So here's another fast of the Naomi Takabe as producer and Yasuko Kobayashi as the writer. Compared t Gobusters, I felt this was still an enjoyable season despite its flaws. Hey there's no perfect series, even Kuuga and Agito which are good have their own fair share of flaws. Now the story of this starts with Eiji Hino who's some kind of naive idiot who is selfless. At times, he does remind me of Spongebob Squarepants but good thing he doesn't have a best friend like Patrick Star to screw things up in here. He is met with destiny one way when a disembodied hand known as Ankh of the Greeed appears to give him the three medals that allow him to become Kamen Rider OOO. The Greeed are some kind of monsters who use the desire of people to produce the Yummy out of them. The whole series feels like a soap opera in itself, though not as intense as Kamen Rider Ryuki can be. It's funny, stupid and sometimes I feel like I'm watching an Ilia Salkind type of series (the co-writer of the Santa Claus movie).
The dilemma that Yasuko Kobayashi placed in here is that Ankh has Hina Izumi's brother Shingo Izumi under his control. It's in the beginning that Shingo Izumi is a detective who nearly meets life and death and that Ankh being only a hand possessed the dying man's body. The relationship between Ankh and Eiji is not an easy one especially when you think that the former is a Greeed. Eiji's naiveness plays a part. In the process, Eiji gets supported by Kosei Kougami (who kinda looks like Haim Saban) and Erika Satonaka. There's also Gotou who has been caught in between selfless and selfish desires. We have Chiyoko Shiraishi who owns the rather ridiculously unrealistic Cous Coussier. The events that link between Kougami and OOO can go to rather ridiculous heights, considering Kougami can be such a cheapstake yet he might be a popular character.
On the other hand the Greeed here are for me have their design cool as the Lords of Agito but sadly nowhere near as badass. My complaint about them is that despite their cool concept of using desires against people, the whole execution feels too cartoony. I mean, gone would be the nightmare fuel you may have faced in Kuuga up to Ryuki. For Ryuki, at least Kobayashi developed some real nightmare fuel despite that lousy "reset button" ending to save the world. I thought that the Greeed's Yummies can be pretty scary. The enemies Uva, Kazari, Gamel and Mezool are the main antagonists. They might look like the Lords in Agito but again, they're not really well done. Rather, they go from comedy to horrendous. However the focus of desires can become scary at times or sometimes funny. But for this series, it does seem to go mostly ridiculous given the tone of this series doesn't even go nowhere Kobayashi's previous works. I do find the whole idea they are made of quarters to be pretty funny.
For OOO's plot, there are the medals that make OOO gain multiple forms and these are the Core Medals. Core Medals are needed to fight the Greeed to which Ankh wants to become whole again. He can either mish mash whatever medals he has or go for different modes and I love the concept. It's really a cool concept I believe that lead to good toy sales. There's also the arrival of Akira Date who becomes Kamen Rider Birth. Kamen Rider Birth seems to be a modern version of Riderman considering his ability to change hands except there's none of that traitor side. Akira Date's story also blends in well with his desire for 100 million yen to open a foundation. Meanwhile we also realize that Dr. Maki was secretly working with the Greed and has betrayed Kougami. Hmmm... I could compare him to Plankton in Spongebob except he's a really deadly person. But my problem with Dr. Maki is that he is pretty boring personality. I dunno why they can't make Dr. Maki have the same kind of personality like Ouja considering he killed his own older sister. Dr. Maki desires to end the world. Eiji on the other hand has no specific desire by the time the Purple medals arrive, he goes out of control whenever he uses them.
The plot of the Greeed were eventually revealed of what happened 800 years ago by Kougami. For Akira Date, he has the cliche defection then it was all a gag, I thought he died but funny how he survived then he returns during the near finale. Meanwhile Gotou temporarily becomes the new Birth but was later forced to wear the Prototype. The story of Ankh's origins well are pretty confusing especially with how a child was born out of that story... something that I find creepy but never as creepy as the Orphnoch King plot. So Ankh betrays them. We also discover that Shingo manages to be independent of Ankh for life support later in contrast to the plot. So Dr. Maki slowly manipulates everything which I find predictable that he would be the big bad. So I'll say OOO lacks in surprise elements. I was expecting somebody like Daguva or the Lord of Darkness to rule over the Greeeds with the story of 800 years ago. Also there was the plot that Eiji could turn into a Greeed. I thought eventually Ankh's bonding with the body of Shingo made him much different he chooses to give up the body in the end. My complaint might also lead to how easily the four villains Uva, Kazari, Gamel and Mezool don't get too much of dramatic deaths. Maybe for Mezool because of her desire for love but the rest were simply fallaway. Dr. Maki doesn't make a significant final villain though I won't say he's horrible either. He's just nowhere near Daguva in terms of being frightening which again, maybe because Toei decided to tone down Tokusatsu. In the end, Eiji wins and travels across the world.
My rating? 7.5/10. It's kinda corny, funny, I don't know but I can't hate it. Overall, it felt like a Nicktoon meets Kamen Rider ranking with Kiva (which I like better) and with Fourze (which I also like better). I can't say it's horrible either but definitely having a better execution than Go-onger for me.
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