Review: Kamen Rider OOO

This is the second Kamen Rider series I’ve ever completed, after Fourze - and it might probably be the last. Mind you I’ve never been a KR fan, nor have I become one after seeing OOO and Fourze. I did watch a few episodes of Kabuto, W and Wizard but I wasn't really impressed. This might be the only KR I like very much... and n-no it's like I love it because there are ikemens!

fanart does not belong to me

So I was first introduced to OOO when I visited a Reppu_kiri's house during Eid festives, and part of our gang was there. He imprisoned us in his otaku room and forced us to watch a few tokusatsu series. He showed us the movie where W, OOO and Fourze teams up and there are the first 7 riders as cameo. Taichou skipped the parts where I am not familiar with, so it was later I got struck by a cupid’s arrow seeing how stupidly angelic Eiji Hino looks when he invites Gentarou Kisaragi (Fourze) to team up.

To be honest I LOL’d at the funny song when he henshins. But what made me attracted to watch OOO is where he spawns clones in his Gatakiriba combo.

My first impression of OOO is… well…

First I was mesmerized by the opera version of the “Happy Birthday” song.

Secondly, halfnaked protagonist.

Thirdly, the main girl isn’t annoying.

This is the best introduction episode I've ever seen in my whole life.

Then I kept watching mainly because I was attracted to the OST and then… there’s Ankh (the red bird guy who likes icecandy). Plus there are the eccentric characters like Kougami (aka cakeboss), Chiyoko (restaurant owner of a cultural restaurant) and Dr. Maki (the doll-freak). Not to forget the bromantic Kamen Rider Birth team; Date Akira and Gotou Shinjurou. However, the main villains called GREED, in spite of being 800 years old are literally like kindergarden kids. But they can be pretty cute, especially Ankh who's very much fascinated by human technology.

zomg coolest human invention evarrrrr

In spite of the typically childish monsters, and lame SFX, the story proved to have a deeeeeeeeeeeep message wrapped around it. Some parts were kinda predictable, but that didn’t matter cos the way it’s presented is rather intriguing. It teaches you how your selfish desires could bring harm to those around you… and OOO takes it too literally and exaggerated it. On the other hand, Eiji and Hina (the not irritating girl with some kind of brother complex) believes that it’s okay to have desires, but it depends on how you make use of it or something like that. So they don't spread the message that we should all become moralfaggots.

They should get married, you know, but I’d think that it’ll make OOO too cheesy if there’s too much romantic stuff. I mean, it’s a children’s show to begin with, ne?

Personally, it’s the crapload of bromance is what made me hooked. It’s what W failed to do (Phillip looks too girly to me o__o|ll and the female assistant is an eyesore ). Other than that, there’s the COMBO THEME SONGS which excites me whenever Eiji does the combo henshin thingy.

I love the songs so much I listen to them everyday~

Review: Kamen Rider Fourze

There is a movie I would like to review, but I figured that I should review this one first.

I've never been a Kamen Rider fan, then deady forced me to watch Fourze. so I was like.... okay I'll just give it a shot.

First 10 or 20 episodes annoyed me a lot, because the Kamen Rider dude, Kisaragi Gentarou is too naive and too idealistic. But it got better when the rival, aka the second rider (Kamen Rider Meteor/Ryusei) comes in, because he has the 'darkness within'.

Kamen Rider Fourze is set in high school and the theme is SPACE, and the villains are the astrogoligal signs (Scorpio, Pisces, Aquarius etc). Most of the characters attend Amanogawa High School, which I think was meant for kids to win free tickets to become astronauts. But then there's an ulterior motives behind the existence of the school, of which you should see it for yourself why. And more importantly, rather than space... the real main theme of this show is...

~FRIENDSHIP~

Now I'm not gonna bother summarizing everything, cos it's a 48 episodes show. Too much to rant about. Basically it's the same ol good vs evil thing. And since it's about friendship, most of the time you deal with how to make friends; how socially awkward, freaks and popular kids can form a gang (they have the Kamen Rider Club), and also how you'd deal with backstabbers and power hungry adults. Each of the characters and villains, as well as their minions have their own unique backstory. Gentarou would always be there to fix your problems (and in the end we don't know his very own backstory). Gentarou is like the prophet of friendship-ism, as he did not care what kind of people he befriends. His goal is to make 1000 number of friends. The more antisocial you are the more attracted he is to you, apparently. He doesn't care if you're annoyed with him, he meddles, but that's just him. Sometimes I wonder if he's realy human cos he's all genki and optimistic. It's damn difficult to see him sad and depressed.

We all could wish to have Gentarou as a bff. But rather than thinking that way, why not adapt Gentarou's attitude? :3

Speaking of good vs evil, Fourze has an interesting way to defeat the final boss. And I really mean it. I think it was touching, and not every kid's show dare doing this.

As one of the characters said, "do not hate [the villain], pity him instead". And yeah he has a point. So here's a little bit of spoiler:
Instead of revenge the kids all thanked the final boss for giving them a wonderful school life, while Fourze beat the crap out of him. And no not sarcastically. They were very honest. In the end the final boss softened... because, of course, the bad guy is not that evil after all!

I am also aware that the recent Kamen Riders would have a lot of power ups around their belt. However Fourze's switches look rather childish that it's hard to take seriously. And how do you scientifically create/invent the switches anyway? Uh... I guess I shouldn't ask much knowing Utahoshi Kengo's... true identity.

it's a tap!!

When I watched the first ten episodes I thought, yeah, this show really is for kids.
But then, I kinda wished that this show existed like 10 years ago, as I think back then i really need to understand the true meaning of friendship. Since I can't turn back time, well, I think this will be one of the shows I would show to my future vienspawns, or maybe young apprentices.

Tthe great thing about this show is that you don't have to bother about romance much. While there are a few hints about love, but the POWER OF FRIENDSHIP conquers everything.

You'd also learn that you shouldn't entirely hate the 'bad guy'. There must be a reason he's causing chaos and all. He probably lost sight of himself, or other people. Sometimes the adults need younger people to remind them of what they used to be, and what went wrong with them. Ah well, I think adults should watch this too. Again, yeah I think it's too idealistic even for a fictional show but hey... we need good examples for our lives.

Happy Graduation Day! Thank you for the entertaining show!