(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP24)

I mentioned a bit back during the Fourze episodes that I appreciated in retrospect how they laid the groundwork for something that starts truly coming into focus here, which is how utterly lonely Sougo is. A lot of things in this episode hit pretty hard emotionally, and Junichirou spelling out for Tsukuyomi that her and Geiz are legitimately the only friends he's ever had works wonders to reframe a lot of what we know about Sougo, and put it all into a much clearer focus.

Because, here's the thing: remember that first episode? Remember what your first impression of Sougo was? How many of us looked at him in that premiere and wrote him off as some weirdo, vaguely creepy kid obsessing over a stupid nonsensical dream that sounds like a life goal a five year old would have? Because that first impression of Sougo is probably the exact same one he leaves on most people he meets in-universe, and most of them don't have any reason to stick around after that. Heck, most of us were probably only following the guy at first simply because he's a Kamen Rider, and that's also why Geiz, Tsukuyomi, and Woz all started hanging out with him originally, too.

I'm not really trying to suggest the show was working some secret master plan the whole time here, mind you. I guess if I have to point to make here, it's that I feel Zi-O did a great job taking some of those rougher aspects of early Sougo and building something much, much richer around them. This won't be the last time I say something like this, but I very much appreciate how this show was able to take such an outlandish concept for a protagonist and start making him feel like a genuine human being, with real emotional issues we can empathize with and be invested in, all without ever betraying the strange core of his character.

I'm probably gushing a bit too much here, but yeah, needless to say, I ended up really liking Sougo, if that wasn't clear yet, and as such I loved these episodes quite a bit too. Kikai was a very appealing character with a fun world built around him, and that all intersected with the main cast in a great way. Definitely hard not to be feeling some things when you get to the end of this episode where Sougo is so eager about everyone working together and being friends that he'll gladly team up with his enemies... and then everyone walks off, leaving him completely alone.

And like I mention in the old post, this episode also made me way more okay with Tsukuyomi's current role, which is pretty impressive. I mean, it's still happening entirely to serve Geiz's arc, make no mistake, but by emphasizing here how she's being driven by fear, it makes her hasty and irrational decision-making seem far more grounded and believable. I don't remember it ever coming off to me like she actually wants Sougo dead or anything, and that extra little bit of distinction made all the difference for me. If it's about conflict in her heart, rather than her brain, all of this makes way more sense.

Personally I don't see it that way. He's very much aware them breaking apart is a possibility: It's one of the reasons it's a big source of conflict throughout both his life and Rento's', it's just that he chooses to keep faith in Geiz and Tsukuyomi's' judgment, just as he declared way back in the early episodes. It's clearly taking a toll on him, but he's keeping on despite that. He's a strong guy with strong convictions, for better or worse.

Pretty much, yeah. It's not as big a deal as Yuuji's stuff from the end of Faiz, though, because a) Tsukuyomi isn't nearly as central to the plot as Yuuji was, and b) it all feels incredibly temporary. Yuuji taking over Smart Brain was in just the final few episodes, so there was almost no chance it was going to get swept under the rug. Here, I'd be shocked if Team Zi-O weren't reunited by Episode 28.

It's bringing up a lot of the same frustrations, but for different reasons. With Faiz, I think we as viewers were supposed to be unsure of Yuuji's motivations, say what you will about his actions. With Zi-O, I definitely think the show feels like it's being transparent about Tsukuyomi's motives and goals. They just, uh, don't make a ton of sense? In the details?

Maybe for Rider's sesquicentennial, Toei Studios (a subsidiary of AmazonDisney) will decide to go full Showa with their tribute. Tiny denim jackets for everyone!

Yeah, this show has been great about working on its original flaws, and nowhere is that more apparent than how easy it is to invest in Sougo's journey. He was my fifth or sixth favorite character in the initial story (can't remember if I liked Uncle better than him, but probably), and now he's the bright spot in an occasionally-unpleasant stretch of storytelling. They did some smart work fleshing out his psychology, and got a little more nuanced with his worldview. If only they'd given Tsukuyomi the same benefit!

Maybe! I still think of him as a kid who's willing to believe in something ridiculous so hard that it eventually comes true. He's never felt like the Time Orphans weren't his friends, and I don't think he envisions a future without them. (There was the point where they were going to leave in Episode 16, but that was Sougo at his most self-loathing, and I don't really think that's where his head is anymore.) They're fighting, but they're still friends, and he's just going to keep putting that out there in the universe until the Time Orphans pick up on it.

The final episode of this special and It's clear there were trying to set up more to get more content from the mentor being potentially evil, the limit of being Kamen Rider, none of the big bads being defeated and more Riders on the horizon alot of fans are clammiring for Shinobi this year. While I'm not exactly saying Shinobi getting full 50 episode show I wouldn't mind a Rider Time Shinobi Season 2, or an 13 episode Amazon Prime mini series heck I'lll even take a V-Cinema. One thing I really like about this episode was the use of fire and ice to create light it because a) it means iur heroes have to work together, and two it ties back into Rentari problems cinsidering they didn't have enough money to pay the electric bills.

While I'd be onboard for more Shinobi content, I genuinely don't think the production team had any firm plans to continue this story. All the stuff at the end felt like a joke: Here's all the cool twists and creepy villains and new heroes you're not going to see on this season of Kamen Rider Shinobi, because it doesn't exist! But, yeah, I'd be down for any new Shinobi content that wasn't centered around everyone getting horny for Iroha. Anything outside of that genre would be welcome!

I guess I gotta remind about how the scene in Heisei Generations when Ataru, who is a fan of Kamen Rider and is excited to meet them, also does the same to Tsukuyomi (which she mistakes as love confession), while also had Tsukuyomi (in her memory loss) not reacting to that name, it's a foreshadowing for something. Otherwise, yeah, was thinking and asking this about how it's an apparent heel turn/slippage for characters who are previously the other kindest and most heroic ones other than the ones with Kamen Rider sensibility (other than most MC, Keitaro for Faiz). Was half-right in my guess albeit you explained here the reason is different (or that both cases you explained shows about how it can be harder to pull this type of turn convincingly... I mean I have agreement myself too with White Woz not being seen as problem, even when Black Woz was before). H̶o̶w̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶W̶h̶i̶t̶e̶ ̶W̶o̶z̶'̶s̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶Z̶i̶-̶O̶ ̶I̶I̶ ̶b̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶?̶

Otherwise, sorry to bother again regarding this but I'd like to know what are your thoughts on my several previous replies below, and quite from older episodes (if there can be something to say):

↑ mainly going from the "Drawing strength from stories about empathy and kindness" and "stories of hope and sadness and empathy and loss and humor and fear" part back then.

↑ ep. 20.

↑ I didn't quote it before, this was the one I refer for:

Yeah, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree here, since our takes on this character are different. But I think you're right that her character development is taking too many shortcuts. When all the focus is being given to Sougo, Geiz and the Wozes, it's easy to feel disconnected from Tsukuyomi.

Will Be The BFF.

I never made that connection before, but that does make a lot of sense for Sougo's motivation. Society must seem very unaccommodating to a man who wants to become a king. Even though he's a good guy who wouldn't wish harm on others, the dystopian content of his dream might give some insight in to some unconscious resentment for the world that opposes his dream.

I wanna preface this by saying that I love this arc ot might be one of my favorites in ZI-O the parallel character dynamics between Black/White Woz with Sougo and Geiz, Satoshi Morota excellent use of camera angles and color grading (that sunset tho!!!!!).

Wheras Rentaro was a foil to Sougo, this time Mondo is one torwards Geiz especially with his stance on changing the past is a weak thing to do and how that clearly agitates Geiz up.

The only bad thing I can say about this episode was how haphazardly Geiz insert song FUTURE GUARDIAN was just thrown in there this episode and is just never used ever again. However i love how the song just stops when Ora stopped time such a neat detail.

Speaking of neat details I love the trivia night session we got I think it was just a nice character moment. And I love how we brought back that Sougo is bad at games from the Ex-Aid Arc back despite the fact that it was a history based one lol.

He definitely got out of there pretty quick! Funny stuff.

Nothing that springs to mind, unfortunately. I liked reading it, though!

Ha ha, yeah! Sougo's not even great at history games! Maybe that's why the Time Jackers created Another Quiz? Because Sougo's so weak against games?

I shouldn't've underestimated them! They've got a solid plan!

One thing I didn't mention last episode was White Woz was narrating which is shame that this didn't carry over ever again. I like his style it feels more... claustrophobic if that make sense with the white viid and digital numbers all around him.

Also cool to see movie forms in the show. I feel like starting with Build this happened more often it's cool to seen.

As for the episode itself I love how we so tightly focus on Geiz and shows his more subtle developments. Looking at Geiz in a surface level it easy the say he the same guy fron episode one but here he's deliberate even asking what would Sougo do. I also love hoe Sougo figured out on his own based off what he know's of Geiz.

And finally we have Mondo and his father it's complicated there no easy fix for this family. But the broken watch on his starts moving indicating it better taken care of. Mondo mom is still going to die and his father still going to still fail but he feels better and that great it's not a perfect victory but it a personal victory for him. Unfortunatly the only real issue with this episode is that Mondo still keep his memories despite this entire story being that he loses them once his powers are taken. So it does kill some of the tension. It feels a little tonally outta place with the inheirent tradegy of Mondo story.

Also we never got to see what the world in 2040 looked like, who the mosnter he fought were and since he never got a Rider Time special of his own will never know which is shame as Mondo is personal favorite Future Rider too boot.

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 25 - “ANOTHER ZI-O 2019”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio25a.png

Long day, late night, let’s see how quickly we can bang this one out.

I thought this episode was fine for what it was. We’re in a version of the show that purposely avoids a lot of the stuff I liked about it: the warmth of Team Zi-O, the fun takes on Legend Rider themes, and self-contained problems for our heroes to resolve. Everything here is sort of sad, and tense, and sprawls in an unpleasant way. Like I said, this is this portion of the show Working As Intended, but it’s not a ton of fun to exist in.

It’s another neat episode for Sougo’s crushing isolation and his At All Costs friendship with the Time Orphans, though. For him to be like Maybe If I Fight A Monster I’ll Get To See My Buds Again… sad! Real sad! But touching, since it just reinforces how much Sougo wants to get his life back to the happy state it used to be: going on Time Missions and only occasionally finding out he’s destined to destroy humanity.

The Time Orphans, meanwhile, are just sort of vaguely existing, running through the same routines as the last couple episodes. Tsukuyomi would like to see Zi-O defeated by Geiz. Geiz would like for Tsukuyomi to get off his back. Hat Woz is… around. It’s missing even the frustrating nonsense of Tsukuyomi’s terror, subsisting entirely on Geiz’z cornered unease with this whole conflict. There’s separation, but no one can really explain why, or how long it’s supposed to last for, so we get everyone being slightly bummed out.

That just leaves the introduction of Another Zi-O, and, again: fine. I like where this story seems to be going, how it looks to be about how Sougo's never let his suffering or loss turn him into a bad person, even though Hiryuu is maybe Exhibit A in how Sougo could’ve gone bad. Sougo and Hiryuu had the same background trauma (with, I’m sure, more details to come), but Sougo kept himself optimistic, while Hiryuu probably didn’t.

I say “probably”, because BOY is this the first part of a two-parter. There’s almost nothing concrete to talk about with Hiryuu, so I’m left to speculation and inference. Another Zi-O is running around terrorizing former Another Riders (so many fun cameos!), but the How and Why of it all is left for next week. I usually don’t care about these types of mysteries, and this one’s no different. There’s almost nothing for me to hang onto here. Swartz did something, and it’s bad, but no one says why it’s bad. Hiryuu has a grudge, and he seems bad, but it’s unclear what he’s really after. He has a backstory with Sougo, but maybe he doesn’t, since Sougo doesn’t seem to recognize him. There’s a lot of foreboding here, but nothing of any real substance.

Maybe this wasn’t fine? I don’t know. Maybe I’m just tired. I’m sure I’ll like the second part of this story better. Like I said, there’s some interesting thematic stuff the Another Zi-O concept is hinting at. Sougo’s date night with Woz was real cute; total episode highlight. But there’s just too much mystery at this point in the show, too much that’s About To Happen. I need some goddamn payoff!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio25b.png

You think you're eager for more? Imagine having to wait an entire week :0 Or maybe I was the only one as inordinately excited for next episode as I was back when this aired.

This episode is the start of something special for me, and I remember a lot of first impressions still. ...The first of which is just a really random barely-a-gripe I have but still bugs me to this day, and that's how the Geiz Revive Ridewatch comes into play. I know back in episode 18, White Woz straight up laid out the events that when three mysterious ridewatches came together, it would create a new power. I, and I'm sure a lot of other people, assumed this was some abstract prophecy of sorts, but it turned out to be completely literal? Like, things popping out of thin air is honestly not that big a deal to me in these shows, but there's not even any thematic reasoning as to why the three MiRidewatches, based on three unrelated guys who give powers to Woz, would come together to make a powerup for Geiz.

But anyway, point is that there's a scary vision of Geiz and Zi-O's inevitable battle, but right now Geiz doesn't have it in him to commit yet. But there is someone else all too ready to commit to beating on Zi-O! Another Zi-O is a really cool design, and although a lot about him is still up in the air in this episode, I was pretty ready to accept a classic evil mirror image of our hero right away (I mean, putting aside we already have two of those in Sougo's evil future self and his literal mirror image from a few episodes ago).

I guess I don't really have much to say that this episode just left me excited for the next. Everything was hitting at my senses saying that everything that's been built up to for a long while is going to erupt in a big way, much like how episode 15 left me feeling. So yeah, it's like 100% foreboding and slow moments, but I was kinda totally into it!

Well except for those scenes with the Time Jackers being cryptic about whatever they're doing. Thinking about them has always been detrimental to my enjoyment of the show so I just phased them out of my mind as usual...

Episode 24!

- Hiryuu has arrived! I do remember my gut reaction on my inital watch being something like. "D. Diend....?" Like they aren't really similar(Kaito was a nuisance at worst but this guy's clamoring for Sougo's head on a pike) but something about the way he carries himself reminded me of Kaito...? Idk man, maybe cramming for finals 24/7 is making me lose it. Anyway I have Thoughts about the guy, but that's for another time.

-And he's Another Zi-O! This is part 2 of "Wow that seems a lot smarter than whatever you guys were doing!?" for the Time Jackers! It can make Ridewatches and switch seamlessly between forms, on top of having Zi-O's future sight, how convient! The guy using it seems estastic to rip Sougo a new one! If we're headed fullspeed toward towards the Day of Oma, isn't it conivent to have another Zi-O around ready to start shit and become Oma-Zio? (Or is that last part a bad thing, Heure seems pretty upset about the whole idea?)

So here we are, at the point where the Time Jackers have fully switched to creating Another Riders in the present (as evidenced by Another Zi-O being dated 2019 rather than 2018). In-universe, Shirakura explained that so many paradoxes have accumulated that the timeline is saying “no more” and forbidden travel through time to 2001, 2004 through 2009, 2014 and 2018. Out-of-universe, I can’t turn up a solid reason, but some have been suggested.

* Most of the remaining Phase 1 Riders are all visibly older than when they did their shows and even if they aren’t that much, they still look pretty different
* Most of them already have some degree of immunity to time changing shenanigans (Blade, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva)
* To fit with the rule Another Faiz established that Another Riders only last 8 years. (The only other one who lasted that long was Another OOO, or as O-T’s subs for this episode mistranslated him, “Another Woz”, new character)

And with no Ridewatch this time (we’ve still got another episode for Revive), we’ll do the compare and contrast.

Hiryu Kakogawa, like how Asura was the opposite of of both Kouta and Kaito, is an opposite to both Sougo and Geiz. Sougo is someone who looks to the future and was able to get the Legend Riders’ powers be befriending them, while Hiryu is stuck on an incident in his past (as evidenced by the fact his name contains the kanji for “past”) and gains the Another Riders’ powers by assaulting and hospitalising them. Meanwhile, both Geiz and Hiryu are gunning to kill Sougo, but while Geiz is hesitating and has managed to befriend Sougo, Hiryu is utterly dedicated to killing the persons he believes ruined his life.

Design-wise, Another Zi-O’s palette is the opposite of regular Zi-O’s, even down to having a black Ziku-Driver that he uses to transform. And the basic design is the ultimate example of what Another Riders are: a monster that resembles a Kamen Rider. For bonus points, his face looks vaguely humanoid, hinting at how most Another Riders are transformed from humans.

Anyone else see Another Zi-O and think he's about to rasp out "Starrrsss" at some point? Just me? I only see Nemesis? Okay. Anyway not much to say about this episode since this is a lot of setup. But I do love how we're revisiting older Another Rider hosts and such. Which makes it a sort of problem when you're writing a Fanfic on Zi-O and most of your replacements for them are actual monsters underneath who end up being killed instead of just defeated. That was fun to sort of try and get around.

There's just a whole lot of intrigue here and I'd dare say I love how this feels like the lowest point we could be at with Zi-O in regards to its status quo. Really helps set up this Arc as a big deal. It also feels very purposeful.

Anyway the BGM Preview is here and uh... Deep Pitched Over Quarzter (Ew), Toki no Ouja, and now Future Guardian are here and uh... nope. Really could care less about these choices.

Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 26 Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLHYW4C-QR8

I don't like Kakogawa Hiryu. That's it.


But next episode, yes. Another one of my favorite suits in ZI-O.

Hiryu is literally just Alister from the Duel Monsters anime.

It works for me, because they're three power-ups that are specifically from the timeline where Geiz wins. They're physical proof of Geiz Revive's existence, so I can see Hat Woz using them to create the specific tool of Geiz'z victory.

Yeah, by this time, the Time Jackers are both hilariously irrelevant (Ora sadly drinking her colorful drink as the Time Jackers sit around getting on each other's nerves) and sort of intriguingly nihilistic. Another Zi-O is hinted at being an incredibly bad idea, even if we're not given the details. (My guess is that, when you're doing all this to prevent the dominance of Zi-O in the future, making Another Zi-O is maybe not the coolest move.) I mostly hope this features the end of this configuration of the Time Jackers. They're just about zero percent threatening as villains, and they each only have about one attribute. Time for some different foes!

That's sort of a bummer? I'm sure this doesn't mean the show is going to slow down on Legend appearances (WHERE MY YUUTO AT), but I'll miss the time travel premise this show started with. Which, weird to feel that way? I don't like Time Nonsense, as a rule, but I thought this show used the wider canvas of time travel to come up with some fun climaxes to stories.

Okay! Didn't see him enough in this episode to form an opinion, myself.

Okay! I didn't watch that show.

As previously Sougo has acknowledged his capacity of evil, as well as him still being genuinely good in his stint with Kikai, it comes into play here, of Sougo wanting to use a tragedy for personal reasons by visiting his friends again via Another Riders' rampage, but actually Sougo isn't in denial about it but snaps out of it as he acknowledges it's twisted and terrible. It's ironic, because as shown again here, Black Woz, although not as bad as White Woz, is still villainous, who happens to help a sweet boy due to Zi-O's premise. But for here, previously probably Black Woz may tolerate Sougo as long as he becomes Ohma Zi-O, whenever good or bad, but here, it's shown that Black Woz would rather have Sougo succumb into his dark impulses, so Black Woz wants to corrupt Sougo in process of helping him becoming more powerful. But that instead makes Sougo realize his creepy mindset here. Sougo merging with his mirror self is probably the key to prevent his rule as Ohma Zi-O, he'd recognize if he had dark impulses and his inherent moral compass will put a stop on it, unlike Ohma Zi-O who was constantly in denial and thus end up having his dark side take over him entirely.... and still think he saved the world as the king. Don't know if Sougo meeting his mirror self is caused by the time travels though.

For your prediction before of you speculating Team Zi-O should be reunited at ep. 28 at most, actually Junichiro's story about Sougo and Hiryu's history together, as well as it being further researched could be something that can advance the story. Considering how Zi-O is centered around time travel. And Geiz has some new stuff here that, now his resolve to kill Sougo is gone thus he can't use Geiz Revive, as the power needs Geiz's original resolve to kill Sougo. No destroying belts either, because Black Woz would always replace it with a new one, so I appreciate that the series does show about how a Rider solution of dealing with belts as ineffective before btw.

IWAE! He has arrived! :cool::rolleyes:p

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...64/unknown.png

But otherwise, for now Hiryu has just debuted, his purpose here is to show off his power first, not only that he can make use of other Rider powers like Sougo and Geiz (and those kind of Riders are usually OP, among all franchise, like Tsukasa before, anniversary Riders), but he also has Zi-O II's future sight ability. Though otherwise, the people who are infuriated with him above has good reason for that. Swartz is also a speculation, Heure and Ora is now suspicious of him, so Ora is relatively better person compared to Swartz, of course not saying much though, they're still speculating about Swartz being the one behind Zi-O II.

I mean, he's not saying that he wants this innocent victim to get mauled by a monster, he's just saying that he misses the Time Orphans enough to sort of long for a monster attack. He's very lonely!

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 26 - “GEIZ REVIVE! 2019”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio26a.png

Ha ha, this was NOT the concluding chapter of a two-parter, but the second chapter of a multi-part story. (Three parts? Probably four?) So we not only don’t get a firm conclusion to the storyline begun last episode, we get a whole bunch more mysteries.

The one I’m sort of least curious about is the Tsukuyomi Killed A Busload Of People mystery, because I just can’t entertain that possibility for a single goddamn second. It’s edited in a way that obscures all but the most incriminating details, for one thing. We don’t ever see who/what Tsukuyomi’s shooting at, so she could just as easily have been shouting for Sougo to avoid (wild guess) Another Zi-O as she could be trying to murder an 8-year old boy. Also, there is no version of this show where Tsukuyomi tries to murder an 8-year old boy and ends up accidentally killing all but two people on a bus, including herself. Like, zero percent chance.

(More interested in the What Was April 2009’s Kamen Rider Doing On That Bus mystery, but there’s nothing specific in this episode besides those capitalized words. Still! More Tsukasa! Yay!)

But none of that’s really the point. The point isn’t about rational decision-making, or personal accountability. This is a story about how a martyr complex and a messiah complex combine into a brand-new dual-mode power-up for Geiz.

Tsukuyomi going back to 2009 (and correctly parking her Time Mazine in a garage, which is the funniest detail on this show so far) to investigate/murder Sougo is a tragedy. Tsukuyomi is presumed dead. All of those families are dead. And to Geiz, this was his responsibility. This is his failure. If he’d dealt with Sougo days ago, Tsukuyomi wouldn’t’ve thought she needed to travel back in time. If Geiz had dealt with Sougo months ago, all of these Another Riders wouldn’t’ve had their lives ruined by the Time Jackers, or threatened by Hiryuu. Every bad thing that’s happened since he got back to 2018 and didn’t kill Sougo, that’s all on Geiz.

And that’s half the reason he can activate the Geiz Revive power-up, the need to be the hero that he should’ve been months ago. But the other half is the part of him that sees the wreckage of Sougo’s (and Hiryuu’s) life and feels the blood on his hands. That bus was destroyed because someone was afraid of what Sougo might become in the future. Every battle Sougo’s been in is because someone wanted him dead, all for actions he might never even take, given the chance. Sougo might be a hero, if the world weren’t trying to kill him for being a villain. A fight now, between Zi-O II and Geiz Revive, will at least settle things. If Geiz wins, the future is saved. If Zi-O wins, then maybe Sougo can be the good king that no one else believed in. Either way, the stress of indecision is just about gone.

This was a nice episode for exploring Geiz’z tortured psychology, and a great episode for a new suit debut. I really like Geiz Revive! The time manipulation powers are pretty clever, and I love the Bulky Orange and Speedy Blue designs. Unlike Zi-O’s melding of light and dark, Geiz’z powers are separate, isolated. I like how it comments on Geiz’z inability to reconcile his view of himself with how the world wants him to be. He’s a Grim Executioner who wants to be a good friend. Even as he’s becoming more powerful, it’s for some purpose he doesn’t really want. Having his powers be a physical shift between forms seems exactly right for a guy who can’t be himself.

Pretty into this Geiz story!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio26b.png

I was willing to give this episode the benefit of the doubt up until the very end, which killed it for me.

Also, unpopular opinion, but I am not a fan of Geiz Revive, and most especially not a fan of how its debut is handled. The way both modes are shown off, there's basically no reason to never not be in Blue Mode; A similar problem Black RX had when balancing his three forms.

Yeah there's still two parts to go, but I am not looking forward to them.

Man, I just assumed you'd be all about a story that implicates Decade in the deaths of innocents!

Episode 26!

-Yknow White Woz, if you need Sougo dead so badly, you could've just rolled Sougo's unconcious body into that conviently placed river....

-Look. I get it. Geiz is a emotional teen who thinks he should be the only to die when literally anything goes south! The death(?) of one of his only friends due to(in Geiz's perspective) her trying to do the job he hesistated to do-that'll definitely make him get his ass into gear! But like.....How do I put this? We're been currently been sitting through Tsukuyomi's heelturn, which has a lot to be desired in terms of execution, and to throw in her being Geiz's Man Pain for the episode's ending so we can get to Revive on top of that.....it kinda adds insult to injury, but maybe that's just me.

-Geiz Revive is not really my cup of tea, too bulky. That handsaw weapon is pretty cool, and its powers are sick, so I've learned to live with it.

Considering that was literally the Decade half of the first Movie War; No, can't say that I would be.

Oh, it's a super bad look, but it's a look this show commited to about four episodes ago, so I've stopped bothering to point out how much this story makes Tsukuyomi's decisions all about Geiz'z suffering. There's a bit in this episode where Hat Woz is like How Are You Going To Face Tsukuyomi and I was so mad at how blatantly this story was only about Geiz'z internal struggle.

But, like, that's the decision this show went with! It's bad! I wish they hadn't! But all I can do is focus on the positive (I like stories about how broken Geiz is!) and hope for a better future.

It occurred to me that I didn't actually remember what my first impressions of this set of episodes were, and its because I've never really stopped thinking about them until a long time after they aired.

It's a shame that Tsukiyomi is kind of just a plot device. It's a shame that Hiryu's elaboration on why he hates Sougo is pretty weak. It's a shame that the Time Jackers still take up any screentime whatsoever.

But it's honestly easy for me to just put that all aside when I'm that invested in the most important thing in this story (and in the whole show, frankly), that being Geiz and Zi-O. And it sounds like you're doing the same thing!

That the new ridewatch will only work if Geiz wants to kill Zi-O badly enough is admittedly kind of a cheap way to get across that he's absolutely serious this time, but... it works, doesn't it?! What's important is that once again, it feels inevitable that all this damage will keep piling up as long as Zi-O remains, and so as much as it hurts him, Geiz fully and tragically believes that the only right thing to do is to follow up on his promise made back in episode 16.

And as for Sougo's side of things, although I don't think the whole 'embracing light and darkness' speech from a few episodes back hit all that much for me, I can readily accept at this point that becoming a king is a dream of his that he just cannot and will not give up, and so he comes to this equally tragic understanding that Geiz has to fight him, so he has to respond in turn.

And I'm always reminded of how much I love tokusatsu when they work in these major story and character moments into the debut of a new DX toy!! The slow transformation into Geiz Revive brings in White Woz hailing il salvatore, and sone new, absolutely awesome theme music! The music does a lot for this scene, because it's this unabashedly heroic-sounding and beautiful piece to go along with the hero's newfound resolve (it also uses the motif of Geiz's character song but that song basically doesn't exist in the show so whatever).

Because of that, there's this deliberate dissonance I love about how that triumphant music flares up as Geiz Revive is getting the upperhand on Zi-O II. All conventional sense tells you that you ought to be cheering for the savoir defeating the overlord, even though at the same time, nothing about this fight is something that should be happening (at least I hope most viewers at this point of time don't actually want Zi-O to just get destroyed!!).

All these elements come together to make Geiz Revive one of the most memorable form debuts in this whole franchise for me, and definitely the most memorable in this show. Most of my love for this pair of suits comes entirely from how much I enjoyed (the back half of) this episode, and really that's ideally how it should be in these shows!

Also random oberservation, this is like the third year in a row we have a toy that lets you switch between a red (orange is close enough) suit and a blue suit, after the Gashat Gear Dual and the Fullfull Bottle, which is funny to me! I'll also mentally throw in Accel and Accel Trial for the fun of it.

Remember. Don't let the Decade drive the bus.

Before we talk about this episode, I'm going to babble a bit about last episode. Like Die, I too saw Hiryuu as an opposite of Sougo in that situation, which fits for him here. However, I also thought Another Zi-O would be the final boss or at least close to one for this show, so it threw me for a loop when he appeared early.

Now onto this episode, we get to see the debut of Geiz Revive, which is a great form(s), with a clever gimmick to boot. It's an hourglass! Contrary to watches that everyone's been using, Geiz gets an hourglass for his upgrade, which is two forms in one, which while simple, it does its job well in establishing its gimmick, while also wielding an interesting weapon. And to top it off, we get White Woz giving a speech just like his black counterpart, which I absolutely adore. It also happens to be fitting that this form is technically used on Zi-O, the target he seeks from the beginning of the series, and I quite enjoyed his arc here. From here on, Geiz really grew into one of my favorites here.

Remember when people thought Tsukasa was a policeman as reference to his appearance in AR Kuuga world in his own show? Good times. Now he's possibly leading kids to the secret base from the Fourze Summer Movie. Good thing Narutaki isn't here to witness Tsukasa getting involved with this can of worms.

There is a particular reason I specifically put 25-28 as #1 on the stuff I wanted to talk about the most. Granted I can't find much to talk about but if we were stirring up a conversation like last time I think I'd be able to come up with something.

Regardless, I sort of like how this worked for Geiz and Geiz Revive? It's very much Geiz jumping to an irrational conclusion based on him having barely a shred of information and then just drowning in grief as he pushes forward with what he thinks will make him feel better. At least that's how I saw it in a sense.

Also I really like Geiz Revive, it goes for great speed and great strength. Both of which have it's uses, and both of which I think get equal due as well, which really shows the commitment to the gimmick.

Also I shall now link this video because it is relevant to the episode at hand: https://vimeo.com/543687531

Anyway it is thanks to the namedrop of Tsukasa that next preview BGM Swap adds the Decade Preview theme and I couldn't be happier! This time we have Zi-O Toki no Ouja, Future Guardian, and Decade's preview theme which I'm sure it's obvious which one I'd pick for my choice of BGM Swap.

Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 27 Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7B1xdoz0nI

I just saw "Ooh, black Geiz!" and was immediately all over it. I love the multi-form gimmick, and the hour glass theme, It's so cool. It did take me a while to buy its SHF, but the wait was worth since I got it for $50!

At this point, Geiz is on warpath. And I really like the idea that Revive isn't a regular power up for Geiz, that we'll see later.

Next episode, things are ramping up, it's almost endgame-ish kind of. But I guess it is for the first part of the show.

I jumped in my seat when Black Woz pulled out the Beyondriver.

If it helps, I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't think that the change led to the show's best tribute episodes.

It's not easy for me to do it, but I always end up doing it. There's a point in almost every Rider show, where there's an extended character development that just bothers me on either an execution or concept level, and I eventually sort of give in. I don't like it, but it's hard to spend multiple episodes getting mad at, like, convoluted Sakurai nonsense in Den-O, or anything with the Ryuusei School dinks (Go Meteors!) from Faiz. I don't enjoy being mad at these shows. It's easier to be like I Have Registered My Complaint and wait for the show to get sick of its dumb subplot.

It feels as earned as Zi-O II's debut, just replacing Emotional Catharsis and Acceptance with Self-Loathing and Martyrdom. Geiz is... he's not doing as well as Sougo was when he got his upgrade!

Hiryuu gets chumped out pretty bad here? His backstory (if this is the extent of it) is comically thin, some weird survivor trauma that doesn't get nearly the nuance it needs to work. His powerset makes sense as Evil Zi-O, but mechanically it's just reused suits and the exact same special effects. As soon as Geiz Revive shows up, the story just 100% forgets about Another Zi-O.

Instead of RIDER TIME, Geiz'z driver jingle should just be someone shouting THIS IS ALL MY FAULT.

I don't expect to get a bunch of forms for Zi-O characters (basically, none of the Armor Times), but I definitely plan on picking up a Geiz Revive figure. I'd say "to go with my Zi-O II", but, uh, sort of tough to find a Zi-O II on Mandarake right now!

Yeah, it wasn't an all the time plus, so I can see how a more straightforward team-up story could help with the plotting. But still! It was what made this show unique!

if only there was some sort of decade catchphrase that would cover this situation

I think I should warn you that SHF Revive can’t replicate his form change gimmick in a screen-accurate way (though bizarrely, the RKF figure can, despite being much skinnier)

Speaking of Revive, let’s get onto talking about the watch.

Ridewatch Display: Revive

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

“The warrior of furious power. Geiz Revive Gouretsu”

“The warrior of incredibly gale-force speed, Geiz Revive Shippu”

One brilliant thing about it is that it actually works as a fusion of the three MiRiders. You’ve got the speed from Shinobi in Shippu, the strength from Kikai in Gouretsu and the choice between them, echoing Quiz.

As for why Revive is killing Geiz (that’s irony for ya), it’s not because the watch is designed to kill its user, or because it’s too powerful for human use, like a lot of people assumed. It’s because Geiz’s body is unable to handle the amount of power it gives off, since he’s never used anything like it (Shirakura explained that it was inspired by an incident where he tried a new exercise program and started getting nosebleeds because he was pushing himself too hard)

That's the tragedy of this conflict between the two timelines. Sougo and Geiz don't want to fight each other. Even though they trust each other now, the bus incident shows Geiz that inaction can be just as dangerous as the wrong action. Despite his doubt, he has to push himself to do something. He's not fighting Zi-O out of intense hatred anymore, but out of an obligation he feels he needs to fulfill for the sake of a better future, since destiny says he's the only one who can. This leaves Sougo out of the loop about everything that's happening, as both his comrades are now trying to kill him for reasons nobody really understands. I'll talk more about the bus incident later, since there's still a surprising secret about that.

I think Geiz Revive might be a reference to Sanagiman and Inazuman, that classic Ishinomori hero who got a modern counterpart in Movie War Ultimatum, my favorite Movie War of all time. The tanky orange/brown form that opens up to reveal the speed type blue form. I love speed types such as Kabuto and Build RabbitRabbit, so of course I think Geiz Revive Typhoon is awesome! The blue looks good on Geiz. I don't care for Fury, but considering Shirakura's explanation that Androzani mentioned, my headcanon is that Geiz needs to alternate between Typhoon and Fury to regulate the side effects of time compression/expansion on his body.

The Zikan Jaclaw is a cool weapon as well and I like how Geiz's weapons in general are more varied than Zi-O using a sword or gun all the time.

There's just a slight problem with the DX Geiz Revive Ridewatch that I found out from a review I watched. Those small magnetic balls are so clingy!

I'm glad it happened this way, since it makes the real final boss all the more intimidating!

No matter the timeline, Woz loves to IWAE!

This is the clever bit that I mentioned earlier with the Quiz plan not mattering.

Never noticed this the first time, but this plus other weird consistencies was the show setting up that fact that the RULES HAVE CHANGED! It wasn't just suddenly tossed at us, although it might seem like that if you don't know the hints to look at, but in reality, the writers have been hinting at this for a while, and that particular sequence was the biggest one. It already showed that the rules the audience and the characters thought they had to play with no longer mattered.

Also, I've been out of state most of the week, so I missed the discussion about Tsukiyomi's about face.

To me, it rings very true, because I've been there, and I've seen other be there. When the foundation of what you believe gets pulled out from under you, it's pretty dramatic. It can caused a seeming about face in believes and behavior, and can cause some inconsistency as you don't quite know what you do believe anymore.

For Tsukiyomi, her foundation was that Sougo was really a good person and as long as she helped him, there would be no darkness in him. Well, that foundation got well and truly yanked out from under her, so what is she to do now?

I guess most people haven't experienced something that dramatically life changing, but it comes across as very believable if you have.

Attacks aren't necessarily about innocent victim getting mauled. None getting mauled would still have an attack happen.

I guess at least you didn't buy into the implication of a chance of Tsukuyomi killing a busload of people, I mean like, making a rant about this and think surely they're going this route, when it's set up as a mystery here still. Even when Geiz, someone who previously would only listen to Tsukuyomi (he bonded more with others, but feeling she's still the closest), kinda bought it. Regarding Tsukasa, this part makes Black Woz start his own investigation, and his method was putting all the terminal into a sleep. Other than that, Swartz being likely involved in Hiryu's rise is also something that changed Heure as well, he now starts drifting away from Swartz further and questioning the actual goal of Time Jackers, and even here talked about Geiz, also to investigate the bus accident albeit understandably Geiz won't tell about Tsukuyomi against someone like him. Heure is the only one among Time Jackers to have a semblance of conscience.

As ep. 15-16 showed, Ohma Zi-O's existence faded away for a while, shouldn't kill Sougo, but likely left the time to go back to 2068 after destroying his belt, though the one who dragged him back was Tsukuyomi seeing Sougo getting attacked. Many battle Sougo's been is because of the Time Jacker's schemes, it'd be just straight up villainy, regardless of what Sougo's actions are, they want to reshape the world into what fits in their eyes, 2 of them has no conscience at all, it just happened that Sougo was the main threat as Ohma Zi-O. Their only concern was about Ohma Zi-O's sheer power. Same goes for White Woz who goes into sociopathic tendencies to shape the world he wants by using Geiz Revive. Hiryu though, is the one that has purely personal grudge against Sougo, and if the pic I shared in last post was any indication. As Geiz Revive appeared now, it does kick both Zi-O's asses easily (of which have White Woz going IWAE), and he'd have been able to kill Hiryu if Swartz didn't intervene, and he's the counter to Zi-O II's future prediction ability, due to attacking too fast before Zi-O II reacts. So the solution is just being a speedster... one of the most wanked powerset.

Oh, that's some neat analysis! Thanks!

This... hasn't happened yet? There hasn't been anything in the show about Revive being dangerous to use. (I mean, Geiz as had only it for not even one entire fight.)

It's also a reflection Hat Woz'z influence versus Woz'z influence on Sougo. Geiz is being treated as the imminent star of the story, and everything depends on him. Sougo was always treated as someone whose importance would be up to them to solidify. They're similar asks -- savior of time -- but the phrasing of the demand is different. There's more pressure on Geiz to be Geiz Revive, to RIGHT NOW be the hero OR ELSE. With Sougo, Woz is a little more hands-off: hopefully he'll become Oma Zi-O, but it's a choice he'll have to make for himself.

Yeah, the introduction of the Future Riders seemed to indicate that the specific causality was off the table, and we're into a realm of alternate timelines and the future being so in flux that it can handle potential contradictions.

I just wish the show had allowed the characters to comment on the change more? To make it seem more intentional?

Sure! I don't think the idea of Tsukuyomi losing faith in Sougo and cutting ties with him was a bad concept. I think it's just that the show took Tsukuyomi Wants To Destroy Zi-O as a given, rather than an idea worth exploring, and then shifted all of the compelling material to Geiz. That's where I think the show failed Tsukuyomi, not in the premise.

OF COURSE Geiz bought it! Geiz is someone who has put Saving The Future entirely on his own back! He's definitely going to think his inaction caused a major catastrophe! He probably treats the milk running out at home as something that could've been prevented by stopping Zi-O's rise to power...

(Slams book closed) Forgive me, I seem to be reading ahead.