Kamen Rider DCD #16 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS...for the penultimate world!]

…and we’re back on track, which I’m relieved about as it proves the rule thus far that series that I didn’t care for first time around return with elements that make them much more palatable this time.

I won’t pretend to understand Kabuto but I was impressed with Nirasawa Yasushi’s redesigns of DevilMan characters so it was nice to see them in action during the course of this episode, even if they did come across as being a bit plain – although I think this may be in part due to the fact that the majority of ‘kaijin‘ appeared to be of the lesser class…apparently.

One of the things that impresses me the most is that, despite the set up for the original series being incredibly close to Inoue’s work on Faizu, the approach here is suitably distinct. I still don’t really know what ZECT are doing and the Worms aren’t that different from the Ophenoch but the atmosphere is what makes this better than Faizu. Perhaps though, this arc accounts for why Faizu’s World was such a radical departure from its original series.

Whilst the whole corporation-Rider angle isn’t dwelt on too much for these reasons, what the episode *does* do is provide some awesomely unique fight sequences – again on the Faizu note, the idea of using Faizu’s Axel Form against the super-speedy secondary Riders was fantastic – and some great character moments. The real show stealer is 16 year old Mayu (played by Kanno Rio who appeared in the film Dark Water) who I think might be comparative with the younger sister of Mizushima Hiro’s character in Kabuto. Considering the fusion of characters in Agito’s World and, in regards to how this episode ends, I’m pretty much sold on the idea of this world’s version of TheBee somehow being comparative with the original Kabuto character.

Don’t quote me on this as I really don’t know how it would work but I do think this could be a possibility.

In other news, it’s nice to see Tsukasa using his Kuuga card again (as opposed to another appearance from Kiva) and it’s also nice to see him learning some lessons about fighting enemies that put him in his place without devaluing his role as the lead character. Likewise, the comedy value of DCD’s Den-o form character/armour cards and their utter uselessness is another nice moment. I also swear this is the only Heisei Rider series that makes the prospect of Rider vs. Rider battles seem actually interesting.

I, of course, am also very pleased to see the return of the RiotTroopers. The ZECT-Troopers are pretty cool but somehow they don’t seem as cool, although I couldn’t for the life of me explain why.

"Encore!"

But more than anything, I’m just relieved to see the pace of previous pre-Den-o arcs restored and for the series to generally be back on top form again.

It seems to be DCD’s role as a series to fix Inoue Toshiki’s mistakes…and it’s doing a very good job of it too!

Kamen Rider DCD #15 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS, again, for Chou Den-o...and a bit of DCD and speculation on one aspect of the August DCD movie]

Kiva is the first item on the agenda.  That’s what, three, four times outside of his arc now? Again, I have to wonder how much Kiva merchandise Bandai have left over from last year that they hope to shift. I was also surprised to find out that two characters from Kiva are turning up in the new Chou Den-o franchise – it’s really beginning to feel like Kamen Rider has become the testing ground for elements Toei hope to include in their spin-off franchise.

But enough of the complaints, let’s talk about this episode and let’s talk about what was good about it: for starters it was an improvement on the first part of the Den-o arc, secondly, I’m firmly of the opinion that the inclusion of Momotaros as an actual character improves anything. Even if part of the way in which he was used seemed somewhat random to me, I will fully admit that he was one of my favourite things about the original series and, quite possibly, one of my favourite things regarding the entire Heisei era. Kintaros comes a close second but as far as I’m concerned, Momo is the Imajin man.

People who aren’t the man are, obviously, girls and, speaking of which, it’s hard not to see that the actress who plays Kohana has grown a lot since I last saw her in the abysmal Climax Deka. She’s still not a patch on the original Hana but, considering she was a quick-fix for Shiratori Yuriko’s absence, I wonder what Toei will do when they finally realise that their new girl is now a teenager and unable to play the same Kohana they originally foisted upon the series.

The other girls who primarily do nothing during this story are sadly, Natsumi and Naomi. The latter I didn’t expect much storyline for but I was hoping that the former might get a bit more, especially considering the whole End of the World sequence in the last episode. Perhaps, however, this was asking too much as the second part of Rider World arcs are always crammed with the majority of the action so there was never really much room for her here.

I won’t pretend to understand the whole DenLiner Form card vs. Momotaros Form card in this episode, but I am pleased to see Yuusuke as Kuuga once more and even more pleased to see Kuuga and Momo as a team – even if the Final Attack Ride card for this episode was a bit weird even by DCD’s standards.

"Don't cross the streams!"

Undeniably though, my favourite aspect of the episode was Diend’s use of the RiotTroopers from Faizu. Mass-produced armour characters are one of my favourite aspects of this kind of show (quick, spot the Gundam fan!) and so it was great to them here – plus, their inclusion amongst Diend’s deck and the appearance of RiderMan in the trailer for All Riders vs. Daishocker (or whatever it’s called), gives me faith that maybe, just maybe, we might get to see an AU version of Tackle in that film.

"I Predict a Riot."

To wrap up, despite being an improvement on the previous episode, I still felt there was a lot lacking in #15. This wasn’t helped by the ‘two-ending’ phenomenon – i.e., having to have an ending for the arc and then having to bolt on a continuation point for the rest of the Onigashima Battleship movie and the necessary DCD cameos in that. I could have done without that.

I am however, believing that things will be back on track next week. I couldn’t stomach the Stronger!lite stylings of the Hibiki killing team of Inoue Toshiki and Yonemura Shoji scripted Kabuto and avoided watching even the opening episode for so long due to feelings of resentment towards Toei. In the opening episode of that series, I found little to convince me to follow the show – I’m hoping that Aikawa Sho (the writer, not *the* actor) will be able to bring the source material alive for me.

If anything though, I’m just pleased to be back in the realms of a storyline without tie-in considerations.

Kamen Rider DCD #14 Review (SPOILERS)

[SPOILERS...for the new Den-o movie...and nothing much else...alas...]

Before talking about this week’s instalment of DCD, I feel obliged to at least mention Mei-chan no Shitsuji and its massive cast of former tokusatsu actors, not least of all being…

"Yankee Pose #39949597357939794"

…Sato Takeru (Nogami Ryotaro/Kamen Rider Den-o) himself.

More on this later.

As for DCD #14, well to put it mildly, it was something of a disappointment. Things started out well, with the welcome return of Momotaros and the amusement of the whole Momotaros/Tsukasa fusion, but this quickly became tiresome as the episode progressed into various different combinations of Den-o Imajin x DCD cast members.

Somewhere around 8 minutes in, it kind of dawned on me that what this episode was going to be was not so much a story in itself but a recap of the various different Imajin we could expect to see in the recently released Onigashima Battleship movie, which features a DCD segment set chronologically between this episode and #15.

Even cosplay!Natsumi, the brief return of Akiyama Rina and a section taking place in the setting of the predicted ‘Rider War’ couldn’t quite stop this from being one of the least impressive episodes of the series to date. There were no actual characters to speak of – just the visual cues of the Imajin – nor was there any kind of discernible storyline, it was just…24 minutes of omake. I was half wondering why the time-travelling ‘villain’ and his sentai-villain-reject henchmen looked slightly like an evil version of Zeronos but not enough for me to care *too* much.

All in all, something of a disappointment for one of the most popular Heisei series. Hopefully the next world will have more substance.