My hands would be full, following 2 watch threads at once now. Also, the other show that is featured on the analysis link of my signature, by akinoame. I'd try to limit what I write here about my own thoughts, though I also hoped that the analysis on my signature would be noticed/read by you too, with you starting over OOO again. They're at least Fish threads' level or more.

Kobayashi's reucrring theme is also about desires. For example, in Ryuki, characters grapple with the wish of becoming the winner of the Rider War. Den-O explores the idea of imaginations becoming reality, while OOO centers on desires, which is quite evident. Additionally, Kobayashi has a notable tendency to change a character's hairstyle and color when they are possessed.

It's Eiji in general who has an innate desire to protect others, even those he barely knows. Just meeting someone briefly is enough for him to see them as connected comrades, which aligns with the typical Kamen Rider sensibility seen in most leads of the series. However, early in the show, Eiji's perception is quite naive. He mistakenly believes that the security guards are nice simply because they serve him a drink, when in reality they are thieves who drugged him. Ankh here just happens to be the other show's lead unlike those other people Eiji met. Like Momotaros in Den-O, Ankh is a baddie here too at the start of the show, and by this he perceives Eiji's virtue as a weakness. For the opposite, Eiji also receives help from another important character, Hina.

Kougami would be someone suspicious for seemingly not caring about the casualties, even among his own men. His focus is on celebrating any births, regardless of the individual, whether it's a Greeed or OOO. He would be pleased even if a dangerous villain emerges, such as Kuroto (who was always just a villain on the same page as the heroes since mid Ex-Aid) witnessing the birth of Gamedeus with excitement, as it represents the emergence of a living being.

The term "mooks" is typically used to refer to the minor, disposable villains in a story. In contrast, the equivalent term for the minor, disposable heroes is "Red Shirt." In one scene, when Eiji and those around him scream due to Ankh's actions, the next scream appears to be in response to Ankh as well, with the jewelery store displaying various hand displays, but turns out that that the source of the screaming is Uva, who is revealed as the first MOTW in the show. Uva has a Rider-like appearance, characterized by his round eyes.

I don't blame you! I hope you enjoy it when you get to it!

Fair enough! Thanks for the feedback!

Ha ha, no, I would definitely assume that sloppy brown mop of hair was the wig! It's hideous, but effective at delineating the human detective of the beginning from the Greeed at the end.

I think it's more that he sees Eiji's virtue as a thing he can leverage to get what he wants. Ankh needs Eiji's immediate participation, so he tells the empathetic, slightly-reckless hero that Hey, You Gotta Defeat This Monster. Like, it's a thing Ankh would find weak, but it's also a button he can push in Eiji to get what he wants. And the Greeed are all about manipulating the desires of others to get they want!

Not sure where to start with this and which observations to hold off on for later. I've got a lot to say about the show OOOverall and I want to parcel it out.

I remember watching the first episode twice when it came out: once raw and again with subs. This was back in the day when subs didn't come out within 24 hours of the show airing (especially if you waited on TV-Nihon) and I was really excited to see W's successor. I was still really new to Rider and this was the first time that I got to live through a show transition instead of seeing them in hindsight. I liked the episode a lot at the time and I think it still holds up pretty well today, although the fight scenes maybe do feel a little more on the pedestrian side.

I think I'll go with my thoughts on the monster designs for OOO for now: I'm not a huge fan. I think the main Gree(e)ds themselves are good, but the Yummies tend to leave me cold more often than not. Can't really put my finger on what it is about them, but the whole aesthetic of the Yummy designs just didn't click with me.

It's a relatively quick fight sequence between OOO and the monster, but I like the way it escalates in an efficient and reasonable manner. Like, there's a mid-stage where Eiji tries firing a gun at it, which feels integral to understanding his feelings on defending the people he cares about, but also in spotlighting his easily-missed cleverness. Eiji can come off as absent-minded or obtuse throughout the beginning of the episode, but he's incredibly astute when things are tense and people need help.

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 2 - “DESIRE, ICE CREAM, AND A PRESENT”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo02a.png

That ending! That ending is why I burned through this series the first time around.

Through this episode, we’ve been slowly following Hina’s day, and her growing concern that something’s happened to her brother. She eventually finds out that he’s missing after last episode’s Yummy attack, and desperately messages Shingo’s phone – the phone that Eiji picked up, and is being stressed out by the knowledge that Hina’s suffering. Eiji texts her as Shingo, claiming that he’s undercover, and telling her she won’t hear from him for a while. Problem solved, as Hina’s worries are assuaged and she can live blissfully unaware of the fact that Ankh has possessed her brother’s body, and that body is near death without Ankh’s possession.

And then THE VERY NEXT SCENE is Hina running into Ankh, blowing up the entire deception.

That’s what makes OOO such a perfect series to me, the way it never feels precious with its narrative. Storytelling in OOO is like Cell Medals: The actions of the characters are always creating more to be harvested, so don’t worry about gorging yourself right now. A subplot where one female character lives in blissful-if-infuriating ignorance while The Boys go off and have Kamen Rider adventures might be the sort of thing another show would lean on for a dozen episodes – Gavv; I love Gavv, but I hate how the show uses Sachika – but OOO dispatches it with barely a breath of separation, and in the funniest way possible. It’s nothing but delicious cake, all the way through.

Whole episode’s like that, thankfully. Ankh is both an eager storyteller (there is nothing he likes better than talking about himself) and a captivating one, spending a chunk of this episode explaining the mechanics of the Greeed to Eiji. It’s sparkling dialogue, giving Ankh some fun metaphors to illustrate the difference between a whole bunch similar-sounding Proper Nouns, and the standard impeccable chemistry between a pompous Ankh and a game Eiji.

(I honestly... I just sort of didn’t remember Eiji being this cool? I sort of have in my head a picture of him being sort of dopey, or easily misled, but he’s an outstanding scene partner in this episode. Eiji’s harried, and slightly baffled, but he never feels completely overmatched or dimwitted. It’s just the right amount of buy-in to keep the exposition scenes moving without forgetting how bizarre this is all meant to be. The actor nails that tricky balance, and I can’t believe I forgot that.)

Not a completely perfect episode, though? I completely didn’t care about the Yummy in this; CGI nonsense, boring objective. The finale is cool for showing off the new toys – Gotou is a very menacing child, despite all the gifts – but it doesn’t have much juice to the conflict. The heart of this one’s resolution is all in Eiji asserting his need to protect people over Ankh’s laissez-faire view of monster fattening, which is great, but the Yummy is a generic monster to serve as an obstacle. (Even the human genesis of it is just one of the crooks from last time, comedically repurposed by Uva.) Quickly dispatched, and not terribly clever in its implementation.

But everything else! Everything else was delightful, and I didn’t even really talk about the goofy interlude where Hina gets a job at Cous Coussier. (Another insane boss on this show!) Loved seeing this episode talk about the ways that desire is both a useful tool for human civilization, while also being easily weaponized into something harmful. I like Kamen Rider stories where the heroes and villains are using essentially the same resource, but view it in diametrically-opposed ways. Smart episode, brilliantly paced.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo02b.png

The two things I remember:

Chiyoko’s hiring policy of “whoever carry’s this milk can inside”. It’s one of those kooky methods that’s surprisingly effective.

Ankh getting an iPhone, because Bandai isn’t the only company paying Toei for product placement (every Toku show spends time as the “now at McDonald’s”, for another example).

And because I forgot it last time, and this show has as much Toku actors returning from prior productions as the shows airing either side of it, I’m continuing the actor alert thread in lieu of coming up with something more relevant for OOO.

First off, our secondary lead Ankh is played by Ryosuke Miura, who you’ve probably seen elsewhere as Momose/the Toger Orphnoch in Decade’s Faiz two-parter*. But you probably haven’t seen him as Kane/Beetle-Sazer in Chousei Kantai Sazer-X.

And carrying on through the Greeed, Gamel is played by Hiroyuki Matsumoto, who was previously Nephrite in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, another show head-written by Kobayashi with Ryuta Tasaki as the main director. He’s also had villain of the week guest roles in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, Kamen Rider Kabuto and Avataro Sentai Donbrothers.

And last but not least, Takashi Ukaji, the guy playing Kougami the memetic “Cake Boss” was previously in Ultraman Gaia as the Captain of the show’s Defence Team XIG.

*Speaking of Faiz, one production fact I read is that Kougami’s company were modelled on Smart Brain since every other Rider corporation was too unrealistic a basis, with Satonaka being a toned down Smart Lady.

I've never worked food service, but it feels like being able to lift and carry a lot of heavy things is probably a decent skill to have.

Hina is my number 1 pick when it comes to Heisei Rider heroines. That super strength, yo.:lolol

She's nicely woven into the storytelling, in that she has a definitive goal from the jump. It doesn't hurt that she also has a visually-cool ability!

Okay, so while I don't love the Yummies themselves, I definitely appreciate OOO's version of the annual "episode 2 big budget CGI monster that we'll never do again." It's ugly and unsettling in ways that are much better than the giant T-Rex head we got in W. Made for a pretty good action sequence, too.

Getting the fully formed version of Ankh in this episode is one of the things that really starts kicking OOO into high gear for me. Ankh is one of the show's best characters and Miura does such an amazing job of bringing him to life. I'm not the world's biggest Eiji fan, but Ankh is still one of my favorite Kamen Rider characters of all time (another one of those all-timers is also from this show, but we're going to have to wait a bit).

This is the first time I've watched OOO since it originally aired back in 2010, which is some math I did not want to accidentally stumble into doing just now. I still remember the show pretty well, though, compared to what's going on in FishSandwich's Wizard thread right now. Somehow, I was still unprepared for how completely unhinged Cake Boss is. That is a performance that makes choices (good choices, to be clear - bonkers, but good).