I guess to be specific, I'm also talking about the opposite, that a villain can cause bigger damage due to their power too, not about how much evil they're - I mean well-intentioned anti-villains can cause bigger damage if they're the most powerful ones, compared to the weaker PoS. For the other toku heroes, I guess the reason why the likes of Tendou and Tsukasa are well-known as the OP one was that they're like that most of the time while the others are eventually becoming said OP (actually in some cases not as they don't outclass the final villains).

Yeah, this is a nice explanation that clears up of character flaw vs delay. I'd guess Geiz too take a part on it by being hellbent to kill Sougo before without considering other solution. Other than that wdyt about this part of my reply (if there's any)?

Speaking of IWAE, I guess Woz fancies it due to how it gave him fabulous hair (for sure Muteki doesn't use this though).
https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...973&height=670

All the other stuff here would be spoiler to talk about though.

Looking at anniversary seasons -- and this show specifically -- as mere Nostalgia Delivery Vehicles feels like such a bummer. I'm glad so many people are invested in Kamen Rider Puppy Dog and the Time Orphans!

Awesome! I assume it's just Androzani's goodbye, looped a dozen times, but I'm excited to check it out later. Thanks for doing it!

I guess? Power levels aren't really super interesting to me. There's always a point where the hero just obliterates someone due to a power-up, and there's always a point where a new villain throws a planet at someone to indicate that we're in the final storyline. These shows have some narrative templates they just can't break out of.

Sorry I'm late but here we are with the big movie. And one thing I really love is that Sougo gets to have a taste of his own medicine with this movie with him losing memories and his own Uncle and clockshop changing into something else now he know how his seniors feel lol.

Are main bad guy Tid is incredibly weird as he not only a Time Jacker he's a SUPER Time Jacker. Which is never said in the movie and only revealed in supplementary material. Not only that he unconnected with the Time Jackers from the actual show. But a combination of being surprisingly competent with his time powers (seriosuly the amount of times he actually used that to prevent henshin is so great why don't the villains do this more often?), a great performence by the actor, and having enough scenes to give the guy some build up and Iended really liking him as the villian for this movie.

Also Toshihiko Sahashi gets to finally reuse Kuuga BGM after a good 20 years and I canno't be more happy hearing this tune after so long.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LfDDP2...ature=youtu.be
And despite how frequent Den-O makes a cameo it also good to hear this theme back ( also so nice to see Takeru Satoh back man)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DlohCr...ature=youtu.be

Speaking of musical choices whoever decided that Sougo putting the story together needed to be a Drive montage needs raise vause that scene was fanservice done without needing returning actors.

The whole thing with obtaining Kuuga power was quite clever using the ancient Kuuga and I wouldn't of minded an actual ZI-O arc like that where the Time Orphans go back to ancient times to meet Riku/Kuuga back then and get to see the history of Kuuga unfold as means to circumvent Joe Odagiri not reprising his role. While using ZI-O Time Travels theme to tell a Kuuga story without fan expectation. Also yeah for an extra effort they got the same guy played the mummified Kuuga in the first episode of Kuuga back to reprise his role as a corpse here lol.
I'd just wished we could've gotten anyone from Kuuga back y'know especially Ichijou but I would of taken anybody Sakurako, the Uncle, Nana, Jean, Minori, Kazari etc too.
Also shame on you Woz for not doing your "Iwae" for Kuuga Armor arguably the most important one anf you dropped the ball man.

And finally the actors for Agito, Ryuki and Decade reprise their roles via voice overs. But I wouldn't be surprised you couldn't tell considering they mostly just grunt and spout catchpharses and memorable quotes like the archvied audio excpet this one line said by Agito.
https://i.ibb.co/02YnPVW/Screenshot-...32442-Tubi.jpg
This is the only new line that not another quote and I automatically reconized it as such because nobody in Agito ever called themselves a Kamen Rider lol.

That would be pretty neat! There's a whole bunch of Heisei stories you could subvert by having someone in the wrong place at the right time, rendering the future more malleable for the Time Jackers. I could be into that!

That's Ryuki/Shinji saying that, actually, poignant because teaming up with Riders is all he ever hoped for in his own show! Agito's line comes in during the 20 Rider Kicks finisher, when he talks about protecting people's homes.

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 17 - “HAPPY NEW WOZ 2019”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio17a.png

They’re kinda throwing a lot at us this episode, aren’t they?

We get the very fun intro of Kamen Rider Shinobi (he re-uses Ex-Aid’s shoulder pads, so he’s now my favorite suit on this show) in the cold open, which feels like it’s going to be the central mystery for this episode: How is Sougo in 2022? Why is there a brand-new Rider, when Zi-O’s supposed to be the final Rider? What’s this new guy all about? Where are all the floating video screens and rampaging ninjas, now that all of us are in Shinobi’s year?

But then the episode goes PSYCH Dream Sequence, and we’re into a completely different Rider mystery. It’s still about Shinobi; but the 2019 Another Shinobi version, created by the Time Jackers.

Everything with Another Shinobi… it’s fine? It’s a cool monster, but there’s almost nothing to hang onto, narratively. It’s just some mystery for the Team to solve. Beyond Sougo’s prophetic dream, there’s no real emotional stakes to the Another Shinobi plot.

Which is for a good reason! It turns out that the Another Shinobi story is also not the important story for this episode. The important story for this episode is the introduction of Kamen Rider Woz.

There’re a lot of good choices to Hat Woz. (I’m sure he’ll have some other name on the show, but that hat is doing a ton of heavy-lifting as far as He’s A Different Woz is concerned. He’s Hat Woz, probably until summertime episodes start.) Some of it’s in the conception of the character. The idea of him being from a future where Geiz wins is just so goddamn smart. It immediately puts a rift in the Geiz/Sougo partnership, just after they became maybe actual friends in Episode 16. Hat Woz represents a future where Geiz was right. How can Geiz continue to support Sougo’s path to power, when there’s a behatted Geiz fan saying that the world is saved by killing Sougo? Why would Geiz gamble on Sougo’s dream, when Geiz’z dream could come true instead?

There’s also the flip of Hat Woz writing the future, instead of Woz’z chronicling. It’s a fun way to look at history aficionados. Woz was someone who viewed history as a cool story, rather than people’s real lives. Hat Woz takes it one step further, viewing history as actual narrative, a story that he can bend to his uses. It’s sort of saying something about how people bend history to their own purpose (Woz), but sometimes they just rewrite it entirely if it’s more useful (Hat Woz). It’s not an idea that gets 100% fleshed out here, but I like that it exists.

Honestly, it’s an episode where virtually nothing gets fleshed out, and that’s more or less okay. This one’s all about insane curveballs – stuff the show can spend another dozen episodes unpacking and exploring. But it made for a slightly disjointed episode, with at least two Here’s The Real Story reversals in the first 12 minutes. It makes for an episode that sort of feels flabby in the first half, with narrative dead-ends; and then feels overstuffed in the finale, posing a whole bunch of fun questions that I’m interested in, but it’s a cliffhanger. I’m really into the questions this show is posing (and Geiz having his own hype man is, like, chef kiss), but I wish the episode hadn’t saved it all for the very end.

Also, I really like that Kamen Rider Woz is a smartwatch. That’s a brilliant design choice.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio17b.png

Happy New Woz indeed...

And so we start our new arc and with a new narration before the opening kicks in! It's a really cool touch to really signal us moving into a new era of the show. And we get Shinobi! Probably the most overrated Rider I've ever seen tbh. I'll elaborate more later.

Anyway here we have Mr. Silver New Woz. Hat-Woz, since it's his introduction episode, thus a lot of focus falls on him given well... we have a new toy to debut. I like him, he's an interesting dude to bring in to shake things up.

Not much else to say other than well... time for more preview BGM Swaps with the same three from last time. I will continue to say the Ninninger BGM Swap is the best of the three honestly. The reason the BGM Swap person decided Ninninger being that Shinobi's actor played Starninger in that Sentai Season.

Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 18 Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB0cX7Icy2M

Enter the New Year! It's Episode 17!

-Depsite having a one or two ninja-themed Riders, I could never really see KR sticking with it for an entire season as a main Rider's motif? I feel like the acrobatics associated with ninjas could never pair well with Riders and how increasingly bulky the armor can get sometimes. Just seems more of theme suited for Sentai, yknow? (But who knows, maybe Rider Time Shinobi will change my mind.) In any case, Shinobi has a fun design and cool moves, so it's a pretty neat "what if?" scenario.

-A new Woz has arrived, driver in hand! I cannot see this guy's book as anything other than a high-tech password diary! The Time Jackers are just kinda....There, most of the time, so it's exciting to add a brand new threat with even more dangerous powers to mix! I think the reveal of an new future where everything seems ok (at the cost of offing Sougo) is a fun dillema for our characters to face. I remember this Woz being one of my favorites in my inital watch, I hope I still enjoy him on the rewatch.

-I forget if it's been mentioned before, but the Day of Oma! It's a thing now, as a thing our heroes will be forced to confront one day. I have Thoughts about this, but that's for another day.

-All in all, it's a pretty solid opener to a brand new arc! It feels like the Zi-O writers have a much stronger grip on where they're headed with this story, and I'm interested to see where that leads!

I know everyone keeps saying they want Shinobi for 2022, but honestly I'd like it better if they postposned it to 2023 so that Shinobi can be an experienced Rider and swap out that Shinobi Driver for a 'Neo Shinobi Driver' or something to let Shinobi have a proper gimmick instead of a kitbashed Ziku Driver.

This episode is a Hat Woz-heavy episode, and I sort of love how that makes Woz super anxious and weirded-out? There'd be some fun to both Wozez being the exact same high-energy flamboyant weirdos (like Double Sougos), but I like that the introduction of Hat Woz renders Woz totally freaked out and basically powerless. Woz understands that a hat denotes New and Improved!

I gotta tell ya, I was THRILLED with this episode's opening sequence, and sort of resented the rest of the episode steering violently away from it. Kamen Rider Shinobi looks awesome (big fan of the purple and black, plus the very Rider scarf), the opening fight was acrobatic and colorful, and the whole I Became A Shadow To Protect The Weak credo is really evocative. I liked that intro! And then the show said Just Kidding!

Just so long as we get the delayed-from New-Year's floating video screens, I'm good.

Well, we’re at the part where, instead of homaging past Riders, we’re homaging Rider’s rivals in the airwaves (Speaking of rivals, Decade is temporarily out because Inoue is a busy guy). In this case, the three ninja-themed instalments of Super Sentai; Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger and Shuriken Sentai Ninninger (the latter in particular, since not only did the actor playing Rentaro appear in that show, but it shares a writing staff with Zi-O and the guy who does the Ridewatch jingles did the theme song for that show).

And speaking of watches and songs.

Miridewatch Playlist

https://youtube.com/watch?v=LeWekorm9TE

‘Transform with Miridewatches - Henshin! Kamen Rider Woz’

And the song I went with for him is Black and White, a theme song for him with a name that will make more sense next episode. https://youtube.com/watch?v=qxgIPCTqNdM

https://youtube.com/watch?v=BcKG9B4w9fs

‘Shinobi (忍) is written as ‘heart’(心) of ‘blade’ (刃). Kamen Rider Shinobi’

(And for some useless extra information I learned from an anime called Dinosaur King, Kunoichi s written as ‘woman’ over ‘shinobi’)

And to go with the homage, I have three songs (since of course, there is no Shinobi series, and thus no music I can pull from it)

Ninja Sentai Kakuranger https://youtube.com/watch?v=ku7r2x6d1sI

Hurricaneger Sanjou https://youtube.com/watch?v=9ar6S2wHZA8

And Saa Ike Ninninger https://youtube.com/watch?v=j3XNvtbRWNE

And because I never got to subtitle this back during my Tsukai Detour, no matter how much I wanted to, I?m doing it here.

Let’s go! We are Ninninger. The invincible NinJapan!


Dadada! Dadada! Dashing the heavens, cutting through the wind.
High and mighty, our five-coloured oath flapped in the air.

Embracing the radiance of the shurikens of justice.

Go flying towards the future!

We are serious! We are earnest!
Appearing suddenly!


Let’s go! We are Ninninger. (Wasshoi Ninja)
Changing at will, NinJapan!

Beating the foes of dreams!

Punish them! Do it! Do it! Do it! (Wasshoi Ninja)

Let’s leap! We are Ninninger!

That fiery bond of NinJapan!


Bring it together, Shuriken Sentai Ninninger!

And while I can’t show you a video for his Anotherwatch without spoilering the Another Riders for episodes 19-20 and 23-34, those same three shows had villain songs I could use for Another Shinobi: Kuro no Kikoushi

https://youtube.com/watch?v=W9B8OIPIrSY

Kunoichi Ichi Ichi Uchuuichi

https://youtube.com/watch?v=v1avB_rYVg0

And Yamiyo no Tsuki
https://youtube.com/watch?v=W1knTGW4R-I

And for the Another Rider compare and contrast, Rintaro is a contrast to HIMSELF (an idea only explored elsewhere in a fanfiction which had a cliffhanger that Another Blade was? Kenzaki. Cue Ondul-go reference) Whereas his 2022 self is a confident hero who fights those who abuse their powers, his 2019 self is an insecure person who uses his power to murder crooks who pose little to no threat to the world at large.

Design wise, since Shinobi has no original villains (his henchmen are reused from Fourze), his design is instead based on Hattori Hanzō from the obscure 80s tv series Shadow Warriors

I must implore everyone to see this video of Rentarou doing the Ryusoulger dance.


https://youtu.be/upy7Pua9zSU

You know, I can live with not getting Shinobi as an actual thing. But I would still want a sequel of sorts, they can't go around 2022 without mentioning him! Really his only existence in his own actual year, is getting a pin badge for TTFC! He needs more than that!

But the real sin, is the fact we do not have a Shinobi S.H. Figuarts! I want my ninja Kamen Riders, so it's a shame that Fuma doesn't have one, and nor does Shinobi! Thankfully, there's NinninComic and also Kenzan, but I cannot go without the one whose name is literally Shinobi!


https://scontent-hkg4-2.xx.fbcdn.net...Aw&oe=626B8B2F

Surprising given most of the molding is basically reuse of Ghost and Ex-Aid, so you'd think modifying/adding to pre-existing stuff would make it easier to make him.

Something I didn't realize until later is the significance of the fact that Time Jackers are now creating Another Riders in the present (even though Another Shinobi's number is 2022 instead of 2019 for some reason). Remember all those girls Sakuma killed in the space of 15 years? They're fine now, cause none of that ever happened. But what about those guys killed by Another Shinobi? A consolation is that events in the past are preserved, so Rentarou can still become the true Shinobi cause he's not Shinobi yet. This show's brand of Time Nonsense can have dangerous implications if you really think about it.

Nah, I wouldn't call them actual friends yet. Maybe Sougo would, but Geiz sure as hell ain't going to admit that. As far as he's concerned, there's a possibility he still needs to murder Sougo at some point. What they have is an understanding. Geiz accepts that Sougo is going to try and become king no matter what and Sougo accepts that Geiz is going to try and kill him if he follows the path of the evil Oma Zi-O.

I think the contrast between the two Wozes here could be symbolic of a larger contrast between the Riders of the past and the Riders of the future. I love this arc for many reasons, but I remember how intriguing it was to see these new "Miriders" in both concept and execution. So far, the show has been about the Legend Riders' legacy to Zi-O. But this arc is the first where we instead get to see Zi-O's legacy to the future. Kamen Rider Shinobi literally didn't exist until last episode where Sougo decided to become a king once more. The future is changing!

The BeyonDriver has one of my favorite standby jingles!

Does it make you excited to watch Rider Time Shinobi?

Isn't Rentarou already an experienced Rider, like Haruto or Wataru? The time placement of Sougo's dream implies that he's been active since 2021 at the latest. However, we might not get the same Kagura Rentarou unless they can get Tawada Hideya to return.

Dude, you got the kanji mixed up!

He put a lot of enthusiasm in that performance for sure! His actor having previous dancing experience from Ninninjer's ED was very convenient.

Did you see the date on that video though? It's the Day of Oma! :eek:

Same here. I don't expect a full-length season with Shinobi, but damn, we seriously need a sequel!

Give him an appearance in 2022 Rider's winter movie, that'd be fun. (Though I'm sure current events might've thrown a wrench in any kind of plans they had for him.)

I just love how confused the BeyonDriver sounds. To me it sounds like it's going

"Kamen Rider Woz! Woz????"

Absolutely wonderful.

This episode introduced two of my least favorite parts of Zi-O. The first of these is Hat Woz. Kind of. Hat Woz himself is fine, although his existence raises a whole lot of questions about Woz's nature that absolutely do not get answered to my satisfaction. No, what I absolutely despise is his book. Hat Woz's book is one of my least favorite things in fiction: a lazy plot device. It serves no purpose other than to make put characters and events into position without having to bother explaining it. It's bad, lazy writing and I hate it.

The other part that I dislike is Shinobi. Again, kind of. Shinobi is also fine on his own, and I know that he has a pretty decent amount of fans out there. I dislike him more as a concept than a character. By this point in the show I was watching Zi-O entirely for the legacy characters, not for anything that Sougo, Geiz, or Tsukuyomi were doing (not that Tsukuyomi was doing much of anything, at this point). The Oma Zi-O stuff did nothing for me, the Time Jackers did nothing for me, I was 100% here for the anniversary tributes. So it may not come as a huge surprise that I was not a fan of doing fake anniversary tributes for original characters that the show just made up (because we all know that whatever follows Revice is not going to be a Shinobi series). I was especially butthurt over this at the time, seeing as we'd already gotten Fourze and Faiz crammed together into one two-parter while Kuuga, W, and Den-O all got shunted off to a movie. I've mellowed on these episode over time, but in the moment it seemed like kind of an insult to spend entire two-part episodes on this when some real shows weren't given that much time.

Definitely on my list of favorite toku opening songs.

"New Year 2022" lol so accurate to the actual real life now. Otherwise, Shinobi is about a tragic figure, Rentarou has Kamen Rider sensibility, wants to become a Rider due to protect the helpless, but all of that got ruined by the Time Jackers who turned him into his antithesis instead, the one who misuse their power. This part actually shows the consequence of Sougo returning to fight as Zi-O, that it changed the flow of time.

It'd be White Woz (this one's shouldn't be a spoiler) where the current Woz we've known before is Black Woz. White Woz is all about nightmare he caused for the cast now. Even Black Woz doesn't smirk like his usual confident and suave persona!. And White Woz can potentially overwrite Black Woz's existence and becoming an even bigger threat with White Woz's rewriting future powers being absolute. Other than that, White Woz would potentially cause bad outcome to both Sougo and Geiz, as the former could've been killed by Geiz's hands that even when there's a better future possible, that'd be likely preferable as last resort to Sougo (as well as potential Ohma's Day happening in 2019, thus he got 1 year). And for the latter, due to how those 2 become friends, Geiz would want to stop Oma's Day without having to take Sougo's life, just like his partner Tsukuyomi now, of which him killing Sougo would happen now according to Another Woz's history. BTW actually Geiz is visually uncomfortable with being heralded as a savior/messiah for beating Ohma Zi-O, so it's not actually his dream?

The thing is, "Rejoice" means "Iwae".

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP17)

He talks like he's just here to make the future a better place, but I have my doubts about this new Woz. Only a true villain would ever go out of their way to prevent there from being bike action in Kamen Rider!

Anyways, yeah, it's sort of tough to say a lot about this episode as an episode, but as a launchpad for a whole new arc, I think this one does an amazing job introducing yet more clever concepts to drive Zi-O to ever greater heights of wild and exciting storytelling.

...Which is maybe an overly pretentious way to say Shinobi is really cool! And not just because he's portrayed by the actor who played my favorite character in one of my absolute favorite Super Sentai shows! (Or even because his catchphrase is legitimately the way I remember how 忍 is written!)

Once again, I love how Zi-O opens up these possibilities for itself. This is a show with a format that demands there be a Very Special Guest Star every week, because it also demands there be a tribute to some Legend Rider every week... but this is also a show about its own cast, and one about time. So in comes an episode paying homage to a show that doesn't exist yet, and Zi-O suddenly has a way to give itself loads more freedom from the past, just by offering a glimpse into the future instead. It's such a natural concept for the show to explore, and an opportunity I'm very glad they didn't pass up. Much like Zi-O nailed that sense of concluding a chapter in the previous episode, it kicked off 2019 by picking a great way to shatter the expectations of the viewers, mixing up the formula in a manner that somehow sticks to the established rules at the same time it's gleefully breaking them.

It's the same story with the other Woz, of course. He's a dude who came from the future to hype up an important historical figure in his younger days, and that statement is equally true of either version. Apparently a very early concept for Geiz was that he would be a sort of rival wannabe-king for Sougo, also from the present, with Woz as the judge of their competition, and while much of that obviously got changed around, I think they found a very neat way to do something broadly similar which works with Geiz's finalized role as a conflicted maybe-assassin. I say as much in my post from the time, but "Geiz gets his own Woz" is a plot point that can't help but excite. Like, it already sounds great on paper, and the execution got off to a very fun start.

Kamen Rider Woz also has some really neat background music associated with him, so I'll take this opportunity to share some of that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxEESX2ImaA

It's another example of how much range Sahashi has, because this particular track has a vibe that's not all that far removed from a typical Kuuga rock piece, and yet, in spite of that, it still comes off totally different due to the digital-y, future-y sound of the whole thing, which obvious fits the character concept well. (I'm still not any good at describing music, by the way.)

On a mostly unrelated note, I also just really like the title of this episode? I'm all about super thorough and consistent formats to those -- something that reflects the show's overall style -- and while Zi-O doesn't put ~too~ much emphasis on that, it generally sticks to these really blunt and evocative short phrases, which fits a series that's always trying to leave an impact. Especially with the gimmick of having a year in every one, I find them pretty charming.

you are forgetting shinkenger, which is also a ninja-themed sentai

i read it in the decade thread

i don't remember who said it, but they sounded very handsome and authoritative

I think it'd be neat for Shinobi to pop up in a Rider movie this year, absolutely. But I'm more into the idea of him just not showing up again until the 10th Reiwa show, used as some deep-cut anniversary get. Only seven more years to wait!

I'd buy a Shinobi figure tomorrow. I really like that suit!

So don't do that! Ever!

I think it's more than that? Episodes 15 and 16 really expose how much Geiz has grown to respect Sougo, and how much he values their incredibly weird dynamic. Geiz in the beginning of 15 is basically begging Sougo to lay down his Driver; not just because Geiz is desperate to prevent an apocalypse, but because he doesn't want to hurt Sougo to prevent an apocalypse. Geiz gets extra grim when he thinks Sougo's fate is sealed, and he gets all down on himself for Actually Coming Here To Make Friends. And he's so quick to find a reason not to leave 2018! No matter how flimsy!

I definitely don't think Geiz would call Sougo his friend -- I mean, he won't even call him Sougo -- but they're totally friends by the end of 16.

It really does! I'm curious what this dude's show would've been like, which is where I hope the Rider Time special goes.

The Hype Man's Hype Man is apparently a skeptical witness? I guess it's like a double-negative situation, or when numbers in video games get too big and they become negative.

I don't really love the execution of Hat Woz forcing people into his narrative, but I sort of enjoy the evil(er?) riff on Woz'z use of foreknowledge to manipulate the rest of Team Zi-O.

Yeah, jeez, if you don't care about Team Zi-O, this part of the series was probably pretty painful. Sorry!

He stops wearing that hat, I stop calling him Hat Woz. Until then, the name stands!

He's uncomfortable being celebrated as a hero, but defeating Oma Zi-O and saving the future is 100% his dream. It's basically his main character trait, outside of remembering to buy chicken for dinner. Geiz doesn't see himself as a hero, so a dude he has some unexplained beef with, showing up and IWAEing him in the middle of fight? Yeah, probably going to make him uncomfortable!

It was a hard episode to write about, because it's all about building anticipation for future developments (and Future developments). When I was finished watching this episode, I was pumped for what might happen next. That's awesome! That's hard to do! Any serialized show should be aiming for that as a response. But it mostly meant that I was stuck saying This Looks Interesting But I Don't Know What It Means Yet. That is... not super fun to talk about!

Shibobi! KENZAN!!!!

This arc is honestly quite interesting, considering we're gretting these Riders (who probably will never exist, but I guess this makes sense in the context of the series, which I'll elaborate more on later), but that they're from the future? That's a neat idea.

I will admit that I like real Woz better than French Woz, but both are pretty fun characters (as you'll see later), and the Shinobi arc is good too! I love how the Another Rider is the person who will become the Rider he's based on, and it makes for an interesting arc.

Speaking of the Que-Bon! Ryusoulger dance, Ryusoulger is one of my favorite Sentai, and the trend where people would do that dance was really fun, seeing the Zi-O cast (Woz carrying his book at all times and practically giving up is hilarious), Ryusoulger Villains, Lupinranger and Patrangers, and of course, Shinobi himself, is really fun. (I also admit, I too danced the Ryusoulger after beating Cuphead, but that's another story.)

And those "Rejoice" shampoo jokes are hilarious! I wish my hair could be as gorgeous as that! :lolol

It's really interesting, because the stakes are completely different than the first 16 episodes. We're not trying to salvage a past that's being attacked, we're trying to... reconstructed a future that hasn't happened yet? And maybe shouldn't happen? It's the show spending even more time trying to explain the trap Sougo's in, where every move he makes might be a disaster.

Fun change!

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 18 - “AMAZING! TIME! FUTURE! 2022”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio18a.png

There’s a scene in the middle of this episode that worked astonishingly well, and it almost has me liking this episode.

I mostly didn’t? Hat Woz is a fun idea, but he ends up imbalancing the show in ways that make it basically The Hat Woz Show (Featuring Sougo). He adds some complexity and menace to the series – so much so that I’m not at all sure why you still need three Time Jackers – but it comes at the cost of flow and pacing.

Geiz and Tsukuyomi more or less disappear from this episode after the first act. Uncle’s not in it at all. Woz is left to be anxious and uncertain, which is sort of a bummer. (I like the show stretching his character, but I miss his over-the-top sycophancy and thinly-veiled wisecracks!) Swartz’z plan is clever in the conception, but pretty standard in the execution. There’s a lot around the edges of this one that just feels like an early episode with a new coat of paint, but missing the parts I enjoyed. It’s just Hat Woz, doing a Hat Woz plan. Most of everything from Kamen Rider Zi-O got put on the back-burner.

But that scene with Sougo and Shinobi! That was worth a bunch of dull plotting.

It’s a fun way to redefine what Sougo hopes to achieve as a Kamen Rider, now that Dominating The Earth In A Good Way is sort of problematic. He needs an outlook that’s less about magnanimous control, and more about what he hopes to achieve in saving lives.

Shinobi’s a guy who can’t wait to be a better version of himself, so he risks becoming a monster today. He doesn’t have faith in his ability to reach his potential, so he resigns himself to someone else’s strategy. He’s too focused on his present, and what that lacks: power, mostly, but also a sense of purpose. He could work hard to become the best version of himself, but what if that never happens? What if this is as good as he gets? Why not take the Time Jackers up on their offer to make him so unbeatable that it doesn’t matter if he’s terrifying the very people he hoped to inspire?

It’s a problem that Sougo can empathize with. Sougo’s someone who looked at his future as too bleak to move towards. But Geiz helped him realize that the future is what we make of it. If you surrender to fear and anger, yeah, future’s gonna be a pretty dark place. But if you work to achieve your goals, and stay a good person, maybe the future can be what you’d dreamed. Sougo’s fighting as Kamen Rider Zi-O to give people like Shinobi the chance to meet better versions of themselves in the future. He wants them to see that their choices are theirs to make, and that nothing’s set in stone.

So it makes sense to have Hat Woz as the villain of the piece. He’s like Woz, naturally. He’s someone who sees people as completed stories; their arcs a single-sentence description. Shinobi’s trying to make his own mind up, while Hat Woz is waiting for the inevitable to finally occur, so he can move on from this chapter. It’s Shinobi’s moral conflict running up against someone who knows how every struggle will resolve.

Worse, if it seems like things are taking too long, he can just force the outcome he wants. Woz always came off as someone who was willing to contrive an environment for someone to make the decision he wanted. Hat Woz just straight-up forces confrontations until he gets his prize. It’s villainy, but the fun part is in how little it’s different from Woz’z normal schtick.

Overall, yeah, not a huge fan of this one. The Sougo/Shinobi stuff in the middle was great – so great – but the rest of the episode felt clunky and too Hat Woz-centric. (I really can’t believe that they ended last episode with Geiz Is Hat Woz’z Savior, and then Geiz is gone from 75% of this episode.) I know that Hat Woz is a big new deal for the show, and the Future Riders are part of his story, but I was a little disappointed how much this story sidelined Team Zi-O.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio18b.png

Episode 18!

-Yeahhh pretty much agree with you, this episode pushes *a lot* to the backburner, it's more of a "White Woz introduction(Please buy the Beyonddriver! :-))" arc than a "Another Shinobi" arc. (Maybe they felt bad with White Woz taking center focus so they gave Rentaro the Rider Time special, lol)

-Kinda love Woz being on the ropes, it's really a nice contrast after last arc, where he was scheming and confident in his plans. The way he just runs into frame at the beginning of the episode, like he was too busy worrying about history changing that he almost forgot to do the intro, it's fun stuff.

-I think I really prefer the idea of Future Another Riders as a MOTW format, in comparison to the standard tributes? I just feel like the idea of focusing on the sometimes terrifying, sometimes exciting potential of the future has for a person fits the season a bit better? (Ik our standard MOTWs sorta already do that, but I just like having cool "What If?"-style Riders around lol)

-Just love how Geiz immediately does not trust White Woz and doesn't want an ounce of help from him. He's still Woz, after all!

-Not important in the slightest but I love Tsukuyomi's coat and how well the cape draped over it looks. We stan a fashion icon.

-The Time Mazine couldn't get to Alternate 2022, but Swartz could just fine? An interesting distinction.

Get used to Shiro-Woz hogging the spotlight given well... toys! Though I'll admit he does it a lot better than Evolt did it tbh. I'll... I'll always like Build but I will never defend that stretch from 33 onwards, that was horrendous toy marketing. Shiro-Woz does bring an interesting dynamic, though I'll admit out of all the Zi-O originals, he's probably low tier purely because you can't beat OG Kuro-Woz.

Anyway um... yeah no Shinobi is pretty bland. I liked what they did with Sougo and Rentaro here. But other than that, I could care less for a Ninja Rider as a concept. So yeah I'll reiterate, not a big fan of him even if he is kind of cool. He's just not... the coolest, if you get what I mean.

I'll be the first to admit, that it's rare for a Rider Series to actually grab my full attention during the January Episodes of its run. So while I find these two and the next two episodes alright (personally I really like the other two more than the Shinobi set), I wasn't really truly invested in Zi-O again until February. There was just this weird lull period. Which is totally fine by me! I'm fine with feeling off for a month... and no more than that (I say as I stare ominously into the future of Jan to Mar of 2020).

Anyway, next time... time for more out of series music for the BGM Previews alongside the one song that will stick around for the majority of this arc.

Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 19 Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAxU6VjxLr0

Too bad this one didn't hit for you. I actually am a big fan of this two-parter, specifically for everything it's doing to introduce the new stuff. It's White (Hat) Woz's introduction, so I'm fine with everyone taking a backseat this time.

First off, episode 17 was such a nice and flashy way to start off the new year. A ninja rider from a show that doesn't exist, an Another Rider that does exist, and most importantly the arrival of a new time-travelling Rider with funky shades. (I don't think they ever released that green version of the Time Mazine though).

It's all set-up but I really like every idea they're introducing. That there is now an alternate possible future besides the one ruled by Oma Zi-O, where Geiz defeats Zi-O once and for all and saves the world. And that message is brought by an alternate Woz who is on Geiz's side. You've already gone into it yourself, but it puts such a nice spin on things, as if there wasn't enough reason to root against Sougo already!

Episode 18 just does more with that, and the stuff with Sougo and Shinobi is nice, plus Zi-O puts on a really good showing in his fight. But I kinda really just want to talk about Kamen Rider Woz. I think it took several more episodes after this one for me before I had fully formed my opinion on him, but I really, really like him.

His rider suit is just really cool, getting across the sleek futuristic aesthetic in contrast to Zi-O's ornateness and Geiz's utilitarian feel. The jingle from the BeyonDriver is one of the best ever and his gimmick item being called MiRidewatches is amazing. My only nitpick is that the words on his visor spell out Rider in the same format as Zi-O's instead of doing its own thing.

As for the character himself, I like him a ton? His whole deal as being someone who wants to bring about a future where Geiz wins does make him, in the grand scheme of things, more of a 'good guy' then Zi-O. But at the same time, he's also such a jerk about it? It'll show more later on I think, but he is not a nice guy despite having more ultimately altruistic goals than the sweet and dopey Sougo does right now, and I find that irony so funny and compelling.

(This is with the assumption that everything he claims about his future is completely true, of course. Granted, the show may throw in a twist that it isn't, but for just this episode, I totally took it all at face value and was excited at the implications.)

It genuinely helps a lot that his theme music is absolutely awesome. Zi-O's soundtrack as a whole is a fave of mine for some select tracks and their use in the show, and Kamen Rider Woz's rocking and pretty techno beats are definitely a big standout.

Oh yeah, his very presence potentially shakes up original Woz's character, who desperately needs some fleshing out. That's a bonus too.

There's a different, maybe better energy to it (and it makes the defeat of the Another Rider a bit less pyrrhic, considering the Heisei Riders are totally depowered), but it doesn't really do a ton with the Heisei theme of the season. You could sorta do a forward-looking time travel season at any other time?

Also, Geiz super does not want people thinking he's a hero! He's a grim executioner from the Misery Fields of 2068! Please stop believing in him!

It's a way better look than Episode 17's white coat with furry pockets, that's for sure.

I don't feel like he was really given a fair chance? I don't disagree that he comes off a little underdeveloped here (fairly typical for Another Riders on this series), but I sort of... like, I have faith in him, just like Sougo. There's a good Shinobi story waiting for us someday, I just know it.

Oh I'll be honest when I mean bland I mean theme. I could kind of care less for a Ninja Rider. I've already seen so many Ninja Sentai that it's kind of just... there. It's not that unique.

It's the impatience to him, I think, that makes him seem more villainous than Woz. Woz came back to witness history unfold, while Hat Woz is there to create history. It's all in the name of someone else's victory, but it's about twisting the narrative to feature him.

Hat Woz is totally going back to 2068 to tell everyone that he and Geiz are besties, is what I'm getting at.

So, fun fact: Originally they planned for there to be multiple different versions of Woz praising different characters (a Red Woz for Tsukuyomi, a Grey Woz for himself), but for reasons that “you are not supposed to know about”, it was scrapped (plus having one actor playing at least 4 characters might get confusing). Though as for why I know about those specific examples… well, you’ll see.

As for the two parter, the most I remember is Sougo actually going for the Sentai tradition of calling attacks with separate names to what’s being announced.

Next time: True or false: It’s against the law to sell ice cream on Sundays in Oregon, USA?

How do you know all these facts from these shows? Do you have an inside source or something?

Sh Ranger also also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O Episode 17 & 18


WARNING: The above link contains spoilers. Don't read until after Day of Oma!

I sure hope Fish doesn't mind me borrowing his format here. But I thought it would be a real shame not to share my review of this arc that I did a few months ago.

Rentarou's murder spree here isn't even the worst example.

They're functionally friends, sure, but when your tsundere friend sometimes contemplates (not just thinking about, but having intent) killing you, then it's probably not there yet. But I guess if Takumi and Kusaka are friends now, then who knows? I think Geiz sees Sougo as more of an ally of circumstance, than someone he's hanging out with cause he wants to. Or at least that's the story he's sticking with. He doesn't want to get too close to Sougo in case he has to actually kill him. This conflict with the two timelines will either make them or break them.

Regarding Geiz's insistence on referring to Sougo only by his Rider name, Alain did the same thing with his perfect best friend Specter, despite having a poor understanding of the concept of friendship. Also, Sougo's the only one in Team Zi-O with more than one name, so you could say Geiz is just being consistent.

ZX! Hattari! :p

Ryusoulger is one of my favorite Sentai as well! Honestly, I think it did an even better job at ending the Heisei Era than Zi-O did, with how deeply the knight motif is connected to the lore and has that Bakumatsu feeling of a warring culture trying to become more peaceful. I love the upbeat and catchy Que Bom dance song at the end of each episode, which is maybe tied with the Zyuohger dance for my favorite. More reasons for Die to watch Ryusoulger!

White Woz is pretty OP, with how he trolls Heure with the car and can just skip the middle to get to the conclusion he wants. The only reason he doesn't just abuse the hell out of his powers all the time is that he needs to step back to facilitate the rise of that "Geiz Revive" he mentioned before.

What do you think of Kamen Rider Woz's Futuring Time gimmick?

X

No, I just read a lot

Iwae Sentai Wozranger?

Androzani is basically Woz'z book, but if it had a TokuNation account. Androzani is the irrefutable record of Kamen Rider history! IWAE!

Geiz ONE THOUSAND PERCENT does not consider Sougo his friend, which is one of the things that makes their dynamic so enjoyably weird. Like, Geiz obviously cares about Sougo, and he likes hanging out with him, but remarking on it will draw an I'm Not Here To Make Friends, followed by an episode of grim pouting. Geiz is not at all good about expressing his emotional needs!

I'm not sure I know what that is!

It's Sougo himself giving the term Black Woz and White Woz :|, though in fanbase for the former, he's usually refered as just Woz with the latter (with hat) still refered as White Woz.

Ironically no offense, but you saying that Geiz still had his dream of defeating Ohma Zi-O is quite overlooking the Sougo/Geiz friendship now and their changes. Geiz wants to save the future, originially yeah by killing Sougo due to him still viewing him as the tyrannical dictator regardless of current Sougo self, but now with him having a faith in Sougo he'd want to save the future without defeating Ohma Zi-O, he'd want to prevent Ohma Zi-O from being born without killing Sougo. For the not seeing himself as a hero, Geiz actually is self-righteous, with him having the mentality of seeing others as 'doing what's right' or 'an evil that must be destroyed'. Probably not seeing himself as hero, but he sees himself as someone who'd never be in the wrong.

Ironic, now it's the Shinobi part that is praised instead compared to before. As it's already known, Rentarou is an upstanding guy that has Kamen Rider sensibility, that he wanted to fight as Kamen Rider Shinobi to protect those who needs it. He's an example of a most of main Rider archetype that is played up as a non-major character. Of which, like I said before (yeah for Decade one), power is much needed to act upon his sense of justice, you can still help as normal human but the impact would be far less.

Though it's easier here to pick on Rentaro risking to become a monster or resigns himself here as the consequence of Another Shinobi had happened, but is it technically similar for some other heroes? Especially the ones who are normal humans without their power source, they are given powers through other sources either by others giving them the belt or finding the belt itself for Kamen Riders. Rentaro doesn't surrender to fear and anger (well probably there's a bit of fear), he's actually similar to Makimura from Ghost 2 parter before of actually the Another Rider who refuses the temptation from Time Jackers (the very thing that made White Woz get his Shinobi Ridewatch), only that their resistance is still futile. For this case, Rentaro is given power by an irredeemable villain in Swartz, thus it'd be playing into his schemes, but as Kamen Rider are commonly about heroes using powers from evil for good, it had happened to main characters too like Kenzaki getting his belt from BOARD (who is orchestrated by Tennoji), or for my previous mentions, Kouta being "helped" by Sagara but it's him manipulating Kouta for his own ends. Of which those can be seen as fools for letting themselves being pawns for the villains (albeit they're are aware and accepted the pawn status to make use of their power to fight for justice).

Only difference is that Another Rider doesn't only gave them the Rider strength, but they also transform the subject into a destructive, evil creature obsessed with a twisted version of their original desires. So it's like them being brainwashed, not acting out of free will, albeit so far the only Another Riders which are good people are Rentarou and Makimura (others would gladly comply to doing the destructive things the Another Rider turned them out be). Personally between Rentaro and other heroes (though he does need Sougo's pep talk), the mere difference here is the devices the manipulators use on the heroes. Devices like what belt BOARD gave to its members or Woz gave to Sougo doesn't change their self, they act fully on their own as the Riders. But Rentaro acted against his will, the Another Rider corrupting the users (like OOO PuToTyra's side effect).

White Woz is even more evil than Heure too. Though Woz is technically villainous, he's genuinely courteous, while White Woz is outwardly charming, it's to hide his cruel and sociopathic demeanor. It's an opposite of Black and White Woz. Other than that, he's the big winner too here, being the mastermind in the events here, despite Rentaro being more of the focus here and Swartz having an effective method. He used everyone as pawns to achieve his goal, he goads Sougo into fighting Another Shinobi, while giving Rentaro the pep-talk, with Swartz continuously activating the Another Shinobi watch each time the latter is defeated, and with the pep-talk, Rentaro will refuse the Watch, thus it confirms that Rentaro will become Kamen Rider Shinobi in the future and White Woz can get the Shinobi Watch from that.

There's a possibility of him murdering Sougo, but though murder isn't an admirable scenario, it's now different. Previously Geiz wanted to murder Sougo out of hatred and vengeance, and it's the first and only option he'd use, constantly looking for an opportunity for that. But now Geiz would also try to look for ways to prevent Ohma Zi-O's birth that doesn't involve killing Sougo, like Tsukuyomi (up until this point), and would kill at last resort. And there's characterization for the murder, he'd now kill Sougo out of making sure Sougo doesn't live long enough to see himself as a villain, so there's a concern for Sougo himself too, not out of hatred. Geiz even now shows his trust on Sougo by giving him his belt and acknowledging his desire to try becoming good despot (where previously Geiz would constantly ignore that out of hatred). Dunno if those'd be actual friends but for sure Geiz now is much closer to Sougo than before.

I feel like you haven't seen the hat!

Sure, that's true, but that's why I phrased it as "defeating" Oma Zi-O. That can happen in a lot of different ways, not just by being a grim executioner. Geiz can defeat Oma Zi-O by being a positive influence on Sougo, or by being a stern judge of Sougo's actions. Geiz'z dream is still to defeat Oma Zi-O and save the future.

I don't know if that's how I see him? I think Geiz'z off-putting nature and generally rude vibe isn't from certainty, but from fear. He's someone who is scrambling for a solution to a deep despair: I don't think you hijack a Time Mazine and travel back fifty years to execute a teenage version of Time's Best Worst Overlord because you're sure of what's right and wrong.

Like, his whole weird dynamic with Sougo speaks to a kid who wants to portray immovable righteousness, but is psychologically adrift. I don't think he sees what he's doing as the only logical course of action?

I don't believe I mentioned this last episode, but I was not expecting the BeyonDriver to sound at all like that. Given Woz's personality, I originally expected his belt's voice to be something dignified or calm, kind of like Necrom, so you can imagine my surprise when the Driver starts shouting "WOZ! ACTION!" before blasting super-future-new-age-techno-party music.

But as many have said, this arc is more of the White Woz introductory arc, as much as I liked the idea of Shinobi. Though I did enjoy seeing Kamen Rider Woz in action, it usually does fall into the phase of the season where it kind of loses its flare for a bit (as some later seasons are wont to follow, not like they're all like that, but that's kind of how it feels sometimes). The old "New Year, New Rider" gig.

Since this episode focuses on Kamen Rider Woz more than Shinobi, I'm going to talk about Woz! I really like his design, very sleek and futuristic, and more based on a digital smart-watch that Geiz is. Sure, it's because he's an alternate future Rider, but that honestly works given the state of the future Geiz hails from, and that's something I like. And his weapon is certainly an interesting one, being a spear, a scythe, and a cane, it's strangely unique seeing as how most Rider weapons tend to be something like Guns, Swords, or good old fashioned fists. The only thing I kind of wish this suit had was a coat like design like Wizard's, since both Wozs wear similar duds (I would also say scarf, but Shinobi has that base covered, and French Woz doesn't have one).