Saturday Night Showcase: Kamen Rider W Episode 01

Welcome to part 2 or our Kamen Rider run as we get to my favorite of the new era shows. Although to be honest I have yet to see more than a few episodes of any of them, Kamen Rider W (also referred to by fans as “Kamen Rider Double“–there is actually a debate among fans as to which translation is correct, but you can guess mine THERE’S A BIG HONKING “W” IN THE LOGO! but TV-Asashi tends to prefer “Double”, which could be a case of “Engrish” in action) is the one I most really want to get into. I’ll explain why after we get to episode 1.

Note that when testing the post, both videos seemed to be starting up automatically. I hate that.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

This is one of the lightest-toned shows in recent years, and I like that. I may well get darker later on, but I had more fun watching these character than in the other shows I’ve previewed. First introduced at a live show and in the movie All Riders Vs. Dai-Shocker, a movie for previous Rider Decade, Kamen Rider W takes a different approach than the previous shows, with character either forced into the role of the Masked Rider or part of a government-sponsored Rider project. Instead, Shotoro is detective who specializes in cases involving the series “monster”, the Dopant. You can see how they handle the plot device, the “Gaia Memory”, almost injecting themselves with it while Shotoro uses an external device, the “Double Driver”.

If your curious about his partner, Phillip, when they use the Double Driver, Phillip’s mind appears to follow the Gaia Memory, and the two become one Rider. Why he leaves his body is possibly one of the mysteries of the show. Why does this family sell these devices that people use to turn into monsters? What is Phillip’s backstory? Why does that girl keep smacking people with a sandal?

Most of the story arcs appear to be in two-episode bits, so let’s see what happens in episode 2.

See, this is what an official release would get rid of, the TV station text and station identification and whatever. The series, and its current version, Kamen Rider OOO, are part of the “Superhero Time” programming block alongside its fellow tokasatsu counterpart, the latest Sentai series. (This show was teamed with the material that will be used for Power Rangers Samurai.)

This episode also shows one of the other parts I like about W, all the cool gadgets he/they get to play with. It’s the kid in me. The other shows weren’t bad, but each has a flavor I wasn’t drawn to. For example, Kamen Rider Faiz (which has its own alternate translation, Kamen Rider 555) has a bit of a horror theme. The time-traveling Kamen Rider Den-O may be a little too light for me. Kamen Rider W has the perfect balance of the shows I’ve seen. There’s also only one other Rider in this series, while the others in the Heisei era, the current generation of Kamen Rider shows, seem to be breaking out multiple Riders, perhaps too many.

The series is subtitled by a famous group, TV-Nihon. I do like how they add little touches, like the logos for the various forms during the transformation or positioning based on the character speaking. Few if any fansubtitlers bother translating the credits, which Nihon doesn’t, which is another positive for official releases. Episode 2 I used from a different group, Order of Zeronos. There only a few minor changes between the two, although I’m having trouble actually locating the episodes on Zeronos’ site.

Please give this series a look and throw in your support for an official release, possibly using one of these subers to reduce cost. They already did the hard work out of love. Media Blasters did release one movie, so they may be the ones to pressure.

So what’s my favorite movie-exclusive Rider, if any fans happen to wonder? Kamen Rider J. Sadly, I couldn’t find a streaming post that wasn’t chopped into YouTube-friendly bits, so check out a review by Apollo Z. Hack for now. Someday I may review it myself, but that’s it on the Kamen Rider front. Next week something different.

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