Rewatching Kamen Rider W: Episode Three

After the conclusion of W's opening arc, things at the Narumi Detective Agency appear to have settled down. Akiko has Shoutarou searching for and returning lost pets, something that he doesn't find to be particularly hardboiled.

Even the healing princess can be the victim of a bad screencap! Shou seems to treat Philip's interest in Wakana as a fairly new development here. He also seems to be a lot less interested in her here. I wonder if he just got caught up in Philip's enthusiasm or if he was able to keep up his hardboiled exterior until he got to see her in person.






Soon enough, our team has a case, which means Shou and Akiko go out investigating. I like to imagine that Shoutarou was hunting for most of those pets by himself, and it was only when he had a chance to do something hardboiled again that Akiko decided to tag along.




I love these two together.

The Philip family storyline isn't a bad one by any means, but man, is it handled cheesily. The green text on the screen is something I forgot about and was especially fun for me. I'm not complaining, as I enjoy all the story that comes out of it, just needed to comment of the goofiness of it all.

Money is interesting in that he's one of the few dopants of the week that doesn't get a real story. Yuuko and her family are the heart of this storyline, not him, which means he gets to be a more over the top villain.

I have to say, I think Money might be the worst looking dopant in the entire series, especially when he's rockin' the full belly look.




 That said, I really like watching him fight W, since he's so cartoon like.

There are some great lines in this scene too.

So much Nasca teasing! You'll be mine soon enough~




When all is said and done, Kirihiko and Wakana really don't have all that much screentime together, but I still really enjoy their relationship. He really is a fantastic salesman in these early episodes, and it's easy to see why Saeko thought he'd be a good partner for her. Seeing him here is really making me want some kind of Kirihiko backstory movie, like the one they're doing for Eternal in W Returns.




Shoutarou swooning over Wakana is good times, and this whole scene is fantastic.




Jinno is one of those characters who I think got elevated to a whole new level of awesome because of his limited screentime. He always leaves me wanting more. And Shoutarou skips! He skips!

Even when you know they're siblings, Philip's swooning is adorable. He was always pretty innocent about it, although the "how she shines" line is one of his more crush-like ones.




Seeing these two together is really reminding me why I shipped them in the first place. Don't worry, Terui, I know she's your lady.

And I can certainly appreciate their relationship on a sibling-like level with stuff like this.

I'm not sure the bus-top fight works as well as the previous one. W's suit actor does some great stuff here, but I don't think Money's look matches with this sort of action scene.

Be grateful you're not fighting OOO, buster.

COUNT THE MEDALS.

And, since Money said the magic word, we get our first good look at little Philip. I wish they'd kept the whole scene out of focus, since you don't get a clear look at any of the other family members. I guess it doesn't really matter in this episode, though.

And the episode closes on Akiko beginning her investigative work. Shou never really gives her enough credit for this stuff. True, she may not have thought this through, but she did a good job getting in.

Look forward to the rest of this arc (and some Santa-chan!) in the next recap.