#nogamis? airi was in most if not all episodes

[stickers-on-a-laptop]

the show has remembered that kouta has a sister!

[mmikmmik2]

Okay I have four (4) whole Kamen Riders under my belt (not even going to try to complete the supplementary material, have just finished the original TV runs of all these)

Fourze's the best. Loved the heroes, loved the villains, thought the plot was super well-constructed, the themes were on point. Great writing, great acting, great props. My only criticisms would be little nitpicks, like I think Tomoko needed a second focus arc.

W was extremely strong, though not perfect. I would compliment it in all the same areas I praised in Fourze, but W had some issues (e.g. not quite sticking the landing in its final three episodes, sometimes being weird towards women) that are more serious than Fourze's minor flaws. Although, some of its approaches I liked a little more than Fourze, just from personal preference. The memory/beloved place motifs are more up my alley than Fourze's legacy/space motifs, I generally like adult protagonists more than teens, etc. So I would rank these two as pretty much equal to me personally. I'd be equally excited to rewatch either one.

Den-O and Ex-Aid are both hard to judge for different reasons.

Den-O was super fun and pretty and had likeable characters, and I really liked the plot for most of the show's runtime. But I couldn't get over how badly the plot fell apart in the last arc. I get the impression a lot of people don't care because they love the Ryotaro & the Taros dynamic so much, but my favorite part of the show was the Airi and Yuuto and Ryotaro family dynamic, and I really liked Hana too. The Taros are good, but I found the main human characters more interesting and, honestly, funnier. Nogami sibling weird shit was hysterical, I was losing it at the hostage situation episodes. So, even though there were some AMAZING dramatic payoffs for Airi and Yuuto towards the end (omg the scene with Airi where she's holding the candle), the final arc was a huge letdown about my favorite part of the show. It wasn't even so much about not making sense, it was about having no idea what the implications were for the characters. Who knew what when, and how do they feel about it? How will this change them going forward? No idea. This is too harsh, but it felt like a Moffat Doctor Who twist. I think probably part of it was having to write around the real world stuff with Hana's actress, but still. I feel frustrated looking back even though I was having a great time with most of the episodes I watched.

Ex-Aid had huge issues but I think I forgot about most of them because they were boring. Like a few months out, I remember the show had so many episodes that ended with screamingly frustrating "well MY level is higher so now I will swoop in at the end and pointlessly remind you I exist" scenes instead of resolving the episode's conflict or advancing the overarching plot, but I remember it like a fact I know and not like I experienced it. All my beefs with Ex-Aid are fading into the mist and the show to me is now a montage of the best Nico and Snipe scenes and Poppy having a tragic villain arc that was really good because of all the backstory I made up for her in my head and all the times Kuroto chewed the scenery in a good way and Kiriya's outfits. I genuinely have stronger positive feelings towards Ex-Aid than Den-O right now, though I suspect that will change as the immediate frustration of Den-O's ending fades.

[tokupedia]

Kamen Rider 45th Anniversary File: Den-O WAZA! Part 2

‎The Taros

The Taros are Imagin who defy their race and their leader to pursue their own whims or try to fulfill the contracts of others before meeting Ryotaro and joining with him. (In some cases quite literally). Their collective name is a reference to the fact that most of them have “Taro” in their name and the main four’s physical forms are based on the “Taro” folk stories of Japan which in turn were based on their contract holder’s subconscious thoughts/childhood memories about those stories.

Momotaros/Sword Form

Ride-Imagin Override! Yoroi Momotaros!*

(*Momotaros is voiced by Toshihiko Seki, who also go on to play Senketsu in Kill la Kill)

A red Oni-like Imagin, Momotaros is hot-blooded, prideful and always trying to act cool (though not always succeeding in that regard). But deep down under that gruff macho exterior is a (somewhat) nice guy who cares about his friends and as shown in one crossover, protecting kids.

His form is based on the myth of Momotaro the Peach Boy as Ryotaro looked up to the folk hero as a child, something that annoys the Imagin at first as he originally hated his form. Momotaros was the first Imagin Ryotaro encountered and after a series of events, decides to team up with the Singularity Point to fight Imagin as he doesn’t care about the Imagin’s “mission”. Momotaros gained a permanent physical form after completing his contract with his partner and can be Den-O on his own, even taking over the role. Sword Form is balanced and has higher stats than Plat Form (Get it? Train puns!) but does not do well in water.

When Momotaros possesses someone, they gain red eyes, a wild hairdo with a red streak in it and a thug-like personality with enhanced strength. They sometimes also gain a more rough looking appearance with scarf suddenly on them.

Urataros/Rod Form

Urataros is the second Imagin Ryotaro encountered and made a contract with him so he could save time from being destroyed as he didn’t want to be alone (or so he says). A blue sea turtle Imagin, Urataros is a cool, suave, lying Casanova who can con his way in or out of anything. His form is based on the folk legend of Urashima no Taro, another folk tale that Ryotaro loved as a kid. Due to his smooth silver tongue, he is a big hit with the ladies (much to the chagrin of Ryotaro who sometimes finds himself in situations with women he’s never met once he kicks Urataros out of his body).

Not even superheroines of other franchises can resist his charm.

But this also gets him into trouble as his lying and womanizing can get aggravating to his friends. As Rod Form, Urataros gives Den-O mid-ranged combat as well as the ability to swim in water, enhanced armor and the power of a Rider Kick by boosting Den-O’s leg muscle strength. But Den-O loses speed and jumping power as a trade off.

When Urataros possesses someone, they get a pair of glasses, their eyes turn blue and a streak of blue hair appears on their head. Their attire then changes to something more suave and chic to match Urataros’s personal tastes, such as a tuxedo or stylish high end men or women’s wear.

Kintaros/Ax Form

Kintaros is the third Imagin Ryotaro meets. He is originally contracted to a karate master named Masaru and tries to protect his contract holder from another Imagin sent by a rival of Masaru. He nearly dies, but Ryotaro sees the good in him and offers to let Kintaros borrow his body to defeat the Rhino Imagin. Touched by this act of kindness, Kintaros joins Ryotaro and the Taros. Masaru manifested the Imagin’s physical from the memories of Kintaro, a folk hero known for his legendary strength, axe and for fighting bears in sumo wrestling matches.

Because of this, Kintaros has a Bear-like form, a Kansai-ben pattern of speech and a love of showing his strength in the form of sumo wrestler-like personality. He is also a narcoleptic and can doze off at odd moments and has an odd obsession with the word “cry” or anything similar to it as it can awaken him from his deepest slumber.

He is a bit dense but is the strongest of the main four and sometimes has a Feudal Japan way of thinking about things. This is reflected in his possessions of people, as they gain a boisterous personality, super strength, sumo skills, yellow eyes, longer hair with a yellow highlight in it and wear a kimono or samurai garb with other Feudal Japanese accessories.

As Axe Form, Kintaros gives Den-O a physical power boost, short range combat, high defense and punching power. But Ax Form is slower and loses kicking strength.

Ryutaros/Gun Form

(The original Rider Gangsta)

Ryutaros was the last of the main four to meet Ryotaro. He was ordered by the main villain to kill Ryotaro and in exchange, he was given a false promise that he would get to be the “conductor of the DenLiner”. He concealed his presence from the others by letting Urataros first possession of Ryotaro mask his own. It wasn’t until Ryotaro was hypnotized that Ryutaros was revealed to be in Ryotaro’s body.

However, he develops a child-like crush on Ryotaro’s sister Airi and thinks “Ari onee-chan” would be sad if her brother died so he abandons his mission. Ryutaros is based on Taro the Dragon Boy and Japanese dragons in general.

Ryutaros is the most childish of the group, often doodling crayon pictures and acting a bit bratty or hyperactive at times. He has the bizarre ability to control people, mostly for making humans hip-hop dance for him by snapping his fingers and this can extend to large crowds.  He even has his own break dancing entourage that accompanies him when he possesses Ryotaro. When he possesses someone, they get a long purple highlight of hair and they change into hip hop urban street attire or something “cute” if he is possessing a female as seen in Decade.

As Gun Form, Ryutaros gives Den-O ranged attack ability and his stats all max up to the highest in base levels. Ryutaros also takes cues from the Zack Taylor school of combat as Den-O, as he incorporates hip hop dance-fu and stylized gunplay into his fighting style. However, his overenthusiastic personality makes him a destructive sort, as he tends to cause more damage to the surrounding area at times with his powerful projectiles and wild shooting.

Sieg/Wing Form

Sieg is the wild card of the Taros, as he appears only when he is really needed. When he does, he either assumes Wing form or fuses with the other Taros and Ryotaro to assume Super Climax Form. Sieg has a prince-like personality and at first treats the other Taros as if they were his servants. He also gets easily infuriated when someone shows disrespect to him and can make his enemies shrink in size by proclaiming “KNEEL DOWN TO ME!”. (though this ability is rarely used and is played for comedy when it is.)

Sieg was an Imagin who tried to form a contract with a pregnant woman named Shiori. Her subconscious memories of Swan Lake gave Sieg his form, as he is based on Prince Siegfried from the fairy tale ballet. However, because Shiori was pregnant, the process doesn’t go as planned and Sieg ends up inside her baby and as a side effect loses his memories and believes he made the contract with the child.

But because humans do not retain the memories of their time as infants, his physical form becomes unstable and is in danger of being destroyed. Ryotaro helps him and as a repayment for maintaining his existence via a temporal loophole, Sieg joins the crew on occasion to help.

When Sieg possesses someone, they gain white hair highlights, silvery white eyes and are dressed with a feathery white boa wrapped around their necks.

Wing form possesses its own belt and Den-O’s Armor gains a gold and white color scheme. Wing Form is faster and more agile than any of Den-O’s base forms and in expanded universe material grants Den-O the ability to fly. In this form, the DenGasher can configure itself into a boomerang and hatchet twin weapon combo for close and ranged combat. Sieg’s style of combat is gracefully dodging attacks before attacking with equally graceful rapid strikes and counters.

And lastly...

Neotaros aka “Teddy”/New Den-O Strike Form

Teddy is the Imagin of Ryotaro’s grandson Kotaro. He acts much like a bodyguard to the young singularity point, protecting him from events caused by the infamous Nogami bad luck the male members of the family seem to have which is inherited from Ryotaro. Unlike the other Imagin, Teddy is more of a companion and the New Den-O Rider System seems to operate almost as an evolution of Zeronos Zero Form’s concept, turning the Imagin themselves into weapons (though there are exceptions like Deneb). Teddy becomes New Den-O’s sword and has not possessed any human thus far in the series.

Now onto the main hero himself...

Ryotaro Nogami/Plat Form/Liner Form/Climax or Super Climax Form

Mr. Nogami (de-aged to a teenager due to the space-time shenanigans caused by outside forces) circa 2010

Plat Form

Liner Form

Climax Form

and Super Climax Form

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Ryotaro_Nogami

A train is chasing a swarm of lights, with the lights opening a portal in time to 2007 Tokyo, Japan. The lights are actually the Imagin, evil beings sent from the future who want to destroy the past by manipulating humans, granting their fondest wishes in exchange for travel through time via a contract. We meet our main hero in the unlikeliest of places, on his bicycle and stuck up in a tree.

(It should be noted we know he’s the protagonist because he is wearing an old staple of Kamen Rider on his person: A red scarf!)

Ryotaro Nogami is the unluckiest man in the entire world. In the span of the first episode: The wind knocks over a sign which causes him to fly into the air and get stuck in a tree, he gets flat tires on his bike from broken glass and crashes into a street gang, getting mugged by said street gang for his wallet. When he gets frustrated and throws a littered aluminum can in the garbage, it bounces off the can and hits one of the thugs and they pick a fight with Ryotaro and beat on him some more.

When he comes to, he finds a rail pass in a storm drain grate and decide to return it to the train station. When he arrives at the station, the time on the clock aligns to where all the numbers match at 1:11:11 PM and Ryotaro finds himself in a weird dimensional plane with a white and black train stopping near him. A cheerful stewardess appears and offers him some coffee, he thanks her and leaves but then when he tries to go back, the train is gone and the railway station is back where it was. Meanwhile, a woman that passes by Ryotaro unseen has gotten off the train to look for the pass. A sand figure begins following Ryotaro, but fails to get his attention as the clumsy man keeps running him over.

After some crazy shenanigans involving Ryotaro being chased by the train, the girl demanding for her pass back and getting chased by the thugs over a misunderstanding about their leader losing a prized key charm, the sand figure possesses Ryotaro and starts using him to beat up the thugs. Just as he is about to go in for the kill on one of them, Ryotaro manages to stop him.

This is seen by the young woman, who now thinks he can become the foretold hero known as Den-O, a Singularity Point that can wield the power of a special belt to protect time and save humanity’s future from the Imagin. Sad fact is Ryotaro is not up for it as he tries and fails to fight the Bat Imagin and gets thrashed for his troubles. Fed up of seeing his potential contract holder being an awful fighter and nearly on the verge of being killed (which would negate his own life), the Oni-like Imagin “switches places” with him to fight instead. He puts up a good fight and then gets a name: Momotaros.

Ryotaro then embarks on a journey across time that will change his life and his fortune for the better... as a hero and a Kamen Rider fighting to protect humanity’s precious existence along with his new friends.

Plat Form is a base suit with no powers. Liner is its evolved form and has certain advantages by having Ryotaro gain the power to fight by working alongside his friends rather than them using his body and fighting his battles for him. Climax maxes up the power of Den-O by combining the abilities of the Taros and Ryotaro in a merged possession fusion and having interchangeable masks on the suit create different attacks. Super Climax is the same but now with Sieg’s wings and stats giving it a boost in speed and an enhanced version of Den-O’s Rider Kick.

Powers:

Super Strength, enhanced armor, multi-purpose modular weapon with a variety of capabilities, enhanced speed, flight and aquatic movement. Can have different fighting styles and abilities sometimes depending on who possesses him. Time Travel via the DenLiner and immunity to some distortions and alterations in the space-time continuum caused by outside forces.

Being a time traveler, Den-O can use the DenLiner to bring his past and future selves together to assume all of his forms or have the Taros in their physical forms fight alongside Ryotaro.

Weaknesses:

Den-O needs the DenGasher to bring about his maximum combat potential, as he is a weapons user first and foremost. Losing the Rider Pass will result in an easy defeat as that is needed to execute all the finishers. Ryotaro, while improved as a fighter later on, cannot fight under his own power for very long as he has a weaker constitution that most protagonists. But he makes up for it by using teamwork with the Taros and combining their power to win.

Plat Form is horribly weak as it is a simple base costume suit with no enhancements whatsoever. Certain time distortions can disrupt the Taros ability to work with Ryotaro or render their physical bodies unable to manifest or be maintained.

Then there are the Taros themselves, while they have grown to work better as a team dynamic, their personalities can clash with one another and in rare cases ruin their chances for a victory. Ryotaro in one instance could be forcibly possessed by an evil Imagin and used against his friends as a human shield/combatant to try to destroy them.

Gear:

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Den-O_Belt

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Rider_Pass

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Rider_Tickets

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/DenGasher

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Machine_Den-Bird

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/DenLiner

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Climax_Cellphone_K-Taros

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/DenKamen_Sword

Signature Finishers:

Sword: My Finishing Attack: Momotaro’s Rider Finisher which comes in several variations. The most frequent are variants of the Extreme Slash

Part 1: A Rider Slash where Den-O rushes the target, then horizontally slashes their side.

Part 2 : A Rider Slash where after the attack is charged, the blade of the DenGasher detaches and is tethered to a ribbon of energy. Den-O slashes down grinding the blade into the pavement and then upward from the right, then cleaves the target in two from above with the blade. Then it returns to the handle of the DenGasher.

Part 3: Starts the same as Part 2, but the blade slashes left, then right then down to cleave the target in half. 

Part 5: (Note: Momotaros suffers from mild Tetraphobia so their is no Part 4) The blade is at a slightly higher altitude, but the pattern is now right, left, and finally down to cleave the baddie in two.

Special Version: A Double Full Charge is executed, then the blade goes into the air and goes right at the target. The blade waits underneath or behind the target and then Den-O reels it in after getting in close and slashes upward in a surprise attack.

Final Version: A kind of Gorenger Storm variant, the blade is launched and then passed along to all the Taros and Zeronos in Vega form. The heroes give it a charge of their own power, then send it to the target and the blade passes to the next Imagin until it reattaches to the DenGasher and Momotaros as Sword Form rapidly slashes the target with brutal force as the DenGasher glows in a rainbow colored aura. The enemy then collapses and explodes.

My Super Finisher (Den-Rider Kick): Den-O executes a flying triple roundhouse Rider Kick.

Decade Version: Momotaros uses the blade of the DenGasher sword to latch onto the Kuuga Gouram and then uses it as a flail to repeatedly bash the target.

Rod Form

Solid Attack: Den-O throws the Den-Gasher in Rod mode, which immobilizes the target.  Rod Form then executes a Rider Kick to destroy it.

Ax Form

Dynamic Chop: Den-O throws the DenGasher in Ax Mode into the air, leaps up and grabs it, and then bisects the target. A spinning variation is also used, where Kintaros hacks surrounding enemies.

Gun Form

WIld Shot: The DenGasher Gun Mode charges power from the belt as well as the Dragon Orbs on Gun Form’s chestplate to fire a large purple sphere projectile.

Wing Form

Royal Smash: Sieg throws his boomerang and then his hatchet, both striking the target from in front and behind it. A variant is also used that throws both simultaneously to hit multiple targets at once.

Ciimax and Super Climax Form

Boisterous Kick: A bicycle Rider Kick enhanced by the power of Urataros’s Denkamen mask blades.

Boisterous Punch: A Rider Punch enhanced by the power of Kintaros’s strength and blade on his Denkamen Mask.

Boisterous Shout: A Rider Shooting Attack that utilizes Ryutaros on the chest armor. The mask opens and fires a barrage of homing missile projectiles.

My Finisher, Climax Version! (Boisterous Slash): Like the Extreme Slash variants, but involves getting close to the target. Den-O puts the blade near his opponent (usually with a stab or waits for the enemy to hand block it). After executing the scan of the Rider Pass for a Charge and Up, the blade propels the enemy backwards and then loops around from the left of Den-O. The blade then moves and slashes left, then right, then loops around Den-O and goes for the downward finishing slash.

Super Boisterous Kick: Like the regular version of Climax Form’s Rider Kick but enhanced by Sieg’s flight ability. Den-O leaps into the air and flies up to gain altitude then comes crashing down on the target.

Liner

Train Slash: An attack with an unimaginative name, this is the signature finisher of Liner Form. Its abilities depend on which Denkamen Mask is positioned on the blade side of the sword. If Momotaros is used, it is a basic Rider Slash enhanced by the speed of the projected Aura Liner rails Liner form skates on. If Urataros Is used, it becomes a Rider Thrust attack. If Ryutaros is used, it becomes a Rider Shooting finisher that fires purple laser beams. Kintaros never got a chance to show what his ability was in the show.

Fullthrottle Break: By spinning the turntable of the DenKamen Sword several times, Den-O can summon projections of all the Den-Liner trains to flank him and ram the target followed by the finishing Rider Slash

Enemies:

Kai

Kai is an evil Singularity Point from the future who has strange powers such as psychic abilities who leads the Imagin.

A sadist who wants to destroy time by finding the Junction Point (a special Singularity Point that holds time together) and kill whoever that is, Kai selects victims based on the strength of their memories and then selects a calendar date that would be suitable to execute his plans to send an Imagin to the past. He seems to use up his existence in the past from memories he makes in order to create more Imagin if no other humans are available. Kai can also time travel without the need for a train, able to bend space-time with his powers to open time portals.

The Imagin

http://kamenrider.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Imagin

“Tell me your Wish....I will grant your fondest desire...”

These are words that should strike fear into a Japanese citizen in the Kamen Rider universe, if sand starts coming out of their clothes, an Imagin is nearby!

The Imagin were originally beings from the distant future who lost their physical forms due to an event in the past erasing their own time, becoming dependent on the memories of others in order to survive. The Imagin forgot their pasts but retained their personalities, as a result. Led by Kai, they arrive to the year 2007 to find weak-hearted humans and through them go back in time to find the key figure to the Junction Point, and destroy said person’s existence in the present so the Imagin’s future can become a reality again. Imagin possess humans upon forging a contract, fashioning a physical form through their host`s imaginations.

These forms are loosely based on something from the contract holder’s subconscious memories, usually characters of fairy tales from their childhood like the Big Bad Wolf or Frosty the Snowman or simply base themselves on animals and plants.

Imagin are like the Dijins and Genies of Arabian myth with a Wishmaster twist. They will grant the wish of a person, but there is sometimes a dark twist to it in the case of the evil Imagins. (Ex. You say: “I wish for world peace” and the Imagin will grant it by blowing up the world’s nukes killing everyone but you or murdering gun shop owners and wiping out international militaries. Then you  are satisfied or it simply forces the portal open when it has “fulfilled” the contract.)

The host must remember making the contract for the Imagin to successfully travel to the past. Additionally, due to the greatly delicate nature of the contract, if the contract holder forgets or dies before the contract is completed, the Imagin bound to him or her would fade out of existence.

With the 10th anniversary of this TV Show, Den-O will be front and center in the action for Chou Super Hero Taisen. The Climax will never end!