[Kurona]

Kamen Rider OOO Episode 6



Aaaand there goes the show's CGI budget!

I know this story, you all know this story; we've heard it a thousand times -- Gatakiriba's power of multiplying itself necessitated like a billion independently moving characters on screen at once, which meant it cost a LOT of money to do; meaning that spoilers, it only appears one more time in the show before being relegated to movies with their bigger budgets. And while I love this power and I wouldn't go back and change it if I could and Gatakiriba just wouldn't be the same without it, it did make me wonder while watching this episode: why do this, then? They could have gone with a bunch of other super cool impressive powers for the combo that would presumably have been a lot less CGI-intensive and advertised the toys just as well! It's not even like OOO is a show that doesn't have a lot of CGI so they could freely do this with no negatives; there's already been quite a few CGI monsters in addition to your usual rubber suits and we're going to see more as the show progresses. So to turn this around into something positive? ... I'm so glad they decided to do it anyway. They knew what spectacle they wanted, and blast the downsides; they were going to do it. This was probably the once in a lifetime chance so screw it, let's do something absolutely massive.

Talking of Gatakiriba, this is where the gimmick of the combo system really goes full throttle. We've had a bunch of mixing and matching, so what happens when you put together a full same-colour set? Overwhelming goddamn power, but at a lot of cost to the user -- effortlessly tying into Ankh's little subplot about give and take and everything costing something. I've always liked this idea -- in the infamous "what is OOO's final form" arguments, one answer I remember seeing was "all of them". And I can't remember if it was a joke or not, but it's actually a very good answer because this is how the forms are handled -- by episode 6, OOO has already gotten as powerful as he can ever get with one exception. The way OOO's full combos work is that instead of each new form being more powerful than the last in a super boring progression where we're somehow expected to still care about the sparkling can or the genesis slot, each combo is still really important and useful in its own way -- rather than just being an advancement, it's the different skills and abilities of each that grants their worth. We never really had something like this in Kamen Rider before (well, maaaaybe Kuuga and Den-O?) and we unfortunately never would again, so I'm just gonna take this time to bask in the glory of what an actually really cool form system looks like.

Oh, right, and there was a lot of meaningful stuff in this episode too; wasn't there?



Oh, Eiji. Eiji Eiji Eiji. Wonderfully optimistic and full of belief in humanity as he is, Eiji defends our character of the week by saying that wanting something in and of itself isn't bad, and that it's what you do with those feelings that's important. It's left for us to fill in the blanks, but given our rich girl ends up working at a bakery at the end of the episode; it's clear the idea here is that it's fine to have wants as long as you're responsible and know your limits. And it's a great moral! It really, really is; and it's that sort of balance that helps makes OOO what it is! But what's so interesting to me here is what he says in my screenshot, especially with my discussion of his guilt from Episode 4: not only is wanting things not a negative, but he's never met anyone in all of his travels who didn't want something, and it was often something really important and integral to the person! That's so interesting, Eiji! You've never met anyone who didn't want something? That right? ... So what's your whole deal about only needing a tiny amount of cash and an extra set of underwear?





Kamen Rider Ghost Episode 2





This right here is what I'm thinking - what I'm hoping - I'll be able to take away from Ghost this time around. While OOO is about what you do with it (in a manner of speaking), Ghost is about life itself and its importance. And even though the episode technically has the Nikola Tesla Eyecon as its big A-plot and that's where the structure; it's all the little scenes in-between that's truly doing it for me and this is where Ghost may just win out. The theme of life at the moment is only really starting to sneak it but it's already clearly weighing down on Takeru since he died -- he doesn't only have a blowup at the character of the week here for disregarding his own life, but upon stepping out he ends up seriously breaking down when he sees normal people his age just going about a normal life while he's stuck in some in-between corporeal existence gathering 15 mcdonalds toys in a few months. It's a very sincere scene where it's made clear just how much things suck for him right now, and his yelling to not brush it off isn't judged or met with telling him to calm down; it's a very real moment from a young man who was just getting started in his life and it's already over before it began.

And Akari... Akari is a character I had a lot of problems with when I originally watched, and from the first episode on my rewatch, they're showing again. I really, really really dislike it when a supernatural show makes a scientist character and has their reaction to supernatural phenomena constantly be "that didn't happen! It was a trick! I have no evidence for this but despite all these massive changes around me it's all explainable!", because, and this is something I'm a little passionate about; that's not how science works. Science isn't about a rigid set of rules we decided 200 years ago that can never be broken out of; it's about observing the world around you and reacting to that phenomenon by investigating it and having an open mind to new possibilities, carefully examining them and slowly coming to a conclusion that expands our understanding of the world. I understand this is a kid's show but screw it, Nikola Tesla episode! I'm gonna get passionate about it, and frankly get it out of the way here and now! ... Bbbbut. But but but. One small thing this does help is making her friendship and support with Takeru shine that much brighter. She doesn't believe in Ghosts, or Ganma, or Eyecons or any of the rest of it; she doesn't actually believe Takeru died and he needs this adventure quest to restore him back to life. But despite all that, in that previous scene where Takeru breaks down, she sees how much it's effecting him and comforts him and supports him the best way she can. Especially this early on is so so important for a show about life and connections to establish that even two people with extremely disparate viewpoints about the reality in front of them can still love and support each other and value each other as more important than anything else.

I'm starting to like this show.