[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 10 - “FISTS, EXPERIMENTATIONS, AND A SUPER BIKE”



FISTS:
We haven’t really seen Eiji lose his cool so far in the series. He’s generally shown to be laid back, occasionally melancholy, and frequently frustrated. (Ankh, for that last one, 1000%.) But we haven’t seen Eiji really lose it on anyone, especially to the point of throwing a punch.

And, y’know, he still doesn’t really hurt anyone; he’s still not that guy. His punch into the wall is just his way of showing Doctor Maki the depth of his misconception about Eiji’s easy-going demeanor. Eiji’s an easy-going guy because he likes people, and he likes spending time with them. Eiji’s upbeat because it makes him happy to get to know people, to bring them into his life. As a result, the only true enemy a guy like that could have is someone for whom life is merely an obstacle to a useful death.

Eiji’s only real enemy could be a guy like Maki.

EXPERIMENTATIONS:
He’s a good one, as far as natural nemeses go. The Greeed exist on an almost metaphorical or psychological level – their role is as unknowable avatars of humanity’s worst impulses. Kougami’s an interesting option for an adversary, but he’s more someone that believes in wondrous possibilities so much that he wants to drag everyone into his bright future with his own two hands; he’s a dangerous zealot, but his goal seems optimistic.

Maki’s a different breed. He’s the inverse of Kougami – where Kougami celebrates birthdays as the hope for something new, Maki thinks of beginnings as less relevant than endings. For Maki, a life is just an unfinished story, and unfinished stories aren’t worth reading. He’s the natural enemy of a guy who won’t stop reaching out to people: a guy who thinks reaching out is robbing lives of significance.

All of that maybe sounds layered and intense, but the performance is a nice balance of foreboding and goddamn ridiculous. Maki’s a cold, unfeeling scientist with a puppet on his arm, and its the only thing Maki makes eye contact with when he talks. As potential archenemies go, he’s a little hard to take seriously. But he’s operating in the right register for this show, and his idiosyncrasies slot in nicely with Benevolent Yet Shady Birthday-Obsessed Industrialist and Ice Cream-Addicted Sneering Bird Man. Maki’s weird, but weird in a way that’s creepier than the other two forces in Eiji’s life that seem to treat human life as fungible.

Kougami has had employees die due to his schemes, but it never feels like the lives are lost intentionally. Ankh has loudly opted to not help people who need it, and argued that some Yummy victims did it to themselves, but he hasn’t yet crossed a line and intentionally endangered someone irrevocably. (I mean, besides Shingo, continuously.) (Unless I’ve forgotten someone? Maybe!) With Maki, he’s a guy that's willing to sacrifice anyone and everyone in order to further his goals, because people dying is inevitable and natural. Sure, maybe not by the hands of shark monsters, but what’s the difference?

AND A SUPER BIKE:
Plus, when he gets all the data he needs, he’s fine with supplying OOO with new Medal System tech to clean up the mess. Like a new Toridevendor!

I admit, I completely forgot about this bike upgrade. When I saw “AND A SUPER BIKE” in the title, I was like, What? Does it fly or something? Was that a thing it could do? After seeing the Candroid-assisted form change, I still have zero recollection of this thing. I can only assume it shows up just a couple times more. (It feels like a Cat Combo bike, and I don’t think we get a ton more Cat Combo stories.) It’s a CG creation, and that means I’m almost immediately checked out on it. It’s fine. The rule with Mezool conclusions seems to be that OOO has to summon a new CG power to defeat the hordes of creatures, and this one’s a Cat Bike.

Knowing that one of the powers of the Toridevendor is that it can better harness the power of the Cat Combo to lessen the strain on Eiji, it actually makes sense that the show debuted the Cat Combo in the previous episode, because the With Bike part is its final form. I don’t love it, ‘cause I don’t love that CG bike, but it makes more sense.

Not really a huge episode for the Greeed (Mezool, Uva, and Gamel never even leave their base, Kazari is totally MIA) or the Yummy victim (he’s an evil mad bomber what bombs at daylight, the end) or even Ankh (a floating hand that says My Actor Was Needed Elsewhere This Week), but a great episode for giving Eiji an opponent that challenges his view of the preciousness of human life.

[Androzani84]

Honestly, I like the idea of the bike combining with the Tora Can to give a Latoratah themed alternate form. I kind of wish it had been more of a feature, with each form getting its own variant, similar to how Kabuto’s bike had a Cast Off function, or Den-O having multiple DenLiner carriages for every form.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Honestly, I like the idea of the bike combining with the Tora Can to give a Latoratah themed alternate form. I kind of wish it had been more of a feature, with each form getting its own variant, similar to how Kabuto?s bike had a Cast Off function, or Den-O having multiple DenLiner carriages for every form.

It would've been neat as a recurring feature, yeah.

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 10 - “FISTS, EXPERIMENTATIONS, AND A SUPER BIKE”

And, y’know, he still doesn’t really hurt anyone; he’s still not that guy. His punch into the wall is just his way of showing Doctor Maki the depth of his misconception about Eiji’s easy-going demeanor. Eiji’s an easy-going guy because he likes people, and he likes spending time with them. Eiji’s upbeat because it makes him happy to get to know people, to bring them into his life. As a result, the only true enemy a guy like that could have is someone for whom life is merely an obstacle to a useful death.

The OOO's take of moments like Yuusuke being mad at Jaraji, Kouta being mad at Redyue, Sento being mad at EVOLTOOO, or Ikki being mad at Orteca. Guess it won't be a spoiler anymore to bring about this up; now it's the debut of the main antagonist of OOO. Though for this episode, Maki's rather like a more extreme version of Ankh, someone who doesn't care about the casualties, but is a help to OOO for now, like Ankh as well as Kougami, in him giving OOO the Toride Vendor. Eiji also deals with PTSD, having intense feelings where he feels like he's on the situation where the little girl he befriended got killed by bombings when defusing them, shaking hands while doing so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Kougami has had employees die due to his schemes, but it never feels like the lives are lost intentionally. Ankh has loudly opted to not help people who need it, and argued that some Yummy victims did it to themselves, but he hasn’t yet crossed a line and intentionally endangered someone irrevocably. (I mean, besides Shingo, continuously.) (Unless I’ve forgotten someone? Maybe!) With Maki, he’s a guy that's willing to sacrifice anyone and everyone in order to further his goals, because people dying is inevitable and natural. Sure, maybe not by the hands of shark monsters, but what’s the difference?

And for Ankh not crossing a line, Eiji may play a part on it, in how he's not exactly controlled by Ankh, he can gain an upper hand to him as Ankh depends on him. If not, then Ankh probably would've murdered Hina or being responsible to more deaths of people by preventing Eiji from intervening; I mean Maki doesn't directly murder people either in letting the Yummy attack the researchers. It's not on Ankh, but the external factors preventing damages to take place, people like Kaito/Baron had no bodycounts thanks to Kouta defeating him, but he attempted genocide. The external factor is the heroes' complete victory, or specifically stopping the damage completely rather than mitigating it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Not really a huge episode for the Greeed (Mezool, Uva, and Gamel never even leave their base, Kazari is totally MIA) or the Yummy victim (he’s an evil mad bomber what bombs at daylight, the end) or even Ankh (a floating hand that says My Actor Was Needed Elsewhere This Week), but a great episode for giving Eiji an opponent that challenges his view of the preciousness of human life.

This as well as the previous episode displays the Greeed in a more vulnerable and sympathetic manner in them showing genuine care for each other, or specifically Mezool as their mother figure.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

This as well as the previous episode displays the Greeed in a more vulnerable and sympathetic manner in them showing genuine care for each other, or specifically Mezool as their mother figure.

Pretty much just Gamel (Uva's just sort of pissed that Ankh and OOO are getting in the Greeed's way again, I'm not sure he cares about Mezool as more than a teammate) but yeah, there's a culture to the Greeed that helps them be more than just maniacal antagonists or genocidal warlords.

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 11 - “A TRAVELER, A BUTTERFLY, AND A CELEBRITY”



A TRAVELER:
This is pretty much what I think of when I think of OOO episodes. This format, this structure. A person is letting their desires run amok, there’s a monster running loose facilitating it, and eventually someone learns a lesson about jealousy/gluttony/wrath/lust/etc. It’s a solid template, even if this episode isn’t its best representation.

Like, we’re just in a Professional Jealousy story, across a couple different threads. Tsukuba is trying to become a famous travel blogger, while Gotou is desperate to prove that a lack of charisma and an extra large rocket launcher can let him surpass OOO. (I don’t… remember Gotou’s performance being this wooden and unconvincing? He’s a pretty bad actor in this episode, never quite letting his semi-reasonable objections to Eiji’s primacy come across as anything more serious than pissy whining.) Both Tsukuba and Gotou chafe against the limits of their skills, hoping for a combination of bad luck for their rivals and good luck for themselves to show the world their capabilities. But they both sort of suck?

Tsukaba’s the harder one to assess, since we a) never really see much of his writing and b) probably couldn’t tell the difference between Good Travel Blogging and Bad Travel Blogging. But I think we’ve all felt a mixture of seething resentment at out contributions going unappreciated, and a desire to have the secret sauce that makes someone else better than us. It’s relatable, his mystification at his own irrelevance.

Gotou, on the other hand, is way way way easier to assess: he’s just a skinny dude trying to fight desire monsters, and he’s 100% going to get his ass kicked. We’ve never seen Gotou be anything greater than a delivery boy for OOO, and that’s not going to change just because he brought a rocket launcher. (Which: he brought a rocket launcher.) There’s a desire in Gotou to not just be a hero, but to save the world. It’s a hilariously high-minded goal, especially in comparison to Eiji’s more grounded hope to just help out if there’s danger. But Gotou’s animating principle is exactly the sort of ridiculous concept that’s prone to overdoing it – where Eiji can keep perspective by protecting people in immediate danger, Gotou always needs to be doing more.

It’s a problem he shares with Tsukuba, how an act isn’t important unless it’s bigger, better, more recognized. Tsukaba enjoyed his life as a traveler, but he let Being The Best Blogger compromise that happiness and endanger others. Gotou’s a solid helper, but his need to outshine OOO, uh, sort of got OOO blown up?

A BUTTERFLY:
The Yummy this time out is one of Uva’s, and it’s a butterfly. (Surprise!) I liked the suit, even if the monster plot was maybe the weakest part of this episode.

It’s not a very interesting sequence of events. It’s the monster going out and assaulting one of Tsukuba’s professional rivals (even if the rivals don’t even know Tsukuba exists), stealing their creativity, pollinating it (?) to Tsukuba, and then repeating it a couple scenes later with some other guy. It’s easy to follow, but sort of boring to think about. OOO only gets there after the Butterfly Yummy has accomplished its goal, and the first person to clock that Tsukuba has been changing is Hina, about two minutes before the cliffhanger. Once the Yummy comes in, OOO just plays catch-up for the rest of the episode, and it’s sort of boring.

The one hiccup is Gamel showing up, but that scene actually doesn’t make a ton of sense? Ankh says that they don’t have time to fight Gamel, tosses Eiji the Core Medals, Eiji loses Mezool’s Core Medals, then Eiji’s like We Don’t Have Time To Fight Gamel, and splits to take care of the Yummy. It’s a scene that only exists so OOO can lose the Core Medals Ankh snagged from Mezool two episodes ago, all without Eiji ever using them or Gamel being involved with this plot. It’s a weird scene, because it requires Eiji to pause for a fight that he doesn’t want to be in just long enough to lose something he never used. It’s weird! It doesn’t make sense!

AND A CELEBRITY:
Beyond maybe referencing all of the fictional celebrity bloggers in this one, and therefore Tsukuba’s jealousy of them, I can’t imagine what else this is in reference to. I mean, other than Tsukuba’s actor appearing in the most glorious Kabuto episodes of all time: The Dark Chef two-parter.

It can’t be anything else!

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER OOO EPISODE 11 - “A TRAVELER, A BUTTERFLY, AND A CELEBRITY”

This is pretty much what I think of when I think of OOO episodes. This format, this structure. A person is letting their desires run amok, there’s a monster running loose facilitating it, and eventually someone learns a lesson about jealousy/gluttony/wrath/lust/etc. It’s a solid template, even if this episode isn’t its best representation.

This'd be depicted by type of people like KR fanbase as how having a desire is bad, and the ideal way is to become like Eiji, that you have to throw away all your desires, thus you are free from any corruption, and that there's nothing blocking you from helping others because you won't be distracted in going after personal gain or even sacrificing yourself for the greater good. Having desire would be considered as dark trait of humans like their irrationality or biased judgments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Tsukaba’s the harder one to assess, since we a) never really see much of his writing and b) probably couldn’t tell the difference between Good Travel Blogging and Bad Travel Blogging. But I think we’ve all felt a mixture of seething resentment at out contributions going unappreciated, and a desire to have the secret sauce that makes someone else better than us. It’s relatable, his mystification at his own irrelevance.

Guess regardless of the quality of his writing, I do find relation to Tsukuba's issues.... including about posting in Tokunation . Being less popular, unappreciated, or outshined, isn't necessarily about their quality/capability, but there can be many other factors. Like how most popular media aren't necessarily the best or most perfect/flawless thing, there are many medias that don't reach widespread recognition, but their fans feel those medias are better than the mainstream ones, at least becoming a cult classic. For this episode, Tsukuba's solution via the Yummy is purely to copy said more popular stuff, dunno if the lesson'd be to be yourself and maximize your own appeal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Gotou, on the other hand, is way way way easier to assess: he’s just a skinny dude trying to fight desire monsters, and he’s 100% going to get his ass kicked. We’ve never seen Gotou be anything greater than a delivery boy for OOO, and that’s not going to change just because he brought a rocket launcher. (Which: he brought a rocket launcher.) There’s a desire in Gotou to not just be a hero, but to save the world. It’s a hilariously high-minded goal, especially in comparison to Eiji’s more grounded hope to just help out if there’s danger. But Gotou’s animating principle is exactly the sort of ridiculous concept that’s prone to overdoing it – where Eiji can keep perspective by protecting people in immediate danger, Gotou always needs to be doing more.

Goto seems to be the closest to the usual, standoffish secondary Rider trope in OOO, to look down on the lead Rider and his mindset/worldview as naive or irresponsible and viewing himself as the superior candidate for the Rider. Goto hopes he's the one assigned to henshin as OOO, rather than Eiji. Feels that Goto just looks down on Eiji's easy-going and carefree attitude (like Ankh) rather than acting like a trained, hardened rigid professional like him. Eiji'd want to save the world too, if he's capable to, he'd help regardless of the danger scale. Though Goto doesn't intentionally ruin/sabotage Eiji's fight, it's still a flaw of him that results in him accidentally shooting OOO.

[Androzani84]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I mean, other than Tsukaba?s actor appearing in the most glorious Kabuto episodes of all time: The Dark Chef two-parter.

Well this greatly shortens the amount of work I put into my feature by about a third, so thanks for that.

Special Guest Alert

Shinnosuke Abe, playing our Yummy victim of the fortnight, aside from the antagonist of the Dark Kitchen arc, was also Kiba?s cousin who his girlfriend was cheating on him with in Faiz?s opening two parter. Outside of Rider, his most notable role is Impactor Logia, the rival from Chouseishin Gransazer.

As for the episode, it?s our first episode by another writer, namely our old hit or miss friend Yonemura. I remember that both Kurona and Fish were surprised this was a Yonemura episode? until the latter brought up the Gotou with a bazooka screenshot and could instantly see it.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

Guess regardless of the quality of his writing, I do find relation to Tsukuba's issues.... including about posting in Tokunation . Being less popular, unappreciated, or outshined, isn't necessarily about their quality/capability, but there can be many other factors.

I think a topic this episode's circling for Tsukaba is the experiences of travel and work of writing can and should be their own reward; people's perception of you and the associated fame (or lack thereof) shouldn't be the goal when you're expressing yourself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

As for the episode, it?s our first episode by another writer, namely our old hit or miss friend Yonemura.

That explains why this one seems like it's a draft away from being really good! (ESPECIALLY in looping Eiji into Tsukaba's story more.) The Tsukaba idea is well-suited to this show, but it lacks the focus and tight pacing that makes the rest of this series so fun.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The one hiccup is Gamel showing up, but that scene actually doesn?t make a ton of sense? Ankh says that they don?t have time to fight Gamel, tosses Eiji the Core Medals, Eiji loses Mezool?s Core Medals, then Eiji?s like We Don?t Have Time To Fight Gamel, and splits to take care of the Yummy. It?s a scene that only exists so OOO can lose the Core Medals Ankh snagged from Mezool two episodes ago, all without Eiji ever using them or Gamel being involved with this plot. It?s a weird scene, because it requires Eiji to pause for a fight that he doesn?t want to be in just long enough to lose something he never used. It?s weird! It doesn?t make sense!

It also helps eat up screen time to help make sure the plot fills two full episodes. I like to call that "Mashin Chaser-ing."

I know that we try to avoid covering future plot developments in the discussion, but it's really interesting to see these last few episodes starting to push more development for Gotou. We're getting close to the winter movie and, with it, the standard debut time for the show's secondary Rider in this era. We're starting to get more insights into Gotou and his dissatisfaction with Eiji, Cake Boss, and the whole OOO status quo. It's really hard not to get the sense that we're building up to Gotou... how do I put this vaguely... doing something other than being someone else's assistant for over half the series.