Kamen Rider Den-O Episode #3: "Outlaw Momotaro"

Grandmother said...wait, wrong show. I need to find this show's gimmick tag line so I can make a Spoiler Warning! out of it.

Following a recap of last week's battle, it's back to the usual nonsense abord the Den-Liner. Momotaros is playing with one of those metal puzzle thingies, and Hana is yelling at him because his forceful use of Ryôtarô's body is putting a strain on our hero. I know, when you word it that way, it sounds kind of weird, so let's just move on... Momotaros is his usual smug self, and continues to claim that Ryôtarô's just too much of a wuss to handle his awesomeness.

One other interesting bit about this scene: another dude gets off the Den-Liner just as Hana enters, and he's shown to clearly have a Rider Pass. I hope there's some explantion for this: does every random person riding the train have one, or is there some greater significance? More importantly...who the hell was that dude anyway?

Ryôtarô is walking along with his bike, experiencing muscle pain from the tremendous stress of being a time-travelling hero. Notice the date flashes on the screen: it's today! That's pretty cool, but it's probably going to lose its effect in about 300 years, when kids look back and say "Ha! They still used trains back then?" Of course, none of us will be around then (mostly), so who cares, right? It's a neat little touch, although does this mean next week's episode also happened today, or tomorrow, since it was night at the end of this one? Gah, head hurting. Anyway, Ryôtarô bumps into a guy named Yamakoshi, who's fleeing from a bunch of unsavory-looking characters. Knocked down a flight of stares (it sucks to be Ryôtarô, remember) our main man is knocked out cold. Momotaros comes to the rescue by taking control of his body once again, and ANGRY! Ryôtarô beats up the guys attacking Yamakoshi. I like how the main one is like, "Not-Tadokoro". Seriously, he reminds me of Tadokoro for some reason (it must be the "grumpy older guy" demeanor.)

The cops arrive; our possessed hero and his new friend make like bananas and split. Yamakoshi is your standard "loser but otherwise good-hearted guy mixed up with the wrong people" and, as often happens in these kinds of situations, he takes an immediate liking to Ryôtarô (Maybe I'll call him "MomoRyô" from now on.) They go get MomoRyô suited up with some new threads.

At the Milk Dipper, Ryôtarô's sister is working on a treatment for his muscle pains, and those two guys whose names I haven't bothered to learn yet do some yakkin' away.

MomoRyô is confronted in an alleyway by police, who are still after him for the fight with the thugs (is it just me, or does this show make Japan seem like a much, much more dangerous place than it is?) Hana forces Momotaros to leave Ryôtarô's body, and our clueless hero finds himself with a bottle in one hand and an injured cop by his feet.

Oh, @#$%!

Ryôtarô makes tracks and enters a building, finding a door which takes him to the World Between Time and leaving the police confused as heck. On board the Den-Liner, Hana fumes over Momotaros using Ryôtarô's body so recklessly (I'm trying as hard as I can to write this, okay?) and spending his hard-earned cash for the new clothes. Momotaros then brings up the fact that he needs a cooler name than "Momotaro Otoko", and Ryôtarô supplies Momotaros, which doesn't exactly impress the Imagin much either. The tomfoolery is interrupted by a strange man sitting at the other end of the room. This is the Owner of the Den-Liner, and Hana says she has a contract with him to pursue the Imagin.

Yamakoshi returns to his apartment, with notes calling him a thief and demanding money be repaid. Yes, our episodic side character's problem is that he never has enough scratch to make ends meet, and as he stresses about his current lot in a life, a light appears from the sky and enters his body. Soonafter, the Chamelon Imagin emerges and demands to hear his wish.

Back on the Den-Liner, the assembled heroes sit around listening to the Owner talk. And boy, does this guy TALK. Unfortunately, he makes about as much sense as Kagami's dad, and Ryôtarô's attempt to learn something from him just leads around in circles. However, he does imply that there's still many secrets yet to be revealed before leaving.

Yamakoshi's wish was for money, but unable to believe what just happened, he decides to get money the usual way: playing guitar in the street! I can not stress enough how much I wanted to see Aikawa Hajime walk in during this scene, but alas. Meanwhile, Chameleon Imagin starts robbing enterprises in broad daylight. This is an awesome scene, classic Kaijin-breaking-in-somewhere action. In addition to being able to breath fire, Chamelon Imagin has a long, tongue-like whip used for swinging around. As it should be.

At the Milk Dipper (again), Ryôtarô is undergoing his sister's rather unusual treatment, but as she leaves for the night Momotaros takes control once again, and MomoRyô emerges to raise a little hell. He meets up with Yamakoshi, who is planning to rob an office and needs MomoRyô's help to fend off the pursuers. As the plan goes into action, Hana shows up, and gives MomoRyô a piece of her mind, i.e., she yells at him. He defends his actions, stating "I'm not a robber, I'm a bodyguard!" Fortunately for him, Chameleon Imagin interrupts events by appearing (at first invisible...as it should be) and as one thing leads to another, a fight breaks out.

MomoRyô transforms, pressing the red button on the belt before swiping the Pass. Thus he goes right from Plat Form to Sword Form, and it's on! The ED theme plays here for the first time. It's actually pretty good. I don't find it quite as invigorating as "Full Force" was, but it works just fine for the show. Anyway, Den-O Sword Form fends off Chameleon Imagin, but the slippery Kaijin escapes before he can do him in. Den-O reverts to MomoRyô, who rushes to find Yamakoshi.

Yamakoshi is being chased as expected, but his back-up is nowhere to be seen. MomoRyô tries to find him, but is interrupted when Ryôtarô reasserts control, sounding oddly more confident than usual and telling the Imagin to "Get out" of his body. Momotaros leaves his body, but Ryôtarô seems confused when Yamakoshi arrives, panicked. The thugs from before also show up (Yamakoshi had stolen from them, it seems) and are ready to beat Ryôtarô into the ground. Back to his timid, usual self, Ryôtarô realizes he's just come back at the absolute worst time...



To Be Continued...