So this was the first episode I watched as it was going out on the air (as opposed to long after the fact). The reveal of Live, the TwoSiDriver’s full gimmick (which made me continue my streak of getting both the Secondary Rider belt and the episode 5 gimmick item. I just need a P-Bandai item with voice lines from one of the characters, which I’m not exactly spoiled for choice on) and the Zi-O based Brachio Genome really got me hyped to watch.

Granted, the scammer trinity proved pretty much just monster fodder for this storyline, but given the main emotional plot with Daiji, it’s forgivable.

Ikki: It’s Ikki and…

Daiji: Daiji’s

Both: Stamp Navi

Hiromi: Featuring FENIX Captain Hiromi Kadota…

Wakabayashi: Former Captain. Anyway, I’m also part of this, making sure Igarashi is back to his usual self and won’t be causing trouble.

Daiji: I assure you, Kagerou is sleeping in my body right now. He won’t be causing any more trouble with today’s Vistamp.

Brachio!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=WH01HiQgWHg

Greatest! Longest! Oldest and Strongest! Brachio! Rejoice! For the birth of the long king!

Ikki: Brachio Genome grants Revice an altogether greater kicking strength than any other Genome. Its primal power is unmatched by anything.

Daiji: That’s right, Onii-san. I think Kagerou might’ve stolen it to prevent it from being used against him by you.

George: So he simply wanted to prevent more power from amassing. Ironic, given today’s Legend.

Desire Driver: Zi-O!

Sougo: Let’s go! Henshin!

Rider Time! Kamen Rider Zi-O!

George: Kamen Rider Zi-O, Sougo Tokiwa. He started out as an ordinary high schooler, before he embarked on a quest through time to take the power of all the Heisei Riders, by defeating their Another Rider counterparts. In one future, he used the power of all Riders to become the Demon King of Time, Ohma Zi-O and conquered the world.

“The Heisei Kamen Riders have passed through this era. Now, their power gives way to a new future. Rejoice, for the birth of the new king”

Wakabayashi: ‘Demon King’? How come FENIX never heard of this?

George: Oh, he erased his own existence and separated the Riders back into their own separate universes.

Hiromi: Wait a minute, if all these Riders came from different universes, than how do we have enough data on them to make your Vistamps?

(Suddenly, a time portal opens, with Ohma Zi-O on the other side)

Ohma Zi-O: A wise man once said “Rule #3: Don’t ask unnecessary questions”. You would be wise to heed their advice in your situation.

Vice: Just a moment! If you’re from the future, can you tell us some info? Is Daiji-chan rid of Kagerou? What are the winning lottery numbers this week? Will Hiromicchi ever be cool?

Hiromi: Hey!

Ohma Zi-O: I will not say anything that could disrupt the flow of events. However, I do have this to say. Revi, Vice, Live, and Demons. You and your fellow Riders will go through hardships that seem frustrating and illogical, but you must persevere through them. Goodbye. (He then vanishes along with the portal)

Daiji: Wait a minute, did he say there’ll be more Riders helping us?

Wakabayashi: I hope not. It would make things inconvenient in development.

Hiromi: And besides, who’s going to become these Riders? Papa Igarashi? That kid from the karate class?

Ikki: Things are getting a bit long winded, so I’ll just say “We hope you enjoy the next instalment”.

Daiji: Next thing you know, Aguilera and Julio will be Riders.

Yeah, I’ll use this to finally talk about what I feel is the biggest problem at the heart of the show. It is unable to properly conclude a narrative it started, pretty damn consistently.

That is a problem plaguing the show from the micro, like the weak MotW-plots, to the macro scale where arcs fall just as flat.

They have an idea, but never plan enough ahead and put the work to any significant amount of scrutiny that there are a lot of contradictions and unintended implications that brings it crumbling down. And it’s so frustrating!

Also, why is George working on the Vistamps if they work without issues and keep the Rider-references even when picked up from a defeated Deadman? Again, not thinking things properly through.

Vice should be lumped in here, though, because my point was that Ikki's teamwork with Vice proves that not hiding parts of yourself -- in the way Daiji does -- leads to a better outcome. Ikki's stronger for having Vice in his life.

The real lesson of the Kagerou storyline is to be enough of a petulant little shit that someone gives you a DX toy.

It's a neat toy! And thanks for the fun skit!

It's not a great look, them bungling the message of their first big storyline. I'm still optimistic, though! There's such a unique character dynamic between the inner demons and the Igarashi family and Happy Spa and Fenix... I feel like there's a ton of potential.

Don't even disagree. Revice has tons of potential, partially the reason why I have such a strong dislike for it. It's a show I desperately wanted to love; for a lot of reasons, and still, even with its latest material, movie, and V-Cinema, gave them the benefit of the doubt, only to be let down again and again.

But yeah, I hope you can find something to enjoy in it.

Don't want to wish anyone a bad time with a show.

I think that's Layton's point though. Revice is a show full of potential, in its premise and themes, but the problem is that the writer makes an effort to constantly waste that potential by taking the story in frustrating directions. This episode concludes the stretch of the show that I mostly liked, that's not to say there aren't still good parts to come, but they're increasingly rare.

EDIT: I got ninja-ed.

This Revice has a lot of interesitng ideas(A superhero who doesn't have dead parents what is this timeline and I wanted a dinosaur themed rider for a while prior) but here's the problem remember how I said the first 20 episodes of Saber kinda suck but then it gets REALLY good Revice has the opposite problem the first 25 episodes are the best parts of the show (Save for one REALLY good episode later in the show) but the problem is it felt like the writers only had enough plot for like 30-35 episodes this is bad because most of these are around 45 episodes long. Even worse Revice is 50 episodes long now this wouldn't be an issue if the writers planned this story ahead of time but after a while it's going to be more and more obvious the writers DID NOT plan this story to be 50 episodes long. So were stuck with 25 episodes of them mostly repeating plotlines they did early on or dragging another sideplot WAY longer than it needed to be in my and many people's opinion

When a show is almost purposely bad like that… I don’t even know anymore.
EDIT: It seems I’ve also gotten Ninja-ed

For as wonky as early Saber could be at times, I still very much enjoyed it, it is fundamental to its later success.

Late-stage Saber, in all its glory, would not work without the foundation it had laid beforehand. It's kinda like Geats in that regard.

Revice builds its foundation rather shakily, mixed with inconsistent pacing and not enough self-reflection regarding its own plot points and implications.

So, when Saber used its foundation to elevate itself, Revice simply crashes down because there was nothing solid to pull from in the long run.

This episode shows that even if you only have the best intention of others and didn't really do mean stuff to them (even in the name of 'making them better'), you can still have flawed approach in that. Ikki's insistence to be the one handling probably anyone's problems can feel like he's taking all the spotlight and turn overbearing due to that, and it's due to him not putting his faith on Daiji to handle something instead, contradicting his claims, making Vice right, like Ikki handling the problems of his siblings cause Daiji to feel marginalized, feeling unimportant due to everything being handled by others, spurring him to look for a place where he can shine on his own (and inadvertently making things worse via Kagerou). It's also seen before when Ikki inadvertently forced Sakura to go into Daiji's promotion despite her karate session. Not that Ikki fully fits, but this can lean towards overprotective parent/bigger sibling type, which doesn't really consider the feelings of those under your care if they'd not want to be treated as such (as Ikki realizes his selfishness to Daiji), which isn't an optimal way to take care of them and can do more harm than good, this he needs to learn to give some space for those under your care, and learn some of the others' worth like Daiji's strength as he's lost before.

Though I feel like that flashback or Sakura's reaction to Genta crying seems to enforce that being emotional is weak again... This is also a case when the 'victimized' one didn't lash out at others due to them getting where Daiji (not Kagerou) didn't really do evil shit, other than probably denying his family relations at his promotion, so I guess for this once, Ikki can take the bigger blame, one that can be easily overlooked too. Their argument before was only Daiji acting like Ichijou from Kuuga against Ikki, and what he did at the end was bringing up his nosy traits again in lighthearted manner. Now I guess Kagerou won't be fully eliminated (if it is it's too fast), so time to learn how to prevent Kagerou returning.

Conveniently there's still 1 Deadman after Daiji is restored, to have him show off as Live ("Evil" with reversed letter). Live's design reminds me of Drake, and he's also a gunslinger like him, where I admit his fighting moves of gun-fu are quite flashy and stylish. The Rider that is done to get Live, Revice Brachio Genome with Zi-O motif (and Time Mazine as Remix), has the Zi-O traits quite underutilized, only mostly about both him and Vice beating up the stunned Evil, like there's no time-motif power (for example Zi-O II had it which allows it to predict attacks for instance). Though both the Zi-O motif and the animal it uses has a thought put behind it; Zi-O's first episode has Sougo running away from a Tyrannosaurus, which, like brachiosaurus, are dinosaurs. The Brachiosaurus is also meant as a gentle giant, generally peaceful until you make it mad, which is like how Sougo is the most powerful KR as Ohma Zi-O, and is generally a nice guy but one you shouldn't mess with.

Earlier on, this establishes something new for Sakura, establishing her vendetta and irrational disdain against Kamen Riders due to how it affects the family. The series establish further of the 2 major girl characters' rivalry with her fighting Aguilera, this time taking Aguilera's kick better (without leaving a mark in her white cloth) than before. Via Aguilera's temptation.

Morton's fork situation for Hiromi as he's wrong either way, he gets scolded for not speaking up, but if he does then it's him taking blame anyway for being a Fenix member that involves Igarashi family. The end of the episode shows that Hiromi can loose up, offering a genuine smile after Daiji is restored, probably he's in that situation when there's not military occupations stressing him. It's also probably him actually more hoping for a best outcome too, but had less hesitation before compared to Ikki, who is a family. Also the first time he got de-henshin... so the Deadman of the week from the Sentai alumnis puts better fight than Olteca and Julio (at least if those 2 didn't hold back). George seems to be thrilled over the appearence of Live, so he seems to appreciate some of the Kamen Rider virtues (other than being a fan of its aesthetics) to a degree, wanting to create a hero that is born from lots of drama and struggle. Still doesn't change the fact that he let a superpowered villain loose though as Kagerou before. Wakabayashi starts to be suspicious of him... firstly assuming him as just a mad scientist who prioritizes experiment over anything, when he's motivated by his, destructive passion of Kamen Rider.

yes and again can't stress this enough the writers did NOT plan for a 50 episode long show/story I think the reason why Saber's earlier episodes are kinda wonky because they have to introduce so much shit early. Revice's problem is it wraps EVERY interesting plotline up by episode 30 meaning we have to trot out plots that we kinda sorta resolved but because we didn't know what to do have to bring back and have to deal with the 2 worst villains in the franchise imo (the reason why episodes of Saber following Elemental Dragon's dbeut work is because of how good Issach is as a villain)