It wouldn't shock me? I've been pretty on the record with my criticism of Gotou's actor, and similarly transparent about my enjoyment of Date's addition to the series. I can't imagine the production team wasn't having an equivalent sense that Date was way smarter to build around as a Secondary than Gotou. Date's stuff just works better onscreen than anything Gotou's trying to get across?

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 34 - “BEST FRIENDS, MANIPULATIONS, AND RELATIONSHIPS”

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What are Eiji and Ankh to each other?

It’s the definitive question of this series. If there’s a narrative engine to this show, that’s it. Where other shows would prioritize an exploration of human desire, or the boundaries between wanting something and needing something, this show backgrounds those themes in favor of a relationship that never quite settles into anything explicitly positive or negative. It’s never exactly a friendship, or a partnership, or a rivalry, or a pact, or a coercion. It’s all of those things. It’s complicated.

Best part of the episode is probably Eiji saying that even his side of the OOO team is about manipulation. He’s manipulating Ankh so that he can get the power he needs to fulfill his desire to do good, much like Ankh needs Eiji to regain his independence and safety. It’s the Kamen Rider thing of using evil to do good, but it’s not the Medals, it’s Ankh. Ankh is the evil that Eiji’s using to do good. Seeing Eiji, the guy who would lie about participating in a Fun Kidnapping just to spare a creep like Kitamura the embarrassment that Ankh gleefully lets loose, confess that he and Ankh are just using each other to get what they want… it sort of normalizes their relationship in an almost tragic way. It’s not about Ankh’s Cunning Schemes and Eiji’s Heroic Resolve, it’s about two people who need the other to get what they want. That’s it.

And yet, again: complicated. It might’ve been that at one point, but everything they’ve gone through over the last eight months has turned that transactional agreement into first a grudging acceptance -slash- cohabitation, and now something more like support. While Ankh could not care less about Kitamura – he immediately and epically blows up Kitamura’s lies in front of Eiji and Hina, right after he told Kitamura he wouldn’t; classic – he knows that Eiji does care about him, so he steers the rampaging PuToTyra away from the helpless fanboy and towards himself. (He was clearly paying attention to Gotou’s strategy at the beginning of 33, and he would very much like you not to say that out loud.) Everything Ankh does at the end is under the veneer of What’s Best For Ankh, but there’s the tacit acknowledgement that Eiji is what’s best for Ankh.

Whole episode is great for how it never really tempers either Ankh (historically shitty to Kitamura, endlessly pleased with himself) or Eiji (genuinely sweet to Kitamura throughout, despite Kitamura kidnapping several of his friends) while still making their connection even more vibrant and heartwarming. This one was maybe Peak OOO? (Or maybe it just was on OOO Peak?)

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This is one i don’t remember that well. I think it’s the one time the Medagabyru’s TaToBa attack is used (and I do remember the only other combo based attack from the toy that appeared in the show was SaGohZo). I’ve got a bit more to say about the next two-parter though.

And this'd not be exclusive to OOO, I wish that this part of partnership is more widely recognized by the fanbase, particularly for more lighthearted shows, that a party isn't always working together because they care deeply about each other, and that any claims they have otherwise is just described as being tsundere or quirky, particularly if the allies never really cause bad outcomes or has put themselves in risky situations, like how Ankh in this episode hurt his arm to stop PuToTyra's rampage. It's not always all black and white between the hero and villain group, and this isn't only limited to darker shows. Kobayashi's previous series Den-O also was this before in the Imagins being needed for Ryotaro to help others, with Ryotaro also forcing them to comply to him, though obviously Ryotaro would be a positive influence for them, and this'd also apply in OOO for Ankh as well.

OOO was also used by the evil tyrannical Ancient King who wanted to obtain godhood. Desire incarnate in opposite to the desireless Eiji. And previously Date using Birth also came from the even worse Maki (iirc the one who designed the OOO belt as well), who was still evil even during his time with the Foundation like using the scientists as guinea pigs and still talking about ending everything. Though dunno that if you describe Ankh as the evil here, he'd still be described as the heroes in this talks. Being cunning (or even manipulative) is just about being smart, and Eiji does have that too like threatening to drop the OOO belt or getting himself hurt so Ankh would comply. It often happens that do-gooders will blame themselves for things outside of their control, like Eiji blaming himself for making Kitamura act this way, or failing to achieve his dreams he talked to Kitamura before.

Feels that this episode takes off some blame from Kitamura (not about Eiji's cover story), that Kazari manipulated him to convince him that Ankh is dangerous for Eiji, which is rather half-truth, and that he seemingly has genuine remorse in not realizing that the Yummy would kidnap people, despite that he kidnapped Hina without Yummy stuff, unlike how the Yummy is the one that kidnapped Date and Goto. Some people claim if one is manipulated by a bigger villain, then they're blameless and are completely controlled by the manipulator, but I think the ones that got manipulated still has agency and making their own decisions (except perhaps Lost Ankh, which you'd think so), where Kitamura still jumps into the conclusions to kidnap Ankh without knowing anything about him as well as attacking Hina who is unrelated to the information provided by Kazari.

I've watched 34 episodes of OOO this year, and I honestly have no idea what this means. So, yeah, maybe this was that episode!

I feel like this is pretty well acknowledged? At least around here? This is basically the text of every single Yuya Takahashi Rider show, most explicitly Ex-Aid.

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 35 - “DREAMS, A BROTHER, AND BIRTH’S SECRET”

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AND BIRTH’S SECRET:
Let’s go back to this format, because this episode has three things in it that don’t super overlap yet, at least in a thematic sense. The most sort of random of the three is Date’s terminal case of Brain Bulletry, which has chosen this episode to make itself an immediate and deadly obstacle. (It sort of ties in with what’s going on with Ankh/Shingo, as a way of talking about how precarious everyone’s ability to contribute is becoming, but that feels like a bit of a stretch.) I like, as always, that Kougami completely doesn’t care about everyone’s ulterior motives and secret histories; on the contrary, he thinks they’re SPLENDID! or whatever. While Date fears losing access to Birth as the result of his, uh, lead poisoning, Kougami’s typically Do As Thou Wilt, As Long As It’s Weird. Kougami is as keen as I am on this show putting people in dramatic danger!

There’s not much for it yet – Date cops to it, and loses a couple fights to his encroaching brain death. We’re not really in a story that can make it a priority (see the next two sections), so it feels a little underserved here. It’s very much a Date/Gotou story that’s happening parallel to the rest of the episode, without ever quite feeling looped into it. (I don’t think Team OOO shares any non-battle dialogue with Team Birth this time out?) It’s an interesting plot, but it feels fairly dropped into this episode.

A BROTHER:
The bigger issue, in regards to health issues derailing the battle against the Greeed, is that Shingo is… getting better?

As ticking clocks go in this narrative, it’s easy to forget that Shingo’s basically inevitable recuperation will mean that Ankh gets evicted from his comatose (?) body, which will render him incredibly vulnerable to any number of former friends -slash- body parts that might wish him ill. Like, this is objectively a good thing for characters like Hina and, y’know, Shingo, while still being pretty bad for Ankh and Team OOO’s effectiveness in combatting the Greeed. It’s a great twist because it’s not a clear win. Hina definitely wants her brother back! But that means Ankh is pretty screwed, and Eiji probably along with him.

It’s a testament to how complex the relationships are in this episode, that A Guy Survives A Car Accident And Possession is a plot point that sets up a tense cliffhanger. There’s so much going on between Uva, Kazari, Maki, Ankh Lost, Hina, Eiji, and Ankh that we’re kind of rooting for and against everybody. I felt most connected to Kazari this time out, since he was more intrigued about everyone’s weird plans than he was about protecting himself, so he “lost” a bunch of Mezool and Gamel’s Medals to Uva, just to see if Uva could actually resurrect them. (I genuinely loved how broad and theatrical Kazari was with his whole WHOOPS I Guess I’ll Go thing at the park, as he shows up just long enough to take one hit and cough up four Core Medals. I almost wish he’d just flung the Medals at Uva’s head, Faiz Accel style.) This is an episode with a million moving parts that leverages all of the various character work done in the first 34 episodes, and it works like a dream.

DREAMS:
Speaking of!

One of the more interesting things from this episode is how it talked about the difference between Desire and Dreams. A desire could be something like Food, or Fighting, or Friendship – not just F words, but also not not just F words. Desire is maybe something that can’t ever really be quenched, and just has to be managed through your life. There’s no endpoint for desire, beyond irrevocable trauma during a civil war, and even that isn’t a sure thing. But a dream? A dream’s just a goal, and you can achieve a goal. Winning a race, having a hit record… this stuff is what you work toward, and maybe one day you get it. It’s something you can reach out and grab.

I honestly don’t remember if we’ve heard of Hina’s fashion industry dreams before? I imagine we have, but it didn’t matter more than just tiny character details whenever it might’ve popped up. (I don’t recall any plots hingeing on Hina’s knowledge or love of fashion?) Having her dream of a career in fashion come up against her reluctance to leave Shingo, and then have that dream maybe destroyed in a way that resurrects Shingo, knowing that said resurrection is probably Game Over for Ankh and a huge setback for Eiji… good way to talk about the power of dreams, and how the pursuit of them can lead you into weird places!

Really, though, it’s nice just to have a little conversation between Eiji and Hina about pursuing dreams. It’s just a cute scene. I like how the two of them, outside the constant danger of the Greeed, can talk about how their lives are standing still, and how that’s maybe something that needs to stop soon. Hina’s reluctant to pursue a dream that could take her away from Shingo, while Eiji’s reluctant to decide on a dream that might crush him again. (Look at how fast he changes the topic when Hina brings it up!)

Super stuffed episode of OOO, and not all of it felt like it was part of the same story, but I have zero complaints. Excellent episode!

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Now this one, I do remember better. Admittedly, it’s because Hina’s fashion design goals become more prominent in OOO’s post show appearances (most subtly in Zi-O, where KurotOh commissions her to create a set of zombie themed robots, doesn’t let her react as he glitches out and then throws her in the dungeon), probably because both this episode and said later appearances were written by Mouri.

There’s also a notable guest in this episode.

Special Guest Alert

The fashion judge who offers Hina a job in Paris is played by Shigeki Kagemaru. The reason he’s listed as a special guest rather than being identified by one franchise is because… he’s been around. Within Kamen Rider, he was the Squid Orphnoch in Faiz, in the Ultra Series, he had a lot of appearances in 2nd Generation shows, most notably as Shinjoh in Ultraman Tiga. And most notably, over in Metal Heroes, he was Hayato Kano/DraftRedder/SyncRedder, the lead of Tokusou Exceedraft (the one where the big bad is Satan).

I also love the abandoned theme park! It might be a budget thing but I wish Kamen Rider made use of more varied locations. Also the vibes of the crew enjoying a day out (if only for a few minutes) was spectacular.

Additionally, I will add on to what everyone else is saying and say that they clearly did not intend to drag out the Date/Gotou arc (there only being that one Date focus episode with the sisters is proof of this in my mind), but I'm really not complaining. Date is fantastic! Easily my favorite secondary rider. I just wish they didn't drop the competition aspect of Date/Eiji so soon. I thought it was really interesting for a show about currency/desire for two characters fighting the same monsters for different reasons (and disagreeing on who gets the spoils). Date being somewhat selfish but realistic is really refreshing. That was a thing for maybe 3-4 episodes? But by now he's just part of the crew, and I think that happened too fast or without a proper transition. That's just me though, what do you think?

I appreciate that the show tells us what Hina's going to college for, you know? Too many other shows might just leave it at She's A Student, locked in time and destined to never be clarified, but OOO does the extra work of giving her a goal beyond ONII-CHAN, and saying ONII-CHAN.

Yeah, their dynamic in the early portion is almost a comedically flipped version of Eiji/Ankh -- a flamboyantly selfish Kamen Rider and his down-to-earth selfless assistant/rival. Having the two of them running an inverted version of the show's narrative engine would be a fun concept... but that's not where things ended up. Instead, we've got a more straightforward secondary hero, and his, like, butler? Gotou definitely moved from Potential Rival And/Or Replacement to just backing up Date without anyone really commenting on it or making it a major story beat. I guess Gotou fell into the gravity of Date's charisma? I can't blame him!

(Also, to be fair, Gotou Just Lands Someplace is probably his most defining trait to this point in the series, so maybe the show didn't feel the need to comment on it.)

EDIT: Oh, ha ha, you said Eiji/Date, not Gotou/Date. Whoops! Yeah, there's still a little bit of a rivalry/friction between Date and Eiji -- most notably over Eiji's reckless disregard for his own safety, versus a doctor who is dying of a brain bullet -- but the show really doesn't care about Ankh getting Cell Medals anymore. Bigger fish to fry!

I feel this is what I'm talking about where about Takahashi being infamous for his undeserved redemptions, people can also bring up Kuroto as one of the examples, though yes for him there are those who point out that he's still evil, just working with the heroes for mutual benefit, but still my point is many think/claim a villain joining forces with the heroes for mutual benefit is redeeming them (to me it seems like treating anyone on the good side as similarly heroic, so it means validating the villain's crimes in their eyes), and not only about Takahashi's show, but also something like Evolt working with the Build team against Killbus in V-Cinema.

Kougami doesn't care about ulterior motives or secret histories yeah, which'd be something appealing about him as a character, though it makes him suspicious, due to him also being tolerant of villainous desires like the Greeed's and Maki's and unlike Sougo, would support them achieving it unless his own desire is threatened, so he's also an enabler. Though ulterior motive shouldn't fit Date here, one can want to survive without his good acts to others being just something fake to cover/work towards his personal goal. Dunno about placing it here as you said, but this is the tease of Date's actual goal, and still explains why Date is struggling in his fight against the MOTW this episode.

This reminds me of Kobayashi's previous show Ryuki again, where in the 30-ish episode mark, the loved one of a main cast in coma temporarily wakes up, Ren's fiancee Eri, and here it's Hina's brother Shingo. The cast also worked on to get Eri to safety that time when Eri also puts herself in an incredibly vulnerable position by walking out of hospital, and it obviously put Ren in a conflicted position too. This also explains how Ankh "congratulated" her or defended her against the Yummy, which is caused by Shingo already awakening that time and taking control of his body to be a big brother for Hina. And those who think it's Ankh consciously growing to care about Hina may think his behavior of dismissing Hina's dream don't matter due to this part.

At least ep. 5-6 (the 2-parter with the rich girl Yamano) shows Hina attending a fashion university. Otherwise, from what I remember, I often see stories blame those who'd leave their loved ones to chase after their dreams, that they're seen as taking their friends or family for granted, though obviously here, Eiji and Chiyoko supports Hina's dream, albeit I knew Hina wouldn't chase after her dream as otherwise she wouldn't be a part of the main cast anymore (what some'd probably think as the righteous choice to not abandon her brother), but Eiji'd be just seen as someone who's exceptionally all-loving, tolerant, and forgiving, like Shinji sympathizing with the Riders' selfish wishes which'd make them want to murder each other, so it seems takes from someone so optimistic and positive are seen as less valid due to being so biased towards seeing the best in everyone.

I rather wish that someone wanting something personal for themselves isn't always portrayed in a negative light, so I'm not looking forward towards this rivalry (though, Date should have more rivalry with Ankh specifically, not Eiji, as Ankh is the one wanting Medals) like, Date shouldn't be someone awful because he wants money, of which usually stories portray one wanting that in a negative light (and I'm also counting those who need that for desperate/necessity situation but is willing to do anything underhanded for them, or even if Date was initially awful but got inspired by Eiji later, and secondary Riders are also often jerks), or even the fanbase due to that stereotype despite the character not being so. Date can want something for his own while also being straightforwardly heroic person similar as Eiji without the need to grow better or dropping his desire due to Eiji's inspiration. I'm tired of the notion that being heroic means you must make yourself suffer, like sacrifice or making your life miserable such as giving up own dream, I mean a heroic person may do that as one way to help others, but the primary thing about heroism is helping anyone, and making one suffer isn't always the only way to achieve that (and I agree with Date calling out Eiji's reckless ways, with him pointing out that you can't save anyone if you're dead which means considering others, I guess this is the reason why Date initially refused to work with Eiji as someone who "makes himself cry", likely about his lack of regard of his own life)

I agree, and that's partially why I like Date so much, in relation to Eiji! Date's really looking out for himself, but it's not shown as a bad thing in the show. On the other hand, Eiji is the standard hero trope of always being selfless, but to a fault, and he gets himself in constant danger. Some shows would have Date be a jerk and Eiji be the hero all the time, but the show really stresses that Date's a nice guy who rightfully puts himself first when needed, and Eiji needs to learn from that.

Kougami's a guy who thinks the problem with the world is that people don't care enough, so he's always going to support someone's passion. He's a vibrant weirdo, rather than being a menacing weirdo. It's the thing that makes so delightfully not suspicious, despite the rampant mad science and tomb raiding and general corporate malfeasance.

So not necessarily tied to any specific episode, I do enjoy that we're in the phase where PuToTyra is actively dangerous to use due to Eiji's inability to control it. I always love it when a Rider's final form comes with some kind of drawback that makes just spamming it a bad idea. It doesn't necessarily have to be a berserk form like this, but I like the decision to use the final form involving the Rider have to weigh the benefits vs. some serious drawbacks: a time limit, lasting physical harm, excess energy that will explode if not burned off, etc.

That is nice!... although 35 kind of messes it up by having Eiji be like HEY FREE UNDERGROUND DINOSAUR GUN-AXE in the middle of a non-PuToTyra fight, already sanding the edges off of the form's dangerous consequences. But still! Very cool when the show treats it with the appropriate foreboding!

(And, to the larger point, I like how Using A Bunch Of Combos is generally treated as a super bad thing all through the run of the show. It's what probably drove the previous OOO mad, and it's maybe killing Eiji?)

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 36 - “A BROKEN DREAM, A BODY, AND THE RETURN OF THE GREEED”

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Tough one! Felt kind of underwhelming?

It’s not bad, to be clear. There’s a nice tension throughout, and a bunch of fun escalations of the series-long plot, both small and large. (My favorite little touch was that the Purple Medals inside Eiji allow him to sense the presence of an active Yummy, just like Ankh can. He’s steadily becoming a Greeed, and this is a neat way to signify it.) It’s an episode that reintroduces Mezool and Gamel into the mix, while setting Uva back at the same time. More than anything, it’s an episode that allows Eiji to control PuToTyra from start to finish, allowing him to combat three Greeed at once. Big episode! Lots of important stuff happening!

It just meant that, for me at least, the whole Unicorn Yummy plot never really went anywhere. There’s a little bit of Eiji talking about how a dream needs to be nurtured and cared for in a longer timeline than a desire, but this was kind of never supposed to be an Eiji plot? It was a Hina plot, and tangentially a Shingo plot, but then none of that really matters at the end. Hina decides to forego her dream in order to guard over Shingo, just like she did before she was hit by the Unicorn Yummy. Shingo’s still more or less comatose the whole time, so Ankh just takes his body back. (It even seems like Hina got her dream back? Maybe? It’s unclear!) The consequences of everything feel ephemeral, and the status quo seems to be right back to where we were at the end of 34, as far as the trio of Eiji, Ankh, and Hina are concerned.

The episode suffers from a lack of focus, if I had to diagnose a single cause to how much of a shrug several of these plotlines ended up as. There’s a bunch of momentum heading into this episode from the end of 35, but then the Greeed stuff dominates this episode in a way that renders everything else rushed and thin. (I sort of can’t believe we had a story where Shingo wakes up and they didn’t think to write one dialogue scene between him and Hina?) While saving Hina from dreamless slumber is a motivation for Eiji, it kind of immediately stops being a story that Hina can actively participate in, and that’s such a bummer. There’s nothing wrong with doing a story that continues to drill into Eiji’s lack of obvious motivation, but it sucks to pivot from a (rare!) Hina story in order to accommodate it. Add to that another Date/Gotou subplot that neither requires any of the other cast members nor causes any complications for them, and you’ve got a two-parter that feels like it accomplishes a bunch of Important Things without generating a compelling enough story to do it.

But, to reiterate: It’s not bad! The action continues to be super solid – we get an OOO/Birth fight versus 3 Greeed and a Yummy for the climax – and the reconstituted Greeed family is a great cliffhanger to go out on. I just… it doesn’t feel like the Dream story really gets a chance to go anywhere? And the Date stuff just gets stated, nothing else? And Ankh’s eviction from Shingo is rescinded by Ankh saying I Do What I Want? I don’t know. I kind of wanted more about Hina than the show wanted to give me, I guess. Hard to believe that she was more integral to the Shocker goof-off two-parter than this one!

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You basically summed up everything I remember about this one. I’m not even sure why Eiji can control his Purple Medals now? Adaptation? Apathy? Plot demands it?

It takes Purple Medals for Eiji to sense Yummies, where in Ryuki, it takes only the default Advent Decks so that the Riders can sense the Mirror Monsters. And so, Mezool and Gamel indeed died back then, but got resurrected now. Eiji controlling the powers shouldn't change about how final forms are supposed to destroy, those weaker Greeeds when he can pummel current Kazari, the change is that, Eiji being a danger to his allies are solved now.

There have been previous Yummies where their damages are undone when they're destroyed, such as Tsukuba's Yummy, but yeah, it's unclear here if Hina and the others get their dreams back, which, it should be if Shouko hopes to see Hina again in school, of which if Hina throws away her dream, she'd be no longer going to school. Hina does seemingly decline her offer to go to France, but still continue pursuing her dream, but Shouko's story is what I feel is more inconclusive about her daddy issues, with her seemingly not dropping out as well despite being forced to by her dad, and that it's her main conflict that puts her at odds with Hina to claim to see Hina again in school. So it seems the Yummy is like those previous ones. Like Ryuki though, obviously Eri and Shingo waking up won't last long, and the status quo would be kept so the viewers won't feel different in watching OOO.

They seem to make the Yummy problem here a more mortal one, in how at least 2 of his victims, Hina and the artist, have their bodies deteriorated as they live without desire and dream and thus need the Yummy to be taken down to save lives as well. This seems to be done so that it feels more necessary to take down the Yummy, prioritizing toku flick (like the Greeed reunion in this episode), but I do feel that the story would be likely more impactful if the Yummy's victims stay conscious and active (so Hina can participate), and to show the problems of living empty without them going unconscious. I want to see more of Hina's talk about claiming to dream about becoming a designer being 'selfish' compared to what's going on (likely about taking care of Shingo) and about when she regains her dream, which some people may claim those who want that are bad for not volunteering for 'noble' jobs like doctor or such, or yes, "not thinking about others' that have it worse" (likely what Eiji is about to focus on taking care of other people).

Yeah, but this'd be why there is little to no rivalry between Eiji and Date. Jerks tend to create conflicts more due to their incapability to treat others well, and rivalry, though not always, sounds like a conflict that creates heated up situations. And if it's against a nice guy, conflicts are often about them dealing with awful people who has no qualms making things worse (even about denied happiness in someone), putting them at odds with said nice guy who wants to protect happiness. If Date is nice while wanting money, then by that character he'd be also doing Eiji a favor in also taking care of others, yeah.

I think it's more because This Is Bad. Eiji controlling the Purple Medals means he's becoming a Greeed, and absolutely nothing good can come from that. It's basically what Maki's doing to himself! That should be a huge warning bell!

Ha ha, the thing that made me notice that Eiji could sense the Yummy was that he's doing the exact same Head Move To Sound Effect thing that Shinji would always do in Ryuki. Hidden tribute via Kobayashi!

KAMEN RIDER OOO HYPER BATTLE VIDEO - “QUIZ, DANCE, AND TAKAGAROOBA”

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It’s so weird to talk about this era of HBVs, where the idea of Interactive DVDs became the structure within which all storytelling needed to work. There’s a cute story here – Hina helping Ankh and Eiji become a more formidable team so they can defeat two rampaging Yummies – but it’s really more about how that story can properly leverage the expected tools of the pack-ins.

INTERACTIVE QUIZ:
I don’t at all understand how Eiji not being able to catch Medals thrown by Ankh would be improved by knowing how fast a cheetah can run, or what an octopus looks like? The quiz here is kind of haphazardly instituted. The questions are fine, nothing ever feels unfair in its execution, but it feels like we’re just getting a quiz for the sake of it. Like, maybe we could’ve had a moment in the first fight where the heroes mistake one Medal for another and get beat up because of it?

DANCE/WORKOUT:
I think an HBV sneaking in some light calisthenics under the guise of team-building dance moves is perfect. Den-O did it, as I recall, and I’ve got fond memories of the eventual Wizard version. Plus, it actually makes sense in the context of the problem the heroes are facing!

EXCLUSIVE MERCH:
Hey kids, which do you think will be more useful in helping OOO defeat his enemies: some random Medal you may or may not own, or the COOL NEW KANGAROO MEDAL that came packed with this issue of TV-Kun? Truly, the least difficult choice to make in this interactive battle section. I like that there’re two potential correct solutions in this answer matrix, but it’s incredibly funny and lazy that the correct solutions are just The New Medal, period, the end. Very important to teach children that The New Toy is always and forever the best option to use in a battle against evil, something that’ll serve them well as Kamen Rider fans going forward.

Under the very specific restrictions of these types of HBVs, I thought this one was okay enough. I wish the quiz was better motivated, but the rest of it slotted in nicely with a story of teamwork and coordination. All that, and Ankh got robbed at the end of the only reason he was participating in this ridiculousness – the best ending possible!

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I recall that Kamen Rider Kiva also did something like this as well.

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They did!

True, it's a great lesson, but we can't forget the crucial caveat that The Old Toy may occasionally be preferable to The New Toy in exceptional circumstances, such as those in which The Old Toy serves as a symbolic representation of a bond between two or more characters... although I'm sure that's nothing that will end up being relevant to OOO at any point!

Once The New Toy is no longer New, all bets are off! Then shows are allowed to make crucial, thematic points! But only once The New Toy has been fully demonstrated and spotlighted!!!

(Even Inoue was like FINE, I will use a power-up to defeat a villain on its debut.)

If your New Toy [TM] fails, it may be wise to check the local toy shops and online catalogue to see if there is another Newer Toy available, either for you or a potential ally.

Failing that, check to see if there's a New or Returning Ally who can rapidly and theatrically dispatch your foes with an amount of firepower that they will never, ever access again.

Inoue?s naked contempt for having to write in new toys is one of my favorite recurring motifs in his writing.

It really is delightful. Where another writer might craft a transcendent and emotional story through the metaphor of a new power-up or accessory, Inoue crafts transcendent and emotional stories through the metaphor of barely tolerating new power-ups or accessories.

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 37 - “SLEEP, A HUNDRED MILLION, AND BIRTH’S TRANSFER”

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While this episode will surely be remembered for Gotou and Eiji’s investigation into Date’s lead poisoning and speculation on his need for exactly one hundred million yen (perhaps he’s looking to get 31,250 Birth Figuarts, excluding tax?), what I liked best about this episode was how delightfully retro its monster storytelling and structure were.

This is the first story since the Greeed reconfigured into their newest status quo, and – variations in cast not withstanding – it all just feels like we’re back in Episode 5, but in a good way. Mezool and Gamel have built a new hybrid Yummy, it makes people unable to sleep so that they’ll desire sleep, and then it puts everyone to sleep in order to cash out the Cell Medals it’s created. It’s a real back-to-basics OOO Fights A Yummy thing, and I loved it.

The Yummy itself nicely has a personality, marrying Gamel’s dimwitted laziness to Mezool’s subterfuge and sneakiness to create a scheming monster that very much does not want to fight a superhero, and sort of resents OOO for showing up. It makes for a fun old-school monster to set up against Eiji and Ankh, even bringing back classic OOO tropes like not having the right Medals to counteract the monster’s strengths. (Eiji definitely needs to pay closer attention to the pre-show Medal roster! It’s there for a reason!) Everything about the Yummy plot here is like tokusatsu comfort food – clever action, fun jokes, and a low level of threat to keep everything from feeling too tense.

Because, y’know, we’re also in an episode where Date’s lead poisoning and desperate need for cash is stressing out Gotou and eventually -slash- unconvincingly causing Date to flip to Maki’s side of the battle. It’s a tough part of the episode to discuss, for a couple main reasons. The first is that we’re only getting Gotou and Eiji’s conjecture on Date’s need for cash, and it’s fairly colored by their own life experiences. Eiji immediately connects Date’s desire to his own, but it’s maybe flattering Date too much to be accurate. The other main thing is… I mean, do we really think Date straight up joined the Greeed? For even a second? It makes for a dynamic visual at the end of the episode, Date’s smug grin as he stands next to the villains, but it’s hard to accept. Much like Eiji’s view of Date is a little too generous, this version of Date depends on thinking the worst of him. You might’ve been able to sell this turn 10 episodes ago, but I think we’ve gotten a good enough read on Date to think that some deeper play is happening. We’ll find out next time!

Yeah, I liked this one a bunch. The Date stuff might not’ve been as convincing as the cliffhanger assumes, but it’s still a fun exploration of how characters like Eiji and Gotou perceive him. More than that, though, this was just a super-solid old-school Yummy outing, with a cool monster that requires different levels of strategy to overcome. Classic OOO storytelling!

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Is it me, or do Gamel adjacent Yummies have a shorter lifespan than the others?

Also, we have the last appearance of a prominent guest star before his untimely death.

Rider-lert!

While he did do other Toku, Akira Kubodira as the doctor (note, not a Time Lord) was previously the final Undead to be sealed in Blade and Abel, the cowboy Fangire trying to get into the Checkmate Four in Kiva.

Sometimes they last a couple episodes? But not this time!

With you wanting for the MOTW stuff to be back here, wonder if there are fans that feel the same way regarding KR, especially those who still put W, OOO, and Fourze on pedestal. For this kind of Yummy, even the final form weapon Medagabryu (which should prevent OOO's body from making contact with the spikes due to having a weapon, despite a melee) is less effective than the ranged weapons like Kujaku medals or untransformed Goto with Birth Buster. With OOO having a hard time using melee attacks on the Yummy's spiked parts, I thought it's obvious that OOO has other forms and he can use ranged attacks so he won't get hurt, but perhaps he uses Medagabryu to prevent it escaping and catch the Yummy off-guard with it destroying it with the help of Unagi Medal?

The cliffhanger does seem to be menacing about Date pulling a heel turn, but you'd think it's unconvincing, despite how at first you seemed to view Date in a negative light as a flamboyantly selfish contrasting Eiji, which seems to finally happen here in him doing dirty work for money. This is a no-spoiler discussion, but before condemning Date as a two-faced person by this, would rather see how much'd he do in the villain's side to get what he wanted, like it depends on what he does rather than if he's joining the bad faction; if he'd attack and murder many, then yeah it's a heel turn, but if it's a facade, then it's another story, of which the latter is likely with Date usually being straightforwardly heroic like Eiji. Date is really closed-off about what he wants with the money, despite his symptoms now being obvious leading for Goto to become strict with him to focus on his life, and he ironically becomes reckless like Eiji regarding fighting as Birth and skipping check-ups. I wonder how'd Tamura fare when performing a surgery on Date's bullet injury of which many other surgeons are afraid to do so.

I mean, I don't want to make it sound like Finally OOO Is Good Again or whatever -- I've liked the show throughout! But there's something a little nice about a show, late in its run, spinning up the early-days format for a cute and simple B-plot. (Technically it's the A-plot here, but I think we can all agree that the Date/Greeed stuff is where the show is really putting its efforts this episode.) But the breakneck plotting of the overall Greeed story for the season is still incredibly good, and pretty much that type of storytelling at its absolute best.

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 38 - “CIRCUMSTANCES, A PARTING, AND A TEARFUL BIRTH”

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Or, the one where Gotou becomes a real Birth.

Structurally, I thought this was an exceptional episode. There’s a nice runner about the value in leaving something behind – Eiji and Gotou talk about it in regards to Date’s theoretical medical school (theomedical school), Date and Maki talk about it in regards to Maki’s apocalyptic intentions – that resolves itself both in Gotou’s heroic pledge to continue Date’s work as Birth as a way of honoring his perceived death, and then as Gotou actually doing that for when Date returns because this show wasn’t going to really kill off Date. (Another show, with another actor? Probably.) Every major scene creates a thematic framework for Gotou carrying on for Date, while giving Date pride in a job well done. It all works flawlessly as a storytelling premise.

Your mileage may vary on the value as entertainment, though.

For me… not a Gotou Guy? (That’s what his fans call themselves, right?) What’s here is a nice culmination of Gotou’s incredibly long and winding road to be a Kamen Rider, honoring every iteration of the skinniest pretty boy this franchise has yet held up as a heroic ideal. But it also feels sort of schematic, an outcome that might as well happen, with only 10 episodes left to go. We ain’t getting a legit third Rider, so why not let Gotou step up and carry the mantle of Birth while the clock slowly ticks down. His urgency to save Date, performance-wise, exists in the same narrow band of emotion as every other thing the actor did, so it never quite feels like Now It’s Personal. Gotou steps up because it’s about time he did step up, and the story he’s in is The One Where Gotou Steps Up. As Kougami might’ve put it, I felt it in my brain, but never in my heart.

On the other hand, big fan of all of the Date stuff in this one! The reveal that he’s only ever wanted the money to get life-saving surgery is a motivation that will definitely land for any American adult, where we would gladly fight ancient desire monsters to eliminate medical debt. But even with that less heroic motivation, he still was never really going to sell out Gotou or Eiji to save his own life. It was a scheme, as laid out in a scene that featured – if I remember correctly – seventeen different reversals of fortune. (I was sort of waiting for Maki’s doll to turn the tables next.) Date’s combination of exhaustion and resolve is like the anti-Gotou performance, where I believed everything he said, even when I knew from memory that it was bullshit. Or, thankfully, not bullshit – Date’s “confession” is just him saying he’d like to not die, he’ll do anything to get the money to do it, even fight OOO and Gotou… which is all completely true. It’s just, he’s doing it on orders from Kougami in order to trick Maki, a plan which doesn’t really make a ton of sense at any stage of the process. (Like, what was the best outcome of this plan? That Birth was gonna shoot Maki in the face? If this had just been a plan to get into Maki’s stronghold and run off with the Core Medals, I’d get it, but this is some Yonemura-level Eventually We’ll Stop Pretending subterfuge.) But it’s Date still not lying, even as he’s tricking his friends, and I sort of love that.

I loved all of the Date story in this episode devoted to elevating Gotou into Date’s role, which is as succinctly as I can describe my ambivalence towards this genuinely stellar episode. The writing is great, most of the scenes beautifully leverage 30-odd episodes of character growth (Date/Maki for sure, Kougami/Gotou in second place), but I don’t really care about Gotou as Birth. I just don’t! Like Gotou, I await Date’s inevitable return!

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So fun fact, Date was actually supposed to die here, with his return in a few episodes achieved via using Cell Medals to perfect the art of human cloning (aka Nobunaga in Movie Wars Core). But then the 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami happened, and there was more of a push to make children’s shows less dark. Whereas Fourze and Wizard translated this to uplifting premises, OOO turned it into not killing off a beloved character and instead having him leave and come back.

Also yeah, aside from getting the insert song to play for him, Gotoh has pretty much negative zero presence as Birth. Which is probably why once the actors were no longer contractually obligated to make appearances (roughly as late as Super Hero Taisen), Date became the main Birth in future appearances. Even the novel for OOO makes him one of the three viewpoint characters getting their own stories (though compared to Ankh’s sad story of why he became so bitter, and Eiji’s dealing with his past trauma in Africa, Date’s is just a fanfiction where the Candroids and Birth Driver work together to fight Dr. Maki’s latest Yummy, dubbed “Kamen Rider Death”.

He just weirdly makes way more sense as Date's assistant? Not narratively -- his entire arc has been building up to him becoming a Kamen Rider, it's gotta happen -- but just... the vibes. Date going away for surgery just reinforces that we're getting Substitute Birth, which for sure doesn't help Gotou's bid for primacy, but I just didn't think this episode made the idea of Gotou as Birth very appealing dramatically. (Except he can fly now! Badly, but still!)

Date and Maki's companionship seems rather genuine, with Maki trusting Date enough to pay him 50 million so he gets to join him and feeling Date's the closest to him besides Hitomi, with Date still doubting about Maki's omnicidal desire, thus Date already gets halfway there even if he's not truly on Maki's side. Still, wonder if Eiji or Goto knows about Date's true intentions earlier, and Eiji recommends Tamura for his surgery. While it's understandable for Eiji and Goto to believe in the best for Date, Ankh's skepticism for Date, that he's just a greedy two-faced man who can only wait when he'd betray, sounds sensible, but that'd be a usual cliche for someone wanting money or something personal, that desire is just something bad in anyone, a matter of time when it'd manifest, unlike Eiji who has no possibility to do bad things for having no desire. Though Date's heel turn was a facade, thanks to Kougami, where he still points out at the end to Eiji that he can't make the dream Eiji predicted to come true if he doesn't survive, he did cause some real damage still to punch Goto as Birth, and endanger OOO in an outnumbered fight, but it's limited to only somewhat seriously fighting his allies rather than standard villainy like helping the Yummy spawns, but rather wish if Date's shown to secretly do something that ensures Eiji and Goto's survival behind the villain group's back.

It's that Yonemura thing, of the undercover hero's plan basically only working if the other heroes don't get completely murdered by the villains while the scheme is unfolding. Eiji, Ankh, and Gotou are fighting three Greeed, plus maybe Maki and Ankh Lost, plus Birth -- what if Kazari gets the drop on Ankh? What if Gamel skewers an unarmored Gotou? This is an incredibly sloppy plan with no clear advantage!

Wow, that's...quite dark, even for Kamen Rider! I wonder how the characters would react to a cloned Date - that's really strange to think about. Would kids in Japan be happy to see the return of Date, except not really and it's some weird mockup of him? Was his death and subsequent cloning just a way to get some cheap drama and then push additional merchandise? (That seems like the most likely outcome).

I am also very much not a fan of Gotou, he really bores me, so I was dreading this episode, but I think it came out pretty alright. The middle stretch of OOO felt really long, so maybe I was waiting for a change! It's a shame that Gotou only really gets like 10 episodes as Birth, too, not much opportunity to prove himself. However, not to spoil the next episode too much, but I think there are some shake ups to the Birth formula that I ended up really appreciating, even though Date is gone!

Ha ha, don't worry, I have a feeling the show will still find some way to get new merch out of Date's survival...

Yeah, it... I think you sort of have to have Gotou become Birth now, like it or not. (And I assume some people do like it!) His story for almost a full year has been about him wanting to become a Kamen Rider, and even the assistant role he's fallen into with Date was meant to be an apprenticeship. I don't think you could reasonably do the rest of the season with Gotou just backing up Birth and doing the Supporting Player thing of getting civilians to safety while Date Henshins. This was a solid version of a plot the show had maybe sort of written themselves into a corner with.

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 39 - “A NIGHTMARE, A SECURITY CAMERA, AND ANKH’S COUNTERATTACK”

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Y’know, if Gotou being Birth is even partially responsible for the best episode yet of this show, I am okay if Date never returns. Like, this thing was perfect, and I barely know where to start, so we’re just going to do this one bullet point-style:

• GOTOU AND SATONAKA: There’s something about the chemistry between these two that always delivers for me. (If I have one complaint about this series as a whole, it’s that the show never used Satonaka enough.) Gotou’s serious heroism set next to Satonaka’s whole I’m Just Doing My Job lackadaisical indifference -slash- constant understated competence is funny on its own, but this show always ups it by reminding the audience that Satonaka is actually Gotou’s boss. Him having to politely suffer through her lack of urgency is maybe my favorite attribute of Gotou’s, and this episode thankfully leverages that to immediately undercut Gotou’s big boy costume change and tactical backpack to make him STILL the sidekick to a more charismatic actor. Even if the rest of this episode had been scenes of the production team destroying my Figuarts collection, I’d’ve still cheered this episode on. Satonaka and her sidekick, Birth! SPLENDID!!!
  
  
• SPECIAL GUEST-STAR ARCHIMEDEL FROM GEATS: Sorry to steal Androzani’s thunder, but you think I’m not going to talk about the guy who played a memorable character on my all-time favorite Kamen Rider series?! He’s hilarious here, a self-important busybody who’s actually the flunky of his domineering wife. He’s broad as hell, but that’s all to clue you in to the register this one’s operating at: full buffoonery. I mean, there’s a segment where Hina throws a ladder to incapacitate a Bird Yummy, followed by a segment where Hina holds a rag in front of Chiyoko so she doesn’t see that Ankh is fighting alongside OOO. It’s ridiculous, Archimedal (wink) is ridiculous, it’s all so much fun.
  
  
• WHOLE EPISODE ABOUT ANKH’S ETERNAL FEAR OF BEING ABANDONED: It’s the tragic part of Ankh, his fear of abandonment. A lot of his abrasive personality traits are symptoms of his betrayal by the original OOO, and his certainty that he’s only at risk if he lets people get close to him. But it’s been 10 months since he possessed Shingo and teamed with Eiji – he’s let people get close to him. He has relationships, and that means he has something to lose. His nightmare isn’t that Lost Ankh will kill him, it’s that Lost Ankh will replace him with Eiji; his fear is that no one wants him around. The irony that he’s most at risk because he’s a sneering asshole that hijacked a comatose body isn’t lost on Ankh, but it’s also nothing he can do anything about right now. He’s terrified of being replaced and abandoned, but that fear is just making him more of belligerent weirdo than usual. The tension of all of that drives this episode, and it’s almost the best thing in it.
  
  
• THE BIRD YUMMY SPAWNED FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION FIGHTS USING RED TAPE: This is it. This is the best thing in this episode, and it’s also the episode where Satonaka fights a Yummy in a cute outfit. BEST EPISODE YET!

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