Kamen Rider Agito (2001-2002)
Production: Toei Corporation
Episodes: 51
By Tristan “Dreamseer” Day

Introduction

In 2000, Japanese audiences were startled by the return of the classic superhero, Kamen Rider, with the new series, "Kamen Rider Kuuga". The sshow became a grand success, taking the world of tokusatsu to a new plateau (at least in this humble reviewer’s opinion). With Kuuga in the bag, Toei was faced with the task of creating a new Rider series with as much dynamism, if not more, as Kuuga. Their answer… Kamen Rider Agito!

Story

Shoichi Tsugami is a man who has lost his memory. He knows nothing of where he comes from or who he is. Only that he must use the mysterious power within him to transform and protect his new home and the people that he loves. When an enemy rises to face him, he transforms into Kamen Rider Agito.

A series of terrible murders have been taking place across Tokyo that can only be described as impossible crimes. When at last the culprits are revealed to be the mysterious creatures called Unknowns, the police department’s newly-created G3 armor, and its unit are put into action.

When G3 meets Agito, he is unsure if they are friends or enemies, neither side knowing where Agito’s powers come from. And the existence of the Unknowns, who seem to be targeting members of the same families, is even more of a mystery.

When the ferocious Rider, Gills, appears, determined to find out why his father killed himself after boarding the Akatsugi-Go cruise liner, the mysteries only continue to pile up, especially when it is discovered that several targets of the Unknowns had boarded the same cruise.

What is the true origin of Agito, Gills, and the Unknowns? Why are the Unknowns targeting these people? The search for such answers only brings more questions, and more furious battles, fists flying between both friends and foes. And in the end, only one thing is certain…time is running out for the human race!

Review

At the time of the show’s release, the concept of 3 Riders sharing one series was pretty different for Kamen Rider. Previously, the shows had always focused on one central Rider character, although some series did feature additional Riders. This time, we focus on all three as central characters, each with their own specific storylines to go through… Let’s not get into what happened AFTER Agito, and say that, at the time, this was a refreshing concept to me.

Shoichi (Agito) has been accused of being a carbon copy of Yusuke (Kuuga), but I disagree, and think he had a very distinct personality, which I loved. His warm-hearted character is different from most Riders, who are much more relentless and, well, ticked off. Hikawa (G3) is another refreshing character, determined, and unsure of the extent of his own abilities. Ryo (Gills) is a tragic hero, who seems almost cursed from day one to live a lonely life of pain and sorrow. Very dramatic and powerful. Speaking of which…

In my experience, it’s rare for a tokusatsu to treat its story and characters with this level of care. The storyline is astoundingly complex- I’m not kidding, folks. I can’t even describe just how well thought-out and intriguingt he plot is. There are questions on top of mysteries on top of enigmas that just keep coming, forcing you to guess and theorize about what you think will happen, and part of the fun is finding out whether or not your guesses were correct. Some people didn’t seem to have enjoyed it (perhaps because they couldn’t understand everything), but I thought it was a blast. This series is fiercely dramatic, taking you on an emotional, tragic rollercoaster. But it still finds time to throw in some comedy, while not annoying me, like Ryuki often did by overdoing it.

As far as the fun aspects of the show go, I’m satisfied. I like Agito’s suit designs, especially the Burning Form, which is my favorite design EVER. Gills’ design ain’t really my cup of tea, but it’s upgraded form is cool enough. I love G3/G3-X. I prefer the original form to it’s eventual upgrade, but it’s all good. The design of the Unknown monsters is far superior to Kuuga’s “glue and paper” monster suits, and really look beautiful. It’s also somehow cool to see that they saved money by using several versions of the same suit for different monsters. Other people might’ve thought of this as cheap (which I guess it is) but I thought it was cool, making it feel like some of the monsters were members of the same “species” or something- loved it! The action is a little slow in some places, if you compare it to Kuuga, and especially if you compare it to Ryuki, but it serves the story, which is fine by me. I still enjoy it.

Conclusion

Agito never lets up it’s intense storytelling pace, and I loved that. I appreciated that the series never tried to portray one side of any argument as “simple evil” or “simple good”. Everything is very grey, and there are serious messages imbedded into the story, which makes the series so much more enjoyable to me than your average “beat-em-up” toku series, while still supplying me with enough great action and fun. Also, I appreciated that the ending wasn’t so darn slow, like Kuuga’s was to me.

To conclude, “Kamen Rider Agito” is my favorite tokusatsu series ever, and I would recommend it to anyone that wants an engaging storyline to go along with the fun dynamism of this genre. A+. HENSHIN!!

I’ll See You In My Dreams
-Dreamseer