So, with that Garo marathon behind us, its time to return to pastures well traveled. With today's subject following one of the most beloved entries in the franchise in recent memory. Kamen rider Gaim was a major success, fans liked it, critics liked it and it sold quite well. To many it was a breath of fresh air after sticking to the same formula since decade. But with most good things they had to come to an end and the coming of age story for fruit Jesus did to. So we have never talked about how difficult the follow up to anything is, even when these seasons should be viewed on their own rather than sequels to past years, considering how the teams working on them may be different from a writer, producer, actor and other factors, but there will be people who hold a season to the standards the last one had, and Gaim was and still remains one of the most beloved seasons in the meta-franchise, if the fact that even 6 years after Gaim's final episode ended, their was still content being made, yeah their was the gaiden films that were released and the movie war appearance for this series. But there are his guest appearances in the heisei generation films, novels, manga and as late as last year is another gaiden story. no Heisei season has had the longevity in people's mind probably since den-o, and potentially Decade. So who had the large undertaking of following up Gaim. Well that fell to Riku Sanjo, the main behind Kamen rider W, a writer for Kamen Rider Fourze, and at the time his most recent series which he wrote every episode for, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, and commercials for the next series showed that he was not straying far from his previous time as head writer for Kamen rider, Kamen Rider drive was a detective procedural but instead of focusing on a private detective, gives the focus to a police detective which the commercials gave a lot of attention to that point. It also was notable in that for the first time since Black RX did Kamen rider ditch the motorcycle for a big fancy car. Kamen rider Drive is one of the more overlooked series, its the worst selling Heisei phase 2 series (that being said, it did still sell more than most Heisei phase 1 series and most of the modern sentai at the time.) and didn't fair well in popularity from recent polls in its home country, but has found more love in the west. So is this a diamond in the rough sandwiched between what many consider the best season and the worst season of Heisei. Or is this show like a used car, not worth investment and likely to break down on you
SYNOPSIS
6 months prior to the start of the season, the world finds its time stop in the most literal fashion as everyone slows to a literal crawl as destruction rained across numerous cities. This event would be known as the Global freeze (even though it didn't affect the entire world and only certain cities, but I guess Global freeze had a better ring to it) Injuring and killing countless and leaving the world suffering from a phenomena known as heavy acceleration. Amongst the people to survive the event physically but not mentally is Shinnosuke Tomari, a rising star in the Tokyo police department hot on the trail of an evil organization, the global freeze screwed with his aim when trying to save his friend from one of the suspects, severely injuring him and leaving Shinnosuke a shell of who he was. Soon Shinnosuke was relegated to the Tokyo PD's Special investigation unit which has been tasked with dealing with incidents of heavy acceleration, the members include officer Kiriko Shijima, HQ chief Jun Honganji, mechanical specialist Rinna Sawagami, network researcher Kyu Saijo, and their liaison with first division Genpachiro Otta, But the SIU also has a secret member, a talking belt that Shinnosuke became aware of when he was given the car and its this belt that soon reveals to him the truth and danger around the global freeze. The cause of the global freeze was revealed to be the Roidmudes, mechanical beings who seek to replace humans as the dominant species on the planet. With the power of the shift cars allowing him to move during heavy acceleration and Mr. belt at his side, Shinnosuke becomes Kamen rider drive in order to defeat the roidmudes and stop their plans. And like most modern Kamen riders he soon join by a secondary Kamen rider, Go Shijima, Kiriko's brother who had been traveling but has return with his own henshin device to become Kamen rider Mach and the two continue their fight as conspiracies surrounding them begin to mount in their fight against the roidmudes.
Drive's story is...weird. Its not bad per se, and I would say that it has some really great heights during its run especially near the end, the mysteries that each arc gives are really solid throughout its run that actually had me shocked at some conclusions. But their is just something about the series that feels like a tale of two series. It starts out tonally similar to Sanjo's previous work, fairly light hearted with some notable dips into some darker moments, but as each arc passes by the tone becomes more in line with early Heisei and the previous season Gaim. I wouldn't say it gets as dark as Gaim but it can be pretty dark at moments. Its hard to tell if this was the intention or the case of retooling it since their was likely some backlash from Gaim fans about how we went back to the previous way rider series have been done for the past couple of years. I don't have evidence of a potential retool outside of people claiming it feels like it but there are some turns that feel like they are done to service a certain narrative that never really was well done. Again, I feel drive does have a strong story overall, but it feels at time certain points it does something for a story that writers wanted to push rather than feel natural.
CHARACTERS
The main cast, minus a certain belt and robotic companion and a whole lot of mini cars
As far as Shinnosuke goes, I really enjoyed him, he felt like a combination of W's riders, having the Shotaro's dorky goofball half boiled detective personality, mixed with Phillips intelligence and having a tragic backstory similar to Ryu. While I do prefer Philip and Shotaro, its more for how they play off one another that pushes them beyond what they were, but here is what works about Shinnosuke. While he does have his goofy moments, he knows when to take something seriously and shows why he was a star at the tokyo pd. He also has some solid insight as he does get annoyed when his allies hide stuff from him. But his own hot blooded nature does cause him to sometimes rush into something like when he tried to beat Heart early in the season by overclocking both of them and later with the situation in finding out the truth behind his father makes him rush things. Their also his relationship with Kiriko that feels really natural in its growth as the two started as beleaguered to an honest duo that could see through anything. Throughout the entire ride, Shinnosuke showed that he not only had the spirit of a good cop but also one of the best rider's.
Speaking of our Main rider, his belt also has a character too and he is amazing. Krim's status as mentor does well as he shows concern for Tomari (I will be using the last name since the name is so long.) Anger when he goes against him but it is shown that he is not perfect seeing as he has his past he feels bad about what he's done. It also that his deep booming that is used for the henshin really helps him too in that regard.
As far as the SIU, they are initially fine, something that might put one off is that they are very kooky characters that innately have the one thing they are attched with. For example the chief honganji is all about reading horoscopes and bemusing the budget of the group. Kyu is a bit goofy and creepy and spends some of the season as the resident butt monkey and Rinna is the gadgeteer genius while Genpachiro serves as the Liason to the first division and skeptic. The only one without some kind of quirk is Kiriko who serves as Tomari's partner an serves initially as his foil, where he is lazy and unfocused, she is serious and focused to the point that she has to drag him into work when he is goofing off. It also helps that she gets some actaully solid action moments early in the season and her realtionship with both shinnosuke, her brother Go and later chase are actaully some of the best chemistry in the series as a whole.
And as the series does continue, the remaining members of the SIU begin to shine, as we explore them more as people rather than the kooky support for Drive. Honganji proves to be quite serious behind the cheery facade. Kyu gets a suprisnhly touching episode where he befriends a roidmude and it feels like the closest the series has to portraying roidmudes in a positive light. Rinna was already someone I liked and she had her funny moments and Otta has his times in the sun as he comes around to the group and basically becomes their closest ally.
That brings us to the additional members the teams gets on the way. Let's start with our secondary Rider Go, like most of the cast he starts out as appearing the rest, to be a rather kooky individual who shows up to assist the group in dealing with roidmudes, heck he is considering so kooky that they actually put Honganji on the bus for a bit just so they is not a kooky overload, we do get a couple of character bits, like when gets jealous of how much stronger Tomari is getting and demands a power up to match him, but comes to his own conclusion of getting stronger.
But then we get to drive's midpoint, which sparks a notable change in Go's character, going from this dandy man with a thrill for the theatrics, we get this rather serious, troubled, at times angry man with a vendetta against the roidmudes and what they represent to him, his past and family who had a hand in their creation, and it really works. Go before had been fun but felt like he was a bit more comic relief in a show that had a bit too much relief at that point, but the development that he gets, especially with his relationship with Chase makes for one of Drive's most fascinating characters. It also really helps that he has probably the best ending to any main villain confrontation... of all time, I won't spoil it but it is all parts silly, dramatic, and all around awesome for what it is.
But for all the changes that the second half has to bring its best choice is easily Drive's best part, Chases' change from a villain enforcer to tertiary rider is one of the best things the season's does. I already liked chase when he was on the villains side as this cool, stoic serious soldier who stands against the heroes as this pseudo rider of sorts who also turns out to have been the original drive during the great freeze converted to a foe, while he does have his own code of honor, that becomes slowly twisted during the season's second arc by Medic until the warrior of Chaser barely exists and has to be defeated. But soon turns up back alive and becomes the trio's third rider. Once back as a rider we get this rather stiff individual who has a hard time with emotions, but can understand when they are causing issues, he is never willing to give up and do the right thing and arguably some of the series best dramatic moments come from his and Go's interactions. As he tries his hardest to break Go's animosity towards him and the relations he builds with the people of the SIU make him arguably one of the funnier members of the cast and arguably its heart.
Heart and brain, all we are missing lungs, liver, spleen, and Kidney and we will have all the vital organs
As for the villains of the Roidmudes... they are good. I had the pause because it feels like the writers wanted us to feel one way about them but the writing and characterization makes them more unsympathetic despite the intentions. But despite that they really get off on a good start with the leader heart, this noble demon who seeks to make roidmudes the new rulers of the planet, he is shown to be kind and compassionate to his comrades and stands out in terms of toku main villains, not seeing himself as evil and merely wanting the best for his people, arguably he could be the protagonist but he ends up being a villain because of the threat he makes for the world.
Brain is weird, the initial arc makes it seem like he and Heart are on the same standings within the organization and even criticizing his actions, and then rather shortly in terms of changing characterization becomes more a devoted follower of heart (and you can decide if that is if he is actually in love with him or not, moving on) and being the butt monkey of the three generals, being much of comic relief for the villains and it does give his time when he returns to being a competent villain have weight, showing that he can be threatening when he's not under the thumb of other people. But after that he goes back to being Medic's punching bag
Rounding out the villain line up is Medic who is introduced in the second arc of the series, showed to be a much more cold, brutal, and callous person compared to her peers, Medic is defined by her complete undivided devotion to Heart and also who brutality to even her own kind, who she see's no problem in culling for the best to stand beside them, taking over as a major threat for the second arc until the last third, and it is really when Drive starts to kick into high gear is when she becomes a part of the show, while its pre December break episodes are not terrible, they are more about setting up drive's world and the characters, after her introduction we get more personal stories for the characters, and some compelling drama throughout.
But I bring up medic because that brings us to sort of the issue with the roidmudes, the show wants us to sympathize with them as a more anti-villain faction, that they are just trying to etch out their place in the world. But its hard to root for the lifeforms when the second one we face after the initial 1st two episodes is kidnapping women and turning them into painting, and the show never really has many anti-villain or roidmudes who do indeed fit in a similar role to heart, the only one who is not a horrible abomination is the roidmude who copies Kyu saijo 072, who just wants to enjoy the life of an otaku before medic decides to cull him, the rest of the roidmudes are straight criminals and that leads back to that shift in direction I have been talking about.
We are introduced to Dr Tenjuro Banno, the creator of the roidmudes who was an friend of Krim prior to the series, oh he is also both Kiriko and Go's father. The guy is such a mustache twirling evil kind of villain with how much of a scumbag he is. Its telling that Go and Krim who are some of the more laid back members, turn into entirely different people whenever it involves Banno, becoming quite more angry. While it is an on the fence kind of thing of whether he is good or bad, he places himself in the bad guy pool by the end in and takes the helm as big bad, while he is enjoyable as the big bad, completely unredeemable and when he is taken down you are cheering. But it also just feels like we lose some depth in regards to the villains as it becomes a destroy the world plot. It also just feels like its the writers realizing that the roidmudes had done a whole bunch of awful things so they had to create something in order to make everything they have done a little forgiven. So while I did like Banno as a villain, it feels like he may have been an introduction to make the roidmudes better.
AESTHETIC
Our riders, Drive, Chaser, Lupin, and Mach. Oh wait dangit I spoiled a movie rider dangit... Um I mean here is a sneak preview for the next reviews
As far as drives overall design is, I feel that the base designs are good. I was worried about how the tire was going to be on the suit, it was going to be too big and just jut out awkwardly, but it really works, the red and black are well balanced and the helmet is well designed, the belt is fine, I like the idea of the secondary henshin item that is not the collectible, but it makes the main belt feel a little superfluous since it only is there for the ignition and the henshin is done with the brace, on that note I am also not that fond of the shift cars, not for the fact of "Oh its so obvious these are meant to be toys, automatically worst thing ever." Okay, its kind of that, it just kind of looks really small and cheap to me. Though the tires that we do get do look nice, though most of them do end up being forgotten, its make them seem like they are just tools rather than part of the arsenal
Over designed and ugly, or perfectly fitting the idea of a formula car, you decide
But back onto the suits so Drive's initial three suits are also sort of homages to, of all things Black RX's. I guess seeing as how Drive was the second rider whose primary machine was a car does has some merit seeing as how they are a few years of a 5 or 0 anniversary year. But both power ups do require specific states of mind and fit a niche, one being the powerhouse form and the other a more brainiac form. Both forms do look nice though technic's placement of the tire makes it look like drive in this form has no neck. It took me a bit to grow on type formula, it looked really busy and bulky with the fact that unlike the previous forms which only had the tires, this one employs the formula as the chest, but as I thought about it, it did make sense, with the kinds of speed that a formula car can get to, its more bulky design makes sense in guarding from the speeds, granted its not that which helps him get over formula's big weakness (that the speed ends up causing some severe whiplash) But new toy- I mean shift cars and a giant cannon to help with that. But all those forms pale in comparison to type Tridoron, this form is.. muh, its excellent its the best, the red, the way the white lines go into the tire on the right side, the upper body, its the best looking suit hands down
I would be making dumb comment about the suit but I really can't think of anything this is just really good looking
As far as our secondary rider goes, It also looks nice, its primary white makes the other colors work well and even the tire on the right side is not too big too be an issues, with his powerups also looking really well, kind of being mixes with his fellow riders suit with deadheat mixing with type speed and mach chaser mixing with chasers bottom half with the latter looking quite incredible with how the two suits match really well.
Chase's rider outfit is fine, I feel that unlike Mach it suffers from a lack of contrast with the under suit, I also am not fond of the purple on the silver and it just feels samey in the color department, do like the mach driver honoh (If your wondering about that last part, its because Mach driver is a golf franchise in japan so copyright reasons) like how when the bike in the center is active its like its driving off and the color combination works well.
Chaser, Mach, Best Match
Chases roidmude form is something I kind of prefer more with its put together nature and mechanical chaos. That also goes for the rest of the roidmudes, these kind of kit bashed creations that meld robots with whatever there powers are driven from. It also serves well to counterrbalance against the leaders of the roidmudes who have a more clean approach than that the rank and file members. Even their over evolved states look solid, I was worried that it was just a gold paintover but they took the time to detail each form.
Musically the series does have some good tracks, the main theme surprise drive is heart pumping to say the least and always worth a listen, though the rest of the inserts are kind of forgettable, it doesn't help they are played rather infrequently so I had to go out to listen to them rather than hearing them through the show.
EPISODES
Favorite:20: What makes this stand out compared to other episodes early on is that this is the first episode to make the a roidmude out as a more sympathetic rather than just the villain of the week, it is the first time they try to portray the roidmudes as more sympathetic in the same light as Heart, while it doesn't last, roidmude 027 left a lasting impression on me.
Worst:1-2, as far as introduction go, Drive does not get off to the best start, its a little too fast for its own right even with two parts dedicated to introducing us, and the cast don't give off the best intro's due to most of them being different spices of kooky, yeah we get our goal but it feels like our time to breathe is very short and you may feel lost at times.
Favorite: 46. I would honestly explain why this episodes is one of the stand out but I will just leave people with this "It said go for it, didn't it."
CONCLUSION
In comparison with Sanjo's previous work, Drive does at times I feel hits some higher high's than W did, but I felt that overall the W was more consistently good. That's not to say that Drive is bad, but it is a bit shaky in certain aspects from the beginning to some changes in the later part of the story that feels like it was done to make the story go the way the writers want. But it is still really solid once the series get's going, the chemistry between the cast feels real, their is some solid action, and the ending third is just continuous greatness throughout the end. It is worth going along for the drive here even if their are some bumps along the way.
FINAL GRADE:B
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