- Philip: "We are two detectives in one."
Titles
- "W" stands for "Double/W" and "Word".
- Part one's title is "Two Detectives in One".
- Part two's title is "Those Who Make the City Cry".
Spoilers abound. This is a Recap page; if you don't want lots of very specific information, you're better off on the main series page.
Inside a dark building, a young man is trapped inside a tank of fluid. An older man in a white suit and 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 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 Femme Fatale's energy balls and the helicopter's gunfire, the mysterious youth opens the briefcase he's held onto, presenting the apprentice with 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 One-Woman Wail 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 generates a cyclone, wreaking havoc on the entire floor. As his Scarf of Asskicking whips in the wind, 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 Cold Open. After the opening credits, a Time Skip takes us ahead one year, and we see a woman walking through the 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 Cold Open—pulls up on his motorcycle, carefully dons his newest hat, 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 "hardboiled" investigation. When the woman fails to understand the what a "Hardboiled Detective" is, the man leads her inside and pulls out a copy of his favorite Raymond Chandler novel, The Long Goodbye, while waxing lyrical about the meaning of a "hardboiled" life.
...Not that she cares; she promptly reveals herself to be the office's owner and serves him with an eviction notice. Cue Spit Take. For the woman is Akiko Narumi, estranged 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 Survivor Guilt from the events of "Begins Night", 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.
With a case in hand, our hero sets out to gather clues and question informants, all while giving a Private Eye Monologue. As Shotaro hams it up, the montage cuts to him continuing this monologuing out loud the whole time, as Akiko comes up from behind and smacks him with her green slipper for being ridiculous. Rather than just shut him down outright, Akiko's decided to tag along and see how he does things, asserting her position by blackmailing him with the eviction notice. Shotaro tells her the results of his investigation thus far: Togawa's disappearance had something to do with his employer.
After Akiko wins an argument with Shotaro, the two of them finally notice the massive traffic jam building up just behind them, caused by the collapse of a nearby building into a highway tunnel. Shotaro and Akiko both sneak (read: duck waddle) their way onto the scene, unknowingly going past a limousine passenger—a pretty rich girl—stuck in the jam, who's understandably pissed off. We'll get back to her later.
Anyway, once the two get there (and after Shotaro gets into a fight with ineffectual Cowboy Cop Shun Makura), Shotaro's Friend on the Force, Mikio Jinno, gives Shotaro a rundown of the evidence while Shotaro takes pictures to send to his partner. Guess what? The building belongs to Togawa's former employer, Windscale, and there's no way anything human could have caused the fourth floor of the building to sink into the tunnel, leading Shotaro and Jinno to suspect that a Dopant is involved. Want to know what a Dopant is? So does Akiko. Outside, she grabs Shotaro by the head and refuses to let go until he tells her exactly what a Dopant is. Before Shotaro can explain, he gets a call from his partner, Philip, the same man Sokichi Narumi died rescuing last year. Mid-conversation, Shotaro suddenly identifies the Dopant as Magma. Why? Because a burning lava monster—presumably the Magma Dopant—is in from of them and now looking him right in the eye, that's why. As Magma melts the street around them (then leaves, thinking he'd gotten them), Shotaro and Akiko escape by the skin of their teeth thanks to Shotaro's wrist-mounted Grappling-Hook Pistol, the SpiderShot. When Shotaro tells her she should go home, Akiko instead jumps to safety (barely falling into the molten street), sticks her tongue out at Shotaro, and runs the hell away, leaving Shotaro literally hanging by a thread above the molten road.
Elsewhere, the limousine pulls up to the opulent Sonozaki mansion, and the wealthy young lady from earlier—one Wakana Sonozaki—gets out. She arrives late to a dinner with her father Ryubee, sister Saeko, and cat Micknote , who are practicing their Evil Laughs while bored waiting for her. The girls get into a fight over Wakana's tardiness, while Ryubee takes it in stride. Seems his...organization was indirectly responsible for today's inconvenience, as one of his star salesmen sold the Magma model pretty recently. Saeko takes it as her cue to pull out her own USB stick, use it to turn into the monster woman from the Cold Open, and announce her engagement. Could she be engaged to the star salesman her father just brought up?
Back at the Agency, Akiko is now in full-on Freak Out mode, pulling down decorations from the wall and swearing up and down that she's going to "evict the hell out of" Shotaro—wait, what's that? Is that muttering in the background? And doesn't that wall it's coming from look an awful lot like a secret door? Akiko certainly thinks so, and thus she finds herself entering the Agency's secret garage. Philip is inside, conducting research and sketching notes about magma all over the whiteboard. Philip doesn't care that Akiko's here; he's already looked her up, so he's not interested in her anymore. He tells her to go back home to "that Osaka place". Akiko makes the mistake of expressing disbelief that Philip doesn't know anything about Osaka and all the cool things you can get there, like takoyaki...
By the time Shotaro comes back home, Philip is knee-deep in one hell of a Wiki Walk about takoyaki, and his opinion about Akiko has completely changed. He likes her, now that she (inadvertantly) introduced him to a new look-up sensation. Shotaro is pissed that Akiko got Philip so badly sidetracked, but at least he now has time to explain Dopants to Akiko while waiting for Philip to finish his Wiki Walk. You see, these USB devices we've been seeing are actually Transformation Trinkets called Gaia Memories, and using one of them will turn you into a superhuman being called a Dopant. Oh goody, so that's what The Mafia has been peddling. Peddling like drugs. And people who use them are called "Dope"-ants. Does This Remind You of Anything? Aaaand Philip's still going through the 3 million-plus results for takoyaki; man, at this rate, it's gonna take him all night to get off this kick.
...which 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 singeing Shotaro's hat. But he's not concerned; he declares that he will stop Togawa.
"No," he corrects himself, pulling out that Driver belt from a year ago. "We will."
Shotaro puts the Driver on, and pulls out the Joker Memory. Back home, the belt materialized around Philip, who whips out his Cyclone Memory. To Akiko's confusion, Philip's body goes limp as his mind travels into Shotaro's body, as Shotaro turns into Kamen Rider Double CycloneJoker. Cue wind storm, flapping Scarf of Asskicking, and Catchphrasenote , followed by actual ass-kicking. After a couple of form changes thanks to alternate Gaia Memories, Double defeats Magma with CycloneJoker's Memory Break, Joker Extreme, reverting Togawa to normal and breaking Togawa's Gaia Memory.
So that's over, right?
No, not really. Because that's when a freaking dinosaur—the T-Rex Dopant—comes out of nowhere and starts attacking everyone. Double pushes some buttons on his Stag Phone, causing half of his underground base—with a startled Akiko and Philip's body inside—to turn into the carrier mech RevolGarry and make its way through an Elaborate Underground Tunnel to come to Double's aid. It fends off the T-Rex Dopant, but it still gets away with a screaming Togawa in its maw.
Back at the office, Akiko is pissed. Again. She wants to know what the hell is going on with the giant car and the "half-and-half monster". Too bad being Shotaro's landlady doesn't get her an explanation this time: Shotaro's attention's been caught by the news report on the radio, talking about how Togawa's been found dead in the water. Shotaro visits the crime scene and breaks the news to Marina, who breaks down crying in his arms. After reminiscing about the past with Marina, Shotaro pays a visit to one of his informants, the quirky blogger Watcherman, who gives him the address of a similar crime from last week. Shotaro investigates this Windscale location, but the door shuts behind him and he's attacked by the T-Rex Dopant again. He survives with quick thinking by turning his Bat Shot camera and Stag Phone into their Robot Buddy modes to distract T-Rex by electrocuting it. It gets away again, but at least it's no longer trying to eat Shotaro in a dark hallway. Suddenly, Shotaro notices one critical piece of evidence, evidence that changes everything about the case. Watcherman shows up again, having learned that Togawa was with an accomplice when he bought the Magma Memory from a man wearing a white scarf with a red spot on it. Said salesman, one Kirihiko Sudo, is then revealed to be the most successful Gaia Memory salesman EVAR, and is the one who recently got engaged to Saeko Sonozaki.
Back in the Garage, Philip takes another trip to the Gaia Library, with Shotaro supplying new keywords, including the new evidence: a feather-pattern scarf, and a hint to its creator's identify. The results confirm Shotaro's suspicions: Marina is the T-Rex Dopant and Togawa's killer. Togawa and Marina must have worked together at first, taking revenge against the employer who laid them off, but after Togawa lost his mind due to using the Magma Memory and went rampaging on his own, Marina hired Shotaro to track down Togawa so she could kill him. It all went according to plan. Philip advocates that Shotaro Shoot the Dog by taking Marina down instead of talk to her. Shotaro disagrees, leading Philip to call Shotaro "half-boiled", earning him a punch to the face. Shotaro hands in his Gaia Memories, intent on doing this without Double, and goes off to talk Marina down his way.
Shotaro finds Marina and uses his Stag Phone to trick Marina into revealing the T-Rex Memory. Shotaro, who promised Marina as a child that he'll not let anybody cry in his city, tells her that she's making the entire city cry. Seems Philip's lecture has rubbed off on him; he's already called the cops, and Marina's surrounded. She can either do it the easy way and turn herself in, or she can do it the hard way and have the cops take her in by force. Unfortunately, Marina chooses the really hard way and turns into T-Rex, and the Police Are Useless against this monster. Worse, Akiko followed Shotaro (because hey, she was worried about him), so now they're both running for their lives.
Thankfully, Philip shows up in the RevolGarry, distracting T-Rex and saving Shotaro from being flattened. After a quick reconciliation, Philip hands Shotaro back his Gaia Memories, and they become Double, much to Akiko's surprise. Philip then entrusts Akiko with his dormant body, which she didn't expect either. After a short struggle against Double, T-Rex pulls a whole bunch of rubble around herself, effectively making her giant. Meanwhile, Akiko pulls Philip's body and herself into a police car, which doesn't work out; turns out it's caught on the rubble T-Rex used to make herself big. Now there's a Tyrannosaurus rex-like monster rampaging down the street with an off-duty police car in tow!
While Akiko takes advantage of the police car's radio to warn the civvies of the threat passing through, Double pursues the T-Rex on his Cool Bike, HardBoilder, along with the RevolGarry. Double manages to get Philip's body onto the RevolGarry; but before he can pull Akiko out, the T-Rex Dopant runs up a building, taking Akiko up with her like Fay Wray, except in a car. With some hot-swappable components in the RevolGarry, Double turns HardBoilder into the gunship HardTurbuler and takes to the skies against T-Rex. What follows is a Cyclone of CG, ending with Double, now in HeatMetal form, defeating T-Rex with a flying Memory Break, Metal Branding. As both Akiko and Marina fall off the building, Double saves both of them by reverting to CycloneJoker, grabbing Marina, using Cyclone's wind powers to slow their fall, while simultaneously remote-controlling HardTurbuler to catch Akiko.
The Sonozakis, meanwhile, are all "dressed up" in their Dopant forms to meet Kirihiko, who is dressed up in a Gaia Memory Driver and nothing else. Ryubee, as the Terror Dopant, hands Kirihiko the Nasca Memory and a Driver belt, welcoming him to the family.
With Marina in jail, Shotaro is back home typing up his case report on his manual typewriter while delivering a Private Eye Monologue, as he does after every case. The relaxed mood is interrupted when Akiko shows up, unveiling the Narumi Detective Agency's new sign, all bright pink and sky-blue, proclaiming Akiko as the chief of the "half-boiled" agency. Shotaro is horrified by the sign, whilst Philip is amazed by her defiance to his calculations—even after that near-death experience, Akiko's going to stick around.
Tropes:
- Berserk Button: Do not make anybody cry around Shotaro, and that goes double for making the entire city cry. Also, don't call Shotaro "half-boiled", either (though he takes it in stride in later episodes).
- Blow You Away: Double's CycloneJoker form uses this with considerably dramatic effect multiple times.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Shotaro has a problem with breaking bad news to people; it's the first real sign that he's only "halfboiled".
- Catchphrase: "Now, count up your crimes!"
- Chandler's Law: Just as the first fight ends and things calm down, somebody else barges in and attacks everyone. Possibly deliberate, what with all the other references to Chandler.
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Shotaro, with his first Private Eye Monologue.
- Door Stopper: An In-Universe variation: Thanks to Akiko, Philip comes across a whopping 3 million-plus search results on takoyaki. Needless to say, it takes a while for him to go through it all before resuming the Magma Dopant case.
- Explosive Instrumentation: Dramatic use of wind powers = entire floor of building blowing up. At any rate, justified by Rule of Cool.
- Finishing Move: Double showcases two in this arc: the Joker Extreme for CycloneJoker, and the Metal Branding for HeatMetal.
- Freak Out: Akiko's reaction to seeing a Dopant for the first time is to start trying to evict the hell out of Shotaro from the Agency. Her discovery of the RevolGarry Garage, and Philip, kind of stymies that.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: In the first part's Cold Open, even.
- People Jars: Philip starts the episode in one.
- Private Eye Monologue: Both parodied and played straight.
- Robot Buddy: This episode introduces Shotaro's Bat Shot camera and the Stag Phone, which both are Gaia Memory compatible.
- Rubber Man: LunaJoker grants the right side of Double's body this ability. Philip uses it to bat away the Magma Dopant's fiery projectiles out of the air.
- Shout-Out: To Raymond Chandler, including Shotaro's favorite novel The Long Goodbye.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Shotaro thinks he's hardboiled. He's only halfboiled.
- 10-Minute Retirement: Just under four-and-a-half-minute partnership breakup, actually.
- Ungrateful Bastard: One of Marina's motives for inflicting Dopant-level damage against Windscale, the company that laid off both her and Togawa. Its executive took all of her work away from her before forcing her out.
- We Used to Be Friends: The arc ends up being this, with Shotaro's friend Marina turning out to be the T-Rex Dopant.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Togawa lost his mind to Magma's power, and is clearly not quite himself by the time Shotaro finally tracks him down.
- Yandere: Marina, especially as the T-Rex Dopant in the final confrontation. You know you've got problems when you want to eat the childhood friend you claim to love.
