I just wish Gotou felt more deserving of the increased focus? He's such a dismissive jerk, and to Eiji of all people! Like, Ankh, sure, deserved. But Eiji's a genuinely sweet guy who has repeatedly thrown himself into danger; I feel like Gotou could be a little less constantly rude to him?

(Some of that, again, is how charmlessly and drowsy the actor plays his contempt. It's so wooden!)

This punch from Eiji is another one of those primal images from a Rider show I occasionally have where it's just stuck in my brain forever. Not because of how much I remember it from first watching the show, in this case, but specifically because I randomly was rewatching that episode one time, probably not more than a couple years later, and I found it so impactful I was shocked to realize I had ever forgotten it. In context, it's of course saying a lot about Eiji's character and his relationship with Maki and everything, but the context isn't what makes it something I describe using the word "primal". I probably immediately forgot the context again up until doing a full rewatch of the show more years later -- but the raw action itself contrasts so strikingly against Eiji's usual demeanor, not just before this episode but after it, that it's become this sort of symbol in my head reminding me that OOO is a show that always seem to turn out to be deeper than I give it credit for.

Oh, and also, LaToraTah is my fav Combo, by the way. The Cheetah legs, like I already said, are great. The tiger body has those awesome flip-out claws, and the Lion head is just downright majestic between the subtly asymmetrical, natural shape of the mane and the gorgeous blue eyes that pop so well off the yellow and black of the body... not to mention how well the yellow pops off the black. I also respect it for being one of the most budget-friendly Combos in the series, since the super bike is ultimately just an option. Even the super-speed effects are done in a really straightforward undercranking kinda way rather than anything more elaborate like you might see in, say, Kabuto. Oh, and speaking of Kabuto!

I had to go check back and see, but it looks like both of us were "surprised" in the sense that we thought Yonemura did a great job matching Kobayashi's style on the show. The funny thing about that bazooka comment I made is that I made it a little before rewatching Kabuto, because now... like I can *extra* see it? Gotou in this story definitely seems like he's giving off similar vibes to someone like early-series Yaguruma in that show. Driven by ego and jealousy? Trying so desperately to achieve some greater status in life, ignorant to the fact that his biggest obstacle is himself, rather than any of the external things he prefers to direct blame onto?

It's been a while since I've watched these episodes of OOO, but from what I remember and what Die is saying they're like, it's definitely touching on some similar themes to Kabuto. If Yonemura was only going to write two episodes of OOO, this seems like pretty much the perfect story to give to him. (Although, if he was going to write four episodes of OOO...)

The funniest version of this is a brief scene where Gotou runs into an old police buddy (it is incredibly hard for me to think of Gotou having a career that he abandoned to join Kougami because he looks like an underfed teenager) who's like What Are You Up To and Gotou just sort of sneers at the guy for not having the drive and dedication that he has. It's a very unpleasant characteristic! But not a new one for Yonemura!

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 12 - “EELS, THE WORLD, AND THE GRAVITY COMBO”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo12a.png

EELS:
It’s very funny to me that this episode opted to begin their title with the brief debut of the new Candroid. The Eel Candroid isn’t really integral to defeating or even really stopping the Yummy – it’s just the new toy. I’d’ve rather the first thing in the title just been New Toy and cut to the chase.

Some of it is that I don’t really care about the Candroids on an entertainment level. I like them just fine on a thematic level – the power of desire packaged and resold – and on an aesthetic level – coins, vending machines, etc. – but I just think they’re sort of hokey on an entertainment level. They exist as the Necessary Role-Play Item for the series, and I just generally don’t think much about those because I am not a Japanese child who wants to pretend to exist in the world of Kamen Rider OOO. That is not a failing of the show! Show does a good job spotlighting the toys for children! But I sort of bounce off of that part, in a way no different than the Gochizo of the current year’s Rider. The Candroids… man, I don’t care.

THE WORLD:
I care about narrative, though, and this episode was stuffed with it.

Of the two main threads from last time, Gotou and Tsukuba, I feel like the Gotou one comes off the best; the most legible and explicable. (Which, if only half of a Yonemura plot is going to land for me, I’d rather it be the half with the guy who’s sticking around for the rest of the series!) Gotou’s story is that he thinks too big, and misses the way his desire overshadows his motivation, leading to ineffectiveness and jealousy.

Gotou wants to save the world, and views anything short of that to be both inefficient and shortsighted. He’s got a big mission, and folks like Eiji who can’t see the value in it are wasting their potential and standing in his way. But in discarding the small, hard work that Eiji’s doing to protect people, Gotou’s forgetting that he wants to save the world specifically to keep those very people safe. Eiji’s inability to see Gotou’s big picture is only because his dedication to helping people right now in the moment doesn’t give him the distance to think bigger. Gotou’s top-down approach was never going to bring results, because you’ve got to put the work in at a base level in order to effect massive change.

Which brings us to Tsukuba, and… I think there’s one twist too many in his story? After last episode’s seething jealousy over being overlooked after years of blogging abroad, this episode drops the bombshell that Tsukuba never went anywhere. (Other than Thailand, I think, because I’m pretty sure Eiji said he ran into him there.) Tsukuba wanted to be famous so he could shove it in the face of the bloggers who looked down on him for wanting to be famous (?), so he faked his entire blog.

It’s a bonkers twist, and it turns this from a neat parallel with Gotou’s story of chafing under a lack of recognition and striving to be in the spotlight, into a story where a massive fraud wanted to get famous despite being a massive fraud. I don’t think that works? At all? It’s got something to say about valuing the result more than the process – same as Gotou – but, like, it makes a lot Tsukuba’s story from last time too pathetic to invest in. I mean, yeah, no shit a book publisher turned you down: your whole blog is made up! Tsukuba isn’t some guy who let his need for the spotlight warp his core values, or turn him into someone he wouldn’t recognize. He’s a serial fabulist whose core desire has been to show up the people who correctly tagged him as a massive phony – this is a guy that never had an animating principle beyond faking it until he made it!

It’s not a twist that helped this story land for me, nor did it feel like it entwined Tsukuba’s arc with Gotou’s. (The opposite!)

AND THE GRAVITY COMBO:
Speaking of landings, it’s SaGoZou!

While I appreciate how this episode specifically called back Gamel’s Yummy from 9/10 as a potential way to ground this Yummy so OOO could finish it off, I think Eiji says it best when Ankh demands Eiji collect the Medal Combo from Gamel: “Don’t make it sound so simple!”

Ankh’s plan/”plan” counts on Gamel randomly showing up alongside Uva, when the show hasn’t shown them working together before – like, what if Mezool came instead? – and then Eiji somehow holding off multiple Greeed and a flying Yummy to quickly extract THREE Core Medals from Gamel. It’s a plan that requires both happenstance and luck in order to succeed, which isn’t a plan so much as it’s a wish. Ankh wished for this to happen, and it did. It’s not the tightest writing I’ve ever seen, is what I’m getting at.

But it’s a great suit, which I feel like I’ll never stop saying about the Combo suits on this show. The silver and black is nothing less than gorgeous, and I love the oversized punchers. The heaviness of the suit’s top half sells the power of it, and the suit actor imbues it with animalistic contours thanks to some typically great posturing and movement. SaGoZou is a terrific suit, even if its deployment is a little half-assed.

Which is sort of this two-parter for me! The details are half-assed, the first part sort of drags, and the Tsukuba twist is unnecessary, but the core narrative about doing the work instead of looking to the result is pretty pretty great. (I especially love how collaborative and gracious Eiji is in this episode to multiple people who think living his life would make them happy. Eiji has been through some terrible stuff, and he never throws that in anyone’s face. He just does the job!) Solid two-parter, despite itself at times.

Just like Gotou!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo12b.png

So by random chance, I read some behind the scenes information about two thirds of this episode’s subjects.

The Eel Can was originally a Cobra Can, before they changed to something that had a Core Medal upcoming/released (I know nothing about what OOO’s release schedule for toys was, but I assume it was somewhat like how modern shows bring the toy out within two weeks of its show debut), which necessitated a slight redesign.

And SaGoZou was originally supposed to be “ZouGoSai”, but they swapped the rhino and elephant around because the former was easier to translate into an OOO helmet design.

Good thing they did! It's a great helmet design!

Good choice. Ankh is a fitting name and I like how the Egyptian derivation emphasizes how he's an outcast to the other Greeeds.

Yui actually did stuff like this several times to knock sense in to her friends. Breaking glass in Episode 3 led to the recurring joke of Ren putting Shinji in more and more debt and later she slapped Ren at the end of Asakura's big highway chase scene.

Satoneko is the best for sure!

OOO's merchandise has a lot of focus on Medals, so I appreciate Ridevendor getting a Candroid-assisted upgrade instead.

Yep, we're totally on the same wavelength here. I like cats and I like super speed, so it's giving me everything I want.

Geez, nobody's mentioned the official romanization yet though. It's Latorartar BTW.

Honestly, who would've imagined the legs being a rhino's distinctive feature anyway? It has to be the head!

Ha ha, that's what I called that gif! Great minds!

With certain exceptions, people who'd help anyone regardless of who it is including if it'd risk their life, should automatically want to save the world, if the situation demands it, and if they're capable of it. Eiji focuses on right now in the moment is him healing a part of the world, the difference is just the threat level in how much they'd affect the world. Goto seems to have his secondary-like issues, like him refusing to take responsibility for firing OOO, solved now (quick), in him actually contributing what he can to save the world in him genuinely helping OOO.

Yeah I feel the twist was weird and sudden too.... but this seems to be the advantage of MOTW-based shows, that because people seem to overlook the MOTW plots/stuff, these type of flaw wouldn't be brought up when discussing OOO. Him being a fraud does still run the theme, in how Tsukuba wants to prove his critics wrong, yet he has never done anything to actually prove them wrong (including his fraud accomplishments), so he should own up about him really being wrong and actually take action. At first, Eiji and Hina just thinks their friend was possessed, but it's really the dark side of him (despite him not agreeing on harming others), which seems hidden because of his carefree nature earlier.

Sounds rather like above, like Goto or Tsukuba, they want something, but hasn't done something to make them happen. So does Ankh who wants these core medals, and Ankh doesn't make it happen directly by himself. Just OOO happening to get all 3 core medals at once despite being overwhelmed by 3 enemies at once. Obviously, this one wouldn't be touched upon by the story. Then again, for some people, everything about the heroes' success in these shows are always happenstances and luck (plot armor).

True, but this one's specifically about splashing them with water.

It's also... like Saving The World is sort of insane thing to say, and it's also a task that's almost impossible to achieve, What would that even look like? How could you even do that? What Eiji's doing is addressing the immediate problem, and letting that trickle up into being a larger good. It's a very empathetic goal -- just helping people -- rather than a goal like Fame or Saving The World that never quite reaches a resolution.