I think the "OOO memory wipe" effect you mentioned at the beginning has hit me, Die, because I also have no memory of this episode and I just watched it maybe 2 weeks ago. Maybe there'll be more I remember next time? I don't think OOO really shines with its episodic arc, unfortunately. I really enjoyed W for its fun and varied episodes, are there others that really knock it out of the park in that regard?

Now about episode 30, I am also quite curious about how big a role Dr. Maki originally played in the script. I'm not sure if I really pegged him as a major villain until this episode. After the show is over I would love for someone to post any original script ideas if there are any in the wild! I also wanted to highlight the one scene from the episode where Dr. Maki opens the door to his sister's room to see flames, that was a really cool effect and fantastic performance from his actor. It's a kind of experimentation I wish we saw more of in OOO!

Also, this episode surprised me with how dark the revelation about his sister was. Y'know, aside from the girl from Eiji's flashback, I don't think there's been any civilian death in this series so far? It's a surprising change of pace from the other shows I've seen! (Which is kind of odd for a show aimed at young kids...)

Finally, I have just recently polished off nearly all of the relevant OOO content, and I must say it was great! Excited to share my thoughts in the future episodes. Die, will you be covering the OOO 10th anniversary movie? I must say, I have some opinions about it, and I doubt I'm alone in that regard.

I think Fourze is one of my favorites in Heisei Phase 2 for how strong the individual Monster Mystery stuff is. There's a way the template works to the strengths of the premise, and it's aided by a ridiculously large cast of heroes that helps make every little story feel weird and unique. We'll see if I feel the same way when I rewatch it!

There's a bunch of incredibly cool camera work in 30 that I didn't get around to highlighting. I think my favorite is the use of Maki's glasses to reflect different things. It was a neat way to visualize his preoccupations, especially in light of an episode all about how we see things that aren't necessarily there, or focus on the things that most flatter our sense of self.

That's the plan! We've got 17 more TV episodes, an HBV, another batch of pre-movie promotional videos, the summer movie, the Final Stage, the OOO/Fourze crossover, and then we'll hit all four of the 10th Anniversary content. I've only ever watched the Anniversary movie itself, so the rest of it should be interesting to experience. I... also remember having opinions about the movie!

The other Greeeds also want to keep themselves alive and strong, and they do it by spawning Yummies to farm medals, where it can harm humans. I refer more to that for Lost Ankh's villainy, where Lost Ankh also spawned Yummies that threaten people, doing the same thing as the other Greeeds, in either their motivation and also how they'd accomplish their goals. Our Ankh also said that he'd spawn Yummies if he can (but he can't).

About him being selfish today, dunno about that compared to Ankh working for an evil overlord, the original OOO 800 years ago. Ankh being a victim for the original king can feel like the current Greeed battle royale like them betraying each other to get more Cores for themselves - villain infighting can happen. And the other Greeeds obviously won't help Ankh's guarded nature, which is why he chose to side with Eiji. About Kougami being the one to resurrect Lost Ankh, maybe it'd make him more suspicious too here where his primary motivation isn't to fight for good despite backing Eiji and Date, and he wouldn't mind seeing someone wreak havoc as he prioritizes one's birth (including celebrating Greeed's appearence) and desire.

This was the same problem of Yuusuke in Kuuga, where his problem is about the consequences of him potentially becoming evil. But of course, Yuusuke prevails by not succumbing to Ultimate Kuuga's black-eyed mode thanks to their nobility. A heroic thing is also not letting one succumb to corruption, as villains can be also created by once good or normal people letting their darker impulses or tragedy consume them and harm others based on that. This is perhaps something that can challenge Maki's worldview of anything in the world inevitably getting corrupted, where Eiji'd show that he'd preserve and remain virtuous and heroic no matter what. Then again, Rider form going berserk may be something that is already overdone for recent Rider series to the point that some'd be sick seeing this.

Maki's problem seems to be not only about losing Hitomi to a marriage, but about how Hitomi in actuality was cruel. Feels that his backstory has elements from both two of the major villains of Kobayashi's previous series Ryuki, Shiro and Asakura, the former's abusive relative, and the latter's sibling murder in childhood by burning them. Trauma can make one unconsciously repress their memories rather than intentionally doing it though regardless of their preference, where he only remembered Hitomi's true nature after interacting with Chiyoko. Though obviously, his worldview of applying "you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain" to the entire world as his omnicidal motivation is still purposely done by himself, and he already had this goal since the beginning of the series long ago. Dunno though if the act of murdering a twisted relative would be instead supported by the audience, being viewed like Gou killing Banno, where it should be encouraged to fight back against someone toxic, and the bad thing is if these kind of family gets forgiven or accepted back rather than being given treatment like Maki does.

I think episode 31 cemented Uva as my favourite among the Greeed (really thought it was Mezool beforehand), aside from having the simplest design, purely for how ingenious his long term “medal farm” plan was and the fact it actually worked because he kept a low profile.

Next episode: Final Form Time: O-O-O-OOO!*


*citation needed

Again, not to belabor the point, but I think chalking Ankh Lost's actions up to "villainy" sort of misses the difference between his actions and the rest of the Greeed. As we see in 31, he's basically just a child. He doesn't know who he is, what's happened to him, or what's going on. He makes Yummies as an almost autonomic process; there's no intention to what Ankh Lost is doing, and that's what keeps it from being villainy.

I actually found it hilarious that it kind of didn't work? Uva's been farming Cell Medals for weeks, declares that their collective power is the same as Core Medals, and then immediately gets walloped by Tajador. The only reason he survived was that Team OOO got distracted by a Deus Ex Medals!

Maybe I missed something on my watch through, but I frequently thought of Uva as the one that always got the short end of the stick in every appearance he's in. I honestly found it kind of hilarious how everything really turns against him! It seemed to me like he just couldn't catch a break. But I think I see what you mean about his plan if the later episodes are concerned.

Some of the shows are better at this than others, but it's definitely an issue with this era of Kamen Rider and a big part of why Gaim was such a breath of fresh air when it came out. I think the format worked best with W and Fourze; the former was a detective show and the latter usually centered around relationships between Gentarou and/or the KRC and this week's... I'm blanking on the name of the monsters... Zodiart? OOO is a lot of Eiji and co. just inserting themselves into the story of some complete rando who got misfortunate enough to wander by a Greed and that leads to lower stakes for the show's A-plots, which in turn can make them feel more padded when they have to fill out two episodes.

(I still think Drive had the worst version of the monster-of-the-fortnight plots, with so many first parts ending with Machine Chaser showing up to keep Shinnosuke from resolving the story in a single episode)

I think the versions of these stories I bounce off of the hardest -- like I did with 31 -- is where the monster stuff is just happening around the victims, rather than being a specific problem that the heroes need to solve. The shows that make the victims in some way culpable for what's going on (using a Switch, buying a Gaia Memory, eating Dark Candy, probably some other Addiction metaphors I can't remember right this second) are way more interesting to me than the ones where a Boss Bad Guy just points at someone and decides to ruin their lives this fortnight.

On the one hand, I can sort of point at Wizard as a show that's the nadir of that concept for me, where it's just the Phantoms emotionally torturing some new guest star (short a few Phantom spotlight stories that are perfect), but it's weirdly also the same template for Ex-Aid, which is the show that made me fall in love with Kamen Rider as a franchise. (Like, OOO is 100% the same format that Ex-Aid would eventually rip off for its Monster Mystery template! I kind of can't believe I never put that together before!)

So, yeah, not sure where I fall on this whole thing, other than finding 31 to be both a brisk installment of OOO, and a hookless installment of OOO.

There's something smart about Uva's schemes here that, to have the Trash Yummies emerge from all of the workers, spitting out one Medal each, building up their greed for their day. Uva actually thinks about maximizing Medal profits, but this time, limiting the danger to themselves. The Trash Yummies are too weak to build up much, but one at a time, from a lot of people at once, over the course of time takes care of a lot. Uva seemingly has been running this operation for a while, without drawing any unwanted attention. This is probably why Uva can now go toe-to-toe with TaJaDor too, Uva has stepped up his game.

If Sakata is seen as somewhat culpable for unwittingly falling for a scam (probably also unknowingly helping a Greeed), dunno if this'd be the same to for example, the noble Rider unwittingly playing into the villain's hands by working for their secretly evil organization, such as the actually evil BOARD (Blade) or Fenix (Revice). Generally yes, someone wouldn't be held as culpable if they didn't know at all about the truth of them being unwitting pawns, where people like Kenzaki or Hiromi would be still viewed as a noble hero that has clean hands and did nothing wrong. Hina also points out Sakata's desire backfiring isn't his fault, there's a difference between someone unwittingly causing misfortune, to one deliberately and knowingly doing bad things and convincing others that it's for the greater good (e.g. well-intentioned extremist villains).

Yet W, OOO, and Fourze are shows that no one criticizes or says anything bad for. I'm someone who prefers serialized stuff to MOTW stuff, which is primarily why I follow KR for toku. But it can seem that two-parters format is just safer for a show to be done, as these show's flaws are seemingly more ignored to have the fanbase deem the shows as perfect, if the flaws relate to the MOTW stuff like Tsukuba's plot twist. Den-O's the one show that is well-received and have the fans acknowledge their flaws, but it seems KR simply only needs the main cast dynamic alone. Though it doesn't really come out often that the fans want KR to be back to the two-parters format so that they can relieve the W, OOO, and Fourze era again, for those thinking they're still way above anything until now.

Man, I'm not sure there's any Rider series that no one criticizes or says anything bad for. (I have criticized both W and OOO! Frequently! Like, yesterday!) Every show's going to have people finding fault with it, for any reason you can imagine.

As for two-parter Monster Mystery stuff, I definitely think they have their place. They can be a great way to explore the themes of a series in more compact and compelling way, and it can allow for some tonal differences that you couldn't really get away with in the midst of a massive character arc for one of the leads. One of my all-time favorite Kamen Rider stories full stop is a two-part Monster Mystery story that arguably suffers from a need to support the lead characters in a narrative that doesn't require their presence. I got nothing against a good two-parter, and they don't connote simpler or safer storytelling to me.

But, like, I don't love 'em when it feels like six things are half happening in one episode. That sort of drags!