Friday, August 20, 2010

My Two Cents Worth: Kamen Rider OOO

Okay, so Kamen Rider W (or Double for some of you) is about to come to a close. Murakami Night previewed/spoiled the supposedly last episode (or a bunch of closing episodes, please do not spoil this for me, I'm still currently enjoying W), and so far, its been pretty epic. My question though isn't about W. No, W is tried, tested and proven to be one of the most epic Kamen Rider series ever, and for me is third only to Black/Black RX and Decade (or dare I say, even better than Dick-aide).

My question is about the upcoming Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider OOO.


DOUBLE AND OOO, FOR ALL YOU NON-NERDS OUT THERE


I've been seeing previews of OOO from just about everywhere: YouTube, Google, even in Murakami Night's blog. Let me get straight to the point though, since I would like to believe Murakami Night's readers are the on the go kind of guys who do not enjoy lengthy segues and such. Anyway, like I said, without further ado, let me give you my two cents worth on OOO, if two cents could still actually, you know, buy you stuff (thats barely a peso, for all you non Americanzz out there).


OOO is pretty much Kiva.


Now, I'm not saying anything about Kiva, in a vacuum, Kiva is a very beautiful series (I ended up saying something about it, anyway, carry on). While admittedly not as epic as, say, Decade or Black RX, its a very decent series, and it's one of those series where the story itself would get you hooked, unlike say, I don't know, Kabuto (again, I'm just airing my opinion, and yes, I did try watching Kabuto), whose appeal factor for me comes from the riders and their forms (if ever they even had any, I am looking at you Ketaros). And of course, TheBee (heart heart heart).


NOTE: NOT THEBEE


Anyway, back to my point. What I'm basically saying is this. As a series that came after the hugely successful and popular Den-O (so popular in fact that there are rumors of a new series in the Den-O universe featuring Kotaro Nogami, grandson of the Ryotaro, the original Den-O), Kiva was a through in the sin wave of success, a dip in the tango of popularity, a fall in the... You know what, I think you get it. And that's where the contrast with OOO lies. OOO came after another hugely successful Kamen Rider series, and is bound to be eclipsed, unless it shines on its own as a more epic series than W (which I highly doubt).

Another complaint I have with OOO is in the eponymous character's suit design. I mean, yeah, I'm sure some of you would like the suit design of OOO, but the cluttered (or, maybe more appropriately, colorful) look just doesn't appeal to me. Again, this harkens back to Kamen Rider Kiva and his rather cluttered suit design. Again, I'm sure some of you loves the suit design of Kamen Rider Kiva, and I'm not saying I have anything against that, but again, that kind of suit design just doesn't appeal to me (and in case you were wondering, yes, I do not like Den-O's Climax form either). I prefer the relatively simpler suit designs more evident in W or Black/Black RX (and a little on Den-O, again the allusion, and again, except Den-O's Climax and, incidentally, Cho-Climax form). And don't even get me started on the Ride Vender.

So yeah, that's about it. Again, OOO isn't even showing yet, and I might still be proven wrong. All things considered, I'm still looking forward to all the visual effects in OOO, because if there's one thing that's incredibly consistent with the Tokusatsu franchise, its their ever-evolving, ever-improving visuals. But it's gonna take a whole lot of convincing for me to watch Kamen Rider OOO (then again, I said that about W, but look who's watching W now). I guess only time would tell really.







TA-TOH-BATAH
TA-TO-BA
TATOBA-TAHTOBA


4 comments:

  1. Decade was only pure fan service, plot-wise it's almost empty. And Den-O never got me the impression that it was a great series, in fact if you ask me, Double > Kiva > Faiz > rest of the heisei series (except Hibiki, Agito and Kuuga since I haven't watched em yet) XD Ozu does exist in the same world as Double though, and Double's success was because the entire script writing team completely changed from the previous ones which were reused after the so-called success of Agito.

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  2. And it's OOO or Ozu XD And anyway, Decade was epic in his time too and the same question was thrown at Double, but look now it's such a big success that it gets a release from almost every possible toyline Bandai can imagine and even get its praise from even the Showa-biased fans XD It's all in the script writers! :))

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  3. OOOH, AND! I did not spoil you, it was a preview, if previews are supposed to be spoilers people would've bitched out and complained about it. It's more of a teaser than a spoiler really

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  4. Haha, sarcastic humor more of, don't worry, I wasn't spoiled. Anyway, yeah, I suppose Kiva is really the better series story-wise over something like Den-O, but it didn't get much follow-up. Again, Den-O maybe retarded shit, but Japan likes its retarded shit. Just look at Tensou Sentai Goseigers and its gayness.

    And will change OOZ to Ozu, I realized after I typed and I was too lazy/sick/sleepy to find and replace.

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