Kamen Rider W Review

Kamen Rider W is the 11th Hesei Kamen Rider series and the 1st of the Neo-Hesei era.  W first appeared in the Decade summer movie, and is the first "Two-in-One" Kamen Rider (and maybe the only).  W has a mixture of humor and serious storytelling and also brings in some old school Showa era style.  W's detective noir style has obtained him critical acclaim, with W being one of the most popular Kamen Rider series to date.  

Spoilers after the picture.

The story REALLY begins with the W/Decade crossover movie with "Begins Night".  Shotaro is the young apprentice to Sokichi Narumi, owner of the Narumi Detective Agency, investigating a case that leads them to Gaia Tower.  As they travel through, they run into The Sonozaki family, a crime family that is selling Gaia Memories to the town's populace.  Sokichi transforms into Kamen Rider Skull and defeats the Sonozaki's mooks while Shotaro locates a young man with no memories and a mysterious belt, along with 6 purified Gaia Memories.  Sokichi names the man Philip before getting shot and killed by some mooks.  Shotaro and Philip use the belt to transform into Kamen Rider W (the form FangJoker, as revealed in the film) and fight their way through the mooks, destroying Gaia Tower.  The show itself takes place 1 year following the events of "Begins Night", and follows Shotaro and Philip as they battle the Sonozakis for the sake of protecting their beloved city Fuuto.   They are joined by Akiko (Sokichi's daughter), Ryu Terui (the mentally unstable Kamen Rider Accel), and a myriad of police officers who are too dumb to live.

W is made up of Shotaro (the left half) and Philip (the right half).

W's story is follows conventional detective story elements.  Despite this, the show starts off pretty slow, with most of the characters not being that interesting (and Akiko deserving a bullet in the head for breathing).  However, after about 10 episodes (the Sweets Dopant story arc), the show picks up, especially after the show's introduction of FangJoker (the Arms Dopant story arc).  Unfortunately, we get introduced to Ryu Terui (Kamen Rider Accel), a police chief who's family was killed by a Dopant with ice powers.  I have many issues with Ryu's introduction and I have many issues with how the police were handled in general.  But more on that later.  For now, let's just focus on Philip and Shotaro.  

Shotaro and Philip have a GREAT dynamic in the show.  They have a great brother dynamic that really develops over the show.  It's done so well, it's actually quite hard to even see the changes.  Shotaro's development from an immature detective with denial issues to a self realized detective who is comfortable with himself was really nice to see.  Philip goes from, basically, being a robot to being a very emotionally deep character who is just looking for a sense of purpose in life.  And seeing Philip's story unfold is really great and emotional.  Out of all the Rider series I've seen, these two have some of the strongest development of any main character of a Rider series (Though, Wataru still wins, since that was the entire story plot...I think...).  

Now, one of the issues with the show is the supporting cast.  Akiko is a horribly stupid person with an incredibly thick head.  Mother of god, she is the single most hated character in the show, and with good reason.  She's just so stupid.  And while she gets better, she doesn't get better till the late 30's of episodes.  And even then, it's not much.  The police force is comprised of EXTREMELY incompetent people who really suck at their jobs.  Ryu is the only police officer who is any good.  And even then, he starts out as an emotionally unstable psychopath with anger issues.  He has a list of peeves that makes it impossible to work with him right out of the box.  And, when the Ice Age Dopant arrives, he is willing to flat out murder the Dopanist on the basis of "Oh, they are holding the Gaia Memory!".  The person in question was NOT the Dopanist and Ryu was about to murder an innocent person, which he shows almost no remorse when he finds out that he almost killed an innocent.  While Ryu gets MUCH better by the end of the show, it was very hard to like him for a while.  And even by the end, he's a very...emotionally distant person.  Beating Weather really helps him out, though.  The various informants that help out Shotaro and Philip are great characters, though.  

Onto bad guys.  W has one solid group of villains though out it's show; The Sonozaki Family.  The Sonozaki is comprised of a pop idol (Wakana/Clay Doll), a slut bag gold digger crazy bitch (Saeko/Taboo), the family cat who is an assassin with super speed (Mick/Smilodon), a business man who married into the family (Kirihiko/Nazca), and the head of the house and museum curator (Ryubee/Terror).  Later in the show, we get introduced to Isaka Shinkuro/Weather, a psychotic doctor who performs dangerous experiments on people to make Gaia Memories stronger (at risk of the user's health).  There is another character named Shroud who is the benefactor of Ryu and gives him all his stuff.  We also learn later that the -series of expletives- Shroud, was the wife of Ryubee (who left after Ryubee disfigured her, I'm still not sure why) and she supplied Isaka with the Weather memory (thus indirectly causing the deaths of Ryu's family.  The irony).  While the group is great, I'm still not entirely sure what they wanted to do.  I know it involved the Gaia Impact which would "evolve humanity", but it was never made clear what that entails and is one of the short comings of the show.  

So...forms...I really enjoyed W's forms.  W is split in two, the left half is controlled by Shotaro while the right half is controlled  by Philip.  However, Shotaro is generally in control of W's body during fights, with Philip having control over the right arm (he can have control over the body if Shotaro lets him, though).  W's forms are dictated by 6 different Gaia Memories in combinations of 2 for each half (so a total of 9 basic forms).  His main 3, though, are CycloneJoker, HeatMetal, and LunaTrigger.  The other forms are called Half Changes, which he still uses pretty regularly.  They allow for a lot of creativity and fun during fights (which are very good, overall).  The midseason upgrade this time around is FangJoker, which is controlled by Philip instead of Shotaro.  Their final form is Xtreme (yes.  With an X), which has them both control the body in unison.  Ryu can transform into the red Kamen Rider Accel and gets the blue Trial form later on in the show (and a yellow Booster form in the post show movie staring Accel).  There is also the movie exclusive Kamen Rider Skull and Kamen Rider Eternal (both appear in different movies) who uses an item called the Lost Driver to transform without needing a second user.  Shotaro also gets access to a Lost Driver later on to become Kamen Rider Joker.  

Something that W did well was it's storytelling.  The Gaia Memories act like drugs (the using of them even resembles someone "doping up" and after being defeated their eyes are red and puffy like a drug user) and the Dopants generally are using the Gaia Memories to help them deal with their problems in a negative way.  The drug symbolism is pretty strong and the show does a good job dealing with some adult situations (while Fourze deals with teen problems.  I bring that up because they have the same writers).  The music is very well done, too, really helping with making the show feel like a detective noir series.  The insert songs are good overall, though Finger on the Trigger is pretty weird.  Like I said, the series gets very strong after the first 10 episode.

Though, an issue I had with the last 2-3 episodes.  You see, W is a 49 episode series.  However, the Sonozaki Family is defeated in episode 46.  Episodes 47 and 48 involve the cast fighting a new enemy called Foundation X (who will reappear in movies) and the Utopia Dopant.  While one of the most emotional events of the series is in these episodes, the episodes were completely unnecessary.  What's more, episode 49 features some Kamen Rider Joker action and wraps up the show,  but was also unnecessary in the end.  Though, it was nice to see the series end in the way it did.  And W will continue showing up in movies after that.

Otherwise, W is a great series and a wonderful starting point for anyone interested in getting into Kamen Rider.

9.5 out of 10

Kamen Rider Wizard Review

So, Kamen Rider Wizard, the 14th Hesei Kamen Rider series, has ended.  As such, it's time for a review.  Now, normally I add movies into this, but I'll just review the movie separately.  Also, I don't count these next 2 episodes are part of Wizard, so might as well do this now and get it over with instead of waiting 2 weeks.  Now, before I get started I'm going to lay my cards out on the table:  After a lot of thought and reflection, Wizard is officially my favorite Kamen Rider.  Does this mean I think it's the BEST Rider series?  Not by a long shot.  There are a lot of issues with the series.  But, the mineral motif pleases me to no end, and I love magic and (most importantly), it has REALLY helped me with my own depression (which was the show's core concept).  So, it's my favorite for personal reasons, and excuse that apparently diffuses arguments about the show.  Who know?  At any rate, spoilers after the picture.

Alright.  Kamen Rider Wizard.  The story kicks off with a dark ritual which brings 29 people (yes, I've counted) into despair, turning 28 of them into horrible monsters called Phantoms, and the sole survivor, Haruto Souma, into a Wizard.  Haruto became a Wizard because he was able to suppress his despair and seal his own Phantom, Dragon, inside of him.  After the ritual, a mysterious White Wizard approaches Haruto and gives him the WizarDriver, the Flame Ring, and Koyomi, a mysterious girl with no memories of who she is.  Haruto meets up with a magic ring maker named Wajima, who gives Haruto and Koyomi room and board out of regret of his magic rings being used in the ritual with puts them in their situation.  Haruto must give Koyomi mana using magic to keep her functioning.  Along they way, they meet Rinko Daimon (a detective), Shunpei Nara (a kidish guy who wants to learn magic), and Nitoh Kosuke (who is revealed to be Kamen Rider Beast, an ancient magician.  More on that later).  Together, the group saves people from despair and kills Phantoms, who want to hold another ritual (called The Sabbat) to make more of their kind, led by their leader named Wiseman.

So, the gang fights Phantoms, who hunt down people called Gates and attempts to drive them into despair.  Haruto, Nitoh, and the others fight the Phantoms and stop them from driving the Gates into despair.  Should the Gates fall into despair, Haruto and Nitoh use their "Engage Rings" to enter the Gate's "Underworld" (a mental underscape) and kill the Phantom trying to be born from them.  You see, Phantoms break out of the Gates (which, yes, it KILLS THEM) and are born that way.  It's some scary stuff, since Phantoms could, in theory, be walking among us, and we wouldn't know.  Your friend could be a Phantom.  Your roommate could be a Phantom.  Your parents could be Phantoms.  And they want to kill you.  And to put fuel on the nightmare fueled fire, our heroes also have Phantoms in them, which give them their powers.   

 Haruto and Nitoh use Magic Rings to activate their powers, both using different systems.  Haruto will flip the hand on his belt to use either form rings (which are on the left hand) or spell rings (which are on the right hand).  He places the ring over the belt, it announces the spell, and then the spell is casted.  If he uses a form ring, he will enter said form.  Nitoh, being an ancient magician, uses something called Colors, which give him various animal powers (falcon, dolphin, buffalo, chameleon).  The White Wizard (and the eventual Kamen Rider Mage) use the same system as Haruto.  Now, I said that bother Riders have Phantoms in them.  Haruto's Phantom, Dragon, is suppressed by Haruto's hope and is kept in line that way.  Nitoh's Phantom Chimera, on the other hand, came with the belt and needs to be feed mana from Phantoms in order to function.  Otherwise, he will eat Nitoh.  Both Rider also have familiars called PlaMonsters, which are little model kits that summon themselves and can work as recon for them.  They can also combine to form neat little combinations.  They are also very adorable.

Now, I'm gonna hit the good points first.  The suits look great, and the music is pretty top notch, too.  The insert songs are quite good, some of my favorites being from Kamen Rider Wizard (the songs are divided between Kamen Rider GIRLS and RIDER CHIPS.  I personally think all the GIRLS songs are good, but the RIDER CHIPS songs are hit and miss, but never too far off the mark).   Something that I think most people can agree to is that the fight choreograph is top notch as well.  Very flashy, which fits with the stylish magicians we follow.  Monster designs are very organic and unique, though there are enough reuses of suits to make some people disappointed.  The overall plot is pretty good as well, you just have to put it together, since it's a tad confusing (not Ryuki confusing, but confusing never the less).

 Now, the negatives.  The pacing of the show is...odd.  This is predominately due to the 2-part formula that Rider does and having to get through, oh, 10 forms for Wizard (on top of Nitoh getting introduced and him getting an additional form).  The first 9 episodes are very good, but quickly fall into "Haruto getting a new form!" until episode 31 (the show is 51 episodes).  After the final forms are acquired (Infinity for Haruto and Hyper for Nitoh) the show picks up to the standard "Fight monsters, save world" plot that Kamen Rider is known for.  The show starts using awkwardly placed humor, lots of gags, and the Riders don't have a lot of difficulty with their opponents.  A new villain named Gremlin appears, who starts to push the plot along, while the other characters run around, not doing much.  The characters are generally considered flat and there isn't much development for the cast outside of Haruto and Nitoh (Koyomi gets some due to her role in the story, but the rest of Team Wizard doesn't get much).  There are also side characters who aren't horribly relevant to the story as a whole.  Also, a personal peeve of mine, the ending of Episode 37.  The episodes focus on a man who is being accuse of a crime he didn't commit, but is so pathetic that being arrested would put him in despair.  However, his best friend, a myna bird, happens to be the Phantom, so killing it would send him in despair.  The Phantom is killed and the man falls into despair.  End of episode.  No Underworld fight, and it is never brought up ever again.  It still drives me insane.  Also, a revelation about the relationship between Wiseman and White Wizard was seen from a mile away and completely cliche.

On the whole, Wizard was a mediocre series with a slew of issues that prevent it from being a great series.  However, the series has a great message that is really good for those who suffer from depression.  Granted, magic won't help, nor will getting so low that you want to kill yourself give you superpowers.  But, it's the symbolism.  The fights are great, the music is good, and some of the banter is creative.  Designs are strong as well.  However, odd pacing, almost non-existent character growth, awkward humor, and episode 37 (IRKED!!!) prevent it from being a great series.  Now, it's no Takashi Inoue Rider series (post 555, though some would argue post Agito), which are insults to intelligence, but it's not the greatest.  While personal reasons help me see past the negatives, I know that some people don't have that, and I feel I hit the negatives pretty well.  If anything, give it a shot.  Don't like it, don't like it.  Like it, that's fine, too.  But at least give it a shot.  At least it's not Kabuto.