I'll bring up the other rumored changes when they become relevant, but I'm genuinely curious on how OOO would of turned out in a world where the various rewrites the series underwent didn't happen. And more importantly if both versions of OOO were available to experience which one people would prefer

Yeah, tough to say! I'm inclined to say this is the best version, because it's so beloved, but who really knows?

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 26 - “ANKH, THE RING, AND FULLY-LOADED”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo26a.png

Man, I’m really with Date after this episode! I don’t know who in here I’m supposed to be rooting for besides him: The boxer with CTE that’s okay dying? Or is it Eiji, who is potentially destroying his body by using Combos, and needlessly exacerbates his injuries by fighting when a doctor expressly tells him not to? Which guy that's slowly killing themself is the one I'm supposed to be happy for at the end? Both of them? One of them? No one here is making good decisions!

The Eiji thing is… I don’t know, standard heroic Kamen Rider stuff that also feels short-sighted and frustrating. There’s nothing in here saying that Birth couldn’t take care of this threat himself – Birth is literally built to finish off Yummies – but we still get a heavily-injured Eiji risking his life while, y’know, heavily injured. He’s at a way greater risk than Date would’ve been, and it all feels too foolhardy, too precarious. Like, him showing up to protect Ankh? Good! Him continuing to hang around for the fight after Ankh is safe and Team Birth arrives? Bad! Dumb! Dangerous!

But again, that’s this genre. Heroes fight beyond the promise of safety in order keep the rest of us safe. It just, a) completely didn’t seem necessary, and b) is looped in with the boxer storyline to create something sort of repellant?

I can kind of squint and see what the boxer storyline is talking about. A life lived in safety that denies your desires is more dangerous to your well-being than a risky life lived in pursuit of your desires. Basically, don’t be afraid to chase your dreams. Or, I don’t know, maybe it’s that life is uncertain? (i have a very hard time seeing the positive message in the boxer story!) But, like, this guy has legitimate brain damage. His life is already going to be horrible. Is this show seriously suggesting that him dying in the ring (possibly every single match!) is going to be a better life for him than, uh, not risking his life to pursue his dream of sporting glory? This is horrible! This is a horrible message. Okamura acts at the end like he just needs to do some rehab on his hand and he’ll be good as new, but that was never the real problem. He cannot take any more hits to the head; you cannot rehab CTE. It is not heroic for this guy to risk his life for a sport! Beyond the fact that literally no humane governing body for boxing would allow it (so, probably only 80% of them), think of what it would mean for any of his opponents to fight against a guy this close to death. You think they’re agreeing to kill this guy during a boxing competition, just because he wants a meaningful death?! This is horrible.

So, yeah, sort of tainted the episode for me! No one learns anything, all self-destructive behavior is either rewarded or ignored, and we don’t even find out where the Yummy actually came from. I really disliked this episode!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo26b.png

Okay, so on the one hand it's not the best moral, but on the other...

yeah, no, it's still pretty bad.

In which Birth gets his final form… kind of not the best idea they could’ve come up with, but I like the fact it’s called “Birth Day form”, for how on brand it is for Kougami.

It's horrible! It's the opposite of nearly every other story about desire they've done, where the point is to keep perspective and not let your desire lead you to ruin!

I actually liked it! I like how cludged together it looks.

Said hand looks like Ankh's left hand. Despite TaJaDor being OOO's strongest Combo (individually, GataKiriBa surpassed even his final forms) and his mid-season upgrade for now, it's apparently the most unsuitable combo for OOO against the bird Yummy, which makes me confused on what's the better tool for OOO to fight him off, like other Combos may not be able to fly and that their physical attacks can be weaker.

If this'd be a red herring, there'd be something that happens for real later. Not only Eiji working with Ankh, Date is also working with an even more depraved character, Maki. Eiji and Goto already notice about how depraved Maki is, and Maki's already working with Kazari, but to Date, Maki seems to be a quirky companion for now. Goto's problem with Ankh continues after being more co-operative with Eiji, reminding him that Ankh is a Greeed.

I think Knight and Ryuki are pretty much equals in combat, especially when they go Survive. Which one wins a fight usually comes down to who wants it the most, so their final battle shows how Ren's resolve had weakened since he realized he's not a killer and Shinji found his resolve when he realized it's the only way to save Yui, before losing it again after realizing the same thing that Ren did.

Ankh is closest to the Cous Coussier gang, so he gives them special treatment.

Kanashimi Break. :(

Hmm, I guess I have the unpopular opinion of agreeing with Okamura then. While I get Date's point about Eiji, who's a little too willing to sacrifice himself for others but not for himself, I don't think it's fair for anybody to try and deny Okamura the chance to have his glorious death in battle. Boxing is his life, so if he can't have that, then what's he supposed to do? It would be like if someone told Date he can't be a doctor anymore, since one of his motivations for taking care of his life is so he can continue to take care of other people's lives. If one of the main morals is about desire in moderation, then I believe giving up your desire is going too far and not heroic at all.

It's not much of a Final Form though, since it's literally just Birth wearing all of his armaments. He looks more like a Megazord.

Yeah, I'm not sure about the strategy on this one? Being able to fly seems like a crucial skill in defeating the Parrot Yummy, as does being able to negate its flame attacks through Tajador's own firepower. It doesn't seem like a handicap? Nor does Shauta's water attack seem like the natural antidote to a flying monster who sort of barely uses fire?

Sure, but the whole point this show usually focuses on is that desire left unchecked -- with no regard for anything but fulfilling that desire -- is a genuine human problem. It's great that Okamura loves boxing, but loving it to death is (pun intended) his desire getting out of hand. Okamura dying eternal on the Boxing Road misses, like, what he might mean to other people, the fact that he could train the next generation, any of his hobbies outside of boxing, the idea that a life lived is worth more than a glorious death... these are all easy things to bring up! It's weird for the show to be like Well Guess I'll Die when the alternative is Okamura, just, like, retiring and living the rest of his life surrounded by friends and the accomplishments of a renowned career doing what he loved?

Officially my favorite Megazord!

Behold the only time Date uses the Cutter Wing as Birth (probably due to never getting around to reading the manual).

And I think a storyline like this would be better with someone who wasn’t a boxer legitimately . Like an artist regaining the use of his dominant hand and taking up art. As the idea of people having passions that are a fundamental part of them and what it mean for them to deny other people this passion in order for themselves to experience it.