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#51 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,717
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A mass of identical CG forms that don’t make as many appearances as their peers. But enough about this week’s Yummy, it’s GataKiriBa’s debut.
In terms of what I have to discuss, I have to wonder how rich Kougami is that he can just put up vending machines that ordinary people can’t use on street corners and isn’t receiving any grief from… well, anyone with the authority regarding these sorts of things. |
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#52 |
Standing By
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: USA
Posts: 2,391
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Quote:
This is the first time I've watched OOO since it originally aired back in 2010, which is some math I did not want to accidentally stumble into doing just now. I still remember the show pretty well, though, compared to what's going on in FishSandwich's Wizard thread right now.
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KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 3 - ?CATS, EVOLUTION, AND GLUTTONS?
EVOLUTION: I think Ankh?s prominence in my memory over Eiji has less to do with Eiji?s sweetness than with Eiji's tendency in the narrative to be mostly reacting to Ankh?s cruelty/hilarity. This episode alone is largely just Eiji trying to work around Ankh?s more human-indifferent goals, while Ankh is the one deciding where to go next and how to approach a problem. Eiji?s job is to work within Ankh?s restrictions and push back on Ankh?s imperiousness, which makes for a solid episode of tense conflict between our leads, but definitely gives Ankh the juicier part. Quote:
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Congrats on your 2700th post!
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#53 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,483
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These episodes are, I think, a good place to call out how great the Ridevendor is. I think it's probably the last great Kamen Rider bike. Not that all of the ones after it weren't good, but the Ridevendor is the last one that really feels like it has an identity. Obviously there's the great gag with one in this episode, but they feel like a major part of OOO kit at this point, not just something that gets thrown into a couple of scenes in the first few episodes to sell the toy and is then never seen again.
I've always appreciated how beefy it is, and how, like, diegetic it is. The entire Medal System provides a context for where the bike is, how it's disappearing and appearing, and why it looks the way it does. It feels woven into the show more than later bikes -- like, immediately later; I don't recall the Fourze bikes having a ton of reason to exist. Quote:
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#54 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,483
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True! They're designed in very complimentary ways!
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#55 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,948
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Wow, OOO is *so* good at not doing things wrong that it can even get Die to praise a suit for how it uses an insect theme. I guess that's how you know GataKiriBa really is the Strongest Combo!
(I always did find it hilarious that it's the first of those themed episode titles for the Combos, and GataKiriBa's descriptor immediately makes it sound like everything after this can only be less cool. Given how impressive the swarm gimmick is, maybe that's not too far off!) Anyways, the bikes are neat and all, but really, this seems like as good a spot as any to mention what an absolute triumph of creativity on Bandai and Toei's part the entire OOO ecosystem is? The connection with the idea of currency -- and the implications of greed that often come with that -- takes the more abstract idea of desire and gives it this very literal form that's easily identifiable to basically anyone. There are cool narrative benefits to having the bike this year be a mass-produced series of vending machines, but the mere imagery that comes with Kamen Rider popping coins into those things all year has a ton of value just on its own.
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#56 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,483
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Character growth! Insect-themed costumes kept reaching their hands (or horns) out to me, and eventually I reached back!
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#57 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,483
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KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 7 - “A BAD HUSBAND, A TRAP, AND A JACKPOT”
![]() A BAD HUSBAND: Takeshi, obviously, with his desire for money at the expense of his marriage, but… maybe also Eiji or Ankh? It’s nice to do a little story about a bickering couple and contrast it with a story where Ankh and Eiji never share the screen together. Most of the danger our two heroes are in is because there’s no teamwork or communication going on. Eiji is working at Cous Coussier and trying to solve Momoko and Takeshi’s marital squabbles – or at least, y’know, keep Takeshi from being beaten up – while Ankh is scouring the internet for more Core Medals. There’s no sense that either of them is concerned with helping the other, until they both need help, and then it’s too late. I’m probably reading too much into this one? I really want this to be a paragraph delineating all of the parallels between the married couple and our OOO partnership, but it feels incredibly flimsy. Eiji and Ankh aren’t bickering in this one (like normal), they’re just completely separated. I’m sure Takeshi wishes he was separated from Momoko for this one, but he’s definitely not. It’s just him getting chased by her, and him wanting to win a whole bunch of money for semi-understandable relationship reasons we’ll probably get into next time. This one’s just them fighting, and the heroes in separate stories, and it never really feels like it connects in the way I’d like it to. A TRAP: Most of this story is setting up the twin perils Ankh and Eiji are facing, with a heavier emphasis on Gamel’s part of this Greeed scheme. It’s basically just to be a big dumb distraction, and he does that effectively; that’s to say, this is a fairly dumb plot. We’re a million miles away from the comparatively deep story of a lonely girl trying to fit in with the crowd; instead, we’re in Pure Id territory, as Gamel just wants to watch people get hit by stuff after watching Momoko throw a shoe at Takeshi. It’s just AGAIN as the A-plot for a toku episode. I didn’t completely hate it, though? There is some legit fun to be had with a million quick edits of extras getting hit in the face with debris, or buckets slammed onto their heads. But it’s not much more than that? It’s supposed to be a distraction from Kazari and Uva’s attack on Ankh, but it takes up the majority of the runtime. The lazy distraction is most of this episode, and that feels… inconsiderate to the audience? The Ankh part is interesting, since it relies on Ankh not having been around for the Leather Guy part of Eiji’s confrontation with Uva in the previous story, but it’s not a plot with a bunch of moves. Uva instantly goes HA HA I’M UVA and then Ankh’s boned. The danger is more intense and personal, but it doesn’t help this episode to have the two dumbest Greeed be the ones directly interacting with our heroes. A JACKPOT: Takeshi’s lottery win, sure, but also A BRAND NEW MEDAL! It’s the Lion head from Latorata/Ratorata (you do you), and its presence here is to blind the enemies with how awesome it is. I mean it makes sense – it’s maybe my favorite combo for OOO, and its head alone is something to stand in awe of. The new Medal allows Eiji to turn the tables on Gamel and his Yummy, sending them scurrying away into the next episode. It’s not a win, but it at least makes the Lion Medal feel advantageous to own. …especially since Ankh is presently being drained of Medals in the B-plot! Which we’ll deal with tomorrow! ![]() |
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#58 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,434
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Quote:
KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 6 - ?FASHION, A CONTRACT, AND THE ULTIMATE COMBO?
But that?s not the point of Fashion in this episode?s title! No, we?re here for the emotional conclusion of Yamano?s story, where an Eiji moral becomes a Hina pep-talk, giving Yamano the support to leave the crutch of materialism behind and embrace her? I guess she?s a baker now? Sure, a baker. Quote:
It?s a good individual lesson for Yamano ? that her need to fit in became a massive obstacle to anyone getting close to her, while also never giving her the tools to face the world ? but it?s a better explanation of how this show doesn?t take an all-or-nothing approach to things like desire. Yamano is always going to care about fashion, but using it to hide away from reality is where it becomes destructive. Excess is the problem, not desire. Eiji?s initial example of Y?know It?s Not Like Money Doesn?t Have Other Uses is a great clarification for this story about rampant spending and materialism, because money as a concept is not the core dilemma here. (Also, this can?t exactly be a condemnation of buying things, because it?s a TV show devoted to selling toys to Japanese children.) Eiji adds some needed nuance, and it allows for a sweeter ending than just making Yamano feel bad about her choices.
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An episode full of choices! Most of this episode?s B-plot is Ankh trying to navigate Kougami?s offer from last time, and a step towards Ankh understanding the value of partnership instead of belligerently ordering someone around. (You can tell he?s open to the possibility, because he pragmatically gives Eiji the TaToBa Medals so that Eiji can?t get ambushed again by the Greeed.) Ankh plans to just murder Kougami and take what he wants, but eventually concedes that a portion of his Medals is worthwhile if the Medal System can make OOO more productive/efficient/mobile/survivable.
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It?s our first Full Combo (or whatever the show termed it; late, exhausted) and I like it pretty good. The stag beetle as the face mask works like a charm, and the multiplication powers are a nicely unique skill for the form. I don?t love that we are AGAIN in a final fight with a computer graphic, but at least the swarm of OOOs against the swarm of Yummies makes a case for it. It?s not my favorite ever ending fight, but it does a decent job of making the new (too powerful) form come off well.
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#59 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,483
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Quote:
Dunno if this feels like rather a bait. Eiji was the one that took Yamano's money earlier, and talks about using it for his livelihood and wanting things not being bad, which have other character being the one to call out a supposed most righteous/virtuous character in them doing something wrong, that Eiji doesn't live up to his vow of helping others in need. With at the end Eiji telling Hina to return the money to Yamano instead.
It's Eiji doing two different things in that scene. First, he's getting a chance to reframe this problem as less about Money and more about Overindulgence; holding onto the money lets him talk about the fact that everyone in society needs at least some money to live, and we all need to survive. Second, he's specifically letting Hina be the one to give the money back to Yamano, since Hina's connection with her is worth more than Eiji's words as a stranger. Long story short, Eiji was never keeping that money. |
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#60 |
Ex-Weather Three leader
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 11,333
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I love how, ignoring the context, Gamel in this picture to me looks like a grongi warrior who decided the hunt is pointless and decided to live as a human and now observes things around him while eating snacks.
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