[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 22 - “CHOCOLATE, CONVICTION, AND THE POWER OF JUSTICE”

Every beat of the story feels plussed by the direction, whether it's adding a surreal overlay to Kanbayashi’s Yummy-assisted mission of vengeance, or a melancholy grounding to Eiji’s fears that unchecked righteousness can end in bloodshed. (Sort of makes sense that the guy whose origin is based on the consequences of a civil war would maybe not feel super great about people lashing out in the name of what they think is right!) The camera moves never feel showy, either – the way the Grasshopper Yummy keeps appearing from inside the frame is all about how it’s the conscious manifestation of Kanbayashi’s desire, always with him, not some hidden aspect that’s been weaponized against his will… as well as just being the coolest shot ever. Whole episode is just incredibly fun to look at.

What Eiji said here needs to be acknowledged more by fiction fandoms. It often happens, as explained in the Draco In Leather Pants page here (clearer on some of the actual examples), that people justify anyone who's fighting for other people's sake or what they think is right, many of which are actual villains, that they did nothing wrong and being treated unfairly by the story and have the "supposed heroes" ruining everything by opposing them. And some also have a tendency to view any bad guys as pure monsters, particularly those who start wars like Eiji said, when they do come to the conclusion of starting wars due to the reasons above they use to justify bad guys and what Eiji criticizes, just that they have the power or position to make their desires come true.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I liked the Eiji part the most, probably. Him having to explain to a guy that doing the small things reliably is better than doing the big things eventually is a nice little Eiji-specific message. It values less ostentatious things like, uh, not abandoning your family for an indefinite amount of time. (I liked this story despite Kanbayashi’s plot being sort of a weirdly typical story about Dads Abandoning Their Families, which is kind of a horrifying recurring plot in Kamen Rider stories. But at least he’s not just randomly dead before this story even begins?) Eiji stories are at their best for me when he saves the day by clumsily imparting his authentic advice to someone, rather than suiting up as OOO for a pyrotechnic finish. Again, it’s just doing the small bit of good that’s right in front of you, rather than saving it all up for some heroic battle.

By this, still I wonder about heroic abandonment stuff (though Kanbayashi doesn't fit this), but what do you think one should handle these scenarios, when Riders know that the civilians need help and that they're the only ones that can stop the threats? And that Riders can't be anywhere at once... I've always thought about how one shouldn't be biased to only care about personal loved ones only as an ultimate good ... well I guess there's Blade thing in Umi dealing with Kenzaki 'not helping' her but dunno. What Eiji said about what's wrong with unchecked righteousness is sound. Still, as Kanbayashi keeps his goal to become a defense attorney in the end, what'd be his solution to pass the bar exam as he abandoned his family to think about ways to pass the exam (actually as Grasshopper Yummy, he spent more time with Takashi).

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

But this one kind of fell apart for me in that final Takashi scene. The idea of staying true to your desire no matter what is a good one… when it’s something relatable like Hoping Your Dad Comes Home. That’s cool! That is exactly where you want to be emotionally, instead of thinking too big about how to force your dad to come home by punishing evildoers -slash- litterbugs. Letting that mirror Gotou’s growing realization that it’s not his job to save the world by himself – instead, letting him work alongside everyone else to achieve more – is a very interesting way to dovetail both plots, but it just… I don’t know, it didn’t fully land for me. Gotou’s idea of Saving The World still feels hopelessly childish to me, and more in line with the tragedy of Kanbayashi than the wide-eyed belief of Takashi. Gotou’s thing is weird! It’s weird for him to want it, and I don’t know that the character has me on his side the way the show assumes.

Otherwise, seems that Goto does have this problem he needs to learn like what you said in the previous episode, where he actually was conflicted in taking down the Grasshopper Yummy as they only attack bad guys. Eiji did say similar things to Goto in response like what he said to Kanbayashi later. Though that part is still about Goto asking others about what to do against a supposed threat, so not doing his job alone? Doesn't seem that he still has the idea to save the world by himself. When Goto talks to Takashi, the pep talk he gave was about the standard believing in yourself.