I enjoyed 19 and 20 as a whole a lot more than the two previous episodes. There’s quite a forward momentum to the story, and the story touches at one point or another on most of the key players (and someone who has not been a key player gets a great little moment too).
Read more “Kamen Rider OOO 19-20: bromances, badass chicks, escaped convicts and and peacocks”
If Kamen Rider OOO‘s episode 15 was about advancing the plot, episode 16 is about both that and also about advancing the mythology and the ideas behind the story.
Read more “OOO 16: Desire drives the wheel of life. No, really.”
The Yummy from these episodes was spawned by a gifted surgeon who wasn’t being allowed to do surgeries. Her pride led to Cazali using her to create a Yummy, and really, the point of these two episodes is about pride… or excess pride, rather.
1. Ankh is being pwned by both Hina and Chiyoko, in very different ways. And by Satonaka, actually. So basically by any woman he meets.
2. Like I already posted, Eiji and Hina are adorable together. Him being instinctively protective of her is cute, obviously, but there’s also the way she’s coming to understand him, in particular how she realizes that Eiji is the man he is because of what happened in the village. And because of it, there’s understanding and support growing there… it reminds me a little of Natsumi and Tsukasa before Hibiki world, before Yonemura made her more damsel in distress than supportive friend and partner.
Read more “OOO eps 9-10: In which we find out Eiji’s backstory in full”
So I’m thinking I’ve reached the point in OOO in which it hits its stride and characters and dynamics start to get interesting.
I still don’t really OOO‘s various suit designs, I’m not really into the whole props during battle aspect of the action (particularly the mantis appendages/weapons), but the underlying Buddhist theme makes it very interesting, Hino Eiji is quite likable, Ankh is fascinating, and at this point characters I knew I’d like are starting to get more screentime… and characters I didn’t expect to care much about one way or the other have snuck up on me.
And so, Kamen Rider OOO catch-up begins!
I’d actually already watched episode 4, but never posted about it/kind of forgot, so I rewatched. Very quick thoughts to follow, mostly it basically goes back to what episode 3 had already touched on:
1. Humans beings are consumed by their desires… or are they? Ankh tells Eiji that this is the reason that it’s not worth it to save them. Eiji believes that humans can overcome those desires, but even if they can’t, it’s not his place to judge:
Eiji: I don’t get to decide someone else’s worth.
Ankh: Well, I do.
2. Better the devil you know. Ankh would rather by annoyed than humans (Eiji) than betrayed by Greed (Kazari)… even though Eiji tells him, again, that the first chance he gets he’ll defeat him and save Hina’s brother. I suppose the difference is that Eiji is being upfront about it. Just like he’s told Eiji upfront that the minute he thinks Eiji has become useless, he’ll “get rid” of him.
3. And again, why Eiji does what he does…
I’m not a nice guy at all. (…) I reach out to help because I don’t want to feel (regret). That’s all.
No computer, can’t watch stuff as often as I’d like, much less blog, yada yada yada. But I did catch up on last week’s Os!
The episode starts off where ep 2 left off, with Ankh encountering Hina, who is the younger sister of the cop whose body he’s taken over. The little encounter serves to drive home, again, just how inhuman Ankh is. He basically coldly considers the situation, accessing the cop’s memories of his sister to figure out why she’s run to hug him, and once he understands their relationship, determines that because she cares for his brother, she will be in the way and the easiest thing will be to kill her and be rid of her. Eiji tries to stop him, and the point is made that without the belt, Eiji doesn’t stand a chance, and would be unable to stop Ankh from doing anything he pleases. So he uses his only leverage, which is to threaten to throw the belt in the river, which effectively stops Ankh from killing Hina.
So once again, the pull and push between Eiji and Ankh is brought to the spotlight, and this conflict is clearly going to be the central focus of the series… at least until Ankh starts developing more of a conscience. Which I am assuming will happen at some point. And again, I really like this dynamic.