| Kamen Rider W Forever: A to Z/The Gaia Memories of Fate | |
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Theatrical Release Poster |
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| Directed by | Koichi Sakamoto |
| Produced by | Ishimori Productions Toei |
| Written by | Riku Sanjo |
| Narrated by | Fumihiko Tachiki |
| Starring | Renn Kiriyama Masaki Suda Hikaru Yamamoto Minehiro Kinomoto Mitsuru Matsuoka Genki Sudo Aya Sugimoto |
| Music by | Shuhei Naruse Kōtarō Nakagawa |
| Studio | Toei |
| Distributed by | Toei Co. Ltd |
| Release date(s) | August 7, 2010 |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Kamen Rider W Forever: A to Z/The Gaia Memories of Fate (仮面ライダーＷ（ダブル） FOREVER AtoZ／運命のガイアメモリ Kamen Raidā Daburu Fōebā: Ē tu Zetto/Unmei no Gaia Memori) is the second film adaptation of the Kamen Rider W television series, released in Japanese theaters on August 7, 2010.[1] It was filmed in 3-D,[2] making it the first feature length 3-D film in the Kamen Rider Series. The film's main guest star is Mitsuru Matsuoka of the band SOPHIA as the film's antagonist Kamen Rider Eternal.[3] Other guest stars include Genki Sudo and Aya Sugimoto.[4] Kamen Rider W Forever was released as a double feature with the Tensou Sentai Goseiger film Epic on the Movie. The protagonist of Kamen Rider OOO made his first appearance in the film.[5] The catchphrase for the movie is "W Forever - Betting the survival of Futo, Fight!" (Wよ永遠に―風都の存亡を賭けて、戦え! Daburu yo eien ni - Fūto no sonbō o kakete, tatakae!). At a press conference to promote the film, Matsuoka stated that he would like to have a spin-off television series or film focusing on the characters of NEVER some time after the next television series.[6]
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Set between Kamen Rider W episodes 44 and 45, the film focuses on the invasion of Futo by the Special Mercenary Force "NEVER" (特殊傭兵部隊NEVER Tokushu Yōhei Butai Nebā) led by a man named Katsumi Daido.[3][7] NEVER has discovered the existence of Foundation X's T2 (Type 2) Gaia Memories (T2（タイプツー）ガイアメモリ Tī Tsū (Taipu Tsū) Gaia Memori) — 26 next-generation Gaia Memories created by Foundation X based on the Gaia Memories used by the Kamen Riders. After he steals the Eternal Memory, Daido leads NEVER, his top six members using T2 Gaia Memories to assume Dopant forms, in an assault on the city to gather the T2 Gaia Memories scattered across the city.[8] Assisted by Interpol investigator Maria S. Cranberry, Shotaro's investigation into NEVER leads to Philip being captured by the terrorist group in Futo's darkest moment as Futo's Kamen Riders prepare for a final battle.[7][9]
After picking up the T2 Gaia Memories from fellow Foundation X agent Jun Kazu, Tabata leaves Futo via an Apache helicopter to his group's base of operations. Unbeknownst to him, he is being tailed by a Hercules cargo plane before a young man leaps out of it and into the helicopter. The man takes the briefcase and uses the T2 Gaia Memory with the letter E to transform into a caped Kamen Rider as Tabata activates the suitcase's self destruction function. Surviving the blast as it causes the helicopter to explode, the rider lands back in cargo plane where his accomplices are waiting as the other 25 T2 Gaia Memories to rain down on Futo. They head off to find the Gaia Memories as their leader intends to turn the city into hell on Earth.
Sometime later, as rain has postponed the Futo Fireworks celebration which he and others were to attend, Philip is in a nearby park reading a book from the Gaia Library. Seeing a mother and her son Eita, he feels a bit sad since his last encounter with Shroud and is curious about mother/child relations. Soon, Philip sees the IceAge and Violence Dopants attacking people, surprised as their Gaia Memories were destroyed in the past. He holds them off until a woman who reminds him of Shroud arrives and to support him before Shotaro arrives. As they form Kamen Rider Double to fight the IceAge and Violence Dopants, Kamen Rider Accel defeats the Nasca and Weather, finds their unbroken Gaia Memories to be of the same design as their own. In Double's fight against the other two Dopants, assuming LunaJoker to fight them, he witnesses mysterious green Dopant saving the mother and child from debris caused by the fighting before defeating his opponents with the Joker Strange Maximum Drive. The two Dopants turn out to be Watcherman and Santa-chan who explain they found the Gaia Memories which forcefully entered their bodies before the mystery woman reappears and introduces herself as Maria S. Cranberry, an Interpol Agent. Back at the office, Maria explains to the Narumi Agency and Ryu that the Gaia Memories are T2 Gaia Memories, which are refined versions of the T1-type Gaia Memories. Furthermore, the raining of Memories cross the city is the work of a terrorist group led by Katsumi Daido. As Philip is perplexed with Maria, thinking she is Shroud and visiting her hotel room with a music box he found that belongs to her, the others go out to find the T2 Gaia Memories.
When Shotaro goes to his informants Queen and Elizabeth, Elizabeth reveals that she has found the T2 Accel, Key, and Bird Memories through their high school connections. Queen also reveals that she has found the T2 Queen Memory, throwing it into the street when it tries to take her over. But a female motorcyclist, Reika Hanehara, picks up the Queen Memory as Shotaro attempts to talk her out of using it. However, Shotaro realizes Reika is one of the terrorists as she presents the T2 Heat Memory, using it to become the Heat Dopant and driving off as Shotaro pursues as Double on the HardBoilder. However, it turns out to be a trap as the effeminate terrorist Kyosui Izumi becomes the Luna Dopant with the T2 Luna Memory to conjure Masquerade Dopants. Double deals with the fake Dopants before using the Trigger Aero Burst Maximum Drive to destroy the Heat Dopant's bike. He fights Heat Dopant being being ambushed by the muscle man Gozo Domoto, knocking him into the T2 Metal Memory as he uses it to become the Metal Dopant. Double is overwhelmed by the three Dopants until the mysterious green Dopant appears and spirits the Kamen Rider to safety. Back at the agency, after Philip uses the Gaia Library to confirm the terrorists are actually the members of "NEVER" or "Necro-Over", undead super soldiers developed by Foundation X. Looking over 19 of the T2 Gaia Memories, Philip gets an urgent call on his Stag Phone from Maria, requesting that they bring all of the Gaia Memories they have found to the Futo Tower construction cite. However, it turns out to be a trap set up by Daido as he transforms into Kamen Rider Eternal.
Enraged with the villain calling himself a Kamen Rider, Shotaro and Philip transform into Kamen Rider Double FangJoker to fight Eternal. Ryu as Accel when he is attacked by NEVER's sniper Ken Ashihara before he uses the T2 Trigger Memory to transform into the Trigger Dopant. Even when Shotaro and Philip transform into the CycloneJokerXtreme form, they and Accel are powerless against their respective opponents. Deciding to end this quick, Eternal activates his Eternal Requiem Maximum Drive, negating all non-T2 Gaia Memories and leaving the other Kamen Riders powerless. Though Maria uses the T2 Cyclone Memory to become the green Dopant, the Cyclone Dopant, to save Akiko from the Trigger Dopant, she gives Eternal the group's T2 Gaia Memories to NEVER while giving Philip a message. By then, NEVER finishes turning Futo Tower into their base of operations while installing their greatest weapon: the X-Bicker. The next day, as the gang takes refuge in the woods to recover from the battle, Ryu picks up a television broadcast on his Beetle Phone and the gang learn that NEVER is offering a billion yen and membership to anyone who finds and hands them the last T2 Gaia Memory that they are missing: the J Memory. This in turn causes anarchy with anyone with a Gaia Memory trying to come forward to claim the reward. To make matters worse, Shotaro and Philip fight over if Maria can still be trusted, causing a irked and confused Philip to run off to find Maria. Finding Maria at a music hall, Philip begged to know if she is Shroud before Daido appears and reveals Maria to be his mother before knocking a devastated Philip out after learning that Maria set him up.
Returning to the agency, Shotaro fumes over Philip's behavior when Kamen Rider Skull appears in the office who helps Shotaro realize Philip's feelings about wanting a family before leaving his Lost Driver and disappearing. Shotaro walks over to inspect the Lost Driver when Reika appears in the office to kill him. After learning that Daido has Philip, Shotaro tries to fight back before she transforms into the Heat Dopant and sends flying over his desk when he finds a hole in the floor and finds the object that made the hole in his ceiling earlier: The T2 Joker Memory. Using it, Shotaro transforms into Kamen Rider Joker as they take the fight to a nearby creek where the Heat Dopant can no longer use her fire-based attacks effectively. Joker uses the opportunity to use his Rider Kick Maximum Drive on the Heat Dopant, knocking her out. With Ryu's support, Shotaro heads to Futo Tower to save Philip and defeat NEVER, attracting Luna Dopant's attention as he sends his Masquerade Dopant illusions to attack Shotaro as he transforms into Joker and gets into the tower, while Ryu manages to use the Engine Blade to hold off the Dopants as well as Izumi and Ashihara. Facing the Metal Dopant, Joker manages to use his Rider Punch Maximum Drive to defeat him before arriving to NEVER's control center with Philip hooked up to the X-Bicker as an amplifier. Eternal overwhelms Joker and takes the final T2 Joker Gaia Memory as he uses T2 Zone Memory to summon all T2 Gaia Memory into the X-Bicker to activate the device which will send out a wave of energy that will turn everyone into Necro-Overs. By then, Reika arrives, begging for help as the body is falling apart with Daido pushing her aside, revealing that when a Necro-Over is hit by a Maximum Drive they will crumble away into dust, as Domoto dissolves away outside with Reika following after realizing how heartless Daido is.
Refusing to let Daido have his way and with Shotaro covering him, Philip deactivates the X-Bicker by force and disable T2 Eternal Memory's Eternal Requiem. Though Shotaro is unable to hold him back for long, Daido is disabled when Maria injects him with an anti-Necro-Over solution. Enraged, Daido shot her in the stomach as Philip destroys the X-Bicker while Ryu becomes Accel to defeat the Trigger Dopant in Trial form. As Daido limps off to inject himself with the antidote, Maria apologizes to Philip for using him and causing all the chaos as he assures her that he'll stop Daido. Managing to find Daido, Shotaro and Philip fight Eternal before Transforming into Double. However, the Luna Dopant arrives to drag Double off. However, before the fight could start, a strange red coin rolls up to Double's foot. Double picks it up as a young man named Eiji Hino appears and decides to fight the Luna Dopant, using two other coins to transform into Kamen Rider OOO and hold the Luna Dopant at bay as Double goes after Eternal. Switching from Tatoba Combo to his Takakiriba form, OOO destroys the Dopant with his Medajaribur. Using the HardTurbuler, Double catches up to Eternal at the top of Futo Tower as he was about to use the X-Bicker energy to destroy the city, fighting the evil Kamen Rider in his 9 basic forms before transforming into CycloneJokerXtreme to deliver a final blow. However, Eternal uses the Zone Memory once more to summon every T2 Gaia Memory onto his Memory Slots, increasing his power. Eternal activates his Never Ending Hell Maximum Drive, absorbing the X-Bicker energy as he sends the blades of the Futo Tower onto Double, sending him to his death. But at the last second, with the city's support of Double, a gale blows through Futo and into the Xtreme Memory, transforming CycloneJokerXtreme into CycloneJokerGoldXtreme. With this power boost, Double flies through the debris towards Eternal, hitting him with the Golden Xtreme Maximum Drive Rider Kick. In his last breath, Katsumi Daido laughs, stating that he hadn't been feeling his own death for quite some time before exploding in a massive fireball, with the Eternal Memory breaking soon after. Later, everyone celebrates the defeat of NEVER, watching the fireworks as repairs with Futo Tower begins.
Katsumi Daido (大道 克己 Daidō Katsumi), the primary antagonist, uses the T2 Eternal Memory (T2エターナルメモリ Tī Tsū Etānaru Memori) and a Lost Driver (ロストドライバー Rosuto Doraibā) to transform into Kamen Rider Eternal (仮面ライダーエターナル Kamen Raidā Etānaru) in Blue Flare (ブルーフレア Burū Furea) form with the Eternal Robe (エターナルローブ Etānaru Rōbu) cape. His Maximum Drive is called the Eternal Requiem (エターナルレクイエム Etānaru Rekuiemu) which generates a power wave that neutralizes all Gaia Memories with the except of T2 Memories, a variation of this finisher also executes a Rider Kick to the target. Eternal is armed with the combat knife called the Eternal Edge (エターナルエッジ Etānaru Ejji), which he uses in another Maximum Drive called the Bloody Hell Blade (ブラッディヘルブレイド Buraddi Heru Bureido). Eternal can use other T2 Gaia Memories to access their powers like the T2 Unicorn Memory (T2ユニコーンメモリ Tī Tsū Yunikōn Memori) to create an energy drill around his fist and the T2 Zone Memory (T2ゾーンメモリ Tī Tsū Zōn Memori) to summon the other T2 Gaia Memories to him. In addition to the Maximum Slots on the Lost Driver and Eternal Edge, Eternal has a series of Gaia Memory Slots on combat belts around its chest, right arm, and left leg; with the Memory Slot in the Lost Driver, a total of 27. By filling all of these Memory Slots with the T2 Gaia Memories, Eternal is powered into his Strengthening Armament (強化武装 Kyōka Busō) mode, able to absorb the X-Bicker energy to produce the Eternal Wave (エターナルウェーブ Etānaru Wēbu) green aura that he uses in his Neverending Hell (ネバーエンディングヘル Nebāendingu Heru) Maximum Drive.[7][8] His catchphrase is "Now, enjoy your Hell" (さあ、地獄を楽しみな Saa, jigoku o tanoshimina). Eternal's motifs is that of the letter E and a military commando.
At Anime Expo 2010, SOPHIA performed at a concert for the attendees. During the concert, they had Kamen Rider Eternal appear.[10]
Katsumi Daido/Kamen Rider Eternal stars in his own movie, Kamen Rider Eternal, as part of Kamen Rider W Returns which was released on July 21, 2011. In the film, unable to properly synch with a normal version of the Eternal Memory, Jun Kazu assumes a weaker form of Eternal called Red Flare.
During the events of the film, Philip gets kidnapped, leaving Shotaro unable to become Kamen Rider Double. However, after a vision of Sokichi Narumi and a second encounter with the T2 Heat Dopant, he comes into the possession of both the T2 Joker Memory and Kamen Rider Skull's Lost Driver belt, enabling him to become Kamen Rider Joker (仮面ライダージョーカー Kamen Raidā Jōkā). This allows Shotaro to fight on his own, using the powers of the Joker Memory to their full potential. When the T2 Joker Memory is placed into the Maximum Slot, Joker executes either a Rider Punch (ライダーパンチ Raidā Panchi) or a Rider Kick (ライダーキック Raidā Kikku) Maximum Drive.[7][8] Kamen Rider Joker resembles Kamen Rider Double JokerJoker, the form assumed by Shotaro through one of Decade's Final Form Ride Cards during the events of Movie War 2010.
In the events of episode 49 of the television series, Shotaro transforms into Kamen Rider Joker after Philip disappeared into the true Gaia Memory, using the original Joker Memory in place of the T2 Joker Memory.
As started with Kamen Rider Kiva, to promote W Forever a series of Internet shorts will be produced that show a comedic side to the aspects of the film. Titled Net Movie Kamen Rider W Forever: The A to Z 26 Rapid-Succession Roars of Laughter (ネット版 仮面ライダーダブル FOREVER AtoZで爆笑26連発 Nettoban Kamen Raidā Daburu Fōebā: Ē tu Zetto de Bakushō Nijū Rokū Renpatsu), the films will total 26 shorts released every Friday beginning July 16, 2010.[11] There will be five different formats for the web movies: Artistic Taste Battle in the Narumi Detective Agency (絵心バトルIN鳴海探偵事務所 Egokoro Batoru IN Narumi Tantei Jimusho) where drawings are compared, When I Shroud Opened a Kamen Rider Academy... Student Akiko (シュラウドの私が仮面ライダーアカデミーを開いたら・・・生徒亜樹子 Shuraudo no Atashi ga Kamen Raidā Akademī o Hiraitara... Seito Akiko) where Kamen Rider designs are examined, Professor Jinno and Assistant Makura's Gaia Memory Research (刃野博士と真倉助手のガイアメモリ研究所 Jinno-hakase to Makura-joshu no Gaia Memori Kenkyūjo) where different Gaia Memories (such as Bean and Queen) are tested out, Kirihiko's Room: The Talk Revenge (霧彦の部屋THEトークリベンジ Kirihiko no Heya THE Tōku Ribenji) where Kirihiko (Yuki Kimisawa) talks to the other antagonists, and Dopant Medical Practitioner: Shinkuro Isaka (ドーパント開業医・井坂深紅郎 Dōpanto Kaigyōi: Isaka Shinkurō) where Isaka (Tomoyuki Dan) examines Dopant designs.[12]
The short story "The Beginning of N/Blood and Dreams" (Nのはじまり／血と夢 N no Hajimari/Chi to Yume) written by Riku Sanjo and published in Toei Hero Max, Vol. 34, tells the background story of NEVER and Maria's past as Daido's mother Miki Daido (大道 美樹 Daidō Miki). It also introduces Foundation X's top agent Keith Anderson (キース＝アンダーソン Kīsu Andāson), as well as the Ammonite Dopant (アンモナイト・ドーパント Anmonaito Dōpanto), the Trilobite Dopant (トリロバイト・ドーパント Torirobaito Dōpanto), and the Mammoth Dopant (マンモス・ドーパント Manmosu Dōpanto).
The film opened across 460 screens nationwide, 273 2D screens and 187 3D. On its first day of release, the film grossed an estimated ¥140,000,000 and placed 2nd in box offices. The movie would go on to make ¥331,179,000 and place 3rd on the weekend charts. 251,270 tickets were sold in total with 115,123 of those being for 3D viewings.[13] The movie received an aggregate 4.58 out of 5 score based on critic reviews complied at Yahoo Japan.[14]
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