This is the first time I write a series review. Comments are humbly accepted for me to improve in my writing.
Kamen Rider Agito is the 2nd series in the Heisei Era of the Kamen Rider franchise. Also, this show commemorates the 30th anniversary of the said franchise. Like the previous series, Kuuga, it has a dark and serious tone but in some instances, whips a couple of comedic scenes like a way for the viewers to breathe in from the show’s dark tone.
Note: I arranged the events according to chronological order.
At the dawn of time, two opposing forces, identified as Light and Darkness fought for the right to rule the world. At the end of the battle, Darkness won. Light, with his last ounce of strength scattered his spirit to the humans, Darkness’ children and he hoped that someday, humans will evolve out from Darkness. Enraged, Darkness promised to kill those people who have the potential to evolve.
At the present time, a young man looking for answers about his sister’s death ride a ferry boat called Akatsuki-gou. Never did he know that riding on the boat would change his life forever. While on the boat, he met a strange man wearing white that awakened his power. A strange being attacked them, with his new power, he tried to defend the passengers but he failed. He was thrown overboard in the ship. Meanwhile, a young cop named Makoto Hikawa noticed a strange light in the middle of the sea. He went to the sea and save the people trapped in the middle of the light except for one, because this feat, Hikawa became part of team that fights Unidentified Lifeforms or in the Kuuga, better known as Grongi.
Back at that guy, he was dragged in the beach where a group of school girls found them. With no memory of his past or the events that happened in the ferry boat, he was only identified as Shouichi Tsugami thanks to the envelope found in his body. Later on his life, he was adopted by the Misugi Family and starts living a normal life while helping the Misugi Family in various chores.
That part was just only the premise before the start of the series, on to the part where the series starts kicking in.
After recovering from a car accident, Ashihara Ryou returns to the swimming team but he slowly undergoes metamorphosis that transformed him into a “monster” that caused his girlfriend to be afraid of him and ran away and his coach hiding away from him.
Strange cases of death are occurring and it is caused by Unidentified Lifeforms, time for the G Unit to take action, after the creature was spotted, Makoto Hikawa wears an exosuit and transforms into Kamen Rider G3, designed by Sumiko Ozawa based on Unidentified Lifeform no. 4/Kuuga. G3 tried to defeat the unknown lifeform but his weapons are like thrown marshmallows on that creature. With no hope of winning, the being that tried to defend the passengers of the ship appeared, identified by the unknown lifeform as Agito.
Agito defeats the unknown creature... and attacks G3. At first, they thought he is an enemy because he attacked G3. Later on, he was recognized by Hikawa and Ozawa as an ally. Agito, obviously is Shouichi Tsugami. Back at time he attacked G3, he is out of control until later on he was able to control his power.
As the series progress, we are officially introduced to Ryou’s form, better known as Gills, met the passengers of the ferry boat and know the answers of Shouichi’s past and why her sister died. Those events, for thrill sake, I want you guys to find out.
On the review, there things that I am looking for a good show, first is the plot, second the character development and third, the twist and turns of the story. Agito fulfilled those three. It has a good plot, being the first Kamen Rider show to have more than 2 Riders; it never fails in character development. And third, the show has a lot of twist and turns causing new and veteran fans of the franchise to go in awe.
I will expand what I like in the show. Aside that it has comedic scenes (Shouichi playing tennis with a frying pan against Hikawa who is a former tennis champion, WIN!) that serves as a breather to the dark and serious tone of the show, it has a good mix of drama that gives a unique taste to this show.
Another thing that I liked about this show is that all characters are connected, making the world of Agito small and easy to understand by the viewers. To those who get it, here’s a sample. Mana’s father is a professor and one of his students is Shouichi’s sister whose boyfriend is connected to Darkness who fought Light that awakened Shouchi’s power as Agito and is living in the Misugi residence where Mana stayed because his uncle who adopts Shouichi lives there. Get the point?
Another thing that I liked about the show is that the main cast had polar opposites with another character in the show. Namely, Shouichi has a carefree personality while his opposite, Ryou had a more serious personality considering the fact that his father died before the series started and his coach and her girlfriend are hiding from him. Another is Hikawa, the show’s klutz yet a heroic klutz, while his opposite, Toru Hojou, the show’s jerk and the type of guy you won’t consider a hero.
The show too, had allusions or tributes or homages or shout-outs or whatever you like to call it in this show. Aside that the 3 main Riders kinda resemble RX’s forms in Kamen Rider BLACK RX, the part about Shouichi living in an adoptive family resembles Kotaro Minami living in an adoptive family in BLACK RX.
The show had minor disappointments namely that the Machine Tornador has little screen time, to be exact; it appeared twice in the series and the Trinity Form only appeared during the time Shouichi recovered his memories for a short period of time and later on disappeared after he returned from being an amnesiac. But so far, it never ruined the plot or the characters.
Overall, the series was great; it is plot heavy and full of action, and in my own opinion, the perfect show to celebrate the 30 years Kamen Rider.