Probably for the best. This is pre-Wizard; if they'd made Satonaka a Rider she would have most likely ended up dead.

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 48 - “MEDALS FOR TOMORROW, UNDERWEAR, AND ARMS TO REACH OUT WITH”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo48a.png

Just a perfect ending, despite the various imperfect parts.

(Those imperfect parts: I don’t think the Uva/Maki/ApOOOcalypse stuff has any fun moves on it, that’s the main one. It’s a very Might As Well ending for both of them, but it does exactly what you need it do for the main story and Maki’s arc, so it’s not really a big complaint. Also, the attack of the Pseudo-Yummies on the city is fine to give the Births and Satonaka something to do, but it’s really just giving them something to do. Could’ve cut all that without losing much of anything.)

It’s a very sweet and sad ending for Ankh, which is what needed to happen for this finale to work. It’d be hard to argue that this isn’t a season about Ankh, first and foremost; even Eiji’s story here is about how Ankh has helped him change and grow. Letting Ankh sacrifice the life that he was after to help his friend, because it only became that life through his friendship, that’s as poignant and poetic an ending as you can get, even before we start talking about hands reaching out and all that. Ankh–

So, I’ve been writing this for about half an hour, and I’ve probably rewritten the first two paragraphs about three times each. That’s not typical for me! I usually just write down whatever I’m thinking, and then proof it during the post. But with this one… I don’t know, at a loss for words? I like it, for sure. I probably even love it. But I don’t know how to talk about it?

It’s just, like, the perfect ending; the end, whole though, full review. Talking about why it works as an ending is just: see the write-ups for the previous 47 episodes. Nothing here is a huge shock or a startling turn. Ankh’s motivation, while rarely stated by him in ways that aren’t moody and antagonistic, is still pretty goddamn clear. Eiji’s series-long inability to accept help and let others share his burden is another huge story point over a half-dozen individual stories, if not the background noise of the entire series. Those arcs conclude here in smart ways, but also in the only ways they could end – the precision of this series wouldn’t allow for, like, the Neo-Greeed of 2032 to show up as a stinger. Ankh has to give up the life he wanted, and in doing so have finally lived a life; Eiji has to let his friends reach out to him, and in doing so have the strength to reach back. That’s it. That’s the only ending possible. The mechanics of that can be fun and even thrilling (Eiji’s scheme with the Cell Medals is very clever!), but that sort of stuff is the final dab of paint on a canvas that’s been drying for the last two episodes. It’s a nice addition, but the story was already locked in.

And that makes this all so hard to talk about at the finish line. Parenthetical second paragraph aside, there’s really nothing to talk about here that wouldn’t just be talking about the entire series as a whole. This is the way the story had to end, and then it did. It’s great for that. It’s beautiful for that. But it’s also turned this show into one complete story, like Maki would’ve wanted, and that leaves only reflection, not analysis.

I did like this one a lot, though. Really good final episode.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo48b.png

My favorite part of the finale is that we finally get an on-screen cameo from one of the real behind the scenes stars of Kamen Rider OOO:

Hiroaki Iwanaga's bunny hat:

https://www.tokunation.com/forums/at...1&d=1742881119

It looks like a lot of the images are lost, but there were a lot of pictures back in the day of the cast and guest stars wearing this hat. All I could still find were a few that hadn't been deleted from an old livejournal account: https://sparkywolf.livejournal.com/10090.html. There used to be a lot more, though, and they were delightful. I always loved that they managed to slip the hat onto the set for the finale.

Aww, that is delightful. Thanks for sharing it!

Right, the part where it's debated between which is OOO's final form, PuToTyra or TaJaDor. I mean, would people claim Lv. 2 forms of the Ex-Aid Riders are final forms because they're what finished off the final boss? PuToTyra is the one used for most of the big threats in the final portion of the series, just like the final forms in the other Rider series. Some of the other Rider series uses back to base form trope against the final boss, though OOO is more back to mid-season upgrade instead to have TaJaDor being the one that beat Maki, with OOO also using actual base TaToBa, dual wielding Medajalibur and Medagabryu (the bonus character in Climax Heroes Fourze) against Uva after he kicked PuToTyra's ass before. Maybe the actual power up is, obviously, Eiji absorbing the King's medals due to desiring for power this time, guess similar to the "godhood" of some Riders, like Touma and Ace at the end of their series, making him the true OOO. And using TaJaDor with Purple Medals in Taja Spinner is about Eiji and Ankh's collaboration.

So Ankh ended up dying in the series, and it was due to a sacrifice. Sacrifice is something that often made a handful of people put them on pedestal and see them as a saint, excusing anything they do before due to said sacrifice (and complaining if a character which was unlikable to them is given this ending), and dunno if this'd happen to Ankh too. The thing is, the likes of Parado, who was a human murderer, also sacrificed his life, after his redemption. Though both cases of this are them primarily helping the main Rider they made peace with, rather than being a general do-gooder like Eiji. Ankh is also given a redemption equals death end.

Would the Births and Satonaka attacking Pseudo-Yummies also a part of Eiji's friends reaching out to him? Where obviously they're helping Eiji by distracting them so Eiji and Ankh can focus on the vessel, and as Birth, Goto also helps Eiji land safely. Otherwise, feels that, with the episode also still commenting on Eiji being reckless to absorb this much power, what's solved for Eiji isn't about him lacking desire, but about his self-destructive tendencies, where yes, he now shares his burden with others, or it can just feel that the others obviously would go to help Eiji by themselves, with Eiji still telling Date and Goto to get to safety as if they're civilians at early episode. Self-destructive traits are bad, but not having something you want for yourself is still the better way. Though as Eiji ending up living, at the cost of Ankh's sacrifice, probably still won't convince those who think one should sacrifice themselves to achieve an ultimate good, not like Eiji wouldn't do it if it's what's needed, like Kenzaki to save both the world and Hajime.

I'm gonna say neither? I'll talk about this more tonight, but a big structural thing in the storytelling of OOO is circles, or loops, or an ouroboros (all them Os!), so I'm going on record as saying that the final form for OOO is actually TaToBa, same as it was for King OOO.

I've already disengaged with a certain user in weekly Rider threads due to not wanting to tolerate the latter, but I would still encourage debates with honest users who are willing to take opponents seriously and make some concessions. Giving up on debates isn't a solution, that's just giving up. It's important to consider the credibility of past arguments to determine whether a debate is likely to be constructive, or if it would be better to talk to a wall instead.

Well, I did only say mostly unsympathetic, as they do have tragic moments. Gamel being the main example and what happened to Uva at the end isn't something I'd wish on any villain, which makes Dr. Maki more despicable. None of them are comparable to Ankh though, y'know? Weird how my favorite OOO Combos are like inversely proportional to my opinions on the corresponding Greeeds. Dr. Maki and Kazari are terrible people and Mezool is little better, but their Medals are cool as hell.

Interesting. The silver looks okay as well, but I guess the shining white makes more sense to represent the blankness of Eiji as a vessel for the Purple Medals.

Got to wonder how the idea of Hina being the dinosaur Greeed would've worked, considering how her big bro Shingo is totally human. It's much more bad*ss that Hina's super strength is just a Hina thing though. A supernatural explanation would've ruined that.

Of course, Ankh wouldn't be a tsundere anymore if he stopped insulting Eiji.

In his own profound words, Ankh's hand isn't the one Eiji needs to reach out to anymore. Ankh has already been saved by Eiji through his sincere acts of kindness, that allowed Ankh to finally realize what he was missing all along, a void that the Medals alone couldn't fill. It's not even Ankh suddenly becoming selfless or anything, he wants to repay the favor to Eiji, since it's Eiji and he can no longer deny that he cares about him. Ankh sacrifices himself in the name of his desire, one that actually makes him complete.

There's some behind the scenes stuff here as well, with Kobayashi apparently wanting an ending with Eiji dying instead, but that got an executive veto, like her scrapped ending for Ryuki with all Riders dying. Makes me wonder if she might've had a similar idea for Den-O's Imagins when they were fading away, but they're way too popular for an ending like that as they're needed for future crossovers. For OOO though, I think the ending we got works good enough and the image of the cracked Taka Medal has become a symbol of Eiji's and Ankh's tragic unbreakable connection, like the bench for Kenzaki and Hajime.

Yeah, feels like there are two examples here of proto-Reiwa finale-exclusive forms, with Tatoba enhanced by King's Medals and Tajadol enhanced by Ankh's personal Taka Medal, the latter probably being the main reason for the dumb Final Form debate. Honestly, if OOO aired in Reiwa, there's no way Putotyra's legitimacy would ever have been disputed.

This is maybe a spoiler, but I don't really plan on rewatching it for this thread, so I don't exactly have a good way to bring it up, but my favorite Ankh moment of all time is that the first thing he says to Eiji in Heisei Generations Final is that he got fat.

If you ask me, the whole final form debate comes from TaJaDol being used for the final battle instead of PuToTyra… which requires you to ignore that Kobayashi’s Rider shows don’t have the main Rider use their final form in the last battle (Ryotaro instead used Sword Form, while Shinji spent the final battle in whatever afterlife he believes in). I’d say her Sentai shows are similar (with Shinienger having the final battle conducted out of suit, and TQger debuting a new rainbow form for the final blow), but then I remember Go-Busters.

And speaking of the final battle, it’s appropriate that the final fight has Eiji using the three little bird medals against Maki after his “Bob Marley” outburst last episode.

Sure, the Eiji/Ankh stuff is great and all, but maybe the most profound and poignant lesson we can take away from the finale of OOO is how helpful it can be to thoroughly read instruction manuals. I'm not convinced Date even consciously realizes Cutter Wing exists, and if he were still the main Birth, I don't think raw charisma alone would've saved Eiji at the end. Clearly Gotou is the MVP of the whole story. :p

As with any OOO debate, Anything Goes!

...except this.

Speaking of Ankh's final line, does anyone have a copy of the last episode where it is actually translated as "I'm not the hand you should be reaching for anymore"? In my subs (Overtime/OZC I think?) It's "I'm not the hand you need help from anymore". I hear the former line said all the time and I think it's much better than the subs I see now. Is that from a previous sub? Is that line less accurate? Either way I think the former is a way cooler final line!

I've never seen it that way, but it's a much more poetic phrasing.

Wow, really? I would love to see whatever plans they had for those, just to see how that would even happen, especially Ryuki. I mean, what would the message/moral be for those endings? "Your heroes all died, the end"? What are the kids gonna think of that, lol?

SERIES WRAP-UP

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

A week back, on the summer edition of the Net Movies, I briefly complained that we never saw a good Ankh/Date story. The two actors had great comedic chemistry in the Net Movies sketch, and it seemed like that could’ve translated in a fun way to a couple episodes of OOO. It seemed weird to me that the show never really indulged in the same kind of mix-and-match storytelling another show might've done.

But they can’t. That’s not the show. The show is Eiji/Ankh/Hina. That’s the engine that runs the most compelling and reliable season-long plot of any Kamen Rider show I’ve ever watched. Any other characters only really exist to comment on our main duo of Eiji and Ankh (Gotou/Date, Maki/Kazari), or on Hina’s desire to effect change in a world that isn’t built for her (Kougami, Lost Ankh, the other Greeed). The rhythms of this show are all about the main trio of Hina, Eiji, and Ankh. That’s it.

It makes for a show that’s addictively watchable and propulsive, especially in the final stretch. Where other shows may have a difficult time going up a gear to create something suitably apocalyptic, or lay out the stakes in a clear enough way, OOO just reminds you of the stakes that have been in place since the first episode, and lets the characters work within that conundrum. It never needs to invent another foe or alter a character’s goals, because the very first episode tells you what needs to happen at the end.

That’s my favorite thing about the show, I think – the pleasant symmetry of the ending. It all loops back to the beginning, a perfect circle of storytelling: Eiji on his own, some pocket money and tomorrow’s underwear; Shingo and Hina, living their domestic bliss; Ankh, reduced to Medals. Far from making things feel pointless, it’s like the show took the same state at the end as the beginning to make everything feel richer now that so much had transpired. It’s the lesson Ankh learns by the end, and that Eiji had forgotten at the beginning – a life needs more than just existing to be worth living. Giving all of these characters a new starting point is great, but giving them an old starting point with a new perspective is even better.

I love that choice. I love that we’re sort of back in the Ryuki mode, where the success of our heroes is all internal, and the reward is a blank slate for the future. This was a show where the main spine of the series was the evolution of a narcissistic avian asshole into a sacrificial and grateful avian asshole. Everything with the Medals, and Maki, and the Kougami Foundation… it’s all just the obstacle course that Ankh has to go through alongside Eiji, in order to understand why a life isn’t just something you get, it’s something you earn. For as much as the iconography and merchandising of the show has Eiji as the lead, and Ankh as his hilariously cruel sidekick, I don’t think that’s right? This season is Ankh’s story, with Eiji as, ironically, the angel on his shoulder. The journey of Ankh is everything this show is talking about, while Eiji’s story is the cautionary tale and example. It’s like… it’s like Hibiki. Hibiki is a show where Asamu (and other children; I don’t want to trigger anyone with a full cast list) go on a journey, while the Kamen Rider is there to struggle alongside of them, with a few lessons of their own along the way. OOO is that same thing: Ankh is the character with a finite story, and Eiji is the hero who helps him become a better person.

All of that is why this show always works, even during episodes or stories that weren’t my favorite. There were for sure some bum Yummy stories, same as any other show with their monster plots, but OOO has that Hina/Eiji/Ankh core to keep everything moving in the right direction. There was never a huge turn in the plot that felt forced or even inorganic. Everything for a year felt like a natural consequence of a car accident, an abduction, a heroic deal, and a chance to help others. You could literally watch the first episode and the last episode and you’d get the entire story of OOO. (I mean, I wouldn't recommend it, but you could do it.) Show’s just real solid in its framework.

It’s nice to come back to a show like this and feel like you didn’t unreasonably build it up in your memory. This is the best season of Kamen Rider. It's not my favorite, but it's the best.

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

So my experience with OOO, once I’d sat down and put my effort into watching it… it’s certainly the series that was the last I managed to finish on my old iPad before it stopped recharging.

Jokes aside, I watched his at the same time as Fourze, since I couldn’t decide which I wanted to fully commit to and in the end… neither particularly grabbed me enough to make my top 5. I’m not calling it bad, but I don’t think it’s great either. Firmly middle of the road.

Wow, I'm sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing!

Random tangent, but Ankh’s actor posted this “family picture” today, and the coincidence was a bit too good to ignore bringing it up here. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gm8_oG3a...pg&name=medium

All in all, I like OOO a lot but don't love it. I think it has a really good cast of characters, with Ankh and Date being two of the all-time greats, and I love the suit designs. I'm not huge on the overall story, though. I think there are just too many elements of the show that feel like Kobayashi went in with a basic plan and decided to just wing it from there. Not a unique problem to OOO; there are several shows where original plans changed as the show developed. There are just a lot of places where I feel like the seams weren't smoothly hidden: Gotou taking over as Birth feels very delayed after all the early set up, it feels like the show doesn't know if Cake Boss is going to be a villain or not for a long time, all the stuff that's been mentioned with the multiple plans for the fifth Greed, etc. It just all doesn't fully come together for me in the end. I'd never say it isn't a good show, but it's not one of my personal favorites.

Manifesting OOO energy into the world!

I guess, for me, I don't really see the seams in the series, even after some discussion of them over the past few months. I'm not saying they aren't there -- Movie War Core fairly blatantly exposes a parallel but different evolution of the series, with less emphasis on the Eiji/Ankh dynamic, and the whole Oh Hey It's That Dinosaur Greeed That We All Remember From The Old Days thing -- but it's not ever anything I noticed in the show. I think, if anything, there's a real deft touch to how the show leaned into the magic of the casting to find something that feels like what was always waiting there, and pivoted away from ideas that in retrospect feel wrong-headed and confused. What's so impressive to me about OOO is that it all feels so considered, every step of the way, even though no show is ever really like that, and that's such an impressive skill.

KAMEN RIDER OOO FINAL STAGE

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

Even by Final Stage standards, this one’s just a suit showcase and stunt show. The setup is thin, the story is Fight Villains To Go Home, it doesn’t really address anything from the finale of the show, and the face actors (two of them, anyway) don’t even show up until the literal last minute. All you get in exchange is the aforementioned mountain of suits, and constant action.

Yet it all still sort of works? With only the stunt team providing anything of merit, they went above and beyond to incorporate as many cool gimmicks as possible in the setting. The bit with a dozen Gatakiribas lining up in sequence to fight is arguably the coolest use of that suit in any version of Kamen Rider OOO, while the ending battle one-ups the summer movie by including some team-ups before the final attack on the villain. (Neat to get Kougami to voice King OOO, incidentally.) It’s a fun gallery of suits, all given interesting ways to fight. If it’s never much more than that… I guess it’s not nothing?

Oh, but huge kudos to the stage show for introducing the idea of Desire Sentai Greeedman. Sure, they didn’t do much with it beyond that roll call, but that roll call was EPIC.

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

One thing I love is how Uva declares that the 4 Greeed will create an army of Yummies out of the audience, only for Eiji to respond “Sorry, but everyones’ desire to meet OOO has been granted”.

One wonders how the concept of alternate universes with different base forms works with Rider forms that require another form be transformed into first, such as Kabuto Hyper Form, or Wizard AllDragon.

Also rather notably, this forum’s own ZeroEnchiladas, when writing his tribute to OOO in his crossover between Kamen Rider Zi-O and Rooster Teeth original web series RWBY included the King as the villain with the same logic used here (his desire is powerful enough to revive him), in addition to pulling out the centipede/bee/ant themed new Greeed from Memory of Heroez and the idea of Ankh turning into a thematic variant of TaJaDol from the S.I.C stories.

Judging by the crowd reaction, though, I'd say their real desire was to meet Ankh, and that wasn't granted until the end. It's sad that Eiji had to lie to Uva like that!

originally posted on December 12th, 2021, as part of “Kamen Rider Die rewatches Legend Rider projects (and more!)”

KAMEN RIDER X KAMEN RIDER FOURZE & OOO: MOVIE WAR MEGA MAX (DIRECTOR’S CUT)

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/legend/megamax1.png

Good set of films!

It’s not really one story, though. It’s like the Decade/W movie, where there’s an epilogue story doing one thing, and then another two-thirds of the runtime dedicated to a completely different story doing an entirely different thing. I liked both stories, though, so I’m not really too upset at how haphazardly they’re joined together.

The OOO story is a good one, and it’s one of my favorite epilogue stories. It reframes the way we’re given Ankh back -- just to lose him again -- as a larger message about protecting the present so you can experience a better future. The hope of Ankh’s return doesn’t disappear, even if (especially if!) Ankh himself does.

I’m not sure this story would work without Eiji’s character, though. You just buy his optimistic dedication to eventually see his friend again. It never comes across as delusional or foolhardy, just this very sweet sense that some day it’ll all work out. And in the meantime, he’ll make sure there’s a world for Ankh to return to.

The Riders that appear in this part of the movie, Aqua and Poseidon, are effective in different ways. (Also, ha ha, we’re back to the Phase 1 thing of No One Actually Says The Character’s Name, so that’s fun.) Aqua’s the sense that the future is something someone else will be responsible for, the fear that the weight of the past renders our actions irrelevant. Poseidon is the consequence of that abdication of responsibility; the cowardice of inaction. They create this nice morality play about how Ankh ain’t gonna just fall out of the sky for Eiji, despite this being a movie where Ankh literally falls out of the sky for Eiji.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/legend/megamax2.png

Plus, great action-y suit designs. Poseidon has a kind of vulgar aggression to him, letting his opponents know that he’s lowering himself to fight with them. (There’s this one move where he tosses his sword for an opponent to hold, beats them with both fists, then takes the sword back!) Aqua, meanwhile, is this slim Showa design, with a fluid fighting style that prioritizes parries and deflection.

And the action in this movie! Oh, man! It’s an insane amount of fighting that’s largely done by the non-stunt actors, which was pretty amazing. I usually don’t love when Kamen Rider projects give a bunch of action sequences over to non-suit performers, but this was the exception. The fight in Cous Coussier, where Ankh and Eiji hold off about a hundred Yummies (and Eiji does a kip up!) is on par with any of the other fights in the movie. The whole OOO section gives everyone some awesome action, and it keeps the non-suit stretches of this fairly long movie (two hours for the Director’s Cut, which is long for a tokusatsu thing) from ever feeling padded or unnecessary.

It’s a really solid take on Eiji’s eternal -slash- decade-long goal of reviving his friend, one that makes Maybe Tomorrow into a beacon of hope.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/legend/megamax3.png

And then there’s Fourze’s section, that’s just straight-up teen romance, and I dig it.

There’s not much linking tissue to the OOO story, thematically. The Fourze story is about first love, and seeing past someone’s exterior to love them for who they are, and it’s all done in a story where Gentaro falls in love with a non-sentient pile of girl-shaped space goo. While the OOO story is built around the past and the future, the Fourze story is very present tense, with a focus on the fleeting nature of teenage infatuation.

I kind of love how easily Fourze stories talk about teen issues, how sturdily they support its inherent melodrama. Everything’s very Big, you know? It’d be idiotic in a W story, or in Gaim story, but for Fourze this all feels perfect. Taking the time to tell this brief story of Gentaro falling in love with a girl from space, instead of tying up loose ends or seeding future ideas or whatever… yeah. Yeah, that’s what I want from a Fourze movie story.

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Nadeshiko isn’t much of a character, unfortunately. Suit’s great, and her fights are more fun than I remembered (I mostly recall the Butt Bump, which is not this movie’s proudest moment), but there’s basically no character there until maybe the end of the movie. She’s a non-sentient pile of space goo; this story could’ve worked almost exactly the same if she’d taken the shape of a puppy. It’s a story entirely about Gentaro’s semi-possessive feelings of affection, and the way he’s projecting those feelings onto Nadeshiko. It doesn’t feel reciprocal, until the very end of the movie. If this movie has a flaw, it’s that the concept of Gentaro’s Space Girlfriend doesn’t get more detail than those three words.

Well, there’s another flaw: the Foundation X villains in this one suck. While Poseidon is a bad-ass fighter that reflects back on Aqua’s guilt and fear, the Foundation X mad scientists are trying to rule space? By controlling the world’s energy? All… all of the energy, somehow? It’s all nonsense, exacerbated by the shrug of trying to create a Core Medal and Astro-Switch doomsday device. It’s only the proximity of the two series that provides context for the villain’s scheme, not anything that feels logical or clever. OOO has medals, Fourze has switches, so here’s a villain who makes a switches-and-medals Driver to take over the galaxy. Okay, sure, why not.

It’s a plot that, unlike OOO’s story, has to support a way bigger cast of characters, and its broadness actually ends up making for a really thrilling final third.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/legend/megamax5.png

I mean, last appearance of Philip and Shotaro together, you know? If this is the last onscreen appearance for these two actors to share, it’s a good one. This is their Legend Rider graduation, the moment where they can feel like they’ve set the stage for future heroes. We’ll see Shotaro again soon, but we won’t ever get to see Kamen Rider Double again. Bittersweet.

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And, in case the gigantic NO. 40 HANGAR in the background doesn’t give it away, this was the second 40th Anniversary Kamen Rider film. Look at all of them Showa guys! That’s going to make someone’s day, and that someone is not Kamen Rider Die. I think they’re used a little better than they were in Let’s Go Kamen Riders, if only for the stellar montage of Every Showa Finisher, but it’s still not a thing I care a ton about. (I think this is the first movie where they gave Nigou a black helmet, though? To make him more visually distinct from Ichigou?) They’re not here to tell a story with them, or about them. They’re here to make the movie feel massive. At that, they succeeded.

There’s a thing that this movie does in its final act that is probably my favorite thing any movie could ever do. When I saw it this time, it immediately activated that Hell Yes feeling the best toku movies can unlock. It’s when all three of the Phase 2 Riders are beating the holy hell out of mobs of monsters, and each Rider’s opening theme plays as they’re doing it: W-B-X while Double is cycling through Gaia Memories; Anything Goes while OOO is soaring the air as Tajador; Switch On while Fourze slots in Astro-Switches. It’s the best feeling in the world. It’s a trick nearly every team-up movie would use in the future, because it’s the most potent nostalgia you can mine. It puts you right back in the days when you were watching those shows for the first time, right back when it meant the most to you. I don’t care when Showa suits are trotted out to show the history of the franchise, but I am all in on them playing those killer opening songs while dozens of monsters are cut down like the grass.

(Which, I mean, Phase 2 Heisei is 100% my sweet spot for opening songs. Your mileage may vary!)

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All that, and we get the Early-Bird debut of Kamen Rider Meteor. After skipping it for the W/OOO movie, we’re back to that post-credits thing that Accel got, where we see the suit and the actor, with the promise that they’re on a collision course with our Primary Rider. Not much to talk about besides that. I like Meteor! I like what he brings to Fourze’s plot. Here, it’s a brief cameo.

Anyway, this movie was way more fun than I remembered, even if it’s stitched together in a way that doesn’t feel fully thematically coherent. The OOO parts sit sort of uneasily beside the Fourze parts, but both parts are really good. I am okay with a clumsy movie that still delivers pathos, action, and humor. This one did the job! Plus, it gave me one of my Top 5 Favorite Kamen Rider Moments:

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—

FRIDAY IN THE FUTURE

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Yeah, I think this one’s a good one. It’s an OOO section that operates at the highest degree of difficulty possible for a post-series project: You gotta bring Ankh back, because that’s the show, but you also gotta do it in a way that honors the bittersweet ending of that show. I think the decisions here were all the correct ones? Letting Ankh’s return and disappearance be a message of hope, to counter the seeming futility, is a very smart move. It’s a chapter in the larger story, not the end of it, so it’s okay to enjoy the moment without letting it be more than that. Unbelievably effective at getting back to the sweet rhythms of Eiji/Ankh/Hina, if only to entice us to pine for more.

It is still an incredibly long movie, though – god, I love Kamen Rider, but any Rider team-up movie over 90 minutes feels punishing at a certain point. There’s just not enough sense that you’re watching one story, you know? It’s like bingeing a miniseries. Summer movies can get away with it, a long runtime, because you’re in one story. This one’s completely not that, and I feel like each of the first two parts was probably right to trim out 15 minutes or so for the theatrical cut, even if it values pacing over coherency.

But! Still one of the all-time great winter movies for Phase 2, with Sakamoto making everything appropriately cinematic and super-sized. Spent longer than I would’ve wanted rewatching this, but it’s a good flick.

So yeah, not much to say about this one that I didn’t say in the last thread (mostly that I spent a watch party pointing out what would be a P-Bandai toy in today’s age, making call backs to the then recent Memory of Heroez Let’s Play [“So Die was wrong when he said Eiji would never stab you in the back”] and debates on localisation terms].

At most, if you look closely at the Core Medals being created in the future, they’re the ones that had forms created for the two CSM releases: BiKaSo (Shrimp, Crab and Scorpion), MukaChiRi (Centipede, Bee and Ant), SeiShiroGin (Walrus, Polar Bear and Penguin) and ShiGazeShi (Deer, Gazelle and Cow), with the one used by Poseidon being SaRaMiuo (Shark, Whale and Wolffish, according to the official subs on TTWO).

Also, we get ShaUTa’s insert song, and as a guy who claims ShaUTa is his favourite combo… man, I don’t like this song. I’m not that broken up at it not being played in-series.

Yeah, not one of the best songs.

Along those lines, I sort of feel like Anything Goes being used in the massive three-series fight montage sort of doesn't work? It's too peppy and celebratory, compared to the other two songs. It just doesn't feel like the correct song to play over rapid form changes and explosions?

Tbh, I often expect shows to end in a completely different state than it was at the beginning, but often KR shows have endings that doesn't feel different from the beginning, other than perhaps some deaths, like Ankh's here, of which it happens too to series like Drive (Chase) and Gotchard (Lachesis). I don't know what kind of show, at least in your mind, that has the ending where it's the opposite of OOO, where it doesn't have pleasant symmetry and doesn't have similar state at the beginning.

It's standard trope for KR to have a role model character, usually the main Rider, who is about inspiring others around them to be a better person. Though by this trope, I don't like if everyone else is lumped together as assholes who need the role model's guidance, more likely to happen in darker shows, but for OOO, perhaps someone like Date or Hina (Goto, while wanting to save the world, yes, he can be dickish too, so he needs it). Ankh obviously needs it. Otherwise, with Ryuki being there, despite being the asshole of the main trio, both Ren and Ankh are ironically the stabilizing force of them; Ren had Shinji and Yui constantly trying to find and stop him, and in the process, have Ren read them better, realizing that he needs to save them from themselves too, while for Ankh, where Hina fails to reason with him and Eiji after Ankh's betrayal, Ankh is the one that finally gets Eiji to reveal what he really wants, to never be powerless again to save anyone, and perhaps later indirectly solving Hina's issues by getting her to realize that she wants everyone together, by the help of Chiyoko.

Dunno if I'm repeating myself, but this can be perhaps why the MOTW-based shows are some of the more well-received shows (my thing is more the serialized stuff), despite how some fanbase are complaining if it's something formulaic (primarily happened during Wizard). There's less chance that these kind of shows will feel forced or inorganic, because the show is mainly about the core cast, while the plot elements, no matter how bad they're are all temporary, it only happens for two weeks. The MOTW plots are something rarely brought up in the fandom, from what I see. This might work for you as you're primarily about characters, though I forgot what were your take about this structure in a show like W (and Fourze would be likely your next talk for KR); you claim it's not your favorite while being the best, but your profile still has it listed as your favorite.

I feel like, at least in my memory, it's more common to have a series resolve itself into a completely different shape than its beginning. Certainly over the last few years, shows like Gotchard, Geats, and Saber blew up their premises enough to feel like anything that would come after would be a whole different concept. Back in Phase 2, Fourze's focus on high school meant that it had to move on. For stuff like OOO... Ghost, maybe? Or Ex-Aid?

KAMEN RIDER OOO - THE RESURRECTED CORE MEDAL PROLOGUE

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...hprologuea.png

Never watched this one before! It’s a little five minute promotional thing from TTFC, with all of the financial and narrative limitations that implies. We get a single brief action sequence against Kazari, a couple lines from Chiyoko, and then a longer dialogue sequence for Hina and Eiji. It’s really not very much.

And yet, I think it’s sort of great? I’ve got complaints, for sure – I don’t think it really leverages time the way that it should; this all feels like it could’ve happened during Fourze – but I think the immediate connection between this scene and the final Hina/Eiji/Ankh scene from OOO is a smart way to reengage the fans with what they loved most from the original series. I sort of wish they hadn’t spelled out that it was a reference by patching in the shot from 48, but I understand that not every viewer just watched that episode earlier in the week, like I did. Still, I immediately perked up when I saw that staging – Hina, center of frame, with Eiji to the left and an absence to the right. (They even recreated that strobing light effect!) It’s such a great way to visually state that the situation is still unbalanced, still broken. Eiji’s back, and that’s very cool, but OOO isn’t back until Ankh’s there, too.

Kind of amazing that this thing could do all of that in just a few minutes!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...hprologueb.png

So back when the movie itself got subbed (funnily enough, around the time you watched the OOO episodes of Zi-O), a few of us from the LP group got together to watch it and these two shorts, and the two things I remember from the conversation after three years are:

“Now you know why Kazari isn’t in OOO 10th… Never mind”.

(After Eiji says that he’s the only one who can save the world) “And also there’s this kid who made a deal with devil? Perhaps we should get his help”

Cute!

Well, we're almost to the 10th anniversary movie... everyone brace yourself, cause I've got...at least two or three whole paragraphs of thoughts!

Exciting!

KAMEN RIDER OOO - THE CREATION OF BIRTH X PROLOGUE

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...xprologuea.png

I like how these two OOO 10th short films each build out a slightly different side of the original OOO experience – the earnest melancholy of the Eiji/Ankh/Hina group, and the cheerfully deranged pragmatism of the Kougami Foundation.

It’s such a weirdly specific energy, and I feel like it trickles down from Kougami’s place at the head of the table. He’s stern, and mysterious, and childlike, and delusional, and scheming, and manipulative, and supportive, and and and. His giant personality allows for a lot of ways into this story for his employees, but they all still feel like employees. Satonaka grumpily acquiesces to a return to duty, but she a) immediately does it, and b) makes a case for self-care in the midst of an/the apocalypse. Date’s probably just here because he got another bullet lodged in his brain over the last 10 years, but he’s so goddamn jazzed to see everyone again.

The biggest section is given over to Gotou, which feels like a personal offense, but it honestly grounds this whole thing in a very cute way. In a single 60-second monologue, Gotou gets to showcase how much he’s changed over the last 10 years – valuing the safety of his family over the needs of the world – before completely flipping that around to get back to his original heroic motivation from the TV show. It’s kind of dumb, but Gotou’s always been the most confused and conflicted member of the Kougami Krew, the one most in need of guidance and/or a swift kick in the ass, so it totally tracks that he’d accidentally become everything he hated, before his (presumably long-suffering) wife reminded him of his entire ideology from the original series. What a dope! I love it.

The introduction of the new Birth X System or whatever, it’s fine, it’s an ad for the movie, I get it. But boy, I really liked getting to spend some time with the working class side of things.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...xprologueb.png

So is the Birth X jingle there to emphasise the new form, or is Kougami playing it live over a speaker? Real food for thought there.

Also, the reason Birth X is specifically the BiKaSo medals, aside from being a callback to Movie Wars Core, is a nod to how Ebi, Kani and Sasori CELL Medals were the ones that came with the original Birth toys. (And indeed, the CSM version includes those specific Cell Medals as a reference to this)

Neat! Thanks for the info!

KAMEN RIDER OOO 10TH - THE CORE MEDALS OF RESURRECTION

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo10tha.png

So, three things.

First, it’s strange to me that OOO, like Den-O before it, eventually ceded the story to the mascot. Den-O tried a few post-Ryotaro pivots, but eventually gave up in light of the unstoppable, ageless dominance of Momotaros. There’s really no need to design a successor, when the partner has overshadowed the lead. It’s the same thing with Eiji and Ankh. This whole movie’s about Ankh – his return, his motivation, his loss, his everything. Eiji exists as both goal and lesson, but never anything more than that. OOO as a brand was maybe always Ankh’s (I definitely called it that), but this movie made it official in a very funny way. Weird that it keeps happening for Kobayashi shows!

Second, I honestly don’t think Ankh should have come back.

It’s a problem with all good endings, the desire (wink) to go back to them, push them a little farther, see what could happen next. OOO practically demands it, with Eiji vowing to one day bring his partner back to life. But, like, no. No, you can’t ever actually deliver that. Ankh’s sacrifice is beautiful because it’s not a loss – to him, it’s a victory. He can only give his life because his friends gave him a life. Bringing him back inevitably diminishes that, and misses what was so amazing about Ankh’s victory over his own reckless desires.

Further, Eiji’s goal shouldn’t ever get fulfilled, because a lot of that story’s brilliance is in how it becomes a quest that re-engages Eiji with the world. Putting an endpoint on that feels like the journey means less than the destination, and that seems antithetical to Eiji’s worldview. OOO was a show about these drives within us, and how we manage them daily. It wasn’t ever about a thing you can get, or have, so creating a success state that requires Eiji to complete an objective is just, like… wrong. It’s a wrong choice.

Third and finally, I don’t think this movie worked, sort of at all.

I liked Goda. I think he’s a funny addition to a nostalgia project like this – villain as fanboy, eternally misunderstanding the source text to just run through the greatest hits. I’d like him more if the movie weren’t constantly steering itself into those same callbacks and references, but I want to say something nice about this project. Eiji’s actor is clearly having a great time playing Parody Eiji, and he’s suitably menacing as Possessed Eiji. In a vacuum, it’s a good character to dig into a 10th anniversary story.

Buy, y’know, we’re not in a vacuum. Goda’s presence is ensconced in a series of baffling, destructive choices. I don’t know why you’d bring back King OOO. I don’t know why you’d make his resurrection just be Somehow King OOO Returned. I don’t know how any of this works with either the end of OOO or the OOO/Fourze movie. (Ankh can’t have a body! His Cell Medals were destroyed when Ankh Lost was killed! And all of the other Medals were in the goddamn future and/or a goddamn black hole!) I don’t know why anyone thought “post-apocalyptic” was the correct setting for an OOO anniversary project. I don’t know why Shingo is constantly unconscious through the bulk of the film, when he was completely fine at the time that Ankh first possessed him. I don’t know why you’d bring Chiyoko back, just to make her shoot an assault rifle. I don’t know why you’d kill Eiji offscreen at the beginning, and then kill him onscreen at the end. I don’t know why you’d make this movie, in this way.

If any of it works, even a little, it’s because of Ankh. The world he’s in is beneath him, but then, he’s always thought that, so maybe that’s why his arc in this movie is so coherent and compelling. Miura makes the 10 years of absence (give or take a HeiGen film) come across in the few, frustratingly brief scenes he has with Actual Eiji. The Ankh/Eiji scene in the Medal Realm or whatever, that’s it. That’s what this whole film orbits around, and that scene works. It’s just two friends passing by each other, one furious that they can’t be together again, one content that his friend gets another chance at life. The quality of that scene is, again, the sort of thing that in a vacuum is worth overcoming your reservations to just watch two actors nail their moment. The actors salvage the best scene from the dumbest story.

And it really is the dumbest story. I wish I could understand why this the way Mouri thought to revisit OOO from 10 years distance. Like the little Eiji/Hina prelude, I don’t think it really leverages the amount of time between the series finale and this. It’s not the Faiz anniversary film, where the weight of decisions and the slow curdling of hope become the way you know you’re getting older – everyone’s sort of the same here from where we left them, and the stakes of the world preclude additional things to risk. (Gotou’s TTFC-exclusive family, most prominently.) Ankh returns to a war-torn world that’s otherwise identical to the one he left. I mean, shit, this is basically a Phase 1 summer movie! Nothing here says Time Has Passed, up to and including how terrific most actors still look. It’s a strangely miserable, bafflingly unmotivated film, set in a world that doesn't even allow for the passage of time. So dumb.

Man, I hope things are better in another 8 years…

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo10thb.png

It will never stop boggling my mind that the OOO reunion movie is a downbeat bummer and the Faiz reunion movie was hopeful and had positive character growth.

INOUE FOREVER!

This was... god, it's such a tough watch. And then they play Anything Goes at the end like You're Welcome, Fans, and I laughed so hard.

So, this movie...

I will say, I was really digging it for the most part. I kinda like the Phase 1 summer movie vibes! In fact, according to the wiki, Eiji's actor's favorite Kamen Rider movie is Paradise Lost, so it was a fun callback to that! I like the focus on Ankh, and the initial eerieness of Eiji's return. The uneasy alliance of Ankh and Goda is a really fun inversion of the original premise. I enjoyed pretty much everything about this movie until the last 10 minutes (I could even ignore the return of King OOO and the bungling of the Greed cameos)

Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room.

I could talk for hours about how Eiji's "sacrifice" is a complete slap in the face to his lesson at the end of the show, or how awful it is that Eiji of all Kamen Riders get this seemingly permanent death, and all the other things that come with the movie's ending, but there's one specific, ever so small part that really, REALLY bugs me.

It's the part when, after Eiji and Ankh defeat Goda in the final battle, Eiji pushes Ankh out of his body so he can posess a completely unharmed Shingo.

HELLO?

I actually like the idea of Ankh possessing Eiji! It's not a terrible way to keep both characters in the franchise while still keeping this movie relevant, and I like the tinge of blonde hair Eiji gets. I'm not sure why we couldn't just end with that? I'm not sure why Eiji decides he has to die, so Ankh can forever possess poor Shingo? Now Ankh can't use the OOO belt, Hina loses her brother, and the world is down a Kamen Rider to stop whenever King OOO decides to come back, because I guess that's just something he can do now.

I guess what really bothers me is how the movie just ends, literal seconds after Eiji's death. We get a single shot of a dejected Hina and a crushed Ankh. He's alive, but is he really happy about it? Um, I guess Eiji got what he wanted, maybe? How am I supposed to feel about this ending? There's no "thank you Eiji", no "we have to live on", no optimistic message at the end, or really any message. Life's a bitch, and then you die, and then you come back, except everything's worse now. Also, that part at the very end where Satonaka brings out the girl Eiji saved was hilarious. How did she find this nondescript girl? And she's still all dirty and wearing the exact same clothes she was on the day Eiji died? They really did all that just to have ONE last Eiji reaching out scene - which, along with that shot of Ankh closing his eyes with his hawk hand, is the closest I've ever been to groaning while watching Toku. It's so overwrought that I almost kinda love it?

I'm having trouble figuring out where they think OOO goes from here. Obviously you can never tell what's going to happen in the future - any of the actors could be busy or unwilling - but did they really have to close the door like this? If they want to do an OOO 20th are they just gonna have to spend half the runtime undoing everything this movie did?

Anyway, that's just about all my thoughts on this movie lol. I had a lot to say, can't say I liked the movie (or more specifically, liked the ending), but I guess I won't forget it? Could be in the running for "The V Cinema of All Time."