The Justice Mini-Arc Complete (Kamen Rider OOO 21-22)

JUSTICE!!! This is a fantastic arc, filled with heroes, pseudo-heroes and punks. Lots and lots of punks. This one a double-dose of OOO, so time to dig in!

The mini-arc deals with justice, in all of it's dimensions. Shintaro, Eiji and the crew are out buying supplies for the Valentines Day festivities at the Cous Coussier when they notice a grown man picking on a little kid. Shintaro rushes out to scold the man, with Eiji following close behind. The boy's father shows up soon after, and Chiyoko recognizes him as her old classmate Susumu Kanbayash. His son, Takashi, just like his old man, has a strong sense of justice and punishment for the wicked. Susumu wants to become a lawyer, and in a flashback we discover that he's run away from his wife and kid until he manages to pass the exam.

Susumu takes Takashi away and warns him to watch himself, which leads to Takashi cursing his ol' man and running off. Failing to give chase, Susumu is approached by Uva, who spawns a Yummy from his desire for justice. Meanwhile, Eiji presses Ankh for information on why he cannot obtain his true form, even after collecting more of his cores. Before he can reply in full, he sense a Yummy. They race to the scene to find Susumu, bruised and unconscious, and a Hopper Yummy . . . beating up a purse-snatcher??? What's going on? Eiji transforms, defeats several Trash Yummies, but lets the Yummy escape after he witnesses it give the purse back to a terrified woman.

Confused, they head back to the Cous Coussier, where Chiyuku patches up Susumu before he runs off to his part-time job. Later that night, Susumu confronts some loud youths, blaring music in the park. The Yummy appears again, as if summoned by his will, and proceeds to f*^k their sh!t when OOO and Birth drop in on the scene. Uva shows his face to tip the odds back in his favor, forcing Eiji to use the new ability Giga Scan by means of the Kujaku Core. Right as he is about to unleash his fury, Susumu gets in the way, he wants to use this power to punish the wicked. Inspired by this father, Takashi also shields the Hopper from an attack.

Takashi and Susumu leave to go off and punish the wicked. Elsewhere, Shintaro is still trying to master the Birth Buster, improving ever so slightly with every passing day. While Maki is completely opposed to the idea of Shintaro training to take over for Date, Date forces the scientist to understand. As Date and Shingo wrap up a training session, the Yummy makes his move. OOO shows up first, goes GataToraBa to clear out some Trash Yummy, then questions Susumu's sense of justice as he allows his Yummy to attack a defenseless coward. Date and Shintaro show up, Date goes Birth and helps combat the Yummy and meddlesome Uva while Shintaro tries to get Takashi to safety. Birth and OOO team up to weaken Uva enough for him to abscond, and OOO delivers a Giga Scan straight to to face of the Hopper. Now that is what I like to call . . . JUSTICE!!!

Everyone heads to C.C. for a good time, and everyone lives happily ever after. For now. These episodes are gonna have kinda a weird scoring. 21 is a 5.5/10, 22 a 6/10, however together they make a 7/10 arc because there is enough good stuff in both to out-weigh all the crap.

The Red Combo Cometh . . . Later(Kamen Rider OOO 19)

I was hoping this episode would mark the glorious new age of the Red Combo, but my hopes and dreams were crushed last week when OOO 19 ended with a preview of how awesome full Red will be. Don't get me wrong, this week's episode was still exciting, as it marked some new developments in Yummy creation/attributes, along with some alright series plot progression.

The episode opens in the Cous Coussier. As Eiji running into work late, he notices a familiar face mopping the floors: OMG, it Gotou!!! He seems to have left his old life behind in order to figure out exactly who he is inside. Satonaka enters shortly after and is shocked a bit as well to see Gotou doing manual labor in this fine establishment, but then she informs Eiji that he is wanted at the Kougami Foundation.

It seems as if Kougami got everyone a present from his trip to Europe, and for Eiji, he has another one for Ankh's cores. After careful rash consideration, Eiji decides to give the medal back to Kougami, so that Ankh is not tempted to leave the body of Shingo to die. Kazari, elsewhere, is up to his old tricks again.

After breaking the ruthless criminal Toichi Yamagane by infusing him with a Yummy, Kazari meets up with Maki, who explains that he can;t come by the lab for a while, since Date has now taken up residence there. Yamagane, fueled by revenge for his partner who sold him out and the detective who locked him up, starts to hunt down his marks, and guess who the detective responsible for his arrest was? That's right, it was Shingo!

Heading back to the Cous Coussier, Eiji runs into the other mark, a hapless criminal/pinhead named Yasuji "Yasu" Okumura, who wants to protect the man who saved his life. Comic-style flashback ensues; Ankh decides to use him as bait. I love how he has selective memory when it comes to Shingo's past. He boasts earlier in the series that he knows everything Shingo knows, and yet he doesn't remember this dude at all. WTF!?!

Anyway, Yamagane attacks again and transforms into a new, odd-looking Yummy: it's a hybrid Lion-Kurage Yummy. Ankh is immediately worried, as this means that Kazari has incorporated Mezool's Cores into his body. The Yummy can also spawn jellyfish with multiply when slashed, and it's resistant to a blast from the LaKiriEtar, due to it's dual nature. Date arrives soon after this, becomes Birth and begins his assault before Kazari jumps into the fray. Kazari manages to knock Birth off the side of the building that they are fighting on, while the Yummy proceeds to rape OOO. During the fight, Yasu steals Ankh's medal case, and gives it to Kazari. ZOMFG, IT'S A TRAP!!!

Forced out of his henshin, Eiji lies helpless as Kazari reclaims all but one of his cost cores, and transforms into an incredibly powerful form. What will happen next?

9/10! The suspense is killing me!