2009 - Kamen Rider W (Series) - Ultimate Riders Review

Kamen Rider W, also called Kamen Rider Double) is a 2009-2010 Japanese tokusatsu drama, the eleventh series in the Heisei period run of the Kamen Rider Series.

It premiered following the finale of Kamen Rider Decade on September 6, 2009, and aired alongside Samurai Sentai Shinkenger in TV Asahi's Super Hero Time programming block. Following Shinkenger's finale, it aired alongside Tensou Sentai Goseiger, until W concluded on August 29, 2010. he series is described as the "Heisei Kamen Rider 10th Anniversary Project: Fall Campaign" Heisei Kamen Raid. In the first episode of Kamen Rider Fourze, W is revealed to be canon to the original Showa timeline, making it the first series to do so since Kamen Rider Agito. The catchphrases for the series are "We are the two-in-one Kamen Rider", and "This clinches it!".

Newcomer Masaki Suda portrays the mysterious Philip. Drama actor Renn Kiriyama, who made his acting debut as Bunta Marui in Musical Prince of Tennis: Absolute King Rikkai feat. Rokkaku ~ First Service, joins the cast as Shotaro Hidari. Hikaru Yamamoto, who made her acting debut in as Chiharu Nobue, portrays the female lead Akiko Narumi. Comedian and actor Takeshi Nadagi portrays Mikio Jinno and veteran actor Minori Terada, known for his leading role in The Human Bullet, portrays Ryubee Sonozaki.

Publication Information

Title : Kamen Rider W
Japanese : 仮面ライダーＷ
Created by : Shotaro Ishinomori
Written by :
- Riku Sanjo
- Naruhisa Arakawa
- Keiichi Hasegawa
- Kazuki Nakashima
Directed by :
- Ryuta Tasaki
- Satoshi Morota
- Naosuke Kurosawa
- Takayuki Shibasaki
- Hidenori Ishida
- Koichi Sakamoto
Narrated by : Fumihiko Tachiki
Theme music composer : Shuhei Naruse
Country of origin : Japan
Original language(s) : Japanese
No. of episodes : 49
Producer(s) :
- Kengo Motoi
- Hideaki Tsukada
- Kazuhiro Takahashi
Running time : 24-25 minutes (per episode)
Production company(s) : Toei Company
Distributor : Toei Company
Original channel : TV Asahi
Picture format : 1080i (HDTV)
Original run : September 6, 2009 – August 29, 2010
Preceded by : Kamen Rider Decade
Followed by : Kamen Rider OOO

Story

Many people live in peace and harmony in the fictional city of Futo, the "Windy City"), an ecologically-minded and wind-powered city. However, the Sonozaki Family sell mysterious devices resembling USB flash drives called Gaia Memories to criminals and other interested parties, who use them to become monsters called Dopants, committing crimes with the police force powerless to stop them. To make matters worse, the Gaia Memories carry a dangerous toxin that cause their users to go insane to the point where they could die from using the devices unrestrained.

After the death of his boss, the self-proclaimed hardboiled (actually half-boiled) detective Shotaro Hidari works with the mysterious Philip, who possesses the true Gaia Memory, to investigate crimes which involve Dopants. Using their own Gaia Memories, Shotaro and Philip use the Double Driver belts to transform and combine into Kamen Rider Double to fight the Dopant menace and keep Futo safe. While joined in their fight by investigator Ryu Terui, who transforms into Kamen Rider Accel, the mystery of Philip's past, his relation to the Sonozaki Family, and their Museum organization are revealed.

Episodes

The W Search/Two Detectives in One
The W Search/Those Who Make the City Grieve
Don't Touch the M/How to Get to Heaven
Don't Touch the M/Play With a Joker
The Girl... A/Papa Is a Kamen Rider
The Girl... A/The Price of Lying
Find the C/Philip Can't Stand It
Find the C/Dancing Hero
The S Terror/The Maid Detective Witnessed It!
The S Terror/The Great Detective's Daughter
The Revenge V/Infected Car
The Revenge V/Grudge Beast"
The Q on the Radio/Targeted Princess
The Q on the Radio/Live Catastrophe
The F Afterglow/Burglary Rider
The F Afterglow/Reclaim Your Partner
Farewell N/Memory Kids
Farewell N/The Friend with the Wind
The I Doesn't Stop/That Guy's Name Is Accel
The I Doesn't Stop/Kamen Rider Style
The T Returns/A Melody Not Intended for Women
The T Returns/The Man Who Can't Die
L on the Lips/Singer-SongRider
L on the Lips/The Liar Is You
The P's Game/The Doll Has Sticky Fingers
The P's Game/Akiko on the Run
The D Was Watching/The Transparent Magical Lady
The D Was Watching/Twin Maximum Suicide
The Nightmarish H/The Melancholy of the Sleeping Princess
The Nightmarish H/Who is the Prince?
The B Carried on the Wind/The Beast Must Be Pursued
The B Carried on the Wind/Now, in the Radiance
Y's Tragedy/The Woman Looking For Yesterday
Y's Tragedy/Brother and Sister
Beyond the R/The Rain Called Monster Approaches
Beyond the R/Surpass Them All
Visitor X/The Bridge of Promises
Visitor X/In the Name of the Museum
The Likelihood of the G/Bad Cinema Paradise
The Likelihood of the G/You Are Unforgivable
The J Labyrinth/The Psychotic Villainess
The J Labyrinth/The Diamond Is Hurt
The O Chain/The Aged Detective
The O Chain/Shroud's Confession
Who the K Needs/The Devil's Tail
Who the K Needs/The Last Supper
The Abandoned U/A Request From Philip
The Abandoned U/Eternal Partners
Goodbye to the E/A Bouquet of Justice to This City

Movies

Mini-dramas

As part of the special features on the DVD releases, a series of short films are included called "Shotaro Hidari Hardboiled Delusion Diary" in which Shotaro daydreams about what life would be like if he, Akiko, or Ryu acted differently. These feature a Dopant from the DVD volume in a completely different role than it had in the series proper. These are then followed by members of the cast discussing their favorite parts of the episodes included on the DVD volume.

Planetarium film

At several planetaria throughout Japan, Toei had produced a film called "Kamen Rider: The Fearful Global Warming Plan" to teach children about global warming (with narration by Hirohiko Kakegawa). Shotaro Hidari (portrayed by Kiriyama) and Philip (portrayed by Suda) who transform into Kamen Rider Double, alongside Kamen Rider 1 (voiced by Tetsu Inada), Kamen Rider 2 (voiced by Takahiro Fujimoto), and the ten previous Heisei Riders, fight Shocker led by its President (Hidekatsu Shibata) and Gel-Shocker's Hiruchameleon (voiced by Yasuhiro Takato) who plan on destroying the Earth by having it succumb to global warming.

Televi-Kun DVDs

The Hyper Battle DVD for W is titled Kamen Rider W Hyper Battle DVD: Donburi's/Farewell Beloved Recipe. It features a cooking contest between Ryu Terui, Akiko Narumi, and Shotaro Hidari, in order to best figure out what the contents of the evil Donburi Dopant are, to eventually discover that he is the Oyakodon Dopant. The Hyper Battle DVD features guest stars Hiroshi as the OmuriFu Shop's Master Izo Aida, Reina Fujie of AKB48 as his daughter Eriko Aida, and Shinichiro Ohta of Iron Chef fame as the voice of the Frog Pod who comments throughout the cooking contest (also served as the narrator in GoGo Sentai Boukenger).

Kamen Rider W Returns : Kamen Rider Eternal

Kamen Rider W Returns is a set of two V-Cinema releases that focus on side stories of Ryu Terui as Kamen Rider Accel and Katsumi Daido as Kamen Rider Eternal. Both releases are named after their primary character.

S.I.C Hero Saga : Playback commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Kamen Rider Series

For W & S.I.C Hero Saga side story Kamen Rider W : Playback commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Kamen Rider Series with Shotaro Hidari and Philip leading Shotaro Ishinomori through the events following his creation of the television series in 1971. The first episode was published in Hobby Japan, July 2011. Each episode is named after a different story written by Raymond Chandler.

Cast

Shotaro Hidari / Kamen Rider Joker : Renn Kiriyama
Philip / Kamen Rider Cyclone : Masaki Suda
Akiko Narumi : Hikaru Yamamoto
Ryu Terui / Kamen Rider Accel : Minehiro Kinomoto
Jun Kazu : Gong Teyu
Wakana Sonozaki : Rin Asuka
Shroud (Voice) : Naoko Kouda
Ryubee Sonozaki : Minori Terada
Saeko Sonozaki : Ami Namai
Kirihiko Sudo : Yuki Kimisawa
Smilodon Dopant / Mick (Voice) : Yasuhiro Takato
Yukie Sudo : Kaoru Hirata
Mikio Jinno : Takeshi Nadagi
Shinkuro Isaka : Tomoyuki Dan
Narration, Gaia Memory Voice : Fumihiko Tachiki
Shun Makura : Shingo Nakagawa
Watcherman : Nasubi
Santa-chan : Zennosuke Fukkin
Queen : Tomomi Itano
Elizabeth : Tomomi Kasai

Guest stars

Marina Tsumura : Meibi Yamanouchi
Shotaro Hidari (young), Akira Aoyama : Issei Kakazu
Taizo Kaga : Tatsuya Gashuin
Chizuru Hoshino : Reina Fujii
Dango Inamoto : Win Morisaki
Ikari : Jin Katagiri
Teacher : Hiroshi Watari
Mai Asakawa : Eri Otoguro
Kurosu : KOJI
Young Girl : Hikari Kajiwara
Motoko Saeki : Shion Nakamaru
Kenji Kurata : Nishi
Makiko Katahira : Itsumi Osawa
Kiyoshi Katahira : Kento Shibuya
Aya Kujo : Ayumi Kinoshita
Ken Akutsu : Hiroo Otaka
Himuro : Hiroyuki Muraoka
Angry Instructor : Kenji Tominaga
Gaia Memory Distributors : Shinichi Kaneda, Eitoku, Aya Kamiki, TAKUYA, DJ Hurry Kenn (voice)
Lily Shirogane : Nao Nagasawa
Frank Shirogane : Fubito Yamano
Himeka Yukimura : Natsuko Asō
Sokichi Narumi : Koji Kikkawa
Yukie Sudo : Kaoru Hirata
Nagi Shimamoto : Miyuu Wagawa
Ai Nijimura : Erika Yazawa
Toru Kawai : Naoki Kawano
Kyoko Todoroki : Yuka Hirata
Neon Ulsland : Maria Theresa Gow

Songs

Opening theme

W-B-X ~W-Boiled Extreme
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition : Shuhei Naruse
- Arrangement : TAKUYA, Shuhei Naruse
- Artist : Aya Kamiki w TAKUYA

Ending themes

Cyclone Effect
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition : AYANO (of FULL AHEAD)
- Arrangement : Labor Day
- Artist : Labor Day
- Episodes : 3-6, 9, 21, 23, 24, 25, 45
Cyclone Effect
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition : AYANO (of FULL AHEAD)
- Arrangement : Labor Day
- Artist : Labor Day
- Episodes : 3-6, 9, 21, 23, 24, 25, 45
Naturally
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition & Arrangement : Shuhei Naruse
- Artist : Wakana Sonozaki (Rin Asuka)
- Episodes : 13, 14, 17
Leave all Behind
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition : Ryo (of defspiral)
- Arrangement : Wilma-Sidr
- Artist : Wilma-Sidr
- Episodes : 22, 44
Love Wars
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition & Arrangement : Shuhei Naruse
- Artist : Queen & Elizabeth (Tomomi Itano & Tomomi Kasai)
- Episodes : 23, 24
Nobody's Perfect
- Lyrics : Gor & Matsui
- Composition : Sokichi Narumi (Koji Kikkawa)
- Arrangement : Hiroaki Sugawara
- Artist : Sokichi Narumi (Koji Kikkawa)
- Episodes : 32, 38, 41, 42 & Movie War Core
Extreme Dream
- Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
- Composition : AYANO (of FULL AHEAD)
- Arrangement : Labor Day
- Artist : Labor Day
- Episodes : 46, 48
Cyclone Effect

Lyrics : Shoko Fujibayashi
Composition : AYANO (of FULL AHEAD)
Arrangement : Labor Day
Artist : Labor Day
Episodes : 48