One thing that I want to make clear right off the bat; this review and all of my other ones were never written with the intend of attacking anyone else's opinions. Anything I have to say about whatever I choose to review, whether in a positive or negative retrospect, is solely based on my opinion and experience with a given material. Thus, while my work is inherently bias, it is not saying that my opinion is the be-all-end-all for any films or TV shows. You have the basic human right to agree or disagree with what I have to say.
With that all said, I was going in as open-minded as possible with this series due to how it was praised by fans as one of the best Heisei Rider series. There were a handful of naysayers, sure, but I wanted to try and like this series. I even made sure to check out the Specials and the "Project: G4" movie according their respective placements in canon (won't review either, incidentally). I was earnestly trying to give "Kamen Rider Agito" a chance despite being written by Toshiki Inoue and produced by Shinichiro Shirakura.
Never say that I'm unfair, but I really don't get why people like this show. As unpopular as this opinion may sound, I honestly think this series is worst than "Ghost". As bad as that series was, I can at least pin the blame on executive meddling and a lack of a budget. There is no such excuse for "Agito", especially after it came off of the coattails of "Kuuga", one of my all-time favourite series.
Regardless, let's actually discuss the plot. The primary protagonist is Shouichi Tsugami, an amnesiac who was found washed up on a beach and taken in by the Misugi family. Unbeknown to them, however, is that Shouichi has the ability to detect the presence of monsters known to the police as, ironically, the "Unknown". As Kamen Rider Agito, Shouichi takes it upon himself to fight the Unknown, all the while both are investigated by the newly formed G3 Unit; the team consisting of engineer Sukima Ozawa, assistant Takahiro Omuro, and Kamen Rider G3 himself Makoto Hikawa. Complicating matters are the selfish and antagonistic machinations of "detective" Toru Hojo, the appearance of another Kamen Rider named Gills, otherwise known as Ryo Ashihara, and the mystery of an event revolving around a ship called the Akatsuki, which forms the backbone of the general mystery of Shouichi's past and his ability to fight the Unknown.
Pros:
One thing I can certainly give credit to this show is that the general suit designs for it are pretty good. There is a decent variety of motifs between each of them; ranging from Agito himself being based on a Chinese dragon, to G3 (and later G3-X) being designed after Kuuga, or even Gills and Another Agito (yes, really) with their distinct bug motifs of a beetle and a locust. This in turn ties back to an interesting reoccurring idea with the Riders; their differing types of evolution. Agito and Another Agito's powers are supernatural which grow and evolve based on their own resolve, hence the shows tagline "Awaken The Soul". G3 is a heavily armed suit of armour, thus grows stronger when given technological upgrades. Gills', due to be an imperfect Agito, has his evolution based on biology due to his form being mutated from Ryo and his bizarre connection to his Agito seed.
Had the writing in this series been better, this idea would've been fascinating and would tell us a lot about these characters, especially Hikawa due to his power set not being a biological or supernatural augmentation but rather a set of power armour. This in turn could've also allowed for more visually interesting fight scenes had the idea of evolution been more of a prominent focus. As is, it's more of a missed opportunity.
Hikawa and Ozawa are easily the best characters in this series, namely due to how they are pretty much the only ones who act with altruistic intentions for the majority of their time on screen. Hikawa is a straight-laced, honest person who doesn't let personal bias cloud his judgement, though he suffers from a) an inferiority complex due to how characters keep judging him for his actions and b) all of the comedy being shoved onto him to try to show him as ""clumsy", which in turn makes the other characters look like arseholes. As for Ozawa, she is certainly a bit more blunt and abrasive, , not mention letting some personal bias get to her. But she otherwise takes no bullshit from anyone, cutting straight through it and pointing out how some people who argue with her methods are morons with their own agendas. And I won't lie, her snarky nature towards... well, everyone, does make her a much more entertaining character for me.
As for other positives... actually, I think that's it.
Well, at least I tried to stay positive; let's get into what makes me really dislike this series.
Cons:
This image should be enough to explain a good chunk of my issues with this show. I can just end it right here and anyone who has watched "Agito" would instantly understand why.
But this is meant to be a thorough critique, so let me just get this arsehole out of the way so I can quickfire my other problems with "Agito".
Toru Hojo has to be the single most selfish, moral-aggrandising, manipulative, hypocritical jackass I have ever come across on my journey to catch up with Kamen Rider. I realise that is saying a lot, as there are plenty of unlikable douche-bags in this franchise; Masato Kusaka from "Faiz" and Nira Mitsuhide from "Drive", just to name a few. However, unlike the latter two, who at least get their comeuppance in the most cathartic ways possible, Hojo NEVER has to answer for the deplorable bullshit that he pulls in this series. Just to give a quick rundown of what he does;
- Repeatedly treats Hikawa and the G3 Unit as less than human despite seeing himself as the better user of the G3 armour.
- Uses said superiority to smash Hikawa's self-esteem into smithereens and make him doubt himself, proving his lack of professionalism and self-righteous narcissism.
- Tries to prove that there is no evidence to any claims that the G3 Unit has in regards to the Unknowns despite using said evidence to buddy up to the polices' head officers.
- Continuously has the G3 Unit grounded, disbanded or put under investigation in order to move up in the proverbial food chain, which in turn could easily lead to more people getting killed.
- Retreats from a fight with an Unknown after taking a fraction of the damage that Hikawa took as G3.
- Employs a university professor to help in creating a counterpart to the G3 armour, knowing full well that said professor has a hatred towards Ozawa for being an excellent engineer and scientist.
- Lies straight to Hikawa's face regarding what the higher-ups think of the man's performance as G3, leading to more of Hikawa's self-doubt to fester and makes him unsure of what to do next.
- Essentially blackmails the higher-ups into getting his counterpart to G3-X, the V1, into the prototype stage.
- Convinces the higher-ups to start protecting the Unknown instead of the innocent just so he can get Agito either captured or killed.
- And finally, gets Ozawa and Hikawa fired from the G3 Unit during the last few episodes so that he can become G3-X for a few minutes.
And despite all of this bollocks not only showing that is an incompetent detective but also lacks any form of tact or professionalism, he is virtually NEVER punished or reprimanded for his actions causing more harm than good. This is why I think Hojo is worse than either Masato or Nira; at least those two actually faced the consequences for their actions and in ways that satisfied the audience. Masato ended up having his neck snapped by someone wearing the Kaixa gear, and Nira was arrested for killing Shinnosuke's father years prior, on top of allowing the corruption in the police department to fester from the head office. The most that Hojo ever gets is a punch in the face from Ryo. Otherwise, he is never forced to answer for his crimes or to own up to his mistakes. He just gets off scot-free and NEVER gets called out for essentially putting civilians in danger for the sake of his own narcissism and pride.
And it's implied in the final episode that he and Ozawa may have feelings for each other? Go fuck a weed hacker!
Moving from that, it's not like the rest of the cast are that likeable either. Outside of Hikawa and Ozawa, most of the cast fall under two categories; selfish arseholes who make condemning comments about other people around them, or reserve holders for body bags. This is especially true of almost every single woman in this show, as the ones outside of the main cast of Ozawa and Mana (Shouichi's sister figure) are remorseless sociopaths who revel in their power and repeatedly try to get the main characters killed, with the most notable examples being these two:
To the left is Aki Sakaki and to the right is Masumi Sekiya. Both of them are manipulative, sociopathic, power hungry and care only for their own survival, not even humouring the idea of acting in the best interests of those around them. They would kill and discriminate if it meant that they could keep their psychic powers and be safe from the Unknown attacks. Unfortunately, it is never framed in the context of these two being villains or self-serving bitches; instead, they exist to die as a means of motivating the male heroes into action.
In other words, one of Toshiki Inoue's favourite tropes; "Women In Refrigerators". This is something seen in almost every single thing that Toshiki Inoue was the head writer for; wherein a female character, regardless of moral alignment, is killed or otherwise maimed in order to force the narrative into a stupid direction or motivates the male characters into "avenging" their fallen female companion. It is a stupid, blatantly sexist story trope that seriously needs to stop leering it's head in a LOT of beloved franchises that abuses the idea more than Major Force abused Alexandra DeWitt.
Whatever you do, do NOT Google that. You'll thank me for it.
Getting back to the characters, even the other main Riders suffer from being arseholes.
Take, as an example, Kaoru Kino, otherwise known as Another Agito. He is introduced as the leader of the people who survived the Akatsuki incident that kick-started the whole mystery of Shouichi's amnesia. He, like Shouichi, fights the Unknown with the power that he has. However, he claims that HE should be the only Agito active, going as far as to try and kill Shouichi and the others if they so much as defy his goal. They give him the tragic past of losing both his brother and his right arm to frostbite, only for his arm to be replaced by his brother's in surgery (limb transplants do not work that way), and this is meant to make us sympathise with the bastard. It fails, however, as it hardly ever factors into his actions and is otherwise a footnote in his overall characterisation. He even goes as far as to try and kill the kid who always backs his actions at the first sign that said kid displays esper abilities tied to his Agito Seed.
One or the other, Inoue.
The fight direction and choreography leave a LOT to be desired, as well. It's more focused on symbolic imagery that ultimately means nothing, all the while using editing tricks that makes it almost impossible to actually see the fights. Most of the shots focus on close-ups on the Riders waving their arms around while the screen is filled with lens flare, so even if you could somehow follow the fights through the awful editing and direction, that clarity is automatically lost thanks to a bunch of large lights glaring you in the face. As I brought up before in my review of "The Last Airbender" (review here, incidentally), I have no issue with fast editing for fight scenes. All I ask, however, is that there is a form of visual narrative cohesion so that the viewer remains engaged and excited for the duration of it. Take for instance Aruto's debut battle in "Kamen Rider Zero-One":
Take, as an example, Kaoru Kino, otherwise known as Another Agito. He is introduced as the leader of the people who survived the Akatsuki incident that kick-started the whole mystery of Shouichi's amnesia. He, like Shouichi, fights the Unknown with the power that he has. However, he claims that HE should be the only Agito active, going as far as to try and kill Shouichi and the others if they so much as defy his goal. They give him the tragic past of losing both his brother and his right arm to frostbite, only for his arm to be replaced by his brother's in surgery (limb transplants do not work that way), and this is meant to make us sympathise with the bastard. It fails, however, as it hardly ever factors into his actions and is otherwise a footnote in his overall characterisation. He even goes as far as to try and kill the kid who always backs his actions at the first sign that said kid displays esper abilities tied to his Agito Seed.
One or the other, Inoue.
The fight direction and choreography leave a LOT to be desired, as well. It's more focused on symbolic imagery that ultimately means nothing, all the while using editing tricks that makes it almost impossible to actually see the fights. Most of the shots focus on close-ups on the Riders waving their arms around while the screen is filled with lens flare, so even if you could somehow follow the fights through the awful editing and direction, that clarity is automatically lost thanks to a bunch of large lights glaring you in the face. As I brought up before in my review of "The Last Airbender" (review here, incidentally), I have no issue with fast editing for fight scenes. All I ask, however, is that there is a form of visual narrative cohesion so that the viewer remains engaged and excited for the duration of it. Take for instance Aruto's debut battle in "Kamen Rider Zero-One":
Modern series with a higher budget, yes; but the editing in Rider series like "Zero-One" are more or less how this should go. It can be fast and frantic, but it needs to be coherent to the viewer and contain it's own narrative to the fight. That is never showcased as such with series like "Agito".
This is our villain for this series; the Overlord of Darkness. His goal is that he sends down the Unknown, otherwise known as Lords, to kill anyone with the potential to become an Agito; all done with the intend of letting humans evolve on their own in defiance to his counterpart, the Overlord of Light.
The way he goes about it, however, paints him as an immature, spiteful, hypocritical brat. He not only spends most of the series just sitting in a hospital room after turning himself in for killing a random human, but he also gives another person the power to awaken the Agito Seeds within people who bare one. It is never explained why he does this; he just does. Furthermore, it is actually shown later in the series that he can just up and steal the Agito Seeds straight out of people without killing them, giving the Seeds to himself in order to try and kill the protagonists faster. So, if I understand his plan correctly; he is using a source of power that he openly hates... in order to kill people who also wield that same power that he hates?
For the longest time, I had virtually no idea of where the story was even going in Agito. But after a while, I finally got it; it's because it doesn't HAVE a story to tell. Oh sure, stuff happens, but nothing that can be pieced together as a flowing, easy to follow narrative. Instead, it feels more like a random series of events that just happen because Toshiki Inoue couldn't decide what to do with any of the characters. Couple the lack of a real consequential plot-line with the objectively god-awful pacing where everything drags, and you have a series that is not simply infuriating with how the characters act, but is also boring due to the lack of anything happening to invest you. I am aware that "Kuuga" also suffered from being ridiculously slow, but it still benefits from having a simple narrative and entertaining characters to carry the audience through. But with "Agito" focusing on unlikable sociopaths as the main characters and the story having virtually zero direction, I honestly struggled just to finish the fucking thing.
Every time that the series dragged the pacing through the ground and forced the characters into a stupid conflict that never resolves itself, I would find myself suddenly turning into Tom Servo:
As you could easily gather, I am not an Agito fan. It may not be the worst Rider series I had ever sat through (that would still be Zi-O), but it was still a dreary, lifeless, poorly put together mess that leaves a LOT to be desired. Had they simply cut down on the characters being jackasses to each other, put some more emphasis on Agito and the police working together, and simply cut Hojo entirely, this would've been a better series. I wouldn't say good, but I wouldn't find myself badmouthing it as I have done.
I must honestly ask; why do people enjoy this series? What does this show have for people that I seem to be missing? I am not trying to say you are wrong if you like this show; you have every right to. But I am curious as to WHY you enjoy it. I would love to hear what you thought of "Agito" and what you got out of it.
Overall rating: 3/10 (Crap).
But otherwise, if you want to watch my descent into madness over the course of "Agito's" 51 episodes (as well as what I've seen of "Ryuki" thus far), please consider checking me out on Twitter: I'm @MediaHood23. The hashtag is #AgitoLiveTweets.
But until next time; this is Callum Lewis, the Media Hood, signing off!
