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And now for something completely different!
The train of time, DenLiner. Will the next stop be in the past? The future?
Regardless of where it’s stopping it’s a ride you should totally get on and enjoy. Find out why.

Kamen Rider’s had a really long history you know, it’s one of those classic iconic series that goes way way back. From Kamen Rider (the First) (which you can find on DVD now if you look for it) right up to present day there’s a lot of history to the characters (heck, they even recently brought all the years of Kamen Rider together in a large trans dimensional Rider War with the recent Decade series (and even managed to fit in the newest Sentai series Samurai Sentai Shinkenger along for the ride as well). Lots of Rider… but this one, Den-O, is unique and maybe it’s because of that fresh innovative uniqueness that it caught on and accomplished several firsts in Kamen Rider history.

First off it is unlike any Kamen Rider before or since in that it does feature the usual bike riding masked rider, of course, but that’s not all. Welcome aboard the train of time, DenLiner. Will the next station be in the past? The future?… only by taking a ride on it will you find out… just what happened to the star of this series, the unique personality known as Ryoutarou.

To say he has a bit of bad luck is like saying 90% of movie to game translations are only mildly horrible… which is to say an understatement. Ryoutarou was seemingly born under a most unlucky star as he seems to be the victim of the most bad luck ever seen or experienced by a single entity. I mean how much bad luck can one person suffer?!? This is just as well as we roll into Episode 1 and…

Episode 1-2
While experiencing the usual bout of bad luck that is his forte, Ryou somehow comes into possession of a pass to the train of time (DenLiner) which is a black case like thing which not only helps him become Den-O, but also can be used to travel in time (but more on that later). It seems this Kamen Rider universe is suffering from it’s own version of a temporal cold war, only it’s not so cold and the enemy are these time traveling entities called “Imagin”, who take the physical form chosen by the person they make contact with (though a lot of the people Imagin seem to come into contact with all have costumed monsters in their heads it seems as not one Imagin ever comes up looking humanoid). Anyway one attaches himself to Ryou, another to the leader of a gang who has lost a precious item and wants it back desperately enough to forge a contract with the Imagin attached to him (BTW weird freaky SFX when the imagin first appear, each looks like they’re made of sand and out of synch with reality split in two with the upper body below the lower body which hovers weirdly in the air above the upper torso which is stuck to the ground).

Imagin live for one thing, changing the flow of space and time for reasons as yet unknown (though the series ended sometime ago, kinda, so I would guess by now we know why they do what they do). To do that they have to make contracts with people in the past. In exchange for doing just about anything (that can be aired on Japanese TV to general audiences of course) they are allowed to split their contract holder in two and jump into said person’s past (well it’s not a gory Mortal Kombat splitting, the person is still alive). That’s where Denliner and she who is called Hana comes in. They chase down Imagin and stop them from altering time… who is Hana and why is she after the Imagin? You find that out when Kintaro appears and joins the case, but that’s a few reviews off…

Anyway this and next episode 2 (premieres the whole concept of the train of time, the little temporal war against the Imagin, and (more importantly) the new Kamen Rider (Den-O) and his first Imagin partner the red oni devil Momotaros (who actually looks the part, unlike the previous Kamen Rider Hibiki series of sometime previous to this, where the series just went around calling Kamen Riders “Oni” for some reason). It’s all the start so and we’re just getting our feet under us with the new series.

And right off the bat you see this series is way different than some of the ones we’ve digested in the past (from relaunch of Kamen Rider as a regular TV Series with Kuuga to the here and now). First off this is a bit of a lighter feel to it, and it has more humor to it than some of the hardcore Riders like Kuuga, 555 (Faiz) and Kabuto. Sure they had their moments of levity but they were more serious entries. This one (while at times serious) is more lighter in content and probably why it seemed to hit it off better with the fan base. Lighter series of late seem to be bigger hits than darker edged fare of the same caliber. This series and W (Double), Ultraman Mebius over UltraSeven X and Ultraman Nexus (review of Mebius coming soon). Lighter seems to be better (and I don’t blame them, I’d like a lighter edge on my viewing too from time to time!)

And did I mention this is an original Rider in that Ryou isn’t a born warrior or fighter like previous Riders… sure, some had a little bit of a learning curve jumping into the role but he has a SEVERE learning curve in that he can barely fight! Thankfully he can merge with up to four Imagin (since his Henshin Belt has four switches, one for each, though oddly enough nobody notices the amount of switches and possibilities not even when he’s merged with the prerequisite four Imagin over a dozen episodes later… how odd!) and they can do the fighting for him. Momotaros, his first, is Sword Form (with his “Hissatsu Attack Parts 1 to 3”)

Episode 3-4 Momotaros gets into trouble by becoming too bored with hanging about the train, and ends up partnering up with a guy who steals from the yakuza… gee, ain’t he stupid! Well like the first case (the gang leader) he has his reasons why, and that’s another good thing about the show… it’s got a little bit of Quantum Leap tied into it.

How so? Well usually the Imagin attached to his Contract Holder usually gets the task done and leaps into the past, so it’s up to Ryou and DenLiner to stop it. Using a trading card blank (trading cards seems to get a lot of use in Kamen Rider of late, mainly in series like Blade, Ryuki (recreated into Dragon Knight on this side of the world) and Decade I think) to get the exact date DenLiner goes back in time (usually a short trip though sometimes it’s longer, with the movies being the longest trips I know of) to stop the Imagin from destroying the future by wrecking the past. However while in the past (starting with Episode 2) Ryou decides that he can help each Contract Holder somehow by changing that one part of their past where things went so wrong (which sparked the contract in the first place). That takes on an almost Quantum Leap sort of feel to the show as Ryou does a Sam Beckett in a small way, and kinda helps the people he comes across (and travels back in time to stop the Imagin they contracted with in the first place). That’s another great big plus about the show, and probably why it hit it off so well with viewers.
Oh, and I should mention Back to the Future as well, though while there is the use of the vehicle to go through time there’s no Flux Capacitor or a need to travel 88 MPH to go through time… oh well.

Anyway once again there’s a new person who makes a contract with an Imagin (this time for a helluva lot of money, which turns into something quite ridiculous before the Imagin takes that Quantum Leap back in time) and once again Ryou and Momotaros (and Hana too) have to stop it before it changes time for the worst. Next time we review this we’ll introduce Imagin #2 (the skirt chasing womanizing liar who I still feel has a heart of gold even if he doesn’t show it all the time, Urataros (Rod Form, he who for the first time in the series uses a form of Rider Kick in his finishing move… at least the first time he’s out).
But that’s next time. For now…

The series fulfills all my prerequisites for a good series.
Lovable cast of characters (growing cast for awhile as new Imagin come in every four episodes until the full cast is up). Everyone from main to secondary to the guest problem characters are all done well and cast well (even the double role of suit actor/voice actor for each Imagin both good and ill).

The storyline is nice and solid, light yet not too goofy or ridiculous or pointless (there is such a thing as going too far on the lightness, as sometimes seen with Batman The Brave and the Bold… at times it’s perfect, other times overboard and no like). It’s just the right amount of action, humor, drama and lightness (don’t know how else to put it, sorry) for my taste, yours too I hope.

And did I mention it set some standards and was the first in several respects?
First to have an Animated Series (shorts, yes, but animated series all the same) as well as the regular TV Series?
First to have THREE MOVIES with a fourth (a Decade tie in movie) that I’m looking forward to seeing.
First to speak of having a SEQUEL TV Series. Not a set in the same world kinda follow up but maybe not like Agito (which came after Kuuga, though I only seen Episode 2 and don’t know much about it than it seems to come after Kuuga and may be set in the same world from what I saw) but an actual SEQUEL… hasn’t happened yet and we won’t see if it’s possible until after W ends.

There is not one bad thing about Den-O. Not one thing at all. And while others who are far more expert in Kamen Rider than I would recommend other series as newbies first taste of Rider I have to say, for my two creds, this is the series that should be at the top of your list for your first Rider experience. It’s just that good. 5 out of 5, well done. Oh, where to find it? Right now the one place I know where it’s fansubbed is tvnihon.com, so you have to go there and see it. So far I only know of one Kamen Rider that was retooled and remade for release on this side of the world, and that’s Ryuki into Dragon Knight… course I would NEVER want to see this series remade, just bundled and released untouched and virgin here… really, is that too much to ask for?

Come back next time we review this and we’ll be talking the four Urataros intro episodes! See you then!

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