[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 4 - “DOUBTS, PICS, AND A HELPING HAND”

What we get is a solid story of how haunted Eiji is by guilt, despite his carefree demeanor. Eiji’s clearly lost before, failed people before, so he can’t live with the thought of turning his back when it’s within his power to help. It’s less about seeing the value in a person, or in people, and more in his own neuroses and hang-ups; it’s a motivation that could be either a weakness or a strength, which makes it perfect for the hero of this show.

(I mean, Eiji clearly cares about people, and would sacrifice himself for others, but the motivation for him is guilt and regret. It’s something within him, not within others.)

Eiji's explanation here is significantly better than the really dopey 'they give me a drink' one in 1st episode. About one wanting to help others because otherwise they'd be haunted by guilt and conscience, this is also can be used by people to insist that these guys aren't genuinely heroic and selfless and are also doing good deeds for ulterior motives in making themselves feel good, to validate their belief that humans are inherently rotten. Otherwise, the show seems to not realize that currently Hina helps Eiji more than Eiji does so, but it still only notes Eiji's niceness in his concern for Hina to stay away from Ankh about the 'kind strangers being suspicious' trope, unlike, well, Gavv, where it's Sachika who Shoma questioned her motive for in helping him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It’s mostly there for the eventual reveal that Ankh’s been using the internet to track Kazari, while Kazari has been wasting his time waiting for Ankh to go search on foot. This episode does not do a lot to make Kazari seem unbeatable or all-powerful, despite the mauling he gives OOO in the beginning. Kazari’s sly, but he’s easily countered by Ankh’s modern knowledge and Eiji’s clever fight tactics. Kazari comes off as a guy that haasn’t learned a new trick in 800 years, and that’s a very fun aspect of the other Greeed to get to explore. I like villains that have to work for their success!

Just like the heroes need to work for their success! The Yummy is dispatched with the teamwork of Eiji and Ankh, after Ankh declares his loyalty to Eiji by pointing out that the other Greeed would eventually betray him, while Eiji’s trustworthy despite being a frustration. That OOO teamwork!!! It’s a thing of beauty.

People'd likely just insist that Ankh is being a tsundere in his reasoning to stick with Eiji, but this infuriates me tbh, that the ones on the good side aren't all similarly virtuous and caring about people 'in different flavor' (e.g. this 'tsundere excuse'), particularly for more lighthearted shows that many people think they're black and white. There can be those who only do good deeds because otherwise it's detrimental to their interests (e.g. Asakura saving a little girl as a monster bait) and people should acknowledge that, of which Ankh thinks Kazari is more untrustworthy to work with because Kazari may betray him later, so he happens to benefit the main hero in his decision. I'd think at this point Ankh siding with Eiji is rather like Kuroto siding with the CR or Woz aiding Sougo, they're bad guys who happen to benefit the heroic protagonists, token evil teammates.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I liked the literalism of Eiji reaching out his hand to pull the unnamed victim out of the Yummy. It’s 1000% on the nose, but it’s such a strong visual, and it just gets to the heart of this show. Eiji can’t promise he’ll save you, and he can’t always make everything right, but he can always reach his hand out. (I mean, the other guy on this show is a literal hand. Kobayashi is not trying to be subtle with this stuff!) I like shows where the promise of the Rider is that he’ll always try, if nothing else. I think that’s a more real thing to be able to promise kids, and it’s maybe even more valuable to adults. Knowing someone will always reach out if you’re in trouble? I think we could use someone like that in the world.

This isn't the climatic problem of the series, but it seems that generally the righteous way is usually made seemingly impossible at first despite the hero insisting that they don't want to sacrifice others, in how taking down the Yummy here has a risk of taking down its human host too. Eiji's only able to do so by obtaining something he didn't have before and what the audience didn't know before, the Cheetah medal. There'd be people who think that this is an asspull to validate the heroes' belief rather than properly testing them, but this is may be less noticeable due to this only being an MOTW plot. The Yummy's consequence is still there that the VOTW is actually hospitalized due to the Yummy making him overeat, despite being saved.