So we’re at the point where Eiji becomes a Dinosaur Greeed. Which despite what you might think, wasn’t set in stone from the start, as producer Naomi Takebe had cold feet about implementing the idea. There was also the fact the identity of the dinosaur Greeed was also constantly changing, from a new character, to Hina (which would’ve been the explanation for her super strength) to Date (after his planned death and resurrection), before they went with Maki.

Also, side note, I can’t explain why, but I’m really not keen on Gamel’s complete look.

For me, it's the skirt pieces. I think it makes Gamel look a little too regal, which is 100% not his demeanor.

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 47 - “A RED CRACK, SATISFACTION, AND EIJI’S POTENTIAL”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo47a.png

Ha ha, what if Eiji’s the show’s big bad?

It’s a fun twist, if you can call something the show’s been talking about for 46 episodes a “twist”. Everything over the last half-dozen episodes has been pointing towards Ankh as the selfish bully that Eiji will have to overcome in order to save the world, but this one pivots fully into an Eiji Emergency, with Ankh as the world’s only hope to contain a possibly apocalyptic humanitarian.

I like it, not for how unexpected it might be, but for how naturally it flows into the conversation this show’s been having around Eiji. The thesis statement of this show is that any desire without concern for people is bad, and that includes a lack of concern for yourself. Desire needs to be tempered with compassion and care; any desire without those guardrails is dangerous. So, yeah, an Eiji who can no longer see the benefit in keeping his scope personal, and his aid to only what he can reach, is going to be a massive problem for the show to solve. Hina pushing Eiji into saving Shingo is bad, but we’re well past the point where anyone’s asking Eiji to do these things. He can’t see anything but the desire to be powerful enough to save everyone, even if it means becoming a world-destroying monster in the process.

Balancing this rampaging Eiji against a contemplative and vulnerable Ankh is just one of many nervy, unsettling choices this terrific episode makes. (So much weird editing and cutting! It really makes for a disorienting episode! In a good way!) Getting to see Ankh go from uncertainty as to why he cares about what he’s done for Eiji, to a realization that he maybe put an addict back on the road to a relapse, and then tying it all up in Ankh’s acceptance that – much like Eiji did for him – Ankh’s going to have to fight to save Eiji’s life, it’s real good. Turning this whole thing, in one episode, from a story of partners at each other’s throats to a story about a friend reaching out to another friend if it’s literally the last thing he does… hard to do! Hard turn to make! But with an episode this solidly done and smartly written, it looked weirdly easy.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/ooo/ooo47b.png

Oh yeah, it's definitely iconic. I suppose simple yet effective best describes it? Amazing what they achieved visually with not too many things.

The three things I remember about episode 47.

1. Maki randomly blurting out his music tastes, dispelling any notion edgelords might have of him listening to death metal.

2. Chiyoko finally learns everything

3. The music video for Anything Goes had OOO fighting Uva in the presence of someone named Maki (namely, singer Maki Ohguro), and the episode ends with things about to come full circle.

It really is amazing!

While it's nice that Chiyoko finally gets looped in (in the penultimate episode) it's sort of a shame that it happens off-screen. I get that there's a ton of other stuff that needs to be addressed in this episode, and the episode itself is great, but it's still a missed opportunity, I think.

Although I am glad to see Date back, the whole thing happens so fast that I'm not sure why they even had him leave in the first place. Also, missed opportunity to have Satonaka don the new Birth suit! It makes me feel like they literally wrote a written-off character back into the show just to make sure Satonaka stays in the support role. Sad!

Satonaka agreed to let Date come back for 35% of Gotou's salary.

So indeed what stops Eiji's berserk state is his desire for the power to save everyone. I felt that, yeah obviously, giving a desire to the main Rider type like Eiji would still be something not for himself but primarily in service of others. This can feel that there won't be any difference in how Eiji acts, and as this comes up really late in the series, perhaps there won't be enough time to prove said difference between Eiji then and Eiji now, unlike something such as Gavv where Shoma realized early on that he shouldn't distance himself from others. And for here where it's said that desire without concern for people is bad, this rather sounds like most of the other people's, like eating or fame, as it's about self-benefit.

Guess Ankh's change is made more obvious than I thought, that Ankh now acts differently from his previous appearances. His antagonistic stint before, as usual for those who were on the protagonist's side, had him expressing distaste to the other villains, due to their lack of humanity, unlike Ankh's experience with Shingo. Where Maki now throws him under the bus for it. Dunno if this'd have the fanbase think Ankh was just pretending or that he did nothing wrong for this. He was more vulnerable when asking for Shingo's body to Hina, and now he questions what Maki wants to do with Eiji, gives him some encouragement, just assures Hina that Shingo is safe, while going off to help Eiji. Actually expressing some affection for the cast, though he still refers to Eiji as an idiot.

Date had to leave to get treatment to remove the bullet in his brain, using the 100 million yen he had obtained.

I would hope the answer to both would be laughter, and then a firm No.