[Fish Sandwich]

Ryuki 37-38:



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.