I can only have limited objectivity when talking about OOO because... I freakin' love OOO. It is my favourite Kamen Rider series to date, after seeing Ryuuki, Faiz, Blade, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva, Decade and W. If you like toku you should watch OOO. Here's why;
OOO is very strong thematically. Right from the start we know that it's about a struggle with elemental forces of greed and desire. But this isn't an 80s cartoon where we learn about how greed is bad. Across the breadth of OOO we meet a lot of people, see their dreams and desires, how they drive them and make them want to progress, and how the lack of desire is caustic. Every character in the cast gives us a different angle on this theme, from Kougami who's *SUBARASHI* and waxes lyrical about the power of Greed to Gotou who has to swallow his pride to achieve his desires.
The two main characters neatly sum up the conflict that it's all about; Ankh, a demonic Greed who desires power to restore his broken body, and Eiji, a humble man who becomes OOO with the help of Ankh, trying to use his power to save lives. I really enjoyed Ankh as a character, as he had a very powerful, interesting character arc, starting off as a monster and gradually revealing more of himself to the cast and the viewer. Eiji is well played but a little more wooden, and I've heard big complaints about his character. I enjoyed him, however, especially when all the elements of his backstory are revealed. Unlike other series, the conflict between them doesn't get shelved and forgotten about, and Ankh is never turned into 'the woobie' as I sometimes feared. The final henshin in OOO calls back to the final henshin in the second last episode of W, but I found it to have WAY more impact in OOO.
The bad guys are where most toku shows sink or swim to me; are they totally non threatening joke villains who toss out M.o.t.W.s and achieve nothing? Or are they constantly progressing, growing more bold and dangerous? OOO presents us with an excellent cast of villains with many plans and machinations, and there's a lot of back and forth as they fight with OOO for the medals that grant both sides power. I also really enjoyed the characterization of the series' final villain.
Overall OOO is just packed with all things awesome. Check it out, watch it, enjoy! But skip the movie, it's utter dross.
Omae no Yokubou Kaihou Shirou
I can only have limited objectivity when talking about OOO because... I freakin' love OOO. It is my favourite Kamen Rider series to date, after seeing Ryuuki, Faiz, Blade, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva, Decade and W. If you like toku you should watch OOO. Here's why;
OOO is very strong thematically. Right from the start we know that it's about a struggle with elemental forces of greed and desire. But this isn't an 80s cartoon where we learn about how greed is bad. Across the breadth of OOO we meet a lot of people, see their dreams and desires, how they drive them and make them want to progress, and how the lack of desire is caustic. Every character in the cast gives us a different angle on this theme, from Kougami who's *SUBARASHI* and waxes lyrical about the power of Greed to Gotou who has to swallow his pride to achieve his desires.
The two main characters neatly sum up the conflict that it's all about; Ankh, a demonic Greed who desires power to restore his broken body, and Eiji, a humble man who becomes OOO with the help of Ankh, trying to use his power to save lives. I really enjoyed Ankh as a character, as he had a very powerful, interesting character arc, starting off as a monster and gradually revealing more of himself to the cast and the viewer. Eiji is well played but a little more wooden, and I've heard big complaints about his character. I enjoyed him, however, especially when all the elements of his backstory are revealed. Unlike other series, the conflict between them doesn't get shelved and forgotten about, and Ankh is never turned into 'the woobie' as I sometimes feared. The final henshin in OOO calls back to the final henshin in the second last episode of W, but I found it to have WAY more impact in OOO.
The bad guys are where most toku shows sink or swim to me; are they totally non threatening joke villains who toss out M.o.t.W.s and achieve nothing? Or are they constantly progressing, growing more bold and dangerous? OOO presents us with an excellent cast of villains with many plans and machinations, and there's a lot of back and forth as they fight with OOO for the medals that grant both sides power. I also really enjoyed the characterization of the series' final villain.
Overall OOO is just packed with all things awesome. Check it out, watch it, enjoy! But skip the movie, it's utter dross.