[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 17 - “A KENDO GIRL, ODEN, AND A DIVIDING YUMMY”



A KENDO GIRL:
After an episode that largely eschewed any Real People Dealing With Real Problems stuff (other than, uh, being kidnapped?), this episode goes back to the tried and true two-episode Yummy Trouble format, as a kendo girl deals with hidden personal issues and incredibly visible Yummy issues.

The problem with your typical Yummy Trouble plot is that you’ll often get the effect in Part 1, but the cause in Part 2. It’s good for building a mystery – what deep-seated personal issues are driving Shiratori, and how is Uva profiting off of them – but sort of not great for talking about at this stage of the story. Shiratori is clearly bothered by something, but what it is specifically will have to wait for further investigation and/or detonation.

At first glance, we’re dealing with her need to be stronger, which tracks with her lack of success in a kendo match, but the Yummy dividing seems more crucial than its fighting prowess; I feel like we’re in a story about loneliness, not a story about a girl who wants to physically dominate her competition. But we’ll know for sure next episode!

ODEN:
Okay, there, I talked about something other than Date. I did my job! Now it’s time for the fun part.

Date is so, so fun. He’s exactly the sort of guy Kougami would hire as his Kamen Rider: an uninquisitive blowhard who’s charmingly self-centered, and willing to do any weird thing to achieve his goals. Kougami couldn’t be more pleased with this guy if he were a sentient cake. (Kougami reading over Date’s CV all bug-eyed and sweaty, shouting SPLENDID! at every page.) Where Eiji is Good and Ankh is Evil, Date’s just, like, Chaotic. He’s here to do his job, he’s not going to try super hard, and he’s mildly sorry for you if that screws up your whole thing. He just works here! Take it up with Kougami!

The first full Birth fight scene follows those beats pretty closely, with some completely sloppy shooting and a general unfamiliarity with whatever is going on. (He still calls Ankh “Anko”! It’s great!) A ton of it is For Display Purposes-style combat, showing off not just the cool new gun but all the cool powers of the Birth system for children that may be inspired to badger their parents for post-New Year's toys. I’m a sucker for all of it, though, so this is in no way a complaint. I’m a huge mark for the POP of the Henshin, the coin operation of each power, the CHNG CHNG CHNG of the gun… I love it all, it’s incredibly fun to see in action.

And even when he’s not being Birth, I like that Date is just chilling out at an oden stall? His job is to go collect Cell Medals, and he can’t do that until a Yummy pops up. He’s sort of vaguely investigating Shiratori, because that’s his lead on the Yummy, but saving her isn’t his job or anything. He’s after Cell Medals, and it’s not personal.

That’s sort of the part I like the best? We’ll get into Date’s motivation in a little bit, but I like how even in this episode, we’re talking about how desires intersect with needing to earn a living. There’s what you want, and what you have to do to get it, and what skills you can apply to the process. How those steer people in different ways is a fun thing to discuss in a show like this. I’m glad to see the new Rider already opening up new topics!

AND A DIVIDING YUMMY:
look i told you that i wanted to talk about date and i did and now we’re done

(Okay, one thing: the fight between OOO, Ankh, and the two Yummies takes place in the same partially-outdoor parking garage as the recent debut fight for Vram on Gavv. I loved that fight! And this one was good, too!)