History Recap / KamenRiderDoubleE1E2TheWSearch

* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' make anybody cry around Shotaro, and that goes [[IncrediblyLamePun double]] for making the entire city cry. Also, don't call Shotaro "half-boiled", either (though he takes it in stride in later episodes).

Inside a dark building, a young man is trapped inside a [[PeopleJars tank of fluid]]. An older man in a white suit and [[CoolHat hat]] limps toward him and offers his hand, as alarms blare, guards mobilize, and a black helicopter begins to circle the building. Another young man, dressed in tattered vest and tie, is on lookout. He is the older man's apprentice. He runs toward the older man to let him know they've tripped the alarm, only to see his mentor brutally gunned down by {{Mooks}} shortly after freeing the young man in the tank. With his final breath, the master hands [[TakeUpMySword his apprentice his fedora]]. As the apprentice grieves, a monstrous woman bursts from the floor and begins flinging huge balls of energy at the two young men. They try to run, but the helicopter cuts them off. Caught between the FemmeFatale's energy balls and the helicopter's gunfire, the mysterious youth opens the briefcase he's held onto, presenting the apprentice with [[TransformationTrinket several USB keys, a belt buckle with slots for two]], and a question: "Do you have the courage to ride with the devil?" Each one grabs a USB stick and a buckle and use them, just as the attacks all hit at once. With a OneWomanWail in the background, the smoke clears, revealing a figure with large red bug eyes, a flowing scarf, and a body covered in two-tone armor: green on the right and black on the left. Staring at the helicopter, the titular Kamen Rider Double [=CycloneJoker=] promptly [[BlowYouAway generates a cyclone]], wreaking havoc on the entire floor. As his ScarfOfAsskicking whips in the wind, [[ExplosiveInstrumentation machinery explodes]], the helicopter spins out and slams into the building, {{Mooks}} are literally blown away, and the monster woman is forced to retreat.

...and that was just the ColdOpen. After the opening credits, a TimeSkip takes us ahead one year, and we see a woman walking through the [[WindTurbinePower Windy City]] of Futo, having just arrived and now looking for a new address. As she arrives at her destination, the Narumi Detective Agency; a young man--the apprentice from the ColdOpen--pulls up on [[CoolBike his motorcycle]], carefully dons his newest CoolHat, and does his best to impress the dame in front of his office. The young man has since taken over his deceased mentor's detective business, specializing in "[[FilmNoir hardboiled]]" investigation. When the woman fails to understand the what a "HardboiledDetective" is, the man leads her inside and pulls out a copy of his favorite Creator/RaymondChandler novel, ''Literature/TheLongGoodbye'', while waxing lyrical about the meaning of a "hardboiled" life.

...which [[MyGodYouAreSerious it did, actually]]. By the time Philip wraps up his ''takoyaki''-search phase, Shotaro and Akiko have gotten some very uncomfortable sleep in the Hanger. Shotaro asks Philip to return to something called the "Gaia Library" for the case. Except it's not a real, physical library; it's a {{Cyberspace}} that Philip can access through his head. After running some keywords supplied by Shotaro, Philip figures out where the Magma Dopant will attack next: a Windscale building in Kazetani, and the only one selling a certain fashion product. Shotaro heads to the crime scene, where he runs smack into Togawa, who mistakes Shotaro as a Windscale employee. Surprise, surprise, Togawa whips out a Gaia Memory and turns into Magma, causing the civilians to scatter in a panic and singing Shotaro's CoolHat. But he's not concerned; he declares that he will stop Togawa.

...Not that she cares; she promptly reveals herself to be the office's owner and serves him with an eviction notice. Cue SpitTake. For the woman is Akiko Narumi, daughter of the late Sokichi Narumi, the mentor who was so suddenly gunned down last year. She came to this town to find out why her father went missing a year ago. His successor--Shotaro Hidari--still plagued by SurvivorGuilt from the events of "Begins Night", [[CanNotSpitItOut can't bring himself to tell her the truth]]. Suddenly, somebody rings the doorbell. It's another dame, this time one with a case, and she recognizes the detective as her childhood friend "Sho-chan". The dame, one Marina Tsumura, wants "Sho" to investigate the disappearance of her boyfriend, Yousuke Togawa.