One thing I forgot to mention, Another Fourze is modelled after Radar Button, a monster from Uchuu Tetsujin Kyodain, the 70s Toku show from which the villains of Fourze’s movie were inspired.

For Fourze's English cover, I had to go with a bit of a compromise here. Remy does a lot of English covers, but he takes a LOT of liberties with the lyrics, and by a lot I mean he basically seems to write brand new ones that fit the same basic themes and ideas. I am not found of that and will not be using him much if I use him at all past this.

But he got an actual music band to perform this one and it's the only one to sound anything like the original, so I'll give the lyric issues a pass for this one.

You can definitely find others that are going to be more accurate though.

Skip to the 3 minute mark if you want to go straight to the actual music There's a silly skit at the beginning. Links to specific parts of the video apparently don't work in imbedded form.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTei...index=4&t=182s

That was the idea, but he couldn't find enough volunteers.

Another way of looking at Sougo's offer to the gamer dude of becoming his official royal technical advisor or whatever, is that he wants his kingdom to be built and run by good people so that everybody can be happy. In the future we saw, Oma Zi-O is unrivaled, but he is also alone and probably unsatisfied with how his life turned out. So Sougo offering people employment could be considered as a compliment as well, in his own quirky way, to make sure that he really does become the greatest kindest demon king and not the typically evil one that Geiz believes.

For sure, I like Ohsugi and those neo-humans and all, but they can't compare to real important guys like Takumi and Kusaka. Some of the returning cast for these shows can be a little unexciting or even unwelcome, sadly.

Shun and Miu graduated in 2012. Not confirmed for the others, but most likely, Gentarou, Yuki, Kengo and Ryusei in 2013 and Tomoko and JK in 2014. Unless any of them got held back or something.

You mean like trying to talk to people IRL about Tokusatsu? I think I've been in Sougo's position many times!

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP05)

I kinda feel like this episode was a big moment for Zi-O, in retrospect? Like, you had two episodes with Build's main two Riders, and two episodes with Ex-Aid's main two Riders, and then, you know, if you're making this series, you've immediately hit that wall where you can't just have the stars of the previous shows back guaranteed. And the viewers know this is going to be a problem, and everyone knows it's why Decade, a show that only had half as many Riders to deal with, avoided putting focus on returning actors. You've got to do something to assure the fans a concept like "a Fourze tribute with no Fourze" can somehow make for an entertaining episode, so what do you do?

Get Fourze's main director to give it the right visual flair, and write an episode with a clever twist waiting in the wings where Another Fourze blows up at the end only to reveal he's also Another Faiz.

It's really not a bad way to prove Zi-O can still do interesting things without having main stars to play with. I mean, yeah, the episode also promises more antics from Takkun and Kusaka by the end too, but I think it's also making it a point to expand the creative possibilities of the format so that the show's plots can gradually stop leaning on that sort of thing. All in all, I remember this episode feeling like it was continuing a notable upward swing for Zi-O's quality, Sakamoto's explosion-heavy fight scenes are always fun, and yes, as a Faiz fan, it is hard to say no to the prospect of more Takkun and Kusaka. Another thing I also dig looking back is that, yeah, this one makes it a point how lonely Sougo is without Geiz and Tsukuyomi, and I appreciate the groundwork the show was continuing to lay down. I was still warming up to Sougo when I first watched this one, but like a lot of things in the early episodes, I kinda realize know just how important this stuff ended up being to why I enjoy these characters so much.

Heyyy I can finally start my bit!

When it comes to any story I experience, the biggest thing I look out for is characters. How they're written, how they play off one another, the works.

Their importance to how much I enjoy any story is huge, and Kamen Rider is no exception. I might not've made it through Decade if not for Diend, afterall. As such, I find it really cool that Zi-O put in so much effort in getting people to return.

So I figure, what better way to honor that than to talk about my personal favorite characters from each season in accordance with whatever arc the show hits at the time? I unfortunately couldn't do anything for Build or Ex-Aid, having not seen those yet. But Fourze? I sure can! As such, my favorite there is...

https://i.imgur.com/jCwb8N8.png

Tomoko Nozama, or as I like to call her, Spooky Chick!

She was by far my favorite member of the Kamen Rider Club(if we're not counting the Riders themselves), loving every second that she was on screen. Her two-parter was the first one in the show that I outright enjoyed, she consistently made me laugh, and her chemistry with Ryusei, my other favorite from the show, was icing on the cake.

Unpopular opinion I know, but I ended up not liking alot of the characters in Fourze. JK nearly gets everyone killed multiple times, Shun was a clown, Miu ended up being really shallow, Yuki was just there, and Gentaro... well, I found him to be the type of guy who makes acquaintances, not friends. Kengo ended up being pretty decent, atleast.

But Spooky Chick? A+ material anytime she was around. And I knew I had to get that specific screenshot of her when I decided on this bit, because that was probably the hardest I laughed throughout the entire show.

Helped that she had a really good character arc, too. Faiz will get done when episode 6 gets covered.

Oh, neat! Thanks!

Yeah, I think they really nailed the sound of the original? I'd've probably made it a lyric video, if I were them, but that was still pretty fun! Thanks!

I goofed on them a little, but I was actually really excited to see 2/3rds of the movie mutants and Ohsugi here. Anything from Fourze's going to get my enthusiasm, much like a lot of the eventual tribute episodes. I like seeing these folks again! Any of them! All of them! (...All of them except Jean!)

I think the problem I had with them in the last episode is just that the show devoted as much time to them as it did to the Build characters or the Ex-Aid characters, and I think that's a mistake. Maybe calibrate your Legend Time towards the level of guest star? Like, Takumi and Kusaka? I don't care if you gotta bump Team Zi-O for a week, you give them two all of the time you possibly can. But if our Gaim tribute is just DJ Sagara and Peko, I think we can do a quick cameo and move on.

OH NO! Much like Sougo's discussion of his kingly ambitions plays a little better amongst people who are inclined to take him seriously (the Time Orphans, who take him incredibly seriously), it is probably better to keep your enthusiasms to a place like TokuNation.

As I mentioned in this week's DonBros thread, I am all about characters having weird emotional problems that predate and supercede the events of the show. A little runner about how Sougo is so incredibly weird (he really is!) that he's got basically no one in his life to hang out with -- so he is very excited to spend some quality time with his potential executioners -- is absolutely a story I'm going to enjoy watching.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/legend/megamax8.png

We don't overlap a lot in our interests (I think we both love Tsukasa from Decade, that's it), but I'm glad to see we're in agreement on our appreciation for Tomoko. One of my absolute faves from Fourze. Her and Ryusei are one of the few Kamen Rider (on-purpose) romantic pairings I bought? They had chemistry, for sure.

Also, your favorite character from Ex-Aid is Kiriya and your favorite character from Build is Gentoku.

I'll be sure to come back and see if this hold true when I finally watch both shows in like three years.

Uh, I didn't say they would be, I said they are. Case closed! Watching those two shows, while rewarding, is now irrelevant. Like Sougo, I am a time saver.

Schwartz: You don’t get a say in this.

Delta is so powerful he can bring this joke back from the dead, but not powerful enough to get a mention in Episode 5 despite being two dead guys making it in. Sad times.

But yeah, Fourze episode. It's good! Fourze Armour looks sick, and combining the two tributes into one like this was probably the first sign, to me at least, that Zi-O was a little less beholden to formula than, say, Decade. It's predictable, but not afraid to throw you a curveball.