Kamen Rider OOO: Endpoint Analysis, Part 2

[akinoame]

OOO is full of surprises, but I think the biggest one for the staff is how popular Akira Date, the first Kamen Rider Birth and ultimately Kamen Rider Birth-Prototype (a.k.a. "Proto-Birth") turned out to be. And I think it all comes down to the performance by Hiroaki Iwanaga, who takes a character who's kind of in an awkward situation and could be really easy to hate and makes him absolutely lovable. Further kudos go to Eitoku, Birth's suit actor, for carrying that energy in his fighting style, eventually going into something more like wrestling at times, and to Yoshifumi Oshikawa, who managed to match Eitoku's Date so well as Proto-Birth that you can't even notice the change in suit actors for him.

Nicknamed "The Fighting Doctor," Date was a doctor who worked with an organization that's probably Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières and traveled to countries that desperately needed medical care, particularly in poor areas and warzone. It was during a civil war in Africa that he came to realize that no matter how much he and his fellow doctors contributed, the moment they had to leave, there was no network in place to continue the work they'd done. The war was taking a turn for the worst, and sometime after Date got a passing glimpse of a nearly catatonic Japanese teenager being removed from the hospital by his politician parents for safer treatment at home, he learned that they too would have to leave. But the departure didn't go as smoothly for Date as it had for that boy; it's unclear exactly when, but implicitly soon after, Date himself became a victim of the war when he was shot in the head. His recovery was miraculous, but there was still a bullet deep in his brain, and nobody wanted to risk removing it because of the potential damage they could cause. However, if somebody didn't remove it, he would likely die from the injury—repetitive movement would cause that bullet to travel deeper and cause more extensive damage. His only hope was to resort to the black market—every doctor had a price, and he was betting that 100 million yen would be a good enough price to get his surgery done.

Date became Birth in order to earn this money, but he never told anyone outside of Maki, who had to know his medical conditions in order to determine what effects the Birth System would have on the human body. But Maki's not the one who hired him—Kougami was. So I'm not entirely sure how that hiring process went, or if the interview was just "I want 100 million yen and I won't explain why," "GREAT, YOU'RE HIRED!" But knowing Kougami...

As far as awkward positions go, Date is in a big one, both in-story and as far as the audience is concerned. See, Goto is supposed to be Birth. The whole story's building to it, Core shows him as Birth (despite being non-canonical), and we're kind of just waiting for the kid to get his shit together and become Birth. But nope, Date's Birth. And there's no better way to show this than to listen to the lyrics of "Reverse/Re:Birth," their image song. Or rather, Goto's image song. Like I said in the review of the music video, the lyrics all have to do with Goto rather than Date. Given how long it took for Birth to get an image song playing here, I feel like it originally was written for Goto, but Date proved to be ridiculously popular with the fans, and it kind of sounds like his advice to Goto. What contributes to this theory is that there's two other versions of the song—one sung just by Goto, one sung just by Date, all of which are great. And it's kind of odd; sure, Goto's great and all, but Date is Birth for 23 episodes and a movie, while Goto is Birth for 10. Making a comparison to Lost Galaxy, it's like celebrating Karone as the Pink Ranger more than Kendrix, despite them sharing the title and Karone taking over because of Kendrix's death. ...Which kinda technically happened in Super Megaforce. Oops. But overall, I do get the feeling, particularly from the song, that like Asakura back in Ryuki, Date lasted far longer than Kobayashi originally planned. He was meant to be Goto's mentor and train him toward becoming Birth. Instead, he's really the one fans tend to associate with Birth the most.

Combined with the above, you'd think that Date's focus on training Goto would be a detriment to his character, just another reminder that he's not the first pick to be Birth. Instead, however, it sets up a unique dynamic, one I'd like to see more of in these long-running, multigenerational franchises: Date has no plans to continue as Birth. He sees it as a means to an end—a temporary job that will provide him the money he needs for his surgery so that he can get back to his real passion, medicine. Sure, he cares about saving people—he wouldn't be a doctor otherwise—but he does it in his own way and doesn't let it consume him the way it does Eiji and it does Goto to an extent. In a world full of Tommy Olivers and Takeshi Hongos eternally fighting the good fight, it's refreshing to see a character with a plan for retirement, who'll come back when needed but is perfectly happy to remain as a civilian doing his own thing to help other people. I like it in Prince Philip of Power Rangers Dino Charge, and I like it here with Date.

When he decides to take on Goto as his sidekick/apprentice, Date gives him his Birth Buster and tells him, "Make it so I can quit whenever I want." He has an exit strategy, but he wants to be sure that the work he started will be properly continued after he's gone. And he recognizes an earnestness and good heart within Goto, which makes him trust him to become the next Birth. He trains him in the use of the equipment and brings him along as support in battle, eventually getting him to where he can swallow his pride and return to the Kougami Foundation. But the arrangement also brings him closer to Eiji and Ankh and all of their drama, which makes him worry more about Eiji than he'd planned to. Ankh's injuries following his first encounter with Lost Ankh put them in a position where Date can ask for information on the Medals and the King in exchange for the Cell Medals Ankh needs for treatment. The knowledge that overuse of the Medals can cause OOO to lose control scares him when he sees how readily Eiji will use a combo, even when he passes out from the strain it puts on his body. And Eiji's recklessness with his physical condition and safety, his all-consuming concern for others, and the nagging sense that Date's seen him somewhere before but never actually met him leads him to realize that Eiji was the boy he saw during the war and that just as Date had left with a traumatic injury, the experience there had left deep wounds on Eiji too.

Date was one to say that he would do things for himself, with his own hands, to achieve his goals and that he'd never do something that would make himself cry, since others' tears were enough. This was foreshadowing the deal Maki would offer him, after his injury was revealed to everyone. If Date joined him, Maki would give him the 100 million. Date accepted, and Goto and Eiji tried to figure out just why he needed the money, incorrectly guessing that it would be used to build a medical school in Africa, so that again, the work he did there wouldn't be undone the moment he was gone. While it's true that Date wanted to build the school, he wanted to build it himself, after recovering. His betrayal was a ruse designed to determine how far gone Maki was and if Kougami would need Date to eliminate him. Much as Date liked him, he saw that Maki had forsaken humanity long ago and had fully embraced the idea of becoming a Greeed. But Maki pulled the trigger first, apparently killing Date and giving Goto the impetus to become Birth. Date, however, had indeed survived and took things rather well; he'd gotten the first installment of his paycheck from Maki ahead of time, and Kougami compensated him for the danger (as well as for leaving the Foundation), and it added up to the money he needed. He said goodbye to Eiji, Hina, and Ankh before flying off, promising to be okay so that he could fulfill his dreams, while trying to get Eiji to remember his own desires.

Date's arc is that of what I like to call the Kobayashi Green. In many of Kobayashi's works, you'll find a character with some kind of fatal condition, who is fighting in order to prolong their life, and most of these characters wear green: Kitaoka in Ryuki as Zolda, Yuto (for whom it isn't a medical condition, but the terms of his powers mean he's got a tenuous grip on existence) as Zeronos in Den-O, and of course, Date as Birth. Others may wear orange or gold, like Minako as Sailor Venus in the live-action Sailor Moon or Jin in Go-Busters, or Akira in ToQger, who does not fit this character type but thinks he does. The Kobayashi Green fights to preserve their own life, and a major character conflict for them is coming to care about other people while trying to keep their secret.

For Date, however, Kobayashi does a good job not letting on too much about his condition as the Green. Maki brings up his condition obliquely, and Date gets nervous and tries to laugh it off. If you know your Kobayashi, you know to watch this; if you're a young child and OOO is your first Kobayashi series, you fall for his act easily. And again, this comes down to Hiroaki Iwanaga's performance—Date is a dork, not terribly smart sometimes, but overall really friendly. Why would someone like that be hiding anything? So it's especially nice to see that Date does recover and returns to help his friends, taking on the Prototype Birth belt and becoming Goto's sidekick as Proto-Birth.

Since Goto confirms that his worries about Eiji are well-founded and that he no longer seems to care about saving himself from becoming a Greeed, Date tries to help talk sense into him, but nothing he says really gets through Eiji's head. But he asks him to look at his Greeed hands and asks if he really can protect anyone if he becomes the ultimate destroyer. It gives him pause for only a moment before he once again insists he doesn't care what happens to himself, but maybe it's just enough of a moment—by the time Eiji returns to save them, he's back in control of himself and more OOO than Greeed. Still, Date continues to worry that Eiji's taking on way too much responsibility for himself alone and decides that all he and Goto really can do is to try to take some of that burden for themselves instead of letting him shoulder it alone. So in the final battle, they take over the hordes of Trash Yummies so Eiji and Ankh can fight Maki, and when Eiji freefalls from the explosion, Date's one of the ones reaching out and telling him to accept their help and let them save him, arguing that he's not strong enough to do it alone, and telling him off afterwards for worrying him to death.

With no more need for Birth, Date returns to Africa, to the jungle this time, to treat the sick there. He still returns to Japan now and again, finally getting a chance to formally meet Shingo on the same day that Chiyoko surprises everyone with a video call from Eiji, whom Date is happy to see is doing much better. While we don't hear anything more about the school Date plans to build, we really don't need to—we saw what he wanted to build being accomplished as Birth. The good he did was carried on by a successor that he personally trained, and for all of the trouble that occurred while he was gone, it was still fairly well in hand. There's no reason to assume, based on his performance as Birth, that he wouldn't be able to do the same as a doctor as well. He's not the kind of person who would sacrifice his own desires for other people—he's the one who tries to encourage them to find what they want again.




The best way I can describe the Team Birth dynamic honestly doesn't fit at all. Imagine watching Batman, but through Robin's eyes. While to some degree, he wants to be Batman himself, he's fine just being Robin. And then Batman's gone, and he's got to step up and become the new Batman. That's roughly what Shintaro Goto goes through during the series, except for the part where Date is nothing like Batman at all and then he comes back as the new Robin, and I think I lost track of my metaphor.

Goto begins as a former police officer with dreams of saving the world, which brought him to the Kougami Foundation as the captain of the First Ride Vendor Platoon. But as soon as Eiji becomes OOO, he quickly finds himself dissatisfied with Eiji's work and his own role in the grand scheme of things. Asaya Kimijima does a great job bringing across Goto's bitterness, beginning to hint at it even in the beginning, before his issues with Eiji came into play. He was a little shady around them, didn't explain much, and a bit impatient with Eiji while trying to ignore Ankh altogether. But that quickly progresses into outright disdain and hostility, since he feels that Eiji isn't taking his duties seriously and has zero control over the dangerous Greeed Ankh. For example, he had a tendency to shoot at Eiji. Not just with guns, but with a bazooka too. But for all his talk about saving the world, he had to face the hard truth that he didn't have the power Eiji did in order to make that happen. He was just a glorified delivery boy, handing out cakes and candroids to Eiji at Kougami's every whim.

That all changed when Maki announced the development of a new Medal System that would allow humans direct control over the Cell Medals, much in the same way that OOO directly controlled the Core Medals. With a transformation device that could be handled by any user, instead of magically locked to the aimless traveler handpicked by a monster, Goto could finally save the world. Kougami encouraged his ambition and recommended that he try and get in good with Maki. The best chance to do that is to guard a transport of 5000 Cell Medals and Ankh's Kujaku Core on its way to the lab. However, he's interrupted by Eiji warning that Hina had gone missing and that he'd gotten a tip that she'd been kidnapped and hidden in the truck. His honor offended, Goto sticks up for his men and even shows Eiji the interior, reluctantly letting him tag along in the hopes of finding Hina. But the Greeed attack the truck, and in the middle of the battle, Goto learns that Hina had been knocked out and placed in a secret compartment, and he realizes the only person who could have done that without his knowledge is Maki. He goes to arrest Maki later, but Maki offers him the Birth Driver. Goto refuses, smacking the keys out of his hand—not because he knows Maki is somehow involved in Hina's kidnapping and thus has some connection to Kazari, but because he can't bring himself to suck up to him.

Date is chosen instead as Birth, and he proves to be a very nice guy who doesn't quite understand why Goto's trying to gauge what kind of person he is. There's no overblown pride in him—something that Goto realizes has been dragging him down this whole time. He was proud and didn't take advantage of his position at the Foundation because he thought he was better suited to saving the world. He ignored the good Eiji was doing in saving others and in controlling the Medals because he thought that he could have done a much better job than Eiji. He turned down the chance to take the one thing he wanted all this time because he was too proud to serve under Maki. This realization and a near-death experience bring him to Cous Coussier, where he's forced to humble himself considerably by dressing in whatever costume Chiyoko's picked out to wait tables and clean up, as well as deal Ankh picking on him and whatever's going on with Eiji that week. He takes it as well as he can, but he's embarrassed when people he knows find him—first Eiji's surprise to wake up and find him helping open, then Satonaka asking if he's taken a sudden vacation, and finally Date being impressed that he was hardworking enough to take on a second job. Goto finally confesses to Date that he left the Foundation because he'd originally wanted to be Birth, but he's ashamed of his pride. Date proves to him that, quite honestly, Goto doesn't have what it takes to be Birth, but he teaches him, offering him the Birth Buster and telling him to make sure that he can trust him to continue on after he's done earning his money.

Goto is content to work as Date's support, helping evacuate civilians, changing out Date's spent Medal canisters, and providing cover fire. He might not be the one saving the world, but it's a step closer. And it's a step closer to OOO, but with his new outlook, he's able to sympathize with them a lot more. He sees how hard Eiji's pushing himself firsthand now, and he's right there with Date and Hina telling him to take care of himself. And for all he and Ankh still don't like each other, they rarely clash—the exception being when bird Yummies first appear, and he accuses Ankh of creating them and intentionally hurting Eiji to prevent him from destroying them. When Eiji uncovers Ankh's innocence, Goto does apologize, although Ankh acts like he hasn't heard anything. With Hina asking them for information on how the combos affect Eiji's body, Goto realizes that he had ample opportunity to learn everything he could about OOO and the Medals while with the Foundation and never took advantage of it. He returns to Kougami, his head bowed low as he makes up a lame excuse for why he's coming back. To prove his newfound humility, he takes the only position available—Satonaka's assistant—and throws himself into the duties he would have considered beneath him before: data entry and cake eating.

But for all of his progress, he never sees himself as ready to become Birth. His chance comes when Kitamura's Yummy kidnaps Date in an increasingly more disturbing in retrospect attempt to get Eiji to depend on him. But he freezes up, even when Eiji purposely tries to invoke PuToTyra in order to buy him time to henshin. His fear that he's not ready results in him getting captured, and there, he confesses his failure to Date. While Date acknowledges his fear, he insists that Goto is indeed ready to become Birth and makes him promise not to hesitate the next time.

The next time comes when Date's condition is revealed to the Foundation and his pain is too much to ignore anymore. Date pretends to betray everyone, under Kougami's orders, in order to infiltrate Maki's group and assassinate him if necessary. With Eiji's help, Goto realizes that Date had wanted to build a medical school, after his frustration in Africa that he and the other doctors were leaving and that every bit of good they did would fall apart without them. He tries to raise the money from his own salary at the Kougami Foundation, but it's a paltry amount. Kougami explains that while Goto's done well in eliminating his pride, he's failed to let his desire flourish. He's gotten too comfortable as Date's support and forgotten his original aim to become Birth. With that news, Goto decides that the only thing he can do is face Date himself and use what he learned to become the Birth he'd thought Date would want him to be. Of course, Date reveals the truth about everything and turns on Maki, but Maki tries to kill him with the suit's self-destruct, knowing that Date didn't read the instruction manual and thus missed that detail in the design. However, Goto read it and disabled the self-destruct long ago, but the Greeed attack Date and overwhelm him. Believing him dead, Goto finally takes up the Birth Driver and kicks some major ass...only to learn that Date was perfectly okay but really ready to take his money and go get his surgery now.

Eitoku also plays Goto-Birth, and you'd never know based on the huge difference in fighting style. Where Date prefers physical fights, Goto spams the shit out of the attachments and isn't afraid to use the Cell Medals. But Birth needs backup to refill the canisters and provide support fire, and that job is given to Satonaka, which gets on Goto's nerves since she's never on time to the battles. But for the most part, he manages to keep his temper and figures out a way around it, offering 5 percent of his pay if she manages to get ready in time. Following that, she arrives more quickly, sometimes even putting in overtime.

But with Eiji becoming a Greeed and Ankh betraying them all, Goto and Hina find themselves having to help Eiji hold onto his humanity, all while trying to defeat all of the Greeed, now united under Maki's banner. Goto tries to avoid contacting Date about this, wanting him to focus on his recovery, but neither he nor Hina can seem to get Eiji to see reason or figure out what his lost desire is. Nor can he and Eiji defeat the Greeed without Eiji tapping deeper into the purple Medals' power. While Eiji battles Ankh, Goto is stuck trying to take care of a rampaging Gamel, knowing that his own power isn't enough to take on a Greeed. Already, he'd had to downgrade to Proto-Birth for a battle while the Birth Driver was under repairs. With nothing else working, he decides to try a desperate suicide tactic: firing on Gamel with the Breast Cannon at point-blank range—a tactic he'd used before, but not on as powerful an enemy. However, Date arrives and lectures him about becoming more reckless in his tactics since he'd left, then transforms into Proto-Birth to back him up. In the end, they do have to use Goto's tactic, and it's just enough to aggravate the cracks in Gamel's Medals, destroying him for good.

The problem then becomes Eiji, who has even more Medals and his desire now unchecked and running wild—something that Kougami encourages, although he wants Goto and Date to convince Eiji to give up the purple Medals so that he can become the proper Medal vessel, rather than a Greeed. It occurs to Team Birth that both of them are completely out of their minds, and they try to haul Eiji out of there, but he's no longer thinking straight, and it's actually thanks to Maki that they avoid Eiji doing something they'd all regret. Again, they try to reason with him, once they see him completely transform into a Greeed, and Goto desperately insists that he needs to stop trying to do everything on his own. Eiji doesn't listen, however, and still uses his forbidden power and also goes and does the thing they didn't want him to do in the first place, although he does gain control and saves their lives.

While Goto's frustrated at how little he can do to help Eiji in the final battle, confessing to Date that he doesn't understand how he could have wanted to save the entire world when he can't figure out how to save just one person, he plays a critical role in doing just that. He, Date, and Satonaka take care of the Trash Yummies while Eiji and Ankh battle Maki—the little Goto believed that he could do—but when the Medal vessel explodes with a powerless Eiji still inside, he immediately flies up to rescue him. Eiji's still failing to save himself, so he shouts at him to finally accept their help, insisting that everyone is still there, reaching out for him. This finally gets through to Eiji, and he takes Goto's hand, allowing Goto to slow his descent enough to safely bring him to the ground and their friends there.

Goto returns to the police, understanding now that saving the world requires saving people first. He seems to be back at his original rank, leading officers in a raid, but he hasn't forgotten his friendships with everyone else and meets with them at Cous Coussier for a party the day Eiji calls home. He's found a balance between his independence and ability to do things on his own and his need to be supported by others and provide support—just as he finally managed to get Eiji to understand.




Erika Satonaka, played by Mayuko Arisue, is one of those characters that I didn't understand until the re-watch, when I started reviewing. That was when I realized that she was probably the funniest character in the series for the same reason I was originally confused about her. Put simply, she is incredibly competent and could easily stomp the Greeed and become Birth any time she wanted. But she didn't want to, and it takes a lot to get her to care. And that is her character arc.

We first meet Satonaka as Kougami's secretary, who mostly just eats cake and carries the monitor he uses to remotely meet his employees and Eiji. It takes a few episodes for her to develop a personality, and when we first see her, she seems polite. But things start to change around episode 9, when she's sent to collect on the debt Eiji owes Kougami after taking out a Cell Medal loan. That's when we first start to see that she really doesn't care about much of anything, matter-of-factly explaining to Ankh that if he doesn't pay up then, then they're going to have to pay interest that will multiply daily. And when he releases ten Medals so suddenly that he nearly collapses, she just takes them and leaves.

Her lack of concern is highlighted by her amazing competence at fighting. In episode 20, Kougami asks her to deliver the Condor Medal to Eiji, who is struggling through a battle against a Yummy that can spawn offshoots of itself. Satonaka takes a Ride Vendor over and effortlessly battles the jellyfish that Eiji can't keep up with, shooting them out of the air with two guns before sending over the Medal. And of course, in the movie, she proves to be adept at kicking the homunculus-knights' asses and easily could have gotten herself and Kougami out of Gara's trap a long time ago if Kougami had paid her more. In fact, one of the Net Movies has her decide that Date and Goto are doing a terrible job, and she declares herself to be the new Birth with them as her support staff/manservants. I don't doubt that she could do it. You just have to pay her enough.

But it isn't just pay that motivates her, over time. She begins to become closer to the people she's working with, even noting upon meeting Date that she approves of his philosophy. But the most important relationship that develops is with Goto—but decidedly not in a romantic context. There are none of the usual romance tropes between them; they're colleagues who don't like each other much at first, but they grow to respect one another. The first time he shoots Eiji, she's the one who tears into him, leaving it to Kougami to play good cop...albeit a good cop who puts him on administrative leave and splatters cake batter on his face. But she gives him another chance later on, when Kougami requests him to take her place while she's on vacation. And when she finds him at Cous Coussier, she's shocked and assumes he took an unannounced vacation, telling him off politely to fill out the paperwork first, before asking Eiji to come with her to meet Kougami. And when Goto returns and Kougami says that his old job has been filled, she's the one to suggest she could use an assistant.

She reminds him that he's the one who's the assistant when she's assigned as his support for Team Birth, and she enforces her breaks and her love of fashion, turning off business altogether when she's not on the clock and spending hours getting dressed before walking into battle. He leaves a note for her asking her to prepare more quickly in exchange for 5 percent of his pay; she takes the offer, but she admits it's not much and he's not getting much in return. While Goto admits his mixed feelings about Ankh being assimilated into Lost Ankh, she tries to remain pragmatic about it, pointing out that Shingo's finally awake and back with his family, which was Eiji's goal all along. Still, she joins Goto's battle to help Eiji find him after Goto stalls enough time for her to arrive.

And then things suddenly begin to change, and it's because of Eiji—someone she doesn't have a lot of interaction with outside of escorting him to Kougami's office or delivering the occasional gift. She and Goto go looking for Eiji and find Maki talking to him; they both avoid risking him by attempting a rescue when he doesn't appear to be in immediate danger, instead taking the opportunity to gain some much-needed information about the state of Eiji's Greeedification. The second Maki starts to threaten Eiji, Satonaka shoots him with both her and Goto's Birth Busters so Goto can swing in for the rescue. She shows up early to a battle to show off her new outfit, but when it nearly blows her, Goto, and Eiji away, she seems to take things more seriously—especially with Kougami becoming more and more insistent that they remove the purple Medals from Eiji and not let him destroy the other Cores. When they lose just about every Core they've got and Goto is forced to use Proto-Birth, she joins Eiji in an ambush on the Greeed, personally setting traps and using explosives on the Greeed—proving again that she can handle herself just fine against these guys when properly motivated. But instead of money, it seems to be her connection to Goto and concern over Eiji that's motivating her.

Unfortunately, Eiji's plan doesn't account for Maki fully becoming a Greeed and defeating them. When she has to brief Kougami on the recent developments, she offers to work overtime if he needs her to do more to solve this crisis. She almost hangs up when he admits that OOO and Proto-Birth are the only ones who can really do much of anything, but she does agree to a special delivery; along with returning the repaired Birth Driver to Goto, she's supposed to deliver the King's TaToBa Medals to Eiji, but she keeps getting distracted—first by Date returning to help, thus needing Proto-Birth, and finally by Eiji losing in battle against Ankh. Seeing Eiji lose consciousness on the beach, with Ankh walking away from him and Maki distracted by looking for his doll, it's clear she knows she's in way over her pay grade. But with only a glance at the gift she was supposed to give him, she runs over and grabs Eiji, bringing him back to recover at the Foundation. She apologizes to Kougami for failing to give him the Medals, then gets a little worried when Kougami has him wheeled down to the archives. But in front of Goto and Date, she plays it cool, insisting she didn't press the issue more because it's none of her business...until Date calls her out on it behind her back. At that point, she gives Goto her master keycard, insisting that he'll need it as her assistant—putting forth the minimum effort in trying to act like she doesn't care.

She joins the battle against the Trash Yummies slightly late, but in just enough time to help the Births finish off an entire pile of them. And she proves to care enough about Eiji that she joins Date in reaching out to him and encouraging him to let Goto save him, helping to provide the stable support he needs. In the epilogue, she seems to get more enjoyment out of her job, no longer looking bored as she gives Kougami the birthday list for the day, and she's building a stronger friendship with the others, joining them at the party and bringing along one of her boss's cakes. It's become more than "just business" with her—give her something to care about, and she'll give 100 percent.




Kousei Kougami

Hoo boy.

In about any other series, the head of the eponymous Kougami Foundation, played by Takashi Ukaji, would be the villain. He reminds me of a good Greg Weisman villain, in fact, and some of his plans for Eiji are just downright monstrous...

All right, getting ahead of myself. To properly analyze him, let's start with the secret origin revealed only in the movie, OOO Wonderful: The King 800 years ago is Kougami's ancestor. How a Thuringian ruler from the 1200s had a Japanese descendent is never really explained, but whatever. If the belt can speak only English and Japanese in the voice of the legendary Akira Kushida, I can accept this line of descent. The King had been the single greediest person in the universe, and it seems his powers as OOO only augmented this, as he became obsessed with the idea of bringing the Core Medals together in a single, godlike vessel in order to take over the world. Kougami learns of his ancestor's story and discovers the Cell Medals and the sarcophagus that had once been the King's body, now the seal on the Greeed; and he decides to create technology to utilize the Cells, hiring Maki to design everything. He always knew one day that the Greeed would break their seal, and ten years after the establishment of his Biological Research Lab, it happens.

Kougami's priorities always seem more than a little skewed, and one of the best examples of that is his obsession with birthdays. He can always be found baking a birthday cake in his office—most notably, baking one to celebrate Eiji's realization that he can depend on other people and still be able to help others, all while the potential end of the world is going on around him. And when Ankh releases the other Greeed, the art museum is destroyed, and most of the Ride Vendor platoon is wiped out, Kougami bakes a cake to celebrate their rebirth. All while listening to "Happy Birthday To You." Most inappropriate slaughter music ever. And the way he treats items is more like a birthday gift too, than you'd expect from a mentor. Eiji doesn't have to earn anything, and half the time, he doesn't really need anything—you'll see him forget that he can use the Tora candroid to drain off the power of at least LaToraTah so that he's not exhausted and hurt when he transforms back—but Kougami gives it to him anyway. Medals are passed out arbitrarily, and he never really gives Eiji a straight answer about anything when asked; if Eiji truly wants the information—like about the creation of the Medals, or when Goto was willing to hack the system to find out more about OOO's origins and what the powers were doing to Eiji—then he'll tell him. It's not enough to say, "Are you going to tell me how many Medals you have?" He won't. But if Eiji unexpectedly asks why it's so important to collect the Medals into a single vessel, he'll explain. It reminds me of Linkara's complaints about Gosei in History of Power Rangers: Megaforce: just giving these things over. But the difference is that Kougami isn't a mentor; he's merely a benefactor. A benefactor with his own agenda, and if enabling a bit gets him closer to what he wants, then he'll do it.

And enabling is a huge issue with this guy. While he doesn't know initially about Date's injury, he doesn't do what Date expects and take him off active duty. Instead, he encourages him, insisting that the bullet slowly moving deeper into his brain and causing him serious pain and potentially irreversible damage is good motivation with his desire for 100 million yen. For his surgery. To save his life. Look, I know this is a lot of money we're talking here, but if you can afford this as Date's salary for bringing in all these Cell Medals, surely you can instead put it into his health insurance and stick him with a desk job for a while? And while Eiji and Goto both know that something is up with Maki, and Ankh outright confronts him on the issue, Kougami doesn't do anything about it, instead insisting that his desire is intriguing and he wants to see more of it. He only warns Maki thirteen episodes later that he needs to end his involvement with Kazari because OOO's defeat would threaten Kougami's own desire.

But the single biggest problem with enabling is Eiji, and it's the point where I really have to say that Kougami reads more like a villain. Sure, all of the "what do you want?" focus is reminiscent of antagonists like Mr. Morden of Babylon 5 or the machination of David Xanatos of Gargoyles, or even Shiro Kanzaki of Kobayashi's Ryuki. But then you take the shadowy manipulations and ulterior motives and make that the guy the one in charge of your hero's armory and infodumps. Also, half the time, you're not even going to make it to the infodump because you run out of the room in terror because he just screamed, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" at you at the top of his lungs for no apparent reason.

Eiji's first meeting with him is via skype, with Satonaka holding his monitor and somehow not looking as awkward as she really should in that situation. This feels like a villain moment, where they'd greet the hero and do everything possible not to encounter the hero in-person, sending in henchmen instead. Fittingly, Ankh, antihero in every sense of the word, is the one who tracks Kougami's headquarters and confronts him. And when Ankh threatens to kill Kougami so he can use the Foundation's technology for free, Kougami has Goto switch off the Ride Vendor's transformation so that Eiji can't use it in battle. This is in the middle of a critical fight against a swarm of Mezool's Yummies, and both of them can see and hear Eiji begging it to work and slowly losing his sanity as he tries to join the battle and can't, but all of this is to motivate Ankh to accept a 60 percent fee on all Medals he and Eiji collect in battle. Kougami proceeds to observe Eiji's progress, watching him manage to control the powerful GataKiriBa and LaToraTah combos, despite fainting immediately afterward, and he decides that Eiji will be perfect as the Medal vessel the King failed to become.

While Kougami is never seen to learn Eiji's backstory, it's clear that he knows everything; after all, Satonaka has details on Shingo's medical condition cover story, and in any case, Eiji's story was big news for a while. He knows about Eiji's psychological problems, how he clearly has PTSD and a sense of emptiness reminiscent of depression. And he thinks this is perfect, since it means Eiji can use the Medals and all of the combos without being corrupted by them. As Kougami puts it, a large vessel that's been emptied out can be filled without overflowing; because Eiji was a rich and generous young man growing up, but the war left him with PTSD and no personal ambitions or desires, it means that he can take in the power of the Medals—desire itself—without losing control.

Or until the purple Medals come into play, that is, since they're drawn to Eiji's void of desire. This is the one thing that gets Kougami worried enough to try to intervene—that void of desire could easily become a desire for the void, and instead of becoming a force for desire, Eiji could become a force for total destruction—a Greeed with the power to end the world, rather than an OOO with the power to save it. He encourages Eiji to rediscover his desire and feed it, so that the purple Medals can't corrupt him, but he's frustrated when even when that happens and Eiji starts teetering over the edge in the other direction, towards the King, that Eiji actively refuses to let go of the purple Medals because he now wants their power so he can stop Maki. He tries to talk him into giving them up, but Eiji's adamant, and Date and Goto refuse to help either one of them in their crazy talk, instead trying to get Eiji out of the room and listening to actual reason. But when Eiji returns, threatening to attack Kougami if he should stand in the way of Eiji taking the Cell Medals he needs to defeat Uva, Kougami couldn't be happier, much to Eiji's confusion. It's the first time he's seen Eiji want something this badly, and he steps aside and lets Eiji become the Cell Medal vessel—purple Medals or no. He also grants Eiji the King's TaToBa Medals, allowing him to become stronger than he ever was before.

This is nothing short of terrible. Again, Eiji suffers from some form of posttraumatic stress disorder, and I'll definitely get into it during his section of the Endpoint. But who looks at a young man no older than 20, who suffered the pain and helplessness of war, whose own family used his tragedy for their own gain, who became empty inside as a result because it hurt too much to simply want anymore, and thinks, "I should do this all over again to him"? And it's especially awful because Eiji does agree to this, because he doesn't really know how to say no and because by the time they reach the point where he becomes the Cell Medal vessel, he's no longer in a state of mind to think clearly and responsibly.

Kougami is an incredibly irresponsible man, and yet we kind of have to cheer for him. Because deep down, we want to believe in what he says, that desire isn't inherently selfish or bad and that you need to be able to want in order to make a difference in the world. So we take his side over Maki's, because he's the one who wants the world to go on, because he's the one who's excited to see what a new day will bring, whether it will be good or bad. He really doesn't change at all during the series—we see him in the epilogue once again baking a cake, having Satonaka bring it to Cous Coussier for the party—and I don't think we're supposed to want him to change. He may not be the best possible role model in the show—and the fact that Ankh probably is a much better role model is quite honestly horrifying—but he's an interesting character who's difficult to peg sometimes, and I appreciate that.




Chiyoko Shiraishi, played by Marie Kai, fills a role similar to what we've seen in Kobayashi's two previous Rider series: Aunt Sanako in Ryuki and Airi in Den-O. All three of them are spacey and eccentric cafe owners who are rather motherly to their employees, but all of whom turn out to be wiser than they let on. It's kind of a Kobayashi-specific character trope, and while I'm tempted to just call it the Kobayashi Mom, that seems a little too inclusive, since it would include Deneb from Den-O and Ryuji and the original three Buddyroids from Go-Busters, who don't fit all of the characteristics beyond "motherly" and "kinda weird."

Eccentric certainly fits the bill, since she runs a restaurant for international cuisine that requires all of its employees (all three of them) to dress in costume for the theme. Which is fine. Except when she decides that Ankh is being a pain in the butt and puts a cowboy hat on him and shoots water pistols at him, when he's clearly in a terrible mood. In lieu of interviews for her job opening, she ties a series of heavy weights to the doors of the restaurant, and whosoever manages to open the doors will be hired—that is, Hina. She also decides to hire Eiji off the street—literally—when she finds him hanging out in the park and in desperate need of a temp job. She realizes that he's basically homeless, but because she recognizes him in the background of a photo, she realizes that he's a world-traveler who lives off of the clothes on his back and change in his pocket, so she's totally okay with giving him the attic bedroom and hiring him full-time.

Eiji might be working there, but Ankh sure isn't, and he's still taking up space in the attic and eating ice pops on their dime. Still, Chiyoko accepts the cover story Eiji offers, and it's so ridiculous that I actually have to quote it:

Because you grew up in a bad place, all you can speak is bad Japanese. A shut-in, foreign young man who doesn't know about society.

...I don't even know where to begin. It's so unbelievable and completely out-there that the humor comes from Chiyoko actually buying every word of it. So, pardon the bird joke, she mother-hens Ankh all the time, trying to improve his Japanese and his manners and making sure he feels accepted and loved.

...Well, I did say "trying."

She's far more accepting of the weird bullshit that goes on around her than she has any right to be. Ankh will drag Eiji somewhere at the drop of a hat, and half the time, Hina will run out the door right behind them. Strangers will swear left and right that Ankh is actually Hina's older brother who's on an out-of-town case. Goto will be hired after collapsing and nearly dying of exhaustion, and then he'll leave just as suddenly for his old job. Eiji will be bedridden for the day with unexplained injuries—in fact, this is how Chiyoko met him! Eiji first carried an unconscious Hina into the restaurant, and then Hina returned the favor a day later by carrying him there.

The weirdest, however, doesn't come from any of her employees, but from an acquaintance she met: Maki. She had no idea he was injured trying to protect her from his Yummy, but she insisted on getting him treatment, even driving him to his old house so he could get his first aid kit. She's briefly shocked when she sees what looks like her own face staring back from his pictures of his sister; but when she hears his account of Hitomi's death, she feels nothing but sympathy for him. She tries to offer him comfort, understanding that her presence is bringing up bad memories, but when he tells her to leave, she's still kind to him and asks him to come see her again. In fact, the memory of their meeting has enough impact on her that when she finds his doll in her restaurant in the finale, she realizes he must have visited and looks to the door for him. She still has the doll in the epilogue, on display on a shelf above one of the tables in the restaurant.

Kindness is her strongest trait. It's why she can take all of this in stride and not press too deeply. She worries when she thinks that maybe she's brought up bad memories for Maki. She tries to make Ankh feel like family, trying to avoid any reminders of his supposed past. She tries to encourage Eiji to travel again, but she seems to understand that there's personal reasons behind the sudden break in his nomadic life and hopes that he'll find the excitement and adventure inside himself again and leave. But whatever's going on with Hina—the weird way Eiji was protective of her in the beginning, the fact that her brother does indeed look a lot like Ankh and disappeared as suddenly as Ankh left, the way she gets depressed especially when Ankh suddenly comes home but won't stay—that she eventually worries her to the point she has to ask.

Hina explains everything to her, and once again, she takes it in stride. Eiji is a transforming superhero who fights monsters made of coins but is now transforming into a monster himself. Ankh is an 800-year-old monster made of coins who's attached to Hina's comatose brother. And the reason why the two of them left is because they've reached a point where they have to fight one another. That she accepts. She refuses to accept Hina's belief that only one of them will come back, and that having either Ankh or Shingo means having to sacrifice the other. Instead, she encourages her to try to hold all three of them together—Eiji, Ankh, and Shingo—and that she's the only one who can want all of it. If desire is truly going to save the world, Hina has to have that desire. This encourages Hina to go after Ankh again and talk to him.

The knowledge of everything that's going on doesn't keep Chiyoko down, but when she finds the doll early in the morning as she sets up shop, she heads out and catches up to everyone just as Eiji falls from the exploding Medal vessel, reaching up and urging him to take their hands. In the weeks and months afterwards, she hosts a party at Cous Coussier for the others, to surprise them with Eiji's call while on his new journey. She helps let him know everyone's doing okay, wishing him luck. Because after all, he's done what she's always hoped he would—he's gone out in the world with nothing to carry on his shoulders. It's her ideal life, and helping get him back to it is exactly what she wants.




And now we come to the elephant in the room, Detective Shingo Izumi, played by Ryosuke Miura. When we're introduced to him, it's to defy an expectation. We see in the first episode that he and Eiji fit the roles that Detective Kaoru Ichijou and Yusuke Godai filled in Kuuga; clearly, these two are going to be our hardly ambiguously gay duo fighting the evil monsters together as they come to understand each other.

Then Shingo gets mortally wounded. The role of male subtext partner, instead, goes to Ankh—one of said monsters. Shingo becomes a non-character—voiceless, with no ability to affect the action himself, but he's the source of motivation for the characters, particularly Eiji and Hina. A symbolic character, if you will.

I'll discuss this again in Power Rangers in Space and several other reviews, but a "symbolic character" is my term for a character who typically lacks agency on their own, but who provides the drive for the other characters around them. Particularly prevalent in the tokusatsu genre, there is often a physical symbol associated with them as well: Tyler's father is present in his bracelet and journal in Power Rangers Dino Charge; in Kamen Rider W, it's the Boss's hat that reminds Shotaro what it means to be a hardboiled man; Daichi of Ultraman X has the Spark Doll of the monster Gomora as a memento of his father and a space radio from his mother.

Shingo himself is the symbol, constantly present but unable to do anything himself. The little we know of him comes from his relationship to Hina and what he means to her; following their parents' death, he took her in and encouraged her to pursue her dream of becoming a fashion designer, just as she'd encouraged his dream to become a cop. They were very close to each other, to the point that her friends at school joked that she had a complex about him. He'd tease her too—apparently about her strength, and when he'd have to drive her to school because she overslept. Beyond that, we learn that sometime before he took in Hina, he'd broken his arm fighting a dangerous criminal in order to protect his informant and later kept an eye on the informant to make sure he was doing all right. He's an apparent tech junkie, based on the programming books and various pieces of computer equipment in his room, and he bought himself an iPhone and hid it because Hina was annoyed with his hobby. We know he's brave enough to pull himself out of the wreckage of his patrol car with the intent of shooting a Yummy himself to protect Eiji. But that's about it. He doesn't have a firm basis. But in grand Kobayashi tradition (see Eri in Ryuki), the little we see of him gives him some damn good development for someone who is essentially a nonentity.

He's further depersonalized, if inadvertently, by Eiji constantly referring to him as "Detective" ("Keiji-san") until his temporary return in episodes 41-43. Hina calls him "Big Brother" ("Oniichan"), which is expected in Japanese culture, but it contributes to the loss of his name—the essence of "who are you?" Ankh intentionally depersonalizes him by referring to him as "this body," but I'll get into that more in Ankh's section. The two of them have a very interesting relationship, and back in W.I.T.C.H., I likened it to the antagonistic relationship between Matt Olsen and the demonic Shagon, who had possessed him. Matt was aware of everything Shagon was doing, but he had very little control over their shared body. In contrast, however, Ankh isn't aware that Shingo is still conscious—as soon as they're separated, Shingo's body is comatose, and up until episode 14, dying. Having finally gotten medical intervention, Shingo's out of danger, but Ankh is still healing the rest of his wounds. Shingo can do nothing to help Hina or Eiji. But Ankh can, and despite everything, Shingo is grateful to him for it. Ankh is using him because he needs a functioning body. If that's all Shingo can do to help, to give Ankh that so he can help, then it helps—part of the overall theme of "going as far as your hand will reach."

But after Ankh's near-assimilation by Lost Ankh in episode 34, the lines between him and Shingo begin to blur. The very next episode, Ankh completely spaces out after Hina wins her school's fashion competition, and in that moment, Shingo finally makes himself heard by congratulating her, a tearful expression on their face. Ankh snaps out of it soon after, but it proves that Shingo is waking up. When the Unicorn Yummy destroys Hina's dream, Shingo reacts again, pulling Ankh along to go fight, favoring his left side over Ankh's right and thus losing—much to Ankh's confusion, since he's still not sure what's going on. This time, Ankh is the one who has to watch without the ability to intervene. When they separate, Shingo finally opens his eyes, calling out to Hina and asking if she's okay, but it takes everything out of him, and he loses consciousness again. In the hospital, he has another brief awakening, murmuring about Hina's dream after she tells Eiji that she's quitting school so she can take care of him. Ankh returns, with Hina's permission, but the damage is done. In episode 39, Ankh begins dreaming for the first time in his life, having nightmares of Shingo dying, Eiji losing control, and Lost Ankh taking him over. As if the dream was a premonition, Ankh is indeed absorbed into Lost Ankh, and Shingo awakens fully, his body completely healed.

Chiyoko initially mistakes him for Ankh, but once he introduces himself, she helps him surprise Hina. Both of them are nearly in tears as they hug each other for the first time in nearly a year, and even Eiji finds himself tearing up as he realizes what he's fought for has finally happened—Hina has her brother back. Shingo thanks him for protecting Hina and for trying so hard to save him, although Eiji's a little uncomfortable around him at first. Still, Shingo reminds him that the battle isn't over just because he's been saved, and he asks Eiji to let him help fight so that he won't feel powerless again. Unfortunately, the extent of his help is mostly analysis of the Medals and which sub-forms will help Eiji the most in a battle without using up his energy as quickly as a combo. And just as much as Eiji tries to include him in training, Shingo tries to include Eiji in his family, with him and Hina inviting Eiji over for dinner. To their surprise, however, this is the last time Eiji eats with them—he decides that he has no right to intrude on their happiness and thus leaves.

But Goto brings news of Eiji's Greeedification, and Shingo realizes that Eiji really hadn't been enjoying dinner at all—he hadn't been able to taste anything. He and Hina decide to intervene, catching Eiji before he can run into battle with the Ankylosaur Yummy. When Hina fails to convince Eiji to leave it to Goto, the Izumi siblings follow him, and Shingo sadly points out that the only reason Eiji fights is because they want him to. For all they've said they don't want him to fight, they all want something—in this case, wanting to save Ankh, and he's the only one who can do that, and the only way he can is through fighting. Shingo himself even wants Ankh saved, and so he recognizes their selfishness in how none of them have considered what Eiji wants all this time, and he notes how godlike it is that Eiji just quietly accepts their selfish prayers. When Hina turns away, unable to bear watching Eiji's control slipping, Shingo encourages her to do what she's always done and take Eiji's hand and give him the help he can't ask for. He insists that it's up to them to ensure that nobody treats Eiji like a "convenient god" again.

When Ankh revives from the Medals left behind by the destroyed Lost Ankh, Shingo is a bit apprehensive to see him. Ankh takes notice of him immediately and approaches, and though Shingo shrinks away, there's still a hint of defiance in his eyes—the very image I used for this section. Ankh lifts him up by the neck, choking him until he passes out so that he can merge with him once more, to make up for his own body losing coherence thanks to Eiji destroying three Cores. Shingo manages to hold on for a little bit, insisting to Hina that he'll be okay while urging her to do what she can to help. He falls under again, for good this time, and once again, he becomes the symbol of the struggle between Eiji and Ankh. Ankh is using his body to compensate for his broken Cores, and he's forcing Shingo through Greeedification while also turning him into the Core Medal vessel. Eiji refuses to forgive Ankh for it. Hina is in the middle, having to learn to understand what her brother's words mean.

When Maki cracks Ankh's personal Core, Ankh tells Hina that she'll have Shingo back soon, since he's dying. They don't tell Eiji that particular detail so that he doesn't hold back in the final battle. But when Eiji reaches his last resort and starts to make his permanent transformation into a Greeed, Ankh stops him and gives up his last three Cores, freeing Shingo for good. Shingo is unconscious through the battle and Eiji's fall, but he makes another full recovery by the epilogue. He's once again driving his sister to work, without the complaints, and he keeps in touch with all of Ankh's friends. He passes along a message from Chiyoko to Hina, and he joins them all at the Arabian Fair to officially meet Date and to say hello to Eiji. Admittedly, his line to Eiji, "This is an Arabian Fair," is so stupid that it causes the commentary for the finale—Shu Watanabe, Naomi Takebe, and Ryuta Tazaki—to crack up. But considering what we wound up with, it can be forgiven. A symbolic character whose entire being is bound in someone else, and he manages to come out of it as his own man. He doesn't succumb to the depersonalization the other characters around him create. And he gains them as friends and family, not because he inherited them from Ankh, but because he himself became important to them and them to him. He's the fourth member of the OOO trio, with Hina, Eiji, and Ankh as the most important people in his life.