Like 'Geo' - that's been obvious for a while.

Lupinranger and Patoranger is selling well in the toys department, exceptionally and unprecedentedly so for the girl rangers. This is mostly due to the casting of Haruka Kudo, a former idol (Morning Musume), as Lupin Yellow. Toei and Bandai could be trying to repeat this success by having the next Rider being played by an idol or popular female personality as well.

From a creative standpoint, Toei might have just figured now, if any, is a good time to experiment. An anniversary series is a safe, low-risk playground for experimentation. People will watch the show regardless due to the return of legendary heroes, and the toys will sell for the same reason. At best, it could attract a new demographic to join the already existing one, at worst it would be a harmless try at something new (especially if the season is rumoured to be shorter than usual).

Zi-O is written "Ji-Ou" as in king of time or king of letters

Maybe Zi-O is a girl, but I really don't see anything particularly feminine about the costume or poses that other people are seeing. "The chest armour sort of looks like boobs" barely means anything since the other Rider has the same chest. Unless they're both girls?

The other rider's chest is markedly less pronounced from these images.

Zi-O's chest is... very, very odd. Like, even if it is larger to accommodate boobs, that chest plate is still extremely bizarre.

The Zi-O chest armor part doesn't looks feminine to me.....

Also Zi-O chest armor part looks very different with Femme armor.....

Zi-O chest armor part design are more suitable for male.....

This just upper armor and that's really similar to King Ranger, Ouja, and Mage.....

http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1531359503

http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1531359816

http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1531359923

http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1531360046

But if you look at it from other angles, it looks quite busty and feminine.

If we see from the top, yes the chest armor looks bigger but if we see in left side, the chest looks smaller and doesn't looks feminine :D

I honestly think that has more to do with the watch strap on the chest, because if you look at the black parts of the chest they're not as pronounced as the strap, and the fact the strap curves making the chest look more rounded. The secondary looks like has the same chest design as Zi-O, but it's just harder to tell because the black strap is not as pronounced as Zi-O's silver strap do to surrounding color choice.

I’m pretty skeptical too, as cool as I think it would be to have a girl Rider. I’m not getting my hopes up. Let’s just say I’ll be pleasantly surprised if it happens.

Regardless, there is definitely something weird going on with this Rider’s chest plate, judging strictly from these images, and it’s not just the added silver watch strap. It is freaking bulbous in the two “action pose” shots.

These are not your average toku chest armors...

Sorry for the double-post, but I just did an interesting comparison on Twitter. The chest armors are def not the same, judging by the photos. Here they are side-by-side...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dh36mIqU8AAq7SZ?format=jpg https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dh36mIqU0AAO_XK?format=jpg

I’m starting to strain my eyes with all these Rider titty analyses and comparisons. :lol

And ZX should be “Zee-Ex” but it’s “Ze-Cross.”

Oh.

Those aren't photos, and they're not in really comparable angles.

Comparing the other image that shows what appear to be the actual suits in more similar and neutral poses, the geometry of the chests appear to be pretty much identical.

https://i.imgur.com/SMJbIQe.png
This is a rough comparison pic but the relevant details are pretty clear. I really think the difference in the first picture is just a matter of a wonky angle.

It's definitely boobs. I saw on IG on several toku accounts that they have picked the 2 actors playing the main riders. And the girl is really unattractive too.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlIUDI-hPCQ/

First quarter toy catalog scans are online thanks to Tokullector via Twitter. According to him, these are only Gashapon scans but hey at least they give us a good indication of what to expect.

One thing I immedietly noticed was the years on the two riders belts. ZI-Os' base form says 2018, but the other rider says twenty-sixty something. Maybe an implication that the other rider is from the future and ZI-O is from the present?

Looks neat. I'd love to see all the various forms~

You know, somebody who wears multiple watches at the same time (heh) tends to look like a complete tool.

Alrighty translation time from yours truly.


- Slogan for the show: Celebrate! The birth of the new king!

- Will begin September

- Forms for the show are called armors

- Rider 2 of the show who has "rider" written in hiragana on his visor is Kamen Rider Gates(unconfirmed romanization, katakana is ゲイツ). Gates will appear at the beginning of the show as well.

- Collectibles are called Ride Watches

- - Belt is called Jikuu Driver. Henshin is done by first clicking the button on the Zi-O Ride Watch and insert it on the right side of the Jikuu Driver. Armor equipping seems to be done by inserting a ride watch of other riders on the left.

- Zi-O's sword is called Jikangilade(portmanteau of "jikangire" which means out of time, and blade). Has sword mode and gun mode. sword mode has ケンwritten on it, gun mode has ジュウ written on it. ケン means sword ジュウ means gun.

- Zi-O's initial armors seem to be Build and Ex-Aid, Gates will have Ghost and Drive armors.

The Rider Watches really remind me to Nin Shuriken from Ninninger....

Hopefully a more well-received season than Ninninger though

Okay, they’re photos super imposed over a digital background, Mr. Details. ;)

Also, lol, I think they’re very similar angles and poses!

But I do admit, the chest looks v different from other angles. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

EDIT: Just saw the new scans. And I still can’t tell what’s up with that chest piece! It looks different from every angle! :lol

Agree :D

Hmm....some rumor is Zi-O will be aired until April 2018 but I really want Zi-O is same long as most of other Rider Heisei Series (48 episodes)

Man, I'm excited to see the DX scans now, everything looks pretty awesome.

Also, I just realized that while Zi-O is based on a normal watch, Gates appears to be based on a plastic digital watch (could be misinterpreting that though).

I meant more that they're digital renders, on account of those being from Ganbarizing machines. Though I'll concede it's a really pedantic point.

And I’ll concede that Zi-O and Gates appear to have similar chest pieces in the scans. (And they’re both oddly bulbous, but in a probably-not-boobs way. :lol)

Seeing some clearer scans, Gates belt display reads 2066 ( and of course, ZI-Os' reads 2018). Im going to asume that the display will change year depending on what Rider Armor is being used ( corresponding with each series and what year they aired in), though this is just a guess at this point.

Calling it now, Aqua will be forgotten again

I hope Bandai will be make Aqua Rider Watch. At least in toy-exclusive.....

I love the looks of both Riders and liking what I'm seeing of the other designs.

Wait, rumor is that Zi-O is going to be a girl? Awesome.

EDIT: Looking at it again, ZI-O's suit actor is clearly Takaiwa again judging by the fingers, but male suit actors portraying female characters is common. Plus it would be interesting to see Takaiwa doing feminine poses.

FYI I made a typo with the belt name. :lolol
It is Jikuu Driver.

I still don't know how people are confused if it's boobs or not. The actors for AM and PM versions of the riders have been leaked and it's a guy and a girl. IT'S DEFINITELY BOOOOOOOOBS! I just wish they picked a better looking actress.

^ Those are still just rumours, nothing confirmed about those reports. Also the girl looks fine to me. She's only 14 years old so let's just stop commenting on her appearance (both in and out of suit) before the conversation gets creepy.

The scans are sweet, I like the designs of both Ji-O and Gates. Can't wait to see a trailer for this show.

Ugh...some people are really believe to female Rider rumor. The female Rider rumor is really painful to hear....

Back to main topic.

We has so many Ride Watches. The primary Ride Watches are based on Kuuga to Build while the other Ride Watches is based on Secondary Riders and Extra Riders. I think they only use Legend Rider Forms from Kuuga to Build in the series while the Secondary Legend Rider Forms will be Ganbarizing exclusive.

That rumour calls them 'Kamen Rider Zi-O AM' and 'Kamen Rider Zi-O PM'...we now know that they are 'Kamen Rider Zi-O' and 'Kamen Rider Gates' - so that rumour is false.

And? A lot of your theories are pretty painful to read too, you know, buddy. Some people want a female main rider, others don't - neither stand point is wrong, so step off.

The Kamen Rider toy team are fans of Ultraman Orb and Geed's gimmick. I wonder if Zi-O will end up with fusion forms.

People always post "rumoured" actors for Toku shows and I'm pretty sure they're never right.

Gates sounds interesting as a name.
Rather on the nose, but seems like it'll have fun potential.

The role play toys look fun, but I want to see what the action figures are going to be this time. Really curious how the armortime series is going to work with seemingly plug aspects on the suits.

Also looks like fusions are very much possible too. But might be a late in the show thing.

With a secondary named Gates, and fan reactions like that from some areas. This one feels like it absolutely needs to be a girl now. Too many fan areas want to act like Gatekeepers on a Japanese kids show when their sales data is less than 5% of the overall merchandising, and their ratings/ad revenue is 0, so they really hold no sway. Granted the secondary could be a reference to Bill Gates too. "Windows through time" kind of thing.

He played Kamen Rider Poppy and Ride Player Nico, right?