Portents and births: OOO 13 – 16
Jul. 12th, 2015 05:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameSiamese Cat, Stress, Genius Surgeon (Kobayashi/Hidenori Ishida): Cous Coussier decides to celebrate the Wild West—or at least Texas, which apparently counts as the West?—and everyone's really into it. Eiji's wearing a cow-head and getting lassoed by cowgirl Chiyoko and spun around on a chair by Hina, dressed in an Indian costume, while serving meals and trying not to pass out from being so dizzy. Well, they're into it, anyway. Ankh, of course, refuses to have anything to do with the concept of fun. Chiyoko suggests he dress up, even asking what his home country is, offering to use it as a theme. But when he says he grew up in a "cesspool of greed," well, Chiyoko's only more convinced of Eiji's flimsy cover story because clearly poor little Ankh's childhood was so awful and traumatizing that he can't bear to think about it. The fact that she believes such an incredibly stupid lie utterly gets on his nerves, but to Hina's surprise, he doesn't explode. Eiji explains that Ankh simply doesn't want to get kicked out—like it or not, Chiyoko's right, and this is home. But he's also extremely frustrated and can't put up with it anymore. When Chiyoko sneaks up and puts a cowboy hat on his head, the others freeze in terror, especially when she really pushes her luck and shoots him with her water pistols. But to everyone's surprise, he only takes a deep breath and smiles like he's going to kill everyone in just a minute.
Back in the attic, he finally unloads on Eiji, who tries to explain that Chiyoko really isn't out to humiliate him, and he compliments him on keeping his cool for so long. Ankh rants back that in order to survive in this time, he needs a "roosting site" where he can charge his tech and get food to keep Shingo's body alive, but the subject of his aggravation quickly changes: next to Hina's insane strength and then to why the hell he hasn't found any of his own Cores among the ones they've gathered. When he grabs Eiji, Eiji asks if Greeed can feel stressed out, but Ankh throws him aside.
At a local hospital, Musashikawa General, surgeon Dr. Tamura suits up and enters the operating room to learn that the director has ordered yet another surgeon to operate on one of her patients—it's been a month since she was last allowed to operate. Her patients keep requesting her specifically, since they'd come to the hospital because of her reputation and skill. Furious, she confronts the director about this, but he argues that the patients aren't hers, but the hospital's, and the most qualified get the surgeries—no matter what whispers she's hearing from the staff behind her back. If she doesn't like it, she won't be allowed to handle patients at all. Outside, she fumes, and Kazari approaches her and creates a Yummy. That night, she secretly performs surgery on multiple patients. Maki asks Kazari about the Yummy, noting it might actually defeat OOO, but Kazari points out how he's figured out the flow of Medals through the Kougami Foundation—OOO collects them, gives them to Kougami, and then they make their way to Maki's lab. Kazari gets them in the end, so it all works out for him, as long as he's promised something about the Medal vessel. But Maki has a new Driver created, and Kazari's interested to see how the new Rider may perform at collecting Medals, and if maybe that person can locate the missing Cores.
Ankh senses the Yummy and drags a half-dressed Eiji out of bed. But along the way, they encounter deformed Yummies—the weak but durable Trash Yummies, which Ankh couldn't even sense. He gives Eiji Kuwagata-Tora-Batta, giving him the ability to blast electricity to take them all out. However, Eiji's control is poor as always, and he not only nearly shocks Ankh—he ends up shaking on the ground, his hair standing on end from the electricity running through his body. He realizes Ankh knew this would happen, but Ankh bluntly declares it's better than a combo. Disgusted, he picks up the remains of the Trash Yummies—the broken Cell Medals used to create them, and they run off to deal with the real Yummy. As it turns out, the Trash Yummies were Uva's—his attempt at adapting to an evolving world. With Eiji and Ankh busy with Kazari's Yummy, he decided that he, Mezool, and Gamel act quietly and smartly.
There's an insane rush of new patients at Musashikawa, thanks to Tamura's nightly surgeries, and Eiji's afraid of forcing their way in and hurting anyone. But with security limiting admissions to existing patients, Ankh reveals that Shingo had been treated there once before, so they'll let him in. They call in Hina for help, and she gets "Shingo" registered for an appendectomy...something she and Eiji apparently didn't discuss before they put their plan into action, because Eiji has Ankh covered head to toe in bandages. Ankh wants him that if Eiji fails to destroy the Yummy after all this humiliation, he will hurt him. But Eiji's eel candroid, "Una-chan" (because Eiji has to give cutesy nicknames to them), has already found something. He goes to investigate, leaving Hina to try to stop Ankh from scaring small children, which is so big a feat that she has to pick up the wheelchair and carry him off.
While all of this has been going on, Satonaka has taken off on vacation, leaving Goto to take care of her job of taking care of Kougami, on his orders. Goto, naturally, thinks this is beneath him, since he'd rather save the world by...shooting targets off his bike on a mountainside, instead of babysitting a crazy man and eating cake. Whatever floats your boat, Goto. Satonaka argues a job's a job, so long as you're being paid, but he doesn't agree. He runs off on his own again and spies on Eiji so he can locate the Yummy, making one of his subordinates take care of Kougami. The poor guy can't keep up with the cakes and is a little afraid of Kougami's ham, but Kougami likes him just fine, just as much as he admires the way Goto is pursuing his own desires. Now, if he can just avoid shooting our hero today...
The hospital's director confronts Tamura again, physically trying to stop her from operating. She insists she has to do the unauthorized surgery or she'll never be allowed, and when he asks what'll happen if she fails, she says she's not going to fail. Eiji finds them and watches uncomfortably, with the director permanently banning her from surgery and yelling until he starts having chest pains. But what really makes Eiji worry is how Tamura talks about "wanting" to operate, and how bandages start to appear on her face and scalpels on her fingers. He grabs her and stops her from carving up the director, and she chases him outside. He offers to be her patient, just to keep her out there, jumping off the balcony and running behind the hospital, calling Ankh for help. Unfortunately, Ankh is currently busy glaring daggers at Goto, who is likewise in bandages. Despite the fact that neither can move, they try to fight. Hina breaks it up, but she cracks Ankh's arm hard enough that he separates from her brother, using the opportunity to punch Goto before leaving.
Eiji's desperately dodging the scalpels before he manages to grab Tamura by the arms, allowing the Yummy to separate from her—and quite honestly, it looks like the unholy lovechild of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman and Edward Scissorhands. And because of that, he's still got a problem with those scalpels until Ankh arrives. Still, TaToBa can't keep up with her leaps, so Eiji insists on SaGoZou. Gravity waves and rocket punches (yes, he can shoot off his oversized fists like rockets and it is awesome) almost do the trick, but Tamura sleepwalks into the way, collapsing right in front of the finisher and forcing a re-merge. Eiji himself collapses soon after, and Ankh rips him a new one for letting the Yummy escape. To Eiji's horror, Ankh tells him he quits, refusing to return to Shingo, who lies unresponsive on the hospital floor as doctors race to save him...
Pride, Surgery, Secret (Kobayashi/Ishida): It's chaos in the hospital, with doctors rushing to ventilate Shingo and check his vitals, all while Hina watches helplessly. Meanwhile, the director is worried about Tamura and the Yummy—worried enough that he collapses with another instance of chest pain, a heart attack just as a nurse runs in.
Eiji returns to the hospital and finds Hina, both of them asking where Ankh is, each having assumed he was with the other. Eiji realizes all of the recent stress finally made him snap, and Hina reminds him that if Ankh's gone too long, her brother will die. Eiji says he should be okay for now, but as if to remind them that he really needs his assbird back now, Shingo's heart rate becomes irregular, and the doctor orders an AED and begins CPR. And the emergency medicine is actually looking pretty damn accurate—after the bullshit of Ryuki and its hospitals, this is a refreshing change. A nurse asks Eiji and Hina to wait outside, and he has to take her hand and pull her out of there so they're not in the way. He promises to find Ankh, asking her to stay with her brother, in the hopes her presence will give him strength. But as he starts to run off, the director is wheeled in on a gurney and grabs his arm. Above the nurse's protests, he asks what happened to Tamura and why. When Eiji explains, he realizes that he caused it by banning her from surgery. The stress puts more pressure on his heart, and as they rush him into surgery, Eiji promises it's not the director's fault and that he'll bring Tamura back to him.
In a blind panic, he clears out a Ride Vendor of all its candroids, sending them out to search for both Ankh and Tamura. The doctor manages to stabilize Shingo, but he's on life support, and they don't know why he collapsed—apparently, Ankh has managed to heal his injuries from the crash. But he's extremely weak, and they don't know if he'll make it. All Hina can do is hold his hand and plead with him.
Goto expects another reprimand from Kougami, but crazy cake boss is just again so proud of him for doing what he wants. Hell, he even compliments the poor subordinate who passes out in a cake. Goto is embarrassed on the guy's behalf and apologizes, but Kougami tells him not to—the guy polished off nine cakes. The only thing to be even slightly ashamed of is the fact that he's not Satonaka, who has the enviable ability to eat at least ten cakes a day and still look awesome. She, by the way, is at Cous Coussier, thoroughly enjoying a bowl of chili on her vacation. She confesses to Chiyoko that she honestly doesn't even like cake—she prefers spicy food, but hey, the pay's good. Kougami asks if Goto can reach that crazy level of cake-eating, but Goto says he finds it disappointing. Kougami reminds him that his pride is holding him back—if he wants something, he has to be willing to do anything to get it, and not let his ego get in the way.
Ankh rests on a park bench, where he meets a Kobayashi running gag—a cute little dog barking at him and giving him a hard time. Unlike Momotaros from Den-O or the heroes of Ryuki, Ankh isn't scared of the dog. Instead, he starts threatening it, and the owner gets scared and runs away. Okay, maybe Ankh was a little scared—after all, he's admitting now that he might have needlessly taken things out on poor Shingo; he was better off using the guy's body. And he learns it firsthand (pun not intended) when Tamura comes after the dog owner, and he can't do shit to stop her. She almost cuts into him, but Eiji's hawk saves him. He runs in, telling him to hurry back to Shingo, but Ankh snaps at him again for ordering him around all the time. So Eiji screams out an apology and begs, hitting his head against Ankh as he bows. But while Ankh again is convinced Eiji's an idiot, he tells him what to do and gives him some Medals, just as the Yummy swallows up Tamura.
The director is sent into the same room as Shingo, with the doctor having to split his time between helping him and helping Shingo, whose condition is worsening. They do an EKG and pump him with verapamil; I said Kobayashi did her research this episode. Crying, Hina holds his hand and suddenly feels his fingers moving. She asks if he can hear her and squeezes his hand...only for Ankh to sit up in pain and scream at her for hurting him. She shoves him off the gurney, then apologizes to the part of him that's her brother, all while the staff wonders what the hell is going on. She just says he has a "condition."
Eiji manages to use Cheetah to kick enough Medals away to save Tamura. He explains what happened to the director and urges her to get to the hospital, saying that deep down, she knows it wasn't jealousy that made the director stop her. As it turns out, the director is her father, and he tells her to perform the surgery necessary to save his life. When she refuses, terrified, and the other doctors say this is a stupid idea, he says he'd wanted her to learn the fear of losing a patient and develop a proper respect for her art.
Kazari joins the battle and takes Tora and Cheetah from Eiji. As he starts running away, Ankh returns, tossing him the other Tora Medal and deciding that he'll cool off by kicking Kazari's ass. Trash Yummies appear, letting him work out some of his frustration. Goto also arrives, and Ankh's annoyed that he's interrupting his fun. Goto threatens to shoot him if he gets in the way, but he remembers Kougami's warning about his pride. However, he decides that his pride is his life, and he fires. Ankh gets out of the way, he misses the Yummy, and he hits Eiji. Again. GODFUCKINGDAMNIT, GOTO, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THIS IS THE SECOND TIME YOU'VE SHOT EIJI IN THE PAST FOUR EPISODES! Seriously, even the hardest-line, card-carrying NRA, pew-pew gun nut would say someone had to take away your guns. What is wrong with you? Despite Goto being arguably more dangerous than his actual enemies, Eiji manages to defeat Catwoman Scalpelhands, and Kazari decides to retreat. Ankh tries to start another fight with Goto, but he leaves, so he tears into Eiji for letting two Cores get stolen. When Eiji argues that Ankh let go of Shingo, Ankh threatens to abandon him again...then does just that so he can fight Eiji.
By the time Eiji returns, Tamura has saved her father, and the other doctors admit she was brilliant. But she finally admits she has a long way to go, and she bows to Eiji in gratitude, despite him trying to refuse.
The police arrest a man for fraud, and there's a nest of hatched Piranha Yummies nearby. While Kazari did his own thing and Uva used the Trash Yummies, they used Mezool's Yummies to gather Medals without interference.
Maki looks over the specs for his new Rider, Birth, but he's interrupted by the analysis on the Peacock/Peafowl Core...
Struggle for the Medals, Transport Truck, Container (Kobayashi/Morota): Maki reveals to Kazari that the new Rider System is almost complete, but first, he wants to know what'll happen if all of the Medals are stored in a single vessel. Kazari agrees that they've got enough of a sample size for a first experiment.
Meanwhile, it's Christmas at Cous Coussier, and Eiji and Chiyoko are putting up the tree and decorations. But she has to give him the bill for Ankh's ice pop addiction for the month, totaling over 23,000 yen. She hates having to ask Eiji to pay it, but she can't afford this for another month, and she and Eiji are friends and Eiji and Ankh are friends, right, and friends are supposed to help each other out. In fact, Ankh's eating yet another one upstairs while spying on Kougami with the candroids. Goto has to escort a delivery of 5000 Cell Medals to Maki's lab, which he suspects are for the new system. Kougami recommends that he use this opportunity to get on Maki's good side so maybe he'll be chosen. But Satonaka reveals another item for delivery—Ankh's Kujaku/Peacock Medal.
Chiyoko and Eiji start on trimming the tree when they realize Hina's unusually late coming back from school, and Chiyoko can't seem to reach her phone. Ankh takes Eiji and explains about the Core and transport, asking Eiji to steal it for him. After all, if Kougami's keeping this a secret, he's not just going to give it to them if they ask. And on a sidenote, I love the Kougami Foundation crest (image from the movie). It looks like a duck trying to be a phoenix. I can perfectly see Kougami declaring to Satonaka one day that he was going to design a magnificent phoenix logo for his organization, to represent desire rising from the flames and being reborn. Then three hours later, he returns and says, "I drew a duck," and she didn't care either way. Eiji, naturally, disapproves of stealing from the crazy cake duck man, and refuses. But Kazari appears in human guise and recommends they go, revealing his identity. He says he's kidnapped Hina and hidden her somewhere in the truck. Then, when Eiji's not sure whether or not to believe him, he asks when's the last time he saw her. Predictably, Eiji runs off in a panic, and Ankh asks what Kazari's setting them up for. But Kazari points out that Ankh will knowingly walk into a trap for his Core, so it doesn't matter, does it?
Eiji checks Musika College, and Hina's friends reveal she didn't come in or turn in an important paper. She's not at home either, and he realizes Kazari must be telling the truth. Because he's Eiji, he runs in front of Goto's car to stop the transport and explains the situation, getting Goto to show him the inside of the truck. Goto had overseen the loading himself and made sure the cargo was only Medals; furthermore, he'd never allow anyone on his team to do something as shady as kidnapping Hina—even Kougami. Eiji apologizes for offending him, but he's still worried about Hina, and this is his best lead, so he asks to follow him. While annoyed, Goto does agree, and he lets Eiji shadow him from a Ride Vendor, with Ankh shadowing the both of them. They cross a mountain bridge over a river and run into Mezool, Uva, and Gamel. Goto wonders how they knew about the transport, but he and his men open fire. When Uva blasts them with lightning, Eiji goes to help, with Ankh giving him the Medals and warning him not to let the Greeed get the Cells. Eiji does a fair job holding off Uva and Mezool, telling Goto to move the truck past them. Goto doesn't argue, but he finds Ankh trying to break in the back and pulls his shotgun. Right. Because Goto clearly hasn't shot enough heroes lately. But Gamel charges past them and headbutts the door open. The jolt wakes Hina, who was unconscious and tied up after Kazari drugged her and kidnapped her as she left her apartment that morning for school. She breaks the ropes on her wrists and then unties the rest, as Mezool and Uva join forces to soak Eiji and electrocute him. Ankh tosses over Kuwagata, and Eiji returns the favor when Mezool tries to strangle him. He also forces back Uva and Gamel as Hina finds the false wall to the secret compartment in the truck and crawls out, much to Goto's disbelief. Gamel tries to get into the truck again, but she panics and beats on his head enough that he's actually feeling the pain. Unfortunately, he headbutts her back and knocks her out. Oh, Hina. I still don't understand why they gave you super strength and then barely did anything with it. Eiji grabs him and offers all of the Medals as long as he doesn't hurt her. Ankh argues, but Eiji's afraid to anger Gamel with Hina in the way. But their fight distracts them so much that Mezool attacks, knocking the Medals out of Eiji's Driver and throwing him off the bridge. Ankh and Goto scramble for the Medals, but Kazari grabs them before Ankh can, snatching a few from his hand too. Uva takes the truck and Hina, with Goto pursuing, but he sees the car and runs him off the road, making him crash into some construction equipment. Ankh's left with Kazari and Mezool, knowing Kazari has something up his sleeve; so when Kazari goes to attack, he dives into the water. Mezool is also suspicious of Kazari's intentions, what with his sudden reappearance and inexplicable knowledge of the Medal transport. She guesses he only used them to pull off the heist and plans on keeping all the Medals to himself, asking what he's really been up to. But he stabs her, stealing most of her Medals. She falls, switching to human form...which I've never understood in this show, since that's a disguise, and shouldn't it take more energy to maintain? Anyway, Kazari leaves her to seek out the others.
Ankh surfaces, finding Eiji unconscious against a rock. He shakes him awake, blaming him for the loss of the Cores. Eiji, in turn, yells at him for endangering Hina, and they splash around, fighting. But it looks ridiculous, because the water is obviously ankle-deep, and they're trying desperately to make it look deeper by kneeling and sitting during the fight. When they do stand up, you see they're not in any danger of drowning. Eiji's insistent on saving Hina, but Ankh throws him down, warning that with one of his Cores on the line, he'd kill him if he had to. Eiji points out that without him, Ankh can't get the Cores anyway, but Ankh reminds him that if Eiji dies, there's no one to save Hina or Shingo. Eiji perceives this as a threat and says he'd never forgive Ankh if he hurt them, but Ankh tries desperately to get it through Eiji's head that if he dies, whether by Ankh's hand or anyone else's, he can't do a goddamn thing to help them. Eiji, equally stubborn, says his death would just be a massive inconvenience for Ankh. Realizing they're at a stalemate, Eiji makes a decision and winds up like he's going to hit Ankh.
Uva and Gamel, now in human form, stop the truck at the Abandoned Warehouse tokusatsu never gets tired of. They plan to split up the Medals there, but Gamel wonders where Mezool is. Kazari staggers in, warning that they got attacked by OOO. Gamel runs off and Uva lowers his guard. Kazari's about to stab him in the back, but he gets suspicious and turns around just in time. Their fight wakes Hina again, and she hears Kazari suggest that they continue to evolve, rather than just become complete and devour the world. Uva runs off, and Kazari decides to go after Gamel now. He notices Hina and tells her she's free to go. Cautious, she starts to run, but the traitorous little bastard attacks her. And now I realize that he's the second large-cat themed character in a Kobayashi Rider series who betrays everyone all the time and constantly kills his teammates; he's like the second coming of Kamen Rider Tiger—what the hell does Kobayashi have against cats?
There's a flash of red fire to block the attack, and someone shields her—Ankh dispelling the attack and Eiji protecting her. Kazari's surprised to see them, certain they were fighting again. But they'd made a deal—as Ankh blocked, waiting for Eiji to hit him, Eiji suddenly stopped and offered instead to pay for a year's worth of ice pops and to retrieve the Cores, so long as Ankh agreed to save Hina. SaGoZou fights Kazari, but when Gamel returns from his failed attempt to find Mezool, Kazari manipulates him into creating the Tortoise Yummy, saying Mezool would be happy if he beat OOO. Eiji's too slow to keep up against all three of them, and Ankh only has Lion and Tora. He loses Sai and Gorilla, but regains Cheetah, allowing Eiji to use LaToraTah. The light once again hurts Gamel, sending him to hide in the truck. Since OOO wasn't his target in the first place, Kazari decides to cut his losses and run with the truck and Gamel. Eiji tries to pursue, but the Yummy holds him off, firing blasts. To Hina's surprise, Ankh protects her and tells her to move back so she won't get hit. Eiji uses the Toride Vendor to gain an edge, but the two combos in succession wear him out fast. The Yummy starts to attack, but Goto fires his rocket, revealing he'd saved Taka and Batta from Kazari. This gives Eiji just enough strength to finish the Yummy off, but he collapses after reverting to human form, in severe pain.
Kazari brings Gamel to Maki's lab and gives him Mezool's Medals, insisting she'd wanted him to incorporate them into himself. Power fluctuates all over him, and Maki's eager to see the results...
Conclusion, Greeed, New Rider (Kobayashi/Morota): Kazari's sure that Gamel's single-minded obedience makes him a good vessel, and Gamel's own Medals restore his full armor. Maki admits he'd prefer to use more than just fourteen Medals in the experiment, including Kazari's. But Kazari knocks his doll off, suddenly having a problem when it's his Medals they're talking about. He decides to take Kujaku as his compensation and leaves.
Hina patches up Eiji, commenting on how reckless he got during the battle. When he insists on going to Kougami's to find Ankh, she shoves him onto the bed because he's already fainted once and she doesn't need him to do so again. Of course, because she shoved him so hard, he hits his head. She worries that his transformations are harmful, what with the frequent pain and exhaustion. When he tries to get up again, she accidentally grabs him around the neck, telling him to worry about himself as much as he worries about others. But she doesn't realize he can't breathe until he drops to the floor, unconscious. And the soundtrack sounds oddly inappropriate (listen up to 4:50). It's a remix of one of Hina's main themes, "Hina no Omoi/Hina's Feelings," but more upbeat and with what sounds like some guy orgasming in the background. The fact that Eiji has just been accidentally asphyxiated makes the whole thing seem more embarrassing.
Kougami theorizes that Kazari is pitting everyone against each other in order to win all the Cores for himself. Ankh asks if Kougami's helping him, but Kougami thinks it might have been Maki. Still, he can't really reprimand him when he respects that Maki is fulfilling his own desires, since desire will save the world. Or in Maki's case, end it. Ankh calls bullshit and asks for all the Cores Kougami has. Eiji pulls Ankh off him and tries to talk him down. Almost as if it's a performance, Satonaka says she's put in her hours and asks to leave, and Kougami tells her to do what she wants, since that's company policy. Kougami tries to convince Ankh to see out Maki's experiment, since there's more power to the Cores than reviving the Greeed—something he should be interested in, if he's collecting them all. Ankh leaves, but Eiji stays to ask about the origin of the Cores and if humans created them. Kougami's pleased to see him finally showing an interest and explains that 800 years ago, scientists were creating an artificial lifeform. They distilled animal powers into the Medals, creating sets of ten. Then they removed one Medal from each set, creating a void and a sense of incompletion in the sets. That void created desire. That desire created consciousness, and from consciousness came the Greeed. Supposedly, OOO was created to seal the Greeed and stop their rampage, but Kougami implies that the original intent was actually to create a vessel for the Medals' power.
Mezool stumbles into the bar, bleeding Cell Medals. Uva's trashing the place and apparently failing to get drunk, since he's a Greeed, after all. She's down to one Core but still together, though in human form. When Uva asks why she doesn't just do like Ankh and condense her revival down to a single body part, she says that it should be impossible. Uva wonders if maybe the Medals Ankh stole allowed him to do that, but he decides to attack, reasoning that Kazari's right about them needing to evolve. But Mezool blasts him with water and escapes, eventually reaching the riverside park where Ankh is. He only sees Trash Yummies attacking a teenage girl, and as Eiji arrives, thinking over the new information, he also sees the attack and immediately goes to Mezool's rescue. They fight off the Trash Yummies, not realizing that Uva and Mezool have both resolved to get more Cores, as Ankh and Kazari have. Eiji asks Ankh what he really wants, but all Ankh answers is an ice pop and bed.
Goto finally does something reasonable and tries to arrest Maki for conspiracy to kidnap Hina. Maki points out that without him, there's no Medal System to support OOO and tries to bribe him with the new Driver.
Meanwhile, Gamel searches for Mezool, checking at Cous Coussier's Christmas party, where Eiji's dressed as a reindeer and doesn't recognize him, accidentally blinding him with a camera flash. As he feeds Gamel from the buffet, he admits he feels like they might have met before, once he hears Gamel's voice, but neither recognizes the other, and Chiyoko puts him on dish duty anyway. Gamel mistakes Hina for Mezool from behind, but when she turns around and speaks, he realizes his mistake and becomes more and more anxious. He finally screams, loud enough to break every glass in the room, energy surging all over his body. Ankh recognizes the power surge and Eiji recognizes the scream for Mezool, so they both take off after him, leaving Chiyoko to wonder what happened. Ankh warns Eiji not to approach Gamel, since he's being used as the Medal vessel. As if to prove Ankh's point, a shout and energy surge nearly throw them off their feet, but Ankh says that's nothing—Gamel doesn't have all nine of his own Medals, so he's not as strong as he could be. But Mezool arrives and tells him to merge with her. Her form flickering, she notes he'd never betray her because he wanted nothing for himself, so she loves him. Maki decides to add all of the Cells from the transport and two Uva Cores. She's overwhelmed quickly and loses control, transforming into a giant tortoise with two sets of teeth, combined with some kind of mollusk shell or jellyfish, a rhino, tusks, and tentacles...because it's always tentacles. Just touching down, she leaves a crater in the ground. Eiji realizes she really will devour the world, and Ankh has to wonder if they can defeat her. Kougami watches the battle with Satonaka, impressed, but he has to admit it's a failure. Greeed cannot control the power of the Medal vessel, so the world can't be "reborn" with desire. Maki, in turn, decides it's a success and that he needs more Cores to make it work better.
Eiji finds he can't defeat Vessel-Mezool. He can't cut through her, and she chomps down on him. Ankh's ready to toss a Medal, warning him to escape, but he can't move. But the new Rider finally appears, shooting at her until she drops Eiji. He looks to Maki, who nods and leaves, then equips one of his weapons, Breast Cannon—a beam weapon right in the middle of his chest—and powers it up with Cell Medals and shoots. The blast releases two Medals, so Eiji's able to win as GataKiriBa. The remaining Greeed scramble for the Medals, and Ankh only gets two—a Gamel and a Mezool. Everyone parts ways, and Eiji notes they lost a lot of Cores, but Ankh insists they'll get them back. Finally, Eiji asks what Ankh wants with all of the Medals—if not to lose control like Mezool and become a monster, then what? Ankh reveals that Greeed are fragile and fall apart (using the word "boro boro" from episode 9, as opposed to "bara bara," which is normally used with the Greeed and will come up when I review Go-Busters) without their Cores. He wants a stronger body, more "complete," so he never again has to experience the pain of being scattered and separated. Eiji understands, but he struggles to put it in words. He thinks of the transitory nature of Gamel—his awkwardness in the photo, his pain, then the way he was gone, absorbed into Mezool. But he looks at the crater and realizes that if this happens again, he won't be able to win.
As they start to leave, they come across the new Rider. Eiji recognizes the armor, and Ankh asks who he is. Newbie reaches into a milk can full of Cell Medals, pulling out the instruction manual for Kamen Rider Birth, then breaks his henshin, revealing he's definitely not Goto...
Back in the attic, he finally unloads on Eiji, who tries to explain that Chiyoko really isn't out to humiliate him, and he compliments him on keeping his cool for so long. Ankh rants back that in order to survive in this time, he needs a "roosting site" where he can charge his tech and get food to keep Shingo's body alive, but the subject of his aggravation quickly changes: next to Hina's insane strength and then to why the hell he hasn't found any of his own Cores among the ones they've gathered. When he grabs Eiji, Eiji asks if Greeed can feel stressed out, but Ankh throws him aside.
At a local hospital, Musashikawa General, surgeon Dr. Tamura suits up and enters the operating room to learn that the director has ordered yet another surgeon to operate on one of her patients—it's been a month since she was last allowed to operate. Her patients keep requesting her specifically, since they'd come to the hospital because of her reputation and skill. Furious, she confronts the director about this, but he argues that the patients aren't hers, but the hospital's, and the most qualified get the surgeries—no matter what whispers she's hearing from the staff behind her back. If she doesn't like it, she won't be allowed to handle patients at all. Outside, she fumes, and Kazari approaches her and creates a Yummy. That night, she secretly performs surgery on multiple patients. Maki asks Kazari about the Yummy, noting it might actually defeat OOO, but Kazari points out how he's figured out the flow of Medals through the Kougami Foundation—OOO collects them, gives them to Kougami, and then they make their way to Maki's lab. Kazari gets them in the end, so it all works out for him, as long as he's promised something about the Medal vessel. But Maki has a new Driver created, and Kazari's interested to see how the new Rider may perform at collecting Medals, and if maybe that person can locate the missing Cores.
Ankh senses the Yummy and drags a half-dressed Eiji out of bed. But along the way, they encounter deformed Yummies—the weak but durable Trash Yummies, which Ankh couldn't even sense. He gives Eiji Kuwagata-Tora-Batta, giving him the ability to blast electricity to take them all out. However, Eiji's control is poor as always, and he not only nearly shocks Ankh—he ends up shaking on the ground, his hair standing on end from the electricity running through his body. He realizes Ankh knew this would happen, but Ankh bluntly declares it's better than a combo. Disgusted, he picks up the remains of the Trash Yummies—the broken Cell Medals used to create them, and they run off to deal with the real Yummy. As it turns out, the Trash Yummies were Uva's—his attempt at adapting to an evolving world. With Eiji and Ankh busy with Kazari's Yummy, he decided that he, Mezool, and Gamel act quietly and smartly.
There's an insane rush of new patients at Musashikawa, thanks to Tamura's nightly surgeries, and Eiji's afraid of forcing their way in and hurting anyone. But with security limiting admissions to existing patients, Ankh reveals that Shingo had been treated there once before, so they'll let him in. They call in Hina for help, and she gets "Shingo" registered for an appendectomy...something she and Eiji apparently didn't discuss before they put their plan into action, because Eiji has Ankh covered head to toe in bandages. Ankh wants him that if Eiji fails to destroy the Yummy after all this humiliation, he will hurt him. But Eiji's eel candroid, "Una-chan" (because Eiji has to give cutesy nicknames to them), has already found something. He goes to investigate, leaving Hina to try to stop Ankh from scaring small children, which is so big a feat that she has to pick up the wheelchair and carry him off.
While all of this has been going on, Satonaka has taken off on vacation, leaving Goto to take care of her job of taking care of Kougami, on his orders. Goto, naturally, thinks this is beneath him, since he'd rather save the world by...shooting targets off his bike on a mountainside, instead of babysitting a crazy man and eating cake. Whatever floats your boat, Goto. Satonaka argues a job's a job, so long as you're being paid, but he doesn't agree. He runs off on his own again and spies on Eiji so he can locate the Yummy, making one of his subordinates take care of Kougami. The poor guy can't keep up with the cakes and is a little afraid of Kougami's ham, but Kougami likes him just fine, just as much as he admires the way Goto is pursuing his own desires. Now, if he can just avoid shooting our hero today...
The hospital's director confronts Tamura again, physically trying to stop her from operating. She insists she has to do the unauthorized surgery or she'll never be allowed, and when he asks what'll happen if she fails, she says she's not going to fail. Eiji finds them and watches uncomfortably, with the director permanently banning her from surgery and yelling until he starts having chest pains. But what really makes Eiji worry is how Tamura talks about "wanting" to operate, and how bandages start to appear on her face and scalpels on her fingers. He grabs her and stops her from carving up the director, and she chases him outside. He offers to be her patient, just to keep her out there, jumping off the balcony and running behind the hospital, calling Ankh for help. Unfortunately, Ankh is currently busy glaring daggers at Goto, who is likewise in bandages. Despite the fact that neither can move, they try to fight. Hina breaks it up, but she cracks Ankh's arm hard enough that he separates from her brother, using the opportunity to punch Goto before leaving.
Eiji's desperately dodging the scalpels before he manages to grab Tamura by the arms, allowing the Yummy to separate from her—and quite honestly, it looks like the unholy lovechild of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman and Edward Scissorhands. And because of that, he's still got a problem with those scalpels until Ankh arrives. Still, TaToBa can't keep up with her leaps, so Eiji insists on SaGoZou. Gravity waves and rocket punches (yes, he can shoot off his oversized fists like rockets and it is awesome) almost do the trick, but Tamura sleepwalks into the way, collapsing right in front of the finisher and forcing a re-merge. Eiji himself collapses soon after, and Ankh rips him a new one for letting the Yummy escape. To Eiji's horror, Ankh tells him he quits, refusing to return to Shingo, who lies unresponsive on the hospital floor as doctors race to save him...
Pride, Surgery, Secret (Kobayashi/Ishida): It's chaos in the hospital, with doctors rushing to ventilate Shingo and check his vitals, all while Hina watches helplessly. Meanwhile, the director is worried about Tamura and the Yummy—worried enough that he collapses with another instance of chest pain, a heart attack just as a nurse runs in.
Eiji returns to the hospital and finds Hina, both of them asking where Ankh is, each having assumed he was with the other. Eiji realizes all of the recent stress finally made him snap, and Hina reminds him that if Ankh's gone too long, her brother will die. Eiji says he should be okay for now, but as if to remind them that he really needs his assbird back now, Shingo's heart rate becomes irregular, and the doctor orders an AED and begins CPR. And the emergency medicine is actually looking pretty damn accurate—after the bullshit of Ryuki and its hospitals, this is a refreshing change. A nurse asks Eiji and Hina to wait outside, and he has to take her hand and pull her out of there so they're not in the way. He promises to find Ankh, asking her to stay with her brother, in the hopes her presence will give him strength. But as he starts to run off, the director is wheeled in on a gurney and grabs his arm. Above the nurse's protests, he asks what happened to Tamura and why. When Eiji explains, he realizes that he caused it by banning her from surgery. The stress puts more pressure on his heart, and as they rush him into surgery, Eiji promises it's not the director's fault and that he'll bring Tamura back to him.
In a blind panic, he clears out a Ride Vendor of all its candroids, sending them out to search for both Ankh and Tamura. The doctor manages to stabilize Shingo, but he's on life support, and they don't know why he collapsed—apparently, Ankh has managed to heal his injuries from the crash. But he's extremely weak, and they don't know if he'll make it. All Hina can do is hold his hand and plead with him.
Goto expects another reprimand from Kougami, but crazy cake boss is just again so proud of him for doing what he wants. Hell, he even compliments the poor subordinate who passes out in a cake. Goto is embarrassed on the guy's behalf and apologizes, but Kougami tells him not to—the guy polished off nine cakes. The only thing to be even slightly ashamed of is the fact that he's not Satonaka, who has the enviable ability to eat at least ten cakes a day and still look awesome. She, by the way, is at Cous Coussier, thoroughly enjoying a bowl of chili on her vacation. She confesses to Chiyoko that she honestly doesn't even like cake—she prefers spicy food, but hey, the pay's good. Kougami asks if Goto can reach that crazy level of cake-eating, but Goto says he finds it disappointing. Kougami reminds him that his pride is holding him back—if he wants something, he has to be willing to do anything to get it, and not let his ego get in the way.
Ankh rests on a park bench, where he meets a Kobayashi running gag—a cute little dog barking at him and giving him a hard time. Unlike Momotaros from Den-O or the heroes of Ryuki, Ankh isn't scared of the dog. Instead, he starts threatening it, and the owner gets scared and runs away. Okay, maybe Ankh was a little scared—after all, he's admitting now that he might have needlessly taken things out on poor Shingo; he was better off using the guy's body. And he learns it firsthand (pun not intended) when Tamura comes after the dog owner, and he can't do shit to stop her. She almost cuts into him, but Eiji's hawk saves him. He runs in, telling him to hurry back to Shingo, but Ankh snaps at him again for ordering him around all the time. So Eiji screams out an apology and begs, hitting his head against Ankh as he bows. But while Ankh again is convinced Eiji's an idiot, he tells him what to do and gives him some Medals, just as the Yummy swallows up Tamura.
The director is sent into the same room as Shingo, with the doctor having to split his time between helping him and helping Shingo, whose condition is worsening. They do an EKG and pump him with verapamil; I said Kobayashi did her research this episode. Crying, Hina holds his hand and suddenly feels his fingers moving. She asks if he can hear her and squeezes his hand...only for Ankh to sit up in pain and scream at her for hurting him. She shoves him off the gurney, then apologizes to the part of him that's her brother, all while the staff wonders what the hell is going on. She just says he has a "condition."
Eiji manages to use Cheetah to kick enough Medals away to save Tamura. He explains what happened to the director and urges her to get to the hospital, saying that deep down, she knows it wasn't jealousy that made the director stop her. As it turns out, the director is her father, and he tells her to perform the surgery necessary to save his life. When she refuses, terrified, and the other doctors say this is a stupid idea, he says he'd wanted her to learn the fear of losing a patient and develop a proper respect for her art.
Kazari joins the battle and takes Tora and Cheetah from Eiji. As he starts running away, Ankh returns, tossing him the other Tora Medal and deciding that he'll cool off by kicking Kazari's ass. Trash Yummies appear, letting him work out some of his frustration. Goto also arrives, and Ankh's annoyed that he's interrupting his fun. Goto threatens to shoot him if he gets in the way, but he remembers Kougami's warning about his pride. However, he decides that his pride is his life, and he fires. Ankh gets out of the way, he misses the Yummy, and he hits Eiji. Again. GODFUCKINGDAMNIT, GOTO, ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THIS IS THE SECOND TIME YOU'VE SHOT EIJI IN THE PAST FOUR EPISODES! Seriously, even the hardest-line, card-carrying NRA, pew-pew gun nut would say someone had to take away your guns. What is wrong with you? Despite Goto being arguably more dangerous than his actual enemies, Eiji manages to defeat Catwoman Scalpelhands, and Kazari decides to retreat. Ankh tries to start another fight with Goto, but he leaves, so he tears into Eiji for letting two Cores get stolen. When Eiji argues that Ankh let go of Shingo, Ankh threatens to abandon him again...then does just that so he can fight Eiji.
By the time Eiji returns, Tamura has saved her father, and the other doctors admit she was brilliant. But she finally admits she has a long way to go, and she bows to Eiji in gratitude, despite him trying to refuse.
The police arrest a man for fraud, and there's a nest of hatched Piranha Yummies nearby. While Kazari did his own thing and Uva used the Trash Yummies, they used Mezool's Yummies to gather Medals without interference.
Maki looks over the specs for his new Rider, Birth, but he's interrupted by the analysis on the Peacock/Peafowl Core...
Struggle for the Medals, Transport Truck, Container (Kobayashi/Morota): Maki reveals to Kazari that the new Rider System is almost complete, but first, he wants to know what'll happen if all of the Medals are stored in a single vessel. Kazari agrees that they've got enough of a sample size for a first experiment.
Meanwhile, it's Christmas at Cous Coussier, and Eiji and Chiyoko are putting up the tree and decorations. But she has to give him the bill for Ankh's ice pop addiction for the month, totaling over 23,000 yen. She hates having to ask Eiji to pay it, but she can't afford this for another month, and she and Eiji are friends and Eiji and Ankh are friends, right, and friends are supposed to help each other out. In fact, Ankh's eating yet another one upstairs while spying on Kougami with the candroids. Goto has to escort a delivery of 5000 Cell Medals to Maki's lab, which he suspects are for the new system. Kougami recommends that he use this opportunity to get on Maki's good side so maybe he'll be chosen. But Satonaka reveals another item for delivery—Ankh's Kujaku/Peacock Medal.
Chiyoko and Eiji start on trimming the tree when they realize Hina's unusually late coming back from school, and Chiyoko can't seem to reach her phone. Ankh takes Eiji and explains about the Core and transport, asking Eiji to steal it for him. After all, if Kougami's keeping this a secret, he's not just going to give it to them if they ask. And on a sidenote, I love the Kougami Foundation crest (image from the movie). It looks like a duck trying to be a phoenix. I can perfectly see Kougami declaring to Satonaka one day that he was going to design a magnificent phoenix logo for his organization, to represent desire rising from the flames and being reborn. Then three hours later, he returns and says, "I drew a duck," and she didn't care either way. Eiji, naturally, disapproves of stealing from the crazy cake duck man, and refuses. But Kazari appears in human guise and recommends they go, revealing his identity. He says he's kidnapped Hina and hidden her somewhere in the truck. Then, when Eiji's not sure whether or not to believe him, he asks when's the last time he saw her. Predictably, Eiji runs off in a panic, and Ankh asks what Kazari's setting them up for. But Kazari points out that Ankh will knowingly walk into a trap for his Core, so it doesn't matter, does it?
Eiji checks Musika College, and Hina's friends reveal she didn't come in or turn in an important paper. She's not at home either, and he realizes Kazari must be telling the truth. Because he's Eiji, he runs in front of Goto's car to stop the transport and explains the situation, getting Goto to show him the inside of the truck. Goto had overseen the loading himself and made sure the cargo was only Medals; furthermore, he'd never allow anyone on his team to do something as shady as kidnapping Hina—even Kougami. Eiji apologizes for offending him, but he's still worried about Hina, and this is his best lead, so he asks to follow him. While annoyed, Goto does agree, and he lets Eiji shadow him from a Ride Vendor, with Ankh shadowing the both of them. They cross a mountain bridge over a river and run into Mezool, Uva, and Gamel. Goto wonders how they knew about the transport, but he and his men open fire. When Uva blasts them with lightning, Eiji goes to help, with Ankh giving him the Medals and warning him not to let the Greeed get the Cells. Eiji does a fair job holding off Uva and Mezool, telling Goto to move the truck past them. Goto doesn't argue, but he finds Ankh trying to break in the back and pulls his shotgun. Right. Because Goto clearly hasn't shot enough heroes lately. But Gamel charges past them and headbutts the door open. The jolt wakes Hina, who was unconscious and tied up after Kazari drugged her and kidnapped her as she left her apartment that morning for school. She breaks the ropes on her wrists and then unties the rest, as Mezool and Uva join forces to soak Eiji and electrocute him. Ankh tosses over Kuwagata, and Eiji returns the favor when Mezool tries to strangle him. He also forces back Uva and Gamel as Hina finds the false wall to the secret compartment in the truck and crawls out, much to Goto's disbelief. Gamel tries to get into the truck again, but she panics and beats on his head enough that he's actually feeling the pain. Unfortunately, he headbutts her back and knocks her out. Oh, Hina. I still don't understand why they gave you super strength and then barely did anything with it. Eiji grabs him and offers all of the Medals as long as he doesn't hurt her. Ankh argues, but Eiji's afraid to anger Gamel with Hina in the way. But their fight distracts them so much that Mezool attacks, knocking the Medals out of Eiji's Driver and throwing him off the bridge. Ankh and Goto scramble for the Medals, but Kazari grabs them before Ankh can, snatching a few from his hand too. Uva takes the truck and Hina, with Goto pursuing, but he sees the car and runs him off the road, making him crash into some construction equipment. Ankh's left with Kazari and Mezool, knowing Kazari has something up his sleeve; so when Kazari goes to attack, he dives into the water. Mezool is also suspicious of Kazari's intentions, what with his sudden reappearance and inexplicable knowledge of the Medal transport. She guesses he only used them to pull off the heist and plans on keeping all the Medals to himself, asking what he's really been up to. But he stabs her, stealing most of her Medals. She falls, switching to human form...which I've never understood in this show, since that's a disguise, and shouldn't it take more energy to maintain? Anyway, Kazari leaves her to seek out the others.
Ankh surfaces, finding Eiji unconscious against a rock. He shakes him awake, blaming him for the loss of the Cores. Eiji, in turn, yells at him for endangering Hina, and they splash around, fighting. But it looks ridiculous, because the water is obviously ankle-deep, and they're trying desperately to make it look deeper by kneeling and sitting during the fight. When they do stand up, you see they're not in any danger of drowning. Eiji's insistent on saving Hina, but Ankh throws him down, warning that with one of his Cores on the line, he'd kill him if he had to. Eiji points out that without him, Ankh can't get the Cores anyway, but Ankh reminds him that if Eiji dies, there's no one to save Hina or Shingo. Eiji perceives this as a threat and says he'd never forgive Ankh if he hurt them, but Ankh tries desperately to get it through Eiji's head that if he dies, whether by Ankh's hand or anyone else's, he can't do a goddamn thing to help them. Eiji, equally stubborn, says his death would just be a massive inconvenience for Ankh. Realizing they're at a stalemate, Eiji makes a decision and winds up like he's going to hit Ankh.
Uva and Gamel, now in human form, stop the truck at the Abandoned Warehouse tokusatsu never gets tired of. They plan to split up the Medals there, but Gamel wonders where Mezool is. Kazari staggers in, warning that they got attacked by OOO. Gamel runs off and Uva lowers his guard. Kazari's about to stab him in the back, but he gets suspicious and turns around just in time. Their fight wakes Hina again, and she hears Kazari suggest that they continue to evolve, rather than just become complete and devour the world. Uva runs off, and Kazari decides to go after Gamel now. He notices Hina and tells her she's free to go. Cautious, she starts to run, but the traitorous little bastard attacks her. And now I realize that he's the second large-cat themed character in a Kobayashi Rider series who betrays everyone all the time and constantly kills his teammates; he's like the second coming of Kamen Rider Tiger—what the hell does Kobayashi have against cats?
There's a flash of red fire to block the attack, and someone shields her—Ankh dispelling the attack and Eiji protecting her. Kazari's surprised to see them, certain they were fighting again. But they'd made a deal—as Ankh blocked, waiting for Eiji to hit him, Eiji suddenly stopped and offered instead to pay for a year's worth of ice pops and to retrieve the Cores, so long as Ankh agreed to save Hina. SaGoZou fights Kazari, but when Gamel returns from his failed attempt to find Mezool, Kazari manipulates him into creating the Tortoise Yummy, saying Mezool would be happy if he beat OOO. Eiji's too slow to keep up against all three of them, and Ankh only has Lion and Tora. He loses Sai and Gorilla, but regains Cheetah, allowing Eiji to use LaToraTah. The light once again hurts Gamel, sending him to hide in the truck. Since OOO wasn't his target in the first place, Kazari decides to cut his losses and run with the truck and Gamel. Eiji tries to pursue, but the Yummy holds him off, firing blasts. To Hina's surprise, Ankh protects her and tells her to move back so she won't get hit. Eiji uses the Toride Vendor to gain an edge, but the two combos in succession wear him out fast. The Yummy starts to attack, but Goto fires his rocket, revealing he'd saved Taka and Batta from Kazari. This gives Eiji just enough strength to finish the Yummy off, but he collapses after reverting to human form, in severe pain.
Kazari brings Gamel to Maki's lab and gives him Mezool's Medals, insisting she'd wanted him to incorporate them into himself. Power fluctuates all over him, and Maki's eager to see the results...
Conclusion, Greeed, New Rider (Kobayashi/Morota): Kazari's sure that Gamel's single-minded obedience makes him a good vessel, and Gamel's own Medals restore his full armor. Maki admits he'd prefer to use more than just fourteen Medals in the experiment, including Kazari's. But Kazari knocks his doll off, suddenly having a problem when it's his Medals they're talking about. He decides to take Kujaku as his compensation and leaves.
Hina patches up Eiji, commenting on how reckless he got during the battle. When he insists on going to Kougami's to find Ankh, she shoves him onto the bed because he's already fainted once and she doesn't need him to do so again. Of course, because she shoved him so hard, he hits his head. She worries that his transformations are harmful, what with the frequent pain and exhaustion. When he tries to get up again, she accidentally grabs him around the neck, telling him to worry about himself as much as he worries about others. But she doesn't realize he can't breathe until he drops to the floor, unconscious. And the soundtrack sounds oddly inappropriate (listen up to 4:50). It's a remix of one of Hina's main themes, "Hina no Omoi/Hina's Feelings," but more upbeat and with what sounds like some guy orgasming in the background. The fact that Eiji has just been accidentally asphyxiated makes the whole thing seem more embarrassing.
Kougami theorizes that Kazari is pitting everyone against each other in order to win all the Cores for himself. Ankh asks if Kougami's helping him, but Kougami thinks it might have been Maki. Still, he can't really reprimand him when he respects that Maki is fulfilling his own desires, since desire will save the world. Or in Maki's case, end it. Ankh calls bullshit and asks for all the Cores Kougami has. Eiji pulls Ankh off him and tries to talk him down. Almost as if it's a performance, Satonaka says she's put in her hours and asks to leave, and Kougami tells her to do what she wants, since that's company policy. Kougami tries to convince Ankh to see out Maki's experiment, since there's more power to the Cores than reviving the Greeed—something he should be interested in, if he's collecting them all. Ankh leaves, but Eiji stays to ask about the origin of the Cores and if humans created them. Kougami's pleased to see him finally showing an interest and explains that 800 years ago, scientists were creating an artificial lifeform. They distilled animal powers into the Medals, creating sets of ten. Then they removed one Medal from each set, creating a void and a sense of incompletion in the sets. That void created desire. That desire created consciousness, and from consciousness came the Greeed. Supposedly, OOO was created to seal the Greeed and stop their rampage, but Kougami implies that the original intent was actually to create a vessel for the Medals' power.
Mezool stumbles into the bar, bleeding Cell Medals. Uva's trashing the place and apparently failing to get drunk, since he's a Greeed, after all. She's down to one Core but still together, though in human form. When Uva asks why she doesn't just do like Ankh and condense her revival down to a single body part, she says that it should be impossible. Uva wonders if maybe the Medals Ankh stole allowed him to do that, but he decides to attack, reasoning that Kazari's right about them needing to evolve. But Mezool blasts him with water and escapes, eventually reaching the riverside park where Ankh is. He only sees Trash Yummies attacking a teenage girl, and as Eiji arrives, thinking over the new information, he also sees the attack and immediately goes to Mezool's rescue. They fight off the Trash Yummies, not realizing that Uva and Mezool have both resolved to get more Cores, as Ankh and Kazari have. Eiji asks Ankh what he really wants, but all Ankh answers is an ice pop and bed.
Goto finally does something reasonable and tries to arrest Maki for conspiracy to kidnap Hina. Maki points out that without him, there's no Medal System to support OOO and tries to bribe him with the new Driver.
Meanwhile, Gamel searches for Mezool, checking at Cous Coussier's Christmas party, where Eiji's dressed as a reindeer and doesn't recognize him, accidentally blinding him with a camera flash. As he feeds Gamel from the buffet, he admits he feels like they might have met before, once he hears Gamel's voice, but neither recognizes the other, and Chiyoko puts him on dish duty anyway. Gamel mistakes Hina for Mezool from behind, but when she turns around and speaks, he realizes his mistake and becomes more and more anxious. He finally screams, loud enough to break every glass in the room, energy surging all over his body. Ankh recognizes the power surge and Eiji recognizes the scream for Mezool, so they both take off after him, leaving Chiyoko to wonder what happened. Ankh warns Eiji not to approach Gamel, since he's being used as the Medal vessel. As if to prove Ankh's point, a shout and energy surge nearly throw them off their feet, but Ankh says that's nothing—Gamel doesn't have all nine of his own Medals, so he's not as strong as he could be. But Mezool arrives and tells him to merge with her. Her form flickering, she notes he'd never betray her because he wanted nothing for himself, so she loves him. Maki decides to add all of the Cells from the transport and two Uva Cores. She's overwhelmed quickly and loses control, transforming into a giant tortoise with two sets of teeth, combined with some kind of mollusk shell or jellyfish, a rhino, tusks, and tentacles...because it's always tentacles. Just touching down, she leaves a crater in the ground. Eiji realizes she really will devour the world, and Ankh has to wonder if they can defeat her. Kougami watches the battle with Satonaka, impressed, but he has to admit it's a failure. Greeed cannot control the power of the Medal vessel, so the world can't be "reborn" with desire. Maki, in turn, decides it's a success and that he needs more Cores to make it work better.
Eiji finds he can't defeat Vessel-Mezool. He can't cut through her, and she chomps down on him. Ankh's ready to toss a Medal, warning him to escape, but he can't move. But the new Rider finally appears, shooting at her until she drops Eiji. He looks to Maki, who nods and leaves, then equips one of his weapons, Breast Cannon—a beam weapon right in the middle of his chest—and powers it up with Cell Medals and shoots. The blast releases two Medals, so Eiji's able to win as GataKiriBa. The remaining Greeed scramble for the Medals, and Ankh only gets two—a Gamel and a Mezool. Everyone parts ways, and Eiji notes they lost a lot of Cores, but Ankh insists they'll get them back. Finally, Eiji asks what Ankh wants with all of the Medals—if not to lose control like Mezool and become a monster, then what? Ankh reveals that Greeed are fragile and fall apart (using the word "boro boro" from episode 9, as opposed to "bara bara," which is normally used with the Greeed and will come up when I review Go-Busters) without their Cores. He wants a stronger body, more "complete," so he never again has to experience the pain of being scattered and separated. Eiji understands, but he struggles to put it in words. He thinks of the transitory nature of Gamel—his awkwardness in the photo, his pain, then the way he was gone, absorbed into Mezool. But he looks at the crater and realizes that if this happens again, he won't be able to win.
As they start to leave, they come across the new Rider. Eiji recognizes the armor, and Ankh asks who he is. Newbie reaches into a milk can full of Cell Medals, pulling out the instruction manual for Kamen Rider Birth, then breaks his henshin, revealing he's definitely not Goto...
Medal tracking
Date: 2017-04-06 03:10 pm (UTC)I figure Vessel-Mezool had 16 medals - 7 blue, 7 grey, 2 green.
By the end, Ankh gets 1 Kuwagata, 1 Kamakiri, 1 Unagi and 1 Gorilla, leaving 12 to be split between Kazari and Uva. Uva flips three, implying Kazari ended up with nine.
Ep.19 shows Kazari holding five; Ep.23 shows him having absorbed seven and implies he has access to more; but there's no event I've been able to track down that explains Uva having three grey and four blue, early ep.35.
Incidentally, I'm pretty sure now that all the medal groups, when created in sets of ten, used four head medals, three body and three leg; and that when Gamel's tenth was destroyed, it was one of the three Gorilla medals. Still not sure which of Mezool's was shattered, but probably a Sachi.
Re: Medal tracking
Date: 2017-04-06 04:16 pm (UTC)Re: Medal tracking
Date: 2017-04-07 02:08 am (UTC)The problem is more around the medals not held by OOO/Ankh.
Honestly it seems they had a pretty good handle on who had what for episodes 1-30 and 40-48, but there was a gap in the middle where plot convenience took over. Unless one of the movies explains a massive shift of medals from Kazari/Maki to Uva, or we count the medals dropped out every time Eiji changes forms (rather than just the few times someone steals from him mid-transformation).
Re: Medal tracking
Date: 2017-04-07 02:16 am (UTC)Beyond that, I still don't get why Ankh took that last Taka Core after Eiji powers down from his first Greeed transformation. Not if he's supposed to give up his own in the final battle. Why not have it shown that Maki took it at some point?