Kamen Rider W vs OOO: which was the better show?

[Psychotime]

I'll eventually finish W, but the one thing I think it has over OOO (which was the show that got me into toku and is still my absolute favorite) is the greatest scenery-chewing actor I've ever seen in the entire franchise. And I mean that in a good way. She's a riot.

 

[cypsiman2]

I liked W a whole lot, its one of my favorites with the only thing holding it back was that it took a while for Akiko to grow on me, but once she did, everything was smooth sailing from there.

OOO could be uneven and sloppy at times (oh lord, that monologue that Shingo gave after getting separated from Ankh about how awful people people were for burdening Eiji, TOO SUBTLE!), but the main thing I liked about it was how so much of it felt like a twisted take on stuff from Kuuga; Eiji is always selflessly helping everyone around him because he's dead on the inside, Shingo is possessed by Ankh who is endlessly hostile towards Eiji, the ancient warrior who'd sealed away the Greeed was himself an insane tyrant who was trying to become god...I just think that was interesting.

 

[Black Fang]

I have yet to finish OOO, but my two big problems with the show are:

1) It's a poor man's Den-O. Whereas Den-O, for all its flaws could at times be genuinely funny, OOO feels like a cheap attempt to replicate Den-O and failing miserably. Comedy is shoehorned in at the most inappropriate moments, and jazzy music does not match the fight scenes at all. Toshihiko Sahashi, this guy wasn't. OOO's lyrical songs could be ok, but the BGM was terrible.

2) Kougami and Maki. I don't mind Kougami's running "birthday" gag and Maki's doll, but they both act like they just escaped a mental asylum. And especially when it was implied that Kougami was being funded by Foundation X in the W finale, why is it the heroes treat him so casually? Why on Earth would you decide to shoot a random 40th anniversary KR movie in his building when earlier Ankh was ready to tell him off for the deal he forced them into to take his Cell Medals??

As for Maki's doll, they should have been more low-key with it. Have Maki talk "to him" in his lab when he is talking out loud by himself or to a guest. Maybe sort of imply that the doll is "watching" people without doing it in a cartoonish or "for laughs" way. Don't carry him around on your arm everywhere, dress him up in outfits, have him "drive" your car, and act like a crazed monkey if anyone knocked him over. It's not creepy. Nor is it funny. It's stupid.

Then there is Goto, who doesn't look the part of an ex-cop at all, Eiji's general cluelessness and having to be lead around by the nose everywhere, the Greeds disappointingly being watered down Grongis (Gamel especially was so misused, he really could have been something more intimidating. Not an overgrown child who has no idea about anything but somehow got so much love from the fans, at least on this board), and some other things I can't recall off the top of my head right now.

One thing I will say though is I really like the Yummy designs. Their human faces particularly have a creepy feel. It would have worked much better in another show.

And I sort of wish we saw more of the Ride Vender Platoon guys from the first episode. Have them act as spies, reconnaissance, and Cell Medal collectors instead of the Candroids. Maybe they're not as marketable, but it would help show the reach and power of the Kougami Foundation behind its guise as a simple biotech organization and provide an opportunity for grunt battles besides the Waste Yummies.

I'm guessing the ZECTrooper figures from Kabuto didn't do that well.

 

[sdsichero]

I liked W better. OOO was good, but I didn't like it as much.

 

[Lynxara]

Comedy is shoehorned in at the most inappropriate moments, and jazzy music does not match the fight scenes at all.

OOO's BGM musical style wasn't jazz. It was ska punk. Ska is a Jamaican style that fuses jazz and blues, and ska punk combines it with punk rock. Ska punk takes basic themes of ska, notably rebellion and racial unity, and mixes it with the anarchic and violent themes of punk rock.

Who the **** decided this would be a good musical direction for a Kamen Rider show? There's nothing in OOO's storyline that makes ska punk a remotely appropriate sound. The sound really feels like it was chosen at random, maybe to mirror how OOO's powers are a mish-mash of other things?

Den-O's use of jazz fusion was, by comparison, an entirely appropriate musical direction for the story. Somebody really thought about what sound that show should have. W's use of Chicago jazz, blues, and swing was a similarly thoughtful and appropriate choice.

I'm guessing the ZECTrooper figures from Kabuto didn't do that well.

Kabuto's merchandise line was extremely unpopular. It pulled something like 71 million units, which puts it just slightly ahead of Heisei toy sales loser Hibiki (at 65 million units).

 

[Oblivion]

I might be the only one here who really didn't like OOO but liked W a lot.

For one, I love the jazz and blues in W much more than the songs in OOO, I can't even remember it, but then again I can't remember much of anything related to OOO because it kinda rubs me in the wrong way.

I think there's room for improvement for both shows, and I am curious about how OOO would had turned out if it didn't get rewrite issues.

Date was the only saving grace of the series in my opinion, while in W I liked almost everyone.

I think another winning point for W was that they had room for abstract monster designs where OOO was more to animals and so. I'd been getting tired of animal based designs lately so even though some of the yummies looked good, they really didn't do it much for me. I guess that OOO was never my cup of tea from the get-go.

 

[FieryRed]

Personally, I like both shows, but since Kamen Rider has thus far remains as my favorite Rider series, I'd pick it over OOO although this isn't to say that OOO is a bad show or anything. I think the strength of both shows are their colorful ensemble of characters, notably Shotaro & Philip for W and Ankh & Date for OOO as my favorite characters from their respective shows. W was great pretty much the entire way, until the end with ended a bit awkwardly, and the reverse is true for OOO which had uneven beginning, but got progressively better and ended on a high note. I like the design of the suits for both series, but I just love the Gaia Memories more than the Core Medals and it is one of the reasons why I enjoy W so much.

 

[Psychotime]

Huh. I absolutely loved OOO's soundtrack. More than any other.

W's was fine. It fit what it needed to be.

 

[Smilodon]

OOO soundtrack was meh, but I didn't really care for Double's either. But at least Double's fit the motif. I haven't really liked some OST since Agito (With the exception of Hibiki), and most of the EDs are pretty lackluster.

 

[Fantasy Leader]

As far as soundtracks go, I enjoyed the ones from Black, Kuuga, Agito, Hibiki, Kiva, and W.