[Kamen Rider Die]

OOO 10TH BIRTH X BIRTH - BIRTH X SECRET BIRTH STORY



These TTFC things are always so weird. They don’t have to be hampered as much by continuity and canon and whatever, so they can push the boundaries of their storytelling and references to an absurd degree. It’s a fan club offering, so they can get hilariously Deep Cut with it. That said, I’m a little shocked at exactly how weird and how deep they got with their cuts this time out?

Like, I think it’s totally fine to give Gotou a new status quo in the years since the conclusion of OOO. A sister we’ve never heard about before? Sure, there’s nothing to my knowledge that directly contradicts that from the original OOO series, so why not. (If anything, it makes for a nice Hina/Shingo parallel.) Giving him a new set of enemies outside of the Greeed is bizarre, considering how heavily the Greeed and Medals all factor into the other 10th content, but this is a Gotou story, not an OOO one, so it’s okay to let him work into his own aesthetic and lore.

But, man, doing it all as a tribute to that Heisei Vs Showa movie from 2014? Bringing back the Badan Empire and their Space Break macguffin? VERY WEIRD! Sort of inexplicable! They never really get enough to do to feel like a fully coherent ethos or strategy – it’s all very Showa, in the I Guess It’s Another Bad Guy Group vibe, with Ambassador Darkness being a repainted Ambassador Hell played by the exact same dude – and they barely feel looped into anything Gotou is doing in this one. They’re just sort of the random baddies that cyborgified him into his new form, and now they want to destroy/rule the world, and now he’s got something to do. Gotou’s maybe the only part of OOO that could make this premise even halfway work, because he’s the only one that simplistically wants to save the world without much added flair or context. He’s very retro and Showa in his bland commitment to What’s Right, so why not give him a bland What’s Wrong enemy.

Even the inclusion of the Showa Riders from that 2014 film, to the constant hilarious exclusion of letting Gotou motivate absolutely anything in this story, is sort of perfect for him? It’s a really great gag of the film, that the Showa Riders are basically just doing this all themselves and then Gotou randomly shows up to be there, too. That’s him in OOO, you know? He’s happy to be supporting cast, even in a special nominally devoted to him as the lead. He’s just sort of here, and there’s a story going on, and that’s his lot in life. I love it.

I loved this whole thing, not in spite of how much of a surprise it was, but because of it. A V-Cin or theatrical feature or TV episode would try and make this all work in the continuity we know and love – a TTFC special will make you think you have a fever. It’s insane to me, the connections these creators try and make. Like, the shitty Gaim anniversary film and Gotou from OOO? Bonkers. And I thought the weirdest one of these I’d ever see was that one with Shinobi from Zi-O and Tycoon from Geats…