Kamen Rider W, Toku Recommendation of the Week!

Article at a glance:
Kamen Rider W is accessible for newcomers with no prior knowledge needed, making it an ideal starting point for exploring the genre.
Beyond the action, W offers a well-written detective story, full of interesting cases and engaging character dynamics.
Watching W deepens the understanding of Fuuto PI, especially with the development of its central characters, Shotaro and Philip.

Tokusatsu or Toku for short, is a Japanese genre of live-action TV with a heavy focus on practical VFX. Usually, this genre involved the main character(s) being able to switch into armor or something to become stronger and fight monsters. So this includes things like Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. While not strictly anime, this genre is anime-adjacent, often featuring common Shounen tropes. Kamen Rider W in particular is very closely related to anime as its direct sequel is an anime/manga series called Fuuto PI.

W also happens to be one of the best starting points for people new to the Kamen Rider series. Which is why I decided to go with it for our first-ever Toku recommendation article. So let’s talk about Kamen Rider W today!

Introduction

Kamen Rider W or Double originally aired on TV Asahi along with Samurai Sentai Shinkenger during 2009-2010. As I mentioned, Fuuto PI manga/anime is a direct sequel to W. You don’t need to watch W to enjoy Fuuto PI but I recommend it since most of Philip and Shotaro’s character arcs take place in W. And, of course, you need no prior knowledge of the Kamer Rider series at all to watch W. Just fire up the first episode and you’re good. W is 49 episodes long, which is a typical length for a Kamen Rider/Super Sentai show.

Fuuto PI came out much later in 2017 and its anime adaptation came out in 2022. W is also related to a few Kamen Rider movies as well but those are completely optional.

Plot

Similar to Fuuto PI, W is also set in the city of Fuuto. It is a mostly peaceful windy city but the peace is often disrupted by Dopants. The Sonozaki family sells out these flash-drive-like devices called Gaia Memories to criminals, which grants them powers but comes at the cost of their sanity. These Memory-empowered criminals are called Dopants and the police are unable to stop them. Shotaro is a private detective and he with the help of Philip takes on Memory-related cases and defeats Dopants using the the power of the Kamen Rider.

All the Kamen Rider stuff and action aside, this show is just a really good detective show too. The cases are interesting and well-written. It always manages to keep you guessing. Now, yes, it does get a bit cheesy here and there as is typical with Toku shows but I don’t think it is that different from most Shounen animes lol. You gotta embrace the silliness that comes with Toku as you did for anime. Seriously though, you can watch W for the plot alone, it is that well-written.

Characters

Of course, the plot isn’t the only good thing W has to offer. W and by extension Fuuto PI, has some amazing characters. I love the main duo of Philip and Shotaro. Shotaro acts like this hard-boiled detective and even dresses as such but he is a big softie, always pretending to act tough. Philip may seem like the calm logical one and while he is just that for the most part, he also gets obsessed with things that interest him quite easily. Philip and Shotaro’s dynamic and chemistry are just fantastic. They complement each other so well.

And then we have Narumi and Ryu. Narumi is kind of the guardian of Shotaro and Philip, she makes sure that the boys don’t go too far while scoring them when necessary. And Ryu is an actual badass. I love his vibe and how effortlessly cool he is. Amazing main cast overall. Too bad we don’t have Tokime in W but hey, that’s what Fuuto PI is for.

Summing up

Here’s why you should watch Kamen Rider W:

A perfect introduction to Toku/Kamen Rider
Enhances Fuuto PI further
Amazing main cast
Great plot even putting the Kamen Rider stuff aside

That is all for now. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. This is the first time I’ve covered a Toku show on the website and I’d like to do more of these in the future lol. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!

Also, check out Spice and Wolf Season 2 news here!