ep.1 Mirror World Treasure and Ouja's Return
Click here to see the episode's key visual.
- Original Airdate: January 21, 2023 (theatrical), January 29, 2023 (TTFC)
Written by: Hiroki Uchida
Directed by: Takayuki Shibasaki
Hardened criminal Takeshi Asakura lives by doing dirty work for a Corrupt Politician named Chuta Nezu, who uses his brother as a bargaining chip to force the madman to comply. The job that day was supposed to be a simple bank robbery that Nezu planned behind the scenes.
However, for some reason, the police who weren't supposed to come came and surrounded the bank. Though he is cornered, Kamen Rider Odin appears from a mirror and tells Asakura: "If you want to get out of this predicament, become a Rider and fight until you are the last one standing." To which Asakura replies, "I don't kill."
Tropes
- Adaptational Heroism: Very much downplayed; Asakura may be a mercenary willing to rob a bank, but he's not willing to murder and it seems that he cares for his brother. It's then subverted when he gets his memories back after taking back his Advent Deck, and he's back to the murderous Ouja that viewers are more familiar with.
- Ambiguous Situation: The identity of Zolda, Raia and Gai involved in the artificial Rider Fight are never revealed. Are they the previous contestants like Asakura or new faces like Chuta remain a mystery, as they got obliterated by Ouja in a relative ease.
- Asshole Victim: Nezu, the politician who sent Takeshi on a bank robbery to fund his own political career, only to betray him in short notice. Takeshi stabs him in the throat several times as retaliation.
- Bait-and-Switch: It appears for a moment that Asakura is about to drag Nezu into the Mirror World to fight him in the Rider War, but he then breaks the mirror he used and instead uses a shard of said mirror to stab his victim in the throat.
- Continuity Nod:
- Takeshi's brother Akira is mentioned throughout the episode, as well as the fact that Takeshi has killed him before in Kamen Rider Ryuki.
- Foundation X restarting the Rider Fight using the notes left behind by Shiro Kanzaki from his old university. Ex-Aid's Beast Rider Squad special already gave a little foreshadowing to this through their possession of Ouja's Advent Deck, not to mention Asakura having to affiliate with them twice by the time Outsiders taking place.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Shortly after being reintroduced to the Rider War, Ouja defeats Kamen Riders Zolda, Raia, and Gai effortlessly before confronting Kamen Rider Odin, who also doesn't last that long after Ouja uses the Survive Mugen card.
- Death by Irony: Nezu hired Takeshi Asakura to do inside jobs for him while using the latter's younger brother as bargaining chip before betraying him to cover up his tracks. Only for Asakura to track Nezu down and ultimately kill him.
- Dirty Coward: Nezu, who cowered and begged Asakura to spare his life after having manipulated the latter.
- Double-Meaning Title: The episode's title is about Asakura returning as a Kamen Rider after being called upon by Kamen Rider Odin to join the new Rider Fight, where he snags a Survive Mugen Card from the Rider. Kamen Rider Diend, a treasure-hunter retrieves Odin's Advent Deck, merely acting as a scavenger-for-hire for Foundation X, who orchestrated the artificial Rider Fight to find a potential recruit for Project Outsiders.
- The Dog Bites Back: Nezu betraying Asakura would ultimately become his undoing, once the latter gained his Advent Deck, he proceeds to track down Nezu before brutally killing him.
- Enemy Mine: After Takeshi deals with Odin, he's approached by DiEnd, who warns him about Zein. Unlike the previous episode's villains (who ignored the topic entirely), Asakura's intrigued and considers tackling Zein after handling his own business.
- Evil Plan: After Asakura's encounter with Daiki, the latter's employer is revealed: A Foundation X representative named Ecole - meaning the newest Rider War was a Foundation X scheme to retrieve Odin's Advent Deck.
- Evil Versus Evil: The once-more-murderous Asakura deals with corrupt politician Nezu.
- Forgot About His Powers: A variation. Odin apparently forgot the "Spam" in Teleport Spam, which resulted in his Survive card being stolen and his eventual defeat at the hands of Ouja.
- In Medias Res: The episode opens with Asakura robbing a bank. The episode then flashes back to a day before, explaining why he's robbing the bank in the first place.
- Ironic Echo: When Nezu and Asakura are discussing their plan to rob a bank, Asakura states that he won't stoop to murder even if it's necessary. After Asakura gets his Advent Deck back, however, he says that he won't murder just before killing Nezu with a mirror shard.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Nezu tries to throw Asakura under the bus once he served his purpose, only for the psychopath to track him down and kill him after regaining his Advent Deck.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Asakura is by no means a good guy, once his memories of the Rider Fight are restored the first thing he does is kill Nezu by slashing him with a piece of a mirror shard.
- Psycho for Hire: Takeshi Asakura works for Chuuta Nezu, a Corrupt Politician, to do his dirty work and further his political career, while using the former's little brother as leverage to keep him in line. Nezu would betray Asakura to cover up his tracks, only for the madman to find and kill him as payback.
- Smug Snake: Nezu thought he could get away by selling out Asakura once the latter has no more use of him. However, Asakura proves to be just as sneaky as he can be when he has Nezu cornered after regaining his Advent Deck.
- Super Mode: This episode is essentially a promotion for Kamen Rider Ouja Survive.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Downplayed. Without the influence of the Rider War, Asakura is back to caring about his brother and at least has standards for how he commits crimes. The moment he gets his memories back from the Ouja Deck though...not so much.
- The Unfought: Downplayed. Asakura confronts Nezu, but Nezu himself never transforms into Scissors despite having the Deck. Not that the killer gives him a chance.
- Unwitting Pawn: Odin (and by extension the rest of the contestants of Rider Fight) is this to the Foundation X in their grand scheme. Using notes left behind by Kanzaki, the Rider Fight was renewed for the sole purpose of obtaining Odin's Advent Deck and reviving Desast. However, Asakura's being the winner of the Rider Fight was a bonus, hence Foundation X gained an ally to the Project Outsiders.
- Villain Protagonist: This episode is primarily focused from Asakura's perspective.
- The Worf Effect: Odin was made short work of by Ouja to demonstrate the power of the latter's Survive form. However, see Forgot About His Powers above.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Defied. Nezu taunts Asakura that he's but a pawn in his schemes and leaves him to the mercy of the police. However, Asakura gets his Advent Deck back right afterwards and murders Nezu.
"This should be interesting. I'll crush him... after I tie up a few loose ends."
