[Fish Sandwich]

Ryuki 17-18:

Episode 17 has a lot of team building going on for Shinji and Tezuka, while also following up on Ren's wavering resolve, something Tezuka's predictions (which, of course, are always right) said are going to end badly, which, since I wasn't clear about that last time, is actually the reason he's been following Ren around. It's a good time as always, and since it's an episode by Kobayashi, Ryuki even gets to do a cool thing where he kinda kicks off of Raia to get up to a Monster. It's not the absolute most awesome moment he's had, but I feel the need to stress that the action scenes when she's writing almost always have at least one bit like this. It's not even just that I want to see Shinji look cool (though that's definitely part of it), it's that having the hero use quick thinking and guile to turn the tables on a powerful opponent is a central part of any interesting superhero fight, and this show almost always nails that.

Episode 18 debuts our third new Rider in a really short span, but I think I'll save talking about him for next time. What's most interesting here is that it's the first time we actually get to see Shirou recruiting somebody, which is inherently super neat. There's also a truly epic example of dramatic irony where Kitaoka makes an offhand sarcastic remark wondering if there wasn't anyone less ill-mannered available to be a Rider after meeting Gai for the first time. Oh, man, if only he knew.

Den-O 17-18:

These episodes lean more heavily into the drama than any Den-O arc yet and are also completely amazing. The overarching plot finally starts moving after spending a considerable amount of time barely budging, and in the process we also see the growth of the main characters starting to take root. Ryoutarou proves to be more proactive than he's given credit for (which means, among other things, more Plat Form, guaranteeing this arc gets a thumbs up from me), and it becomes evident how much the Imagin have actually started to care about him. Especially Momotaros, who's really a total sweetheart even by this point.

I struggle with how to accurately get across how excellent this arc is, because so much of it is in little moments and details I don't want to sit here listing. It just loses so much merely being described, you know? Talking about the comedy especially is pretty much pointless, when it would take me so much longer to attempt to explain why something is funny than it would to just watch the gag and laugh.

OOO 17-18:

Firstly, describing why Birth is so awesome is no trouble at all. He's part of that really cool little era we unfortunately seem to be out of now where secondary Riders were specifically designed to contrast with the leads more than they compared, with a neat, pared down version of the series' main gimmick to boot. Now, as I've established, OOO kicks the s*** out of other shows when it comes to making gimmicks work, so of course, the relationship between OOO and Birth is insanely strong in that regard. Cell Medals were an established part of the show from the beginning, so having them be Birth's power source versus Core Medals is as natural as it gets. It also fits the obvious high tech bent of his design that after 800 years of scientific progress, it's possible to have a belt that can get comparable power to OOO out of way less. But of course, OOO gives off more of a mystical vibe to his powers anyway, so the contrast also works that way. There's a lot of believability to Birth's existence within the setting. You see stuff like his weapons that are magnetized to attract Medals, and it just all makes sense.

Secondly, the guy under the suit ain't too shabby himself. I think it's pretty indisputable that Date is a huge fan favorite. I mean, it's literally a fact that certain elements of OOO's plot were reworked because people liked him. And it's not hard to see why. He's cool enough on his own merits even today, but I'll refer you back to my point a few posts ago about having a huge chip on your shoulder and a grudge against the main character getting you a belt. At the time especially, nobody else, besides maybe Ibuki I guess, was anything like this guy. He's lighthearted. He's chill. He's nice. He doesn't hate OOO's guts for some contrived reason. Yet, thanks to the nuanced characterization of this show, there's still drama to be had between him and Eiji, because they're two completely different kinds of nice guy, and that's before mentioning the whole issue of Ankh also being after Medals. Birth and OOO also have THE worst teamwork in battles. It's honestly kind of stressful how often their attacks nearly hit each other because they never bother to coordinate at all. It's actually pretty clever. I feel like this is the "realistic" version of what a new Rider showing up would be like, you know? I don't think any other show has bothered to show Riders that have to learn how to deal with each other's presence on such a basic level like this before or since.

And thirdly, the Yummy this arc has the gimmick of splitting into two Yummies midway through the first episode. Which is a super smart card for the show to play right here, because that means there's an extra Yummy that's allowed to actually die before the second part, giving Birth a chance to show his skills without undercutting the moment with the usual routine of the monster suddenly escaping. OOO also gets to do his Rider Kick one more time, although I still don't feel totally satisfied, because it was in combination with Birth's finisher.