the Maxsoft employee who resented Megu’s ambivalence) and trying to show their work with Akiko’s rooftop scene with Philip, but it just didn’t land for me. I don’t think it’s believable that Philip is jealous of Shotaro’s quick connection to Tokime.

The usual case of the detective giving red herrings on the real suspect, the suspicion was Maji-P before as the main villain of this 3 parter due to his aggressive and inconsiderate behavior to forcibly drag Monako into becoming Megu, which implies he only cares about his company's image (while also setting up the fight between Megu with Mihara), but turns out it's Midori which was the jealous one. And perhaps Maji-P being aggressive was him being desperate under the Maxsoft executives' behavior before he's finally fed up of their greed, not Maji-P's. To tackle the greed of Maxsoft (along with Monako)... there's a sacrifice though, in the Mon-Rado fanbase.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Luckily (?), it’s completely dispensed with by the end of this episode. Philip is aware of his negative reaction to Tokime, apologizes to her, and then we’re only a a FangJoker Henshin away from the end of this installment. I didn’t love the storytelling decisions for about half this episode, but I can at least respect where the creators were coming from. Even with that distraction, I think this was still a solid enough episode. Terui shows up to be a badass supercop, Shotaro gets an incredibly funny scene that classically undercuts his cool facade, Philip maintains the spotlight in a credible way, Tokime naturally loses part of her shirt because anime, and the incremental progress from Aurora was just the right amount of tantalizing. Not perfect, but still fun!

Yeah Philip started out W as cold and abrasive, but I thought he had grown out of it in the end of the series (though I felt that his "mad scientist" vibe is finally addressed here by Shotaro, when talking about his fascination), thus I thought they're regressing him back when he mistreats Tokime. Though actually the TV series development sticks when he quickly apologizes to Tokime when he realizes his mistake after learning from Akiko, for his irrational disdain to her due to jealousy. He just didn't know all 100% social cues yet.