So, I gave this episode another go around just because I enjoyed it that much the first time, and I have to say, it feels a lot better on a rewatch. Not having to try and take everything in at once gives you more time to appreciate how much logic there actually is behind pretty much every scene.

Part of me thinks this might secretly be a top-tier pilot underneath all the crazy, but then another part of me sees how confused people are about Sougo's motives, and I go right back to thinking it bit off more than it could properly chew in half an hour.

I spent an hour this afternoon looking at watches.

Not sure that's the effect Toei wanted to have on my consumerism. hahaha

Hopefully the Zi-O and Giaz RKF figures are (easily) available soon.


It seemed like a great premier to me. Not 'too fast' at all. I think Builds premier was a lot faster and crammed a lot more exposition into it. Builds premier was ridiculously fast paced and that show turned out great.

Hopefully this one will too.

My thoughts:

- Loved the theme song! Totally what's expected out of ISSA. Kick ass bop!

- Pacing was insanely fast. Probably done by design because of the fact that they have so much ground yet to be covered with this being the Heisei Riders tribute season. I would have liked to see a little more backstory as to how the evil Zi-O came to be and how the resistance force came to fruition.

- Even though we weren't so far off with the finale of Build it was great to see Sento and Banjou again.

- Definitely would like more backstory of the heroine too.

- Good first episode to kick off the new series, but more groundwork needs to be done for sure.

- It'll be interesting to see the placement of the Decade arc in the series with Zi-O also being a Rider series that is dealing with time travel and history shifting tropes. I predict it'll be one of the last arcs before the final big storyline that needs to be taken account of.

- Also, that pic with evil Zi-O and the Shocker logo from an earlier post was mind-blowing too. Looking forward to seeing if there's a correlation between the two.

He might not be human since he isn't just the naive kid wishing to be a king/superhero, but its something innate from birth. Let the future riders team up new deno, future drive, neo kiva, aqua, etc. it's a time paradox if everything they're doing is creating zio, but nowadays it's about bringing hope and tackle less about adult problem, so I could see them cop out like build making the hero not a real villain.

I have a hunch that Oma Zi-O might actually be the ultimate form of this season

Well, I didn't think it was possible to make Discount Den-O. But they achieved it. All the wishy washiness of Ghost, with all the FX of Ex-Aid.

I'm terribly on the fence with this, and it's not because of Build. Everything seems a little.....off tempo. Like y'all are gonna have 50 episodes to cram stuff into, you can take the time to flesh stuff out.

I'm also resisting calling him Soggy, because that's his personality. Seriously, you're supposed to be a student, but on your levels interview you tell them you want to be a king? That's some Digimon grade school level stuff right there. That's about as bad as Takeru's "I'm gonna let my life burn bright" nonsense. It's another grow a pair Rider. Sorry, but Kiva and Fourze nailed that one in a way that no one else has been able to for a younger Rider.

It just feels like the plot was really paper thin and they thought "let's do another time Rider, but we also have to cram 20 Heisei Riders into it all". Decade meets Den-O. Again I'll wait, maybe it'll get better, otherwise I'll be watching, but there won't be a lot of commentary.

Also, I've been thinking, the uncle had a form for special entrance exams or something, maybe Sougo's on the spectrum? Could explain the whole dream to be king though future episodes would give more material to speculate on this

I hate to be a downer, but there's greater odds of Joe Odagiri coming back and Rider Kicking the planet to destruction than this being actual fact. Plus, there's no way I trust Toei to handle it with sensitivity. Like, at all.

Oh I'm confident I'm wrong, just think it would add more depth to a character who seems rather shallow at the minute. Also, Odagiri's directing something with Toei and he has the Godai haircut so......
Well Ninninger's writer is on this and I was pleasantly surprised the other day by finding out Ninninger has an episode that deals with anxiety and teaches that nice words don't always help

True, true, some depth to protagonist-so-bland-I-forgot-his-name would be good, not gonna lie. And for all people (including me) hate on Ninninger, it did have some good character work, and some of the individual episodes, especially early on, are top quality, so I'm sure the writer will do it. Hopeful, anyway.

And if Odagiri comes back, I will write a Sentou/Bajou fic and post it here, for all to see. You can hold me to that.