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Friends, the weather has gotten colder. In Ikebukuro today, there are seldom few places the sun touches, a grey sky promising rain for later in the week—and yet, despite this, your loyal correspondent from Planet C is in high spirits! Is there a Skull Man renaissance going on, I might ask, and to answer that, I don’t think so, but I’d like to believe there is! With the rerelease of artist Meimu’s 2007 reimagining of the series around the corner on the shelves of Animate and the opening of Studio KAI’s Fuuto PI: The Portrait of Kamen Rider Skull, this chilly February day is a good day to be invested in Showa era revivals.
You will not be surprised to discover that despite the inclusion of members of AKB48, Kamen Rider W was not a series that resonated with me. Many of the themes and influences of Sanjo Riku’s most beloved Rider entry are ones that I am often moved by in other works, however, for whatever reason, their conflation in the 2009 series failed to move me. Given time to sleep on the series, revisiting it this year, I can’t say that my feelings have changed all that much, but my initial enthusiasm surrounding the character of Narumi Sokichi—played in original appearances by Kikkawa Koji, who again provides his rendition of the character’s theme song for this movie, and voiced here by Tsuda Kenjiro—around whom this story is centred still resonates just as strongly.
Drawing elements from both Begins Night, and OOO & W featuring Skull: Movie War Core, this film felt like it was the first time Kamen Rider W really worked for me.
There is a lot on the table here that we already know about. However, where this movie really shines is in its opening half, during its exploration of the relationship between Narumi and a young Hidari Shotaro (voiced by Hosoya Yoshimasa as an adult and Murase Ayumu as a child). I don’t personally believe that every moment in a character’s history needs to be demonstrated in the text for its meaning to carry emotional weight, but seeing in full the shadow cast by Narumi’s influence over Shotaro is incredibly touching. Those themes and influences that I lauded earlier, the ones that I said never felt as if they came together in W, they are in perfect alignment here in Higuchi Tatsuto’s adaptation of Sanjo and Sato Masaki’s manga. When Fuuto PI was announced as a series, I think there was a small contingent of people hoping that it would present a chance to break free of what are often perceived as the constraints of Sunday morning tokusatsu, but I genuinely believe that the real boon here is in the way it affords the creative team a chance to fully explore the emotional weight of these relationships in a way that can pay homage to the notion of selling toys but is not behoved to.
The things unsaid are the most important part of The Portrait of Kamen Rider Skull, something that is demonstrated perfectly as we watch Narumi’s refusal of Shotaro’s persistent efforts to join him as a partner—the moments in which we watch the young boy grow up to be a young man, the anger of righteousness leading to a certain recklessness of behaviour. Yet intent counts, we are told often in works carrying more weight than this brief review of a newly released cartoon, and I think that point is demonstrated expertly in the way Narumi comes to view his young ward.
At its best, this movie is a story about generational trauma, it is about what we pass down to the next generation.
Where the movie flounders is twofold, in your correspondent’s opinion. Firstly, the animation is sparse enough to reveal itself to be TV episodes edited together. Rarely does Fuuto seem populated, rarely does it seem lived in, our characters often standing alone on backdrops bereft of others. Secondly, so much of it is narrative revisited from the movies. I understand, perhaps, an intent to not drive the audience into having to search for answers, but I think a more elegant approach could have been taken than dedicating the second half of the movie to retelling moments in the history of these characters already well known. Yet it is an impressive feat Sanjo has managed to get away with in spinning out his ideas for Kamen Rider W into their own thing, a franchise that Toei seems shy about associating with Kamen Rider in the West. This act feels reminiscent of fanfiction writers investing so much in a work that it eventually transmutes, which is something that I would know absolutely nothing about.
I would also like to call attention to the character design. Of the two women who appear in the story and participate in a meaningful way in the narrative, both are amply endowed. It is difficult not to think of Tokime (voiced by Sekine Akira) as anything other than Sanjo’s big breasted OC, but Sonozaki Saeko (Sato Satomi) also appears to be alternating between wearing a padded bra and having no support at all on the many occasions in which she is thrown to the ground. I am inclined, due to personal bias, to be more forgiving of this portrayal of Saeko as I think the depiction of her Taboo form here is given a new and grotesque freedom in animation that I delighted in. The underlining affirmation of her cruelty, her viciousness, and, ultimately, the beginning of her failure, are all moments that make knowing what follows after all the more satisfying.
Watching people descend the escalator out into the grey evening, I am perhaps still touched by the beautiful portrayal of Saeko’s misanthropy in this movie, and was impressed by the way in which her young beau was portrayed in addition to her (mis)treatment of him.
The Portrait of Kamen Rider Skull is worth your time, that is my conclusion. Possibly it is only worth your time if you are already invested in the events of Kamen Rider W, but as someone who has never seen or read Fuuto PI, I think that alone is the bar for entry. In many ways, this movie, with its focus on Narumi, is what I wanted the actual series to be, and I want to celebrate this heartfelt, sometimes wistful, sometimes sorrowful reinterpretation of the source material as a triumph.
In conclusion, there are some wonderful moments here, your mileage may vary depending on how much you are already invested, but certainly for me, this is the most fun I’ve had watching a Kamen Rider movie at the cinema in a long time.
Also, I don’t know who needs to hear this, but sadly Philip still doesn’t get pregnant in this movie.
What are your Kamen Rider W/Skull/Fuuto PI thoughts? Are you enjoying Nico’s Retro Ride Reviews on Kamen Rider W? Let us know all your opinions in the comment section or reach out on social media.
