- Change that future yourself
ORK (オーク Ōku) is an independently-created Tokusatsu short film by ORK Project. This 45-minute video was filmed entirely on iPhone, and was released on YouTube on January 29, 2023.
The story follows a socially withdrawn art student named Takumi Kijima, who's still reluctant to open up to other people since his parents died. One day, Takumi obtains a strange stone that allows him to see visions of the future. In one vision, Takumi sees his childhood friend and classmate Nozomi Shirai being killed by a mysterious red figure named "Gowm". Unwilling to let that come to pass, Takumi uses the stone to become "Ork", an equally mysterious yellow figure, in order to fight Gowm and protect Nozomi.
The movie can be viewed here
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Tropes present in this film:
- All for Nothing: The witch reveals at the climax of the movie that Nozomi has been dead since before the start of the film. The witch had actually been pretending to be Nozomi throughout the film as part of her plan to goad the two men into fighting each other to the death, purely for her own amusement. This nearly breaks Takumi when he finds out, but Gomon's own Heel–Face Turn turns things around.
- Animal Motifs: Ork and Gowm both look vaguely froglike. More specifically, they appear to be themed after Poison Dart Frogs, since their colors are bright yellow and red respectively with black accents.
- Anti-Villain: Gomon. His actions are spurred by the hope that he can bring his wife back to life.
- Back from the Dead: The purpose of the witch's new spell is to return someone to life by sacrificing another using the Ork and Gown Stones. Gomon wants to get his wife Yumi back, and is initially willing to sacrifice Nozomi to do it. However, when the witch poisons him for daring to defy her, Gomon decides to revive the real Nozomi by using the witch, knowing that he and Yumi will be Together in Death. As a result, Nozomi is brought back to life.
- Big Bad: The witch in black, who gave both Takumi and Gomon the Ork and Gowm Stones respectively.
- Bittersweet Ending: In the end Takumi succeeds in saving Nozomi with a bit of help from Gomon, and the witch is seemingly gone for good; but the witch's doll familiar is still out there, and Gomon is dead, though at least he was reunited with Yumi in the afterlife. As the students both return to school, Nozomi remarks that Takumi has become more confident now than when she last remembered him.
- Break Them by Talking: The witch inflicts this on Takumi, even using Nozomi's form to do it. It nearly works.
- Damsel in Distress: This is basically Nozomi's only role since the central conflict is about Takumi trying to protect her from being used a sacrifice by Gowm. Naturally the witch is invoking this trope deliberately. Yumi can arguably be considered one too, but it's justified considering she's dead. But then, so is Nozomi.
- Establishing Character Moment: The shopping center incident illustrates the three human characters by their actions alone: Nozomi immediately goes to talk the suicidal man down; Takumi is hesitant, immediately looking to an adult for help; and Ryo Gomon, whom Takumi goes to, doesn't budge, apathetic to the situation. Played With in "Nozomi's" case, since the real Nozomi is dead.
- Equivalent Exchange: If the two stones held by Gowm and Ork are brought together during a special ritual, they can be used to sacrifice one person in exchange for resurrecting another. For that reason Gowm wants to take Ork's stone from Takumi and kidnap Nozomi to use as a sacrifice to bring back Yumi.
- Foreshadowing: At the start of the movie, Takumi complains that Nozomi has been acting more outgoing, when she's usually more shy and reserved. Later, shortly before his second fight with Gowm, he hears Nozomi calling for help even though she's whispering when she was begging for Takumi to come save her after being cornered by Gowm and he was far away from where they were at the time. Both of these hint at the fact that "Nozomi" is not the real Nozomi.
- Heroic Sacrifice: At the end of the film, Gowm turns on the witch, but is immediately fatally poisoned by her in retaliation. He then decides to use his last moments to help Ork defeat the witch in battle and sacrifice her in the resurrection ritual to bring Nozomi back instead of Yumi.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Gomon's stated reason for helping Takumi resurrect Nozomi instead of Yumi is because the witch poisoning him meant that if he did resurrect Yumi, she would be all alone. The witch was also the one who taught Gomon how to perform the resurrection ritual, which he would then use against her in the final battle.
- Large Ham: The witch makes a dramatic deal out of telling Takumi about the Ork Stone he acquires.
- The Lost Lenore: Gomon's motivation for fighting as Gowm is to resurrect his wife Yumi, who died in an act of senseless violence.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Why Ryo Gomon refuses to help anyone. Gomon's naïve attempt to make a violent man reconsider his options failed, and his wife Yumi pushed him out of the way just as the culprit attacked again, killing her instead.
- "Not So Different" Remark: During Ork and Gowm's second fight, Gomon notes that he and Takumi are the same because they're both fighting for the women most important to them. This eventually leads to him having a Heel Realization near the end.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Played With. The reluctant Takumi (the yellow Ork) serves the role of Red Oni, while the apathetic Gomon (the red Gowm) fills the role of Blue Oni.
- Screw Destiny: After seeing a vision of Nozomi dying in front of him, and encountering Gowm, Takumi is pushed to this mindset in order to save Nozomi from this fate. Which is what the witch was counting on.
- Tagline: Change that future yourself
- Transformation Trinket: The Ork and Gown Stones transform their carriers into the frog-like figures Ork and Gown, respectively. Doing so requires absorbing the Stone into the body.
- Together in Death: Gomon perishes in the Final Battle, joining Yumi in death.
- You Killed My Father: Takumi is initially led to believe that Gomon is the one who killed his parents. It was actually the witch who did it, for basically no reason other than to test out a new spell. Gomon was just there to witness her doing it.
