OOO was the series I watched that got me into Rider again back in 2012 after not having been aware of the franchise since Faiz back in 2003. Needless to say, the 1000th episode celebration was a very confusing yet incredibly entertaining time. And hey, it's when Shout Out finally got played when I was wondering if they just skipped that song.

I rewatched that two parter very recently because I wanted to get a specific clip (Date screaming "TATOBA, TATOBA TA TO BA"), and it was so good I ended up watching the whole thing!

I maintain that my favourite part of it is just how much Ankh gets into the role of the Shocker leader. Marvelous

That two-parter is fantastic.

For some reason I always remember Dr. Maki scaring this pop-idol with his doll, and when Date calls him back he does a sharp turn with this generic, cartoony car brake-noise. I don't know why myself but I find that scene simply hilarious.

Drive was a little less overt about it (no one directly turned to the camera and said “go see the movie”), but it did have a lot of set-up for its summer movie in the series, too. Gain also had a whole episode dedicated to setting up the dumb soccer AU for its movie.

They also had that Kikaider tie in that no-one remembers. What an episode.

You mean the one where Professor Ryoma casually transplants his brain into an android body and Kouta develops a deep, emotional connection to a robot because it reminds him of a puppy he couldn't keep when he was young?

That was a tie-in alright. By the way, I just remembered something weird: When that episode was teased I had no idea what a Kikaider was or that he was about to get a new movie. So when I saw this blue and red robot walking into Zawame City I was rather lost for a second. I really thought he would be a new, permanent addition to the show.

The timing for Ryuki and especially OOO here is a little messed up, but since I'm at that point in Den-O, and the whole concept of this endeavor is to compare and contrast, I'm going to go ahead and do a bit of a movie night special. I'm not sure if this comes across whenever I talk about most of them, but I actually like Rider movies a whole lot. The summer movies, anyway. There's just something appealing about pretty much all of them that keeps me coming back. I struggle to describe it, but for these three it shouldn't be too hard.

Ryuki: Episode Final

I must confess I've always had a huge soft spot for this one. Part of it is probably down to it being the first Rider movie I ever saw, but even though I have my gripes with the story here, I find myself coming back to this one relatively frequently. I don't keep track or anything, but it's almost certainly up there with stuff like Paradise Lost in terms of Rider movies I enjoy rewatching every now and then.

The big thing in Episode Final's favor is that it's from an era where the jump up in quality from the small screen is very evident. It feels like a huge movie, and having rewatched Project G4 recently, I think it pushes it even further than that in places. There's an inherent novelty to seeing all the Riders from Ryuki fighting each other with fancier camerawork, massively upgraded picture quality, and generally quite lavish production values. All the action in this movie is quite memorable and I've always remembered the final battle between Ryuki and Ryuga especially fondly. It's mostly a straightforward fistfight, and that simplicity keeps it pretty intense.

The plot, on the other hand? Eh, it's alright. Inoue wrote it, and it definitely reeks of him a lot more than his work on Ryuki usually does. He managed to cram almost every one of his usual tropes just into Femme's plotline alone, and that's before mentioning how the actual ending part of this alternate ending pulled a Faiz before Faiz even existed. It's fairly schlocky, to say the least. And if we get on the subject of the movie's connection to the show... I honestly don't even feel qualified to talk about it. It would've actually been more convenient to do this after finishing the series again, because it's been way too long for me to remember how much of the lore revealed here looped back onto TV, meaning I can't touch on one of the big draws of the film. It's also more confusing the more you think about it. I mean, I like Ryuga because I'm a sucker for evil repaints of heroes, but I can't tell you a thing about who or why he is. I also don't know how or when Odin tapped out of the Rider Battle in this version of the story, because, presumably for the sake of streamlining the narrative, he's explicitly ignored here.

It's serviceable enough, and Ryuki was already a show that kind of begs the viewer not to read too much into the mechanics of the universe, so it'd be hypocritical of me to complain too much about that. I do have a new observation after this rewatch that there was probably a real missed opportunity to give the movie a better through line by making it centered more on Shinji and Ren. The series at its core is their story, but while the very end comes back around to them, Ren is largely out of focus here, making things feel a bit more limp than they could've been.

One last unrelated thing I wanna mention. The brief cameos from the Agito cast are awesome. They can't possibly live up to Hiroshi Fujioka popping up in Project G4, but once I had actually seen Agito, it was super cool watching this again and going "oh, I get it now".

Den-O: I'm Born!

This one, I haven't actually seen since the first time, and frankly, I'm kicking myself a bit over that right now, because this movie is great. I don't know why it didn't leave more of an impression at the time. Considering the amount of buildup the show gave it, maybe I was expecting some kind of be-all, end-all Rider movie, which it probably isn't. It is, however, a classy flick that, in choosing to explicitly be part of the show's continuity, gets to really represent Den-O as a whole, telling a simple but effective story about the Den-Liner getting hijacked by our obligatory movie-exclusive Rider that packs in all the humor, excitement, and sentimentality that make the series so great.

The huge movie feel here is achieved by packing the adventure with loads and loads of really strong high concept ideas that just scream "come see this movie". A short film before the movie starts! Chibi Den-O! The Imagin get to run around with their weapons and everything for the first time! All of Den-O's basic forms fighting together! An adventure through multiple points in history culminating in going to the day our hero was born! I mean, dang. It has creativity in spades, and it's clear they wanted to make Den-O's chance to shine on the big screen count. Kobayashi delivers on the script as always, keeping things from being all flash and no substance by putting an emphasis on Ryoutarou's past. It's cool seeing him interact with his childhood self (who would ironically go on to become his future self, but that's a story for another day), and the through line with their shared desire to remember their parents more leads to a decently touching little ending. The theme song at the end complements the mood perfectly, too. Definitely one of the best songs a Rider movie has ever had.

Even the weaker elements here still work well. Gaoh (shouldn't that be Ga-O?) is a ludicrously flat villain, but the guy playing him gives him enough gravitas I don't mind all that much. Come on, this is Den-O. We're nearly 30 episodes into the show and it still hasn't gotten its own big bad yet. It's always been about the heroes, and they're all great here. Momotaros steals the show for sure, but everyone gets a cool moment or two.

OOO: Wonderful: The Shogun and the 21 Core Medals

I actually already watched this one a second time on a whim a couple years back, so I've already had the revelation that it was way better than I remember it. Actually, that seems to happen every time I watch a Rider movie twice, which would explain why I end up watching so many of them more than once. Anyway, aside from the fact that it's more "continuity adjacent" than straight up canon, and the way less to the point title, most of what I said about the Den-O movie applies here too. Lots of really cool ideas (seeing Eiji as Birth still doing OOO's poses has gotta be my favorite), and a story with a clear, focused theme. Even compared to I'm Born, it comes off as a real feel-good kind of movie. It's got that signature OOO bounciness to it and an emphasis on the heroic action. Eiji is portrayed great here, which is to be expected when this was also written by Kobayashi herself, but still.

My biggest complaint was going to be that I don't miss the next Rider cameos we were getting for a while there, but then the movie made a liar out of me, because I just can't NOT be happy seeing Gentarou. Also, Eiji brings up his "Riders should help each other" line from his original appearance in the W movie, and I have to give points for continuity like that.

There's simply not a whole lot to pick apart here. This is a rock solid Rider film with great pacing, a plot that doesn't overcomplicate itself, and all the characters you like from the show actually acting exactly like those characters, which puts it way ahead of a lot of the competition.

Yeah, I wish. Unfortunately, ShaUTa would have to wait something like half a year for that wrong to be finally be righted. Meanwhile, TaJaDor could sit around doing yoga and Time Judged All would still play like it was the coolest thing ever.

I actually thought about mentioning Drive, but aside from the Blade-esque mini episode things, I don't remember anything about how that played out, so I figured I shouldn't bother. To be honest, that Gaim episode totally slipped my mind while I was writing that, but I still feel comfortable saying the way Den-O did it is one of a kind even now. Episode 27 is legitimately a linear narrative where the end connects directly to the film's beginning without skipping a beat, which you can't say about Baron's Wacky Soccer Adventure. And of course, Den-O did that on top of all the other setup (and payoff) in the show. No other series has worked the movie in nearly as thoroughly.

No one remembers? How could anyone forget an episode that awesome?! Ryouma could've just stayed as Hakaider for the rest of the show and I would've been happy.

But then, I also think this sounds totally in-character for Kouta. You know what? Maybe I just shouldn't be talking about Gaim.

My memories must be getting mixed up, but then OOO had like seven insert songs playing throughout it's run so I don't feel too bad l about it.

Also while those cameos in the middle of the movies have probably never been the best way to go about it, Fourze in OOO's is probably the best. You see him both in and out of suit, and he has a fun interaction with our current rider.

Hey, I never said it was a bad episode! Just... entirely unconnected to everything around it, promoting a movie I never saw. Ryouma-Hakaider is still cool, though.

Ryuki 29-30:

I forget how many other shows did this too (Blade is by far the most memorable), but Ryuki goes completely insane for a bit around episode 30. A return to the Inoue Zone gives us two separate stories focused on Kitaoka. No, hang on, that's not quite accurate. They're about Kitaoka, but they're focused on being as wacky as humanly possible. The entire show becomes a cartoon. All the usual check marks for Inoue writing Ryuki are there, like ineffectual Shinji (which is fine because EVERYONE is ineffectual here), the ORE Journal crew getting some love, and the comedy. Oh dear, the comedy. Ryuki has always had its lighter moments, but absolutely nothing here is taken seriously. You know it's all one big joke when even the Mirror Monsters are getting in on the slapstick.

Are the episodes good or not? I don't know. The tonal whiplash from watching Episode Final right before this has messed up my brain too much to think about it. But seeing Shinji, Ren, and Kitaoka turn into the Three Stooges has its charm, and I did say being unsubtle isn't always a bad thing. They certainly inject some variety into the show, at the very least.

Den-O 28-30:

Yeah, that's right, three episodes. Gotta keep those numbers nice and synced up. I was honestly hoping to skimp on talking about 29 and 30 to focus on 28, but that ain't happening, because as it turns out, these episodes were at a Climax from start to finish.

First up is still the main event though. The other half of the bun of the metaphorical sandwich that is Den-O's summer movie and its tie-ins. The upside of the movie's simple plot is that you genuinely don't need to know anything more than what you were shown and told within the show itself to follow along here. The crucial element episode 28 plays off of, Ryoutarou getting taken from multiple time periods to be possessed by the Imagin for a big fight and returning with no memory of the events, was shown more on TV to begin with. All that's left to be confused about at that point is why this big important fight happened mostly offscreen, so I have to give credit to Kobayashi for pulling this whole stunt off about as well as I think anyone could.

She also saved the best stuff for the small screen, because this entire episode is a masterpiece. You might've gathered from the increasingly gushy tone of the Den-O bits of these posts that this show just gets better and better, and that's because it does. I wasn't kidding when I said at the start this one was my favorite. Den-O improves so much from its already good start, and it hits a Climax here. Yeah, I used the same pun twice. I don't even care. It's the truth. Everything Den-O has been building up pays off big time here, and the result is the episode where I think I went from simply loving Den-O after Ryutaros showed up to being in love with Den-O.

It sure didn't hurt that the plot here is explicitly about looking back and realizing how much something you were taking for granted means to you. The premise of all the Imagin except Momotaros disappearing is used to genius effect. Seeing how everyone reacts to what's going on solidifies the bond everyone on the Den-Liner has formed over half a series, and when it ultimately comes back down to Ryoutarou and Momo again, what used to be standard suddenly feels as lonely for the viewer as it does for the characters. The episode expertly leverages the great characterization of the show to tell a story that hits all the emotional marks it wants to without "cheating" of any kind. It doesn't exaggerate anything to make it more sappy, and that actually makes it way sadder. Everyone is very true to their personalities, and because you've gotten to know them so well by this point, you're liable to feel pretty heartbroken when you notice things like how Momotaros has just been sitting in a chair avoiding looking at anyone the entire time. He doesn't need to say he's upset about things for you to get what's going on, and all over this episode are those little bits I've been talking about, that here to serve to create real sympathy for the protagonists. It all culminates in one heck of a memorable form debut, turning all that despair on its head in the most satisfying way imaginable, bringing the comedy back in force after the darkest hour, and in the process giving Seiji Takaiwa the chance to prove for all time that nobody does suit acting like he does.

It's a perfectly constructed narrative, and it perfectly encapsulates what makes Den-O a truly great show. It uses all that great humor to build your attachment to the cast, and then shows a remarkable ability to tell nuanced, emotionally engaging stories on top of that, all without sacrificing its upbeat atmosphere or ever doing a long-term tonal shift that leaves the series drifting away from its original purpose. This episode is truly first-rate, and watching it makes me feel this weird vicarious pride for Den-O, because I know it marks the point where whatever flaws it still had left have been totally ironed out, leaving the series to ride out the back half in spectacular fashion.

Case in point, the next two episodes focus on Ryoutarou trying to do some team-building with the Taros, and Yuuto and Deneb's relationship respectively, and it's evident throughout how the dynamics between the characters are all pretty much effortless for the show at this point. These guys practically write themselves. It's hard to even know what to single out, but Yuuto chucking his last Zeronos card off a bridge to prove a point about how much he values Deneb is definitely up there. Everyone in this show is just so well-realized! And they're not even using the strict two-part formula! How cool is that?! You know what, I actually am just going to stop here for now. I wanted to dig into 29 and 30 too, but this is only going to get less coherent the longer I drag it out. Hopefully I'm making it clear how awesome this show is.

OOO 29-30:

Firstly, this arc marks a pretty big turning point for Maki, so I should really take the time to mention what a wonderful and unique character he is. I've mentioned a few times now that I feel OOO has a habit of throwing the cliche and the trite out the window in favor of doing its own, way more fresh and interesting things, and everything about Maki's character is the epitome of that. You simply can't slap a label on this guy and have it truly fit. He's certainly no hero, but is he evil, or misunderstood? Is he silly, or is he serious? Is he friend, or is he foe? He's none of that and all of it, and that's what makes him so great. The show portrays him in this very three-dimensional way where it kind of lets you draw a lot of your own conclusions on that kind of meta stuff. Because of the way OOO is written, simply having him be a character who acts according to his own developed and fleshed out motivations and beliefs was its only real priority, and that's more than enough to keep the show exciting.

Secondly, we get quite a bit of backstory here, which is a perfect opportunity for me to further point out how incredibly natural OOO's writing feels again. I've touched on this too, talking about Birth and the Candroids and everything, but I'm constantly being blown away by how much I believe everything about the world OOO takes place in. I haven't totally pegged why that is yet, but I honestly feel at this point that OOO almost certainly has the most well-developed setting of any Rider show. It never feels like any of the things that exist are taken for granted, and it also never feels like it's making crap up as it goes along. It gives you all the details you need and exactly none of the ones you don't. I'm pretty sure the original OOO doesn't have a name even in some obscure guidebook, let alone the show, and that's great, because who cares what his name was? What's important is how his actions lead into the present day story, and they clearly put the thought into how those dots connect.

And thirdly, I can't get over that I'm saying all this about a pair of episodes involving a ridiculous panda monster going around terrorizing people. OOO really is like, the absolute essence of why tokusatsu is awesome.

Oh, definitely. It manages to not actually feel too arbitrary simply because the scene itself is so fun. The fact that Eiji and Gentarou do get to interact the whole time and build some chemistry also makes it feel more connected to what's going on than a lot of the other ones.

So one thing: within their series, Ryuki and Den-O of course only had one movie each... but OOO had two more, both before Wonderful. Are they part of this rewatch?

Oh yeah, how could I forget OOO's tragic friendship with Oda Nobunaga played out to ballet music.

My favorite part of the OOO movie was how Toei reused the CGI of the rounded section of Tokyo flipping in another movie a year or two later. That and a pre-Akibaranger Karin Ogino as the jester girl.

It’s easy if you drink enough.

And then it was used for Ghost!

Ryuki 31-32:

After sitting out the madness in the previous couple episodes, Ouja is back, and it turns out he's really terrible at finding Mirror Monsters. Or maybe he's just unlucky. For guys like Shinji, the dang things seem to pop up left and right, but Asakura feels the need to spend several days stalking a little girl who's being targeted just to feed his own Monsters before they get hungry enough to decide it'd be easier to simply eat Asakura. I've always loved the way the contract Monsters in Ryuki were portrayed. The show never tries to make it seem as though they're reliable partners or even so much as proper allies to the Riders. They're mindless beasts who have nothing on their minds except the next meal, and I like that there was a plot fairly late into the show to remind the viewer of that. It's a super cool part of Ryuki's atmosphere, but like the Monster action in general, it wasn't getting a lot of attention for a bit there. It's been a while since they've actually shown one of them consuming those little energy ball things from the defeated Monsters.

Getting back to the plot, the aforementioned little girl develops something of an attachment to Asakura, which doesn't end as tragically as you might expect, but the show also manages to avoid making him seem soft by stressing how completely one-sided the whole affair is. The crux of the drama is that once Shinji gets involved, he has to wrestle with the decision of whether or not he can let Asakura die, even knowing what a scumbag he is. Seeing this girl genuinely happy to see Asakura around, misunderstanding or not, ultimately pushes him to actively stop Knight and Zolda from trying to take the Monsters' energy for their own, a decision that definitely comes more from the heart than the brain. This is great example of one of the things I love about Shinji's character. He's a truly innocent, pure-hearted individual, but the show doesn't treat his idealism as a feasible solution to everyone's problems. It's a variation on the same attitude Kobayashi has writing OOO, where the story isn't presented in a completely black and white way. You're clearly meant to respect Shinji for his dedication to what he believes in, but his unwillingness to compromise on his morals also gets in his own way a lot of the time, and the show doesn't shy away from that.

Den-O 31-32:

This arc finally reveals exactly why Zeronos using his cards is such a big deal, and as you should be expecting from Den-O at this point, it's done beautifully. One thing that's especially nice is that although Deneb hints at it in dialogue, it's not until the very end where we actually see firsthand what's going on, letting the viewer connect the obvious dots instead of spelling it out. The show understands that words aren't needed at that point. It lets the drama of the moment hit a lot harder, as does the fact that it comes at the end of a plot that was already perfectly building up to it.

I think I'll save talking about exactly what Yuuto's deal is for later (and if you don't already know, you should seriously watch Den-O ASAP. Trust me, you don't want to hear it from me rambling first). Suffice it to say these episodes are extremely well constructed, something I'm probably going to be repeating a lot from here on out. I'm keeping this one a bit short because honestly, I'm at a point in Den-O where just like I did with OOO, I'm going to have to think hard about what to focus on talking about with each arc because there's so much to love. So while I figure that out, I'll leave off by mentioning that 31 has my favorite episode title in the whole show. It helps that the pun is in English for once.

OOO 31-32:

Firstly, Uva reappears after a fairly lengthy amount of time out of the spotlight, and it turns out he was running a smart, sustainable scheme to get a steady stream of Cell Medals while flying under the radar. This is an absolutely amazing example of what I mean about OOO's world feeling real. It actually keeps track of all the pieces on the board, so to speak. It could totally get away with ignoring the subject of where he's been. After all, it wasn't his turn to be in the story yet. But it's justified in a way that's clever and makes logical sense. We've seen Uva has the most self-control of the Greed by far, so having him do something like this while the more brash, immature Kazari hogs all the attention is so natural it's... well, clever and logical. Is it ironic that I can't praise OOO without going in circles?

Secondly, Uva promptly leaves the spotlight during the second episode, with his latest Yummy having been destroyed, making the two parts of this arc feel a little more standalone in a way that doesn't happen often.

And thirdly, like how TaJaDor's debut focused on Ankh, PuToTyra's is focused squarely on Eiji, and I think it succeeds spectacularly on that front. It takes all the information we've been drip-fed over the course of the show, adds some more on, and uses all that to show how tragic his character is under that positive attitude. Everything in the episode supports that perfectly, from playing off of established character dynamics like Date and Hina's respective concern for him, or the Victim of the Week who tries to do something good only to find he's made things worse. It's the kind of episode that makes me so glad I finally got around to rewatching OOO in full. I really do have a habit of taking this show for granted. I knew it was good, but I'm consistently being blown away by just how much depth was actually packed into the story.

I wasn't planning to commit to them, but since I'm flattered you asked, most likely.

The main idea was just to rewatch the shows themselves, but Den-O obviously threw a wrench into that to begin with, and it's going to throw another one in there, because there's 6 more dang movies after the show that I definitely want to watch again anyway. I was planning to loop back around to all the OOO stuff during that, as well as the 13 Riders special and what not. Basically keep the gimmick going.

I won't lie though, I was genuinely planning to skip Movie War Core simply because I cared that little about it. But this has been super fun so far and part of the idea here is to refresh my memory on this stuff, so I'm kind of looking forward to it at this point. Maybe it was secretly a masterpiece the whole time! Almost certainly not, but I'll at least give it another chance to disappoint me! :p

Ryuki 33-34:

Okay, so after this last stretch of episodes, I know what you're thinking. Wacky adventures with Zolda? Ouja hanging out with a little girl? This show was supposed to be serious, right? Well don't you worry, because starting right here, things are heating back up.

https://i.imgur.com/k4Bpnm6.jpg

This entire scene is legendary, by the way. Having it be the debut of the show's (awesome) second insert theme on top of Ryuki Survive makes it double memorable, but what amazes me even more than the perfect timing of the song starting up is that he doesn't actually do anything besides transform before 34 ends and it still works.

I've always really loved the simplicity of the Survive forms. Not the designs themselves, I mean, although they are pretty streamlined, but how the show keeps it simple with all the Riders. Everybody gets exactly one form except the two leads, who get a single, straightforward power-up to further emphasize them as a duo, and the core of the story above all else. While also letting them look totally awesome, which is a plus.

Den-O 33-34:

This arc is by far the most memorable Victim of the Week plot to me. It's another one of those plots that really defines Den-O to me, that begins with a concept as simple as a man playing a piano, and tells a fairly bittersweet story that still ends on an optimistic note. The show draws some comparisons from there to Yuuto's dilemma, but for once the emphasis doesn't feel completely lopsided in favor of the main characters. Which is great, because for a guy with no name and not a lot of dialogue, it's hard not to like the piano man. There's a real melancholic atmosphere to a lot of these episodes, which is something Den-O excels at creating in a way I don't think any other Rider show does.

This is also where Hana becomes a child due to a case of "adult circumstances", as Sento would put it. Den-O did an admirable job working that into the plot on short notice, and maybe it goes to show how much of these characters is in Kobayashi's scripting, but it's actually weirder how much of an adjustment it isn't. I honestly buy that this is still the same person, even though it literally isn't, and that's pretty impressive.

OOO 33-34:

Firstly, at a whopping 5 minutes and 45 seconds, episode 33 has the longest cold open yet, and now that I'm over halfway through the show I can confirm that OOO makes just as much of a habit out of this kind of thing as I remember from back in the day. See, the point of a cold open is to quickly establish the central premise of an episode before the opening, usually in a way that gets the viewer invested in the outcome, but this is OOO. There are several equally "central" bits of any given episode, so instead of one quick scene to establish one quick thing, the vast majority of episodes show what everybody is up to in turn. It manages to keep them around 2-3 minutes a lot of the time, but just as often they push the 4 minute mark. Mind you, I'm not saying all this to complain. Quite the opposite, actually. I think it's a very good sign for a show's quality if I get invested enough in a couple minutes that I get surprised when the theme song plays.

Secondly, Nobuhiro Mouri is back once again, and I'm just as impressed this time at his ability to meet OOO's high standards. There are maybe some extremely, extremely petty nitpicks I could raise about the specific details of exactly how parts of it are written differently than I feel they would've been by Kobayashi, but if I have to go through that much trouble to say something is off, it only proves how good of a job he did. Not that I'd expect any less from the guy who went on to write some of my favorite episodes of Go-Busters, and is currently killing it on Zi-O.

And thirdly, just like the last time he got a chance to write for this show, Gotou's arc gets quite a bit of attention. It's plain to see how much more humble he's become over the course of the series, and these episodes make it clear that he's actually swung maybe a bit too far in the other direction, being uncertain about his ability to potentially replace Date as Birth, even after all he's been through. Date, of course, has plenty of faith in him, and you can really tell how much mutual respect these two have for each other, despite seemingly being such a mismatched duo. It's fascinating stuff, but it's hard to call watching their relationship play out a highlight of the series when basically everything is that good.

Ryuki 35-36:

These episodes rock. I said last time things were going to be heating up, but I forgot just how much starts happening all at once. Where to start?

Okay, so first off, Zolda gets into a fight with Ouja, only to lure him into a trap that gets him arrested. Now, you don't need to be a genius to figure out that there are Batman villains that stay in jail longer than Asakura, but what's important to note here is how Kitaoka is the only person to apply this kind of lateral thinking to the Rider Battle, and it's a cool thing about his character. Between being a classy lawyer and the designated ranged fighter of the show, straight up fighting just isn't his style. He prefers to play things as smartly and as efficiently as possible, using whatever underhanded, unsportsmanlike techniques he can, not even transforming if he can help it, and that's great.

Then we have Ren, who is pushed to the absolute brink here, running himself ragged trying to fight whoever he can after being led to believe he has less time to accomplish his goal than he does. You know it's bad when he's the one telling Kanzaki to fight. Things turn back around for him at the end of 36, but up until that point, it's very clear that everything Tezuka said about the guy was totally on point. Despite being the one who's always telling Shinji Riders have to be ruthless and fight for themselves, he lacks the killer instinct, and is actually fighting for a pretty selfless reason. This paradox eats away at him, making it so that no matter what he does, he's going to end up hating himself. It's insanely compelling drama, and the reason he decides to fight Shinji here is very indicative of the terrible state he's in, mentally. He's actively trying to break himself because he's sick of feeling so much hesitation about doing the one thing he's totally devoted himself to. It's a seriously f***ed up situation, and what makes it work is that it doesn't feel arbitrary at all. It's completely understandable how he's gotten to where he is right now.

Shinji's own crisis of conscience is yet to come, but he does meet the first new Rider in a while. Tiger is an interesting guy. Less as an individual and more as part of the group he comes packaged with, but still. I also love his design a lot, which isn't saying much because the aesthetics of everything in Ryuki are way up my alley, but Tiger is blue and silver, which gives him that extra bit of edge over a lot of the other guys. I've also always loved his Final Vent. I'm not sure if it's exactly cool or not, but it's unique, which is another thing I don't think any other multi-Rider show ever got quite as right since. No two final attacks in Ryuki are anything alike. Even the ones that broadly qualify as Rider Kicks like Knight and Ouja's go about it way differently.

Den-O 35-36:

Forgive me for repeating myself, here, but these episodes rock. It's hard to top Climax Form's debut, but then that's hardly a fair comparison anyway. This arc is more about being a new beginning than a conclusion to everything that's happened so far, so of course it's not going to tug at the heartstrings the same way. In just about every other sense, it's totally on the same level. You can tell how razor focused Den-O is by the cold open in 35. One simple scene that establishes in barely over a minute the only two things you need to know. Yuuto can't transform, and Ryoutarou wants to pick up the slack.

We've actually seen Ryoutarou occasionally doing training here or there for a long while now, but in light of what's been going on, he gets more serious about it, and even asks the Taros for help. Another display of the great characterization is that it's specifically Kintaros who ends up being the man for the job. Ryuta's out of the question to begin with, and quick flashbacks comedically show why Momo and Ura aren't a great fit for a mentor position. Honestly, Kintaros really isn't either, but he's clearly trying his best, and he also makes it known that he thinks Ryoutarou is pretty strong to begin with, so he's also been paying attention to the excellent development he's been getting.

Of course, this is the big turning point for him, as he's finally forced to fight for himself once it turns out that the Imagin can't possess him while in the past anymore, which means one thing. Liner Form! I freakin' love Liner Form so much. If anyone ever tries to tell you Climax Form is Den-O's "real" strongest/final-est form, don't listen to them, because they're a despicable liar and should feel bad. It actually took me a long time to become a fan of the design, which I had originally pegged for being overly simple and relying on that sweet sword to compensate for how weak it looks. I also think I had some issue with the color scheme or something, but I can't remember what it was. Nowadays, I actually love how much less black there is compared to Den-O's other forms, because brighter colors means more heroic, and the simplicity of the details just means it's sleek and sticks out from pretty much any final form that isn't Shining Agito (which, funnily enough, I had the exact same turnaround on). I also always loved the rainbow "feather" effect on the eyes. It hints that this is still a form that combines all the Taros' powers without making it look like a repeat of Climax Form.

Ryoutarou's fashion sense isn't actually the important part here though. Even before I loved how Liner Form looked, I utterly adored it for its direct relevance to the story. It throws an interesting new wrinkle into the plot, while also symbolizing how much Ryoutarou has grown over the course of the series. He's still pretty awkward in a fight, but he CAN do it now, and he can win. And frankly, I disagree with the characters in the show that his taste in special attack names is bad. What else can you possibly call that move besides a Train Slash? Momotaros is probably just jealous because he has like six versions of his that all look the same.

OOO 35-36:

Firstly, this is the last arc by a guest writer for this show, and Nobuhiro Mouri goes out on a high note. I'm shocked by just how meaty the plot here is. You've got the other Greed coming back, who despite being out of action for a straight 20 episodes, somehow don't feel like any less the main bad guys than Kazari and Uva. You've got the reveal of Date's own tragic past, that's haunting him physically the way Eiji's does mentally. You've got Mouri also creating my second-favorite monster in the whole show with the Unicorn Yummy, who's shtick of destroying dreams continues a trend of strong development for Eiji lately by showing in a very memorable way just how much desire he actually has. Heck, you've even got Shingo starting to get better, threatening Ankh's status quo even more than it already has been lately. It's one thing for episodes by guest writers to not be filler (which isn't all that unusual even outside of OOO), but this is insane.

Secondly, Uva has it so rough, man. I don't think it was until seeing what happens to him in the last few episodes, but he ended up being my favorite Greed after I really looked back and thought about it. All the other Greed make fun of him for being scared of using their Core Medals, his modest and well conceived plans always manage to go just as wrong as everyone else's far more dramatic stunts, and basically everyone except Gamel betrays him constantly. Which is the name of the game for the Greed, and Uva's not exactly innocent there either, but still, I really feel for the guy.

And thirdly, the fact that Power to Tearer doesn't play until 36 when Eiji actually keeps it under control for the first time is awesome. Especially since the lyrics wouldn't make sense otherwise. It'd be even better if the show didn't botch using Shout Out, because then it would legitimately be the first break in the trend, but even so, it's a nice touch. PuToTyra is also amazing, by the way. Purple and dinosaurs makes it inherently cool, but OOO being OOO, the relevance to the plot surpasses even Den-O. The entire existence of the purple Medals is a massive game-changer for the story, driving a lot of the events from the second they show up to the very end, while also providing a lot of new material for Eiji's character to develop from.

Ryuki 37-38:

https://i.imgur.com/7AKVhwv.jpg

Okay, yeah, this is pretty cool. But while it's great to see Ryuki finally living up to his name, but would you believe me if I said this isn't my favorite bike in this show?

We'll get to back to that subject later, though. For now, Shinji is getting involved with Professor Kagawa and his crew, which is one of my favorite plot threads of the series. It's the perfect thing to introduce at this late stage in the story. Things are getting crazier and crazier, so of course it initially seems like a relief for Shinji to meet these guys. He's been pretty short on actual allies lately, after all. What a dream come true to find three whole people who say they're gonna stop the Rider Battle, right? But it doesn't turn out to be that simple, and Shinji has to wrestle with his beliefs even more than he already has been lately. Just like every new Rider in Ryuki, it creates lots of interesting new dilemmas that keep the series from ever getting stale.

Den-O 37-38:

One of the more specific reasons I had for wanting to watch Den-O again is that my brain refused to believe Ultraman Orb was in this show, but yeah, after hearing that voice again, there's no mistaking it. A decade before Hideo Ishiguro was saving whatever universe he happens to be in at the time while showing off mad acting chops, he was terrorizing The Den-Liner crew as Den-O's very own main villain. Kai took his sweet time getting here, but you watch him get into a dance-off with Ryutaros in his first episode and try telling me it was anything but worth the wait.

These episodes feel bigger than usual in terms of scale. There's crazy stuff happening left and right, and between Deneb trying to stop a runaway train by himself, the Taros running around a big train station getting into adventures, and some excellent development for Ryutaros, there's a lot to keep your attention. The plotline involving Ryuta is especially great because it allows Ryoutarou to show his parental side again. It's always infinitely satisfying seeing how much of a spine he's grown by this point, and I love that in his very first interaction with Kai he gets to tell him to where to shove it.

OOO 37-38:

Firstly, the Yummy here has a fairly goofy personality that reminds me of a Sentai monster, but maybe that's the joke, considering he gets blown to bits at the end of the first part here and nobody looks back.

Secondly, I haven't brought up the color-coded curtains that follow the Greed around yet. How have I not done that? It's such a bizarre touch of style but the show just wouldn't be the same without it. Do they actually exist in-universe? I don't know, but it's good imagery, so who cares.

And thirdly, these episodes are, of course, the big turning point where Gotou finally gets to become Birth, and it's quite memorable. The fact that his debut fight consists largely of him flying around with wonky special effects lets it down slightly, but everything else is stellar. Gotou's gone through more growth than just about anyone in the series, so the moment feels incredibly well earned, especially with details like having Birth's manual come up again in a super satisfying manner.

Are you gonna say Alternative's transforming robot buddy bike is cooler than the fire-spitting dragon bike?! Because, well, that's fair, it is pretty cool.

I can totally understand that; the Ride Shooters exist.

Ryuki 39-40:

https://i.imgur.com/YDWiUNg.jpg

Aw yeah, now we're talking! I've gotta be honest, for all the standards Ryuki set for me when it comes to what I want to see in Kamen Rider, bike action is not one of them. Indeed, my obsession with that is purely down to episode 2 of OOO and episode 4 of Kuuga. Mostly that second one though. But I need to move on before I start gushing about the wrong show. The point is, nothing in Ryuki totally satisfies me on that front. The Ride Shooters, I've never been able to get behind. The whole concept of driving into the Mirror World through... Mirror Purgatory, I guess, has always confused me. Like, wouldn't it make way more sense and be a better visual for the Riders to just pop out of the other side immediately? You know, like the Monsters do? Or the Riders later in the show anyway? And then on top of having a pretty ill-defined function in-universe, they're these massive, bulky hunks of junk that were clearly a nightmare to film with, because all they ever do on-screen is drive in a straight line for a few seconds and then stop. It gets to a point where the only thing they're good for is having new Riders dramatically step out of them, and the thing that makes motorcycles cool is NOT supposed to be how comfy the seats look. Now, Darkraider and Dragranzer are definitely a step up, but they still suffer from being way overdesigned for the role of a practical vehicle. But the Psychoroader? Now that's a bike. First of all, it actually gets its own name, so already it's clearly way cooler than the Survive bikes. It can also actually turn. And I mean, it can *turn*. Remember how I said Tiger's Final Vent wasn't necessarily cool but was memorable? Well Alternative spinning around like a maniac is infinitely more dumb AND more memorable, so I love it.

I also adore Alternative (Zero) a whole lot. It always baffled me he isn't officially considered a Rider even though as a guy on a bike with an insect motif, he fits the bill more than literally anyone else in the series. Yeah, I know he doesn't consider himself a Rider in-universe, and his powers don't come from Kanzaki's Decks, but so what? Is Chalice not a Kamen Rider, then? So I say screw it, he'll always be a Rider in my heart. The bike alone scores massive points for me (check out how big that opening paragraph ended up being), but on top of that, he looks sweet, has that no-nonsense spiky sword, his Visor has the different voice that's really memorable, the guy under the suit is an interesting character... the list goes on. One of his cards even gives him super speed! I'm all about super speed!

Oh, right, and there were the actual episodes. Which are actually some of my absolute favorite in the show, but unfortunately, I've used up a lot of enthusiasm talking about Alternative already. Like I was saying last time, Shinji is in a pretty tight spot as he's forced to consider whether or not going along with Kagawa's idea to seal Mirror World is a good idea or not, and while he takes a beating or two before he gets there, he ultimately does what he always does, and decides to focusing on saving the lives in front of him above all else. The climax of 40 is one of the best moments of the whole show, involving the biggest Rider gathering since episode 19, with one of Shinji's coolest hero bits ever when he breaks up the action and then blocks an attack from a disgruntled Ouja without even looking at him. And when I say "breaks up the action", I mean rides in on his dragon monster bike blasting other monsters with fireballs. Seriously, I don't know what more you could ask for in an episode.

Den-O 39-40:

Okay, hypothetical people who haven't seen Den-O yet. This is your last chance to go see how Zeronos' situation develops in the natural, well-paced, dramatically engaging way you were meant to, because I've been itching to really get into how much I love his character, and I won't be held responsible for ruining all the surprises.

Alright?

Moving right along then. This is where Zero Form makes its debut, and as such it's also where Yuuto cements his position as one of my favorite secondary Riders ever. Like, the only ones who can even compete are Mach and... well, yeah, there you go. Not to diss the other guys too much. They're all cool. You know, Knight's got a lot going on. Geiz has the distinction of being my favorite guy in Zi-O above Sougo himself, which doesn't happen much for me. But one of the things that I think always defined Kamen Rider going back to its origins, more so than the masks or the bikes even, was the idea that they were heroes who shouldered an immense burden to do what they do.

I don't think that's true of any of them more than it is of Zeronos. The idea of a Rider who's very existence is erased piecemeal every time he transforms, with more and more people forgetting he was ever around to begin with, is profoundly horrifying in a way that I don't think can ever be truly matched. But that's not even the half of it. Yuuto was thrust into the role by his own future self. While he almost certainly didn't grasp the full picture of what was going on, he definitely knew the risks, and choose to become Zeronos anyway. That takes serious guts, for one thing, and although his own immaturity means Yuuto keeps most of his deeper feelings under the surface, it's obvious that even despite the good he's doing, he'll never be totally okay with this situation. The sole upside of this arrangement, if you can call it an upside, was that it was his future self's life being erased. Until it wasn't anymore.

The debut of Zero Form kicks Yuuto's plotline into overdrive, and in the process it's one of the most wonderful and unique debuts for a power-up in Rider history. Mostly because it's more like a downgrade than anything. The whole context and atmosphere of him using it are so far removed from the normal way these kinds of episodes go that it's more comparable to Ultimate Kuuga than anything, and that's some dang high praise. It's more of that melancholy that no other show does like Den-O, and the straightforward, very visually expository scene of Zeronos rusting (even the reason he's red now is depressing) is one of the most striking moments of the entire series to me. Not bad for a show that's usually just known as "the funny one".

https://i.imgur.com/0zZ3wfs.jpg

OOO 39-40:

Firstly, now that Gotou is officially Birth, we get to see how much differently he goes about it than Date. Namely that he's way more practical. Instead of a huge tank, he has a simple, rugged backpack for lugging Cell Medals around, with one always in a little slot he wears on his wrist for convenient access when he needs to transform. He also makes far more effective use of Birth's various weapons than Date did most of the time, which is one of the benefits of actually reading that manual, no doubt. There isn't that much of the show left, but Gotou slides into the role so naturally that I think of him as Birth as much as I do Date. He finally gets to be the cool guy he thought he was at the beginning of the series, and it's awesome. Plus, he gets Satonaka as a sidekick. What's not to love?

Secondly, I like that the plot here revolves around the neighborhood where Cous Coussier is getting a bunch of security cameras put up. It goes back to what I'm always saying about OOO having a developed world. It's cool to be reminded the heroes actually live in a location that's you know, part of society. It's not just one building that effectively exists in a void, even if it's only for these two episodes. It also means Chiyoko gets to do more than usual, and I'm always going to be happy about that.

And thirdly, the focus on the characters here is notably stronger than usual (which is saying a lot), and I can't believe I completely forgot about Ankh's nightmare at the start. It's genuinely a bit unnerving and a great way to give some insight into a character who doesn't always show his emotions outwardly. Other than anger, I mean. He shows that just fine.

Ryuki 41-42:

The beginning of one last trip into the Inoue Zone brings with it the final Rider in the show, bringing us up to a grand total of...

10 out of 13.

Now you see why I prefer to count the Alternatives, too. Which would still leave the show one short. I've got no clue how Ryuki failed to make the time to live up to its basic premise. I understand that Ouja apparently wasn't meant to stay around as long as he did, so maybe he ate up too much screentime, but even then, you'd think Verde or somebody could've just been a glorified mini-boss for an episode or two somewhere in there. When it comes down to it, it's never actually bothered me that Ryuki messed this up, and if doing it would've meant messing up the pacing or having the new characters be paper-thin, maybe it was for the best, but it's a glaring oddity in the series' narrative.

But what's done is done, so we'll just have to make due with who is here. Imperer is a fun character and it's great to see how the show was still coming up with unique character concepts for Riders this late in the game. He actually benefits from debuting in one of Inoue's chunks of the series, because seeing him attempt to sell his services as a Rider to everyone in Inoue's typical exaggerated manner makes him stand out that much more. It's kind of a genius idea to have the new guy this late in the show going around with zero personal stake in anything, offering to team up with whoever will have him. After all, he has no context for anything that's happening.

I think Tiger also manages to be better off for being in the Inoue Zone, too. I'd forgetten how much of a creepy psycho he is, but by this point I think he's made more attempts (successful or otherwise) to murder people than there have been episodes he's in. Toujou's clearly not all there, and I find it kind of fascinating how he's written in the same manner rogue artificial intelligences in sci-fi movies are. It's obvious he can't process human emotion at all, which is a shame, because it's also obvious he genuinely wants to be a hero. Whatever that is. I don't think Professor Kagawa totally grasps the negative effect doing the whole shady mad scientist shtick in a dark room had on trying to teach him how to be heroic.

Despite the upsides here, no Inoue-penned episodes of Ryuki are without their quirks. There are bits I love, like the escalation of Kitaoka trying to eat a meal. It starts with Asakura eating it, and ends with Gorou wrapping up the fresh one he made to replace it after Kitaoka ends up running off anyway. It's the kind of weird, sub-subplot comedy skit with its own beginning, middle, and end that I don't think anyone does like Inoue does, and it adds an extra dimension to what would otherwise be a totally straightforward scene of people talking. But then on the other hand there's the usual appearance of ineffectual Shinji (which is fine because I don't expect him to do well in a 3 on 1 fight), and more glaringly, the way Asakura is used here. It's the first time in the series I feel like he's become a bit of a teddy bear. The show has justified a lot of these elements, to be fair. Back when Inoue first wrote him he even had Asakura make the surprisingly sound point that simply calling the cops on him is only going to end poorly for the cops. Even so, it feels bizarre how casually he seems to be able to move around, and at the point where you're writing him in a room with Shinji, Ren, and Kitaoka, and instead of ending up in a fight, they take a vote on whether or not Shinji is an idiot, I think you might've taken it a bit far. But I'm being way too serious about this. It's a fun enough scene, and a couple slight glitches aren't enough to derail his character. Plus, if it came down to it, I'd rather have him doing wacky comedy than shoving people's faces in medical waste, so there's that.

Den-O 41-42:

You know, nothing makes me appreciate how warm and happy Den-O is quite like putting it right up against Ryuki like this. Seeing the Imagin helping Ryoutarou train his reflexes is so far removed from everyone trying to kill each other it's nuts. Speaking of which, can I mention how amazing Ryoutarou is again? Little scenes of him trying to better himself like this are a regular part of the show now. That particular fact is especially cool because it also means seeing how much everyone has his back by this point, especially Momo, who is bound and determined to one day teach him how to use a sword, but it's more than just that. Ryoutarou goes out of his way to initiate all these things, and its great to see how consistently proactive he's become in nearly everything he does. He works hard to fight as Den-O, he puts in the effort to try and solve the show's mysteries to the best of his ability, and scenes like him trying to cheer Yuuto up and the end of 42 really speak to his steadfast resolve.

The bulk of the plot here is about Yuuto and Deneb's friendship though. Yeah, I'm still not done talking about Zeronos yet. These episodes explore the consequences of Zero Form in more detail, through the lens of the obligatory Victim of the Week, an insanely adorable girl who falls for Deneb as Yuuto when he decides to go around introducing "Yuuto" to everybody in a well-meaning attempt to help him out. Once again, there's no happy ending here, and the result is an arc that's right up there with the piano man when it comes to Den-O storylines that I think represent the show really well. Keep in mind, even though I'm focusing on the tragic part, the plot still makes time for all the usual great character-building and amazing comedy you should be expecting from this show, not to mention all those small details I wish I could work in mentioning easier. There's a bit in here where Ryoutarou in Liner Form is shown running while cradling the Den-Kamen Sword instead of holding it normally, and that one shot that only lasts a couple seconds gives me so much to talk about just by itself. It brilliantly plays off the established fact that Ryoutarou considers the sword heavy. It endears the audience to him by reminding us he's not a perfect hero. It's plain funny on its own merits. I can't stress enough that the entire series is filled with moments like this.

One last thing that isn't strictly related to the episodes at hand that I want to talk about is the theme song. Actually, I could talk for an entire post this size about all three of these shows' openings, if not longer, so I'll keep it brief. Climax Jump is one of my favorite themes in the whole franchise, and frankly I'm not okay with the version of it that gets used starting with episode 40. It just sounds off, wrong, and nowhere near as upbeat, and the "ii jan, ii jan, sugee jan" part over the title card makes me want to vomit for some reason. I mean, I'm probably exaggerating a bit on that last one, but it seriously is grating, and I don't know what happened. It's not even that the Imagin's voice actors are doing the singing, because they're fine, and we recently got a remix of this remix for Zi-O that sounds infinitely better to prove it. The show then decides to add insult to injury by replacing the visuals for around 30 seconds of the opening with clips from the episode starting with 41, which... seriously? It's one thing to do that to shill a movie, or to do it tastefully like OOO and Ryuki where you getl little snippets in spots specifically designated for that purpose, but to outright replace most of the OP with stuff I'm going to see in a second anyway is madness. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

OOO 41-42:

Firstly, I'm actually angry at this arc right now because it's so unbelievably good I feel like talking about it is a waste of time when I could be watching it again instead of writing this and you could be doing the same instead of reading this.

Secondly, I'm in way too deep to quit now, so I'm going to try and push past that feeling.

And thirdly, OOO has an utterly perfect endgame, and I think this is where it starts. The basic premise is that Ankh has been taken away, and Eiji and Hina want him back, but the trick is that the drama goes so far beyond that. These episodes dig into the where everyone is at and how they're feeling right now on a level that really confirms for me all over again why I love Yasuko Kobayashi's writing so much. Her stories always have this super strong human element to them, and in the process of rewatching these shows I've come to the conclusion that OOO has the most realistic and genuine feeling cast of any Rider show. The way everyone behaves and their motivations and how they react to things and the way they change all make so much sense it blows my mind. It's all so natural. Just in these two episodes alone there's so much stuff that's so easy to empathize with. The scene where Eiji compares eating food after losing his sense of taste to gum after the flavor's gone has always really stuck with me. It seems obvious enough but it's actually a strong comparison the more you think about it. Because that's something I think pretty much anyone can directly relate to, you know? Chewing on a tasteless lump of nothing that used to not be tasteless isn't a particularly pleasant experience, and just like that, you totally know how Eiji is feeling. The part of that scene I didn't remember as much is that said experience causes Eiji to have a revelation about how Ankh must've been feeling this whole time, and that makes the scene that much better. It's much the same with the scene where Shingo is practicing with Eiji to fill Ankh's role as the designated guy who tosses Eiji Medals. Simply having him completely mess up the throw like any normal person would is just about the single most effective way the show could've possibly gotten across how sad it is that Ankh's gone. Like Eiji, we've gotten rather used to that perfect throwing arm after so many adventures. I could go on talking about these kinds of moments for a long while yet, too. The whole arc is wall-to-wall top-tier quality like this. I also have to give major props to Shuu Watanabe's performance, since I haven't done that yet. I maintain every lead in Kamen Rider has been great, but one thing I've been noticing going back through OOO is how Eiji actually breathes noticeably different depending on how he's feeling. Which is an odd thing to single out, I know, but I'm telling you, it's a huge part of the reason why his character feels so realistic. That and the way he always twitches one of his eyes whenever Eiji is exhausted from pushing himself way too hard, which really gets across how much Eiji is wrecking his body doing what he does.

Ryuki 43-44:

The very last trip into the Inoue Zone for the series concludes Imperer's storyline, and I've gotta say, these episodes are fantastic. It probably helps that Shinji and Ren are almost bit parts, because while there's stuff going on here with Yui and Kanzaki that has relevance to the overarching plot, these four episodes tell a very strong, self-contained story about a Rider who learns the hard way that if you do not fight, you will not survive.

Like I said about the first half, Mitsuru is a great character specifically because he's so steeped in Inoue's style. Seeing him going around brown-nosing all the other Riders with a barely altered speech each time is loads of fun, and makes him endearing in a weird way. He gets a few more layers as the plot goes on, and by the end, Inoue hits us with an honest-to-goodness, genuine gut-punching tragic ending that doesn't feel forced or overblown at all. It's right up there with the resolution of Sasword's arc in Kabuto in terms of extremely high quality guest episodes he's written. I have no qualms with these ones. I can't even complain about Shinji being ineffectual because he doesn't get enough screentime to make a complete fool of himself.

As with last time, Tiger's development is another great thing about these episodes, and while his story isn't quite over yet, Toujou is just as fascinating here as ever. Seeing him spiral further into madness, then depression, then more madness beyond that is amazing. He's legitimately more dangerous and unpredictable than Asakura, and yet he doesn't come off as a straight villain due to how totally broken he is. It really is amazing how memorable and different all Ryuki's Riders are. Gai is my least favorite due to having the least interesting personality to me, and even then he still had a well-defined character who contributed a lot to his stretch of the show.

Den-O 43-44:

The first half of this arc is an interesting setup that leads into the utter masterpiece that is episode 44 of Den-O. This is another plot that emphasizes the bonds between the main characters, centering on an argument between Ryoutarou and Momotaros after it becomes known to the former that stopping the Imagin means the Taros are going to disappear too. Seeing them angry at one another because of how much they each care about the other really makes them feel like a family, which, of course, they pretty much are at this point.

It's some of the best drama in the whole show, and while that typical Den-O attention to detail means everyone gets a great moment (such as specifically having a scene where Yuuto and Ryutaros interact again), it all comes back to the two real leads in the end. Ryoutarou is as amazing as always, and I especially love how he pointedly never intends to stop protecting the timeline, even though he doesn't want Momo and the others to disappear. Instead the crux of his issue is that he feels having them essentially fight to kill themselves is too cruel, and him trying to carry all the weight on his own even though he can't is true to how he's been developing over the series, leading to the ultimate proof that the quality of Den-O episodes is directly proportional to the amount of screentime Plat Form gets.

Momotaros himself is an absolute legend, and episodes like this would convince anyone who thinks otherwise. The recent introduction of the King-Liner gave the show an opportunity to get the Taros off the Den-Liner set for once, and here it's used for all it's worth. Giving Momo and the others that extra breathing room really lets them show how lively they can be, which is one of the truly magical things about tokusatsu. When I watch Den-O, the only time I ever remember I'm watching people in costumes is when I stop to consider that Momotaros might actually be the greatest role Seiji Takaiwa's ever played. Putting that much emotion into a character whose face can't even move shouldn't be possible, but he does it anyway.

OOO 43-44:

Firstly, now that I've only got 4 episodes left, I really need to take the time to talk about how perfectly handled OOO's form-changing is. This is one of the those things where context has changed the way I look at it, because while it was easy to take for granted the way this show goes about its action at the time, I've since seen Build, a show that seemed to get bored of its protagonists' central gimmick around halfway through and never looked back. Not the case here. Right up to the end, OOO always puts a lot of effort into creating clever and interesting action scenes that make great use of the unique abilities of each of OOO's medals. That's 18 individual pieces for it to keep track of, and 6 Combos not counting TaToBa, and everything gets its time in the spotlight. It's a totally unique setup for forms in Rider, too, because while the Combos more or less fulfill the role of the typical main forms, akin to Kuuga's various colors, even the "lesser" ones like SaGoZou are still treated as too dangerous and powerful to use constantly, justifying the appearances of the more wild and fun mixed forms. I figured when PuToTyra debuted, that would stop being the case, because I remember Eiji relying on the purple Medals a lot due to always having them on hand, but even that is just their unique gimmick. I put "lesser" in quotes back there because frankly, every one of OOO's Combos feel on the same level, to the point where I don't think the usual labels fit that well. TaJaDor, for example, despite clearly being in the same category as things like Climax Form or Kachidoki Arms, isn't actually shown to be more powerful than the other Combos when you really look at it. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, and that's what keeps things interesting.

Secondly, there's a great scene in 43 that helps me further elaborate on what I mean about OOO feeling realistic. It involves Eiji's arm briefly starting to turn into that of a Greed before going back to normal, and then him reflexively pulling it behind him when he sees Hina walking up to him. There's no music or anything to tell you to feel sad, but the simple shot of Eiji hesitantly starting to move his hand hits like a brick emotionally. Obviously OOO has plenty of scenes that accomplish the same thing in a completely traditional way (which is easy when the OST is so good), but especially seeing it against shows like Ryuki and Den-O, I don't think OOO relies as much on typical movie melodrama to get a reaction out of the viewer. It all goes back to what I've been saying about it avoiding a lot of cliches, and while I want to be absolutely clear that I'm not saying doing things normally is somehow worse, I do find it truly intriguing how often OOO does things differently.

And thirdly, I've figured out a couple more reasons Gotou leaves such a strong impression in a relatively short time as a Rider. He's constantly got Eiji's back in a way Date never did, since his relationship with Eiji wasn't as deep, and likewise his sense of duty means he gets way more reckless in fights despite also fighting more smartly, leading to lots of insanely cool stunts he pulls in pretty much every episode he's in as Birth.

Ryuki 45-46

Asakura makes his entrance in 45 running away from a nearby patrol car heading to the scene of the other patrol car that currently has two cops lying nearby who are almost certainly not just taking a nap. This pretty definitively confirms that the reason Asakura can run around freely is indeed because he murders everyone who tries to tell him he can't. It's a quick little scene but it does a lot for his character, and through implication puts his body count way higher than Toujou's could ever be, in case you forgot who the real bad guy is here.

Now, Toujou, that guy is a hero. Maybe. Probably not. I don't know. But neither does he by the end of his storyline, and I've always felt that resolution fit his character perfectly. Toujou is very, very empty on the inside, and when he decides to go about fixing that the way he does, it wouldn't make a lot of sense for him to get exactly what he wants in the end. I have to say, even though I've always liked Tiger, seeing this show again has raised my opinion of him a lot higher than it was. He's probably up there with Raia at this point for my favorite Riders in Ryuki, and I'm gonna miss seeing that creepy, blank face of his.

Of course, Shinji's the actual hero, so I like him a whole lot too. The plot is in its final stretch and now that the clock is ticking down he hits his lowest point yet. He's struggled with indecision the entire series, and after learning the true purpose of the Rider Battle, he's pushed to go against everything he's believes. You see, Kobayashi's version of Shinji is actually ineffectual, too, only in a more dramatically interesting way. Despite all his big talk throughout the show, he's never made any real progress when it comes to stopping Kanzaki's schemes or keeping the Riders from killing one another. When you get down to it, it's been out of his hands the entire time, and in these last episodes he really has to confront that.

Den-O 45-46

You know, one thing that's impressed me about Den-O that I feel I should mention before I finish up with it is that you actually see Den-O on his bike a lot. Not just to drive the train either, although I always thought that was clever, too. He doesn't always get it in on the action, but most of the times it makes sense for him to be driving somewhere, you'll get at least a shot or two of him riding along. I've always had a soft spot for the Den-Bird even though (or because?) it's such a simple design, and after going back through the show, I think that's the big reason why.

As for the episodes, they're great, but I find myself totally stumped when it comes to saying anything I haven't already said a million times about Den-O. Which is weird, because this arc is where all the story's secrets start to get revealed leading into the final few episodes, so you'd think there would be a lot to mention, but I seriously can't think of anything unique to talk about. Besides Momotaros' tragic attempt to avoiding hurting Santa Claus in his fight with a snowman. That was pretty awesome.

Also, apparently someone realized the horrible mistake they made in using Climax Jump Den-Liner Form for the opening, because it's back to normal starting with 46. The song, that is, the pointless clips are still there, but I forgot I even got thrown this much of a bone, so I'll take what I can get.

OOO 45-46

Firstly, just in case OOO wasn't flipping enough tropes on their head already, the heroes actually decide to mount a surprise attack on the villains house, instead of the other way around. You know, because realistically speaking, it makes sense for them to be proactive about that sort of thing. As does the explanation for why they're only now trying this.

Secondly, these episodes do a brilliant thing by taking everything we've been shown about the Greed throughout the series, and putting it into context to make it clear how horribly tragic their existence is. As usual for OOO, the story here is exceptionally tight, and this central idea accomplishes several things at once. Above all else, it makes you feel some pity as you realize it's basically impossible for them not to be the way they are, but the real kicker is how much it makes you realize what Ankh has been going through. There have been hints of it here and there, but starting here it really becomes apparent how much he resents his situation, and on top of proving himself to have a far, far deeper grasp on what's wrong with the Greed than the others, you also find out that all his evil scheming is to attain something so simple any person would take it for granted. The scene where he talks to Hina in 46 in particular is incredibly emotionally charged, and it's as much because of the implications of what's being said as the words themselves. It's more of that layered, three-dimensional writing I keep finding myself praising over and over.

And thirdly, on the subject of layers, all that drama with Ankh then further feeds into Eiji's ongoing predicament, as while Ankh becomes more and more human, Eiji becomes more and more of a Greed. They're both gaining a much greater understanding of the other, and when they finally clash, it's one of the most memorable moments in a show that, I'll say again, is filled with memorable moments. Characters this fully-realized practically write themselves after a point, but putting them in these situations which such perfect timing never stops being impressive. It's the absolute maximum amount of drama you can have, with details as considered as Eiji's gradual transformation into a Greed giving him a left forearm to further emphasize his status as Ankh's opposite number. That's so cool! Everything about this show is so cool!

I've always really loved Toujou. He's so consistent in his specific psychosis in a way that's really fascinating. I'll always remember the "oh fuck" moment when Imperor tells him that they're friends now.

Imagine having this bad an opinion and not realising Den-Liner version is the best version.

Now that I've reached the endgame, I'm going to be taking things one at a time. I figure this will let me really dig into each show's ending better than if I tried to talk about them all at once. Also I'd probably be too busy crying to write anything if I tried watching all three of these finales together.

Ryuki 47-50:

Following on from the last episodes, Shinji is not doing so hot. He's actually ironically been put in the exact position Ren's been in the whole series. He's trying to convince himself to win the Rider Battle to save someone, but when it comes down to it, he'll never be able to take a life. It's honestly pretty unnerving seeing him the way he is here. He starts actively picking fights with the other Riders, something he explicitly promised Yui he would never do way back at the start, and his solution to his habit of thinking about things so hard he ends up doing nothing is to try and stop thinking entirely, going around essentially pretending to be himself as written by Inoue, totally carefree and stupid. Ren and even Kitaoka are actually worried about the poor guy, and the buildup to the finale here is great. Everything is coming apart at the seams, and the hordes of disgusting larva/dragonfly Monsters running around making creepy noises lends an almost apocalyptic vibe to things.

It all leads to a finale that does an absolutely incredible job at giving just about every main character a satisfying conclusion. It's that soap opera style of super heavy drama that Ryuki delivers in spades, and the emotional tension is at a peak throughout. Shinji ultimately makes his decision, Ren stays true to himself until the end, Kitaoka comes to realize what really matters to him, and Asakura goes out the only way he knows how. It's captivating stuff, and I couldn't wait to see how it was going to wrap up, and when it did...

I'll be honest, the first time I saw Ryuki's finale, it didn't totally sit right with me, but, and I don't even remember if there was a particular catalyst for this, not too long after I decided it was the best, most appropriate ending the show could have, and that's where my opinion has been ever since. The resolution to Shirou and Yui's plotline is perfect. The choice he makes in the end is a powerful resolution to his arc, and while I can't easily identify a singular, concrete main theme to Ryuki's story, a lot of the characters in it, like Ren, are driven by their inability to accept something that's happened in their life. So to see that story end with the man responsible for the entire plot finally learning to move on is honestly really poetic. As is the idea that the only way to truly win the Rider War was not to fight it. I don't know if this is still something people are that upset about, but I don't buy that Ryuki's ending invalidates the events of the show in any way. Or at least, it's not doing so just to force a happy ending in there. In a lot of ways, the atmosphere is very bittersweet, and at the end of the day, it doesn't change the fact that not everybody gets to survive.

https://i.imgur.com/EXGUSjE.jpg

Although the use of scientific research as a major plot point and the heavily mechanical looking designs of the Riders do a lot to cloak it, I've always seen Ryuki as more of a fairy tale than anything else, and it's a very good one. There are definitely a few rougher edges here and there, but overall it's a series that I think nailed everything it set out to do, telling a story that's never dull about a wide-ranging group of engaging characters fighting a life and death battle to gain something important to them.

It's as compelling as a show can be, and I couldn't have asked for a better formative experience with Kamen Rider. Mostly because I was probably already having one at the same time, but now I'm getting ahead of myself. Right now I'm talking about Ryuki, and if I weren't concerned with having some semblance of structure, I could go on for a long while yet. The layers to what I love about this show are virtually endless. But above all those things, it's always going to come back to two things no Rider show is complete without. Cool action, and a captivating cast. I can sit here trying to objectively justify this stuff all day, but when it comes down to it, the simple truth is that I like it because I do. I felt like I was right there with Shinji the whole way through, waiting in anticipation of what surprising turn would come next or who would show up to totally upend the status quo. I had never seen anything like Ryuki, and even with all the Rider shows that directly copy a lot of the ideas it introduced, I'm still not sure I ever have.

Honestly, I don't even mind the song by itself, and the full version has Kenichi Suzumura rapping, which is one obvious advantage over the original, but something about attaching it to the show's actual opening makes it seem so much worse to me.

Den-O 47-49

Let me say this to start! Stick with the Final Trilogy Special Edition version of these episodes. I think this is the first time I watched the original versions and I should really thank TV-Nihon for saving me some trouble by not including them in their batch when I first watched the series. They aren't a drastic overhaul, but the pacing is massively improved by the new cuts, especially 49, which as aired was missing half of Ryutaros' last bit of character development, and also had a much shorter ending. The director's cut gives things way more time to breathe, all around, and makes more explicit a few plot points that otherwise require the viewer to fill in some blanks.

That being said, either way, you're in for a good time with Den-O's last episodes. You could say this of the show as a whole too, but they're almost the exact polar opposite of Ryuki. Instead of all that layered drama featuring intertwining subplots and morally complex characters, here Kobayashi goes for a very simple, straightforward final showdown with the bad guys, and she knows how to make that work. The first two parts build the tension masterfully by establishing the stakes, foreshadowing some of the resolution, and whittling away at the cast to truly sell that this is as serious as it gets. While Kintaros and Urataros were fairly static characters compared to some of the others, their sacrifices cement the development they have had throughout the show, and are just plain cool scenes in their own right. But where this really shines is in how in leads into the finale, which pays everything off by throwing all the heroes together and letting them go to town on Kai and his goons.

It truly is a climax from start to finish. Whether it's Ryoutarou and Momotaros fighting side by side, or the extremely memorable way the killing blow is landed on the Death Imagin with everybody getting in on it, it's classic stuff. There are also a lot of great parallels and bookends throughout, from Ryoutarou finally making a wish to Momo, to him fearlessly tackling Kai off a skyscraper after one of the early episodes established him as being afraid of heights, to the very end with him riding alongside the Den-Liner on his bike, the sense of closure here is impeccable. Even the ticking clock effect at the end moves forward instead of back for what I'm pretty sure is the only time in the show.

The way the overarching plot all comes together is similarly quite impressive. It took us the whole series to get there, but once all the puzzle pieces are finally in place, they all line up precisely and cleanly. There are things about Ryuki's plot I think it's legitimately impossible to understand because there simply aren't explanations, so it's easy to appreciate that, despite coming off just as complex at a glance, Den-O's keeps things far simpler. I don't think I've actually talked at all about the rules Den-O sets up for itself this whole time, which is strange, because it's one of my favorite things about the show. It's one of the most insanely easy to grasp takes on time travel you'll find, and also a brilliant use of metaphor while it's at it. The central concept that people's memories ARE time itself is both the mechanical and the thematic core of the series, and that level of synergy is truly special. It adds a lot more depth to the series because the simple act of the protagonists protecting time inherently carries more weight to it this way. Den-O gets tons of mileage working messages out of this idea, and it's great that a show that is absolutely funny enough to get by entirely on jokes actually has that substance to it. I don't know if my obvious bias is making me oversell this or not, but I genuinely do feel there are things in Den-O worth reading into. It's like the watch says: The past should give us hope.

https://i.imgur.com/mwUJxFF.jpg

Den-O is still my favorite Rider series Kobayashi has written. I just want to make that clear before I shower OOO's final episodes with praise. Just like Ryuki, there are holes you can pick in it if you're no fun, but come on, it's Den-O. Fun is the name of the game, and I'm pretty sure Toei and Bandai could still be making bank off of new spinoff movies and whatever else they wanted for this show to this day if they felt like it. Momotaros is practically as much of an icon as freakin' Rider 1 at this point. Yeah, I said it! I also said I have an obvious bias in favor of Den-O, and unlike Ryuki I couldn't totally tell you why. It inherently lacks the same nostalgia factor Ryuki and OOO have for me. The fact that it's the only Kobayashi series with Toshihiko Sahashi doing the music can't account for it because I didn't realize how much I loved him until years later. If I'm being totally, completely honest, most of the things it does have been done just as good in other Rider shows, but... I mean, geez, I didn't even want to type that last bit. I said way back at the beginning of this whole project that "something about this show is just magic to me", and I still don't have a better explanation than that. Maybe I will though. Someday, in the future...

Don't be fooled though. The climax isn't stopping for a while yet.

like zio
 

red rider l like deo

OOO 47-48:

Firstly, while there's a director's cut version of these episodes as well, I think you can safely take it or leave it with OOO. The benefits include some extra screentime for Date and Gotou, some extra scenes that bridge things together, and an extended epilogue. While it's a nice watch if you've already seen the show and want to get that little more out of it, the TV edits actually have some advantages over the extended one. I especially feel the twist the end of 47 puts on the usual "count the medals" screen is an extremely nice touch that's completely missing in the combined version for obvious reasons. Unlike Den-O, nothing feels missing from the originals. It's evident they went out of their way to include everything that mattered, and the things that were removed, consequently, only serve to add further clarity to things that were already clear to begin with.

Secondly, it's a darn good thing they got the editing right, too, because OOO's finale is perfection. It's astonishing how much it packs into those 23 minutes. It starts with a climactic action scene that could almost have you believing the whole episode is going to be one big final showdown, especially thanks to the awesome conversation between Kougami and Maki that builds the hype through the roof, but then OOO whiffs on one last Rider Kick and you realize you're also going to get one last calm before the storm bit of character-building with the heroes, which goes back to what I said at the start about OOO feeling like every episode has as much going on as two of other Rider shows. The majority of them, including Ryuki and Den-O, legitimately do start the finale with the final battle. But here they make time to follow up on Hina's feelings of powerlessness, rebuild Eiji and Ankh's relationship, show once again how Eiji has a bad habit of not considering his own well-being, give us even more epic speechifying from Kougami, and even hint at Maki's more sentimental side one last time. All of which happens in the span of about 3 minutes, without any of it feeling rushed or awkwardly placed. OOO tends to be efficient in how it tells its stories to begin with, but... wow. After this intermission, most of the back half of the episode consists of the apocalypse happening, with what is effectively an archetypal alien spaceship floating menacingly around in the sky, destroying buildings as it goes, while hordes of Trash Yummies lay waste to the ground, as though things weren't crazy enough already. Despite this grand scale, I think one of the (many) things this episode gets right is that it keeps the focus small and on point, with Eiji and Ankh quickly running off to take on Maki, bringing things back to a budget-friendly level quickly without immediately screaming "we can't actually afford to keep showing the good stuff", largely because what they're showing instead is also the good stuff. Eiji takes on Maki with PuToTyra, delivering one heck of a finishing move that... doesn't end up finishing Maki. Man, Eiji really has bad luck when it comes to finishers. But that's okay, because the flawless setup of OOO's form changes means that, with no generic, put 'em all together combination best form or something boring like that the show is obligated to use here, Ankh is free to ensure once and for all that TaJaDor will always be everybody's favorite Combo, with the last leg of the battle taking to the skies one more time. It's far and away one of the most memorable climaxes to a Rider finale, and to this day, it's apparent the effects guys were not f***ing around that day. It genuinely looks great, then and now, just like some of the really huge scenes early on in the series. It probably helps that the really crazy part is under a minute long. Not that it feels short. Again, maximum efficiency. And also, to make up for getting cheated out of two separate finishing attacks, OOO finally gets to load the Taja Spinner up with Core Medals, thanks to Eiji getting a total of seven purple Medals in the last few episodes, because, again, this show keeps track of everything. It's total, non-stop excitement, and then the way it all wraps up, with Ankh finding his satisfaction in life, and Eiji having a personal revelation about what it really means to reach out his hand, tying together one of the show's biggest recurring bits of imagery with its main theme, is simply masterful. There are not enough good words to be said about this finale. It's one of the absolute best. It delivers on the big action, gives all the characters their chance to shine, wraps up their personal journeys, and has some of the most memorable, hard-hitting emotional moments in the entire franchise. Even Doctor Maki himself would be proud of such a fitting end.

https://i.imgur.com/Ib0Kdvr.jpg

And thirdly, that about wraps it up for this show. A show that, quite frankly, exceeds my expectations every time I think I understand how good it is. Having finally sat down to give the whole series another go around, I have to say, I really, really have been taking OOO for granted all this time. My first ever Rider show just happened to be this masterpiece among masterpieces, and I didn't even know. I merely ate it up, never taking so much as a second to think about or appreciate how excellent it truly was. How it lives up to its name and goes beyond the infinite, becoming a sort of omni-show that has literally everything that can make a story great, all somehow done well. An interesting world with creative ideas. Three-dimensional characters who grow and change. A plot with momentum and intrigue. Comedy to make you laugh. Drama to touch your heart. Action to get it pounding. A true king of a show that may very well stand as Yasuko Kobayashi's magnum opus. Every now and then, ever since it originally ended, I go through these brief periods of intense nostalgia for OOO. I usually end up watching a few episodes and going "man, why isn't this my favorite again?", before inevitably forgetting about it once more. Even after all this, I'll probably go back to choosing to gush about Ghost at some point, but before I do, I want to make sure I finally give it the credit it's due. OOO is easily in the running for best Kamen Rider show period, and if you think I covered even a third of what makes it so great, then you'd do well to take another look at it yourself.

Now I gotta rewatch Heisei Generations Final and cry about Eiji and Ankh again.

If Blade didn't exist, OOO would easily be my favorite KR series, hands down, basically for all the reasons you pointed out :lol

Also Fis Sandwich, you gotta pick out which of those three shows have the best theme song. (I kid because I think we can all tell that Climax Jump has an actual death grip on your heart)

OOO is a show that I think about rewatching a lot but never get around to doing so. I've had a growing itch to go back and go through Fourze again, though.

Well, somewhere along the line, I started having so much fun with this that my crazy idea to rewatch all of Kobayashi's Rider shows got even crazier, so now that I'm finished with the shows proper, I'm going to be sweeping up, so to speak, going through whatever other related movies and assorted scraps I also haven't seen in forever. Kougami would no doubt approve of such unbridled desire.

First up are the scrappiest of scraps, the Hyper Battle Video/DVD's for each show, as well as OOO's Net Movies. Don't expect anything too deep out of this one, okay?

Ryuki HBV:

It's kind of hilarious to think that this was the original Heisei crossover in light of Agito later getting the absolute best tribute in Zi-O. Not that you're expected to treat this like a real team-up, though. Still, just like Ryuki proper, this special establishes trends that are still going strong to this day, namely the cheap, pointless reuse of old suits and soundalike actors that don't actually sound alike. You'd have to be super petty to even waste time complaining about it here, though. It's firmly tongue-in-cheek, and unlike many future HBV's, there's actually an emphasis on the battle part, with the bulk of it being Ryuki and his surprisingly cooperative fellow Riders teaming up to stop Burning Agito's evil plan... whatever that is. Of course, the "real" Agito shows up to help, and together all the heroes save the day, followed by Shinji waking up. Yeah, unfortunately for Shinji, a plot this clear-cut and uncomplicated could only happen in his dreams. Poor guy.

Den-O HBV:

This one is totally canon to the TV series as far as I'm concerned. Momotaros and the gang were already established to be helping Ryoutarou train anyway, so who's to say they didn't do it with a cheesy exercise video aerobics routine at least one time? Den-O lends itself naturally to doing wacky side stuff like this, and the result is a fun waste of time. A waste of time to watch, that is. Given Den-O's massive popularity at the time, I can appreciate that the exercise gimmick is clearly intended to get children moving the same way ending themes in Sentai do. If you're a little Japanese kid in 2007, and Momotaros tells you to work out, you're going to listen. Plus, you get to see the single funniest gag Den-O ever did with Deneb's inability to notice other Imagin. What more do you need?

OOO HBV:

This is from the era where HBV's were all about the choose your own adventure style gimmick thanks to the magic of DVD menus. The result in this case consists largely of softball quizzes about animals, which is a rather dull use of the format. I mean, maybe that would be engaging for the target audience, but I have to imagine even a lot of the younger crowd would feel patronized being asked to pick out which of three pictures is a grasshopper when the other two options are a praying mantis and a butterfly. The actual fight scenes with the Kangaroo Medal are definitely fun, but it's a minuscule amount of the overall package.

OOO Net Movies:

I miss Net Movies so much. They were this haven of absurdist comedy that also tended to allow Toei to acknowledge a lot of meta stuff the fans care about, while also frequently delivering minor but interesting bits of trivia in a way that's going to draw more people in than a straight up guidebook or something. I'm pretty sure nobody knew Faiz's head was pattered after a shark until the Decade Net Movies told them. The .5 episodes for Zi-O sratched that itch to some extent, but it's just not the same. Anyway, OOO is extra special because he got two sets of Net Movies. One for Let's Go Kamen Riders in the spring, and then another for the summer movie after that.

The Let's Go Net Movies are loaded with great fanservice. The horoscope shtick is fun, the summaries of each Rider's personality are generally surprisingly on point, and the resulting comedy skits thus land because even with the usual bad soundalikes, the characters actually do feel like themselves. Seeing Rider 1 go off on the modern Riders for not being remodeled humans is just amazing, you know? It's neat to see all these Riders come together in a way that ironically gives them more of a spotlight than the actual big team-up movies do, and my boy Raia gets his own skit, too, so how can I be anything other than satisfied? The only caveat these come with is that there's so many of the things watching them in one sitting starts to drag after a while. So maybe take a break somewhere in there.

The ones for the summer movie are probably the slightest bit funnier on average, and the particularly good ones include gags as legendary as GataKiriBa learning the "adult circumstances" behind his lack of screentime. There's also Shuu Watanabe reciting the names of all of OOO's sub-forms (that's over a hundred) in one take, with surprisingly few flubs considering he's basically speaking in repetitive gibberish for two minutes straight. You also get to see how close all of OOO's interior sets are to each other in the process, which makes it even cooler.

Honestly, it's a closer race than you might think. All three of them are really great for different reasons.

So, following up on my own suggestion I started rewatching Fourze last night. I'm almost certainly not going to do an arc-by-arc recap like Fish Sandwich, but after the first two episodes I am definitely remembering how much I loved this show's characters. I'd forgotten just how delightful Gentaro is and it's nice to see the early version of Yuki again, before she was exposed to too much cosmic radiation and lost her damn mind. I'm looking forward to the rest of the cast getting folded into the KRC and the inevitable arrival of Ryusei.

I remember having some big issues with the show's pacing near the end, but I'm curious to see if that's less of a problem when I a) know it's coming and b) am not watching one episode a week.

Another thing I'd forgotten is how good the action is. Taikawa did such a great job playing Fourze as this kind of aggressive but clumsy brawler. I miss the era when Rider fights didn't just consist of dudes standing around throwing CGI at each other (looking at you, Grand Zi-O!).

So yeah, glad I decided to go back and watch this again. It's been really hard to watch it without a huge grin breaking out across my face.

13 Riders:

I've always wanted to like this special a lot more than I do. Not that I even dislike it, either. It's a concept that sounds super neat on paper, you know? Like, wow, an hour-long special episode of Ryuki that tells a condensed version of the story and has all the Riders in it! How could it go wrong? A lot of ways, and I don't envy the position Toshiki Inoue was in writing this. It's honestly impressive how much he managed to create a plot that was coherent on its own merits, but the trade off is that there are so many oddities and contradictions when compared to the main series that it comes off like a fever dream anyway.

It's generally all in service of keeping the story here simple and tight, but beyond the basic premise it has nothing to do with the show's plot. We get the whole central plot device of the Core Mirror you can apparently conveniently destroy to seal off the Mirror World, which is naturally nowhere to be found anywhere else. Then there's also the way characters who were previously totally independent are altered to fit into nice, manageable groups. There are a few weird things about this. It results in Tezuka being reworked into a guy who seems to be buddies with Ren, who also loves Eri, making this the first instance of Inoue shoehorning in an unnecessary romantic angle to Raia's character, which I guess is just his go-to way to streamline Ryuki scripts in a pinch. Note that he's still opposed to murder here, though. The rest of the Riders aside from Ouja also become this comical gentlemen's fight club, who almost immediately get together and decide they need to all team up to kill Shinji, before his heretical talk of stopping the Rider Battle proves dangerous. Which would be silly anyway, but this is Inoue Shinji we're dealing with. You know, this guy?

https://i.imgur.com/xPXkdEi.jpg

The one who never gets to do anything remotely competent or cool aside from occasionally doing his finishing move on a Monster? I think you'll be okay, guys. The other glaring flaw to this special is that despite bragging about it right in the title, it still manages to mess up having all the Riders in there, because even with all the work Inoue does to get everybody in there in 44 minutes, he ultimately resorts to having Tiger, Imperer, Femme, Ryuga, and Odin all be reduced to glorified mooks who show up entirely in suit at the very end to get in on beating up Shinji. Now, part of this is down to when 13 Riders aired. Right between episodes 33 and 34. What this means, aside from a pointless cameo appearance by Ryuki Survive a few days before his way cooler actual TV debut (Episode Final beat both of them to the punch though), is that Tiger was just about to appear, and Imperer wouldn't show up for a while. Their characters were probably still being worked out while Inoue was writing this, and in Imperers case, he likely wasn't even cast by the time they were filming it, so, what else can you do? Femme, Ryuga, and Odin were all established by this point, but just like in Episode Final, bringing up Odin's actual purpose would derail the story, as would Ryuga's in this case. Femme doesn't get quite the same easy pass, but even in her case it probably just comes back to that this thing is way too short to work in anything as complicated as what I'd like to see in an ideal world.

So the way to enjoy 13 Riders is definitely to just take it as its own thing. For what it is, the story is a competently told version of Shinji and Ren becoming friends, and that central element is made stronger specifically because of plot beats like turning Tezuka into someone whose death can provide a turning point for Ren. Especially in light of what we got down the line, it seems clear their relationship was something Inoue enjoyed writing, and he does a solid job with it here. The climactic scene where Shinji taking up the mantle of Knight in Ren's place is actually a pretty awesome moment, and while it used to baffle me as someone who's a huge fan of the show why viewers actively voted for Shinji to betray to his core belief from the series, going strictly off of 13 Riders' own story, the ending where he decides to keep fighting makes infinitely more sense, and frankly, given the way the other one plays out, it doesn't even feel like Inoue wanted to give people a real choice.

Climax Deka:

Someday in the future turns out to be a lot sooner than you might think, as the Den-Liner crew gets back in action to spend an hour or so running around pretending to be cops. With some token appearances from Kiva. And also Kuuga. And also Chalice. And also Grease. Okay, I'm sort of lying about those last three, but there's only so much to say about this movie. It's the first actual team-up in Heisei Rider history, but just ignore that "& Kiva" in the title if you don't want to be disappointed on that front. He's only there because his show was on at the time and I think Toei wasn't 100% sure if milking Den-O after it was over was going to work out. Needless to say, it did, because this film is but the humble beginning of a long stretch of post-series Den-O movies.

As for Climax Deka itself, it's harmless fun. Everyone deciding to play police because Owner lost a Rider Pass seems just barely believable enough to scrape by as a premise, and while the way actual cops react to their presence like they've doing this for a while, Yuuto using Altair Form, and the Taros all having physical bodies outside of the Den-Liner throw the potential continuity into serious question (I blame Zi-O), it's just not a movie you should be using your brain for. It's strictly entertainment, and to that end I think Kobayashi's script is actually quite good in how it makes sure to get in all the stuff you'd want to see in a Den-O reunion. Each of the Imagin gets a full scene to posses Ryoutarou in. Deneb gets to be a master of disguise. There's the obligatory train battle. Literally every insert theme from the show plays. It's all here, and if you look at Kiva's inclusion as more of a bonus than anything else, all that plus having fun with a bunch of crime drama tropes (remember, W doesn't exist yet) is enough for a good time, as far as I'm concerned. During the big fight with Nega Den-O (who, for the record, I find extremely unmemorable despite evil repaints being an easy sell for me), there's a bit where Den-O Gun Form shoots off his finishing move in slow motion, and as the big energy ball travels toward the left side of the screen, the audio follows it along in a really pronounced way. I was honestly expecting to do more of a (lighthearted) roast of this movie, but that scene got me thinking how cool that actually would've been in a theater, and from there I thought, you know, maybe it's not actually that bad. Sure, as a movie, it feels pretty cheap, and the story is utterly unsubstantial, but as something to eat some popcorn while watching and enjoy yourself? I don't know. You could do better, but you could also do much, much worse.

Movie War Core:

Yeah, I watched this again too. The theme for this post is basically wasted potential and mediocrity. You know we're not doing great when Climax Deka was honestly the most fun I had.

Things start off strong for Core with Double's chunk of the movie. After his origin story was revealed in Movie War 2010, we essentially get Skull's very own Begins Night here, and it's quite good. Skull is a character I think pretty much everybody immediately fell in love with, and since this is about him and not Double himself, it goes full hardboiled, delivering a proper noir detective story that hits all the notes you could ask for. There are twists and turns, the action is pretty good, the atmosphere can be rather heavy (a couple of the scenes really push the Gaia Memories as drugs metaphor too), there's a solid emotional core to it, and, hey, who doesn't want to see Soukichi doing his thing? Learning the tragic secret history of things like where the "count up your sins" catchphrase came from is awesome, as are some other fun paralells with Double's present, like establishing shots of actual bookshelves in a real library that evoke Philip in the Gaia Library. There's also those sweet Showa shout-outs Riku Sanjou loves doing, such as the villain (who is retroactively the first Monster of the Week in Double, more or less) being the Spider Dopant. It's a great little slice of a great little show.

...

And then we get to OOO's chunk of the film. Let me just get something off my chest first, alright?

AARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

Okay, I feel a little better now. So, you know how for about a month now I've been whining about Inoue doesn't get Ryuki? Well, after politely staying completely away from Den-O, he decided it would be fun to absolutely butcher OOO. If you know my general upbeat attitude, you'll know how serious I am when I say this part of the movie is straight up trash. It sucked then, and it sucks now. It fails on its own merits as a self-contained story, and as something carrying OOO's name? Holy crap, how do you even f*** up this much? Did you know Kobayashi is actually credited with assisting on the script? Because I sure didn't, and I honestly can't believe it even now that I know.

From what I understand, I think the production schedules for winter films mean they're basically being written before the show has even started airing, which gives Inoue something of an out here, but surely with Kobayashi's help, they could've come up with something at least a little true to the series? It'd honestly be quicker to list things that didn't go wrong. The central conceit of the plot, Kougami deciding to resurrect f***ing Oda Nobunaga with a body made of Cell Medals, is this weird mad scientist kind of concept that always struck me as not really being the kind of thing that would happen in OOO's world, which is generally more grounded than it looks like. Kougami deciding to give Nobunaga the Birth Driver to "see what he'll do with its power" is even more questionable, because Birth was designed for the specific purpose of gathering his Foundation more Cell Medals. It was never some set of regal armor like OOO. Eiji's character is completely out of whack, running around doing a bunch of different part-time jobs in a way that suggests somebody thought that would be his gimmick in the show, and then giving out all the money he makes to random greedy people who ask for it, displaying an absent-minded, naive kind of attitude that is massively at odds with how his character was portrayed on TV from the very start. This is why I can't believe Kobayashi actually provided any significant amount of help. Presumably, Inoue would've at least had scripts for the first few episodes to get a feel for the series anyway, but with direct advice from its writer, it's especially questionable how you could get something this important this wrong. The overall theme of the plot is likewise about Nobu learning to appreciate how much nicer life can be when you don't desire things, which is the kind of black-and-white take on the subject that OOO built its identity around avoiding at all costs. Again, right from the start. Things like the odd premise, I can forgive, but I had completely forgotten how much worse the story here is than that. It's missing everything that was at the heart of OOO. Including Ankh, who is inexplicably barely in this, leaving Eiji to awkwardly fumble around with the Medal Holder whenever a fight scene starts.

And as a story taken on its own? It's still terrible. You're expected to be emotionally invested in Eiji's relationship with Nobu after about one scene of them wearing matching underpants, before he immediately becomes a huge jerk to everyone, shooting what's obviously meant to be the dramatic hook in the foot right away. There's nothing even remotely endearing about Nobu, so it's impossible to empathize with Eiji's sadness beyond that you don't want to see Eiji sad. And since we're taking the story on its own right now, you're not even going to care that much how sad "Eiji" is, because all you know about him is that he's nice, yes, but also a huge airhead, which counteracts the first part. The action isn't as good as it is in the rest of the movie either. I'm not exactly standing in awe of GataKiriBa's amazing ability to form a totem pole.

It honestly feels like being held hostage watching this part. Like you've been tricked by the cool part with Skull, and now you're trapped here for another 40 minutes because the emotional payoff to the Skull plot doesn't happen until the very end. It sucks.

Fortunately, the team-up part was written by Sanjou, so it's actually a lot of fun. Fun that still contradicts OOO's continuity, but his version of Eiji doesn't come off like a dork, and I think this movie was the very first time we got a team-up between two Heisei Riders where they just get along and fight evil, which is awesome. The big dumb CG climax also looks surprisingly solid. The way TaJaDor is shot makes it look even cooler than normal, which I didn't know was possible until I saw it. It's just a shame you have to suffer through a trip to the Inoue Zone to get there. My biggest takeaway from Movie War Core, then and now, is honestly that I would've rather just had a third Double Returns movie about Skull instead of it.

The thing I always remember the most fondly about Takaiwa as Fourze is those scenes of him testing out new Switches. There aren't a lot of Riders you get to see out of a fight that often, and without having to do any real stunts it was a great chance for him to show off how great he is at embodying a character. There's no disconnect at all between Gentarou in and out of the suit, and it's amazing. Whether he's in a fight or not, too, Fourze moves his limbs in this super forceful way that I love.

Movie War Core is both terrible and a really fascinating look into what OOO could have been if it wasn't heavily rewritten during production. I mean, obviously it wouldn't have been that bad and full of random ballet melodrama, but stuff like homonculi and Brotou Birth were supposed to be much bigger parts of the show before everyone fell in love with Hiroaki Iwanaga.

So I had given up on Ex-Aid early on when it was first airing because I just had no idea what the fuck was going on.

On rewatching it, I'm 8 episodes in, about 3 more further than I got before dropping it last time...And I can safely say I still have no idea what the hell is happening :lol

Like, I'm not expecting everyone to just stop, explain everything, then be on their way. But, like, from why they need to be level 1 to separate the bugster from the host, to why they need to clear the games at all if they can use the power ups regardless, to how the stage select thing even works, I just have no idea what the fuck :lol

I assume that this is stuff you learn in medical school.

Seriously, though, you're not wrong. Ex-Aid can be Kiva-ishly bad about explaining how stuff works. Some of it gets explained a bit, but a lot of stuff about how the games work is never properly spelled out. I just wrote it off as Ex-Aid's gimmick for relocating to stunt team locations, kind of like how most shows will throw someone out a window that just happens to overlook the nearby rock quarry. If you can get past it, the show is a lot of fun.

And speaking of fun, I'm now through episode 4 of Fourze, the end of Miu's recruitment arc. It's good to have her on board the team now and to have JK on tap to join up next. I'd completely forgotten what an asshole Shun was at this point, what with happily ditching Miu when the Queen contest turned against her. That's really funny given how by the end of the series he's really desperate to be her boyfriend while she is clearly not that interested anymore. I liked how Miu forgave her friend for trying to attack her, though. I think this arc is part of why she was always one of my favorite members of the KRC. She can be kind of an arrogant dick, but her heart is always in the right place.

Other random things Switchblade had forgotten about Fourze:

- Miu's "Oops" catchphrase. It's cute in moderation, but there were times when it, like Shun's twinkle effect, got badly overused.

- Fourze's States forms. The preview for episode 5 teased the arrival of Elec States, which I had somehow completely forgotten existed. I do remember it, Flame, and Magnet now. I think that was it for non-movie stuff aside from Cosmic, right?

As a final comment, I really hope Rikako Sakata took a thorough shower after filming that pool scene.