Kamen Rider Double

"We are two detectives in one."

"Do you have the courage...to ride with the devil?"

The second Kamen Rider series of 2009 and the eleventh entry of the franchise's Heisei Era.

Shotaro Hidari is a Private Detective who imagines his life as something straight out of a Hardboiled Detective novel. His partner is a boy called Philip, a mysterious researcher able to psychically connect to a collection of all the world's knowledge.

Together with their landlord and self-proclaimed "chief" Akiko Narumi, they operate the Narumi Detective Agency in the "Windy City", Futo. Their specialty is solving supernatural crimes committed by monsters called Dopants, which are created when an ordinary human is transformed by one of the dangerous Gaia Memories.

To combat this threat, Shotaro and Philip use their own set of purified Gaia Memories and their Double Drivers to fuse into the world's first "two-in-one" Kamen Rider: Kamen Rider Double.

As the story unfolds, Shotaro and Philip slowly uncover the secrets behind the latter's forgotten past, contend with a Hot-Blooded police officer on a quest of personal vengeance, and track down the source of the Gaia Memories that are being manufactured and sold in the shadows of Futo: the enigmatic "Museum" organization, controlled by the Sonozaki Family.

Shows strong influence from 1972 Manga-turned-Toku Choujin Barom 1, Hardboiled Detective fiction, Cyberpunk, and mad cap comedy-- making the series as much a matter of fusion as its Rider.

There is now a Character Sheet and a recap page. Please put tropes specific to recurring characters on the character sheet, not this page.

Note: The name of the show in Japanese uses the English letter W and reads it as "Daburu"/"Double". Depending on who is subbing the show, the name of the show may be referred to as "Kamen Rider Double" (the English name given in the logo) or "Kamen Rider W" (the literal reading of the show's title).

Tropes used in Kamen Rider Double include:
  • Acrofatic: The Sweets Dopant in ep 10. She swallows Akiko and her intended captive into her gut, and manages to flee all the way to her secret hideout with both their added weight.
  • Actor Allusion: Aya Sugimoto, best known as Queen Beryl, appears in The Movie Double Forever: A to Z as a Maria S Cranberry.
    • Shotaro threw an epic one in "J's Labyrinth" when he wants to enter a models-only recreation club.

Guard: Members only, please. This club is for models only.
Shotaro: Haha, that's sweet. I'm a model. So, ciao.[1]

    • Also in Double Forever, Elizabeth manages to recover the T2 Accel, Key, and Bird Memories, a nod to the fact that her and Queen's actresses are members of the girl group AKB48.
    • Episode 45's first two minutes are devoted to reminding us of Yuka Hirata's previous role by letting her perform her extreme tsun-tsun, extreme dere-dere schtick.
    • Yoshie Gotou, one of the Stage Moms in "The O Chain", actually appeared in Kamen Rider Kiva as the woman who went into sports archery after her own Stage Mom pushed her to learn the violin. Karma's the real bitch here.
  • Actor Existence Failure: Minoru Tanaka, who played the villain of the Kamen Rider Accel DTV movie, committed suicide four days after the movie was released.
  • Adam Westing: Ichirou Mizuki in "The L on the Lips". See also Large Ham, below.
  • Aesop Amnesia: Himeka from "The Nightmarish H".
  • A Form You Are Comfortable With: the main villain of Movie Wars Core is an Eldritch Abomination in the form of a giant flaming Kamen Rider.
  • Akashic Records: The Gaia Library.
  • All Devouring Black Hole Loan Sharks: The Money Dopant; although what he owns is a casino and not a real loan service. But when he finds someone who can't pay their debts, the poor victim's soul is locked up inside a coin and he swallows it.
  • All Your Powers Combined: The Bicker Shield's Memory Breaks, the Bicker Finallusion and Bicker Charge Break, are powered by the Cyclone, Heat, Luna, and Joker Memories all at once. The Finallusion, a rainbow Beam Spam attack, also counts as All Your Colors Combined.
    • A varition of the Bicker Finallusion is where the Metal Memory is used in place of the Joker Memory, creating a defensive energy shield.
    • It is unknown what effect the Trigger Memory would have on the Bicker Finallusion.
    • An evil version shows up in W Forever A to Z. When Kamen Rider Eternal uses the T2 Zone Memory for a Maximum Drive, all of the T2 Gaia Memories fly straight for him and place themselves into one of the 26 Maximum Drive Slots, causing a massive power up. Turns the otherwise cool-sounding Gaia Memory voice into Nightmare Fuel when 26 Memory names are said at the same time.
      • To say nothing of the X-Bicker, a gigantic version of Xtreme's own Bicker Shield with ports for all 26 T2 Memories which Daido wants to use to turn the entire city of Futo into "undead monsters" like himself.
    • Isaka's been attempting something like this with his multiple Memory ports. Let's just say it didn't end well.
  • Almost Kiss: Isaka and Saeko, in "Beyond R". Ruined by the sound of Accel in the distance, and they never got a chance to finish, because Isaka was destroyed by Accel Trial Form shortly afterwards. Oh dear ...
  • Anachronic Order: The finale. It can get a bit confusing, because the transitions give no indication as to when it's jumping between time periods.
  • And the Adventure Continues...: The season finale. After one year of Shotaro fighting the remnant Dopants as Kamen Rider Joker, Philip returns (though Wakana effectively sacrifices herself to do so) and resumes his partnership with Shotaro just in time to defeat the Energy Dopant.
  • Appropriated Appellation: Philip and Shotaro receive the Kamen Rider name from the citizens of Fuuto themselves.
  • Arc Words: Apparently, the word "hard-boiled", which incorporates into Shotaro's potential Catch Phrase and Double's bike, Machine HardBoilder. Although it sounds more like his favourite phrase than an actually mysterious one.
    • Raito Sonozaki, the Child of Fate.
    • Begins Night
  • Asian Airhead: A type 2 example of this is Himeka Yukimura from the "The Nightmarish H" arc.
  • Assimilation Plot: Gaia Impact, the goal of both the Museum and Foundation X, has shades of this, although it's not clear whether it involves a true hive mind or not; they're moreorless trying to assimilate all humans with the earth.
  • Badass Biker: Naturally for a Kamen Rider show, Double and Accel count.
    • The Arms Dopant is a villainous example.
  • Bad Guy Bar: the place where Isaka plays that piano is frequented by Saeko and Wakana by ep. 31, invoking this trope.
  • Bad Guys Play Pool: Saeko in "The O Chain"
  • Battle Couple: The Beast Dopant and the Zone Dopant, who are husband and wife.
    • Saeko and Kirihiko, early in the series. Akiko and Ryu are an example of sorts, since Akiko has fought with Dopants despite not using a Memory herself.
  • Berserk Button: Whenever Shotaro is referred to being "half-boiled" (skip to about 00:29), although that was a bit moreso in the early episodes.
    • Shotaro's reaction to anyone who cries before him (see Mythology Gag below) is much, much stronger, as seen in ep. 44 when he takes on the Old Dopant despite being aged to about eighty.
  • The Berserker: FangJoker, at first.
  • Big Eater: Implied with one of the Sonozaki maids, whom Akiko suspected of being the Sweets Dopant. Turns out she was wrong, but still.
    • Also Isaka, due to the sheer number of Connectors he installed on his body.
  • Big Screwed-Up Family: It wasn't really this at the beginning of the series, but after a few Character Developments here and there the Sonozaki family became really messed up with everyone trying to fight each other for the top head of the family.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Marina/T-Rex Dopant. She even kills her boyfriend and accomplice, Yosuke/Magma Dopant, just to cover its tracks and distract Shotaro.
  • Bittersweet Ending: We have a few of these throughout the show, topped by the penultimate episode. Shotaro and Philip defeat Jun Kazu, but Philip soon disappears after their victory.
    • Earn Your Happy Ending: And in the last episode, Wakana sacrifices her life to bring Philip back.
    • The ending of A to Z becomes a Bittersweet Ending when we discover later that Daido and NEVER are actually a bunch of Fallen Heros driven mad by a tragedy and not the evil monsters they seemed to be.
  • Black Widow: Saeko is this in general outlook, though Kirihiko is the first one that actually makes it all the way to marriage before she kills him, and all the boyfriends she kills gets offed due to them outliving their usefulness rather than her wanting their money.
  • Bloodless Carnage: In The Movie, the death of Maria is surprisingly bloodless, considering it's caused by multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. The Directors Cut adds in some digital blood spatters during the shooting, but the victim's body is still completely unmarked.
  • Body Horror: While Accel's Bike Form is quite cool to look at, a closer examination brings up quite a handful of factors suggesting that the designers are either not very familiar with the human body or just ignoring it in lieu of the "playability". One counterargument is only if the armor is strong enough to not suffer damage from its design. But that still doesn't mean Ryu's not gonna feel the impacts from the inside. Of course, that's not to say Willing Suspension of Disbelief should be neglected.
    • Accel's neck is facing a full 90-degree angle upward, which humans aren't capable of.
    • The front wheel's shock absorbers are angled directly against his collar bones; likewise, the rear absorber against his thigh bone. Meaning? Repeated concussion against the bones. And if the wheels were to receive a shock big enough...
      • Don't forget that whenever he makes a landing from a drop while in bike form, he hits the ground like a rock. Those shock absorbers aren't exactly doing much, so he's really taking the full force anyway.
    • Ryu's body armor is a big one[2]; in other words, he's carrying all its weight on his back and shoulders in Bike Form, one back-break away from drifting along the road on his stomach.
    • And...who's to say that the engine block right in front of his chest isn't grilling his skin and muscles?
    • It all comes down to how Gaia Memories can physically alter the user to make them "superhuman"
      • Actually it was shown before that the Gaia Memories change their bodies. So, it is not an armor, its a completly new body.
    • Using a Gaia Memory with a Living Connector instead of a Driver leads to all kinds of Body Horror, as the connector will gradually mutate and grow across the user's skin. And don't start on what happens to Isaka after he's defeated...
  • Breaking Speech: Isaka to Ryu in "The D Was Seen", leading Shotaro to attempt a potentially fatal Twin Maximum Drive when Ryu breaks down in tears. Shroud also tries this on Ryu in "The O Chain", but he's a little wiser by then.
  • Brick Joke: The end of ep. 4 shows that Phillip's presence was imperative in winning the all-or-nothing "Old Maid" game, with a deck given by Santa-chan, against the Money Dopant; ep. 12 ends with Phillip pwning Akiko at that same game with the same deck even.
    • Look carefully at Shotaro, Phillip and Akiko's photos in the relationship flowchart in the middle of "The Nightmarish H" (just after the Jidai Geki dream episode).
    • Shotaro claims to have a special cat-finding skill in the beginning of "Y's Tragedy", which is basically a silly cat impression - but it's proven to work in the beginning of "The Forgotten U" when he tracks down Mick. The fact that Yukie never had a cat may have hinted at that.
    • A hard-boiled egg tossed aside by Shotaro in the Hyper Battle DVD comes back in the Gaia Memory Encyclopedia. The fact that it was overly hard-boiled (but of COURSE! since Shotaro made it) almost makes this trope literal.
    • That relationship flowchart we see at the midpoint in each arc? Movie Wars Core reveals who created it.
  • Brought To You By The Letter W: The titular rider might be the most Egregious use of this trope ever; to wit:
    • 'W' is for Double. He has it emblazoned on his chest, his head fins, the Double Driver, the Hardboilder, his shoulder pads (in CycloneJoker Xtreme form), the Metal Shaft and the Trigger Magnum. Even his/their henshin pose is meant to invoke this, with Shotaro's and Philip's bent arms representing two halves of a 'W'.
      • 'F' is for Fang. Appears whenever FangJoker does it's Rider Kick.
      • 'X' is for Xtreme, the Xtreme Memory, CycloneJoker Xtreme's head fins, the Prism Sword and Bicker Shield.
    • 'S' is for Skull. Has a large 'S' on his forehead (usually covered by his Nice Hat) and a sideways 'S' on his Skull Magnum (which, being a Palette Swap of Double's Trigger Magnum, is really a W with a leg cut off, turning \/\/ into \/\).
    • 'A' is for Accel. Has an 'A' shaped face plate (the top fin of which also forms an 'A' in profile view), has 'A's on the back of his gloves, and two of his Maximum Drives.
    • 'T' is for Trial. The Trial Memory is shaped like a T, and it also appears when Accel Trial does his rapid kick Maximum Drive.
  • Brown Note: Played straight (Puppeteer Dopant's flute) and parodied (Jimmy).
  • Call Back: Two possible callbacks to the earlier Twin Maximum Drive MAXIMUM DRIVE MAXIMUM DRIVE MAXIMUM DRIVE--once with the use of four simultaneous Maximum Drives with Xtreme, and again in the penultimate episode with performing Double Xtreme with the Prism Memory in the Maximum Slot of the belt.
    • In Movie Wars Megamax, when Shotaro tells Eiji and Gentaro to go on ahead while they fight the Foundation X Zodiarts, he recalls Eiji's line from Double Forever ("Riders help each other out, right?") and says he's finally repaying the favor.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Invoked. Double's Memory Breaks don't require it, but they do require Shotaro and Philip to be in synch to use them, so Shotaro came up with the idea of using this to aid in the process. He also does it in "The D was Seen" when Double and Accel cooperate to take on the Weather Dopant, using a Double Rider Kick to counter Weather's tornado.
    • Of course, Shotaro still does it when he's fighting alone as Kamen Rider Joker, so it can be safely concluded that he does it solely for Rule of Cool.
  • Call to Agriculture: The magician from "The D Was Seen" becomes a coffeeshop owner in W Returns: Accel.
  • The Cameo: Both Philip and Shotaro appear untransformed in the OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders film, as well as in the Movie War Megamax crossover between OOO and Fourze.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Shotaro just can't admit to Akiko that her father is dead. In Begins Night she learns the truth indirectly (witnessing Shotaro and Philip arguing while fighting as Double), but later tells Philip that she still wants to hear it "from that idiot".
    • A scene in the Director's Cut has Shotaro promise to tell Akiko everything after they deal with the current case.
  • Cats With Gaia Memories Are Mean
  • Casting Gag: The boy who Shotaro helps (and teaches the way of being hard-boiled) in the last episode is played by the same actor who played preteen Shotaro in the first episode flashback. He also plays Shotaro again in a small part of Movie War Core in the Skull section.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: Kamen Rider W is was a comedic series, until Philip was revealed to be an avatar for the Gaia memory in episode 45. Not even Akiko is joking around after that shocking reveal.
  • Character Tic: Double's finger point on landing a blow. The Nobody's Perfect Image Song video reveals they may have got it from Akiko's dad.
    • Kazu's habit of frequently becoming startled and dropping things.
      • Isaka at the piano and Wakana's "Tch!" moments.
  • Chekhov's Armory: Literally. There's a museum that houses exhibits related to most of the Dopants.
    • In #23, the doctor that the detectives visit has a bowler hat, unbrella and black jacket clearly visible in the background. The same ones that Isaka is seen wearing when he's first introduced in #20, and which he puts on at the end of the episode when he's revealed as the Weather Dopant.
    • A particularily well-played example of a single gun that couldn't be found in that literal armory itself: That hole in the ceiling at the beginning of A-Z? That's how the T2 Joker Memory ended up in Shotaro's office.
  • City of Adventure: Futo, of course.
  • Clipped-Wing Angel: The Virus Dopant seems to access a new ability to manifest outside of its host's body, unlike other Dopants. Despite the potential applications of this ability, this actually proves less effective than if it were functioning normally--in which case it could wipe out an entire city with little effort.
  • Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch: An in-universe example. Shotaro dismisses Akiko's Jidai Geki DVDs because they allegedly put him to sleep. He later changes his tune.
  • Conflict Ball: Largely averted, rarely the case for a Heisei Rider series. Double and Accel rarely fight each other, and it is typically only through the influence of a Dopant that it happens.
  • Continuity Nod: "The Radio Q" brings back the Victims of the Week from "Don't Llay a Finger on M" and "The S Terror". Forever A to Z takes this Up to Eleven by adding those from "Girl A", "Find the C", "Farewell N", "L on the Lips", "Nightmarish H", "D was Seen", and "Beyond R".
    • Movie Wars Core has Isamu Bitou from the Zone Dopant arc and young Shotaro and Marina; W Returns: Accel has the Shirogane family again.
  • Cooking Duel: Literally, in the Hyper Battle Video.
  • Cool Bike: In addition to those belonging to the main characters, Skull has his own bike called the SkullBoilder.
    • Not to mention Kamen Rider Accel IS a Cool Bike.
  • Creator Cameo: The scenario writer of the Kamen Rider Accel movie, Keiichi Hasegawa, appears briefly as a man who almost gets pick pocketed in a bar. So does series writer and writer of the Kamen Rider Eternal movie, Riku Sanjo, as the user of a Sweets memory in said film.
  • Creepy Doll: Puppeteer controls one, and Clay Doll could count, too, what with her face...
  • Crowded Cast Shot: Forever A to Z has several of the past clients visible amongst the Fuuto crowds.
  • Curb Stomp Battle: The final battle between Saeko (as Nazca R) and Wakana (as Claydoll X). The previews made it out to be an equal fight. Actually, Wakana has become somewhat like a Perfect Play AI by this point and wipes the floor with Saeko. CycloneJoker Xtreme's fights also evoke this due to its two main powers: the ability to analyse everything about an opponent in an instant, and then use the Prism Memory to tune his sword to that enemy's exact weakness.
  • Cyberspace: The Gaia Library is a subtle variation without wire meshes or anything except for the bookshelves.
  • Dance Battler: The fight against Cockroach Dopant in "Find the C". Even Dango joins in for an epic session.
    • Ryuu turns into one of these for one fight scene in the Kamen Rider Accel movie. He's handcuffed to Aoi to keep her from running away, and he doesn't have his Memory, so the entire (rather long) fight looks like a bizarre mix between a brawl and a swing dance as he simultaneously beats up the attackers and keeps Aoi out of harm's way.
  • Darker and Edgier: The direct-to-video movie about Kamen Rider Eternal is much, MUCH more grim and violent than the entire series. Just take a look at the trailer.
    • Kamen Rider Accel movie also shares the darkness. We have fine example when Terui goes through yakuza gang using more than one potentially lethal move.
  • Daytime Drama Queen: The Nightmare arc features one of these in the form of a feudal Japan samurai drama called Saheiji of the Wind, which Shotaro derides as something not up his alley until he ends up marathoning it in one night and getting absolutely obsessed. Somewhat a subversion considering we only see brief snippets of the actual episodes and they aren't tacky or overdramatic.
  • Dead All Along: Philip/Raito died when he fell into the true Gaia Memory as a child twelve years earlier and was revived as an avatar for the Gaia Memory, as revealed in episode 45. In fact, Wakana calls him - literally - a "mass of data" in episode 46.
    • Also applies to all the villains in Forever: A to Z, as well as Jun Kazu.
  • Deadly Upgrade: Continuous use of certain experimental Gaia Memories, such as Nasca and Bird, will eventually kill their users.
    • Of course, any Gaia Memory used without a driver will eventually drive its user Ax Crazy.
  • Death By a Thousand Cuts: The whole strategy of the Trial form. As Shroud puts it, if kicking once doesn't work, kick ten times. If that doesn't work, do it a hundred.
    • Taken to the literal meaning of the trope when he uses his Maximum Drive along with the Engine Blade.
  • Death by Origin Story: Ryu's family is murdered by a Dopant using the 'W' memory, therefore motivating him to become Kamen Rider Accel. His transformation is completed when he mistakes the Ice Age Dopant, who uses a similar freezing attack, for the Dopant who killed his family.
  • Defeat Equals Friendship: Mick becomes the agency pet after his Smilodon Memory is destroyed.
  • Defictionalization: Bandai's Premium website sells stuff like the clothes and accessories for Philip, Shotaro, and Ryu. They even have fully functional Gaia Memories. (...well...not fully functional. They won't actually turn you into a Dopant.)
    • The release of full-length Healing Princess clips could also count.

Wakana: "I believe we have a lot of new listeners tuning in today..."

      • Bonus points for Wakana acting all Moe Moe on the air when we all know what she's really like.
        • Her debut single "Naturally" has also got a real life release to the public.
    • The Queen & Elizabeth duo are not immune to this (being members of AKB48 as a factor). In the Liar Dopant arc, they appear on an American Idol-esque contest (Fuuuuuutic Idol) singing their song "Love♡Wars" in order to win a major label release. These episodes also feature opening theme singers Aya Kamiki and TAKUYA as themselves and judges for the contest, performing a "live" version of the opening theme instead of the normal opening sequence.
    • In an inversion of this trope, the bands that perform the ending themes for the series (Labor Day, Galveston 19, Florida Keys, and Wilma-Sidr) are claimed to be bands from the fictional city of Futo. The only instance of one of the songs existing as part of the story is during the Liar Dopant arc (ep. 23&24) when Shotaro and Philip sing "Finger on the Trigger" for the contest. On the Wind Wave podcasts, only Wakana's show treats the theme songs as being separate from the show. DJ HURRY KENN refers to everything as theme songs.
    • TV Asahi has put online a copy of the Frog Pod's assembly manual.
  • Dem Bones: You know "Dopant Memories" are evil just 'cos they're shaped like bony fossils. With horns.
  • Dies Wide Open: Shotaro closes Saeko's eyes.
  • Distant Finale: Similar to Kamen Rider Hibiki, "Goodbye to the E" takes place one year after the rest of the series.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Dopant monsters are named after the English word "dopant" and "doping", due to the effects of not possessing a Gaia Driver to mitigate the effects.
    • Not to mention the eyes of any human who was on the receiving end of a Memory Break.
    • It's possible that the health hazard that goes with using a Gaia Memory intended for someone else was meant to be related to sharing needles, while we're at it.
    • Isaka's death is frightfully reminiscent of death by drug overdose, if you think about it.
    • Saeko finds that using Gaia Memories through direct insertion feels much better than when using a Driver.
  • Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: Averted for Double and Accel's themes, played straight with Skull's and Eternal's (that is if you count the movie song as his theme).
  • Domestic Abuse: Saeko to Kirihiko, Ryubee to Shroud - the reason for her Bandaged Face.
  • Dope Slap: Akiko with her trademark green slippers, nearly Once an Episode, but Isamu Bitou from eps 31/32 hands these out at a rate that puts her to shame.
  • Double Take (no pun intended): In Begins Night, Akiko comes out of nowhere and delivers a Dope Slap to the Dummy Dopant during his Motive Rant, causing Shotaro/Double to Double Take between her and Philip's body (which she had been carrying before and is currently lying on the ground).
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: The final battle against the Utopia Dopant, even knowing that Philip will cease to exist once Double's transformation is cancelled. As an added bonus, they do a Twin Maximum Drive with the Prism Memory in the Maximum Slot and the Xtreme Memory.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Kamen Rider Double appeared in All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker before his series aired.
    • Double's successor, Kamen Rider OOO, made his debut in Double's second movie.
  • Eat the Dog: At the end of "The D was Seen", Isaka thinks about how hungry he is and begins staring at the cat. Poor Mick...
  • Elaborate Underground Base: Although the underground chamber itself has not much to be said in terms of secrecy [3] or space, the tunnel leading outside in particular is pretty long to be hidden easily.
    • The Money Dopant arc features a Semi-Elaborate Underground Casino. The secrecy of its location is a major plot point - it's not in any directory, and only accessible via the free shuttle bus.
    • Turns out the Sonozaki mansion has had one possibly two, if the archaeological dig and the one seen in ep. 38 are two different locations.
  • Elemental Powers: Each of Philip's right half Gaia Memories have one - Blow You Away: (Cyclone Memory), Playing with Fire: (Heat Memory) and Lunacy (Luna Memory).
    • and then there's Weather, who has several.
      • "Magma!" "Ice Age!" "Ocean!"
  • Enemy Scan: One of CycloneJoker Xtreme's main advantages.
  • Eureka Moment: Some of Akiko's random comments accidentally provide keywords or hints Philip or Shotaro might be in need of.

Akiko: "Did I say something brilliant again?"

  • Even Evil Has Standards: Kirihiko draws the line at giving a Deadly Upgrade to kids to see what will happen.
    • And now even Saeko is drawing a line considering her unease at Weather modifying Wakana's Driver so it's now not even safely letting her transform.
  • Everything's Better With Dinosaurs: The T-Rex and Triceratops Dopants.
    • The Fang Memory makes this actually kind of cute, in a heroic example.
  • Evil Laugh: Ryubee has one of these.
  • Evil Twin: Forever A to Z Double Movie features the Cyclone, Heat, Luna, Metal, and Trigger Dopants.
  • Evilutionary Biologist: The Gaia Memories are intended to be experiments in human evolution.
  • Face Palm: Shoutaro is very fond of them.
  • Facial Markings: These appear during the henshin sequence, though they are hard to notice. Episode 19 has one clear shot of them, and during the Jidai Geki dream sequence in "The Nightmarish H", they become something similar to Kabuki.
    • All NEVER members can get these in Forever A to Z
  • Fake Nationality: Kazu is played by Korean actor Gong Teyu.
  • Fallen Hero: It's revealed that Daido Katsumi and NEVER are this. They tried their hardest to save a group of psychics only for them all to die right in front of them. Daido was driven insane by this along with most of NEVER, leading to their actions in The Movie.
  • Family-Unfriendly Death: Isaka in "Beyond R".
    • Two episodes later, Mick/Smilodon literally vaporizes the Grasshopper Woman
  • Female Gaze: At one point in A to Z we get a very gratuitous close-up shot of Philip's lips as Maria touches them [dead link] .
  • Fetish: Dr. Isaka is only interested in Saeko's body when she's the Taboo Dopant.
  • The Final Temptation: Relatively minor instance with the Nightmare Dopant. After losing to him, Terui is trapped in his dream world where he's a successful detective (like real life) but his family is also still alive. When arresting said Dopant after waking up, he does thank him for giving him the first good night's rest he's had in ages.
  • Finishing Move: All finishing moves are called "Memory Breaks", because that's what they do: break the victim's Gaia Memory and turn them back to normal. See the character sheet for details.
  • Five-Bad Band: The Sonozaki Family:
  • And from the movie:
  • Foreshadowing: Episode 47 reveals Foundation X's interests in some medals.
  • For Want of a Nail: The entire plot of the series could have been avoided altogether had Raito/Philip not fallen into the well of the Gaia Memory.
    • And even if that still happened, a good chunk of the plot would have went very differently had Shotaro listened to Narumi's words and stay put, or had he not pushed Phillip into the teleporter.
  • Freudian Trio
    • Ego: Shotaro
    • Superego: Philip
    • Id: Akiko
  • Fully-Absorbed Finale: The series finale deals with Philip coming back, with the Double part of Movie War Core dealing with Ryu and Akiko's marriage as well as Narumi/Skull's first case as Skull. The Foundation X storyline is taken up again for Movie War Megamax.
  • Fun with Acronyms: The villains of Kamen Rider Double Forever have the group name NEVER which stands for NEcro-oVER.
  • G-Rated Drug: See With Great Power Comes Great Insanity below. Gaia Memories are more than a little similar to drugs, with use of it being called "doping", getting highs off of the use, degenerating psyche with repeated use, and even (in some cases) withdrawal when not using it. Oh, and improper use gets you sent to the hospital a lot quicker than usual.
  • Genius Loci: Fuuto city has shades of this in the movie.
  • Girlish Pigtails: In flashbacks, teenage Saeko is played by the same actress (Ami Namai) as the 31-year-old Saeko, she just has pigtails to make her look younger.
    • It helps that Rin Asuka (present day Wakana) is taller than Namai.
  • Good Is Impotent: Gaia Memories used through a Driver belt are weaker than direct insertion; the Sonozakis make up for this by using extra-powerful gold Memories. Meanwhile, the purified Memories used by the Riders are even weaker, only achieving 100% power during a Maximum Drive.
  • Gratuitous English: Not just from the belt and weapon voices this time, as Philip and Shotaro announce their Memory Breaks and finishers together as well.
    • Shotaro himself is subject to this, as he'll mix random bits of engrish into his sentences for no good reason from time to time, though it's more common than you'd think.
    • Engrish: The Movie promises to extend the events from the first episode's Cold Open of into full length. The official subtitle of this movie? Begins Night.
      • The phrase "Begins Night" is even used in the dialogue to refer to the events of the first episode's Cold Open. One of the groups fansubbing the show chose to employ a bit of Woolseyism by translating it as "the night it all began".
      • Philip even refers to the murder of Ryu's family as his "Begins Night".
    • Ep. 6: just to show that she's well outside her comfort zone, a female politician is shown wandering into a "ghetto" vandalised with such common slurs as "Love Forever" and "Who Are You". Seriously.
    • And from the soundtrack, "Finger on the Trigger". Oh dear God, "Finger on the Trigger". In addition to having some of the most painful rhyming in the history of English[4], it also gives us classics like "Get the Memory! Fight the scary!" and "Wind is browning! With your feeling!".
    • Aya Kujo of "The T That Came Back" uses this a lot. Justified in that she's spent the last few months in Los Angeles, and actually manages to speak it fairly well.
    • Unlike in the past, TV Asahi has not bothered to correct EngineBrade to EngineBlade on its website.
      • Maybe it's a thing with Accel. Terui's jacket has an english phrase written on the back.
      • Alternatively, it could be a pun on "brake" and "blade".
    • CycloneJoker Xtreme's shield is called the PrismBicker, and Forever A to Z involves a machine called the X-Bicker. Both are devices built to channel multiple GaiaMemories at once.
    • In a 'blink-and-you'll-miss-it' moment in episode 47, a higher-up in Foundation X is searching through her smartphone-ish device detailing the villains from the movie and the medals from Kamen Rider OOO. Both entries are written fully in engrish. (Engrish because, if you pause and squint to read it, it's understandable. Just not written correctly.) This may have to do with, during this scene, the woman says 'NEVER' and 'Charming Raven' in a very fluent-sounding accent.
  • Gratuitous German: Fang Streiser and Accel Glanzer, from the German for "streak" (Streise) and "gloss" (Glanz), respectively.
  • Green Lantern Ring: The Luna Memory; according to the official info, its power is "Illusions", but for the most part it manifests as Elasticity, with LunaJoker gaining stretchy limbs, LunaMetal turning the Metal Shaft into a whip, and LunaTrigger firing homing energy bullets. The "illusion" part manifests mostly for the Memory Breaks, which involve barraging the foe with karate chops, energy discs, and Beam Spam respectively. Additionally, it can reveal hidden enemies when used with the Bat Shot and create a web of light with the Spider Shock.
  • Green Rocks: The Gaia Progressor Ryubee gives to Wakana, allowing her to access her Claydoll Xtreme form and the Gaia Library.
  • Grotesque Cute: Claydoll Dopant, and Terror Dopant's Head Pet, which could almost fit in to Pokémon.
  • Grotesque Gallery: One reason for this season standing out from the rest of Kamen Rider is the inexplicably inconsistent monster designs, from Old Gen-worthy oddities like Sweets, to walking barrels of Nightmare Fuel, to designs effective enough to earn Ensemble Darkhorse status like Nasca.
  • Groundhog Day Loop: A variation. The Yesterday Dopant has the power to make people reenact the exact actions they performed in the previous day, regardless of the location or the consequences.
  • Guns vs. Swords: Twice in A to Z for Ken Ashihara/Trigger versus Terui/Accel respectively, although Terui quickly switches over to Trial to finish off Ken.
  • Handicapped Badass: Not so much the chief himself, but his iconic white hat has a small tear in it.
  • Heart Is an Awesome Power: For a long time some of the less-seen forms were derided as a cut below the others. The three most prominent ones in this case being LunaMetal, LunaJoker, and CycloneMetal. Then the Puppeteer arc came and reminded everyone what happens when a heavy metal staff is swung at tornado-wind speed and the Nightmare arc's shown once again how dangerous Luna can be even without Trigger.
  • Heel Face Turn: After Kirihiko finds out that the Sonozaki Family's ends don't justify the means in "Farewell, N!", he pulls a Heel Face Turn and goes through a really nasty divorce via one of the Taboo Dopant's energy ball things.
  • Henshin Hero: Used straight and inverted. Although the Riders, as usual, use their belts to transform, the Dopants use Transformation Trinkets of their own. This effectively makes them Henshin Villains.
  • Heroic BSOD: Invoked with Philip, who goes into this when confronted with the one bit of data missing from the Gaia Library: his family.
    • Shotaro also undergoes a more subtle variant after learning he cannot transform into Double. He gets better by the end of the episode though.
    • Philip gets another when he learns his real name: Raito Sonozaki.
    • Straight again on Shotaro after getting owned by Terror with fear that practically cripples him to near uselessness in episode 46. He got better to become the "wild card" and ruin Ryubee's plans, natch.
      • Not entirely straight, given that said fear is purely a result of Terror's attacks rather than any particular actions he takes that breaks Shotaro. The initial seed was planted in an early episode during a chance meeting between the two, and Ryubee just let it fester until fully 'activating it' in episode 45.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: The Commander Dopant became a Dopant to avenge his dead wife after she was killed by a criminal. In the end, he had not only become a Knight Templar and a criminal himself, but tries to do the exact same thing to Terui to make him a copy of him.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: The Accel movie ends with these.
  • Hollywood Tone Deaf: Jimmy.
  • Homage: Accel: A rookie holding a relatively high rank, The Rival to someone with a V-fin, a red transformed state, a monoeye and a command spike...Char Aznable, anyone?
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Big time. Titles invoke this trope not once, not twice, but thrice.
    • Each episode title holds two parts divided by a slash. Similar to Kamen Rider Kiva.
    • The first part is the name of the serial and always carries a Latin letter. The letter represents both the first letter of a key character (often the Monster of the Week) and an arc-related word.
    • The second part is the name of the individual episode. Pretty much a standard title though.
  • The Idiot From Osaka: Akiko Narumi came to Futo from Osaka to replace her father, who she didn't knew had died. Her view of the world is quite black and white and therefore she sometimes toys with this trope. However, she does keep Shotaro on the right track with her slipper slap of doom.
    • And Akiko's dream sequence in the Nightmare Dopant arc starts with her back in Osaka, with Philip and Terui showing up as lazy Osakan stereotype versions of themselves. This is a bit of an Actor Allusion on Philip's part, as Masaki Suda is Osakian himself.
  • Idol Singer: Not only does Wakana get on the action singing her own theme song "Naturally", but Queen & Elizabeth go on an American Idol-like show called "Fuuuuuutic Idol" (yes, six U's) to perform their song "Love♡Wars" (yes, with a heart). Philip and Shotaro enter the competition as "Masked(Kamen) Singers" but just cover one of the show's theme songs, I mean, a popular song on Futo radio, "Finger on the Trigger".
  • Imagine Spot: The premise of the Hardboiled Delusion Diaries.
    • For an example not Played for Laughs, when Shroud tells Phillip and Ryu that they were meant to be Kamen Rider Double, she talks about the rider they'd become, Cyclone Accel Extreme, complete with a small imagine spot of just how he'd look.
  • The Immune: Ryu and Philip appear to be immune to Gaia Memory attacks that affect one's physiology.
  • Indirect Kiss: For this reason, Akiko becomes very excited about drinking from a coffee cup that she believes Ryu has just used. Unfortunately, she's interrupted by a client before she can drink.
  • Infinity+1 Sword: The Prism Bicker.
  • I Let You Win: Ryubee allowed Shotaro and Philip to defeat Dopants, all for granting Wakana new powers and access to the Gaia Library.
    • Often overlooked is the Yesterday Dopant, who deliberately sets up her fight with Double so that, when she uses her power on Shotaro the next day, it causes him to try and kill Saeko.
  • Innocent Innuendo: Some fans think that Gunner A attaches to Accel's butt to form AccelGunner. Hmm.
    • the fact is really that Accel's legs and backside are inserted into an opening on the front of Gunner A, so it basically connects to his back, not butt
  • It Can't Be Helped: Philip bemoans this when Shotaro starts spamming him to henshin.
  • It Was a Gift: All of Accel's equipment and Double's Frog Pod and Denden Sensor were gifts handed to them by Shroud with no explanation. Yet.
  • Jidai Geki: "The Nightmarish H" centers around the Nightmare Dopant, who attacks people in their dreams. Shotaro's takes the form of a Jidai Geki after watching such a series on DVD.
  • Joshikousei: Shotaro's female informant duo, Queen and Elizabeth.
    • Just don't call Akiko one.
  • Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: The Commander Dopant is pretty much what would've happened if Ryu hadn't had Shotaro and Philip to pull him back from actually killing criminals.
  • Kawaiiko: Akiko is depicted as a contemporary version (with a brightly colored street casual outfit); we meet a more traditional one in "The Nightmarish H".
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: Jun killing Saeko.
  • Lampshade Hanging: "The Nightmarish H", "To see the Kamen Rider taking a nap [in a football field] - quite a surreal scene indeed."
  • Large Ham: Ichirou Mizuki gets to munch on some delicious scenery during his guest appearance in "The L on the Lips".

"You're not gonna stir anybody's heart unless you can shout better than THAT!!!" [5]
"I have never heard a song in my life as bad as THAT!!!" [6]

    • Mizuki is actually parodying his original performance of the Mazinger Z theme song, which involves him shouting "ZET!" at the top of his lungs multiple times, coupled with the fact that ending a sentence with "ze" is a G-Rated version of emphasis, bitch. And it would seem that he just likes Adam Westing on TV in general. Observe.
    • Akiko deserves special mention for being one of the smallest and cutest Large Hams in Kamen Rider, possibly TV history.
    • let's not forget Shotaro himself. With epic Lampshade Hanging in the last of the Hardboiled Delusion Diaries.
    • The Metal and Luna dopants in the movie are certainly not this.
  • Last-Minute Hookup: Terui, who has been either oblivious or avoiding Akiko's blatant crush on him, gets together with her at the end of episode 44 without any explanation. Teriyaki fans rejoiced.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Santa-chan in the first few minutes of Movie War Core. The full hero cast is supposed to be attending Ryuu and Akiko's wedding, but they, Shotaro, and Philip haven't arrived yet. Santa-chan remarks there's an hour and a half before the ceremony and wonder if they're okay with an Aside Glance. That's approximately the length of the movie.
  • Leitmotif: much like Den-O, there's the ones from the Double Driver along with regular ones for certain characters. Shroud and Isaka's themes even get reused during their own segments for the Forever A to Z Net Movies.
  • Library of Babel: More like Library-shaped Search Engine of Babel, but the Gaia Library can be seen as one.
  • Literal Split Personality: In the Crisis Crossover part of The Movie, Kamen Rider Decade uses a Final Form Ride card to split Double into two seperate entities: Kamen Rider Double CycloneCyclone controlled only by Philip and Kamen Rider Double JokerJoker controlled only by Shotaro.
  • Load-Bearing Boss: Inverted with Ryuubee's defeat in that the only reason his mansion explodes upon the breaking of the Terror Memory is that his dragon summon, simultaneously defeated in a separate battle, crashes into it.
  • Love Chart: Only rarely actually concerned with romantic love, but regardless, the second episode of every arc begins with a chart showing the involvement and roles of every person connected to the current case, with a "Previously On..." narrating over top.
  • Love Makes You Crazy

Marina/T-Rex Dopant: "Wonderful, Sho-chan. I love you...so...[licks lips] ...I'll eat you."

    • Let's add Aya Kujo/Triceratops Dopant for her motivation in colluding with the Gaia Memory distributors as vengeance for her lover Mizoguchi:

"The real target of my revenge should be on this worm-infested city called Futo. Mizoguchi loved Futo from the bottom of his heart. He protected it! But this city didn't protect him. They tore up his pride and scorned him! That's unforgivable! Completely unforgivable! This city should just disappear!"

    • And the Nightmare Dopant targets those who he thinks are rivals for his classmate Himeka's affection.
    • A more benign version is Akiko around Ryu, although she got the guy.
  • Love Makes You Evil: Kazu.
  • Lucky Charms Title: Queen and Elizabeth's song, Love♡Wars.
  • Luminescent Blush: Shotaro gets a CGI one of these in episode 30, after Philip confirms their partnership.

Philip: "My only partner is Shotaro. You alone."
Shotaro: "...why are you saying that now?"
Akiko: "Aren't you blushing?"
Shotaro: "Don't be stupid, of course not!"

    • Terui does this in one of the Delusion Diaries.
  • Made of Explodium: The D&G Building from Begins Night suffers nowhere near enough damage (from anyone) to warrant the entire top half of the building to blow up. Same goes with the satellites and facility in 48: Shotarou gets a control panel to malfunction by getting his stag phone to wreck it, and the entire facility and three satellite dishes blow up
  • Made of Indestructium: RevolGarry's primary function seems to be blocking fatal attacks and generally running things over.
    • T2 Gaia Memories are immune to Memory Break attacks.
  • Magical Defibrillator: Accel can apparently slash cardiac arrest victims with his EngineBlade on it's Electric setting for instant revival.
  • Magical Foreign Words: Used by Shotaro and Philip to get Double's two halves in sync for a Memory Break. See the Calling Your Attacks example above for more.
  • The Man Behind the Man: "Shroud was the one who gave Weather his Gaia Memory!"
  • Man Child: One of Shotaro's informers, Watcherman: an Otaku blogger with a Funny Afro.
  • Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Akiko Narumi, who Shotaro doesn't want in his life because she messes up his "hard-boiled" image.
  • Matrix Raining Code: The inside of the Xtreme Memory. Bits and pieces of code tend to appear during the Xtreme transformation too, but not nearly as much as Xtreme Memory's inside.
  • Meaningful Name: Shotaro Hidari[7].
    • Saeko[8] Sonozaki.
      • It also seems to be pronounced somewhat like "psycho".
    • Philip's real name is Raito.
    • The "Gaia Memories" are said to be the memories of the Earth itself.
    • The Movie introduces us to Maria S. Cranberry, who acts as a surrogate mother figure to Philip. She's far from the most famous mother named Maria/Mary.
  • Mecha Expansion Pack: Double's bike can switch its rear wheel extensions on the RevolGarry for different modes of transportation. Unlike the previous series, each combo technically has its own name.
    • HardBoilder: Land transport. Pretty much the default form. Can come with rocket boosters for speed (Start Dash Mode).
    • HardTurbuler: Air transport.
    • HardSplasher: Water transport, aquatic and subaquatic.
    • HardMammother: The Movie introduces this mammoth elephant robot that the HardBoilder's front unit can combine with.
      • Which is strange, considering it's an enemy mech and it's never explained how the HardBoilder can connect with it.
    • Gunner A/AccelGunner/HardGunner: a large robot with claws that cann assist Accel, then turn into a tank to link up with Accel Bike Form or the front control unit of Double's vehicles to give him/it rocket boosters and a turret cannon.
  • Meido: Akiko goes undercover to the Sonozaki mansion in this attire. Wakana is somewhat not impressed by Akiko's Genki Girl antics.
    • Later she exposed one of the maids as the Sweets Dopant who had an addiction to sweets and kidnaps chefs and force them to make cakes for her. Well, what do you mean is not symbolic, and the monster is an insane bitch.
  • Metal Slime: In the movie, the Dummy Dopant, who had little in regards to physical strength in direct combat but survived going up against Kamen Rider Decade without getting killed and was very good at running away.
  • Mix and Match: Take a Superhero series, stir in some Film Noir, and sprinkle a bit of Post Cyber Punk on top, and you get Kamen Rider Double.
  • Money Fetish: The Money Dopant, that is!
  • Mono-Gender Monsters: Thoroughly averted for once in a Rider series. Half the Dopants Double fights are women. Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism is averted since the Dopants' real identities are part of The Reveal, though Yesterday Dopant's cape does give the impression of a miniskirt for some reason.
  • Mook Maker: Luna Dopant in Forever A to Z; Commander Dopant in W Returns: Accel.
  • Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Isaka.
  • More Dakka: Probably the concept behind the Arms and Trigger Dopants.
  • The Movie: Kamen Rider × Kamen Rider Double & Decade: Movie War 2010, which consists of three "acts": the first (The Last Story) is Decade's Grand Finale, the second (Begins Night) focuses on Double, and the third (Movie War 2010) has the two meeting and battling their mutual enemies.
    • Double gets its own solo movie, Kamen Rider Double Forever: A to Z/The Gaia Memories of Fate, in August 2010.
    • Double also gets another Movie Wars three-parter in Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider OOO & W feat. Skull: Movie Wars CORE, which, like Movie War 2010, consist of three acts: the first act (Skull: Message for W) is Skull's background story, the second act (Nobunaga's Desire) focuses on OOO, and the third (Movie War CORE) has OOO and Double meeting and taking on the titular Kamen Rider Core.
  • Multiform Balance
  • Myth Arc: The final arc seems to be setting one up for future Kamen Rider series, with the revelation that Foundation X is researching all kinds of unusual artifacts, including the O-Medals.
  • Mythology Gag: Thanks to the two-men-into-one Rider System, we have the first Kamen Rider to use both the best-known methods of donning the Rider Belt: Shotaro wears it manually (first done by Riderman and Faiz), and the belt materializes around Philip (started by the original Kamen Rider).
    • With the introduction of the Fang Memory, it plays homage to another relatively popular Belt gimmick: The Fang Memory is capable of attacking enemies on its own, briefly stunning them, a trait first introduced in Kamen Rider Kabuto with the Zecters and later also used with Kivat in Kamen Rider Kiva.
      • Speaking of Fang, activating the Maximum Drive requires Double to hit the horn 3 times as done by Kabuto.
    • It should also be noted that Double isn't exactly the first Rider to share a body as a gimmick. All the colored halves of Double are colored similarly to the Taros, Deneb and Sieg, with the purple areas on Joker corresponding to Ryuta, and Metal silver representing Teddy. And Double uses his hoverbike for the first time against an aquatic monster much like Rod Form used the Radome in his debut.
      • Crosses into Funny Aneurysm Moment with the Liar Dopant, who interprets Kintaros' Catch Phrase AND use of actual papers a little differently.
      • And Shotaro going into full hero mode, at the potential risk of his own life, seems to also homage Kintaros taking over as Den-O at the sight of a person crying.
      • Speaking of which, Akiko inherited Momotaros' shouting fits (her reaction to Xtreme Form even mirrors Momo's reaction to getting Climax Form).

(In ep. 3) "I'm pissed!...part two."

    • And CycloneJoker form carries notable elements of Kamen Rider-1 (Hongo Takeshi)'s design: metallic green and black as main colors, red eyes, the scarf, and double silver stripes (only down the middle and not the sleeves and legs.) In a similar vein, HeatMetal colors are similar to Kamen Rider X (who incidentally was the first Rider to wield a rod). Also, LunaTrigger has the colors associated with the alternate forms of Kamen Rider Black RX (blue for Prince of Wrath/Biorider, yellow for Prince of Sorrow/Roborider). It should be noted that Roborider's weapon was a gun and Biorider's ability to become a viscous liquid predates the Luna half's bizarre flexibility.
      • It's probably worth noting here that Kamen Rider-2 (Hayato Ichimonji) also carried those colors. Both of them are usually referred to as: wait for it: Double Riders.
      • Cyclone form is the only one with a scarf. Fitting, considering that the original three Riders were powered by wind and that Cyclone was the name of the Cool Bikes used by the original Double Riders.
      • The spinning circle on CycloneJoker Xtreme's belt references the one on the very first Kamen Rider's belt, Typhoon. Not only does it look similar, but it's even named Xtyphoon. The fact that Xtreme Memory takes the form of a bird also references the eagle motif on Shocker belt buckles.
      • The Training from Hell that Shroud puts Terui Ryuu through in ep. 36 is something that Ichigo and most Showa Riders would already be familiar with, courtesy of Tachibana Tobei.
      • Perhaps the Masquerade Dopants could also count in as upgraded and glorified Shocker mooks (in suits, no less!) They also get scramblers in Forever A to Z.
    • Double's asymetrical color scheme is reminscent of Kikaider, another Ishinomori series. And when in HeatTrigger form, he has the exact same colors as Kikaider 01.
    • In "The Girl...A", a small girl carries a soft toy that resembles Kamen Rider Knight.
    • The "Joker Extreme" kick order is quite reminding of the leg position of the sideway Rider Kicks.
    • Skull is pretty clearly an homage to another Ishinomori creation serving as a proto-Kamen Rider of sorts, the Skull Man.
      • Alternatively, it could be a Shout-Out to the manga Kamen Rider Spirits, namely to Interpol agent Taki Kazuya, who pretty successfully attempts to become a Kamen Rider himself despite lacking any kind of augmentation. And to compensate for his lack of cybernetics, Skull Rider uses guns.
      • Similarly, Accel carries many visual similarities to an Ishinomori tokusatsu hero called Kaiketsu Zubat.
    • The Arms Dopant not only borrows the Trial Undead's pastiche of mimicking Kamen Riders, but some design aspects as well (skull-like features and cybernetics).
    • Watcherman is a very subtle one: His appearance is based on Ishinomori.
    • There's also a parallel between the main characters of Double and another detective-themed Toei tokusatsu:
    • From Double Forever: A to Z, Kamen Rider Eternal not only draws upon elements of Oni design (banded armor instead of chestplates, and two-colored flaming motif), but is colored the same as Oni-form Kiriya.
      • Before that though, Bird Dopant can be heard repeating the phrase "onii-san, kochira" (normally heard from Douji and Hime) in ep. 18.
    • The Hopper Dopant, who fights exclusively using kicks not unlike Kamen Rider Kick Hopper (especially with the sparks from the heels just like Yaguruma and his spurs)
      • Who in turn was a Shout-Out to the original Kamen Rider 1.
      • In Kamen Rider the First Hongo Takeshi/Kamen Rider 1 ws referred to as Hopper.
      • Furthermore in human form, she uses boots with stun gun heels - just like Taki Kazuya.
    • Mikio Jinno is an Expy of Okubo Daisuke, the ORE Journal chief from Kamen Rider Ryuki.
    • Kamen Rider Joker looks remarkably similar to Kamen Rider Black, and even strikes the same pose as him.
    • The Utopia Dopant rather resembles Kamen Rider Gaoh, including the way the trinket is dropped to start the transformation
      • And he uses Garren's backflipping-drop kick Rider Kick during the final battle, where it's countered by Double's Double Prism Xtreme.
    • In the crossover movie set with Kamen Rider OOO, we are shown Soukichi Narumi's first case as Kamen Rider Skull. Who does he fight? The Spider and Bat Dopants.
    • In A to Z: The Gaia Memory of Fate, several sound effects first used in Kamen Rider are used a couple times.
      • Speaking of which, the sound of the Ongeki drum can be heard during the Jidai Geki dream in "The Nightmarish H" (the moment Terui Ryuu shows up).
    • The Weather Dopant describing the sight of a Kamen Rider sleeping in the open as 'surreal'...did he catch the ED for Kamen Rider Kuuga?
    • The net-exclusive comedy shorts released alongside Double Forever manage two Shout Outs to previous Kamen Rider shows. When discussing the Feudal Japan Memories from the Nightmare arc, Jinno suggests that the Feudal version of Fang would be "Kiba", followed by saying "Kivatte ikuze!". Makura interrupts, saying, "That's from that Kouji Seto show!" In another short, Shroud tells Akiko that they're going to go on a journey to learn as much as they can about all the Riders; Akiko protests "But it's not like I'm Decade or anything!"
    • Accel has two Super Modes, one which gives super speed, and the other which allows him to fly.
      • Also from W Returns: Accel, the Commander Dopant's Mooks have Zectrooper body armor, which had previously been recycled for the Lion Imagin's minions.
      • The location of the final battle is Kazami Quarry, which may serve as a Lampshade Hanging on the fact that V3 and Accel have similar backstories (losing their parents and little sister to a Kaijin).
  • Name's the Same: There's a Nasca in the third Keroro Gunsou movie. She's also an alterego (real name Miruru), with the ability to sprout wings.
    • Was the Taboo Dopant inspired by the Black Eyed Peas?
      • A pity then, that the W isn't for will.i.am...
    • And yeah. Saeko Sonozaki. Did she share a name with a certain Kamen Rider Faiz character and had a similar position for the villains?
      • Sonozaki you say? As an added bonus, Wakana was in a live-action adaptation thereof as Mion.
    • Sokichi Narumi, with the white hat and all, brings to mind a certain Sokichi Banba, better known as Big One of JAKQ Dengekitai.
    • One guest in "The F Afterglow" is an ex-thief named Fuyumi Aso, which means she may have relatives in another parallel world.
    • 'Fangs' are also tiny self-mobile weapons used by Gundam Throne Zwei and Arche Gundam.
    • There also was an Isaka in Kamen Rider Blade.
    • From "The B Carried on the Wind", Isamu Bitou, much like Isamu Ozu, had been locked away from society for some time (albeit for different reasons). It's worth noting that CycloneJoker Xtreme, who debuts here, carries a sword and shield that slide together, much like Wolzard's did. He also has the same family name as Kouta Bitou, who also is friends with a guy and a girl, though in this case all three are Just Friends (close friends, but still).
    • The client from episodes 45-46 is named Kyoko Todoroki.
    • Surprisingly, Shotaro, Genre Savvy that he is, didn't freak out at the fact that his partner's true name is Raito Sonozaki.
    • The Narumi Detective Agency has absolutely nothing to do with a certain other one that deals with a certain soulless army.
    • The client in episode 49 wishes to see his sister Yui rescued. They're both someone's sister and in need of rescue constantly, but then again that's kind of a staple female role on Kamen Rider.
  • The Napoleon: Akiko, Akiko, Akiko.

Akiko: "Who're you callin' a - beautiful - middle schooler?!"
Shotaro: "I didn't say that!"

  • Never Found the Body: Sokichi Narumi's remains were never found, lampshaded in Begins Night. Also, at the end of "What K Needs", Shotaro knows that the case isn't over yet because Wakana's body wasn't found.
  • Nice Hat: Shotaro's fedora of awesome. Also Terror Dopant, whose oversized headgear gets special attention during his Transformation Sequence, and even has its own curtains, which obscured his true appearance during his Early-Bird Cameo in "The W Search".
    • Not to mention the Boss' wonderful fedora in both human and rider forms...
    • Weatherman's bowler cap of evil.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Shotaro slips the fact that Phillip died to save Wakana, who then runs off to start the Gaia Impact. However, Wakana executes the Gaia Impact, but uses it to revive Phillip. This proved vital when Phillip took an energy bullet for Shotaro. So in short, If Shotaro Didn't say Phillip died to Wakana, he would have died. Nice Job Fixing It, Hero?
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Utopia's plan to revive Wakana's energy by tormenting Phillip also got to Shotaro enough to make him rescue her.
  • Won't Work On Me: The entire point of the Jewel Dopant. Taking a Bicker Charge Break (CycloneJokerExtreme's strongest attack to date) without so much as flinching is rather hilarious. While it displays no real offensive powers, it is not like it gives a rat's ass about anything everyone else has to offer. That is, until Philip finds out its weak point, its "belt buckle", and hits said weak point with another Bicker Charge Break.
  • Non-Lethal KO: The first Kamen Rider series where they don't kill or even seal away the monsters; they're reverted back into their human forms instead.
  • Not So Different: Kirihiko loves the town of Futo as much as Shotaro does, he just has a funny way of showing it.
    • Katsumi Daido tries doing this to Phillip in Double Forever, especially in regards to their both being "corpses". Further enhanced by the fact that Teenage Daido in the flashback scenes is played by Phillip's actor Masaki Suda.
    • The Commander Dopant to Ryu. They were motivated to get their powers by losing their family and the Commander uses this to try and make Ryu become a copy of him. Ultimately, the difference between the two is Ryu knows when to stop, in part thans to Shotaro and Philip.
  • Not So Stoic: Turns out that the chief had a half-boiled streak too.
  • Not What It Looks Like: In "The L on the Lips", Shotaro is the first to realise that running after another guy on a beach complete with Disturbed Doves could be easily misread...
  • Of Corpse He's Alive: Whenever his mind is in Double's body, Philip is unconscious, so his lifeless body is a sitting duck. In "Find the C", nobody tried to interact with them, but Akiko had to make-believe they were napping sweethearts, so as not to draw attention on the bus.
  • Official Couple: Terui/Akiko, made just after the end of Ep 44.
  • Oh Crap: At the beginning of "The Tragedy Of Y" arc, when Ryu, Mikio, and Makura interrogate a suspect, and he almost jumps off the building, though Ryu managed to caught him by the ankle.
  • Older Than They Look: Mitsuru Matsuoka, who plays Katsumi Daido in the Double Forever A to Z movie. Try to guess his age... He's turning 40.
  • Omake: A series of DVD shorts collecively called "Shotaro's Hard Boiled Delusion Diary".
    • And the 26 Net Movies accompanying the theatrical release of Forever A to Z.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting: "The D was Seen" gleefully combines this with the sudden, out-of-nowhere appearance of the Terror Dopant, preceded by his Primal Fear. Scary enough yet?
  • One-Winged Angel: The show brings out its giant CGI monsters as early as the second episode. The effect is somewhat lost when you consider that the T-Rex Dopant's is basically cobbled together from rubble. And the Anomalocaris, which, for some reason, is awfully fast also on land.
  • One-Woman Wail: The prologue; the pupil and the boy, cornered at every side, transformed into Double out of desperation just as they're about to be blasted sky high. Next second; cue the music...
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Terui is extremely determined to be the one that defeats Isaka, and was ready to start an enraged fight with Double for Memory Breaking said villian. Isaka dodged it anyway, but still.
  • "On the Next Episode of..." Catchphrase: "This'll clinch it!" [9]
    • As well as an "On the Last Episode of Catchphrase" in the preview for the final episode: "Kore de owari da!" [10]
  • Patrick Stewart Speech: Philip's "Nobody's Perfect" speech to Shotaro.
  • Pensieve Flashback: The premise of Message for W in Movie Wars Core.
  • Personality Powers: The NEVER mercenaries from Double Forever end up with the Memory that best reflects their personality and fighting style: the sexy martial artist who hates cold gets Heat, the burly staff fighter gets Metal, the Camp Gay whip fighter gets Luna, the Cold Sniper gets Trigger, and the woman who deceived Phillip into helping them gets Cyclone.
  • Perverse Puppet: Getting its own story arc. As typical of the trope, it looks to be Nightmare Fuel.
  • Phlebotinum Overload: Isaka's demise is a result of this.
  • Picky Eater: The Sweets Dopant, to the extent that she is revealed by reacting violently to Akiko's desserts (it's not even in Lethal Chef territory, just rank amateur). It's not played for laughs either.
  • Playing Gertrude: Eldery Shotaro and Akiko in one of the Hardboiled Delusion skits where Shotaro imagines the detective agency in the future.
  • Plug N Play Technology: The same Memories that turn Shotaro into Double can be used to give the Memory Gadgets a power boost if need be. Dopant Memories work with or without their own Driver gear, but with significantly different results. (Gaia Memories used without a Driver "consume" their user, causing addiction and rapid personality degeneration.) And "The S Terror" is the first time a Memory Gadget attaches to one of Double's weapons.
    • "Farewell, N!" shows that if you don't have a bio-port to plug into, you shouldn't be playing the Memory game.
      • Which leaves us with the question, what if a Rider tried to use a Dopant or Memory Gadget memory?
  • POV Sequel: Kamen Rider W Returns: Accel. Eternal is an aversion, however - it serves as a prequel to The Movie
  • Power Gives You Wings: Nasca Dopant busts this out in his first real battle with Double.
    • In a strange example, the Quetzalcoatlus Memory itself has wings.
    • Cyclone Joker Gold Extreme also gains a fancy pair of wings in A to Z. It's also the highest level of power Double's achieved.
  • Power Level: In "Farewell, N!", Saeko mentions to her father that Kirihiko has attained the Super Speed powers of the Nasca Memory. Ryubee states that it means he has finally reached the second level of its powers. Too bad we don't get to see him use them for much longer.
  • The Power of Trust: Detective Jinno turns out to have weaponized this quite unintentionally when he was a beat cop. When delinquents (like a young Shoutarou) would make up lies to avoid getting in trouble, he would believe them so completely that the liars would end up wanting to believe it themselves.

Shoutarou: He isn't easy to fool. He's skilled at being fooled.

  • Power Walk: Episode 32.
  • "Previously On...": Done with a String Theory, which was revealed in Movie Wars Core to be the creation of Soukichi's old partner.
  • Private Detective
  • Private Eye Monologue: Shotaro's very first one started as a spoof, but following that, he drops a few lines here and there, and always at the end of every arc.
  • Purple Is the New Black: Even though the Joker and Skull memories are all black, the color of their symbol and associated color-coded attacks are purple.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Kirihiko.
    • In "Goodbye to the E", the entire Sonozaki family seems significantly calmer and content in their version of the afterlife, inverting this trope into Death Equals Redemption for Ryubee and Saeko.
  • Refuge in Audacity: Akiko using her slipper on a police detective in "Find the C". She takes it one step further in "The D was Seen" by barging into the police station as well.
    • In "Who the K Needs", she breaks out a pair she calls "dowsing slippers" to search for an artifact left in a ruin-ish area. And they work.
    • Deconstructed by Terui Ryu, who's allowed to exact his personal agenda with Rider gear from Shroud, despite being with the police, instead of say, being put through a psych evaluation following the death of his whole family.
  • Retro Universe: Though he lives in a modern time, Shotaro styles his life after 40s' hardboiled noir.
  • Rich Bitch: Wakana Sonozaki.
    • "The Radio Q" implies that she's more Tsundere.
  • Right-Hand-Cat: Fitting of an evil mastermind, the head of the Sonozaki Family has one named Mick. It even has its own Gaia Memory and Dopant form: Smilodon.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: A majority of the Dopants who can be classified Jerkass Woobie fall on this motivation, but special propos to Kujo Aya/Triceratops Dopant in avenging her unjustly-persecuted lover and Yukie Sudo/Yesterday Dopant for trying to avenge her murdered brother Kirihiko, the Nasca Dopant.
  • Robot Buddy: Almost like the Disc Animals of Kamen Rider Hibiki, our heroes have the "Memory Gadgets"; equipments that can turn into animal forms (Live Mode) with their own Memories.
    • Stag Phone: A cellphone with flight and small attacks. Can summon the RevolGarry and perform a strange pincer blast with the Trigger Magnum.
    • Spider Shock: Essentially a watch with a Grappling Hook Pistol. Also fires tracking beacons and can shoot webs when connected to the Trigger Magnum in Luna Mode.
    • Bat Shot: A digital camera which can place itself virtually anywhere and reveal invisible opponents with the Luna Memory. Attaching it to the Metal Shaft turns it into the Sonic Shaft, which can shatter objects; and attaching it to the Trigger Magnum allows it to fire a focused, precision shot.
    • Fang Memory: A little dinosaur that allows Kamen Rider Double to access his Mid-Season Upgrade: FangJoker. It also serves as Philip's guardian. When attached to the Double Driver, it folds itself into the shape of a dinosaur head.
    • Beetle Phone: Accel's cellphone that is the kabutomushi to the Double's Stag Phone's kuwagatamushi. Ryu uses it to spy on Shotaro and Philip at first, then later makes use of it as a cell phone and can remote-control Gunner A with it.
    • Frog Pod: A CD Player dock for the MP3-like Frog Memory (read: iPod Shuffle) which records what the Frog Pod hears as a surveillance device.
    • Denden Sensor: A pair of nightvision/infrared goggles that turn into a snail with a laser tripwire. Can see anything.
  • Running Gag: Shotaro and his "half-boiled" lifestyle.
    • Jun dropping things.
  • Saint Bernard Rescue: Episode 19 has a brief moment where Philip pretends he's a St. Bernard thanks to Wakana's radio show. Shotaro is not amused.
  • Scarf of Asskicking: The first appearance of the iconic scarf in quite a while. Only with Cyclone active, though.
    • Nasca Dopant has one, modelled after Kamen Rider V 3.
    • Skull has one as well.
  • Scenery Porn: During Akiko's dream in episode 30, we get to see Osaka's Tower of the Sun, its castle, and the Tsutenkaku, all in about 5 minutes.
  • Sharing a Body: Though not the first to feature the idea, this is the first Kamen Rider series with two people merging into a single Rider.
  • Ship Tease: Akiko's had ship tease with Shotaro (particularly "The P's Game" and "Y's Tragedy") and Terui ("The P's Game" and "The O Chain"). She and Terui become the Official Couple after "The O Chain", episode 44.
    • Begins Night also hinted that Elizabeth has a crush on Philip.
    • "The Radio Q" has some ship teasing between Philip and Wakana. Which, like Kamen Rider Den-O, is also Squick Tease as it turns out that Philip and Wakana are brother and sister.
    • In "Y's Tragedy", Shotaro appears to develop feelings for Yuko, who's really Yukie Sudo, the Yesterday Dopant. Delusion Diary #9 hints that he is prepared to wait for her until she regains her memories.
  • Shoe Slap
  • Short Distance Phone Call: Philip and Wakana do this in "Client X".
  • Shout-Out: In the first episode, Shotaro pulls out a copy of Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye, one of the quintessential hard-boiled detective novels.
    • Philip's name is a reference for famed private eye Philip Marlowe. In fact, Sokichi Narumi named the amnesiac Philip directly after him.
    • The "Futo Irregulars" seem to be an analog to the Baker Street Irregulars from the Sherlock Holmes series.
    • Shotaro's first name may be based on the creator of Kamen Rider, Shotaro Ishinomori. Notably, though, the Kanji for "Sho" is different.
    • The name 'DJ HURRY KEN' doubles as a Punny Name and a shout out to Ken Hirai[11].
    • Ep. 29 is titled "Nemuri Hime no Yuutsu".
    • The Beast Dopant has a wife named Belle.
    • In Begins Night, Sokichi says "Those who shoot should be prepared to be shot at."
    • In "Y's Tragedy", Isaka says that the Yesterday Dopant found a way to counter the insanity from Memory usage by draining the fluid buildup from the Memory and projecting it into other people to create a form of mind control. Think he got that from Jason Stryker's case file?
    • A reference to The Old Man and the Sea is used as a password in "The O Chain". It's even described as "by Hemingway".
    • In "Who The K Needs", Accel links up with the Turbuler parts and fights the Terror Dragon as a human torso mounted on a flight booster; this may be a Shout-Out to Mobile Suit Gundam, where the Gundam had a near-identical configuration with the G-Armor (dubbed "Gundam + B-Parts" officially).
    • The Hyper Battle video where they're dealing with a Donburi Dopant has Shoutarou, Akiko, and Ryuu go at it a'la Iron Chef in order to solve the case as Philip was too hungry to even go into the Bookshelves. To wit: Kitchen Garage instead of Kitchen Stadium, Philip dressing up in glittery clothes as the Chairman (although not as flashy as Kaga's wardrobe), and banging a gong.
      • And the Frog Pod doing the "battle commentary" with the voice of Shinichiro Ohta, Iron Chef's floor reporter.
    • During one of the "Hardboiled Deulsion Diary" Omake shorts on the DVDs, Shotaro has a daydream where the rest of the cast are hitmen after his life. Ryu ends up dressed like Duke Togo of Golgo 13, complete with fake eyebrows and sideburns.
      • In the Net Movies released with Double Forever, the logo for Isaka's segment is the logo for House MD, with "Dopant" replacing "House".
    • At the beginning of The Gaia Memory Of Fate, one of the people on the helicopter says "Kamen Rider" in perfect English and along the lines of Dragon Knight's transformation call.
      • Also, in the same movie, before the duo becomes Double for the first time in the movie, Shotaro enters via bike and delivers a flying side kick. Now recall that time a similar hero did that.
      • Ryuu/Accel's spin attack in episode 28 and against Weather and Nazca in Gaia Memory of Fate looks pretty familiar.
      • W Returns: Accel adds the spinning of those bike-wheels on his legs as a defensive weapon.
    • In another "Hardboiled Delusion Diaries" Omake, Magician Akiko's magic show is called "Princess Akiko's Magical Stage".
    • In the final battle, Jun/Utopia tries to drain the power of W CycloneJokerXtreme, but is physically harmed by the power being too much for him to absorb, much like in Kinnikuman when Buffaloman is burning up inside from absorbing Kinnikuman's Burning Inner Strength.
  • Shout-Out Theme Naming: Carrying over the theme started in Kamen Rider Decade with Natsumi (Summer) and Haruka (Spring); Akiko (Autumn), and the F Afterglow arc character Fuyumi (Winter).
    • In an extremely obscure example, the bands that perform the Rider's image songs (Labor Day, Galveston 19, Florida Keys, and Wilma-Sidr) are all named after famous 20th century hurricanes.
      • Wilma-Sidr is a double-theme naming, "Sidr" being a Category 5 Cyclone in the Indian Ocean.
      • And believe it or not, the recurring brand name Windscale also counts.
  • Show Within a Show: Shotaro and Philip's are huge fans of the radio show "Healing Princess", hosted by Wakana Sonozaki, who they don't realize is one of the villains.
  • Signature Style: Koichi Sakamoto has been invited back to Japan to direct several Toei projects, including W Returns: Accel. Let's just say that other directors might not have gotten the hang of choreographing Accel Booster.
  • Sitcom Arch Nemesis: Mikio's deputy, Shun Makura, to Shotaro. Lampshaded all the way in "The W Search".
    • Kirihiko and Wakana seemed to be this at first, but they got over it.
  • Someday This Will Come in Handy: Santa-chan, another informant, gives Shotaro a bunch of miscellaneous crap in "Don't Lay a Finger on M", including a deck of cards. Shotaro later plays a winner-take-all game of Old Maid, and won in the end with those same cards.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Quite literally, in the show it's the Nasca Dopant, not the Nazca Dopant.
    • Maybe they were going for "NASCAR Dopant" instead?
    • Philip was subject to this as well. In the show, his "Gaia" Aura spells his name as "Philippe" while every magazine that prints the characters' names in English uses "Philip".
    • The show itself can be called Kamen Rider W instead of Double.
  • Spit Take: Shotaro has two: one in the first episode when Akiko informs him that she's his new landlord and is evicting him, and another in the Gaia Memory Encyclopedia.
  • Spooky Photographs: A fusion of type 1 and 2 here. The Sonozaki family photo reveals them for what they really are.
    • Then played for laughs in the beginning of "Client X", when Dr Yamashiro walks into the agency while Akiko and Shotaro are too preoccupied with taking staff photos to notice him at all...until they see the resulting photos...
  • Stage Mom: Akiko comes up against them in "The O Chain"
  • The Starscream: Saeko Sonozaki spends a few episodes turning into this while being seduced by Isaka Shinkuro. She finally dares to attack her father in "Beyond R"...only to have Weather die on her, leaving her alone in her attempted coup.
    • Until Jun Kazu shows up to help her ...
  • Stealth Hi Bye: Ryubee pulls the Stealth Hi on occasion, while Shroud tends towards the Stealth Bye.
  • Stock Dinosaurs: The show follows this trope to a T with the T-Rex, Smilodon, and Triceratops Dopants. However it subverts the hell out of it when it comes to the Anomalocaris and Quetzalcoatlus Dopants.
    • It should be noted that for the Japanese, the Anomalocaris does fit this trope.
  • Straw Vulcan: Philip is somewhere between this and, appropriate for the detective theme, The Watson.
  • Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: The Virus Dopant, in a nutshell.
  • Stunt Double: Used on occasion for Mick, because obviously there's no way they'd put a real cat in harm's way. The Double Forever net videos parody this during Kirihiro's "interview" with Mick: when Kirihiro gets mad and starts beating on Mick, it's obviously a plush cat. Then after Mick turns into the Smilidon Dopant and gets his revenge, Kirihiko himself turns into a human-sized dummy with a photograph of Kirihiko's face taped to the head.
  • Subordinate Excuse: Kazu claims to be in love with Saeko and wants to be her business partner/subordinate so he can help her defeat her father.
  • Super Mode: A half-example (literally) in FangJoker, making it the Mid-Season Upgrade form.
    • Double's true Super Mode was later revealed to be CycloneJoker Xtreme.
    • Accel's is called Accel Trial and makes him the ultimate Fragile Speedster.
      • Accel and Double's ultimate Super Mode is CycloneAccel Xtreme, and it's been Shroud's true goal all along.
      • Double has an alternate version of CycloneJoker Xtreme called CycloneJoker Gold Xtreme, where the Crystal Server in the middle of the suit is colored yellow and he gains wings for flight.
      • Accel also gains a new form, Booster, which he gets through a Gaia Memory Enhancement Adapter, giving him flight via jet boosters scattered along the arms, legs, and back, as well multiplying his power exponentially
  • Superpower Lottery: Inverted with the Virus Dopant. Kirihiko thinks that its ability to manifest and act outside of its user's body makes it more deadly. It certainly seems that way at first, racking up a fairly large body count compared to previous Dopants...except then it's revealed by Saeko that this kind of manifestation drastically reduces the power of the Virus Memory, which, when un-nerfed, can kill entire cities effortlessly. Thanks to the state of its user, it's weak enough to only be able to put up a challenge for Double rather than kill him outright.
    • Played utterly straight with the Weather Dopant, who can tap into pretty much every Elemental Power in the book. In his first episode alone he used Playing with Fire, An Ice Person, Blow You Away, and Shock and Awe, and the drowning murders imply he also has Making a Splash.
    • The Nasca Memory is shaping up to be one now that Saeko's using it and unlocked stage 3. It has super-speed on level with Accel Trial and can actually outmuscle Xtreme.
    • Utopia is a particularly extreme example. It draws power from other peoples' hopes, allowing it to do pretty much anything it wants. Such feats include nullifying gravity, stopping attacks by cancelling their motion, flinging around fire and electricity with ease, and even beating Accel so hard that it lit on fire and badly injured Terui through the suit.
  • Super Prototype: Inverted; according to official info, Skull and his Lost Driver are the prototypes for Double and his Double Driver. While Skull is more generally useful since it only requires one user, Double is more powerful and versatile.
  • Survivor Guilt: There's some evidence Shotaro has this with regards to his mentor; at least part of his stand-offishness with Akiko is that, as Sokichi's daughter, she's a constant reminder - especially when asking after her father.
  • Sweet Tooth: The Sweets Dopant suffer from this.
  • Takahashi Couple: Shotaro and Akiko are always at each others' throats but it's been implied a couple times that there might be an underlying attraction.
  • Take Our Word for It: Jimmy's third and final performance - despite sticking with his "Spilk" music (and the obvious absence of any kind of Training Montage), he finally earns genuine applause just for "putting his true heart into it", but the audio is left out so we never hear a thing.
  • Take That: The Dummy Dopant in Begins Night is a bogus priest who's started his own movement with numerous celebrity believers.
  • Take Up My Cool Hat: Shotaro's mentor is fatally wounded in the prologue, and passes on his Nice Hat to Shotaro before he dies. Shotaro doesn't walk around wearing it after that though: He hangs it on the door to the Elaborate Underground Base and wears a different one.
    • Begins Night mentions that Shotaro started out with no hat; he inherited his mentor's entire hat collection.
    • Judging by the Utopia arc's trailers Shotaro finally considers himself worthy of wearing it.
      • It's his "Not playing around anymore." hat. Shotaro took on Utopia sans transformation to foil his plot, armed with nothing but gadgets and style. He even blocked an attack USING the hat.
  • Talking with Signs: Either the writing on Akiko's slippers are responding to this trope, or she's got dozens of pairs hidden someplace...
    • Deconstructed in "The Likelihood of the G" with Kawai Toru, who's dependent on writing in his notepad because he can't bring himself to speak up, much like another Hikikkomori.
  • Teens Are Monsters: EXE in the final episode, in which one of them claims that they are going to succeed the Museum. Now, seeing what the Museum is made of, that's saying something.
  • Teleport Spam: The Zone Dopant's shtick.
  • Ten Minutes in the Closet: Dango and Chizuru get locked in the RevolGarry together in episode 8. This seemed to be the non-romantic type; making up results in them spending the next few minutes of the episode street dancing rather than any hugging or kissing.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: "W-B-X" plays precisely three times in the series, and every time it signaled incoming awesomeness. In Episode 28, it started when Double and Accel fought the Weather Dopant together and performed a Double Rider Kick. In Episode 48, it played when Shotaro confronted Jun Kazu and kicked his ass without transforming. And it plays in the final episode over Shotaro and Phillip's first post-reunion fight as Double as they kick the Energy Dopant's ass.
    • Four times. In Double Forever, it plays over the transformation to CycloneJokerGoldXtreme and Eternal's subsequent ass-kicking atop Futo Tower.
  • 3D Movie: Early in an investigation of a movie theater in "The Likelihood of the G", Shotaro and Akiko come across the film version of their favorite drama Saheiji of the Wind, their favourite Jidai Geki series. In 3D, of course, perhaps as a nod to the popularity of the trend in theatres at the moment.

Shotaro: Look at that...Kaze no Saheji: The Movie! And it's even in 3D!!

    • Double's feature movie Double Forever was also shown in 3D, though not in all cinemas.
  • This Is What the Building Will Look Like: The second Futo Tower shown in "The Girl...A".
  • Tokyo Futo Tower: The prominent landmark for this season, topped with a MASSIVE windmill for good measure.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: A bit toyed with Queen and Elizabeth's duo; Queen falls more in Emo-Deadpan Snarker territory, Elizabeth plays her trope straight.
  • Tragic Keepsake: Shotaro still has the hat Sokichi gave him as he died and a keychain that Kirihiko gave him before dying, telling Shotaro to protect the city.
    • Yukie has been holding on to Kirihiko's scarf ever since his death.
  • Traintop Battle: "Don't Lay a Finger on M"; bus-top variant.
  • Transformation Trinket: The traditional Rider Belt is still there, but the real crown goes to the Gaia Memories, not only for actually providing the powers, but also because both heroes and villains have them.
    • On the right side, Philip's Memories grants an element or ability;
    • Shotaro, on the left half, holds the Memories associated with combat skills;
    • The Xtreme Memory plugs in both sides of the Double Driver and turns Double into CycloneJoker Xtreme. It doesn't really appear to have any specific power, other than all the powers.
      • Prism: All Your Powers Combined. It's used to link the powers of four other Gaia Memories into one for use in CycloneJoker Xtreme's sword and shield combo.
    • Ryu has three Memories at his disposal, each providing him with a different ability.
      • Accel: Lightning Bruiser. Ryu's only Gaia Memory that makes him transform into Accel, and as Accel into Bike Form.
      • Engine: The Gaia Memory [13] for the Engine Blade which gives it three different powers based on the different kinds of engines: Steam, Jet, and Electric.
      • Trial: Turns Accel into Accel Trial and a Fragile Speedster. Sacrificing physical strength and armor strength, it increases his speed a hundredfold. However, once the Maximum Drive is activated, it has to be finished in under 10 seconds, elsewise the user's body is harmed. The Maximum Drive is activated through the stopwatch-like Maximum Mode. When in Memory Mode, has a starting-light display with three lights to indicate the different stages of the transformation when it's in.
    • The Riders exclusive to the Double movies also have one Gaia Memory each.
      • Skull: Transforms Sokichi Narumi into Kamen Rider Skull and can be used in conjunction with his weapon, the Skull Magnum.
      • Eternal: Transforms Katsumi Daido into Kamen Rider Eternal and can be used with his weapon, the Eternal Edge.
  • The Unfavorite: This, along with a good case of Well Done Daughter Girl, is what prompts Saeko's progression into becoming The Starscream.
  • Unflinching Walk: From the trailer, Skull does this in the new Movie War Core
  • Unholy Matrimony: Presumably, Saeko's former husbands (even Kirihiko) were in on this, but now it's more of like "Unholy Engagement" in her case with Isaka, actually.
    • Or was. He's dead now.
  • Upgrade Artifact: Quite literally in the Accel DTV, which introduces the Gaia Memory Enhancement Adapter. The Commander Dopant uses it, then it gets handed off to Ryu, giving him Accel Booster Form.
  • Up to Eleven: Due to the movie introducing an even stronger version of Xtreme form, Double has matched Kuuga in the number of forms.
  • Verbal Tic: Wakana with her "Tch", complete with closeup. Also borders on being a Catch Phrase by definition.
    • Similarly (albeit more disturbing), Isaka too, see Shout-Out above.
  • Victim of the Week: With the twist that some of the clients are the Dopants themselves.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: The Sonozaki family is, superficially, portrayed as rich, respectable benefactors of Futo City, with a daughter being a popular idol. Despite being the presumed head of an illegal device syndicate. The Mafia references probably help.
  • Weaponized Landmark: NEVER planned to turn Futo Tower into one - one that would kill off everyone in the city and turn them into undead, so to speak.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: The point of the Gaia Impact was to ensure the continued survival of humanity.
    • Commander Dopant in W Returns: Accel.
  • Wham! Episode: "Client X". In the first part, the man who erased Philip's memory is revealed, and the protagonists learn that it is the Sonozaki family behind the Gaia Memory business. Apart from that, Foundation X, another benefactor of the Museum, is revealed. It Got Worse in the second part with the revelation that Philip is Raito Sonozaki and him learning that Wakana is not only his sister, but a Museum Dopant.
    • The second part of "The Likelihood of the G". Wakana can now access the Gaia Library and has a level of power leagues beyond Xtreme, Saeko has the rather inpressive Nasca Level 3, and it turns out every success that Shotaro and Philip had was allowed by Ryubee simply to gather information on them.
    • "The O Chain". Wowzers. In the first part alone, we find out Weather got his Gaia Memory from Shroud. Shroud also reveals CycloneAccel Xtreme. And Shroud is Fumine Sonozaki, Ryuubee's wife and the mother of Saeko, Wakana, and Raito/Philip. Also Foundation X is behind the new generation of Gaia Memories that will be used in the upcoming movie.
    • The first part of "Who the K Needs" is probably the grand champion of them all now. What starts with a leadup to a wacky case quickly devolves into mindfuckery and realizing just how powerful Ryubee is. And worst of all is that there's still four episodes left for the writers to screw around with.
    • The first part of "The Forgotten U". The next time they become Double, Phillip will die.
    • Let's just say, every episode after "Beyond R", as it's turned into a Wham Arc.
  • Wham! Line: The above have some rather good wham lines.
    • "Client X":
      • Yamashiro: They were...the memories of your (Phillip's) family.
      • Yamashiro: Your...real name is...Sonozaki...Raito.
    • "The Likelihood of the G"
      • Wakana: It's the same power that you guys have, Raito.
    • "The O Chain"
      • Shroud: It's true (regarding weither or not she gave Isaka the Weather Memory)
      • Wakana: That woman's real name is Fumine Sonozaki. She's Raito's and my...mother.
    • "What The K Needs"
      • Ryubee: It is not a lie. You (Phillip) are dead. It happened 12 years ago.
    • "The Forgotten U"
      • Phillip: The next time we transform into W...my body will be destroyed.
  • What Could Have Been: "The O Chain" storyline has Shroud mention CycloneAccel Xtreme, and we even get an Imagine Spot-style image of it, but it doesn't happen and probably never will because it would involve breaking up Shotaro and Philip's partnership as well as fighting with hatred rather than compassion, two things Ryu refuses to do.
    • Though we did get CAX in Kamen Rider Climax Heroes OOO.
  • What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Accel's jacket carries the slogan "Spiritual state of nothingness makes even itself fire cool", which is paraphrased from a Buddhist philosophy.
  • What Kind Of Power Is It?!: Unlike previous series which stuck to animal-themed (and sometimes plant-themed) Monsters of the Week, some of the Gaia Memories produce Dopants with thematic concepts (like Violence or Death). Then there are the Dopants with powers from objects that are not animal, vegetable, or mineral (Money and [Fire]Arms). And then there are the Gaia Memories belonging to the Sonozaki Family.
    • The Nasca Dopant's powers are themed after the Nazca lines in Peru. Apart from the flight afforded to him by the Hummingbird Geoglyph, his other powers (fighting with a sword and throwing laser bombs) don't have anything to do with the Nazca lines. His "Level 2" power of superspeed makes even less sense.
      • Level 3's strength could be attributed to the Giant.
    • The Clay Doll Dopant shoots laser bombs out of her left arm. However, being shattered into billions of pieces is only a minor and temporary inconvenience as her Dopant body is made up of some kind of magical porcelain that puts itself back together.
    • The Terror Dopant's powers turn out to be more straightforward than his daughters' and son-in-law's: he oozes Primal Fear that coats everything, including the camera lens. His other powers may very well be Eldritch Tier.
      • Turns out just seeing him use his powers is enough to make Shotaro paralyzed with fear at the very sight of him, even when he's not transformed. If that doesn't qualify as Eldritch I don't know what does.
        • How about the MONSTROSITY that erupts from his head!?
    • Then there's the Taboo Dopant. Flying around and shooting laser bombs isn't taboo. Looking like this probably is though. However, killing your husband because he found out about your family's deep dark secret is definitely Taboo.
    • Even Double himself isn't exempt from this. The Joker Memory is the intrinsic power of the Trump Card. How this applies to unarmed combat is up to anyone's interpretation.
    • "Unarmed combat" also seems like a lame power because all his forms have hands and feet and are thus perfectly capable of punching or kicking. It comes off as copout of an explanation, even: they forgot to have it do anything and just said "it...uh...lets him hit stuff!" In the movie, soloing as Kamen Rider Joker, Shotaro indeed fights without weapons and is really good at it, and he's far from the first Rider to get along just fine with no further combat abilities, but again...being stronger while suited is something all Toku heroes, including Double in other forms, can claim, and is thus hardly a satisfying answer to "what is Joker's special ability?"
    • It does work when you consider the way the two memories' abilities combine. Joker makes the other memory apply to the body instead of a weapon (Take Luna, for example. Luna Trigger has bendy bullets, Luna Metal has a bendy staff...only Luna Joker has bendy limbs.)
    • And Accel's Accel Memory is the intrinsic power of Acceleration. Who knew that the change of velocity with respect to time turned you into a motorcycle?
    • The Utopia Dopant's powers seem to be telekenisis, and a variety of Elemental Powers. As to what those have to do with a perfect society, your guess is as good as mine.
    • Skull also has a nice case of this. The bones that make up the face apparently translates into having a gun.
  • What Measure Is a Mook?: Despite Thou Shalt Not Kill being applied to everybody else, nobody takes offense to the killing of Masquerade Dopants. Examples:
    • FangJoker's debut has one very pissed Philip murdering an entire army of mooks in order to get to the Arms Dopant, and almost cut through Akiko as well. Once the drama ends, nobody really seems to care.
    • Then Accel casually cuts down a bunch of them in the serial right after he agrees not to kill anybody.
      • Of course, it's worth noting that Masquerades simply disintegrate when sufficiently damaged, as opposed to suffering a Memory Break like most other Dopants.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Shotaro and Ryu's relationship is mostly based on calling each other out.
  • When Elders Attack: What old Shotaro does against the Old Dopant in episode 44. He smacks him repeatedly with a cane while he's still in human form, taking him off-guard as he's mocking him.
    • Ryubee Sonozaki counts.
  • Whip It Good: LunaMetal form wields the Metal Rod like a whip.
  • Wiki Walk: Whenever someone mentions a concept Philip isn't familiar with, he obsessively researches it until he knows everything about it. For example, he goes through one after Akiko mentions "Takoyaki". When Shotaro returns, all the whiteboards are covered in notes about it...and he's still far from done.
  • Wind Turbine Power: the entire city of Futo, making it potentially the most eco-frindly city in fictional Japan
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: See G-Rated Drug, above. Improper use of a Gaia Memory, just like any other drug, can cause addiction and wear away at a user's mind/personality. Practice safe doping: Always use a Driver.
  • Wonder Twin Powers
  • The Worf Barrage: Saeko blasts Kazu with constant fireballs in both his human and Dopant forms. He emerges completely unscathed and at one point on fire.
  • X Meets Y: It's a toku meets cyberpunk meets film noir, with the idealism bumped up.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz: Played unbendingly straight with the Xtreme Memory.
  • Yank The Dog's Chain: Since the show's tone purposely stays happy despite the Film Noir aspects, none of the episode arcs are truly Downer Endings, but the first six eps all have at least one person involved in the case end up without a happy ending in some way. "The Abandoned U" takes the cake, though.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: A subtle case with Shroud and Terui, wherein she deliberately lies and says he ran the motocross course fast enough to be able to handle Trial's power. He hadn't, and as a result she was sending him off to die. It didn't bother her, and she simply noted he wasn't any use to her anymore.
  • You Suck: Lampshaded with the human form of Cockroach Dopant, who's clearly a Hikikomori.
  • Zettai Ryouiki: Wakana Sonozaki in some episodes.

Philip: "It appears we have new article pages not yet indicated in the main article, Shotaro. I'm going to run a search now."
Shotaro: "The first keyword is - 'Crowning Moment of Awesome'."
Philip: "...Got it."
Shotaro: "Now, add the next keyword to our search...'Funny'."
Philip: "Found it. Still a lot to narrow down here."
Shotaro: "The third keyword is...'Heartwarming'."
Philip: "...Done. Three entries found, Shotaro."
Shotaro: "Good work. Now to add the links to the main article and..."
Akiko: "WILL THE TWO OF YOU STOP WASTING VALUABLE OFFICE TIME?!" * THWAK* THWAK*

"This'll clinch it!"

  1. ↑ After which he tries to enter and immediately pushed back by the guard.
  2. ↑ In case anyone forgot, Accel's body alone weighs 93 Kg, while the Bike Form, possibly counting in the wheels, weighs 98 Kg.
  3. ↑ Akiko, a complete stranger to the agency, didn't take long to find it.
  4. ↑ "Freeze" with "Peaces", for an example...
  5. ↑ "Sono teido no Shout de wa hito no kokoro wa yusaburenai ZE!!!"
  6. ↑ "Jinsei saiaku no uta da ZE!!!"
  7. ↑ "Left"
  8. ↑ Cold child
  9. ↑ "Kore de kimari da!"/"This is the (decisive) conclusion!".
  10. ↑ "This is the end!"
  11. ↑ Ken Hirai = Hirai Ken = Hurry Ken
  12. ↑ According to official data, "illusions", but "violation of physics" would describe it best.
  13. ↑ According to the official data, it's not a real Gaia Memory and all of its powers come from a data link to the Accel Memory, though it's not quite a Giji Memory, either.
  14. ↑ kirifuda
This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.