Kamen Rider OOO Wonderful: The Shogun and the 21 Core Medals.

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Kamen Rider OOO aired between 2010 to 2011 being the twelfth Heisei Rider show and the twenty first overall. And if you love great characters enough to see past a weak story, then Kamen Rider OOO is for you, it is one of the best Kamen Rider shows out there.

Kougami is in Germany on an excavation to literally find the bodies of one of the Alchemists who created the Core medals almost a thousand years ago, and the Alchemist allegedly has some legendary Medals buried with her as well. What Kougami actually finds, is pretty much exactly what he expected to find, and I can't help but wonder if he wanted the ensuing chaos to happen, what goes on in that man's head? In short, it basically makes absolutely no sense, using fantasy as a term to just make up random shit as you go along without making any attempt to ground it in any kind of reality, basically like the plot of the whole show.

As such then, the main villain of the film is a stilts wearing alchemist from the past, Master Gara who is using special Desire Scales to terraform the planet through space and time. The way Gara works is sketchy at best, it turns out that Gara may well just be an 'it' as it actually possessed a young boys mother but then it turns into a monster and seemingly no longer needs the body, so I have no idea, but OOOs mythology never made sense really anyway.

One of the most enjoyable things about the Kamen Rider films is really seeing them let loose. Gara's plan literally involves miles of city being launched into the air and flipped right into a completely other space or time, it has a sense of cinematic scale to it that Kamen Rider OOO had only at the very end. And Mother of God, that ending, that beautiful, wonderful ending. 

Eiji is probably my all time favourite Main Rider so I was really glad that he got treated so well in this film, as it showcased his kindness, heroism and most importantly...his badassitude! You have no idea how much of a thrill I got seeing him fight as Birth. Eiji also gets a new Combo, BraKaWani, which is absolutely awesome.

Honestly all the characters get treated well in the film, it really makes a difference to have a writer from the series write for the movie as well. Yasuko Kobayashi has such a deep understanding of the characters that she can play with them in really fun but believable ways and it's just so much fun to watch. Perhaps the strongest aspect of her writing though comes in the form of her knowing there is a line between crowd pleasing and fanservice and she never, ever, crosses over to pandering but I'm pretty sure every OOO fan in the audience was drooling over how great this film was anyway.

The acting in the series was for the most part, fantastic, but somehow the acting is just...better here. With character arcs spread out over fifty episodes, the chemistry between casts often feels lacking because the characters have to bond so slowly but here in the localised space of the film the chemistry was truly palpable. Pretty much every character interaction had me grinning a grin too big for my face.

Plus the whole film had huge heart, I think that was a massive part of the charm. Whether you think the film was good or not, you can't deny that it is utterly charming and lovable. I loved how it was able to achieve huge and truly cinematic action sequences and set pieces, while still having such huge emotions. Whether it was the actually good child actor playing Shun and his story with his mother, whether it was Hina's feelings about Ankh, her brother and the importance of human contact or whether it was just the profound effect someone as incredibly loveable as Eiji has on the people around him, it just really was a film that delivered on all fronts. Except story...but I never expected it too. I loved this.

Wonderful was also the debut of Kamen Rider Fourze, something about Gen's voice sounds really off, but it's an absolutely wonderful introduction to a sadly very flawed character, who was extremely poorly handled in their crossover film I reviewed last time.

So do I recommend it? Very much like the series Kamen Rider OOO Wonderful: The Shogun and the 21 Core Medals was full of inconsistencies and was just in general, a largely pretty shit story however everything else I liked about OOO the series is blown up a thousand fold in the film to the point where I want to write valentines letters to it. It was truly cinematic, had fantastic action, an awesome new combo, a child actor that could actually act and it is accessible to new audiences while constantly pleasing the fans of the series, basically I loved loved LOVED this film. In the words of Kougami, 'SPLENDID!'

Think About It!

-Locke.

What would you rate, 'Kamen Rider OOO Wonderful: The Shogun and the 21 Core Medals'?