English Dub Review: Tojima Wants to Be a Kamen Rider “Becoming the Ultimate Monster”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Thunder Raiko tracks Nakao down, but his training has made him more than she can handle at first.

Our Take:
All the exhausting training Nakao performed has led him to this moment, as he finds himself face-to-face with Thunder Raiko.  But, to no one’s surprise, this anticipated fight didn’t last long, as Nakao quickly defeated her with a single punch, akin to how Tojima defeats his opponents with one punch.  While it would be nice to see the battle unfold throughout the entire episode, it further underscores the show’s humor about the anticlimactic nature of its short-lived battles.  Instead, the episode highlights the anime’s ability to “humanize” the Shocker combatants through Raiko, a former pro wrestler who was unwillingly recruited by the villainous organization.  That would explain her inhuman strength when she was assassinating the former combatants.
The episode also repeated a similar structure of a Shocker member allying with the team, with Raiko joining the Kamen Riders for their training.  However, considering Raiko’s purpose of becoming the most powerful Shocker monster ever, I doubt that her alliance will last as long as Yukarisu and Nakao.  But the only silver lining is that we get more hilarity from the anime’s cartoony expressions, notably during Raiko’s temporary training with the boys.  Seriously, this show still has absolutely no right to make me laugh that hard with the characters’ facial expressions, especially when Nakao tries to confess his love to Raiko to no avail.  However, Raiko may change her mind about him sooner or later.  Its visual goofiness can be a bit much in this episode, but as long as it makes me laugh, who cares how chaotic it looks?