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Kamen Rider 45th Anniversary File: Double

2010:

Protecting the Earth is an Angel’s Duty! Tensou Sentai Goseiger debuts as the 34th Super Sentai season.

HeartCatch Pretty Cure aka THE BEST CURE SERIES EVER as deemed by some of Pretty Cure’s fans debuts and joins Goseiger and Double on Sundays. The season is slightly more mature with the subject of grief over the death of loved ones as one of its story arc themes and has great action in it. It also has a connection to Sailor Moon in the fact that Cure Moonlight is voiced by Sailor Mercury!

After years of silence with nothing new on TV or film whatsoever, Garo returns in Garo: Red Requiem, a full-length feature 3D film which introduces the awesome Makai Priestess Rekka and the lovable Makai Priest Shiguto as the allies of Kouga.

After the successful crossover with Decade in the cinemas last year, Kamen Rider Fans get even more Den-O with the Cho Den-O Trilogy.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger vs. Go-onger: GinmakuBang!! debuts in Japanese theaters and marks the only appearance of Hyper Go-On Red.

Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial, the sequel to the Ultra Galaxy movie, debuts in theaters.

Space Battleship Yamato gets a live action adaptation on the silver screen.

Tokusatsu actor Shunsuke Ikeda, best known as Ichiro/Kikaider 01, died from complications of his long battle with diabetes. He was 69 and fans in Hawaii and around the world mourned his passing.

During the All Kamen Rider vs. Dai Shocker film, the evil Shadow Moon was laying the smack down on Kuuga Rising Ultimate and Decade, when the rev of a motorcycle stopped the super villain in his tracks and a mysterious figure on a bike broke the two parties up by stopping in the middle of the brawl.

On opposing sides of the field, the Riders saw a Green Rider...

while Shadow Moon saw a Black Rider (No, not that one)

But then the mystery Rider spoke up after a disagreement about his color from the two sides: “I’m both actually. My name is...Kamen Rider... Double. *turns towards Shadow Moon* “Now...Count up your Sins!”

This strange hero spoke with two voices and could easily beat up Shadow Moon using USB thumb drives that contained his powers. However, things got weirder when the hero got into an argument with... himself as one half of him said he wanted to go home as the rest of the Kamen Riders could finish off the weakened Shadow Moon. The other wanted to stay and “get to the good part” (possibly his Rider Kick or weapon finisher), but reluctantly agreed and then drove off....much to the bewilderment of his seniors who witnessed his fight.

This was the start of a brand new tradition, where the old Rider would get a bit of help from his successor and pass the torch.

Planning

Toei needed to change the schedule up to stay on budget, so they made a bold move as Kamen Rider’s premiere would be moved into the Fall of the year and air throughout the majority of the following year. This also put the series in a unique position as it would run alongside 2 Sentai seasons before switching up for the next show. The merchandise sales of the single Rider Series in tandem with the 2 Sentai seasons would in theory give enough cash revenue to balance the books.

Another change is the fixture of Support Robots, while Hibiki is considered the alpha prototype of the concept, this season cemented its place in the Kamen Rider series (With Gaim being the only series thus far to opt out.)

Then the belt itself began to change, while Ryuki switched the belts away from the format of being attached to the bodies of the Riders, Double improved the belt’s combat ability even further. No longer was a Rider constrained to a single form or weapon via a singular input system, but now could diversify their abilities in various ways by using multiple input modules and transformation devices.

Sure, this was done to make Kamen Rider even more toyetic to boost profits and cover rising production costs, but writers and staff when on their A-game made it feel like a natural evolution of the franchise and not a forced toy commercial.

When it came time to plan W....I should explain that real quick. The show and titular Rider are different in terms of label in a manner similar to Faiz. The English word “Double” sounds like the Japanese pronunciation of the letter “W”. But since the show romanizes the hero to Kamen Rider Double on toys and on the title card, the Rider is referred to as Double and the show is W because of the Japanese text of the show’s title showing the english letter W.

Anyways, when it came time to plan W, the “Fall 10th Anniversary Project”, the staff was debating on ideas and one argument they had was that Double should be all red. Toei thought since Red was a heroic color it would test well with focus groups. PLEX disagreed with the Toei staff and saw inspiration from the Showa era, wanting a Rider who harkened back to the original Double Riders with a green and black body color.

(Double, as drawn by Ishinomori assistant and concept designer Masato Hayase)

In fact, the designers wanted a lot of Showa elements back in the franchise, something the producers and writing staff were adamant about or outright felt was a bad idea. One of them was Yasuko Kobayashi, when the design staff proposed the return of a beloved aspect of a Rider costume that had been missing for over 25 years for the main heroes: the classic scarf. She at first saw it as unsightly for a modern audience and too “Showa-y”. But she eventually caved into the pleas of putting it on under the condition that she chose the color: silver instead of the proposed white color.

Another proposed idea when the writers decided on a neo-noir detective theme was that the hero would wear a Sam Spade/Columbo style trench coat over the suit. But the staff nixed this as they realized it would make Seiji Takaiwa’s job more difficult as he would be wearing a heavy coat over a costume.

(*in a Peter Falk voice* “The last time I trusted a dame was in Tokyo in 1971, she said she was going out to get a bottle of sake. Two hours later, the agents of Shocker marched into Japan!”)

The love letter to the Showa Era didn’t stop at a scarf and a color scheme. Double has allusions of influence from Kikaider 01, Kamen Rider X, Black, Chojin Barom 1 and The Skull Man. The main Gaia Memory that Philip carries is called Cyclone, a reference to wind energized Riders from days of old and the original motorcycle Ichigo rode. There is even Bat and Spider monster villains during the early days of the incidents of the story and Bat and Spider gadgets the heroes use in the grand tradition of that mythology gag.

The next phase was marketing and whoo boy, did this series get the royal treatment. In addition to the new Movie Wars series and a summer film, the series had its own clothing line, several radio shows on a fictitious radio station with some connecting to the show and continued the promotion of Ganbaride with Double getting his own sets of cards. This was also the start of the Legend Rider series of toys, as Bandai made Gaia Memory toys based on each Rider.

Avex got multiple bands and artists together to create exclusive new “bands” for the show with most named after a Hurricane event such as Labor Day or Galveston 19. The music entertainment label even pulled some strings to get 2 members of the hit idol group AKB48 to be recurring supporting cast as Queen and Elizabeth. It truly was a love war..

Futo itself feels like a real city, with locations, businesses and people that you get to know. The world building was so well done that future Rider entries still touch it up every now and then. (Ex. In Drive, we learn Futo is just outside Tokyo and later see Futo Tower in the distance at an amusement park when Drive is fighting a monster!)

Now, let’s meet Futo’s resident local Superhero!

CYCLONE! JOKER!

Real Names: “Phillip” (Raito Sonozaki) and Shotaro Hidari

In 1999, a criminal element unlike any that ever had been seen before in Futo began emerging; distributing a drug-like device that enhances humans into superpowered monstrous beings known as Dopants. The only force that could stop the source of the city’s tears was someone Shotaro would later simply would refer to as “The Boss”, Sokichi Narumi, a private detective who was a real man’s man and moonlighted as a Kamen Rider with the help of his childhood friend. Despite his best efforts, the crime of the city continued.

Later, while on a case to bust the bad guys on Christmas Eve 2008, Shotaro and Sokichi snuck into a warehouse distributing the drug-like Gaia Memories. Unfortunately, the bad guys found out they were sneaking around and a fight broke out. Due to his youth and stubbornness, Shotaro disobeyed an order to stay put from his boss and found a young eccentric man who had no memories that they dubbed “Phillip” after the famous private eye Phillip Marlowe from the Raymond Chandler novels. While trying to escape, The Boss got shot up pretty bad in a hail of gunfire. With his last breath, Sokichi told his protege to finish the case and become a man worthy of wearing his hat, giving him his prized fedora as he dies from blood loss.

Surrounded by guards, an armed helicopter and a monster later known as the Taboo Dopant, the eccentric Phillip asks his new friend a question and opens the briefcase they were carrying: Do you have the courage to ride with a Devil?

The two use a belt in the briefcase with Gaia Memories and as the guards and helicopter fire their guns....a new figure emerges from the blaze unharmed and destroys the entire floor with a gust of powerful wind (helped by the helicopter crashing into the building).

Jump ahead to late 2009 and Akiko Narumi has come to collect on her father’s detective agency as its new landlord (unaware her father has died). She gets ready to evict Shotaro until a case comes up and she finds all the weird stuff they do, like a hidden garage with a massive vehicle and Phillip scribbling on boards any data they can find on cases. But then Akiko finds out her evictee is a superhero and at first wants to evict the both of them right away, but then decides after being saved it would be better to help people and continue the Narumi Detective Agency. The trio continue investigating cases and stopping Dopants, while under the vengeful eye of the Sonozaki crime family and learning much later there is an even bigger enemy in the shadows pulling the strings.

But as their exploits grow, the citizens of Futo christen their masked savior as “Kamen Rider” and Philiip and Shotaro work hard to deserve that honor, fighting crime to wipe away the city’s tears and making villains count up their sins!

Gear:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Double_Driver

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Gaia_Memories

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Memory_Gadgets

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/HardBoilder

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Rotation-Interchange_Base_RevolGarry

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Metal_Shaft

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Trigger_Magnum

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Transforming_Gaia_Dinosaur_Fang_Memory

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Transforming_Gaia_Bird_Xtreme_Memory

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Prism_Bicker

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Lost_Driver - Used in emergencies only or when one of the halves of Double isn’t available.

Powers and skills:

Phillip has a genius level intellect on par with a supercomputer and thanks to his connection to the Earth’s True Gaia Memory essentially has a mystical kind of Google search he can call upon. This allows him to accurately find people, places and objects if specific keywords are given that produce the results he is looking for.

Shotaro is a skilled brawler and a competent detective as he was trained by Sokichi. He is able to see small details the police sometimes overlook.

Both of them as Double are pretty diverse.

Cyclone: levitation or slowed descent via wind manipulation, wind energy blasts, capable of creating tornadoes and elemental augmentation of weapons

Joker: Enhanced strength, superior fighting skills and reflexes.

Luna: Mr. Fantastic like-Elasticity on the left side of the body, illusion generation and homing projectiles or giving the Metal Shaft rubbery lasso/whip-like capabilities.

Heat: Pyrokinesis, explosive generation and elemental augmentation of weapons.

Metal: Higher defense and strength and elemental augmentation of weapons. Summons Metal Shaft weapon

Trigger: Expert Marksmanship, enhanced firepower which can be strengthened further by elemental Gaia Memories. Summons Trigger Magnum Weapon

Fang: Feral instincts, Bladed weapon/projectile

Xtreme: Laser blasts, Twin Maximum Drive capability, instant analyzing ability to discover weak points, shield generation, swordsmanship. Capable of evolving to a higher state using wind power to give Double wings and stronger attack power.

Weaknesses:

When Phillip enters Shotaro’s body via memory transfer or vice versa in the case of the Fang memory, their bodies are at risk of being taken or destroyed, which could result in one of them..one of them....dying. *Cyclone Effect starts playing and the typer fights the urge to start crying*. If one or both of them has a status effect inflicted by a monster, that will carry over to Double in some cases unless Xtreme form is activated. Even then, there is a chance they will still be affected. Phillip has a one track mind as once he finds something that fascinates him he won’t stop until he knows everything about it, usually this could take hours or days for him to finish depending on the subject. (I like to think we on the internet have all had moments like that)

The key to Double is keeping the two users in sync with each other, if they cannot agree on something that causes them to fight intensely or in one instance where a villain used Phillip’s amnesia against him, the sync destabilizes and Double either de-transforms or gets weaker.

Speedy opponents can swipe away all of Double’s Gaia Memories save for the ones in his belt, thus putting the two-in-one hero at a major disadvantage.

Lastly, the Memories themselves have risk. A “Twin Maximum”, a move where Double uses more than one Gaia Memory in his base forms, is very dangerous as the suit will overload with energy and the Double Driver will act erratic. The energy surge will cause possible harm to both users, but Shotaro gets the worst of it as it causes physical damage to his body and could kill him. Its only perk is a more powerful attack but it is too foolish to attempt such a life threatening tactic unless it is a last resort. Twin Maximums can only be pulled off by teamwork with Accel or using Xtreme form.

The Fang Memory causes Philip to go berserk if Shotaro does not reign in his partner, as it regresses Philip to a savage mindset if he does not impose his will into it. As explained in expanded universe material, there is a FangMetal and FangTrigger form but the Joker Memory’s compatibility combined with Shotaro’s will make it the best candidate for Fang. The use of the other memories would result in Shotaro losing control and Phillip going completely wild. The use of this memory also tires out Shotaro as he needs to use all his willpower to keep Phillip’s mind stable from its side effects.

The last one is that Gaia Memories are capable of breaking, so it is possible that the duo could lose their powers on a more permanent basis.

Signature Finishers:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Maximum_Drive

Enemies:

Dopants

(A Masquerade Dopant, an example of Dopants and the common grunts of the Museum)

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Dopants

Dopants are superhuman beings created when an ordinary human injects a Gaia Memory directly into their bodies. Each Gaia Memory is based on an object, concept, person or animal. (Ex. Dr. Shinigami, Apple, Time and Triceratops)

Due to the drug-like effects of the Memories being directly inserted into the body of the user, some people who use Gaia memories have mental or physical health deterioration and become unstable and even more violent. There are also side effects in some cases if the memory is destroyed, such as the Yesterday Dopant having a mind wipe occur from the powers leaving her. Some side effects are more fatal if the user has “O.D.” on the Memory as their body will break down and dissolve. Basically, this show in its own subtle way is sayin’: Don’t do drugs kids, it’ll mess ya up and you could die.

Double uses his Driver to filter out the bad stuff of a Gaia Memory to use its power safely with no ill side effects (for the most part). But so does...

The Museum and The Sonozaki Family

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Museum

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Sonozaki_Family

The Museum is an organization run by the aristocratic Sonozaki Family whose goal is to evolve humans and save life on earth in an event called the Gaia Impact. The Sonozakis have Memory Drivers that filter out the negative side effects...not that it changes who they are on the inside as they are wicked in some regards. (Though they redeem themselves in some ways) The head of this prestigious crime organization is Ryubee Sonozaki. Despite being an old man, you do not want to underestimate him as the Terror Dopant...

Also this is the first time in Rider History we have had a pet as a monster lieutenant: A cat.

(*Dr Claw Voice* Ryubee: I’ll get you next time Kamen Rider...next time. Mick: MRRREEEEEOWW!)

And lastly we have...

NEVER and Foundation X

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Category%3ANEVER

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Foundation_X

NEVERS or Necro-Overs are, to put in the simplest terms, sentient pseudo-zombies who retain the knowledge, skills and faculties of their former living selves and are designed to be a breed of super soldiers. Despite interest and development by Foundation X to use them, they were soon abandoned after Gaia Memories were developed. One of them was a Kamen Rider who proved troublesome for Double and nearly killed him, though he was once a good person who slowly went mad from his undead nature.

Foundation X makes their presence known in this season and after the failure of the Sonozakis and their own ranks to stop Double and prove the value of Gaia Memories, the organization got word of another power source even greater than that of Gaia Memories to research...

Though Double/Joker gets to have fun (Maximum) driving them outta their town every so often when they try to reclaim their former territory to set up sinister research projects.

Final thoughts

Kamen Rider W is a beloved entry of the franchise and many newcomers get it recommended to them when asking where to start. The mindset is it is much like a western superhero show with a bit of Scooby Doo/noir mixed in. There is a mystery to solve and a bad guy to catch, defeat and unmask. (Though some of the mysteries are a bit smarter than that cartoon by giving you a bait and switch on who the monster of the week is!)

Unlike most Rider shows, the bad guys for the most part get their powers taken away after the beatdown and they are handed off to the police or get help instead of killed outright (though there are exceptions). In fact, this is the first time since Agito we see a Rider cooperating with the cops and even helping them. (It also helps that Accel is a cop too.)

I on the other hand say you need to go to Decade first as that first Movie War depends on you watching that show to see that final story chapter and understand what is going on. But if you don’t want to watch the Movie War...you kinda have to given Kamen Rider Skull is part of it and the episodes plug the film blatantly at one point to tie into the story.

Other than that, you will have a Hard-Half Boiled good time watching a recent perennial fan favorite!

WBX~ CRIME IN THE CITY!~

#kamen rider #45th anniversary #kamen rider w #kamen rider double #maximum drive #gaia memory #hard boiled #detective #raymond chandler #fan favorite #neo noir #super hero