Kamen Rider OOO 23 Review

Kamen Rider OOO
Episode 23: Beauty, the Egg, and the Sleeping Desire
A review

I’ll admit a certain amount of trepidation about this episode set in when the preview started reminding us who Uva, Kazari, Ankh, Date, Gotou and Eiji were. Was this going to be a massively important and groundbreaking episode that warrants this slightly unusual reminder?

Five Reasons Not to Date a Kamen Rider

 Whenever a Kamen Rider I particularly like comes along I'll often gush to my friends that I "would so totally marry him eeee" but actually, when it comes down to it? I wouldn't date any Rider. It would be a supremely bad life decision. Why? Well, I'll tell you.

Why Goseiger Failed

  As another Sentai season ends and we look forward to Kaizoku Sentai Goukaiger, very few of us seem sad to watch Goseiger go. Think back to last year, when we watched the hand-off from ShinkenRed to GoseiRed. So many people spoke about feeling sad as they watched the torch pass hands - I even spotted a couple of fanboys sheepishly admitting to shedding a manly tear. Even a year before that, when ShinkenRed clashed Comically Oversized Swords with Go-onRed, there were people getting misty-eyed at saying goodbye to the Go-ongers (who weren't even that popular with fandom in general).

 But as we say goodbye to Goseiger? Nobody, save for a handful of loyal fans, seems that bothered. This is the series that has aired every weekend for just over a year now, and as it came to a close most of us were dry-eyed and impatient for the Goukaiger preview afterwards - that is, if we even watched the finale.

 Where did Goseiger go wrong?

The Ten Types of Toku Fans

 The tokusatsu fandom is an interesting place to be. We may be small, but we've got plenty of personality and variety to make up for it. But though a fandom is always made up of individuals, you still find that the same opinions and "types" will crop up again and again - and tokusatsu fandom is no different. With the fandom stretching from Japan to America, and crossing all age ranges, I still keep coming across similar views and traits. Let's talk about those then, the ten most common types of tokusatsu fans I've seen in my travels. Get out a bingo card and see how many you've spotted too!


 10. People who think Shioya Shun's acting in Hurricanger was top notch
 Just kidding, nobody thinks this.

Ten Most Hated Kamen Rider Characters

 27/03/16: We're a fandom with a lot of pent-up anger, so it's no surprise that there's even more Kamen Rider characters beyond this list that we don't like:

Five More Kamen Rider Characters Everyone Hates

Overview: Kodai Shoujotai Dogun V

 After the success of 2009's Kodai Shoujo Dogu-chan, 2010 sees the arrival of a new series, Kodai Shoujotai Dogun V. Yazawa Erika returns as Dogu-chan, overseeing a squad of five other Dogu girls.

Kodai Shoujotai Dogun V

 If you watched Dogu-chan as it aired, then you'll have a good idea of what to expect: light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek entertainment, with a sizeable helping of fanservice. Dogun V models itself after classic harem anime and manga, with an ordinary boy - played by Samurai Sentai Shinkenger's Suzuki Shogo - suddenly surrounded by five scantily clad, perky girls.

 Momose Misaki's Doji-chan is our main woman this time around, and she plays her role with cutesy aplomb. Doji-chan's four comrades, all with confusingly similar names (prepare to begin straining your ears to work out whether it's Dore-chan, Doro-chan or Dori-chan who's in trouble this week) all embody various "types" of girl sure to appeal to Dogun V's male audience. I can't tell you that the sexy nurse or the lovably clumsy Kansai girl are particularly original character types, but Dogun V isn't pretending to be deep stuff.

 Suzuki Shogo returns to the relatable everyman role that earned him a fanbase in Shinkenger, and for the most part pulls it off. I mentioned earlier that Dogun V takes inspiration from harem anime such as Tenchi Muyo! and Love Hina; fortunately Suzuki's Shota has so far managed to avoid the slightly pathetic wetness of protagonists like Tenchi.

 Don't expect any deep thoughts or philosophical reflections on life, but Dogun V is a fun way to waste an afternoon. If you're a fan of harem anime, 2007's Cutie Honey The Live, or just girls in skimpy clothing then Dogun V is worth checking out.

Past and Present: Gaoranger's Futaro

 Looking at the career of an actor post-tokusatsu can get pretty interesting. Naturally you've got the alumni we all know about, like Kamen Rider Kuuga's Joe Odagiri or Kamen Rider Den-O's Takeru Sato, both now so famous it's hard to miss them, but what about the alumni who take more unusual career paths post-tokusatsu? What about the ones who go on to do something other than act? Or even the ones who apparently just drop off the face of the planet?

Gaoranger's Futaro

 2001's Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger featured a young boy by the name of Futaro, a cute little guy who popped up towards the end of the series. As a rule it seems like starring in a Toei production as a kid gets you going places, so what happened to this particular child?

Nowadays

 Futaro was played by a young Daiki Arioka, all of ten years old at the time. He went on to join Johnny's Jimusho, Japan's best-known talent agency, in 2003, where he remains to this day. However now he's better known for being a member of boyband Hey! Say! JUMP, who released their first single in 2007. He continues to act in the occasional drama, most recently in 2008's Scrap Teacher.