I Found Cool Stuff -- Chapter 15: Kamen Rider W
I'm waiting on the last episode of "Samurai Sentai Shinkenger", which aired last week and hasn't been subbed yet, before I write an article about that show, which has been my favorite sentai to date. In the meantime, I will regale you all with the story of a Hard Boiled Detective duo that transforms into a power-armored martial artist and gunfighter. Who rides a cool motorcycle.
See, that's the thing about a lot of Tokusatsu (translated as "Special Effects") shows from Japan. If you try to explain the premise, it just sounds goofy and weird, and to be fair, that's meant to be part of their charm. But it sometimes makes it hard for non-fans to take your interest in such things seriously. Even when, and especially when, you try to explain that it's actually much cooler and more mature than the premise makes it sound.
It doesn't help that these shows are usually meant to be kid's entertainment in Japan, although Japan's concept of a "kid" show is on average much darker and better written than a kid's show in America. "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" this ain't.
So, Kamen Rider W, with the W acting as a pun on the word "Double". Unlike the previous Rider show, "Decade", W doesn't really draw upon the continuity of past shows, and instead stands alone. There are two protagonists, Shotaro and Philip. Shotaro is an up-and-coming private detective whose ambition is to capture the essence of being a "hard boiled" detective, and he's not a bad detective when you get down to it. Philip is a mysterious young man who seems to have psychic access to limitless information -- sort of like the concept of an Akashic Record mixed with a Google Engine, so to speak. He's the research side of Shotaro's field work.
The setting, "Fuuto City" in Japan (a "windy city" pun), is plagued by mysterious crimes, committed by superhumans known as "Dopants", so called because they get their powers by doping themselves with mysterious high-tech designer drugs called "GaiaMemories". Shotaro and Philip have a set of such GaiaMemories themselves, but the harmful side effects are nullified by some special extra equipment they have. Each of them uses one Memory each, whereupon they fuse into one body which draws upon both power sources that they activated, which usually gives them an edge over their foes.
The third main character is Akiko, the 20 year old daughter of the Private Detective that trained Shotaro and freed Philip from his mysterious imprisonment, but died in the process. She owns the detective agency, and sometimes gets Shotaro in trouble with her eagerness to help. I'll be up front and note that the Akiko character was nearly Scrappy-Doo levels of annoying to start, but the writers (and the actress) have thankfully eased back the throttle on her and made her an enjoyable part of the ensemble.
The source of these GaiaMemories is (secretly) the fabulously wealthy Sonozaki family, who have a large network for distributing these drugs/powers to people, at least in part to see how people use them and how the powers affect them. The family consists of an elderly father, two daughters (one a calculating schemer, the other a spoiled princess), and... the father's cat. You'll have to see how that plays out, it's rather fun.
The show is very enjoyable, with a nice balance of drama, humor, and action. The visuals do take some cues from The Matrix (but only a little), and the writers have clearly read up on their Noir fiction. Fansubs can be torrented from tvnihon.com, as the show isn't licensed in the USA, and as of this writing, they're up to episode 20, only an episode or two behind what's aired so far in Japan.
Here's the opening credits:
On a totally unrelated note, Gretchen and I were able to buy ourselves a PS3 today, something we've been wanting to do for months. So far, we have Dragon Age and Little Big Planet, and our neighbor has also kindly lent us InFamous. In the near future, we also plan to get Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce, Super Street Fighter IV, and Final Fantasy XIII. Too many games? Ah, maybe, but we're having fun!
See, that's the thing about a lot of Tokusatsu (translated as "Special Effects") shows from Japan. If you try to explain the premise, it just sounds goofy and weird, and to be fair, that's meant to be part of their charm. But it sometimes makes it hard for non-fans to take your interest in such things seriously. Even when, and especially when, you try to explain that it's actually much cooler and more mature than the premise makes it sound.
It doesn't help that these shows are usually meant to be kid's entertainment in Japan, although Japan's concept of a "kid" show is on average much darker and better written than a kid's show in America. "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" this ain't.
So, Kamen Rider W, with the W acting as a pun on the word "Double". Unlike the previous Rider show, "Decade", W doesn't really draw upon the continuity of past shows, and instead stands alone. There are two protagonists, Shotaro and Philip. Shotaro is an up-and-coming private detective whose ambition is to capture the essence of being a "hard boiled" detective, and he's not a bad detective when you get down to it. Philip is a mysterious young man who seems to have psychic access to limitless information -- sort of like the concept of an Akashic Record mixed with a Google Engine, so to speak. He's the research side of Shotaro's field work.
The setting, "Fuuto City" in Japan (a "windy city" pun), is plagued by mysterious crimes, committed by superhumans known as "Dopants", so called because they get their powers by doping themselves with mysterious high-tech designer drugs called "GaiaMemories". Shotaro and Philip have a set of such GaiaMemories themselves, but the harmful side effects are nullified by some special extra equipment they have. Each of them uses one Memory each, whereupon they fuse into one body which draws upon both power sources that they activated, which usually gives them an edge over their foes.
The third main character is Akiko, the 20 year old daughter of the Private Detective that trained Shotaro and freed Philip from his mysterious imprisonment, but died in the process. She owns the detective agency, and sometimes gets Shotaro in trouble with her eagerness to help. I'll be up front and note that the Akiko character was nearly Scrappy-Doo levels of annoying to start, but the writers (and the actress) have thankfully eased back the throttle on her and made her an enjoyable part of the ensemble.
The source of these GaiaMemories is (secretly) the fabulously wealthy Sonozaki family, who have a large network for distributing these drugs/powers to people, at least in part to see how people use them and how the powers affect them. The family consists of an elderly father, two daughters (one a calculating schemer, the other a spoiled princess), and... the father's cat. You'll have to see how that plays out, it's rather fun.
The show is very enjoyable, with a nice balance of drama, humor, and action. The visuals do take some cues from The Matrix (but only a little), and the writers have clearly read up on their Noir fiction. Fansubs can be torrented from tvnihon.com, as the show isn't licensed in the USA, and as of this writing, they're up to episode 20, only an episode or two behind what's aired so far in Japan.
Here's the opening credits:
Click to viewOn a totally unrelated note, Gretchen and I were able to buy ourselves a PS3 today, something we've been wanting to do for months. So far, we have Dragon Age and Little Big Planet, and our neighbor has also kindly lent us InFamous. In the near future, we also plan to get Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce, Super Street Fighter IV, and Final Fantasy XIII. Too many games? Ah, maybe, but we're having fun!