Fuuto PI | 風都探偵

As I've stated in the personal review I did yesterday of Kamen Rider Wizard, I like Kamen Rider!

Immediately after finishing Wizard, I went to go finish the anime sequel to Kamen Rider W (Double), called Fuuto PI (風都探偵).

Kamen Rider W follows the two-in-one Kamen Rider which is made up body and soul of Philip and Hidari Shotaro. The private detective duo protect Fuuto city from the invasive devices of the Gaia Memories--by also using Gaia Memories themselves. Gaia memories are designed after USB drives, but their use is something like an analogy for drugs. W is often considered one of the best Kamen Rider series to begin with, and I absolutely agree. It ran from 2009 to 2010.

Fuuto PI continues the story of Kamen Rider W a few years later, so it does do you justice to watch all of it before starting Fuuto PI. It's both more of a crime and detective drama before an action show whilst still being an extremely loyal adaptation of tokusatsu into animation. This feels funny because tokusatsu is like the live action adaptation of anime! I have seen some complaints from folks who were a bit let down with the anime because it does require homework or that it still is a Kamen Rider show in the end. If that for some reason matters to you, then there is your warning.

Fuuto PI is aware that those who watched its source material have grown up so it immediately takes a different tone from the live action series. It's much darker, much more mature and especially has more gore and sexual content. This feels like an actual hard-boiled detective show with the mask of Kamen Rider. It's broken up into four arcs across twelve episodes, mostly tied up by reoccurring characters and an underlying B-to-be-A-plot. The show touches on a few things from the original series, and wants to build upon the relationship between Philip and Shotaro through a few routes. We get an actual investigation in the form of your typical mansion murder mystery, and also tapping into the fan service side of their relationship by exploring the possibility of Philip being interested in Shotaro (I also want this to be real so badly).

The new characters introduced are interesting. You have the story-specific ones who fit their need for what they're there for, then there is the few main antagonists and Tokime. Tokime is Shotaro's new assistant and played up to be a possible love interest. She has her moments, and at times does feel like part of the team, but with only 12 episodes to work on her (not including the currently on-going manga) she feels almost like a self-insert character in a Kamen Rider fanfiction. The writer absolutely understood W and wrote a good story, but then their pink-haired OC just appears amongst the already established cast whenever they need help. I hope to watch the recently released movie and read the manga to get more time with these characters and understand them better, but until then they're just alright but still written interesting enough.

The premise of the shadow Fuuto city is slightly interesting but it's just kind of there. Said to be constructed from material of murdered and consumed human beings from the actual Fuuto, whilst also being as big as the actual Fuuto... You'd think there would be more story for mass murders or missing peoples cases. Again, maybe in the manga but even if that's the case, the anime doesn't convey that outside a couple individuals who go missing. I also hope that the detective duo get to do more with the main antagonists in the movie.

I enjoyed the show a lot regardless. I do recommend it but to also keep in mind that t is a Kamen Rider series.

9/10 (Needs more gay Philip. We love Philip in this house!)