[Kurona]

Kamen Rider OOO Episode 14



I don't have an awful lot to say about this one right now, but we'll see where it goes.

It's just one of those episodes that does a good job at speaking for itself, and I don't have too much to add -- the characters of the week are a lot more sweet than you'd expect, there's a lot of emotion riding on Hina, the action refuses to let up set variety as much as it can, and the yummy design is so horny it could have been on Blade. But... hey, actually, let's comment on some of those; I've REALLY been appreciating OOO's set variety as the series progresses. Aside from our intentionally recurring ones you've also got that sidewalk with the benches from the first episode that quite a few stories including this one comes back to so much that I'm about ready to dub it The Ankh Sidewalk, but beyond that what this series has used for its action scenes is a lovely mix. Sometimes you get suburban areas, sometimes you get more foresty or park-y areas like this episode, sometimes you get . I won't chastise modern Rider series for not doing this as it unfortunately seems out of their control, but little things like this do a LOT for making your world feel a lot more real and just allow it to breathe more, y'know? Even though it's a wild switch in location, the fact it's not the fifth time we've seen this location makes me buy into it a lot more.

Hina is absolutely the darling of this episode. Takada really puts in a convincing performance here -- even if Shingo's near-death experience is eventually resolved with an Ankh moment which reminds me that OOO is way funnier than it's given credit for, you seriously feel for the girl and it's no less serious. I've said in previous episodes that her having no-one but Shingo really struck me, and it comes to the fore in this one. Great performance all around!
Which, of course, brings us back round to the characters of the 2-parter. Something I find Kobayashi particularly good at is tying in these one-off characters to whatever's going on with the main cast, so a woman performing on her seriously injured father to try and save his critically endangered life? Perhaps a bit on the nose, but just fantastic. It's a great turnaround from the last episode too where it looked like the director was keeping her down for no reason, but the revelation of his being the surgeon's father is something that's stuck with me for a while and effortlessly re-contextualised everything. Ties the episode's elements together expertly as always! This isn't even going into all the other things going on in this episode -- the other Greeed taking advantage of the distraction to gain more power, Gotou's continuing storyline, Maki's creations slowly bearing fruit... I like how many things Kobayashi's able to shove into an episode while still making it feel very natural.

One last thing: this line really gets me. Like really, really gets me. Maybe it's because it reveals more about Eiji than it seems at first, maybe it's because it's something that resonates with me, but I like it a lot.







Kamen Rider Ghost Episode 10



I've always liked this part of the show.

Like, to an extent it worried me that that would make this part of the show not as interesting for me -- I've thankfully been proven wrong as the past 10 episodes have given me a lot more to appreciate than I thought, but at the end of the day this first arc of Ghost is not one I ever had a problem with. It's extremely solid storytelling with a perfect emotional arc to it -- Takeru has to gather the eyecons to come back to life; his childhood friend comes out of nowhere to oppose him, and now we've reached the apex: Takeru finding out someone's in the exact same situation as he is, and despite the entire season showing at multiple points how indecisive and hesitant to choose anything he is; he instantly knows that he's going to prioritise Kanon's life over his.

Not all of that hit me quite as much as it does now, but deciding to focus on saving Kanon's life no matter what is always a decision that's been distinctly Kamen Rider and one that's defined Takeru's character for me for a while now. As the episode develops there's also a lot of wonderful nuance to it, as Takeru straight up says he can't just choose between two lives, but at the same time he can't ignore someone else in danger. It's a perfect summation of the philosophy Riders tend to follow and I'm starting to understand just why this one is a good fit for its 45th anniversary: I love this franchise and this series is going out of its way to remind me at every opportunity why that is. Maybe one day Tokushoutsu will actually come to the UK and I'll get to watch Rider 71 in all its glory, but for now? For now Takeru has already developed into an excellent main rider and one that I appreciate a lot. Very excited to see where things go from here.

Oh, right, some other things happened in this episode; right? Ganma Superior - Javert's Ganma form - may have come a bit out of the blue to fill the role, but he's an AWESOME final boss for the arc. Instantly threatening and doing something I've loved about the Ganma designs for a while now: mirroring Ghost and Specter's designs. This had already been achieved well through the Ganma being simple black undersuits that then wear historical figure-inspired hoodies, but Ganma Superior takes it a step further by looking like such a perfect corruption of our heroes that I'm almost disappointed Zi-O's Another Ghost didn't take inspiration from it. Just an absolutely fantastic suit design, one of my favourite kaijin bosses! Not that Heisei provides a lot of competition in that area with its many many evil Riders, but even so. It'd be hard to beat.