is a Japanese
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series written by
Riku Sanjo
is a Japanese manga writer and screenwriter. He works as a story writer for manga, anime and live-action film. Sanjo graduated from Meiji University.
'' Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai'' (1989–1996), which he created with illustrator ...
and illustrated by Masaki Sato. It is a manga sequel to the
tokusatsu
is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of practical special effects. ''Tokusatsu'' entertainment mainly refers to science fiction, War film, war, fantasy, or Horror film, horror media featuring such te ...
live-action drama ''
Kamen Rider W
, is a 2009-2010 Japanese tokusatsu drama, the eleventh series in the Heisei period run of the Kamen Rider Series and the twentieth overall. It premiered following the finale of ''Kamen Rider Decade'' on September 6, 2009, and aired alongside ''Sa ...
'', which originally aired in 2009 as part of
Toei Company
() (also styled TOEI) is a Japanese film, television production, and distribution and video game developer and publishing company. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan (all but two of them operated by i ...
's ''
Kamen Rider
The , also known as ''Masked Rider Series'' (until Decade), is a Japanese superhero media franchise consisting of tokusatsu television programs, films, manga, and anime, created by manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori. ''Kamen Rider'' media generall ...
'' franchise. It has been serialized in
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
's ''
Big Comic Spirits
is a weekly Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. The first issue was published on October 14, 1980. Food, sports, romance and business are recurring themes in the magazine, and the stories often question conventional va ...
'' since August 2017, with its chapters collected in thirteen ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes as of August 2022. An
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series adaptation by
Studio Kai
is a Japanese animation studio based in Suginami-ku. It was founded by ADK Emotions in June 2019.
History
Studio Kai was founded by ADK Emotions in June 2019. In July 2019, Gonzo transferred some of its anime production, intellectual property ...
,
Toei, and
Ishimori Entertainment aired from August to October 2022.
Plot
Taking place after ''
Kamen Rider W Returns: Kamen Rider Accel'', two years after the main TV series' finale, Fuuto PI sees the return of Shotaro Hidari, a private detective who works at Narumi Detective Agency, and his partner Raito "Philip" Sonozaki, the sole survivor of the Sonozaki family who can access the Gaia Library. Together they transform into Kamen Rider W, who protects the city of Fuuto from Dopants, monsters created by Gaia Memories. They solve cases alongside their boss Akiko Terui, who often joins their investigations with her husband Ryu (a member of the police force who is also Kamen Rider Accel).
One day, Shotaro encounters an amnesiac pink-haired girl named Tokime, who is being targeted by Dopants. After saving her, they decided to hire her at Narumi Detective Agency as their assistant. As Shotaro and Philip solve more cases, they gradually uncover Tokime's connection with the mysterious Aurora Dopant and her past life, along with the true potential of Gaia Memories' next stage used by Dopants in their human forms, dubbed High Dopes.
Characters
Main characters
;
:Kamen Rider Double (alternatively Kamen Rider W) is the titular duo of Shotaro Hidari and Philip who can fuse with each other and transform via. the Doubledriver and their own set of purified Gaia Memories. Their individual Drivers are linked, such that Philip's consciousness is transferred into Shotaro's body along with the former's Gaia Memory. As such, Double's ability to function is dependent on the condition of its components, as any physical or mental disruption could affect Double's mobility or cancel the transformation entirely. Although Shotaro serves as the primary host body for Double, exceptions to these when using a Fang Memory to which Philip serves as host, while CycloneJoker Xtreme fuses both their bodies and souls into one. If either Double’s halves are unavailable each of Double’s halves can use Lostdrivers to transform into Kamen Rider Joker and Cyclone respective.
:;
::
::The man of the streets, a non-standard "hard-boiled private eye" who emulates famous pulp fiction private eye characters, and possesses a sharp intuition that allows him to regularly deduce the culprit behind a crime before having Philip provide evidence to confirm his suspicions. Vowing to ensure that no one ever feels sad, Shotaro became a protégé of Fuuto's private investigator Sokichi Narumi after admiring his work as a child. Due to Shotaro being incapable of making cold-hearted decisions most of the time due to his kindhearted nature and refusal to conform to the stereotypes of characters from the Detective Noir tales he emulates, he is fraudulently considered "half-boiled" by his boss Akiko despite this frequently being disproven and his way to approaching cases proven time and again to be the correct ones. He controls Kamen Rider Double's left side, which he can change into three different fighting styles by changing Gaia Memories; Joker for hand-to-hand combat, Metal for melee weapon combat, and Trigger for long-range projectile combat. Shotaro can also become Kamen Rider Joker, whether Philip is unavailable to fuse with Shotaro as Kamen Rider Double.
:;
::
::Shotaro's partner in the Narumi Detective Office who used to have amnesia, has a tendency for obsessively focusing on a specific topic of interest, and uses his special abilities to access the Gaia Library to solve Dopant crimes. He was originally , the third child and only son of the Sonozaki family who died after falling into the Earth's consciousness, the True Gaia Memory, and revived as an ageless data human. His soul transfers to Shotaro's body when transformed as Kamen Rider Double, during which he controls the right side with three Gaia Memories that apply different elemental properties to Shotaro's combat forms: Cyclone for wind, Heat for fire, and Luna for reality bending. In addition to these forms, Philip can also use the Fang Memory which turns him into Kamen Rider Double's main body instead of Shotaro, and can now change to two other regular left half forms aside an offensive agile FangJoker, such as a defensive spiky FangMetal, and an auto-aimable archer FangTrigger. Philip used to transform into Kamen Rider Cyclone during ''The One Who Continues After Z'' novel event.
;
:
:A mysterious, pink-haired amnesiac girl and thief who possesses supernatural powers, believes herself to be a witch as such. Initially a suspect for a brutal killing spree before she is proven innocent and a target of the Street crime syndicate, she eventually comes to work for the Narumi Detective Office as an assistant. It is later revealed she was once a member of Street who possessed the Joker Dopant Memory.
;
:
:A superintendent of the Fuuto PD's Paranormal Crime Division and Akiko's husband. He also fights against Dopants by transforming into Kamen Rider Accel, which also gives him the ability to transform himself into a bike-like form. In addition to Accel's base form, he can change into the high-speed Trial form and the rocket-powered Booster form.
;
:
:The head of the Narumi Detective office and Shotaro's boss, despite having a young appearance and childish attitude due to having inherited the agency after the death of her father, Sokichi Narumi. In addition to being the de-facto boss, she serves as a personal assistant while on the job due to her own incompetence as a detective; contrasting against the competence at the job shown by Shotaro that was inherited from Sokichi. Akiko also serves as both mediator and annoying little sister toward Shotaro, Philip, and Tokime. She is also Ryu's wife.
Antagonists
;
:
:The leader of Street who was formerly the CEO of the human resource development corporation Chi Operations, one of Foundation X's parent organizations. With the Aurora Memory and a Gaia Driver Rex, Bando can transform into the Aurora Dopant. While transformed, he can fire a powerful energy beam from his hand.
;
:
:A member of Street who transforms into the Scream Dopant. When transformed, she can emit powerful screams.
;
:
:A member of Street who transforms into the Brachiosaurus Dopant. When transformed, he becomes a gigantic skeletal
brachiosaurus
''Brachiosaurus'' () is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic, about 154to 150million years ago. It was first described by American paleontologist Elmer S. Riggs in 1903 from fossils found in th ...
.
;
:
:A member of Streets who transforms into the Reactor Dopant. When transformed, he can wield the extreme heat of a nuclear reactor.
Media
Manga
''Fuuto PI'', written by
Riku Sanjo
is a Japanese manga writer and screenwriter. He works as a story writer for manga, anime and live-action film. Sanjo graduated from Meiji University.
'' Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai'' (1989–1996), which he created with illustrator ...
and illustrated by Masaki Sato, started in
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
's
''seinen'' manga magazine ''
Big Comic Spirits
is a weekly Japanese ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. The first issue was published on October 14, 1980. Food, sports, romance and business are recurring themes in the magazine, and the stories often question conventional va ...
'' on August 7, 2017. Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes. The first volume was released on March 30, 2018.
As of August 30, 2022, thirteen volumes have been released.
Volume list
Chapters not yet in ''tankōbon'' format
Anime
An
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series adaptation was announced on April 3, 2021. The series was animated by
Studio Kai
is a Japanese animation studio based in Suginami-ku. It was founded by ADK Emotions in June 2019.
History
Studio Kai was founded by ADK Emotions in June 2019. In July 2019, Gonzo transferred some of its anime production, intellectual property ...
. Yousuke Kabashima is directing the series, with Tatsuto Higuchi handling series' composition, Hidekazu Ebina designing the characters, and
Kōtarō Nakagawa
is a Japanese composer and arranger. He is noted for composing the soundtracks for several anime series, including the Gorō Taniguchi-directed productions '' s-CRY-ed'', ''Planetes'', ''Gun Sword'', and ''Code Geass''. He provided the music fo ...
and
Shuhei Naruse
is a Japanese musician, composer, and music arranger from Kyoto Prefecture. Naruse attended Ritsumeikan University. His major debut as a musician was in the rock band DEVELOP=FRAME where he played keyboards. He has since worked on the compositio ...
composing the series' music. The series debuted on the U-NEXT service on August 1, 2022, before premiering on
Tokyo MX
JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...
on August 8.
The opening theme song is "Private Eye" by Big Gadgets ft.
Aya Kamiki
is a Japanese singer, actress and model. Her music ranges from pop, rock to R&B. She resides in Osaka, and is signed with Tokyo-based AVEX recording label. She is the vocalist of the rock band Uroboros and the rock duo Sonic Lover Reckless with ...
w
TAKUYA
Takuya is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Takuya Asanuma (born 1971), Japanese guitarist and former member of Judy and Mary who performs as "TAKUYA"
*Takuya Eguchi, Japanese voice actor
*, Japanese long-dist ...
while the ending theme song is by
Mitsuru Matsuoka
Sophia (stylized as SOPHIA) is a Japanese rock band formed in 1994 by vocalist Mitsuru Matsuoka, guitarist Kazutaka Toyota, bassist Yoshio Kuroyanagi, drummer Yoshitomo Akamatsu and keyboardist Keiichi Miyako. Currently signed to Avex Trax sinc ...
and
Kōji Kikkawa
is a Japanese musician. His most recent album is 2016's ''Wild Lips''.
Kōji was born in Hiroshima and his music career began on February 1, 1984, with "Monica" (later remade in Cantonese sung by Leslie Cheung) and he won eight music awards ...
, who previously portrayed Kamen Riders Eternal and Skull. The series was initially licensed by
Funimation
Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...
but was moved to
Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...
following
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
's acquisition of the platform.
Muse Communication
Muse Communication Co., Ltd. (also known simply as Muse) is a Taiwanese distributor and licensor that specializes in the distribution of anime. Based in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, the company also distributes Asian and European films i ...
licensed the series in Southeast Asia.
Episode list
Reception
As of May 2018, the manga had 300,000 copies in circulation. As of December 2018, the manga had 1.05 million copies in circulation.
The series ranked #15 on ''
Kono Manga ga Sugoi!
is an annual reference mook series published by Takarajimasha since 2005 featuring yearly rankings and reviews of manga. The rankings are compiled by surveying people in the manga and publishing industry. The series is part of Takarajimasha's ...
'' 2019 ranking of Top 20 manga for male readers. The series ranked #8 on Honya Club's "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2018".
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
{{Studio Kai
2022 anime television series debuts
Anime series based on manga
Crunchyroll anime
Detective anime and manga
Kamen Rider
Muse Communication
Mystery anime and manga
Seinen manga
Shogakukan manga
Studio Kai
Supernatural anime and manga
Tokyo MX original programming