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Kamen Rider Zi-O: Next Time Geiz Majesty discussion thread
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06-04-2020, 09:14 PM
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Fish Sandwich
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
Hey everyone, guess what time it is!
Surprisingly, it's mostly just time for down-to-earth high school drama in a world where the name "Kamen Rider" carries little meaning. I turned out to be very down for this!
Geiz Majesty ended up being a movie I not only enjoyed a bunch, but also
respect
, as well. I waited until TV-Nihon had both it and Reiwa: The First Generation subbed, and watched them both in the past few days. The First Generation was a fun film with the misfortune of having an extremely clunky story that fails to deliver on a lot of its ideas. It goes big, and pays the price, and, because it is very clearly a Zero-One film first and foremost, I kind of can't be bothered to bust out the catchphrase/picture/huge write-up routine for it, so don't expect one for it.
The reason I bring all this up is that having that disappointing experience did a lot to make me appreciate what this humble little V-Cinema was doing with its story. Nobuhiro Mouri is the writer for this one, and, in stark contrast to many of his episodes of the series, which were about spectacle before anything else, the plot here is almost
aggressive
in how adamantly it refuses to just be another Zi-O story. This isn't a movie where savior from the future Geiz Myoukouin goes on an epic time-travelling adventure. It is strictly about average high school student Geitsu Myoukouin, and on top of that, it's about
why
it's about that as well.
There's a real sense to the plot of this one that... I mean, I don't just want to say I liked it because it felt like a big middle finger to everything Build did with its ending and subsequent V-Cinema adventures, but... to be perfectly honest, I think this movie does a lot to show why I maintain Zi-O's ending made
significantly
more sense for Zi-O than Build's did for Build. Geiz Majesty has the guts to not just skip right back to "the good stuff" as soon as possible. It believes in the story it's telling enough to trust you'll be invested in the everyday going-ons of the Zi-O cast in their new, peaceful world, where everyone is free to chart their own destiny in a way they weren't on TV. The actual Kamen Rider stuff, it sort of slowly leaks in. The cameos from older secondary Riders are used to great effect here, spaced out nicely, and emphasizing their regular human selves to keep in line with the grounded tone of the narrative. Date and Ryuu are both defined by their occupations here. Kaitou can't even transform for most of it. The only oddity is Kaixa's appearance, which doesn't serve much purpose, but like, the points the movie earns for how it uses Accel and Birth more than balance that out.
The crucial thing here is I honestly, seriously found myself invested in Geitsu's dumb judo competition and broken foot. I liked seeing that coming-of-age style existential angst as he tries to figure out where the heck his life is going. I liked Sougo as his supportive but kind of obnoxiously enthusiastic best friend. I liked what they did with all the other characters, including Tsukuyomi, whose personality is still supremely ill-defined, but that makes so much more sense in a setting like this. The movie's confidence is totally warranted, for me at least, and making everything spin out of this setup in some way, rather than treating that like an obstacle to get rid of, I think that was such a smart choice. Gradually feeding the Kamen Rider elements back in, building up to Geiz finally transforming, well over halfway through the film, and having it be the direct result of him overcoming all that mental anguish, it's seriously good stuff. So when the movie ends with Geiz, having his memories of the old timeline back, punching Kaitou in the face and telling him to f*** off, because that completely unremarkable life he's been living in this new world with his friends is something he values, and he doesn't want his future dictated by a past that's long since gone, it's like the most satisfying thing ever. I am
shocked
they made the choice to not just have everyone get their memories back by the end. There are some implications, sure, little hints of further adventures that await, but even if they do happen, this movie makes a clear statement that High School AU Zi-O
matters
, and I think that's seriously commendable.
The process getting there is super fun too. I really appreciate the little twists on the first episode of the show in the earlier parts. Mouri taking a potshot at the questionable logic of Woz's "you should know how to use it" line is one of the funniest things I've seen in Rider lately. It's just a movie that left me with a good feeling, and while there's a continued winking attitude towards the aspects of Zi-O that don't make sense that's liable to rub some viewers the wrong way, I mean, I tend to agree with the view that it's not worth sweating the small stuff too much, so there's nothing I can really say there. If it's a problem for you, it is, but on the other hand, this is a Zi-O story with no time travel whatsoever, which could be a point in its favor for people who got tired of the way the show handled those elements.
As far as I'm concerned, at least, Geiz Majesty combines the same wild creativity I loved about Over Quartzer with a much more coherent and conventional story, which makes it a serious winner in my book. I just realized I haven't even mentioned my long established love of Geiz as a character this whole time, and I think that shows how strong the movie was just on its own merits. Also, Brand New Day might be a new favorite Rider song for me. I may or may not have had it looping in the background the entire time I was writing this. It's very catchy!
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