[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 28 - “1000, KAMEN RIDER, AND A BIRTHDAY”



HBV story on a TV budget!

It’s insane, this whole thing. Nebulously canonical, despite the presence of Ankh’s subplot. (I love that the entire Medal story amounts to Ankh wondering who has his Core Medals, and Kougami being like Yeah Me Too. That’s it! That’s the new information: That there is no new information!) Everything in here might as well be packed in with a copy of TV-Kun, for how it exists in the larger cultural context of Kamen Rider, rather than the specific world of Kamen Rider OOO.

I’m not mad about it, to be clear. The thousandth episode – and 40th anniversary – kind of deserves something more than just an OOO story with special guests. It’s arguably more appropriate for the OOO story to take a couple weeks off, and just let the vague OOO vibe (and cast) mingle with the ridiculous history of the franchise to create something, if not reverent, than at least celebratory.

Like, the whole episode is a crazy goof, those HBV vibes letting everyone act like a more deranged version of themself while also leaning into the stupidest consequences of any action. It definitely loses its thread around the midway point, forgoing any dramatic tension or emotional connection in favor of Showa satire and relentless buffoonery. There’s maybe a story in here about Mook’s desire, but it doesn’t ever really rise above a loose framework for a bunch of reused suits and a light note about Shocker’s importance to the brand.

(Which, for an episode that is loudly about Shocker, and how only Shocker should beat Kamen Riders, that’s sort of the whole motivation for Mook, he seems to be pretty cool with Worms from Kabuto and Masquerade guys from W taking shots at OOO? I mean, I can sort of write it off as Shocker still beating OOO because Mook is in charge of them, just like every Heisei Shocker story has the Joker Undead as part of the crew, but it needlessly muddies the one actual story this lark has in it. Should’ve stuck to Combatmen!)

I had a good time with this one. It’s Kamen Rider’s birthday, and it’s cool to just shrug off the normal demands of narrative and relax with some hijinks. It’s a party, not a story, and that’s sort of okay in this instance.