[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

This is that one episode Eiji's infamous speech comes from -- "If you can reach out and help someone and you don't... you'll regret that for the rest of your life. I just reach out because I don't want to feel that way". It's a great speech! And one that in context and on my second watch, is clear that it's not all genuine -- it's coming from a place of overwhelming guilt. Even this early on, we've seen enough flashbacks and statements from Eiji to see that he's someone who at his core desperately wants to save everyone he can reach out to, yet has failed tragically in the past and that continues to wear him down. It's this conflict that makes him as interesting as he is for me - even though on the surface he seems like your bog-standard "do good things because it's the right thing to do" toku hero - which is still something I like! - what you've really got here is a question of how much he's motivated by it being the right thing to do, and how much he's motivated by his guilt. It's a great question to tackle and we'll be seeing it unfold more and more throughout the season.

It took me a bit to find time to sit down and do this, but I definitely want to say something about this whole speech and why it's so great – after all, I might regret it if I don't!

The thing about it not being entirely genuine, that's exactly right, and all those layers are why I honestly find it sooooort of odd seeing this scene treated like just a straightforward inspirational herosim thing? There's a line Hina says to Eiji that prompts this whole thing – and it's a brilliant question to have a character ask of the lead in a superhero show this early on – which is just basically "how could anyone be this unrealistically kind and selfless?" Before he says anything else, Eiji replies that he isn't kind, and while it's easy to take that as simple modesty, it can just as easily be read as genuine self-awareness on his part. Like he knows not helping people would make him personally feel like crap, and that's all he's hung up on.

And this is the part where this post is quickly going to lose any cohesion, but I just adore how much can be taken away from all this – that little bit of ambiguity that lends things more than a bit of a depth. How much does Eiji really understand his own issues? Is the selfless hobo shtick his way of confronting them, or just a means to escape them? Are being selfish and selfless even mutually exclusive in this case? Isn't feeling personal pain at the suffering of others the raw essence of heroism? But is that definition for the best? I don't know! But this show'll get you thinking about these things and that's why it's good! I mean, I could go on (and have gone on in the past) about Eiji alone for days. And I'll probably have plenty of opportunities to do that in the near future, so that's something I'm looking forward to. OOO is a series I never seem to run out of thoughts about, so it's nice to have the excuse to maybe get some more of them out there.

Oh, and yes, OOO using the Cheetah Medal to tenderize a Yummy IS a hilarious visual. It's embarrassing to admit, but that was probably the main thing I remembered from the episode the first time around. In case it wasn't clear enough what I mean when I always say I took this show for granted...