Kamen Rider Impressions, Part 10: Kamen Rider OOO and Kamen Rider Fourze

Kamen Rider 000 (2010-2011) Episodes 1 and 2 “Medals, Underwear, and a Mysterious Arm” and “Desire, Ice Pops, and Presents”

Not cards, not thumb drives, this time it’s coins/medals! Kamen Rider 000 (pronounced “Ozu”) takes several familiar Kamen Rider tropes and jiggers them around a bit, but still manages to make the series feel fresh with a pimping ska-pop soundtrack and some fresh aesthetics. Our hero this time is ANOTHER lame loser who just kind of drifts around. This time his name is Eiji Hino, and he happens to be working as a security guard one night when strange monsters constructed from coins emerge from ancient relics at his workplace. Hino winds up manipulated by one of these so-called Greeed monsters, a being called Ankh who exists as a floating forearm—and together with a borrowed magic belt becomes Kamen Rider 000. A bizarre family/company run by an insane executive who sings “happy birthday” to the emerging monsters also serves as a provider for Hino/000s as he tangles with Ankh. The arm soon takes over a police officer’s body, stealing his identity, and which causes his superhumanly strong sister Hina to worry about his (the policeman’s) wellbeing. Hijinks ensues.

And what hijinks! So many neat ideas make their way onto the screen, from the vending machines that transform into super bikes, to the complicated nature of the composition of the Greeed monsters, to the inexplicably superhuman sister figure, to the bizarre flying robotic octopi. I am getting really tired of the idiot wanderer shtick by this point, but the return of a beasty partner/nemesis ala Den-O is another shot in the arm (hyuck), and the fact that the second episode features 000 grappling with a skyscraper-chewing giant bug is a big plus in my book. I like it.

Kamen Rider Fourze (2011-2012) Episodes 1 and 2 “Youthful Transformation” and “Space is the Best”

Moving from another loser drifter with coins in the last show, this time it’s a cheerful and stupid punk high school kid, and the power gimmick is switches. I have been a huge sucker for the ludicrously strong and practically brain-dead punk high schooler trope ever since the School Rumble manga and anime, so I was delighted when Fourze’s Rider, Gentaro Kisaragi, came strutting on the scene. He is dumb as a rock, but has so much energy and feeling, and I love his dopey insistence on becoming friends with everyone in his new school (another familiar plot element—he is a transfer student). If anything, based on the first two eps at least, the biggest problem in this show is its over-reliance on high school tropes—most of the characters are pure high school drama cardboard. The pseudo-goth girl nerd, the queen witch, the snooty sports jock, the strict cliques and bullying tropes are all here, but accelerated. Which is to say, everything happens fast and is shallow… for now. However, Kisaragi is so much goofy fun that he makes up for a lot of the thing parts. The one character that most falls outside of the tropes is Kisaragi’s rival, Kengo Utahoshi, given his physical difficulties combined with a pretty-boy aesthetic and utter disdain for all around him. Main girl Yuki is totally adorbs, but only plays the usual supporting role.

The new Kamen Rider tricks are pretty memorable, as the show takes its tech-and-monster themes from space this time (the show was made as a 50^th anniversary tribute to the first space flight). The Rider suit is patterned after an astronaut’s outfit, and the weapons tend to be related to space exploration, too, and appear on the Rider’s limbs at the flick of a switch. His freaking bike also launches into space this time, too! The monsters, called Zodiarts, are themed after constellations, and also triggered by the switches—but not much is revealed about their origins in the frenetic first two episodes.

I was absolutely sky high with enthusiasm for the series after the first episode, but felt a dramatic descent from the second as the high-school tropiness ratcheted up a few notches. The goth girl, man—I don’t know if it’s the actress, or the directing, but her performance did not engender cool or likable. And Kisaragi—who tries to be friends with everyone—practically beats her up upon first meeting her for no reason at all, after she offers to help him! That and a few other niggling bits started to prick at my annoyance meter, but still, so much to like in this series! I am stoked to see what’s next!