Kamen Rider Den-O is the 8th series in the Heisei Era of the Kamen Rider franchise. Because of its comedy, it became one of the most successful Kamen Rider Series to be produced. The series spawned four feature films, an anime OVA, parodies, crossovers, name it! Den-O is about Ryotaro Nogami, a guy with extreme bad luck and was unluckily (or luckily I guess?) was possessed by creatures known as Imagin and transforms to Kamen Rider Den-O. Along with the time traveling train, the DenLiner, Ryotaro and Co. must stop the evil Imagins who will destroy the present.
The series kicks off with Ryotaro’s strain of extreme bad luck, to be exact, he got stucked on a tree, his bike ran into broken bottles, crashed, got beaten up by thugs. After being beaten up, he finds a pass and went to the police. After he entered the door, he was transported into a strange place with a train and woman who gave him coffee. Later, he found the one who lost the pass and returned it to her. He later met up with the same thugs who beat him up earlier. Because of a strange force, he was able to beat up the thugs easily. Later on we found out that the leader of the gang was also possessed by a similar force. Because of Ryotaro able to resist the force known as Imagin, Hana, the girl who lost her pass said that Ryotaro can transform into Den-O.
As the Imagin that possessed the leader appeared, at first confused, Ryotaro swipes the pass and transforms into Den-O Plat Form. As Plat Form, he was easily being beaten up by the Imagin. Because of this, the Imagin that possessed him said that to switch with him. Ryotaro pressed the red button and transformed into Den-O Sword Form. As Sword Form, he was able to defeat the Bat Imagin… or so they thought.
Ryotaro and co. entered the train that he saw earlier; we learned more about the Imagin. Imagins came from the future and plans to destroy the present. They will contract someone to the future in which whatever the person thinks of becomes their appearance. Once the contract is complete, the Imagin can go to the time which is strong in his mind and destroy it. That is why an Imagin possessed Ryotaro… took the shape of a red demon that Ryotaro thought. He said that he was based on his childhood hero, Momotaro.
As the series progressed, we learned about why Ryotaro was able to control the Imagin that possessed him in which he named Momotaros that is because he is a Singular Point, a person who has the ability to be not affected with the changes that happened in time. That is why Hana still exist even though her time was destroyed by the Imagin.
Along the way, Ryotaro was possessed by other Imagins. The first was Urataros who was named after Urashimataro. A flirt and a sweet talker, he transforms into Den-O Rod Form. Next was Kintaros who was named after Kintaro. A heavy sleeper and really strong, he was first contracted to a martial artist, he transforms into Den-O Axe Form. The third was Ryuutaros who was based after Ryotaro’s imagination of dragons (according to a source). The spoiled brat who loves drawing and a break dancer, he transforms into Den-O’s Gun Form. Lastly, Sieg who was found by RyuuRyotaro, he transforms into Den-O Wing Form which was rarely used.
As the series progressed, we learned about the disappearance of Airi Nogami, Ryotaro’s sister’s fiancé, Yuuto Sakurai and his connections with the Imagins and a mysterious entity known as the Junction Point. We later found out that the mysterious guy who likes popping out in various times that carries a pocket watch is Sakurai’s older self and his younger self, who transforms into Zeronos along with his Imagin partner, Deneb.
On to the review, if Decade in my opinion was an Idiot’s Guide on Everything About Kamen Rider, Den-O is in my own opinion, the first show that the newbie of the franchise should watch. Simply because its comedy and maybe, just maybe he can’t handle the other shows that’s darker compared to Den-O. One thing that I liked about the show is the comedy, especially those episodes that has slapstick comedy.
One good thing about the show is the use of trains as the time machines. We saw cars, weird gadgets as time machines, but trains… it’s a first for me!
Now to the bad side of the show, the only time the plot of the show starts kicking in is when Kai, the show’s main villain was introduce. After Kai was introduce, that is the only time the Junction Point plot was implemented. For older fans of the franchise, Den-O is the show that ruined what a Kamen Rider should be. Most Kamen Riders before Den-O are badass especially those in the Showa Era who fight alone (except for Ichigo and Nigo and V3 and Riderman in some instances), and has personality. Ryotaro Nogami has the attribute of a Kamen Rider but it seems that he is not the one fighting his Imagin partners are the one doing the fighting making Ryotaro an empty slate. The only time Ryotaro became a true Kamen Rider is when he obtain the Liner Form. Even the Imagins are involved somewhat in this form, Ryotaro is basically doing all the fighting especially in the last episode with all the Taros are out and only Momo and Ryuu are the ones left.
Overall, Den-O was an entertaining series to watch. If you want something weird and want to hear familiar voices coming from various anime shows (Shin Asuka is a spoiled brat in this series!), Den-O is the series for you.