[Kurona]

Kamen Rider OOO Episode 8






Man, right when I think OOO is about to lose me it pulls me right back in.

Following on from last episode we've got the set-up of a husband who's pretty greedy and good-for-nothing and a wife who's kinda fed up with that and throws stuff at him for both comedy and, somehow, as Yummy inspiration because Gamel's just like that; and in any other series this'd be a pretty predictable plot where the husband needs to stop being greedy and maybe the wife needs to chill. But in a twist I straight up didn't see coming it instead becomes a great story about how achieving your dreams doesn't necessarily lead to happiness; and how letting success drown you can obscure your dreams and make them feel meaningless. Both Takeshi and Momoka believe Takeshi has just stopped believing in his dream and stopped having passion for and wanting to be a great photographer because of everything that's happened, but it's clearly a huge bout of denial that Eiji's able to pierce through with his belief that someone wouldn't be able to just stop wanting things that easily. Which, again, interesting thing that I'm sure won't have implications for him later...


Lots of neat little things about Ankh in this episode too. He continues to be really goddamn smart - after yet another medal exchange where he loses an extra Tora and his only Kuwagata (huh, they can't use Gatakiriba anymore. Wonder why they went with that decision), he throws his voice with one of the candroids; and you can just feel even if it's never stated just how pissed he is that he only just escaped with his life thanks once again to Kougami's technology. We start seeing how a loss of medals can hurt him - he starts turning to stone?! - and in the most interesting one of the bunch, Ankh doesn't call for help because he remembers and respects just how shrewd Eiji can actually be, and decides he doesn't want to be seen in a weakened state because it might allow Eiji to gain more power over him. It's a fascinating look into his narrow outlook on the world; that he views relationships purely in terms of control and power, and is completely proven wrong near the end of the episode where Eiji realises what's up and goes out of his way to borrow some of Kougami's medals for him. It's reminding me what was so good about this relationship -- if it were any different it'd be so easy for it to be abusive or unhealthy, but the balance is just right with them that Eiji is never really in danger and they've instead got a super fun dynamic going on. And perhaps connected to that, we've got out first glimpse at the past with its previous OOO user -- an ancient king who effortlessly used his powers to run through fully-powered Greeed and makes Eiji's attempts look downright pitiful. Hmmm. Wonder if that's gonna be elaborated on at some point...

Hina made me cry in this episode. It's such a beautiful thing that she sees him going out of his way for her at great loss to himself - his giving up a free home and a guaranteed job just to keep Ankh away from her - while specifically flashing back to his speech about how he's not a good person only to immediate state that she thinks he's nice. Hina is a far far stronger character than I remember, and I'm not just talking about how she can pummel Ankh into next friday; there's so much genuine emotion and care going on that I seriously skipped the first time and makes me so glad I'm doing this rewatch.





Kamen Rider Ghost Episode 4






Oh hey, a blue one!

This is an episode that seriously got stuck in my mind from my first run for a lot of reasons and is definitely one of the episodes that comes to mind when I think of Ghost, which might be surprising to some given how memorable a certain green-and-white guy is later -- but individual episodes like these can seriously pull their weight! For one thing... kinda superficial, but I like that this is an episode about the Nobunaga eyecon. Every convention would state that after the last few episodes they'd be going after Ghost's next eyecon, but screw it; let's skip straight to number 11 and have Ghost not even get it at the end and be stolen by the mysterious newcomer! I know of course the Nobunaga eyecon was next on the agenda due to said newcomer's toys coming up soon but it's still really neat to see this screw with the order like that. And hey, Takeru still gets a new eyecon! ... or, uh, one he got before from the Drive episode; even though he said he had 12 left to get at the start? Did that all happen during this episode, or...?

Ah whatever, I ADORE this episode's scope! Compared to the more personal stories you've had before you've got a huge chunk of the city being lifted into the sky, quickly turning this into a disaster movie of sorts! A disaster movie they didn't even have the budget for as, ironically, they lifted scenes straight from the OOO movie just to pull it off! This is something I really really appreciate about Kamen Rider; where they don't have the budget to fully realise their vision but they still want to pull off that spectacle, and damn it, they'll do it!

Finally, this episode is also extremely Kamen Rider -- the episode opens with Takeru questioning whether or not he should be chasing after every Ganma case when he should probably be focusing on the Eyecons specifically; and right at the climax he has to choose between saving the people and getting the Nobunaga Eyecon. And of course he chooses saving the people, every time. It's basically not a question for him, when the chips are right down to it and he's actually there, that will always be his choice and that's precisely what's so good about Kamen Rider!
... though then he just summon the Eyecon anyway? It's a bit of a flawed execution where he summons it and then Mysterious Newcomer suddenly pops up and says "hey Nobu dude fight with me". I'm only bringing this up because it's super frustrating when you had the perfect set-up for Mysterious Newcomer to have summoned the eyecon himself while Takeru's saving the city, and Takeru only comes up in time to see him holding the Nobunaga eyecon before speeding off! Oh well. If that's the worst this season has right now I'm sure I'll enjoy what's to come!