All About Ankh:
This page is all dedicated about the basics of Ankh as a character, as well as talk about just why I have come to adore him so much. You can find even more gushing about him, as well as some analysis in the Essays and Meta section too.
Contents:
Just Who is Ankh?
The Greeed
Why I Love Ankh
Just Who is Ankh?
The Very Basics
Ankh is one of the Greeed, who create the monsters of the week in OOO: The yummies.
He is an arm! No joke. For essentially 98% of the duration of the show you do not get a look at his entire true form. Which makes sense, collecting the medals is the goal for Eiji and Ankh. Though with Lost Ankh you get a pretty decent glimpse of what he looked like in his true form, but not the entire thing.
You most often either see him as the arm floating around, or possessing the body of a near dead cop: Shingo Izumi, the brother of Hina Izumi.
Not long after the Greeed are awakened in the present day, Ankh meets Eiji while being attacked by Uva’s (who is one of the other Greeed) yummy. Eiji, having known Ankh “since this morning”, and having a strong sense of justice, tries to stop the Yummy on his own. And fails miserably since he is a normal everyday human.
Until Ankh that is. Thinking that this human is an idiot, and feeling he can use Eiji to help get his core medals back, he gives Eiji the OOO driver after asking for his name.
After Uva’s yummy attacks an incoming cop car driving in to stop the monster, Shingo is on death’s doorstep from the severe injuries he sustained. Seeing this, Ankh took his chance. Possessing the body to, in his words: “Get around a bit easier”.
Now taking the face of Shingo (and also wearing some of the most 2010 fashion imaginable), Ankh drags Eiji around on a metaphorical leash and carries the core medals they collect throughout the show.
Though Eiji also has just as much as a leash to grab around on Ankh, as he does on him. I have a lot of thoughts about their dynamic, but these two are going to have their own shrine in the future. So I am saving my thoughts in depth until then.
Personality
Ankh is a wildcard, and quite villainous for a decent bit of the show. He is not afraid to betray again and again, and take what he feels is so rightfully his– Regardless of the method and the ethics behind it. Or more accurately, the lack thereof.
He can also be rather petulant, and often makes his distaste for something known with little regard for others around him. Unless it’s a plan of his, or something else he’d rather let nobody else know.
Ankh has little to no regard for humans, seeing them as creatures that are always beholden to their desires. Though early on he does become somewhat impressed with the advancements they have made in the past eight hundred years. He’s constantly seen using an iPhone 4 (Again, this show is a pure 2010-11 time capsule), seeing it as a useful tool to further his goals.
This bird also loves ice cream. Eating it whenever he has the chance. And will even eat multiple popsicles in a day if you let him, Ankh has to be forced to eat food other than ice cream.
He loves ice cream so much in fact, you can typically bribe Ankh to act along with something he loathes as long as you promise him some of that delicious frozen treat in return. It’s the most effective way to get him to cooperate with something.
Essentially: He's a Dick. (Affectionate)
But there is so much more to Ankh. So much more… Scroll down and you’ll read why!
Ankh's Role - In Battle and In The Narrative
Together, Ankh and Eiji are a duo in battle.
Eiji does the fighting as OOO, and Ankh assesses each fight. Providing Eiji a set of medals to fight with when a battle begins. Typically from a high place such as a tree or part of a building. He is a bird after all! He must perch.
As a battle progresses, Ankh tosses medals to Eiji he feels will give him an edge in battle as the situation evolves. Since Ankh knows the medals, and how they work against each yummy in depth. Calling out Eiji’s name as he throws them.
Ankh is also the complete narrative foil to Eiji.
He does not care about justice, nor helping those in need. He supplies the medals to Eiji and gave him the power to become OOO, solely to serve himself. Ankh says more than once in the show that he is using Eiji to get what he wants, and isn’t afraid to drop him or even resort to killing him if he must.
Ankh is hedonistic, and self-serving. Only caring about achieving what will benefit him the most in the end. If it also helps someone else out too along the way, whatever. That isn’t a concern for him.
But as previously said, there is more to Ankh that meets the eye, and developments begin to form as the narrative progresses.
The Greeed
What Are They?
The Greeed are coin based homunculi that feed off of human desires. Their life force is composed of Cell and Core Medals. Each Greeed originally had ten core medals but after losing one and only being left with nine, they began to feel the desire to feel whole again.
As a Greeed, all of the senses are extremely dulled. They can't see colors, their hearing is weak, they can barely, if even taste food, etcetera.
By using the desires of humans, and with a flick of a cell medal, they can create Yummies. Creatures set out to achieve the desire of the human they come from. Each of the Greeed in the show are also able to create different Yummies that go about their tasks in different ways.
And those Yummies become filled with more and more cell medals, the more the human indulges in their desire. They are the primary vehicle for how the Greeed get their cell medals.
Their Origins
Over eight hundred years ago, the Greeed and the core medals that made each of them up, were created by a group of alchemists. The purpose of their creation was to aid a mad king who was bent on controlling the world. This king was also the original OOO.
Ankh was the right hand to the king. Which caused him to be distrusted by the other Greeed. During a battle, the Greeed planned to kill the king. Ankh scheming up the plan himself. However he betrayed the others, wanting the king to fulfill his end of the bargain. In the end Ankh, as well as the other Greeed were betrayed by the king.
As the King ripped most of the cores out of Ankh, and used all the cores from all the Greeed– The power was too much for him to bare. Turning into stone.
Ankh reaching out for his medals split his body in two: The arm, and the rest of his body.
Why I love Ankh
His Design, both Human and Greeed
Either as a human, or Kaijin, Ankh looks amazing.
I love his sense of style. His entire wardrobe in his human form is peak, concentrated 2010-2011 energy in every single article of clothing he wears. It’s a time capsule! I would dress like him if I could. (Though with less tight pants.) And how his shoes are so pointy, it’s like they are talons.
His hairstyle is so striking and cool, and I love how it is styled to mirror the yellow plumage you see in Ankh’s Greeed form. That was something I immediately noticed once you saw his entire true form. I love that attention to detail.
And speaking of his Greeed form… It’s just so good. The silhouette, the combination of colors, the peacock feathers on the braces on his thighs, the feathers dangling across the sides of his helmet… Every single aspect to that design I ADORE.
I love monsters. The designs of Kaijin and Kaiju is something I really love about tokusatsu as a genre. And Ankh’s true form is honestly my favorite Kaijin design to this day.
Also this is my site, so I’m gonna say it: Ankh is hot. Yes, both human and Kaijin.
Character Arc and Growth
Ankh has one of the most compelling, if not the most compelling character arc in all of Rider to me.
Over the course of the show, Ankh gradually becomes more and more human. We see more layers underneath begin to show. We see his fears, not wanting to lose to Lost Ankh and becoming absorbed.
We see how much he yearns to feel complete again. How he yearns to fly once more, which can be seen during Tajador’s debut, where Ankh looks like he is near tears over seeing his medals being used to make Eiji fly. As things currently are: Eiji can fly. And he can’t.
We see how Ankh has gradually become attached to Shingo’s body. Having all these human senses, it is something he grows to appreciate. Since as a Greeed they are extremely dulled. It’s why he has such a fondness for ice cream– It was the first thing that he ever got to truly enjoy the taste of.
As the show progresses, Ankh ends up wanting to keep this body. But he knows he cannot.
Which leads to his betrayal in the third act. And while with the Greeed… He begins to notice how truly lonely he felt being with them.
And we see what he comes to truly desire… Connections. And that he ended up having those connections all along. With Hina, Eiji, everyone. Before it sadly became too late.
But in realizing this, and how the others were upset he was dying– He felt more alive than he ever had then before. Feeling he truly got to live a full life, even if it was for a finite amount of time. Knowing that to the others, he was dying, Ankh felt like he was more than just a pile of medals.
Ankh was originally supposed to be the final boss of OOO. But he was so beloved as it aired, they changed up his arc in the show.
Ankh was so beloved it changed the course of his narrative… I find that incredibly beautiful.
Even if he died, there is hope that he will return one day. The Taka medal, the medal that is truly Ankh, did not shatter like the other Greeed. With the others, they will never be able to return because of that.
The Taka medal broke in two pieces. And those two pieces can be put back together, somehow.
You also see the ghost of his arm follow Eiji at the end, and in the Megamax movie we know there is an Ankh in the future. A tomorrow with him in it. The ending of OOO as a show is sad, but it is also filled with hope, as well as happiness for the arc Eiji had as well.
This poignant mix of emotions is what makes the ending of OOO stand out to me. As well as the show's overall conversation and messaging around the complexity of human desire. How human desire is not inherently good or evil, it is just an inevitable part of living life. How it is what you do with that desire in the end.
And Ankh’s complex growth from the start to the end of the show is something that especially stood out to me. It was one of the best character arcs I had seen in a good while.
There is a very good reason Ankh is such a beloved character, well over a decade later since the show ended.
(No OOO 10th does not exist. It is not canon to me.)
Details and Quirks
Ankh has so many little things that just make my brain spark with immeasurable amounts of joy. This section is dedicated to those.
Something that immediately picked at my brain in the best way possible are his little delinquent-isms. If you are familiar with the delinquent/yankee archetype in Japanese media you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Ankh does little “tch”es very frequently to show his distaste, or pronounces “Huh?” as “Hah?”. He’s also squatted before, such as in Megamax being an example I can name off the top of my head. I am incredibly weak for these mannerisms in media so having seen Ankh do these just delights me immensely.
I love all his little bird mannerisms too. Bird mannerisms Ankh is very important to me. Such as Ankh perching when he is able to. How he’ll sit up on something higher than the others if there is something in the room he can do it on.
How Ankh moves around is extremely birdlike as well. Ryosuke Miura perfectly captured the feeling of a bird monster who is stuck inside of a human’s body.