[Fish Sandwich]

Ryuki 35-36:

These episodes rock. I said last time things were going to be heating up, but I forgot just how much starts happening all at once. Where to start?

Okay, so first off, Zolda gets into a fight with Ouja, only to lure him into a trap that gets him arrested. Now, you don't need to be a genius to figure out that there are Batman villains that stay in jail longer than Asakura, but what's important to note here is how Kitaoka is the only person to apply this kind of lateral thinking to the Rider Battle, and it's a cool thing about his character. Between being a classy lawyer and the designated ranged fighter of the show, straight up fighting just isn't his style. He prefers to play things as smartly and as efficiently as possible, using whatever underhanded, unsportsmanlike techniques he can, not even transforming if he can help it, and that's great.

Then we have Ren, who is pushed to the absolute brink here, running himself ragged trying to fight whoever he can after being led to believe he has less time to accomplish his goal than he does. You know it's bad when he's the one telling Kanzaki to fight. Things turn back around for him at the end of 36, but up until that point, it's very clear that everything Tezuka said about the guy was totally on point. Despite being the one who's always telling Shinji Riders have to be ruthless and fight for themselves, he lacks the killer instinct, and is actually fighting for a pretty selfless reason. This paradox eats away at him, making it so that no matter what he does, he's going to end up hating himself. It's insanely compelling drama, and the reason he decides to fight Shinji here is very indicative of the terrible state he's in, mentally. He's actively trying to break himself because he's sick of feeling so much hesitation about doing the one thing he's totally devoted himself to. It's a seriously f***ed up situation, and what makes it work is that it doesn't feel arbitrary at all. It's completely understandable how he's gotten to where he is right now.

Shinji's own crisis of conscience is yet to come, but he does meet the first new Rider in a while. Tiger is an interesting guy. Less as an individual and more as part of the group he comes packaged with, but still. I also love his design a lot, which isn't saying much because the aesthetics of everything in Ryuki are way up my alley, but Tiger is blue and silver, which gives him that extra bit of edge over a lot of the other guys. I've also always loved his Final Vent. I'm not sure if it's exactly cool or not, but it's unique, which is another thing I don't think any other multi-Rider show ever got quite as right since. No two final attacks in Ryuki are anything alike. Even the ones that broadly qualify as Rider Kicks like Knight and Ouja's go about it way differently.

Den-O 35-36:

Forgive me for repeating myself, here, but these episodes rock. It's hard to top Climax Form's debut, but then that's hardly a fair comparison anyway. This arc is more about being a new beginning than a conclusion to everything that's happened so far, so of course it's not going to tug at the heartstrings the same way. In just about every other sense, it's totally on the same level. You can tell how razor focused Den-O is by the cold open in 35. One simple scene that establishes in barely over a minute the only two things you need to know. Yuuto can't transform, and Ryoutarou wants to pick up the slack.

We've actually seen Ryoutarou occasionally doing training here or there for a long while now, but in light of what's been going on, he gets more serious about it, and even asks the Taros for help. Another display of the great characterization is that it's specifically Kintaros who ends up being the man for the job. Ryuta's out of the question to begin with, and quick flashbacks comedically show why Momo and Ura aren't a great fit for a mentor position. Honestly, Kintaros really isn't either, but he's clearly trying his best, and he also makes it known that he thinks Ryoutarou is pretty strong to begin with, so he's also been paying attention to the excellent development he's been getting.

Of course, this is the big turning point for him, as he's finally forced to fight for himself once it turns out that the Imagin can't possess him while in the past anymore, which means one thing. Liner Form! I freakin' love Liner Form so much. If anyone ever tries to tell you Climax Form is Den-O's "real" strongest/final-est form, don't listen to them, because they're a despicable liar and should feel bad. It actually took me a long time to become a fan of the design, which I had originally pegged for being overly simple and relying on that sweet sword to compensate for how weak it looks. I also think I had some issue with the color scheme or something, but I can't remember what it was. Nowadays, I actually love how much less black there is compared to Den-O's other forms, because brighter colors means more heroic, and the simplicity of the details just means it's sleek and sticks out from pretty much any final form that isn't Shining Agito (which, funnily enough, I had the exact same turnaround on). I also always loved the rainbow "feather" effect on the eyes. It hints that this is still a form that combines all the Taros' powers without making it look like a repeat of Climax Form.

Ryoutarou's fashion sense isn't actually the important part here though. Even before I loved how Liner Form looked, I utterly adored it for its direct relevance to the story. It throws an interesting new wrinkle into the plot, while also symbolizing how much Ryoutarou has grown over the course of the series. He's still pretty awkward in a fight, but he CAN do it now, and he can win. And frankly, I disagree with the characters in the show that his taste in special attack names is bad. What else can you possibly call that move besides a Train Slash? Momotaros is probably just jealous because he has like six versions of his that all look the same.

OOO 35-36:

Firstly, this is the last arc by a guest writer for this show, and Nobuhiro Mouri goes out on a high note. I'm shocked by just how meaty the plot here is. You've got the other Greed coming back, who despite being out of action for a straight 20 episodes, somehow don't feel like any less the main bad guys than Kazari and Uva. You've got the reveal of Date's own tragic past, that's haunting him physically the way Eiji's does mentally. You've got Mouri also creating my second-favorite monster in the whole show with the Unicorn Yummy, who's shtick of destroying dreams continues a trend of strong development for Eiji lately by showing in a very memorable way just how much desire he actually has. Heck, you've even got Shingo starting to get better, threatening Ankh's status quo even more than it already has been lately. It's one thing for episodes by guest writers to not be filler (which isn't all that unusual even outside of OOO), but this is insane.

Secondly, Uva has it so rough, man. I don't think it was until seeing what happens to him in the last few episodes, but he ended up being my favorite Greed after I really looked back and thought about it. All the other Greed make fun of him for being scared of using their Core Medals, his modest and well conceived plans always manage to go just as wrong as everyone else's far more dramatic stunts, and basically everyone except Gamel betrays him constantly. Which is the name of the game for the Greed, and Uva's not exactly innocent there either, but still, I really feel for the guy.

And thirdly, the fact that Power to Tearer doesn't play until 36 when Eiji actually keeps it under control for the first time is awesome. Especially since the lyrics wouldn't make sense otherwise. It'd be even better if the show didn't botch using Shout Out, because then it would legitimately be the first break in the trend, but even so, it's a nice touch. PuToTyra is also amazing, by the way. Purple and dinosaurs makes it inherently cool, but OOO being OOO, the relevance to the plot surpasses even Den-O. The entire existence of the purple Medals is a massive game-changer for the story, driving a lot of the events from the second they show up to the very end, while also providing a lot of new material for Eiji's character to develop from.