[Fish Sandwich]

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.



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.