< Kamen Rider Double

Kamen Rider Double/YMMV


  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: The fandom was pumped for the movie already, and the trailers have built up hype even more between plans to feature Kamen Rider OOO along with the Luna'Joker' Maximum Drive.
    • There's also the fact that while fans may have been initially put off by Double's suit design, the bike action and fresh writers [1] did help keep the fandom's attention.
  • Anticlimax Boss: Once Shotaro and Philip got their act together, Terror was surprisingly easy to beat in a straight fight, most likely due to the point of the Gaia Memory being to terrify your opponents into a state of helplessness.
    • Make that Double/Accel worked together. Once Ryu drew the Terror Dragon off and beat it, Ryubee's combat effectiveness was drastically reduced (also notice the fact that Ryubee can only create those liquids when Terror Dragon stayed in his headdress).
    • Unstoppable one-on-one. Easy when you work together. Not so much Anticlimax Boss so much as re-affirming the whole point of the entire series. Utopia would be the exact same way.
    • Utopia as well. Despite defeating Accel and the Taboo Dopant with no effort, Double makes surprisingly short work against him. Justified in that his strongest ability, absorbing emotions to power himself up, was used to overload him.
      • He gets defeated again in a spin-off movie, though this time it's because his opponent is Dead to Begin With and thus has no emotions to draw power from.
  • Awesome Music: Wailing Desperation, the then nameless One-Woman Wail from the prologue of the first episode; it was really short, but having been presented at a crucial and dramatic moment, it left quite an impact.
    • You can hear it again at the end of the first part of "The Girl...A", but with a more subdued and chilling arrangement as it accompanies an important Reveal.
    • Double's three Battle Themes, each with their own fitting style.
    • "Glorious Street", the Heaven's Tornado song from episodes 7 and 8.
    • Accel's Battle Theme, "Leave All Behind", based on his catchphrase.
    • "Nobody's Perfect", Kamen Rider Skull's theme; sung by the Chief himself, Koji Kikkawa, at the climax of "The B Carried on the Wind".
    • "Extreme Dream" which wasn't used on the show until ten episodes after it was released.
      • "Extreme Dream" is a very good example of how to properly use this trope. It was only played twice over the course of the series, both times during particularly climatic battles, rather then being spammed every fight scene after Double get's his Super Mode.
        • Same can be applied to "Leave All Behind", which was also used a total of two times.
    • "Cyclone Effect (acoustic edit.)", which complements Episode 48 in a manner heartbreakingly perfect.
  • Base Breaker: The fandom's general opinion of Akiko earlier in the series. Very few people in the fandom took the middle ground, but both sides mellowed out over time.
  • Non Sequitur Scene: Shotaro fools Jinno into running away from an imaginary yeti at the end of "J's Labyrinth". It turns out there really is one, and Shotaro and Akiko faint.
    • While this is more of an event in the Kamen Rider Decade movie All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker," no one should forget Double's debut himself where he plastered Shadow Moon himself when the game-breaking Decade and Rising Ultimate Kuuga cannot.
  • Broken Base: Arguably, the series ending. Some fans preferred the Bittersweet Ending of #48 to serve as the series ending, whereas other fans liked the real ending (#49) as it was.
  • Complete Monster: Isaka. He murdered various people, including Ryu's family, just to test his powers, modifies Gaia Memories to kill people so he can absorb their powers, has multiple connection ports all over his body (proving just how many people he's murdered for the aformentioned reason), and was the third-strongest Dopant after Terror and Utopia to exist during his lifetime. To add further proof of this, he was already corrupt enough for the Gaia Memory to not corrupt him further.
    • Jewel, even prior to becoming a Dopant. Not to the degree that Isaka was, but when you smash down windmills that little kids put up right in front of them, turn women into diamonds, and hold ransom someone the woman you love cares about you're still a horrible, horrible person.
    • Liar as well. His MO is breaking the dreams of people so he can collect their tears. he has no alternate motivation, he's just a literal sadist who loves causing misery. Dummy also qualifies. His plan was to kill people off and take on their personas to take their things. Yes, he's a coward, but he shows absolutely no remorse over it.
    • The Spider Dopant from Movie Wars Core. Holy christ, he basically reached the level of Isaka for this trope by spreading remote "bombs" around in Futo, making anyone they've devoted emotions to explode on touching them, so that no one will have a hand on his beloved Melisa anymore. From what was portrayed in the movie, he probably killed largest number of people on screen in Double's universe.
    • The Commander Dopant from W Returns: Accel. A Knight Templar who murders criminals, even if they've already surrendered. He coldly shoots an innocent person to lay the blame on Ryu, not caring whether or not the shot would be fatal. What truly pushes him into this role is kidnapping Akiko so he can murder her in front of him as the final part of his quest to drive Ryu to become a copy of him. Yes, he did lose his beloved wife to a criminal, but that does nothing to justify murdering people for pickpocketing and trying to murder someone's wife in front of him to turn him into the exact same person. He even outright admits that he's become evil, but doesn't care anymore. What's even more chilling is he's what Ryu could've been had Shotaro and Philip not been there.
    • Kamen Rider Eternal. He intended to turn an entire city into the living dead, then shot his mom dead when she tried to stop him. Sure, being forcibly resurrected would probably do some nasty stuff to your psyche, but that doesn't seem to excuse much the way he sees it. However, this is ultimately subverted when his real Freudian Excuse is revealed and that he was driven insane by the actions of....
    • Dr. Prospect/Eyes Dopant, who is on Isaka's level of sheer unspeakable evil, possibly WORSE! The man confined dozens of innocent people (kidnaping heavily implied) under threat of death, leaving them completely terrified of him. And he takes a sick satifaction in this! But he gets worse. He prepares to unleash his Heaven's Fall, a plan so horrific that even the aforementioned Utopia finds it brutal! It's letting loose a powerful electrical pulse, killing anyone in the entire village who isn't up to his standards for the project. When Katsumi stops that plan, Prospect reveals that was the least painful way he could think of to kill them. The eyes he implanted in them slaughtered the entire village when they escaped the village. Prospect then rubs salt in the wound at Katsumi's pain, laughing his head off about the fact he'd just murdered dozens of innocent people! These actions are so horrible, it drove Katsumi insane, making Prospect indirectly responsible for the events of The Movie.
  • Diabolus Ex Machina: The ending of Kamen Rider Skull's story in the OOO/Double team-up movie. It depends on the Spider Dopant being the first and only Dopant in the series to avert No Ontological Inertia, breaking one of the series' Magic A Is Magic A aspects.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: An In-Universe example. A whole V-Cinema is devoted to a girl from Kamen Rider Eternal's past popping out of nowhere and explaining to Shotaro and Phillip that Daido wasn't a bad guy and was just a Fallen Hero. Some people don't buy the tragic backstory.
  • Ear Worm: The sweet muted trumpet hooks in the OP "W-B-X Double-Boiled Extreme!" (plus the rest of the song is really catchy). And the whole of "Finger on the Trigger". The catchest Engrish ever. You have been warned.
    • "Love♡Wars" will dance its way into your head and never, ever leave.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: In short, this series is to Kamen Rider what Shinkenger is to Super Sentai.
    • Specific examples from within the series include Kamen Rider Joker, Sokichi Narumi/Kamen Rider Skull, and Kirihiko.
  • Epileptic Trees: No, for once, it's not the "Female Riders, No Survivors" one. A single picture of the Core Medals set off a wildfire, convincing people that Foundation X would be the next Shocker. Seriously. Sadly, this plot point was never picked up in OOO.
    • The much later appearance of Foundation X in Kamen Rider Fourze would eventually confirm that Double, OOO and Fourze all do in fact take place within the same canon.
    • Although Akiko did henshin into Double with no ill effects...unless you count getting her face being sucked by the Utopia Dopant as the ill effect.
      • She only henshined in a dream and it was to combat the Nightmare Dopant. Utopia Dopant came 17 episodes later and sucked the faces off of pretty much everyone in Fuuto.
  • Evil Is Sexy: Saeko.
  • Fan Dumb: There's a lot of hate going around for Accel Trial, calling him a rip-off of Faiz Accel just because both have speed-based powers and have similar names. Never mind that they're all Kamen Riders anyway, or that it's obviously not uncommon for more than one rider to have similar powers, and that there are significant differences between the two.
    • Oddly, you don't hear this about Kabuto. He's another red, silver, and black protagonist Rider with armor in the exact same places, headlight eyes, and a speed-up power that's basically taking Faiz's gimmick further.
    • Quite a number of more jaded fans dismiss Accel's Bike Form as obviously Merchandise-Driven, Rule of Cool aside.
  • Fan Nickname: Mick, Mr. Sonozaki's pet cat; "Cheezburger Dopant".
    • Double riding Accel is being referred to as the "threesome".
    • The Accel movie is often jokingly called Ryu Terui Beats Up People : The Movie.
    • "Human Google" for Philip.
  • Fetish Fuel: Akiko appeared as a convincing young man and Philip dressing up as Wakana probably turned on those who would have preferred him to be a girl.
  • Foe Yay: Done to creepy lengths courtesy of Izumi/Luna Dopant in the movie A to Z - The Gaia Memories of Fate, from his speech mannerisms to the way how he gyrates.

Izumi/Luna Dopant: *seeing the early bird cameo* Who's this handsome man? Just who's this handsome man?

  • Game Breaker: CycloneJoker Xtreme
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: While no crossover with Samurai Sentai Shinkenger has been planned (unlike Kamen Rider Decade prior), two unintended parallels have surfaced - Memory Gadgets attach to Double's weapons while each carry one of the season's collectible items (the Gaia Memories much like the Shinkenmaru and Inroumaru with their Hiden Discs), and both Kirihiko and Mako's father married into their respective families.
  • Ho Yay: Shotaro Hidari & Philip. The fact they share a body when in Extreme (or when just being Kamen Rider W) might have helped, but these two have generated a fair amount of theories based on their behavior.
  • I Knew It!: Just look at the WMG, there are eleven confirmed WMGs compared to the twelve josses.
  • Jerkass Woobie: Did bad stuff happen to the Puppeteer Dopant? Yes. Should you feel pity for the poor guy? Yes. Does that excuse any of the shit he pulls? No.
  • Memetic Badass: Sokichi Narumi, aka Kamen Rider Skull.
  • Memetic Mutation: The screencaps with two-colored text. "Fuck Nasca!" pictures are rather popular.
  • Moral Event Horizon: If the powers of the Utopia Dopant don't convince you that Jun is a complete monster, then the fact that he went after Shotaro and Philip's friends and sucked their faces off will convince you to want to see Jun get his ass handed to.
    • The Spider Dopant killing a multitude of people by spreading bombs which will kill the one their host loves the most when they touch all over the city, likely racking up the highest death count in the series. Narumi even tells him that he crossed the line with that action.
    • Commander kidnapping Akiko with the intention to kill her in front of Terui to make Terui the copy of him. The fact she's an innocent person who has done nothing wrong is what makes him go from a simple Knight Templar to a Complete Monster.
    • Two words: "Heaven's Fall".
  • Most Wonderful Sound: The henshin sound for the Xtreme transformation, which could almost belong in a Vanity Plate.
  • Narm: In The B Carried On The Wind, when Shotaro and Philip were walking towards the Beast Dopant near the end, Philip falls down, as usual when they transformed. What makes it hilarious is that they tranform in a semi-slowmo fashion, with the music "Nobody's Perfect", sung by Koji Kikkawa, the actor who plays Sokichi Narumi, their boss, and Philip literally falls on his face...In slowmo.
    • Even before that part, we got Terui being handed his behind on a platter. Slo-mo along the song. Pure gold.
  • Nausea Fuel: Deliberately invoked with "Find the C"'s Cockroach Dopant, whose apparently decorative appendages sometimes flutter involuntarily like actual cockroaches.
  • Nightmare Fuel: The Terror Dopant has the ability to make reality bleed the stuff.
    • The Twin Maximum is this trope as written. "Maximum Drive, Maximum Drive, Maximum Drive..." over and over again while Double writhes in pain, on fire, is just frightening. Philip was clearly against doing it for a good reason.
      • The mantra returns during the final battle of "The B Carried on the Wind"...though the context is entirely different and makes it awesome..
    • Terror's Terror Dragon. See for yourself.
    • Utopia wiping the faces of Philip's friends in Episode 48.
    • Daido Katsumi going Laughing Mad when all the psychics are killed...
    • The way Isaka dies after Accel finally beats him in Trial form. Seriously, don't play the memory game, kids.
    • The Utopia Dopant lights Kamen Rider Accel on fire in Episode 47. As if that wasn't scary enough, Ryu Terui screams in horror as he is burning to a crisp both in and out of his rider form.
    • The Spider Dopant has the ability to implant spider bombs in people that make the people they love explode when they touch each other.
  • Nightmare Retardant: The possessed doll from "The P's Game" would be absolutely terrifying, if it didn't make squeeky noises whenever it moved.
  • Painful Rhyme: "Finger on the Trigger" is filled with them, combined with Gratuitous English.
  • Portmanteau Couple Name: Terui + Akiko = "Teriyaki", in hiragana.
  • Special Effects Failure: Isaka's defeat. You'd think that by now they've stopped getting sloppy with the enemies exploding.
  • Tear Jerker: The entire damn thing of episode 48. First, you have the first (and possibly only) full appearance of the acoustic version of an ending song, in this case Cyclone Effect, playing over Shotaro and Philip's last (possible) scene together as Shotaro struggles to cancel the transformation for the last time. Then you have Philip fading away along with the Xtreme Memory, followed by Manly Tears, followed by everyone being depressed, followed by Shotaro getting a goodbye note/gift from Philip telling him to contuine protecting Futo, and for the preview, in order to avert Mood Whiplash, plays Nobody's Perfect instead of the usual W-B-X.
    • Their actions in the final episode seem to confirm it. They just revived Philip, see below
    • Episode 49 does it again with Wakana performing a Gaia Impact in order to restore Philip by giving him her body. Inside the Xtreme Memory, we see the entire Sonozaki family reunite as they all say their final farewells to Philip before disappearing.
    • Double Returns: Eternal Chapter has Daido Katsumi coming upon the slaughtered Quark subjects he failed to save, a sight so horrific that he's Driven to Madness by it. After watching that, The Movie becomes a lot more of a Tear Jerker...
    • The flashbacks of episode 46 of the Sonozakis being an actual happy family and knowing how far they fallen.
    • The Double half and ending of Movie Wars Core. If you watched Eternal and thought "how can it possibly get more depressing than this?!" you ain't seen nothing yet. The Spider Dopant's special ability is Spider Bombs that kill not the victim, but the person the victim loves most, transmitted by the victim's touch. Because of this, dozens of citizens are suddenly killed in front of, and at the touch of, the people who would suffer most from this happening, and Soukichi himself can never be with his daughter Akiko (it'll kill her) or his love interest Melissa (it'll kill him) again. Naturally, this all happened on Akiko's birthday. Oh, you know how most Monster of the Week effects have No Ontological Inertia? Not so with these. Once infected is forever infected, even with the Spider Memory destroyed (the Dopant memory isn't the one used in Shotaro's grappling thingy.) The series itself isn't that depressing but its post-series movies seem to keep trying to top the last in terms of soul-rendingness. Also, the series has several funny moments. Core has very few. We start with Akiko being merely sick of her fiancee and friends having to run off and do Rider duty and the whole thing descending into more and more despair. Does the scene with Soukichi's ghost at the end begin to make up for it?
  • This Is Your Premise on Drugs: The Delusion Diaries, little shorts of Shotaro having really bizarre daydreams. Entries include 'what if Akiko was a little sister' (featuring the cast as his family, complete with Ryu as a housewife and the Weather Dopant as his father), 'what if Akiko was an idol' (ending in Akiko marrying the Triceratops Dopant) and 'what will the agency be like in the future' (featuring old man Shotaro, old woman Akiko, Ryu as a ghost haunting the agency, and Philip having not aged a day due to being data.)
  • Too Hardboiled To Live: Pretty much Sokichi in Begins Night. It's a given that he dies, but damn it he's so hardboiled it hurts.
  • Unfortunate Implications: Jimmy's "singing" style, spilk (supikku), sounds like a certain ethnic slur for Hispanics.
    • And his singing is almost as offensive as racism.
  • Values Dissonance: Some western fans deride Kirihiko as a Henpecked Husband because he is deferential to Saeko, took her name after their marriage and has been physically abused by her on at least one occasion, along with the implication that it wasn't the first time. A Japanese audience would be less inclined to see him as weak, since their society emphasises reverence towards social superiors and loyalty to one's employer.
    • Hell, you don't have to be an expert on Japanese culture to see it working this way. Saeko is the Big Bad's daughter, and Kirihiko is just a good Memory salesman. If Darth Vader had a daughter he actually liked and doted on and a pretty decent officer (sorta guy Vader won't hesitate to strangle) married her, if the officer thought he'd be her equal, he's Too Dumb to Live. If you're brave enough, it's still quite a desirable position - fifth-highest member of the organization.
      • Yes, fifth, one step below the cat.
  • Villain Decay: Isaka is introduced as this awesome new menace with oodles of powers he can use to destroy the Riders. After losing the fight in the Invisible Memory serial he becomes more of an annoyance, and once himself even points out how much villain cred he's lost.
    • At the same time, it's mitigated by a few factors. After losing the Invisible Memory, he never takes on both Riders at the same time and is shown to be a cut above them individually. When CycloneJoker Xtreme comes into play, Isaka also steps it up and works on getting the Quetzalcoatlus Memory, and he came very damn close to it too.
  1. ↑ Written by Riku Sanjo and Keiichi Hasegawa, and Double is the only Heisei Rider series not to have writing credits for either Toshiki Inoue or Shouji Yonemura
  2. ↑ see Hey, It's That Guy! section on the main page
  3. ↑ Better, even. Philip's way of accessing the Gaia Library can be likened to a PC with internet access - Klaus is his own server.
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