[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 34 - “BEST FRIENDS, MANIPULATIONS, AND RELATIONSHIPS”



What are Eiji and Ankh to each other?

It’s the definitive question of this series. If there’s a narrative engine to this show, that’s it. Where other shows would prioritize an exploration of human desire, or the boundaries between wanting something and needing something, this show backgrounds those themes in favor of a relationship that never quite settles into anything explicitly positive or negative. It’s never exactly a friendship, or a partnership, or a rivalry, or a pact, or a coercion. It’s all of those things. It’s complicated.

Best part of the episode is probably Eiji saying that even his side of the OOO team is about manipulation. He’s manipulating Ankh so that he can get the power he needs to fulfill his desire to do good, much like Ankh needs Eiji to regain his independence and safety. It’s the Kamen Rider thing of using evil to do good, but it’s not the Medals, it’s Ankh. Ankh is the evil that Eiji’s using to do good. Seeing Eiji, the guy who would lie about participating in a Fun Kidnapping just to spare a creep like Kitamura the embarrassment that Ankh gleefully lets loose, confess that he and Ankh are just using each other to get what they want… it sort of normalizes their relationship in an almost tragic way. It’s not about Ankh’s Cunning Schemes and Eiji’s Heroic Resolve, it’s about two people who need the other to get what they want. That’s it.

And yet, again: complicated. It might’ve been that at one point, but everything they’ve gone through over the last eight months has turned that transactional agreement into first a grudging acceptance -slash- cohabitation, and now something more like support. While Ankh could not care less about Kitamura – he immediately and epically blows up Kitamura’s lies in front of Eiji and Hina, right after he told Kitamura he wouldn’t; classic – he knows that Eiji does care about him, so he steers the rampaging PuToTyra away from the helpless fanboy and towards himself. (He was clearly paying attention to Gotou’s strategy at the beginning of 33, and he would very much like you not to say that out loud.) Everything Ankh does at the end is under the veneer of What’s Best For Ankh, but there’s the tacit acknowledgement that Eiji is what’s best for Ankh.

Whole episode is great for how it never really tempers either Ankh (historically shitty to Kitamura, endlessly pleased with himself) or Eiji (genuinely sweet to Kitamura throughout, despite Kitamura kidnapping several of his friends) while still making their connection even more vibrant and heartwarming. This one was maybe Peak OOO? (Or maybe it just was on OOO Peak?)