[Fish Sandwich]

Ryuki 43-44:

The very last trip into the Inoue Zone for the series concludes Imperer's storyline, and I've gotta say, these episodes are fantastic. It probably helps that Shinji and Ren are almost bit parts, because while there's stuff going on here with Yui and Kanzaki that has relevance to the overarching plot, these four episodes tell a very strong, self-contained story about a Rider who learns the hard way that if you do not fight, you will not survive.

Like I said about the first half, Mitsuru is a great character specifically because he's so steeped in Inoue's style. Seeing him going around brown-nosing all the other Riders with a barely altered speech each time is loads of fun, and makes him endearing in a weird way. He gets a few more layers as the plot goes on, and by the end, Inoue hits us with an honest-to-goodness, genuine gut-punching tragic ending that doesn't feel forced or overblown at all. It's right up there with the resolution of Sasword's arc in Kabuto in terms of extremely high quality guest episodes he's written. I have no qualms with these ones. I can't even complain about Shinji being ineffectual because he doesn't get enough screentime to make a complete fool of himself.

As with last time, Tiger's development is another great thing about these episodes, and while his story isn't quite over yet, Toujou is just as fascinating here as ever. Seeing him spiral further into madness, then depression, then more madness beyond that is amazing. He's legitimately more dangerous and unpredictable than Asakura, and yet he doesn't come off as a straight villain due to how totally broken he is. It really is amazing how memorable and different all Ryuki's Riders are. Gai is my least favorite due to having the least interesting personality to me, and even then he still had a well-defined character who contributed a lot to his stretch of the show.

Den-O 43-44:

The first half of this arc is an interesting setup that leads into the utter masterpiece that is episode 44 of Den-O. This is another plot that emphasizes the bonds between the main characters, centering on an argument between Ryoutarou and Momotaros after it becomes known to the former that stopping the Imagin means the Taros are going to disappear too. Seeing them angry at one another because of how much they each care about the other really makes them feel like a family, which, of course, they pretty much are at this point.

It's some of the best drama in the whole show, and while that typical Den-O attention to detail means everyone gets a great moment (such as specifically having a scene where Yuuto and Ryutaros interact again), it all comes back to the two real leads in the end. Ryoutarou is as amazing as always, and I especially love how he pointedly never intends to stop protecting the timeline, even though he doesn't want Momo and the others to disappear. Instead the crux of his issue is that he feels having them essentially fight to kill themselves is too cruel, and him trying to carry all the weight on his own even though he can't is true to how he's been developing over the series, leading to the ultimate proof that the quality of Den-O episodes is directly proportional to the amount of screentime Plat Form gets.

Momotaros himself is an absolute legend, and episodes like this would convince anyone who thinks otherwise. The recent introduction of the King-Liner gave the show an opportunity to get the Taros off the Den-Liner set for once, and here it's used for all it's worth. Giving Momo and the others that extra breathing room really lets them show how lively they can be, which is one of the truly magical things about tokusatsu. When I watch Den-O, the only time I ever remember I'm watching people in costumes is when I stop to consider that Momotaros might actually be the greatest role Seiji Takaiwa's ever played. Putting that much emotion into a character whose face can't even move shouldn't be possible, but he does it anyway.

OOO 43-44:

Firstly, now that I've only got 4 episodes left, I really need to take the time to talk about how perfectly handled OOO's form-changing is. This is one of the those things where context has changed the way I look at it, because while it was easy to take for granted the way this show goes about its action at the time, I've since seen Build, a show that seemed to get bored of its protagonists' central gimmick around halfway through and never looked back. Not the case here. Right up to the end, OOO always puts a lot of effort into creating clever and interesting action scenes that make great use of the unique abilities of each of OOO's medals. That's 18 individual pieces for it to keep track of, and 6 Combos not counting TaToBa, and everything gets its time in the spotlight. It's a totally unique setup for forms in Rider, too, because while the Combos more or less fulfill the role of the typical main forms, akin to Kuuga's various colors, even the "lesser" ones like SaGoZou are still treated as too dangerous and powerful to use constantly, justifying the appearances of the more wild and fun mixed forms. I figured when PuToTyra debuted, that would stop being the case, because I remember Eiji relying on the purple Medals a lot due to always having them on hand, but even that is just their unique gimmick. I put "lesser" in quotes back there because frankly, every one of OOO's Combos feel on the same level, to the point where I don't think the usual labels fit that well. TaJaDor, for example, despite clearly being in the same category as things like Climax Form or Kachidoki Arms, isn't actually shown to be more powerful than the other Combos when you really look at it. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, and that's what keeps things interesting.

Secondly, there's a great scene in 43 that helps me further elaborate on what I mean about OOO feeling realistic. It involves Eiji's arm briefly starting to turn into that of a Greed before going back to normal, and then him reflexively pulling it behind him when he sees Hina walking up to him. There's no music or anything to tell you to feel sad, but the simple shot of Eiji hesitantly starting to move his hand hits like a brick emotionally. Obviously OOO has plenty of scenes that accomplish the same thing in a completely traditional way (which is easy when the OST is so good), but especially seeing it against shows like Ryuki and Den-O, I don't think OOO relies as much on typical movie melodrama to get a reaction out of the viewer. It all goes back to what I've been saying about it avoiding a lot of cliches, and while I want to be absolutely clear that I'm not saying doing things normally is somehow worse, I do find it truly intriguing how often OOO does things differently.

And thirdly, I've figured out a couple more reasons Gotou leaves such a strong impression in a relatively short time as a Rider. He's constantly got Eiji's back in a way Date never did, since his relationship with Eiji wasn't as deep, and likewise his sense of duty means he gets way more reckless in fights despite also fighting more smartly, leading to lots of insanely cool stunts he pulls in pretty much every episode he's in as Birth.