[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 3 - “CATS, EVOLUTION, AND GLUTTONS”



Our first real two-parter, so let’s try a slightly different format to these posts.

CATS:
We’ve switched up from the last couple Uva plots into one by Kazari, the Greeed’s cat guy. For all of his prominence in the title, he’s not really present for this story? He kicks it off exactly how Uva did in Episode 2 – random guy gets coin in head, mayhem ensues – and then doesn’t pop up again until the cliffhanger. He doesn’t… he’s not really anything to talk about yet?

Beyond Kazari, or only cat character is this episode’s Yummy, and I really liked it. It’s this sort of monstrous Lucky Cat, exploding out of the shredded bandages of the proto-Yummy form. I like how the cheeks of the cat face act as a brow for the human face underneath it, and how the bulk of the Yummy makes for a tougher combatant that Eiji has to strategize around. It made for a fun, if brief, closing battle.

EVOLUTION:
A lot of time spent in this episode with the Greeed – both Ankh and the more overtly-villainous four – starting to realize that their gameplans from 800 years ago are not going to get the job done against a human civilization that’s progressed significantly while they’ve been asleep. While Kazari is trotting out a parasitic Yummy to gather Cell Medals, Ankh is harvesting Shingo’s knowledge to figure out what parts of human technology can give him the edge.

I think Ankh’s prominence in my memory over Eiji has less to do with Eiji’s sweetness than with Eiji's tendency in the narrative to be mostly reacting to Ankh’s cruelty/hilarity. This episode alone is largely just Eiji trying to work around Ankh’s more human-indifferent goals, while Ankh is the one deciding where to go next and how to approach a problem. Eiji’s job is to work within Ankh’s restrictions and push back on Ankh’s imperiousness, which makes for a solid episode of tense conflict between our leads, but definitely gives Ankh the juicier part.

Regardless, I think Ankh having an iPhone is just a really fun idea. He seems like the type to get incredibly distracted by the ubiquity of modern human communication!

AND GLUTTONS:
Because Ankh is, naturally, one of two main gluttons in this episode.

The other one is our (I believe) unnamed human victim, who Ankh lacks even the illusion of pity for. There’s a little bit near the end of the episode where Ankh’s objection to safeguarding the human becomes equally about Ankh’s desires for Cell Medals and with the way the human created the circumstances for his own manipulation by the Greeed. Like, this guy was already a glutton, and Kazari just took advantage of it. This guy was probably going to eat himself into an early grave regardless of whether some ancient desire monster pushed him into a rampage, so why bother trying to save him from it?

It’s the sort of cold pragmatism we’d expect from our avian asshole, and Eiji’s resistance so far is more about a general belief in human life than a specific counter to Ankh’s worldview, but I’m sure that’ll come in time. The tracks are already being laid for a discussion about how some of the people who least deserve help most need it, and that probably includes Ankh.

Ankh, who is absolutely gluttonous this episode when it comes to harvesting Cell Medals. We’re still at a point with Ankh where his blatant contempt for humanity is making his partnership with Eiji horribly ineffective, and threatening both of their objectives. Definitely a good place to leave the first half of a two-parter!