First Impressions of Kamen Rider OOO (Part 2)

Hey guys. Sorry about the delay on the second part but I’ve been extra busy with the Magiranger video review. It should be uploaded by the time you read this. Go to thegeekfighters.com and check it out. Where were we? Oh yea.

So, what did we learn about the new series last time? We learned that the big bad oni are made of coins/medallions, a drifter with an affinity for boxer shorts is being followed by a disembodied hand, Ankh, and that now our drifter friend Eiji is now a Kamen Rider by circumstance. Kamen Rider OOO did all right for his first fight but what new challenges await our hero? Let’s find out.

(SPOILER ALERT for Episode 2)

Green Peace is really going out of their way
to clean up the Earth.

So our Thing wannabe Ankh has possessed the body of a dying detective and even ripped off Long from Gekiranger’s haircut so yea. And before you make the connection it is NOT the guy who played Long. Everyone (including Yours Truly) has made that mistake but hey, nobody’s perfect. Eiji asks if the detective is okay but Ankh is distracted when a hundred of robotic birds steal the medals from him. Ankh is furious and our mysterious biker friend from before looks on. It seems our friend in the red suit has a stockpile of medals, much like Gaia Memory. A little more foreboding…please.

That reminds me, I forgot to say anything about the song last time. It’s not so bad. It kind of reminds me of my ska days from long ago but I’m not used to a Rider theme being so upbeat. I’m sure it’ll be better when I’ve heard the whole thing. So when Ankh, when not stealing a tasty treat, is expositing about the Core Medals to Eiji and telling him the detective will die if he’s not attached to him after awhile. Seems the Yummy are made of Cell Medals which aren’t as valuable or stable as Core Medals. Yea I don’t get it either.

Meanwhile our Bulk and Skull wannabes from earlier are visited by the Greeed and a new Yummy is released from one of them, I hope these guys don’t become recurring characters, and the rest of the Greeed exposit stuff too. Bored now!! Eiji gets another call on the cell phone he swiped from the detective Ankh possessed. Eiji realizes its Hina, the girl with the freak strength from earlier after getting a pic text from her. Hina is applying for work at some coffee shop/restaurant that will likely become the established meeting place for all characters eventually. Her new boss is um…a cosplayer. Yea, I’m not making this up. We’ve officially descended into madness here folks when the fans are seeping into the media they watch!!

Welcome to Hell. Don't do drugs, kids.

Anyway, Hina gets a call that her brother is missing but never mind that, the Yummy is on the attack, eating money to take on a full form. Ankh hears the Yummy (somehow) and knows it’s attacking. When they finally track it down, Ankh refuses to let Eiji become OOO until the Yummy takes a full form and that way he can obtain medals that way. No full form = no medals. Seems the source of medals is human greed and the more it eats the stronger it gets. That is going to wreck Japan’s economy if that keeps up.

Meanwhile, Mr. Kougami (the guy in red) is going nuts with cake frosting and making an evil speech. Man, what a nut bar. Anyway the Yummy becomes a giant bug (it happens) and Ankh is still refusing to cough up the OOO Driver since he wants it to get bigger and kill more people. Man, this guy makes Momotaros look like a Red Cross worker. Rager would love this guy.

"Yep, I'm a dick-weed. Get used to it."

Eiji AGAIN gets a call from Hina, hoping her brother will pick up as he is still missing. Eiji of course feels bad for Hina and gets a flashback to something bad happening with I’m assuming him crying as a kid. (I hate ominous foreshadowing). Eiji decides to save people on his own, henshined or not. He of course falls off the side of the building but luckily Ankh hand saves him. He decides to stop being a prick and hands over the OOO Driver but Eiji makes him promise to let him transform whenever he wants. So he agrees and Eiji henshins just in time to avoid becoming a red stain on the pavement. Oh but we have a visitor, the mystery biker from before. He gives him a “birthday present”. A cool new sword and a vending machine bike just like his. Wow, the man in red must be bipolar or something. First he’s against him now he’s giving him presents. This is a strange show…

Somewhere, a metrosexual protagonist from a
Final Fantasy game is missing his sword...

So our mystery friend uses a bunch of soda cans that turn into octobots which make a bridge for OOO to drive up and slay the oni while Ankh gobbles up the medals. Our hero puts in the medals into his new sword and uses a cool cutting attack to finish off the giant bug. After that impressive battle, Eiji decides to fake a text to Hina’s cell phone saying that her brother is on a covert mission and sends a pic of his new look (with Ankh possessing him). Seems Eiji dodged a bullet right? Wrong!! Ankh bumps into someone, while wondering why the humans want Cell Medals, and wouldn’t you know it. It’s HINA!!! What are the odds??? Eiji sees this and knows his plan went balls up while Ankh goes in for the kill.

Don't Hug the Reaper!!!

So that was the second episode of Kamen Rider OOO. I’ve got to say it’s not as epic as W but it’s not very impressive on it’s own. I haven’t totally given up on it…yet. Besides, I’m the Toku guy. I don’t just give up on a show just because I hate it (since I can and will review this one day). I am kind of interested to see what new medals OOO will obtain and if the Greeed will ever reclaim their Core Medals. The Ankh possessing a human thing has got me intrigued the most. It’s kind of a throwback to Den-O but the difference is the oni isn’t possessing the main character but rather a random stranger who has family and a life, how will Ankh affect all this?? Time will tell.

Well, that’s my thoughts on Kamen Rider OOO, and until the next big event in Tokusatsu this is your friendly neighborhood EZ Rider. Later.

First Impressions of Kamen Rider OOO (Part 1)

Well guys, it’s that time again. You know that feeling when you go into a show and you have no idea how it’s going to work out? Well that’s my job in a nutshell. I’m not going to lie and say I’m a walking encyclopedia of Tokusatsu and that I’ve seen every shred of it known to man, because if you do that then there’s nothing left to surprise you. Kamen Rider OOO is a show that will surprise you. May not be good surprises but that’s the fun part.

Now before I begin this review I’m recommending you suspend your disbelief a little without totally spacing out. Some people who may see this will never take it seriously. I can name one critic (who will remain nameless). He took one look at this and just gave up on it. So go in with an open mind and let’s get it over with.

(MASSIVE SPOILERS. Read at your own risk.)

Hasn't Amazon sued this guy for
likeness infringement yet?

The first episode begins with coins/medals raining down from on high and then it cuts to a museum where two guards are sneaking around. Seems this Abbot and Costello-like pair are sneaking into this museum to loot it and they won’t get caught since the other guard on duty has been drugged. Suddenly those medals from before gain a life of their own and open the Ark of the Covenant- I mean some ancient relic. Isn’t that how all good Kamen Rider series start? (Kuuga, Agito etc)

Anyway that relic turns into thousands of medals which take forms of evil oni but it’s okay since some SWAT team member riding in on a bike that was once a vending machine (no I’m not kidding) and starts shooting it. Oh wait, here’s a shocker. The bullets don’t work. He contacts the boss and informs them of what happened and this man in the red suit (which I’m sure doesn’t imply any evil intentions) tells him to eliminate them….even though his gun had no effect on them. So what to do you ask? Simple, blow up the building!!! But no big surprise, the oni turn back into their medal form and flee the falling building.

Bulk and Skull were more dignified than these two.

The boss is too busy to help since he’s um…making a birthday cake. Yea… Seems he is celebrating the birth of the so-called Greeed (and no that isn’t a typo, it’s what their called). He even sings Happy Birthday. Wow, even I thought that was out of place. Anyway we finally see our hero awaken when one of the medals hits him in the head, which he thinks is his salary. When he tries to change clothes and go home the walls fall around him and he has no idea what is going on.

We’re introduced to our protagonist during an interview with two detectives. Hino Eiji. He’s a drifter that just started working at the museum. Hmm, a main character with no past, sounds foreboding. While all this is going on we see a disembodied hand crawl out of the wreckage. I would make a Thing joke but, meh, too easy. Cut back to the man in the red suit (I should just call him Lew Siffer) who’s enjoying the cake with his um…I don’t know. Secretary? Wife? Call Girl? They never explain. Anyway it seems he predicted all this happening, yea because that makes all the sense in the world.

Our hero, Ladies and Gentleman.....

The four Greeed oni seem to be incomplete without their Core Medals. Apparently someone named Ankh took them. We later see our hero Eiji wanting to use that red coin he found at a vending machine but it rolls under the machine. A girl named Hina happens along and appears to be able to defy physics by PICKING UP the machine for Eiji but she quickly runs away after seeing that moving hand from before. He takes the medal back or tries to, but Eiji runs in terror.

Meanwhile we see how our monster of the week is created. Try and follow me here. A greeed finds a “greedy “ person (get it?), puts one of those medal coins in them like a vending machine and out comes a mummy-like oni which according to the Greeed was “born from the persons greed”…how subtle. Anyway, after consuming enough jewelry, the mummy turns into a Yummy (and no I have no idea how to pronounce it. I’m assuming it’s like Yami but I could be wrong.)

Poor guy. He must REALLY be craving Mt. Dew Code Red.

Now we cut back to our hero running from the glove of death. Seems this thing came from that relic as well and is revealed to be Ankh, what’s left of him anyway. This mantis-based Yummy is laying waste to everything and even wounds the two detectives from before (one of which will become important later). Ankh decides that Eiji can be of use to him and gives him the seal from the relic, which turns into a henshin belt. Eiji reluctantly agrees and takes the three Core Medals Ankh provides. He uses the O scanner to become Kamen Rider OOO and gains the powers of a Hawk, Tiger, and Grasshopper.

Ankh later gives him a light green Core Medal which swaps out the Tiger power for Mantis power. OOO uses those cool Mantis arm blades to finish off this Yummy with I gotta admit an attack that screams Fang/Joker, but that’s just what hit me when I first saw it. After Eiji beats the Yummy we see Ankh latch on to the passed out detective from before, possessing his body and taking on a new look, and while all this is going on his cell phone is ringing.

I feel bad for the production crew that has
to pick up all those coins off the set.

Are you ready for a twist? Hina, the girl with freakish super strength, is the detective’s sister. If that wasn’t creepy enough, the man in red is doing the birthday thing again. This time, it’s for OOO. Seems he knew about him too somehow. How? Why? We may never know (but I give it 25 episodes, maybe 35, give or take).

So that was the first episode of Kamen Rider OOO. Was it weird? Undeniably! Was it bad? Well it is only the first episode and I am interested to see where it goes. It has that “new to this world” feel of Den-O. Make sure to check out Part 2. This time Ankh really REALLY doesn’t care and Eiji gets a present from an unlikely source.

Until then, Later.