For a long time, after a kamen rider or super sentai series ended, that was it. They may get an appearence in the team up movie or some mega crossover across the entire series, but after a year, that story was done. But Kamen Rider W would be the first outlier. One year after the end of the series. Writers Keiichi Hasegawa and Riku Sanjo returned with two direct to video films that focused on sequel focused on Ryu Terui, Kamen Rider Accel and a prequel story focused on Forever's main villain Katsumi Daido, Kamen Rider Eternal. So today we will first be discussing the first of these two return movies Kamen Rider W Returns Accel.
Followingg his marriage to Akiko Narumi (This happened in the crossover between W and its successor OOO's) Ryu Terui finds himself wrap up in a case regarding a pick pocket ring, which Ryu had a run in when a mysterious assailant murdered a bunch of there members. There only lead is the sole survivor of that group, Aoi Katsuragi. Ryu finds and arrests her but finds himself being attack by masked soldiers commanded by the, uh, Commander dopant. Ryu now finds himself on a time limit as the dopant puts a bomb on Aoi and frames him with the attempted murder of one of the officers on the case to find an item that the pickpocket ring has that the Commander has an interest in.What follows is an odd couple kind of set up as Ryu and Aoi need to rely on one another to get out of this situation they are in as they realize that they have similarities as they spend time with one of another. As buddy films go, both Ryu and Aoi have really nice chemistry together through the film and it feels like Ryu is sort of an older brother figure to her hoping that she can change for the better.
That is what I feel this movie is mostly about, a show of how far Ryu has come from his first appearance in the series. Cold, uncaring and willing to commit police brutality just because the power's that and dopant uses matches up with how his family died. It is interesting comparing first episode Ryu to his appearence here, far more cool, composed and willing to try and help a suspect with her issues and try to turn a new leaf over. This growth also puts him in great contrast with the villain of the film the Command dopant, who while he is the totally not obvious culprit as there is an obvious suspect so why think anything else works in this story. A sort of what if had Ryu not met the members of the Narumi Detective Agency and had the same way of dealing with criminals as needing to eliminate them. I also like how the commander Dopant has some elements of the Weather in it, it may just be me, but the helmets look similar in shape and the lower body. I am not saying that they took parts of the weather dopant but I do think that it was using the weather one as a basis since he spent most of the series as a main nemesis for Ryu. Its boosted form from the gaia memory enhancer adapter, basically giving it more armor and this weir cogwheel sticking out the back (yeah I don't know what that is for specifically.
Speaking of the Adapter, I like how it is not just some throw away power up they introduce with no explanation, yeah it is not what one would consider major, just that a prototype was made before the death of Ryubee Sonozaki and just so happen to pickpocket it off of someone who had the singular one could be convenient, but I give credit that they attempted to explain what this was. It also isn't some one off thing the main bad uses, Ryu does get his hands on it and completes the trifecta of primary colors with a yellow form, I like this it gets these jet boosters that not only are an increase in mobility but leave behind a trail of fire. Its not something that see's much use after this movie (in which it is used only once more before disappearing into the ether of cool stuff that appears for a singular movie to never show up again.)
Arguably the biggest fault here is how the members of the Narumi detective agency act, more so Akiko rather than Shotaro and Philip, they are mostly underwatched due to their connection to Ryu seeing as how he is currently wanted. Akiko goes through the whole "oh, I can't believe my beloved is cheating on me with someone" and near the climax ends up getting herself captured by the big bad as part of a plan to have Ryu revert back to his pre-character development form. It's not what I would consider her worst moment but it isn't the best, though the whole end joke where Ryu also gets jealous when the other guy's start to refer to her casually is a kind of nice they may be very similar.
CONCLUSION
Kamen Rider Returns: Accel Is really good. not just as a Kamen rider film but a film in its own rights. It works as a perfect encapsulation of Ryu character arc throughout the series, the action is solid and there are some really touching and funny moments. Its by no means perfect, but this something I can classify as not just good bty the standards of the series, but a good movie in general.
FINAL GRADE: A
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