Kamen Rider Double: My Top Eleven Favorite Dopants

You all know that I love Kamen Rider Double, it is not only my favorite Kamen Rider show, it is just my favorite Toku show and just one my overall favorite things in general.  Recently, a friend of mine has been watching Double and for the most part he loves to talk about the Dopants. So that got me thinking on what are my favorite Dopants in the whole franchise because there are many Dopants. First we got from the show and then there like five movies that had Dopants as well. For the most part what I enjoy about the Dopants the most was how creative some of them got in terms of designs and powers. What is also great about them is that they were people using Gaia Memories so we also got characters along with cool monsters.

11. Money

Starting the list off is the Money Dopant as he is not all that powerful, but what made me like this monster was how he did the money concept. First of all, I think I mentioned this before; this guy puts the Greeed to shame since he does the greed concept way better than them. Taizo Kaga used this memory to take people’s souls and use them as his own currency. Along with that he devised a scheme where he can lure people into a casino where they bet everything, literally. Then for him not being a fighter he was still a major threat with how he kept the coins in his possession so if he dies, they can down with him. Another cool touch was that he got fat when he had souls in him which just created this little goofy image for him. This guy had a sense of humor which made him stand out and the literal person he was made him memorable as well. He was this small man with silly hair and eye brows as he does not look threatening at all even his voice was silly. He ends up being a bigger threat than what I expected.

10. Puppeteer

This was another one of the creative ones that I really liked. In the beginning this guy was using a doll to do his bidding and man that was some tricky string work he had. The whole idea of using a doll was weird and I enjoyed it for that reason. Then we actually see the Dopant himself and he is a father who is struggling with the loss of his daughter. Isaka then helped him out and started to show what he could actually do with his powers. Puppeteer can take control of people and do anything with them. He even got Accel to be his puppet! He even had a clarinet to use to continue his mind control. This is then another one that is not the best for combat on its own, but with clever ideas this one became a threat as well.

9. Luna/Trigger

These two come from the A to Z movie and the reason I made these a tie was because I cannot dterine what I liked more. Luna was insane and I loved him for that. He took so much pleasure in what he was doing and I really enjoyed the bits of character I got to see in the Eternal movie. Also the Luna Dopant itself was awesome with how he used the illusion powers. The design for it too really stood as well with the wavy arms that would look terrible for combat and thanks to good special effects work they make the design work amazingly. Trigger is then this blank slate who simply focuses on the mission at hand. With him I just like this character a whole lot as a fighter. Even without a memory this guy is a threat with his experience with a gun.  Trigger also had that great fight against Accel which was my favorite of the movie. So Trigger I just enjoyed as a fighter which is great!

8. Spider

Being one of the first Dopants he is clearly one of the best ones thanks to an interesting power and a strong presence of character. I still stand strong about the Skull portion of the Double X OOO movie and that is still one of the best examples of modern Kamen Rider. Anyways what helped that portion was the Spider Dopant who had the usual abilities of a spider with crawling around and webs. Then there was this absolutely horrifying power where he can make living bombs inside of people and it does not matter if he is alive or not, once that spider bomb is in you, it is there for as long as you live. Then whenever someone touches someone dear to them, the bomb goes off as both of them clearly die in the explosion.  The user of the memory was Matsui who was the first partner of Narumi. The two were given a task to protect the opera singer, Melissa and he went as far to use a Gaia Memory to do so. In doing that he was driven to madness and had to be stopped no matter what. He even caused the biggest grief for Narumi which was implanting a bomb into him and causing him to never go back home to see his daughter and wife. Also in the end when Matsui was dying he was still Narumi’s partner which just creates a depressing end for this character who was doing good, but just fell into the wrong hands.

7. Terror

Ryubei was a great villain and of course he had one of the best powers around. The Terror memory was is a real nail bitter because of what he can emit. Literally his presence can just bring this sludge like substance that can hurt anyone. Then for those who thought Terror is not a fighter, he can summon a giant monster out of his own head! Terror can even make people fear him even when he is not the Dopant form. This man was terrifying even without that since he betrayed his own wife and started to use his family for his aims. In the end though he just had this odd idea of what his family was to him as he still did love them, but he wanted to make sure they were higher than any normal family. Ryubei’s fantasy really took control of his mind as when everything around him was crashing down; he decided to dance in the burning building and did not escape from his fate. That scene was just amazing to watch as it shown what his family was and yet gave off some regret at the end as he was remembering the past and kept that with him. Ryubei simply wanted to move museum higher for a grand purpose, but he had many evil means to it and in the end he paid for them.

6. Arms

Arms Doapnt is a simple idea, but damn he is a great one. First of all he is played by previous red warrior, Kōichirō Nishi so that is sweet! I love the fact he was calling himself a Kamen Rider as well since he rode a bike and technically had a mask on. Arms had this huge biker design to him and his multiple weapons made him a constant threat. The guy also lost his marbles and simply enjoyed the carnage as I still remember how he was planning to kill Shotaro. I mean my goodness that is a brutal way to kill someone and the fact he was forcing someone to keep hold of the rope was just so wrong in a morality sense. He also had the honor of fighting Fang Joker when the two could actually control the power and that is a memorable fight. Arms even helped out the Sonozaki’s so this guy was a competent villain as well. He was effective at what he did and that what makes his awesome.

5. Hopper

Hopper is up there with Trigger as just being enjoyable. First there is the fact that is she is played by Minami Tsukui who soon became Kamen Rider Marika in Gaim. I enjoyed her performance as a hired assassin and the whole Gothic Lolita look really helped that. She has fun doing what she does and she actually does her own stunts so that is a big plus! To be honest this is the closest I will have to see Margret Moonlight in a live action series. I loved how she actually ate grasshoppers as well because it is such a strange touch to have. Reminding me of another strange touch she had tazers on her footwear. Then the overall Hopper memory was powerful, it was basic power of increasing jumping, kicks, and speed, but I think any assassin would want that power. Another reason is that she has one of the best fights with Accel with how the two faced each other with their kicks! The Hopper Dopant has a good image and she can really keep your memory jogging with good performances.

4. Liar

Liar is such a bizarre monster. You think Money and Puppeteer was a weird one, this guy takes the cake. His power was to make people believe his lies and he can do that to the highest possibility. He could make people believe an ally was a foe, he can make attacks feel like nothing, and can survive finishing attacks! This guy even had an interesting weapon which was with staff with a giant mouth that spits out energy balls. Liar is simply a weirdo and even his normal personality was weird to begin with. He was a man who got the title of the Radio Clown and swindled people out of their money, but he aimed for those tears the most. This guy was simply bizarre and that is why I enjoy this guy so much, he the best of the weirdoes.

3. Weather

Reminding me of some strange people, Isaka the Weather Dopant is right up there with Liar. He is a doctor who has a fascination with Dopants. This man even goes has far to use multiple memories on himself to make him even stronger. The Weather memory on its own is powerful enough with all the elements of weather like fire, ice, lighting, and even more. What also made this guy awesome was how much of a threat he was. His first fight he single handedly takes down Accel and Double then he even survives the Twin Maximum Drive which almost killed Shotaro when he used it. Isaka even used test experiments all the time and even helped other Dopants with their abilities. His whole reason of being around is interesting as well as this was because Shroud thought he could take down Ryubei which lead to anything, but that. The actor for him as well was one of the best villain performances I have seen since Yutaka Hirose. Tomoyuki Dan always had this scary and creepy presence towards him which was thanks to how he talked and what he did. I will never forget what he does with his tongue, that just makes me twitch.

2. Nasca

Now I am basing this mostly on the original Nasca user, Kirihiko, but I won’t lie and that Saeko was a great user with it as well. The big reason why I want to focus on Kirihiko the most because of what an amazing character he was. Kirihiko was a character that was simply showing how a majority of the villains were going to be like in the series. Kirihiko was the newest member of the Sonozaki family and he thought he was protecting the city of Fuuto, but he soon learns that he was doing the opposite. Kirihiko even shows what Museum was really doing even with himself entirely as he just was another test subject that was tossed away. What made Kirihiko strong as well was the person he was, he protected the ones he loved and even improved for them. He risked his life constantly to do protect the city and for the people who live in it. Now he was still assisting in some evil deeds, but again this is because he was part of movements that were going to keep the city what it is. Kirihiko was just sewn into the wrong part of the quilt. Going on the powers of Nasca were strong with the flying abilities, strong sword play, and super speed was an amazing touch for it. Even the design was great showing off the Nasca Lines and I personally liked the blue more than the red. Not only was Nasca one of the best Dopants in design and combat, it also had a great user.

1.Utopia

My absolute favorite has to go to the one that surprised me the most. The user Kazu was part of Foundation X which was supporting Museum and when they went down, Kazu was not happy with it. He wanted to continue their plan for Foundation X and he made sure he came with a powerful memory to do that. The Utopia Dopant is just amazingly powerful where he can cause changes in gravity, stopping attacks, and even making powers backfire on their users. The overall power is hope and the memory can take power out from others and hence making him more powerful. His design just gave off a monarch like feel to him thanks to his weapon of choice and the cape. Utopia felt powerful and knew he was powerful as there was some major cockiness with that. To me even the design shows that off so well. The whole concept of Utopia is done perfectly in how it is presented and how it works. Kazu was also an interesting character with some interesting quirks to him like his love for Saeko. Overall this is my favorite Dopant because to me it is highly creative in so many ways.