My Current Thoughts On Kamen Rider Series Part One

I have watched a large amount of Kamen Rider shows, but there have been times when my opinions have changed. Now I will only be covering rider shows I have fully finished which means a good amount of Showa will be left out, but I have been watching the original Kamen Rider (halfway through), V3 I need to get back to, and Stronger is on top of my watchlist. Still I will go in order for how I see fit. There are some that have not changed as much so I will probably bring those series up first.

Kamen Rider Double

Throughout the years I still love Kamen Rider Double, I will say my overall favorite Toku has changed to Metalder, but I can still find new aspects of Double to respect. Still Double is my favorite Kamen Rider series as I wish some current rider really follow in its direction. The show had a unique style and yet still gave tribute to the series before it, mostly the Showa era. The mystery angle the series had yet a bit predictable at times, were still fun stories to watch. Double personally did the best with the two arc style that Kamen Rider picked up thanks to the little mysteries. Sometimes they were not mysteries, it was even straight forward, get the criminial cases like with Arms Dopant. The Dopants in general are still to me some of the greatest monsters in rider not only because of design aspects, but just in terms of characters. Some were a bit complex or completely insane and the degree there was to them was unpredictable. There were basic ideas like Magma and T-Rex, but then we get to Money, Liar, Terror, and even Utopia. Then even when the concept was simple the show found ways to make them surprising like the Weather Dopant. This was thanks to giving unique properties in both design and abilities. What made Isaka stand out was how far he went to gain his powers and even upgrade his own, again in concept he does have a mixture of elements and hence his powers should be weaker than one that fully focuses on let's say the element of fire, but Isaka made sure to make each one stronger and kept that balance too. Then there were just many other surprises all around, the Sonzaki family with how they treated the Nasca and Claydoll Memories, how Accel ended up connecting to the big puzzle, and the dynamics of Shotaro and Phillip. There is even a grand amount of backstory that just helps open the world of Double which has not been achieved in current rider after it, maybe the closest was Gaim. Still in the end Double has just many of my favorites and most are personal and I can see where some might find disinterest. In the end, I do not mind because still to this day I keep watching it and finding new things to think about.

 Also Skull's story is still by far the greatest in modern rider to me, it captured everything that not only made Double strong, but just Kamen Rider in general.

Kamen Rider Kuuga

As I said before, Double is my personal favorite rider show, but I cannot lie and say that Kuuga is the rider show of the Heisei era. Not only did it start the revival of Kamen Rider, it is still by far the most ambitious the franchise has ever got. The whole show itself was changing Toku in general as it does break many traditions. As my good friends and I talked about before, Kuuga can just be a surprisingly good cop show. The police are a major focus in this show and it is great to see them be as brave as the main hero. There are many scenes of them trying to figure out how to stop the Grongi and even solve their little puzzles and without them Kuuga wouldn't stand a chance. Then along with good world building there is so much flavor text all around the show. So much detail is put into about everything! I simply cannot ignore the amount of work the show had. Then there were the amazing use of filming, it is a great use of angles and watching things flow. It is one of the few Toku shows that remembers about how things stay in motion even if it is off camera. Still one of the best moments of the franchise was when Kuuga fights the Hopper Grongi, a great use of slow motion with an intense build up. This just all blends into a perfect show as I barely find faults in the show. Again Double is my favorite, but I cannot ignore the presence that is Kuuga.

Kuuga Ultimate is still by far the best rider design.

Kamen Rider Black

Onto another cherished classic in the franchise, Kamen Rider Black is up there with Kuuga in terms of how much it meant for the franchise. The creator of Kamen Rider, Shotaro Ishinomori really made sure to make this show stand out and the same for the concept of Kuuga. Black took the first step into mutants being used along with cyborg technology to create a Kamen Rider and then in the 90's we get the first pure mutant rider, Shin. One big thing about these first three shows I mentioned they all have a cast of actors that just worked the best for their characters. Shotaro played by Renn, Godai played by Joe, and Kotaro protrayed by Tetsuo. These three actors define their characters and I bet other actors could try, but I bet if I could compare those three would just beat all others who try. With Shotaro he gave such a lively performance, Joe really brought the fun and mature side, and Tetsuo brought the hero into Kamen Rider Black. While Renn is my obvious personal favorite for a rider actor, Tetsuo is still the best. He had everything needed for this hero. He had the appearance and the voice to protray the character. Along with good acting from a main lead, the action of Kamen Rider Black is still some of the best in the franchise. A great use of strings and camera work really makes Black stand out. Now I will admit like some other Showa riders, the focus on the kids can get a bit annoying to me, but hey this is a kids show so it makes sense. Black also broke some ground with the use of Shadowmoon as there have been evil riders before, but Shadowmoon polished the concept greatly with him being a strong fighter, a parallel to Black, and the whole brother story works with their struggle. Then in terms of an ending, Black has pure beauty and sadness with its ending. The concept of loss is strong with Black and it never lost that vision.

So I pretty much started this little series with my top three favorite Kamen Rider shows. To be honest I do not know what will be for next time because I legitly just did this at random. I just typed all of this up in less than an hour. I just got bored and couldn't get anymore sleep, a bit funny if you ask me.

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.

Kamen Rider Double Episode 4 Review: Bet It All On Black

Sorry if it has been a month since a post, I've been working on Smash Bros Post lately for Herotaku and Smash Bros really came at a good time, since things got complicated so quickly! Well, I am back from my little writer’s block and it's time to count up more sins! For a little update I have been watching Drive as well and I really hope it's stays strong as it feels like a spiritual successor of Double. Anyways today's case continues with Phillip and Shotaro facing the Money Dopant, Kaga in a duel, but not in the usual fashion, but with roulette and cards!

The first thing I want to mention is the appearance of Million Colosseo in this episode. In the previous one everyone was talking about how the casino is heaven. The place even looked bright and majestic whenever someone was talking about the place. The place ends up being dimly light with the staff wearing these creepy face masks on. To top it off there is literally a monster running the casino so this place seems more like hell than heaven. Again it's just a nice touch of the set designs and how things like that can tell the audience about what is happening and what should be expressed.

Reminding me of the casino we got to see more of the man behind the crimes, Kaga and he is as slimy as we thought. This guy loves to gamble and he even loves to see people crumble when they loose everything. The girl the heroes had to follow became a victim of Kaga and before he takes her life he goes through her whole story of why she came here. Last time when Kaga took a victim's life he had this dark humorous side to it. This time he was clearly rubbing salt into the wounds when he was taking the girl's life. Kaga even challenged both Phillip and Shotaro as he shows his true abilities. He is a gambling genius as he can read people easily and make then do what he wants. The guy even gives off that same performance as he even gives off a laugh in the episode and again I laughed, but it made me feel so wrong at the same time. It's even nice to have a villain like Kaga, he's not a fighter, but still a major threat to the heroes.

Going on with the comedy aspects in this episode there were simple pieces of how Shotaro acted when he bashed into the casino. He was ready to fight, but Phillip just passes by and he is completely ignored. There was even the fact that Akiko smacks the villain in the back of the hand and he was even transformed, this girl doesn't have much fear! There was even Kaga's performance as well like in the last episode. We even had the appearance of Santa-san! This guy dresses up like a casual Santa as he gives presents no matter what month it is. He is such a minor character, but I just love this guy as he's so excited to be delivering presents as he sends out strange sounds and hand motions. This guy just does this too much that it ends up making you laugh. Again I mentioned this in the previous review as physical performances can do more than wit and smarts.

Along with the comedy we got a bit more insight with the Sonozaki family and it's time for the big wedding! This isn't your usual wedding though and again I just love that set design! This time the lights are gleaming through while everyone is silent with the priest, it feels like a usual wedding. The odd thing is that we know what these people are, Dopants. Even when the kiss does happen both Saeko and Kirihiko transform into their Dopant forms. Also this was the first reveal of Nasca, not in a fight, but in a wedding. The show even teases this two times before the initial reveal and in this episode Kirihiko gets a punch from Clay Doll. First of all can we talk about the great moves Kirihiko pulls off while dodging Wakana's attacks. It's so silly to look at and Kirihiko just keeps his grin the whole time, he only broke that grin when he thought he had to take a hit from Terror! So we had a unusual way of revealing one of the villains of the series and we even find out that the cat in the family is a Dopant, how awesome is that?!

So with the heroes they had to face Kaga in a duel of gambling as Phillip thought he could win. Phillip saw that he can tell where the ball would land in the roulette wheel and it lead him to think he could face Kaga. Again I loved this sense of challenge as Kaga really shows off why he was a threat. It wasn't in a fight, but simple playing some games and betting on it. One is used to the tense of building up a fight and yet this episode builds it up with roulette and a card game, the hype is real! Phillip puts the Gaia Memories on the line while Kaga puts people's lives on the table. It starts out one sided, but Kaga read Phillip perfectly and makes a comeback to destroy Phillip completely. He even makes Shotaro break major sweat in their game of old maid. Kaga's card technique was excellent as he made people do what he wanted pretty much like what he did to Phillip. Kaga was simply a genius with gambling as this was threat in a much different fashion and even though there was little action, the real intensity was with the gambling.

Phillip in this episode was acting like his usual self as he was confident in himself, but he was ending up hiding his true emotions. Phillip shut downed whenever he had to think about his family since it's the one thing he doesn't know about and it's the most important thing to know about. Shotaro easily notices this thanks to him seeing his vision from before. Phillip doesn't know anything about his past and not knowing that can be stressful. In the end though, he found how to deal with that stress by having a replacement family at the very least with Shotaro and Akiko. Also a thing to notice seeing how cracked Phillip was that even Akiko had to whack him on the head to clear his thoughts.

Shotaro had to find a way to help his partner and he tries to calm the poor boy down. He ends up using the lines that his mentor taught him from before from how nobody is perfect which will easily come back in the series. Phillip just sees him as being annoying as Shotaro trying to be a brother to Phillip just made him madder. Shotaro found a way to have his partner help him out with his duel as the two easily bonded back together just like in episode two. The two even share a moment of glory when they hear that they have become an urban legend of Fuuto, Kamen Rider Double!

The only action piece was at the end of the episode and it was little and one sided as one would expect. This was set when Shotaro and Phillip won the duel against Kaga. Kaga doesn't have his life coins anymore to back him up so he just runs for it! I love that the big villain just books it! He doesn't even want to fight, he knows he would lose so he said "Screw it!" Double does catch up by using his bike to ram him and then caught him by using Luna, Metal, and Heat memories. We got to see Heat Branding again, this time on the ground though. I love the big flames coming from the Metal Shaft and then Double just dashing towards the foe and striking them down! It's pretty exciting to watch even if it was short...

Kamen Rider Double still hasn't failed me and I will admit it right now, it never has. Again I love each episode and this one is still so great. The set pieces were just perfect for this episode, the comedy was being delivered well again, Nasca's first reveal was awesome since it was done in a different style, and we got to see the most exciting gambling ever! Sure the action was low, but the build up for Nasca was great and again seeing a villain being a threat by not even fighting is fun in its own way. The episode gets another solid A.

Next Time: Trigger and Shrimp?

Kamen Rider Double Episode 3 Review: Money Money Money!

For this episode of Kamen Rider Double, urban legends are floating around as a popular one is a hidden casino. To anyone's surprise then, the case has to deal with this casino, Million Colosseo.

The case with the mysterious casino is probably one of the simplest cases in the series. There isn't much a mystery since we even find out who the culprit is in this episode. The mystery is more on finding the location so that the heroes can put an end to this insane gambling. Now the best part about Double is that it knows when to balance things out. By that I mean if one thing is low there will be something to replace that. Usually this is done with more plot development or if it's more of a filler episode, it will have something strong with simple presentation. Now Double has shown it's comedic themes before, but since episode three's case isn't all that much compared to the previous case the comedy really comes out strong here.

What I love about Double's comedy is the physical side of it. Now I will say I'm a fan of smart writing with witty dialogue. There can also be a strong sense of direction for telling an actor how they should be portraying their character. Double has wit to it, but what really delivers the comedy are the performances themselves. There are many images of Shotaro's faces around the internet along with many other characters. In this episode mostly anyone had a funny face, Jii, Akiko, Makura,Watcherman, the culprit, and especially Shotaro. There is also more than simply working with their faces as well like how Shotaro shoves both Jii and Makura to talk to Wakana. When he gets to that point he acts all flirtatious and having this bold appearance. After that he starts to skip out of the building with glee since he got Wakana's autograph. Again Renn is easily the best actor in the show as there will be many more excellent performances to come from him later on.

Along with the comedy the series starts to establish more of the side characters. Watcherman gets more of a scene as we find out he's a blogger. I know that isn't much for character development, but since he always loves to take pictures of cute girls for his blog really does show what kind of character he is. Along with that his looks are quite unique... not saying he is ugly, it's just not the most usual look you will ever see. Also we get more clarification on the two police officers as one is nicknamed Namakura because he is dull and that is pretty true. This side character does get angry a whole bunch of times, but compared to many other side characters he is quite dull. So again that is just some clever comedic writing right there. Jii was around as well as he talks to Shotaro with calmness like usual. Again I just love these personalities as it makes the most minor characters have some enjoyment to the show which every character should be doing or be embracing some sort of emotion of story progression.

This case's character is Yuuko as she is a victim of the casino. It seems she was a nice and gentle girl who worked alongside her family. A cool part of this episode is when Phillip talks about the family as their business makes a Fuuto only dish. Again these little things really made the city of Fuuto feel like its own, learning little details at a time to get a tight grab onto the viewers. Either way there is a complete transformation of character as we first see her as the nice girl working hard. Then after one day of being at the casino, she completely changes into a rich snob. She even smacks people in the face for not getting her the right jewelry, which again points to some nice physical work, it's much smaller, but again many shows can ignore the physical elements. Good job on the costume and makeup direction as well since Yuuko even looks completely different. Even if Yuuko smiles it's a completely different look and feel to her. Step by step the little details for many things can really build up on character and setting.

I mentioned before on how the Gaia Memories really grow along with the city and this episode shows that off as well. The villain is in head of the casino and of course his memory has to deal with greed. All I can say the Money Dopant is much better than most of the Yummies and Greeed from OOO. Before OOO completely destroyed this concept, the Money Dopant did a great job of being a unique monster in the franchise. First, it starts to show that not all of the memories will be combat orientated. Gaia Memories just contain special powers that can do things no normal human being can perform. Along with that, the man who is the Money Dopant, Kaga makes his victims really break down and change their personalities. We see one of his victims becoming homeless pretty much as he needs to pay off his debt and sadly he didn't make it in time. Money can take the soul of another and use it for his own personal currency. I even love that he gets a big belly from getting souls which easily represents that gluttony and greed work alongside each other.

Even if the Money Dopant is not a fighter he can still be a threat and that is thanks to the man himself. Kaga also has a funny appearance to himself and yet he can still make people afraid of him. He's this short little man with goofy hair and facial hair, those eyebrows are something else. He even has a sadistic yet fun way of showing people that they lost. When Kaga went to get a full payment from his victim he treats the situation like he lost a sport or something. Literally Kaga even smacks him on the face like three times in a funny manner. I guess his appearance can have a creepy vibe to it as well cause when this guy smiles, it makes me laugh and yet disturbed at the same time. I'm just saying this, Money is one of my favorite Dopants and this is only episode three! It may not be for fighting as he literally skips when he is getting away from the heroes. He is so confident in himself since he holds peoples' lives in his gut, again very literal.

As for Shotaro and Phillip in this episode we do get an interesting pivot point for them already. With Phillip he starts to question about his family and where they are. He even starts to have an interest in an actual human being and has this affection towards Wakana for some reason. With Phillip, he starts to overreact with the idea of his family as he blanks out at the worst of times. It even gets so bad that Phillip blacks out in the middle of battle. Shotaro ends up seeing Phillip's thoughts about his family and even before that he starts to worry about Phillip. So these two are showing compassion for each other compared to last time with Shotaro punching Phillip. Sadly this is only the beginning of this arc so there isn't too much to dive into at this point.

For the action, it was quite low and even when the fighting was going on it ended up being more comedic. This is because Money Dopant is not a fighter as he ends up fleeing or resorting to cheap tactics. Double actually had to hold the Dopant down on the ground and it ends up becoming a little slap fight at that moment. There was even some action on top of a bus and I can't really recall the last time Kamen Rider had fights on top of a vehicle like that. Money though only gets on hit on Double before he gets Phillip to black out. The fight was heavily one sided and that was the point, we also got to see more of Metal along with Cyclone this time as it's great for deflecting projectiles it seems. I also the love how the effects worked in this episode as they are small changes to what is happening. The flying coins, Money uses go quite fast and the tint of gold really establishes that quickly. When Double goes into Cyclone Metal there are simple wind motions around Double and his weapon. Then the rest of the fight focused more on how Double uses the weapon and not resorting to too many effects. Again even if the action was lower it ends up being good thanks to good direction.

Episode three is simple, but there is nothing wrong with that. The episode contains a whole lot of fun and in the end it is still well made. The comedy was at a strong point and there was an overall great presentation. Even then there were some nice little developments with Kirhiko and the Sonzaki's, but I will save that for the next episode review. I give this episode an A since I will agree it's not perfect because some of the effects could have been done better, like the CGI animation for the motorcycle.

Next Time: Santa and Clay Doll

Kamen Rider Double Episode 2 Review: Half Boiled

Sorry for the little delay on Double, I'm really trying hard to work in a daily schedule for my episode reviews, but it's been hard with recent events. Not saying I am having a tough time or anything, I'm actually really happy it's just being happy does take up a ton of time. Either way let us continue with Kamen Rider Double as another Dopant has appeared and it takes the prime suspect for some reason.

While the first episode of Double was clearly bringing exposition in a great fashion, it now knows what to do next for the follow up episode. Now Double does follow the two episode formula, but the series really works with this well thanks to the cases. Each case doesn't feel too long as it's a great amount of focus leaving room for likable minor characters and knowing where to live the important details. Episode two shows that in many ways because while Shotaro is putting this case to an end, we are also shown who the villains are and expecting someone new into their family. The episode then doesn't give too much exposition and just starts filling in the gaps of information that episode one didn't explain yet. Meanwhile during this, Akiko is much silenter in this episode as she is getting things and as I said before she is clearly showing the audiences' thoughts so around this time the people watching should be catching on as well. There are even some subtle details this episode puts in and you can see them if you really remember the first episode or the overall series itself as I will easily mention those in the review. Overall the second episode is a perfect follow up thanks to how it keeps on going without stopping at any point.

Phillip gets a bit more screen time in this episode and things start to get interesting with his character. First, we now learn how Phillip's powers of accessing information and how he helps Shotaro with the cases. Along with that he starts to spout out more of his opinion in this episode. Phillip is straight to the point just like his information. It's a funny thing since he is a man who just reads and learns as he doesn't really have a code of conduct as of yet. The series does start to build on his humanity much more later on, but as of now Phillip can be insensitive. Now this doesn't mean he is just being a jerk to be a jerk he has his reasons. Shotaro wants to save Marina because she is a close friend of his and right there is not the hard boiled style Shotaro wants to live by. Phillip says she should be finished off since she has been consumed by the Gaia Memory. Phillip then brings up how Shotaro is actually half boiled and doesn't have it in him to be hard boiled. This really starts to bring up the most important character arc in the series as Shotaro needs to find out who he is.

Shotaro has said this many times before and the saying itself have been said multiple times in the series already and that is hard boiled. This is Shotaro's greatest struggle since he wants to be like his boss who sadly passed away, but he cannot let his true self go at the same time. If you watch Kamen Rider Skull's back story which I highly recommend you can see what hard boiled is. Shotaro is simply not that type of man since he wants to save people even if they are criminals. When Shotaro learns that his friend, Marina is the Dopant who killed the previous suspect and has been working with him before he went out of control. Shotaro is told that she herself has gotten out of control, but Shotaro still hopes that she is herself. Now Shotaro ends up delivering justice to the woman as he plans on arresting her and he does keep his serious performance. A thing to note here then is that Shotaro is mostly wearing all white which is something his boss had on when he was killed. He does start to crack up though when he had to confront Marina when she was pretending to care about the fallen man and again when Marina started to act out of character. I just love how the actor performs during these moments as he is Shotaro, there are rider actors that are great, but only a few can really be the character themselves, Renn Kiriyama is one of those actors though as I will easily bring this up on multiple occasions.

The series will also be bringing up on how Shotaro and Phillip work together. Now we can easily tell that they are used to their line of work, but their partnership still has to improve. We see the two fight for the first time and it wasn't a pleasant one. Shotaro ends up giving Phillip a punch to the face and Phillip couldn't predict that whatsoever since that was out of character for Shotaro. Now the overall Double lore does have a follow up on this as it's brought up more than once. Let’s just say Shotaro's boss had some bad moments as well. In the end though, Phillip comes to save Shotaro as the two quickly work together again and become the two in one detective.

While the case was straight to the point with no mystery, the series decides to put more focus on the Dopants themselves and the people selling the Gaia Memories. First of all I love how they show what happens to people who use Gaia Memories. Before Marina went crazy we are told that people end up losing their sanity after using the memories and yet we never clearly seen that. The Magma Dopant just seemed like a normal MOTW while the next one was clearly insane. Marina was the T-Rex Dopant and she soon started to build up a craving for human flesh when she became the Dopant. She literally says that she will eat Shotaro! It's a great way of showing us how Dopants act as the people who start becoming them end up becoming the exact thing they represent. Also for a simple T-Rex monster the series got creative with it by letting it grow a full dinosaur body, now they had to use CGI and this was 2009 so it wasn't the best, but still I give points for the creative touch. The series easily has some more clever Dopants though and it's one of the many reasons why they are my favorite type of monsters in the franchise.

So who is exactly letting these memories get into the public's hands? Well it's the rich family with fancy looking business men of course! We have seen the Sonozaki's before in episode one with their fancy dinner. We did get to see that one of them is a Dopant as well, but something is special about them. We then see more of these special Dopants and start to learn that they use a belt of their own. The character Kirihiko is also shown for the first time and we see more than his character, fan girls calm down! The Sonozakis give out these Gaia Memories for a price of course, but we don't really know their plans as of yet, pretty much it just seems like they are making money at this point. Still having the Gaia Memories being passed out like drugs is unique and again makes it easily blend in with the world of Double. It's quite funny that Marina was hiding her memory in her purse, just an odd thing to have with your other daily supplies. Then the initiation scene was quite interesting as Kirhiko gets a special belt and a Gaia Memory of his own, easily establishing a big villain for the series.

Onto the action of this episode as it pretty much saved until the end, but there was a cool scene with Shotaro. In the previous episode we have seen him use some cool little gadgets and we got to see two more of them. These devices work with memories as well, but you can tell right off the bat they are not Gaia Memories. His camera uses the Bat Memory and transforms into a camera, pretty simple and Stag is used for his phone as it transforms into a stag beetle. I do like these cool little gadgets as they do get their time to shine as well in the bigger action scenes later on. Going on then, most of the fight used CGI which isn't a bad thing and the series does use it better than how some other series both before and after. It does get bad at points like when Double himself because a CGI module, but the soundtrack and the quickness of the fight still makes it decent none the less. We also got to see the power of both Heat and Metal Memories as it's a powerhouse! They are used quickly and we can already tell that it's the power form for Double. This is thanks to how Heat Joker was used as Double uses his fist more and with the Metal having a new weapon and straight up bashing through the enemy really establishes that. Double has the best gimmick that rider series has been using lately as Double easily started that trend, sadly none did it as well as Double.

Episode two is a great follow up episode as it establishes more of what makes this series great. Phillip and Shotaro start developing and playing off of each other. Akiko's role is easily more established in this episode. While the case was simple and Shotaro knew who it was early in the episode there was the inside look at the Sonozaki's to really give the episode some more meat. The action could have been better, but I still give credit for the creative touch for the T-Rex Dopant. The episode gets a solid A has again it's one of the best beginnings to an absolutely amazing series.

Next Time: Money and Metal!

Kamen Rider Double Episode 1 Review: Count Up Your Sins!

For those who don't know what I love the most in the Kamen Rider franchise, I guess I need to make it more obvious then. Double is not only my favorite rider and Toku series, but just one of my favorite things in general. Since we are reaching the 5th year anniversary soon I want to celebrate that by going through a whole episode review series of Kamen Rider Double. So get your best fedora and Double Driver on as we start counting up some sins!

Right off the bat the series starts out interesting. The show opens in the night at a weird and evil looking building as two guys are trying to save someone it seems. Things go sour fast as the oldest man is shot down by some thugs as we see one of the boys cry out "Boss!" A female monster then appears and even a helicopter appears trying to stop the two boys from escaping. Finally, it leads to the two using the powers in the briefcase and becoming a mysterious figure that can blow winds so strong it causes a helicopter to lose control. This is absolutely one of the best scenes in Kamen Rider Double, it starts out big and there is so much we want to know from this as well. Who are the characters being presented, why are they fighting, and what exactly are the powers being used? All of these questions really hinder on in the first couple of episodes and I think it’s thanks to how it was presented really wants the audience to find out. I mean someone already got killed and this is only the beginning of the series folks.

Continuing on the series then does show us what is going on progressively. With this rich looking family we already get to know that they are behind everything that is happening as of now and we see the female monster who appeared in the beginning scene. These are the things to get someone's attention as showing big details and yet not forcing information down someone's throat really gets them to think before the reveals come into play. It's even interesting how we learn that the monsters of the series are just humans using similar powers to the heroes. The Gaia Memories are a great gimmick toy since it really becomes a part of the show itself, something that the gimmick toys need to learn now these days. I will say a show like Gaim is closer to how Double did it, but still Double exceeds greatly with the Gaia Memories since again it has fixed itself in the show's society.

Another thing great about the first episode is that the series is showing how things have been set in place for a good amount of time. Many scenes play out like these things have happened before as Shotaro is just doing his usual business and interacting with his allies is very interesting. In the first episode we got the two police officers as one hates Shotaro's guts and the other knows that he will be useful in the case. Shotaro also deals with certain cases as well and Jii knows when things are a bit out of the usual reality. Continuing on with the idea the rich family also talk like things are just continuing on as usual since their business is doing rather well. Again this is how you do a first episode, don't shove exposition down the audiences' throat and make scenes feel natural that way things can be learned from thinking and being active with a show is a great thing.

Now onto the characters themselves as the first episode does great on showing who they are. Shotaro is seen as a boy trying to be a detective and at many points in the first episode we do see how effective he is. Shotaro knows somethings and does take his job seriously. There are just some moments when that slips at times as he loses his attitude or just his calm composure really easily. This is already establishing one of the biggest running jokes in the series, how Shotaro tries to act hard boiled all the time. It's funny in the first scene as Shotaro is explaining what hard boiled is and then he just gets ignored in the end. This then continues with him trying to solve the case as he talks to himself in a stern attitude while Akiko just sees this as goofing off. The series does know when to give Shotaro credit though as even if he does have someone helping him on the case he does have to find the specific clues by himself. Even Shotaro's actor knows how to present this well as he has a great performance. The actor tones down his voice when Shotaro is trying to act hard boiled and when things get silly that breaks as his voice gets a higher pitch and his whole body starts moving a whole lot more. Let’s just say that Shotaro will continue with more comedy gold later in the series.

Akiko in the first couple of episodes is clearly showing how the audience would be thinking of the situation. Words like Dopants and Gaia Memory are being passed around as she knows nothing about it. She's intrigued and wants to know about them. So far she is being told the basics of the series as she learns about the Gaia Memories and how they transform humans into Dopants. Then going back to the idea of comedy she ends up breaking Shotaro's act the most. These two playoff each other well together as Akiko is cruel and yet can be so happy about it. She has the power to shut down Shotaro's business and she is holding that very close. Akiko still does get confused about somethings like when she meets Phillip and sees him going on a hunt for information on takoyaki. This is just another great way of opening more things up for the series just in a more comedic way as it casually delivers knowledge like that at times.

Phillip is so far a character we barely know about. All we know that he was boy who was saved from the first scene and that now he works for Shotaro. We also learn about his ability to dive into this library that holds all of the Earth's information. When we see Phillip for the first time he has a blank book, who reads a blank book? Again Akiko's reaction to it would be similar to someone watching the series for the first time as she is confused by the boy who constantly looks up information on a blank book. Then just how Phillip acts is bizarre enough as he stays inside the whole time and just keeps looking up more information. We will get into more with Phillip later, but his beginning clearly shows he is an interesting character.

My favorite part about the series is the mood it can deliver thanks to the settings and music. Again that beginning scene has the perfect lighting and music to deliver a suspenseful beginning. Things continue on in the agency has it's a bit foggy and dusty in the area with barely any light in it. Even all the props around the area are interesting; in some ways it felt like jumping into a completely different area separated from everything else. One thing is for sure though that many of the settings and music choices build on the film noir style as this was usually done with detective shows. I can still say to this day even without my personal bias for loving the theme, the soundtrack is absolutely one of the best in the franchise. I will easily get into more depth with those tunes later on in this episode review posts.

The first action scene with Double really shows what kind of style it will be and that is short and sweet. This easily reminds me of a quick shoot out between officers and the criminals at times as the main focus is easily the case and the characters. I still love the first transformation as the winds blow all around making the fans and propellers in the city go faster as Double's scarf is flowing along with that wind. The first fight then shows how Double's gimmick works as he can switch powers around and that the two are connected when they transform. One is the body as the other connects with his soul; it's a really cool concept as the two in one rider idea is unique for the franchise. Sure there have been fusion styles done before in the media, but Double has a fresh take on it thanks to the Gaia Memories. The stunt work is really good as Double's fighting style is keeping the same stance while delivering kicks the whole time. We already see how things can change up though thanks to the Luna Memory being shown. Now the kicks still remain, but with Luna's powers of stretching like Luffy or Mr. Fantastic has Double moving around more and not keeping his stance compared to Cyclone Joker being used. The series really does well with indicating which power does what through the stunt work as I will easily be talking more about that later on into the series. Double's finisher is then a really strange and yet awesome one. The Cyclone Joker finisher, Joker Extreme has the two split up for a quick moment as they deliver two kicks to the foe. Double puts many things into their quick action scenes which is why they leave a sweet taste in the end as it's like a sample you constantly want to try again.

Double's first episode is really amazing and I can tell you guys that this won't be the last time I will be saying amazing about this show. This is my favorite rider series for a reason as I love each episode for many reasons. The first episode shows off the many concepts the show will have and giving us information slowly and yet keeping our attention as well. The characters got nice introductions as well as we already get a sense of who they are even if two of them just had one scene. This episode gets an A+ as it's a brilliant start to one of the best rider series.

Next Time: More new characters, both good and bad.