Kamen Rider OOO


Kamen Rider OOO is a 2010-2011 Japanese tokusatsu drama in Toei Company's Kamen Rider Series, being the twelfth series in the Heisei period run and the twenty-first overall. It began airing on September 5, 2010, the week following the conclusion of Kamen Rider W, joining Tensou Sentai Goseiger and then Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger in the Super Hero Time lineup, until its conclusion on August 28, 2011. The series' titular Kamen Rider made a cameo appearance in the film and a supporting character in other Kamen Rider movies.

Production

OOO is written by Yasuko Kobayashi, known for the screenplays of Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, Mirai Sentai Timeranger, Kamen Rider Ryuki, Den-O, and Samurai Sentai Shinkenger. The creature designers are Yutaka Izubuchi, known for his work on the Lords in Kamen Rider Agito, and Tamotsu Shinohara, known for his work on the Mirror Monsters of Ryuki, the Orphnoch of Kamen Rider 555, and the Fangires of Kamen Rider Kiva.
Unlike several previous Heisei Rider Series, no alternate name has been given yet for the three O's in the title aside from an alternate spelling of the name of the main Kamen Rider: Ooz. Both "OOO" and "Ooz" are intended to be read as "O's", referring to the multiple uses of the letter O in the title as well as. The title OOO signifies the three medals that the main Kamen Rider uses to transform as well as being representative of the infinity symbol with an additional circle.
The 28th episode of Kamen Rider OOO serves as the 1000th episode of the Kamen Rider Series since Kamen Rider premiered on April 3, 1971. The episode was originally set to premiere on March 27, 2011. However, due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the airing of this episode was postponed by one week to April 3, 2011. For the 999th and 1000th episodes, various guest stars with the kanji for in their name were featured: Chiaki, Chisato Morishita, Chinatsu Wakatsuki, and the owarai duo Harisenbon.

Story

Eiji Hino is a traveling man who has no place to call home and a tragic past. When metallic creatures known as the Greeed awaken after their 800-year slumber to attack humans and feed off of their desires, the disembodied arm of the Greeed named Ankh gives Eiji a belt and three Medals to fight the other Greeed as Kamen Rider OOO. The mysterious Kougami Foundation approaches Eiji and begins assisting him in his fight against the Greeed, though their true motives are not clear. As Eiji fights the Greeed and their Yummy monsters, learning more of the Greeed and Ankh, he starts to find a purpose beyond his journey.

Episodes

Each episode title of Kamen Rider OOO consists of three objects featured in the episode.

Films

The character of Eiji Hino and Kamen Rider OOO made their debut in Kamen Rider Ws second film .

''Movie War Core''

After the end credits of W Forever, a short teaser featuring Kamen Rider Double and Kamen Rider OOO stated that there would be a crossover film featuring both series' characters, much like . It is titled. As part of it, OOOs film opened in Japanese theaters on December 18, 2010.

''Let's Go Kamen Riders''

, released on April 1, 2011, commemorates the 40th anniversary of the Kamen Rider Series featuring the cast and characters of Kamen Rider Den-O, Kamen Rider OOO, and other characters from the past franchise series. The event of the movie took place between episode 26 and 27.

''The Shogun and the 21 Core Medals''

is the main theatrical release for Kamen Rider OOO, released on August 6, 2011, alongside the film for Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. It also features the first on-screen appearance of the 13th Heisei Kamen Rider: Kamen Rider Fourze. The event of the movie took place between episode 36 and 37.

''Movie War Mega Max''

A crossover film between Kamen Rider OOO and Kamen Rider Fourze in the same vein as the Movie War 2010 and Movie War Core films, titled, was released on December 10, 2011, in Japan.

''Super Hero Taisen''

is a film which features a crossover between the characters of the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai Series. The protagonists of Kamen Rider Decade and Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger were featured, but the casts of Kamen Rider Fourze, Kamen Rider OOO, and Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters also participated. Shu Watanabe and Riho Takada had reprised their roles as Eiji Hino and Hina Izumi, while Asaya Kimijima and Hiroaki Iwanaga reprised their roles voicing Kamen Rider Birth and Kamen Rider Birth Prototype respectively.

''Movie War Ultimatum''

was released on December 8, 2012, as the annual winter "Movie War" film. Shu Watanabe made a cameo appearance, reprising his role as Eiji Hino as he only appears in the Movie War Ultimatum portion of the film.

''Heisei Generations Final''

A Movie War film, titled was released on December 9, 2017. Along the casts of Kamen Rider Build and Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, Shu Watanabe and Ryosuke Miura, Sota Fukushi, Gaku Sano, and Shun Nishime reprised their respective roles.

Video games

was released alongside an issue of Televi-Kun magazine. The DVD featured the Kangaroo Medal, which was used by Kamen Rider OOO to transform either his arms or legs to have kangaroo-themed powers.
"Kangaroo Dance" is a song used in the Hyper Battle DVD featuring Akira Kushida chanting "Kangaroo" in the background with composition & arrangement from Shuhei Naruse.

''Final Episode''

is the director's cut version of the last two episodes of Kamen Rider OOO put together. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 21, 2012.

Novel

, written by Nobuhiro Mori, is part of a series of spin-off novel adaptions of the Heisei Era Kamen Riders. The novel is split into three parts. The first part, Ankh's part, focuses on the origin of the Core Medals, the King, and the Greeeds from Ankh's point of view and reveals secrets unanswered from the series. The second part, Birth's part, takes on the Birth Driver's point of view, deciding between Akira Date and Shintaro Goto to see who is worthy to use it. The final part, Eiji's part, focuses on Eiji's past and reveals how he met Alfreed. The novel was released on November 30, 2012.

Cast

;Opening theme
;Insert themes: Each of the series' various insert themes are titled in such a way to resemble the Kamen Rider OOO Combo that they serve as the theme for. The songs also feature Akira Kushida, the voice for the OOO Driver, chanting the name of the combo throughout the song. Ayano, a session guitarist for many of the recent Kamen Rider Series songs and member of the "Tsuyoshi & Ayano" group from the Kamen Rider W radio show, performs guitars on all of the tracks.
;Other
The first soundtrack for Kamen Rider OOO was released on November 17, 2010; it includes an edit of the series' opening theme "Anything Goes!". The second soundtrack was released on June 22, 2011. The Kamen Rider OOO: Full Combo Collection album was released on July 27, 2011, debuting at number 8 on its day of release on Oricon's daily album ranking.
DJ HURRY KENN announced on Twitter that Kamen Rider OOOs "final song" would be recorded on July 18, 2011.