Kamen Rider Drive (2014-2015) episode 1 “Why Has My Time Stopped?”
For much of this project, I kept wondering why we didn’t get a policeman Rider—and finally, with Drive, we do—but he doesn’t have a police bike, and instead the hero has a souped up red sports car! Hero Shinnosuke Tomari (his last name must be a pun—“tomaru” means “to stop”) is a superior police detective, but ever since a tragic accident, Tomari hasn’t operated at full capacity due to the trauma–setting up a strong character hook. A big innovation of this series is an initial time-slowing incident where Predator-like monsters attack and time slows down at multiple explosive points around the world. The time dilation events continue to happen after the disaster, though not with the same destructive force, and in the first episode the monsters seem to be attempting to kill people by changing them purple. Tomari works with Kiriko Shijima, a no-nonsense cop lady who abuses and “arrests” Tomari on a regular basis. It turns out she is part of a secret-secret group and is trying to goad Tomari to become cool again, and it is through her that he attains his awesome talking car/belt and transforms into Drive to kick all the butt.
The gimmick this time is toy cars that Drive can jam into his suit to change the massive tire wrapped around his torso and so activate new sets of super powers. The toy cars can also create floating roads on which they can drive independently and attack the monsters by various means—it feels like an extension of the time train in Den-O, and reminded me of a particular power used in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. The tire power idea leads to some memorable high-speed clashes and the hero squealing about on the concrete as if he is a vehicle himself (like Denjin Zaborger). I was glad to see that Shijima can kick some fair hinder on her own, too. Also, there is definitely some sexual tension going on as Shijima revs up Tomari by playing with his belt buckle—I think there is a bit of a running erotic undertone in these shows with the female support providing the male heroes with new belt buckles and generally helping them transform as they jigger with the latches. The Knight Rider-esque super car is a sweet switch-up, too, and I appreciate that the hero isn’t so dopey—though I wish they had kept with a more “police” look for Drive and his vehicle of choice.
Kamen Rider Ghost (2015-2016) episode 1 “Eyes open! It’s Me!”
From policeman to ghost-hunter-turned-ghost is a pretty drastic shift, but Kamen Rider Ghost shoots for the moon with another out-there concept, proving the creators are ever resourceful and admirably willing to try for something new. Takeru Tenkuuji is the son of a great ghost hunter who was apparently killed on the hunt, and Tenkuuji has felt lost and frustrated most of his life, trying to find his purpose, and frustrated with his lack of ability to see ghosts. When some mystical wraiths start showing up and attacking innocents by slashing cars and bikes and such in half, Tenkuuji receives a package from his dead dad that includes a strange device which enables him to peep ghosts. The ghosts he sees want to steal the device from him, and, right in front of his science-loving friend/possible love interest, Tenkuuji gets straight-up murdered by the undead. In the dead realm he encounters a sort of wizard figure who helps him learn how to change into Kamen Rider Ghost and search out fifteen “Eyecons”, which are round devices with souls inside. If he can find all fifteen in 99 days, he can resurrect himself. If not, he will truly die. Naturally enough, he starts fighting the ghosts that killed him, and learns how to use legendary samurai Musashi Miyamoto’s soul to power up and kick all the ghostly glutes. He also learns how to manifest himself to normal humans.
I like that this series takes place in a temple with monks, and I love that Tenkuuji actually becomes a ghost and ends up harnessing undead spirits ala Shaman King. When he takes a new spirit into his Rider system, his costume changes dramatically, too. Sure, the “find 15 Eyecons” mission feels like a Dragonball treasure chase, and his skeptical female counterpart seems one of the less charismatic in the series, but there is some cool stuff here. I really liked how the crew managed to pull off the bisected car with practical effects, and how Tenkuuji’s one-eyed floating sidekick (presumably inspired by Gegege no Kitaro) is achieved partially through puppetry. The look of Ghost is pretty striking too—I like his hoodie—though I kind of wished he was white or gray. This one has big ideas, but still feels a bit underwhelming from the first episode. Still, the constant innovation from these series really has me going—and the next show looks like one of the weirdest yet!
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