[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

I?ll just mention that here is a female Birth in the S.I.C stories, but it?s Rinko from Wizard. No, I don?t know why.

That's pretty random of them!

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER OOO ALL-STARS - “THE 21 STARS AND CORE MEDALS”, PART 2



Back to the Net Movie mines!

PRESIDENT KOUGAMI’S VIRTUAL NEW EMPLOYEE CEREMONY
I frequently can’t decide if it would be awesome to work at the Kougami Foundation, where Do As Thou Wilt is the whole of the employee handbook, or if I’d feel like I’m only one random Kougami impulse away from being destroyed by a monster… or worse, forced to work alongside Gotou. Hard to say!

WHY IS TATOBA A COMBO
I was honestly thinking about this a couple nights ago, when Eiji was forced to use the Lion Medal after Ankh stole the rest of the Red Medals. Why does TaToBa get a Henshin song when, like, LaToBa doesn’t? While this video doesn’t really answer that question (YOU CAN STILL SING IT!!!), it does point out that the reason TaToBa is not only a sing-along combo but OOO’s base form, is to sell toys. The gimmick only works if you can tell he’s made up of multiple things!

GATAKIRIBA’S SUMMER GLOOMS
But those two appearances are so cool! Quality over quantity!

QUIZ LATORAATAH’S BEAUTIFUL LEGS
Every joke answer about OOO in this sketch – where the abbreviated names come from, what the parts of the suit do – sounds about as credible as the actual answers, which is precisely the right vibe for both Net Movies and this ridiculous franchise as a whole. Jet propulsion from the cheetah spots! Okay, sure!

QUIZ SAGOUZO’S CUNNING
Y’know, it’s a shame that the series never really gave Ankh and Date a story or two together. Ankh’s pretty much just with Eiji for the duration of the show, and his only memorable Birth rivalry is treating Gotou like garbage for laughs. The two characters have exceptional chemistry in these quiz sketches, and I think a two-parter where they need to team up would’ve been an all-time great. Or they’d’ve both died from their overlapping nonsense. One of those!

TAJADOR WAITER AGONY
It’s just a weird sketch that seems overwritten? It’s the four villain Greeed as a family that can’t stop shit-talking Ankh, and then Eiji is Tajador, and then Ankh wants the Greeed thrown out, and then there’s a brawl? Comedy-wise, the only thing I laughed at was this, and I couldn’t stop giggling at it:



QUIZ SLEEP AS SHAUTA
Okay, Bells ignoring the fact that Date’s asleep and just running the game show anyway is the hardest I laughed at this whole series of Net Movies, most of which are very funny. Just Ankh saying his line 80% out of character, then the beat of Bells turning to look at Date, acknowledging it with her body language, and then jumping right into her hosting gig is so goddamn funny to me. More GIFs!



(The rest of it was fine. But that first gag! Brilliant.)

QUIZ WHICH SUBTYPE IS PUTOTYRA?
Sort of nothing to this one. Having PuToTyra rampage to end the sketch is another way of saying they didn’t have a lot of ideas to start with.

MOVIE-ONLY COMBO BURAKAWA PII!
I’m not sure I ever mentioned it, but one of my favorite gags from the Date/Gotou apprenticeship era of the show was how Date would energetically misidentify the animal in the Yummy, and Gotou would give him an immediate deadpan correction. Absolute best use of Gotou in the series, Non-Satonaka Division.

FOURZE SWITCH TEMPTATION
Cute introduction of Fourze! With no dialogue!

119 OOO MARATHON
Good lord! I’m not sure if Eiji’s deserves hazard pay more for the speed at which he had to recite 119 subforms on camera, or for having to wear those tiny shorts. Toei is a villain! Zi-O was right, we need to blow them up!

These were pretty fun! Probably a higher hit-to-miss ratio than the Den-OOO ones?

[Androzani84]

My takeaway from this is that given the stated ages for Uva, Kazari and Gamel, the Ancient OOO reigned circa 1178-1205. If they’d revealed the ages of Ankh and Mezool, I’d have a clearer estimate.

Also, thsi is the one time we see the PuToTyra parts get mismatched, which you can do with the toy. I guess the unique elements to the suit made it a bit impractical as a regular thing? (Shrugs)

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Also, thsi is the one time we see the PuToTyra parts get mismatched, which you can do with the toy. I guess the unique elements to the suit made it a bit impractical as a regular thing? (Shrugs)

Maybe, but it would also be thematically incoherent for the Purple Medals to have sub-forms. Their whole gimmick is being the antithesis of the other Medals: desire versus the absence of desire; matter and antimatter. Putting them together would sort of defeat the purpose of them in the narrative?

[GodSpeedLove]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It is incredibly difficult to take the rest of the Greeed seriously at this point, and I?m glad that the show barely asks us to. The certainty with which they reflexively betray one another is their most prominent attribute, but after 44 episodes it?s sort of becoming their only attribute.

I will say, I may be in the minority here, but this is probably my favorite group of villains in Rider because of how poorly they work together. I really am not a fan of most of the villains in Rider, I feel like every episode is taken up by at least ONE scene of the league of villains talking vaguely in a room about some vague plan that inevitably is just "let's send a monster of the week". I find it incredibly boring, and I never end up caring about any of the villains! At least here they've got their own personalities and interests, albeit a bit repetitive. Anyone else feel the same way? Maybe Rider's heroes are just so lovable any non main characters pale in comparison...

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GodSpeedLove

At least here they've got their own personalities and interests, albeit a bit repetitive. Anyone else feel the same way? Maybe Rider's heroes are just so lovable any non main characters pale in comparison...

So, while I definitely think the Greeed are sort of tipping into Team Rocket territory as we get closer to a conclusion that's far more concerned with the triumvirate of Maki/Ankh/Eiji -- and rightly so -- I also still think the Greeed as a collective are an incredibly enjoyable part of OOO as a series. They each have their own goals, methods, and conflicts with one another, which makes them compelling to watch even when they aren't actively influencing the main story of any particular episode. It's just, boy, I am very glad that we will never have to do another plot where Kazari schemes against the other Greeed, while the other Greeed are scheming against him and each other.

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Maybe, but it would also be thematically incoherent for the Purple Medals to have sub-forms.

Symbolizing this, it'd also be visually incoherent too, since the undersuit for PuToTyra is uniquely silver, bright enough to border on looking white depending on the lighting, which would of course be the exact opposite of the black that ties every other OOO form together.

...I just really love PuToTyra and the Purple Medals in general, by the way? There's plenty more good stuff to say just about the suit, of course (using the winged Ptera as the head to keep some continuity with TaToBa's hawk face, as just one more example), but more than that, I really like how their introduction turns the entire narrative in such a massive way for both the heroes and the villains alike, while placing a particular focus on Eiji as an individual. I think in that sense especially, PuToTyra really puts the final in final form, because its mere existence sort of seems to *urge* the whole story towards its conclusion in a way I find super neat.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I think in that sense especially, PuToTyra really puts the final in final form, because its mere existence sort of seems to *urge* the whole story towards its conclusion in a way I find super neat.

It definitely acts as more of a catalyst for resolution than it does the typical Way To Combat The Villains of another final form suit, yeah.

[Kamen Rider Die]

originally posted on December 9th, 2021, as part of “Kamen Rider Die rewatches Legend Rider projects (and more!)”

KAMEN RIDER OOO WONDERFUL: THE SHOGUN AND THE 21 CORE MEDALS



This is a very sweet film that directly addresses the core (sorry) relationships of the Kamen Rider OOO series… and also a very weird crossover film.

As recent SH Figuarts exhibitions have reminded us: Yes, this film features the star of The Unfettered Shogun, teaming up with a tokusatsu superhero to save Edo-era Japan from a time-traveling alchemist. That’s insane. Imagine if there had been a Power Rangers movie where the Power Rangers had solved the mystery of the villain’s plot thanks to the help of, like, Columbo. Imagine Columbo helping some teens with attitude in the middle act of a summer film. Imagine ten years later, when Hasbro teased Lightning Collection Columbo. Everything I’ve just said is awesome, and ludicrous. AND YET! Toei and Bandai went ahead and did their version of it in 2011, and it’s pretty entertaining.

It’s an entertaining movie, to be sure. There’s a ton of really good fan service in this one. They use GataKiriBa to allow for every single OOO Full Combo to fight side-by-side, and that’s fantastic. There’s a new movie form, the also-recently-offered-as-a-Figuart Burakawani suit. All the villains of the show make both in-suit and out-of-suit appearances. All the heroes take part in the narrative. It’s an All Hands movie.

I’m not sure it really hits any huge heights, though. Everything’s there, and there’s nothing I’d really crab about (well, one thing), but it’s still a very Three Out Of Four Stars movie. Solid, fun, but still sort of forgettable. There’s the one theme, and it’s one I really like, but it’s somehow also one that gets wrapped up midway through the film?

Using the OOO Summer Movie to tell a story about how the people we love can love us back while still sort of being forgettable/inconsiderate/raging assholes, that’s a great OOO theme. It uses the whole Hina/Ankh relationship as a metaphor for trying to make things work with the people in our lives, even if we end up having to do more of the work than they do. Hina’s in a situation where her brother literally has an exterior that is callous and insensitive (Ankh! At some very high levels of Ankholishness this time out! Entertainingly so!), while having an interior that’s thoughtful and caring. That’s Shun’s story, to a less horrific degree. His mom isn’t around as much as he’d like, and he resents her for it. But she’s trying, and she loves him, so maybe he can try to meet her more than halfway. It’s a little more nuanced than the typical Your Parents Are Owed Your Love And Respect No Matter What lesson some recent Kamen Rider movies have foisted on us, and I’m glad for the thoughtfulness Kobayashi brings to the material. Shun’s right to feel like he should matter more, but maybe he can also cut a working mom some slack when she makes an effort.

It all gets wrapped up in a movie that leans on the societal version of family, of all of us supporting each other, but I feel like the emotional component of the movie peaked when Eiji was there for Shun, not when Eiji defeated Bells or when OOO defeated Gara. Everything after Eiji and Shun share that nighttime snack… it was good, but it wasn’t as good.

But this movie was more than just new forms and classic TV actors! We also need to talk about the appearance of a Kamen Rider actor beloved by fans, an actor whose charisma helped unite a sprawling cast of young adults…



Kaido! (“KAIDO”) Yup, Kaido’s actor makes a brief, welcome appearance as -- what else -- a guitarist whose life gets significantly worse. I can’t imagine why Kaido got cast in a tiny role in a non-Inoue film, but I’m totally grateful for it.

Anyway, there’s also this guy:



Kamen Rider Fourze! Who matches the screwball energy of Kamen Rider OOO so perfectly, that it reminded me why W/OOO/Fourze (“WOOOF”) is maybe my favorite streak of series in the franchise. Like, Fourze feels like an evolution of what Heisei Phase 2 was trying to do, not a pivot away from it or a boring retread. It’s taking the Feuding Superhero Dynamic of Ankh and Eiji, but blowing it up to a whole roster of teen archetypes. It’s a lead character who is open and generous, who is living Eiji’s previous sentiment that Riders Should Help Each Other. Everything about Fourze’s slapstick sequence in this film is adorable, and it’s a terrific introduction to one of my favorite lead actors.

Which is not to take away from the OOO team, of course. There’s some stuff that feels a little tacked on here (I don’t… I’m not sure why the cast needed to spend the middle third in an Edo-era crossover?), but it’s still a pleasant viewing experience at worst. I don’t love this movie, but I had a fun time watching it.

I feel like I’ve said that before! And I’ll probably be saying it again!




—

SAYING IT AGAIN



…I don’t really have anything else to say? Everything I said four years ago holds up: the moral of letting people show you how they feel when they can’t say it right is a very sweet thing to build a movie around, it’s still baffling that The Unfettered Shogun is such a prominent guest star, the whole trip to the Edo period to facilitate his appearance feels random and perfunctory at the same time (it never really feels like it pushes the movie forward?), and it all adds up to a movie that is a pleasant enough big-screen version of the central themes and iconography of OOO. (Hands reaching out! Possessions! Ice cream!) It’s Movie OOO, and it’s pretty good at that two-word mandate.

[Switchblade]

Nothing says early 2010s Kamen Rider movie like Toei finding an excuse to use the Edo set.

My own rewatch is lagging a little behind and I'm not sure I'll do this movie anyway, but one thing that I always note about watching these summer movies again is that I never remember that the next guy debuts partway through the film. There's always that one moment where there's a monster in the way and all of a sudden the new dude shows up. It's especially weird since the movie's fansubs were coming out about six months into the new show's run and this beta version of the Rider feels just a little off the mark.

With this film, my two biggest memories are 1) wanting to see the new form debut so I could learn what its jingle sounds like and 2) Toei reusing the big chunk of city flipping over effect in the Ex-Aid/Build team-up (which I want to say is the one that also featured OOO and Fourze).