FUUTO PI

Episode 4

After setting Tokime up as a cast member largely based around her interactions with Shotaro, it's easy to predict that the next step on FUUTO PI's to-do list would be develop her relationship with Kamen Rider W's other half, Philip. And that is technically how things start up this week, setting the Narumi Detective Agency's newest addition and the brains of its operation against each other to, presumably, come to some sort of understanding resolution once this storyline finishes. The show makes the point that Philip honestly should be able to empathize with Tokime's amnesiac situation, given it's not far from his own origins, but the conflict mostly seems attributed to the two bullheaded weirdos not wanting to make more effort to understand each other. Though I know I'm not alone in interpreting Philip's apprehension towards Tokime being down to him worrying about her stealing his 'partner' Shotaro from him. Look, the writers of Kamen Rider W knew what they were doing, and just because Shotaro has a dedicated lady love interest now isn't going to stop me from shipping the two-in-one detectives together.

As instrumental as it would be to the continuing setup of the series though, the business with Tokime and Philip is barely just background dressing for this episode. It comes up in a couple scenes (notably a major component of the fight at the end of this episode) but hasn't really been deeply explored or elaborated on in a way integrated with the plot yet. Heck, one turning point Tokime does reach within this episode, needing to understand the importance of putting a client first, is imparted to her by Shotaro, rather than anything to do with her running conflict with Philip! It makes the whole exercise mostly come off as obligatory, setting up these sorts of communication troubles between the characters to be symbolically resolved with Tokime eventually receiving her own Stag Phone we can see Philip building. As with most of the negatives to be noted in FUUTO PI so far, it's down to that deliberate pacing, the show simply making us wait for it to get to where we can tell it's going.

So apart from that distinguishing distraction, what does FUUTO PI give us this week? A solid little setup for another monster mystery which, in true modern-toku fashion, has a lot going on. I'll state up-front that I absolutely love the new client in compulsory-cosplaying game developer Moriguchi. Even as I disagree with the notion that she's only effectively prettied up in her ridiculous game-character idol getup— Her 'regular' look is adorable! And for all her struggles within the company, it's nice to see that Shotaro and Akiko soundly sympathize with her side in all things. Just as I was thinking that all Moriguchi was being put through felt like a little much for mere gags, Akiko directly noted the way they came off like a 'Black Company', showing the story was considering that angle more than I might have initially thought. It's all another case of the mystery only getting started, with the writing definitely wanting us to suspect Majima, the producer, as he conveniently goes missing right before the monster attack. But this series, like any good mystery, loves playing with our expectations, so it's probably best not to get too speculative already.

Instead, much of this feels like FUUTO PI simply showing off and having a good time while it lines up its latest pieces. Despite its live-action origins, this series so far has had no problem being an absolute anime of an anime, so we get wild indulgences like Moriguchi's magical-girl makeover henshin sequence, or the full-ass musical performance partway through that puts some of this season's dedicated idol shows to shame. A trade-off to putting so much work into these bits involving Moriguchi is that the Rider-action part of things feels a little more stiff this week by comparison, the Trigger Memory coming out with a rather simple deployment of its gunplay powers.

That is another thing the series seems to be 'showing off' with this week: Expositing more detail on W's various gadgets and powers for those newbies in the audience who might still be wondering what all those little robot animals were about. Part of that's down to making sure we have context for Tokime's aforementioned forthcoming phone, sure, but it's hard not to also see it as another instance in the long-standing Kamen Rider tradition of hawking toys. When you've got the mysterious Aurora Dopant popping in simply to monologue about wanting to see all of W's cool forms, you half-expect the pre-order link for that new CSM W Driver they're selling to directly appear on the screen. That said, it does still fit with FUUTO PI's consistent intent to keep anime-only audiences informed of stuff, and they even throw in some world-developing information about new, stronger types of Dopants (Hilariously termed 'High Dope') to lend more ongoing mystery and make sure we'll still be seeing our heroes evenly matched with monsters-of-the-week. That's kind of crystalized as the FUUTO PI experience so far: Equal parts earnest, entertaining effort, and somewhat-clunky mechanical setup.

Rating:

FUUTO PI is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Chris is a freewheeling Fresno-based freelancer with a love for anime and a shelf full of too many Transformers. He can be found spending way too much time on his Twitter, and irregularly updating his blog.