So this was a fun start to a two-parter. Here's the thing about Blade tackling it's ending, and why I didn't mind too much. If you are in the Tokusatsu fandom for long enough, you will find out certain details. Blade's ending is one of those guarantees. So I already found it interesting in how they were doing this since, we're in the "retool" phase of the show. Or rather the first actual showcase of it now that we have a Legend Rider that wasn't made to not exist at the end of their show.

Since well, as people have pointed out... Quiz was basically the starting point of that, what with the weird "Quiz can exist with Another Quiz/Mondo didn't lose his memories despite losing his powers" stuff. And while I do like a lot of the stuff they did in the first quarter of the show, us moving into Quarter 3 is interesting because well... they're still at the mercy of who they can get back. But I feel like all of the stories in this new era of the show are pretty nicely done even if they are technically more standard Legend Rider flare.

Also can I just say? Nice to see Daiki back, I also dig the hair and the new jacket. I also love how his gun is just blue now to match Tsukasa's pink Decadriver. It's also nice to see him summon Phase 2 Riders... sadly he seems to be stuck to only Secondaries and that's a shame because there's a lot of weird Kamen Rides he could do with the sheer amount of tertiary and beyond Kamen Riders that have existed post-W.

One last note though, the entire breakfast scene was great. Sougo's response to what he's doing after he graduated "become King, duh" was wonderful. As was Woz nonchalantly ordering Geiz around and Geiz' blood pressure just skyrocketing. The 9-5-DO Scenes continue to be my favorite.

Now then we've got another BGM Swap. This time however we're switching to what I'm assuming his Blades second preview them once they did the OP Swap. And of course we've still got Diend's theme playing. As always I'll go for Blades as that fits a lot better.

Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 30 Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdVhdw1TFpk

Turn Up! It's Episode 29!

-Jacaranda looks so pretty in the modern day! I'd totally go to a resturant with that kind of vibe, yknow?

-Kinda bummed Sougo's graduating high school is only mentioned briefly, I would've killed for at least one more school episode from Zi-O. Imagine what kind of lengthy speech Woz would have recited in celebration of his dear overlord's graduation...

-Woz and Geiz are so damn funny together this episode. And after tiptoeing and teasing for so long, we explicitly get their backstory this episode! "He's the overlord's right hand, so naturally we hate him" would've been fine, but the fact that he was a person they trusted who explicitly betrayed them slightly recontextualizes all his interactions with Tsuku/Geiz in a fun way?

-Daiki! They did his breakfast bit again, that's cute. Love the outfit, but the light hair will take some getting used to, I'm not sure if it suits him or not? According to his actor (in this very nice talk w/ him and Masahiro Inoue around this ep's airing), he's been chasing after Tsukasa for the past decade, and I don't know whether to be concerned or amused by that fact!

-Amane.....Cool that there's another Another Rider who's identity is a character we know, but....Let's just say I'm not really fond of the "Find Hajime" plot they gave her?

-Chalice is such a gorgeous suit, glad to see it and Hajime again! Kenzaki looks appropriately scuffed up for a guy who's supposedly been on the run for like, 14 years or so?

It's just a really fun episode of Zi-O! Enjoyed it quite a bit.
Edit: Placing the interview video at the end, formatting doesnt want to work with me today, it seems? (x)

I think the structure of this one was pretty great? It helps a TON that the show can piggyback off of the Hajime/Amane relationship, rather than have to contrive some weird I Guess Some Guy From NEOBOARD Gets A Ridewatch plot to motivate our various characters. Amane's got a connection to Hajime, who has a connection to Kenzaki, and we're all set. Hopefully this is the type of storytelling I can look forward to on the regular!

https://media.giphy.com/media/3o7aCR...NjSU/giphy.gif

Kaitou 100% just heard Decade was screwing around with this cast, so he had to show up. It's literally all I ever want him to do as a character: be a weird ex.

So I’ll start off by saying that I actually liked Rider Time:Ryuki. But that shouldn’t be too surprising, since I was always pretty vocal about how I never liked Ryuki as a series, and preferred the spin offs. In this case, the spin off not only delivered on the two characters I actually care about (Asakura and Ryuga), but it got rid of some elements that turned me off the main show (The theme song is better, Ren is a lot more likeable, Shinji actually comes off as comically lovable, Odin isn’t grossly overpowered and most of all, the monsters and Yui are next to non-existent)

Now as for episode 29, we’ll start with the second instalment of the Armour Time showcase.

Armour Time! Turn Up! Blade!

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...ladeArmor.webp

And then we’ll move onto…

Ridebotch Hey gist! Ondul-go Nicks

https://youtube.com/watch?v=XYTATr0ExNk

First off, we have someone who was caught shoplifting earlier today.

“Fighting with the power of cards sealing Undead, the Rider is… Blade”

And here, I ask is hope acute, with Round Zero Blade Brave https://youtube.com/watch?v=_ovilFvQ8_Y

“Now clad in the Undeads’ power, the golden scarab, Blade King Form”

And here, I went for the second theme, Elements https://youtube.com/watch?v=oh5ldP61tws

And at number THREE in our playlist… Why aren’t you watching?!?!?!

“Fighting with a gun, the diamond trump Rider is… Garren”

And here, we serve a healthy offering of kara miso, with Rebirth https://youtube.com/watch?v=Nr_A1kje46w

“Known as the the legendary Undead, the mantis Rider is… Chalice”

And we’ll close this off with his theme, Take It A Try https://youtube.com/watch?v=PmcV5MQQikg

And for the list of the unreleased, this time Chalice was one of the winners. Only one left to go.

Kamen Rider Blade (Jack Form)
Kamen Rider Garren (Jack Form)
Kamen Rider Wild Chalice
Kamen Rider Leangle
Kamen Rider Glaive
Kamen Rider Lance
Kamen Rider Larc

And as for the compare and contrast, Kenzaki became an Undead and sacrificed his relationship with Hajime to save the world, which hasn’t his personality wonders (well that, and the Undead influence on his mind), while Amane turns into a monster and goes out to find Hajime, with White Woz intending to doom the world. (And after 14 years, she’s become a much more mature person without Hajime)

And as for the influence… that’s simple, the designer admitted he modelled Another Blade on Hajime’s “I’m going to kill you” face.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...72486B14F.jpeg

Also, Diend Kaetekita. More on that next time.

Seeing the Blade suit (again) gave me joy. I love Blade, but having Hajime himself return to was a treat! We were really just missing Tachibana-san, and I suppose Mutsuki, too. But we can't win them all, I suppose.

Dunno if it was noticed, but there were two Chalice suits used in this episode. One was the clearly-aged stunt suit and the other was the showcase suit, you can tell which is which via their condition.

Blade's suit is sadly still in utter disrepair. They edited the preview to have his face still be silver, but the actual still has that yellowing clear covering. It's sad to see, but again, it's Blade!

Yeah, I figured you'd love this two-parter. It's obvious that the writers paid very close attention to both the lore and ending of Blade.

They did, however, completely ignore any of Blade crossover appearances. They never happened as far as this show is concerned.

This kinda makes sense, for reasons I won't talk about.

Sorry, to be specific, I refer to the true Inoue as him doing something more independently regarding his works like Ryuki or Faiz novel, not the TV episodes. I just felt that what's done in those work seems to surface more in RT Ryuki here, TV episodes, like Tezuka here. As you said there are other roles in the episode productions, and Inoue is a writer that is frequently put in a leash by the production team but I thought that the leash is loosened or something on this miniseries to have something like Tezuka happened.

I think I'd pick one of my replies at Ryuki for this one regarding Asakura: Episode 24. For that matter, Shinji (someone that some mistakenly view as weak) did similarly as well later. For non-Survive Riders Ryuga handed him his ass in the movie. T̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶ ̶R̶y̶u̶g̶a̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶f̶o̶r̶m̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶K̶n̶i̶g̶h̶t̶.̶

Though for Final Vents in general, the Riders are given more room to breathe (literally) in this miniseries, while in Ryuki they instantly exploded, making them truer one hit kills to any Riders including to Odin, except for some like Verde's (and Knight can strike back by that albeit he too died afterwards).

To balance a bit, I also have to say that Kobayashi also can have hit-or-miss trait in her writing as well partly due to that forced view, with her habit to throw in elements and concepts never/rarely used before which conflict with not only expectations but the very foundations of the franchises she writes for. This can be something negative to Kobayashi as well. Admittedly I for now has not found a proof yet for this speculation (though for other example, I've seen a Japanese company doing really spiteful things to others, like Konami to Kojima), but some other stuff here are also can be speculations, like there are no proof about the company thinking it's a good idea, or that it's unknown what counts as good for a company, if it's actual coherent writing or just more platform to promote merchandises, and it's actually unknown too how many supervision a company does to one of their work fields. Just to give an example (not that everything is like this but to give more picture), albeit non-KR related, for "they approved it!" arguments that had happened in either my or other's experience, there are JP companies that has shoddy translation (or even something that can make someone look bad) overseas, and it was revealed by staff that the translation team were not actually watched or that supervision was extremely lackadaisical.

Though sorry if there's a wrong take there. But it seems with how much derailing Ryuki is to the franchise (while it does have some inspiration for KR in the future, this is the talk of it at release), it seems that the company also places a a degree of freedom in Kobayashi to write like that, something that almost killed the franchise (Kobayashi has never watched KR show before at that time!), with the only pressure was her writing a reset ending.

Kaitou stealing their Ridewatches was funny and also had him still in character as well as showing off his skills. But comedy acts doesn't mean they can be handwaved especially if it's a terrible one. Kaitou's actions caused further problems for the Zi-O main cast, leaving them with limited options to fight against actual threats. While it does probably forge a bond between Geiz and Woz, probably it can be done via other events too, doesn't mean a 'good' outcome makes that deed good at the end (like... if there's an actual villain forging a bond between Geiz and Woz by attacking them both won't mean they're not bad!).

Proximity can forge bonds, but it's not always the case. Sougo's method of bringing Woz and Geiz closer was some bad experience, ngl, it's frequently pulled in school in any conflict against the students (like the bullying things) with them always deliberately making those together which'd just add up more hell, and they never paid any mind to this and keep doing this. But I mean, Geiz is quite justified in his anger here, as revealed here, if his previous appearences except likely now isn't enough to show that he's a villain (who happens to be helping the main protagonist, Woz has done more dirty work, he was the one who got Geiz and Tsukuyomi's resistance team killed as an undercover for Ohma Zi-O, and he's responsible for those 2 going back in time to avert Ohma Zi-O's rise. Like both sides are to blame with Geiz's anger but I'd put much bigger blame to Woz here.

Hajime and Amane's bond is quite shown with a negative outcome here, as Hajime specifically is playing more favorite in Amane, here he'd protect her from attackers even after she became a monster and attacked others, which'd kinda show that Hajime is someone who is less concerned of others who aren't someone he likes (likely he grew out of this in the original series, but he was definitely like this for most of hte series). Though this is still a setup, but at first glance the outcome isn't a pretty one with him participating. And this is Kamen Rider though! While Kenzaki's Blade suit has appeared, iirc it's not stated who was using it, in Kamen Rider the belt isn't one with the user. And iirc it's also not fully known which one of those projects are actually canon, and I felt that many of the stuff there are played for a fan service (all previous Rider appearence). Sometimes the portrayal can regress all developments someone had in the original series, they're portrayed with the version audience is used to. Amane seems to be an adult with even-temper here, and though someone can grow up better when adult, it's usually done when they're actually being given lessons when smaller as leaving a brat's behavior unchecked (of which they do, and in the movie Amane as a teen was a delinquent) usually/often makes them worse growing up.

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP29)

I don't really have much in particular to say about this episode off the top of my head, but I do remember it being just... joyous, in a word? I mean, after that last episode -- and again, I'm basically Geiz here -- I was pretty much set for Zi-O to do whatever with the goodwill it had built up with me over time, and this new chapter of the series was getting off to a great start. You've got Shimoyama touching Blade again after GoRider proved he knows his Blade lore, you've got Diend there, which is something I suspect I'd find even more fun now than I already did at the time, and, just as an extra special gift to me, this episode also makes a point of temporarily benching Zi-O and Geiz's newest, coolest forms in favor of like, using the Gaim Armor in a major capacity... and that's cool! I had my fun obsessing over Zi-O II, and so did the show, but, continuing on from episode 28's parade of old forms, they make it a point from here on not to completely forget about a lot of those earlier suits, even when it isn't an outright plot point like in this episode. I don't know how much other people care about that sort of thing, but I really do appreciate the variety Zi-O keeps up going forward when it comes to what suits are still allowed to have time in the spotlight.

...The Decade Armor unfortunately ends up being a rather glaring exception to this, but I mean, the Watch is still around, at least! That's something!

I always forget that this is when Diend shows up. No slight against Daiki, it's just that there are other aspects of this episode that stand out to me more.

As far as tribute's go, this episode and the next are Zi-O's high point. Not to say that the show goes downhill from here - my favorite single moment in the show is still to come - but the Blade episodes represent probably the strongest use of legacy characters, for my money. I cannot express how much I love that Amane is Another Blade. It's such a good use of the pre-existing characters and lore to set up a story that really feels like a continuation of the original show. Amane searching for Hajime, Hajime trying to protect Amane, the two Jokers being drawn to fight each other: there is so much good content here for Blade fans.

Interesting! The three-parter definitely has a lot of room for Asakura and Ryuga, no doubt about that. Glad you had a good time with them!

Tachibana being overlooked both here AND in the Fourze tribute is a bit of a failure for this show.

Mutsuki being overlooked is an incredibly successful tribute to Kamen Rider Blade.

It's a weird thing Kamen Rider will occasionally do for a reunion or for Legend appearances, and I don't love it. To not even have a line or two to retcon past appearances, or to spend the extra time in the plotting stage to not invalidate other stories... man, it's a little insulting for fans.

Sure! Kaitou's not a good guy! He's a selfish thief who's motivated by his own sense of personal fulfillment and/or getting Tsukasa's attention. He definitely doesn't care if he's inconveniencing Geiz or Sougo!

Maybe? This is a family problem, which is possibly the only reason Hajime showed up. Amane's like a daughter to him, so he's absolutely going to put her safety above everyone else's.

I'm not a huge fan of the Ride Armors, so, no, I didn't really care about it here. I like the idea, though, for sure. Shows keeping suits relevant even as power-ups appear is a Few And Far Between situation in Phase 2, the sort of thing that's extra cool in a Fourze summer movie or a late-stage Ghost story, and that's all we get. I just wish it were happening with suits I liked better!

It does a great job of balancing the melodrama of Hajime and Kenzaki's sacrifice, as well as making Amane's emotional state such a spotlight. Definitely written by someone who liked Blade a lot!

Kaito stealing Zi-O and Geiz's Ridewatches is spot-on for him, even casually doing so after infiltrating the Time House without even trying to sneak out!

Now I've only seen the first two episodes of Blade (The meme-iest Rider debut), but I have been slightly spoiled on Blade's ending (Unless I'm completely wrong, don't correct me), so I was slightly prepared for what Blade's tribute would entail, but Zi-O's mixing of the formula making Blade centered on the present and having Blade's cast lead the show (sort of) made this a fun arc.

As for some side notes, I strangely love the insane idea of having the Blade Armor Time have a hand of cards for the shoulder guards, partly because, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, it really sells how Zi-O uses his predecessors' powers by using their gimmicks that form their powers, and also because I adore outrageous design schemes like that. And it's funny how Another Blade has buzzsaws on her design (which I was fooled into thinking was a guy), and the Joker influences throughout the design. I've also never noticed the Blade suit's weathering, but looking at it now, it almost feels perfect for him? As if it's lost the luster it once shone as a hero, like he no longer has that radiance.

That's a good read! I also like how it implies that Kenzaki is horrible about taking care of himself, which is a solid Blade callback.

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 30 - “2019 - WE’VE BECOME A TRINITY!”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio30a.png

So, obviously, I have to comment on the monumental failure of this episode. How – in the name of God and Seiji Takaiwa – do you introduce Zi-O Trinity in a Blade tribute, instead of properly, in the Den-O tribute?! It’s a Den-O gimmick, you morons! You do it in the episode with Momotaros, at the very least! F MINUS.

That aside, this was a solid episode of Zi-O that maybe bit off more than it could chew.

I liked how this story managed to send Hajime and Kenzaki off happier than when they started. There’s the obvious emotional catharsis of Hajime and Amane navigating their relationship better as adults (I totally believe Amane depended on Hajime a little too much; I totally believe Hajime ran away without actually discussing things with Amane), but there’s also the resolution to the TV show’s Sword of Darkroaches that was hanging over our heroes. Locking the Joker powers up in two Ridewatches gives Team Zi-O the power of Legend Riders, and it also lets those Riders finally get a little bit of peace. It’s the exact opposite of the way the early episodes cut down heroes in their prime and just sort of shrugged at it. I like this new phase of storytelling for the Legend Riders!

I’m a little conflicted about Zi-O Trinity, though.

I don’t know that it fits great in a story about exactly two Legend Riders, but that’s not a deal-breaker. (But: BLADE WAS EXPLICITLY A FOUR RIDER SHOW.) It’s more that… the Geiz and Woz stuff felt a little rushed to me? I can see how the show might mean this quick resolution to the Geiz/Woz conflict. Geiz still doesn’t like or forgive Woz, but he’s willing to put aside his animosity for the greater good; specifically, Sougo’s vision of the future. Sougo’s built such a massive amount of trust in Geiz that Geiz wants to live up to Sougo’s example. Grudges are toxic. Why shackle yourself to recriminations about the past when you could be working together to build a better future?

Nowhere is that clearer than in the absolute best, most definitive moment in the show: Sougo’s pep talk to his enemy, Hat Woz.

It’s the perfect note for this episode, and the way it sets up the third act of the series. Sougo wants to make a future for everyone, and he can’t stand the idea of anyone giving up on their dreams for the future. That heroic attitude even extends to a guy who summoned the Sealing Stone to obliterate all life on Earth, and is actively working against Team Zi-O on a weekly basis. Sougo doesn’t really see it that way, though. He’d rather fight against weekly Another Rider schemes forever, than watch Hat Woz give up on himself. Schemes can always be defeated, but giving up on yourself? That’s not something Sougo can allow to happen.

It’s a view of the future that I really like, how the best one makes room for everyone. Sougo wouldn’t want a future that excludes people, so he needs Hat Woz to find the strength to keep reaching for a future he wants to live in, even if it means getting roughed up by Team Zi-O a lot. Because just like in Blade, defeats can be how we learn to be better.

All of that was really great! I just… I’m not sure that it felt We’ve Become A Trinity good, you know? They all finally get along, Sougo and Geiz and Woz, but them literally unifying to defeat Another Blade… I don’t know. It feels like a powerup that’s maybe overstating what they’ve achieved. (After the fight, Geiz did not at all care where Woz wandered off to!) I like them being able to work together, and I like them figuratively being of one mind about their mission, but I felt iffy about them literally being of one mind.

I’m sure I’ll come around on it, though. I like thinking about it already. I like how this show is extra-inclusive in its empathy, even for visitors from vanishing timelines that try to force Geiz to kill Sougo. (Really loved the Hat Woz death scene. Both actors did great! Wait–) To get that kind of warmth and humanity in a story that also acts as a well-earned happy ending for Kenzaki and Hajime?

This is the future I was hoping Kamen Rider Zi-O would create.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio30b.png

Here come rest of past tributes.

Sorry, Den-O wouldn't be appropriate for this point at the story. So Blade's the best you've got, especially given what we see at the very end of the episode. I enjoy Trinity as like a concept and while things seem a bit rushed, it's probably one of my favorite upgrades. Because you can just tell, the gags around it are going to be good. But there's some fun stuff they do with it too.

Also I know a lot of people who like, disliked this set of episodes purely because of the resolution it gave to Kenzaki and Hajime. I'm of the mind that they deserved at least something after like what? 15 years or so? I enjoyed it though.

I also enjoy Oma Zi-O laying out what exactly we're going to be doing these next several sets of episodes. So next time on Legend Rider Tributes we've got two particular ones this time despite only having a singular Rider to focus on. The first is the usual BGM Swap while the next is well, the one Insert Song of the main cast we don't hear in the series, Tsukuyomi's insert.

Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 31 Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjcuTWN2Myc

I recall seeing some people back then bring up that if doing an episode like this possibly diminshes Blade's ending, but me personally, I kinda... don't care at all? I don't think there's anything after-show specials, and especially not Zi-O, could do to affect my feelings on the original stories, and what I took from them. But as a tribute and nostalgic sort of epilogue, the Blade stuff in this episode is a great lot of fun. A neat little extra episode from a show from over a decade ago, which I enjoyed because I watched it, but I wonder if it wasn't a bit too much for anyone who doesn't have that prior context. Anyone one else watch that superhero cartoon Young Justice? Because it just so happened I have very similar thoughts about the latest episode of that show from just a few days ago!

And would you believe that the very first time I saw Zi-O Trinity, I immediately declared it the ugliest suit I've ever seen in this franchise? It is a lot to take in, but I can gladly say I'm very fond of it these days! I genuinely think it looks pretty cool with its mix of black and gold, the way it corporates the three different watches, and the three faces it wears on its body is very novel, and funny! This form is the main reason why I wished the words on Woz's face were a different format from Zi-O, because the 'Rider' on Geiz's face on the right shoulder is the only one of the four faces that don't match!

I want to mention the transformation and Woz's speech afterwards, and how I watched the scene with both Over-Time and TV-Nihon's subs because I found it odd. I think neither sub group managed to really get across the joke of Woz's speech, which was that he was so clearly making it up as he went along and trying to cover it up with extra aplomb. Like, the subs should have his sentences broke up with obvious standalone declarations of "Probably!" and "I think!", and Sougo's comment at the end is pointing out how Woz doesn't sound very sure at all.

But anyway, beyond all that, I do also love the idea that on this cursed date with the constellation in the sky, this is the day that Zi-O supposedly rises to power or becomes evil or something to that effect, but instead thanks to presumably the presence of Geiz and Woz, not just in this episode but just the fact they've been in Sougo's life, history has changed and so we get this new power that's a symbol of Sougo's friendship with these weirdos from the future. Really like that!

....What I don't like is anything else that happens afterwards, unforunately.

I mentioned back in episode 28 how the show had instilled a lot of faith in me, so I was actually letting myself be optimistic and looking forward to whatever plot machinations they had with White Woz and the Time Jackers. They just did a whole lot of teasing about how he's got some kind of ulterior motivations beyond wanting to 'save the future'.

And just one two-parter later, they erase the guy. Wow. It's almost hilarious how quickly the show changed it's mind on that. Wasn't he kind of major character too, for how long he was around? And now we just nonchalantly shuffle him off into nonexistence now that we don't need him... Not pleased with that!

And after that we have Oma Zi-O open a zoom call to tell our heroes (and the audience) that we are absolutely going back to the collecting the remaining Ridewatches and doing tribute episodes for all of them. And I am probably the only person who watched this scene, who was not happy about that.

It was probably really foolish of me in hindsight to think this, but I had figured the show was done with the episodes dedicated to legacy riders, or at least done with the very strict format it had in the first fourteen episodes, and that the Ryuki and Blade stuff was just fun little extra diversions mixed in because they just happened to be available. I only really started getting invested in Zi-O when it stopped doing all that, so for the show to explicitly declare that they're going right back? I'm not exaggerating when I say all the excitement that had been built up in me over the last several weeks worth of episodes just deflated in an instant.

But like, obviously I didn't just immediately dropped the show or anything! Even if I was a little (or a lot) disheartened by what I was seeing, there's really no way to know what the future holds. For example, I'm looking forward to whatever the future of this thread and your write-ups will be.

Change! It's Episode 30!

-Sougo giving White Woz a pep talk of all things, it's such a Sougo thing to do?

-Trinity's so ugly, but it's such a delightfully fun concept that I can put that aside. (I love in "Inside Trinity" POV, it's so good)

-I remember not liking this arc, purely because I thought sticking something like a proper ending to Hajime and Kenzaki's deal in-between trying to do Geiz/Woz character stuff, Kaito's appearance, and "Please go out and buy the Trinity Ridewatch!" felt a little....Weird, to say to least. Felt like they should've been more involved in changing their own fate, or something like that, was my sentiment. On my rewatch, I'm still not sure how to feel about it, but I do know that I'm glad they can live peacefully now. (And just like how Zi-O treats Kenzaki's former appearances, I can ignore this ending if I change my mind and loop back to disliking it in the future.)

-With White Woz's death, the Day of Oma occuring, and obtaining Trinity, we've reached the end of the 2nd arc! With Oma-Zio oh-so-nicely displaying our final 6 Ridewatches the gang has yet to encounter, we're on the road to a full set of Ridewatches! Is the future awaiting us a bright one, or is it all downhill from here?!

-So excited for the next arc, hope it's as good as I remember it being.

Gonna be that guy and say that I didn't like this two-parter much at all.

Remember how I felt that the four-parter was trying to juggle way too much as once, and thus the focus really suffered? Same deal here.

There are so many things going on in this two episodes: Geiz and Woz coming to terms, Kenzaki and Hajime's' reunion, White Woz's' whole... thing, Zi-O Trinity, Diend's' return; And none of it feels properly fleshed out and feels very rushed.

Two or three of these aspects I could see working out, but them all at the same time made the whole thing feel really disjointed to me. Heck, alot of it doesn't even make any sense. For example, if the actions of White Woz cause him to poof out of existence, then so too shouldn't the Time Note and the BeyonDriver?

Heck, even ignoring that, why does he even get erased to begin with, considering it was already established that he came from an alternate timeline anyway? This is starting to become less and less "the rules have changed" and more of Decade's' "there are no rules" and for me, that's not a good sign! Especially if I'm not having fun!

And then there's my biggest point of contention: All of the stuff relating to Blade. I already talked about how I don't like that they got rid of the "erased show" aspect of the plot, as I felt they lead to really interesting stories, but there's a budget to contend with, I get it. Doesn't mean I can't dislike all the other changes that shouldn't really be concerned with that though. For example, as interesting a concept as Amane as Another Blade is, she doesn't at all inhibit being the opposite of Kenzaki like the other Anothers did.

Finally, there's the way this all ends up really undermining Blade's' ending. Not only does Kenzaki somehow make it right to where he needs to be in an impossible amount of time for this conflict to happen(and in a very out of character way, mind you), but again, it's all really rushed for what should otherwise be an incredibly huge moment for both characters. Then there's the fact that Hajime wasn't a human originally, and yet he gets "cured" the exact same way as Kenzaki, which makes no sense. And last in all of this is how easily the Sealing Stone gets erased, which was established as being impossible in Blade proper.

Everything here just felt incredibly phoned in to me, and I was having basically none of it.

Know what I never felt was phoned in though? The arc of my favorite character from Blade.


Kazuma Kenzaki, one of my favorite protagonists in Kamen Rider.

Kenzaki had everything I needed to love him. A great arc, plenty of charisma, a cool fighting style, and, atleast the way I read him, he presented a lesson that I wish alot of other protagonists I've experienced did, which is: "Be kind, but don't be a pushover." Dude was never afraid to stand up for himself and to push back against those he felt was trying to take advantage of him.

And what can I say, that ending was absolute perfection, which made it double sting that it was handled so lightly in these episodes.

Wonderful protagonist all around.

They have to finished the legend riders. The Anniversary will be incomplete if the won't do it.

Well there’s no song for this, but I can still show it off.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=qWLMD9SQcQg

“Geiz and Woz. Three powers come together to a more powerful Zi-O, Zi-O Trinity”

And this is why they didn’t have multiple Wozs running around. Because it would get too confusing once Trinity showed up.

And speaking of behind the scenes trivia, Diend’s return (along with Bandai shoehorning him representing Secondaries, even though his thing was more movie Riders in Decade proper) was not planned. Mashiro Inoue pointed out that it wouldn’t make sense for Decade to go somewhere without Diend following him, and gave up one of his filming dates so they could introduce him. Though it’ll be a while before he appears again, since the show runners hadn’t decided what role he’d play.

And now, I’ll borrow Fish’s old gimmick from the Blade thread… again.

Learning About Something You Are Not Supposed to Know About The Easy WEIII…

So around January of 2019, toy catalogues leaked Zi-O Trinity’s existence (but not its design) early, and some moron went on Twitter and asked Shirakura about it, to which he replied “You are not supposed to know about Trinity”. When someone else tried to pass it off as him talking about Agito Trinity, but the moron persisted and made it clear he was talking about Zi-O Trinity. Anyway, because of that incident, no more toy catalogues have been printed for Rider since, with every new rider/form reveal coming courtesy of magazine scans (with the exception of Kamen Rider Saikou, who was unexpectedly released at Christmas 2020 with no warning and only a trailer to hint he even existed).

And speaking of Shirakura’s Twitter, when asked how they’d handle Another Agito, since there was already Kamen Rider Another Agito, his response was that they might simply reuse that costume…

Admittedly, this is second-hand information I was told by someone who was trying to assure me that some of the things I dislike about Kobayashi shows weren't actually Kobayashi's fault, instead blaming producers she worked with like Shirakura and Utsunomiya. I don't recall the citation, but I thought the argument was convincing.

Sorry if it sounded like I was passing it off as fact though, I probably should have made it more clear that it was a rumor.

It's no secret from people in the Decade thread that I'm not very fond of Kaito, but I find that hair really annoying. Like, a common example of VS Hair Syndrome is Takeru having black hair in Heisei Generations Final, which is Nishime Shun's natural hair color. That makes sense from a meta perspective. But Kaito suddenly having blonde hair, when the actor's natural hair color was already black? That's ridiculous!

Just imagine it's Jack Form. Problem solved!

I don't like Zi-O Trinity's messy design and how it's basically just ripping off Patren U from the show's previous Super Hero Time partner. However, I totally appreciate the concept for what it's trying to establish thematically. The big deal about Zi-O Trinity, is that it's unique to this timeline's Zi-O! Kamen Rider Woz never existed in the original timeline and Kamen Rider Geiz was created long after the Day of Oma. So Geiz and Woz becoming armor for Zi-O is symbolic of how they've become a part of his life and his future. This major event occurs on the dreaded Day of Oma, when Sougo was originally supposed to become the evil Oma Zi-O. But instead of that and instead of being killed by Geiz Revive, Sougo used the magic of friendship to merge those two timelines in to a single "Nexus Future"!

White Woz's existence contested Black Woz's. When the timelines merged on the Day of Oma, there could only be one true Woz. Whereas the BeyonDriver and Future Note are unique, so they became a part of the present the same way Geiz did, with Geiz and Woz being represented in Zi-O Trinity.

Oh right, this isn't just the Day of Oma, but also the Blade tribute which I can now understand! The first time I watched this, I thought, "this'll probably make more sense after I watch Blade", that's what I was hoping, but I agree that the Blade stuff here could've been a lot better. Amane seems like the weirdest choice to be Another Blade, other than her "I need to find Hajime-san!" being the opposite of Kenzaki's "I need to isolate myself from Hajime!", I don't think her desire to see Hajime as a motivation is strong enough to warrant becoming Another Rider.

The weirdest part of this arc though, is how OOC Kenzaki is. Even with White Woz using his Future Note to manipulate the Jokers in to fighting, Kenzaki acting like he's just a pawn of fate with no free will of his own is totally the opposite of the guy I remember, who would bend fate to his will. He was supposed to be on the opposite side of the planet or something, but he comes back like 5 minutes after Hajime henshining and decides he has no choice but to end the world. I just don't get his motivation here at all.

Is that what happened? I didn't catch that at all. Still don't like it though, since if anything it should mean that an all new timeline was created, rather than a merged one, but whatever, I'll deal.

You put it all way better than I could, thank you for that.

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP30)

Zi-O Trinity was my pick for best suit design of 2019 in Switchblade's usual year-end thread, and as much as I'll be happy to tell Die all about Rising Hopper soon enough, I still stand by that decision no question. It's pretty handily my favorite Zi-O form, for sure. The suit itself is cool, and everything around the suit is even cooler, thus further coloring my opinion of the design. I'm even happy it's the suit that killed catalog scans, because Trinity was also the last in a long line of designs that I thought looked horrendously ugly at first based on a single low-resolution drawing, only to immediately see what they were going for once we got to see it properly. I mean, I remember thinking Dangerous Zombie looked bad at first. Dangerous Zombie. I honestly don't miss that part of the news cycle.

But yeah, a lot of my attachment to Trinity indeed stems from how the show used it as much as the actual design. This was a really fun episode, and like I mention in the old post, the idea that I could even say that about a Kamen Rider thing that also wants to give Blade an epilogue speaks volumes. I've talked a few times lately in these threads about how there are certain Rider shows I just feel aren't asking to be followed up on, and Blade was always way up there. I don't know if I've ever put it this way before, but it's not really about trying to "resolve" the story ruining the ending, because that finale will always be great. It's more about how *because* that was such a strong point to leave Blade on, trying to add on to that is liable to come of as tacky, and that's putting an unfortunate weight on whatever new story you're trying to tell.

I don't even have an elaborate explanation of why I ended up feeling this way, but somehow, these episodes didn't come off as tacky at all to me. It did pretty much exactly the thing I explicitly did not want to ever see for years and years, and made me like it, because I guess Zi-O had just won me over that much. The stuff with Blade in them is really enjoyable, and the stuff with Sougo and everyone else is maybe even better.

Oh, and before I forget, we've got the latest evolution of that Toki no Ouja motif here, with Trinity's theme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9QXzZfj64k

It's a track for Zi-O that finally sounds a little more traditionally heroic, which really fits the tone of this part of the show, and what Trinity represents about it perfectly. Oma Zi-O never had friends to combine with, right? The future's looking a lot brighter than expected for a lot of people right now, and hey, maybe that's why I legitimately like the place Kenzaki and Hajime end up in here! It stops mattering how much it fits as part of Blade's story, because it's a fantastic part of Zi-O's before it's anything else.

Busy twelve hours in the thread! Okay! Let's see what we've got!

I'm excited for Tsukuyomi to get her Shinnosuke appearance, hopefully! That girl's been through a lot, not least of which being rendered somewhat irrelevant by Woz'z integration into Team Zi-O, so I want her to have something work out that's just for her.

I sort of liked how Zi-O Trinity is piloted a bit like a Zord? Or whatever Sentai shows call a Zord? That's fun to see.

My favorite Trinity moment in Episode 30 was when the watch hand was rotating around for Sougo to take control, he bent over to position it directly at himself. That was super cute.

Yeah, I can't say it bothered me, or made it feel like the ending was undercut in a any way. Kenzaki still had to give up on his life for fifteen years, and Hajime still got time with Amane at the expense of his friendship with Kenzaki. I think fifteen years of purgatory and guilt is plenty.

And... like, the Joker powers aren't gone. They're just locked up in Ridewatches. There's no saying that those Ridewatches can't get broken open and the world won't be in danger yet again. These guys maybe just got a reprieve, and nothing more.

It's nice way of co-opting the doomsday countdown this show's been on, subverting the whole Oma Day thing into being the day Sougo became an actual King of Time by getting people to believe in his version of the future, even his enemies. That's a bigger victory than him and Geiz punching each other a lot.

I can't say I ever assumed we were done with Legend Rider tributes, but I can understand being bummed about their return to prominence. My interest in this show is primarily for Team Zi-O; the Legend Rider tributes are like a hopefully-pleasant side dish, something that can act as a fun... not "distraction", but diversion, maybe. So the thought of my side dish becoming a main course... eh, not my favorite move.

But I have some faith that this show will figure out how to better balance the demands of the premise with the needs of the series arc.

Yeah, of all of the many threads in these two episodes, I think the Trinity Ridewatch stuff is where I most feel like the show skimped out on the details. It's fine for the show to imply minor things about the characters when we're in the middle of an episode, but a big New Form moment probably should've been less about Hat Woz handing Sougo a new collectible while Geiz and Woz move their relationship all the way up to Probably Less Attempted Murder.

I just took it as the possibility of Hat Woz'z timeline collapsing once Geiz definitively sides with Sougo (and Woz) to create Zi-O Trinity. There's no longer a version of the future, theoretically, where Geiz kills Zi-O. Therefore, Hat Woz isn't a possibility, so he vanishes.

Much like the guest-starring Kaitou and his obsession with Tsukasa, Kenzaki was never that far from Hajime. He's probably been about 500 yards away at most for the last fifteen years.

That would be great!

Yeah, it's a fun episode for Sougo's view of the future. He wants everyone to have a future to look forward to!

It's a neat design! I've pretty much across-the-board disliked the Rider Armors and Futuring Times of Zi-O, but upgrade forms have been pretty great. I've always thought the base Zi-O suit design -- the whole watch motif -- was striking, and the upgrade suits have done a great job of adding clever flourishes to that starting point. The watchband ears on Trinity! Hilarious!

I'd be fine if they just quickly made sure every series has some form of appearance, like Kuuga, W and Den-O in Heisei Generations FOREVER. But it's the return to the very specific 'dedicated two-parters for each and every show' format that I especially was wary of.

I think more glaring than that is how Zi-O II was doing Super LupinRed's foresight power so soon after!

That's what the show wants to say at this time sure, but it certainly isn't consistent. And not that spending even a second thinking about how time travel works on this show is ever productive, but if changes to the past could affect any of the time travellers like that, I think everyone in Team Zi-O should have been altered/erased about a dozen times over by now with how much they've meddled in Sougo's life!

I think if I was more of a figure person, then the one Figuart I'd want from Zi-O's line might actually be Trinity?! (I mean my actual ideal would be Geiz Revive and Zi-O II side by side but either one of those are probably outrageously expensive, so both would be right out, r.i.p)

All of this... How can you forget about the name of said Zi-O form?!

I know, the character part is of course interesting, though while it's true that Amane depended on Hajime too much, her behavior towards anyone other than Hajime here (before and now) is not addressed. And technically finally both Kenzaki and Hajime got their happier ending to live as humans without fear of getting close to each other, but my complaint here is similar to both Ultimate Kuuga and Odin's newer portrayals before, the stakes in Blade is kinda undermined, despite about how Amane as Another Blade is absorbing both of the Joker's powers, of which one was already apocalyptic before, but now it's 2 combined. The stakes about Blade before was about how they're, Undeads, and thus immortality is their problem as they have to be sealed after beating them. And it seems that Joker is an exception on his sheer power.

Actually the premise is interesting about White Woz's schemes to end the world due to how he never got his desired future, thus for spite he destroys the current world, and he uses Blade's premise to do that. But the resolution? Like Ultimate Kuuga or Odin... turn Joker into ordinary monster that can be beaten like usual MOTW, albeit a stronger one and needs stronger form. Older Rider adaptations would have some traits neglected which would not earn my faith for its adaptation, which kinda cheapens the resolution they got by making their predicament easier by neglecting the actual problem, compared to in-universe Riders that would have explanation for something 'immortal' being killed like Ghost Mugen's infinite loop against Ganmaizers as well as Lovelica being hit by fatal attack while time was stopped by Cronus. Unless Another Rider trait somehow has a weakness to not share Undead's inherent ability.

Likely because Woz (as White Woz is erased from existence, it's now only Woz instead of Black Woz) was a backstabbing traitor before, his goal is to create Ohma Zi-O after all, not to help others by supporting Sougo or such, though he's now a more tolerating towards unexpected events which can make the history not 100% the same, as long as Sougo becomes Ohma Zi-O. Getting close to Woz can be disastrous if he pulls that shit. But I'd think that Geiz teaming up with Woz here is always Team Zi-O's predicament towards Woz, he's too useful, too knowledgeable about future elements and with his capabilities and behavior that isn't morally sound, he's also too dangerous to ignore. So Geiz is kinda forced to comply to Woz and work with him otherwise it can be a bad thing if he ignored Woz or such. He can be steps ahead of Geiz and Tsukuyomi as well as corrupting Sougo as shown in ep. 25.

Sougo prefering to fight White Woz than him giving up, other than that, kinda shows that traits like determination or willpower ain't exactly good/moral trait, it can also apply on villain who would never give up on trying to make their schemes come true. White Woz may not be the pinnacle of determined villains, but an example is again, someone satanic in Masamune from Ex-Aid that keeps going for each of his defeats, to collect all lives for himself of course. Then again, Sougo's pep talk didn't make White Woz restart his schemes though, it instead makes White Woz like Sougo a bit, to be interested in what future Sougo would create instead. So it's not White Woz keep fighting for his goal, but kinda giving up in a more benefical way instead of spiteful way.

Rider adaptations neglecting the stuff from previous Rider shows except about the basic traits like who's Blade/Chalice etc. and how they henshin. I'd hope that it's not canon and just actually a kinda fanfiction within a show that continues from the ending of Blade.

And anyway being kind is not inherently being pushover. Those traits can be mutually exclusive. Tooru/Gene Dopant from W is an example of a pushover without being kind. Calling out or acting against a wrongdoing, if not overboard, is a kindness out of consideration to not let that deed go unchecked and have others suffer under it. But there's likely only a few protagonists that are pushovers? Like Asumu, Ryotaro (at first), and Wataru (at first), not the rest. Even Ryotaro at mid of the series would frequently push back against others like Yuuto.

So, Trinity Form, the thing we weren't supposed to know about. I think it's fine. There are better and worse suits. Honestly, I probably like it a bit more than its obvious predecessor: Climax Den-O. The body sharing gimmick is also fine. Geiz should arguably be a lot more opposed to it, but it's not like this is the first time that Geiz just stood back and watched to see how something would play out instead of doing something about it.

Again, though, this arc is all about the Blade reunion and I will always still love that. I don't mind that this kind of undoes the show's original ending, despite the fact that I literally just complained about RT Ryuki kind of undoing that show's original ending. Part of that is that this is by far a more upbeat resolution; nobody we care about dies (and neither does Amane). Instead, we get to see Kenzaki and Hajime reunite as friends, which I love. I also get a stronger sense that this isn't meant to be permanent: at some point, the Ridewatch powers are going to go back to where they belong, making this more of a reprieve for the Jokers, rather than a permanent fix.

This arc is also a great example of how much better the show works without the time travel gimmick. We got some actual continued development for the guest stars instead of seeing them playing shells of their original characters who don't even remember being Kamen Riders. It is a much better approach to handling the legacy tributes and it's no coincidence that I think all of Zi-O's best crossover episodes happen in this back half of the show.

Without spoiling how the show did handle it, I am still disappointed that they didn't go with something called Another Another Agito.

I don't think it could be? This was a story about Hajime and Amane's relationship, the end. There was basically one non-Hajime person she interacted with, and it was just some lady who was like Whatever Happened To That Tiny Dad Of Yours. There's zero space in this already-overstuffed story to try and build out Amane's character more.

I wouldn't say this is a moral/immoral beat. It's just Sougo valuing... not "determination", or "willpower", but the necessary optimism to hope for a better future, and the belief in yourself to make that future come true. It makes Sougo sad to see anyone give up on themselves, or to be pessimistic about the future.

Also, Sougo doesn't exactly lay awake at night dreading whatever Hat Woz'z current scheme is. Sougo believes in Team Zi-O's ability to meet whatever challenges come their way!

It really does a great job of honoring the past of this show, spending some energy on the weight of the intervening years, and wrapping it all up with a more optimistic future for its returning cast. Pretty much the ideal Legend Rider tribute?

Anotherer Agito.

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 31 - “2001 - AWAKEN YOUR AGITO!”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio31a.png

As far as third act reveals go, Tsukuyomi Might Be A Time Jacker is one of the least surprising. Ever since the first episode (I think?), there’s been that shot in the opening credits of Tsukuyomi descending a flight of stairs, flanked by vanishing Time Jackers. The none-too-subtle implication is that Tsukuyomi’s history is tied up with the Time Jackers, and that she’s probably one of them.

I don’t 100% know if that’s where they’re going, but it seems likely. It gives Tsukuyomi a storyline, which she desperately needs. It gives her a personal goal, separate from the boys, which matters even more. (There’s a point where Woz takes over the exposition for Tsukuyomi’s backstory from Tsukuyomi, and I wanted to scream JESUS CHRIST AT LEAST LET HER DELIVER HER OWN GODDAMN BACKSTORY so badly.) And it, of all things, gives her a hook for this two-parter.

I mean, the hook is basically that they gave Tsukuyomi Shouichi’s character profile almost in its entirety, but: baby steps. Yeah, Tsukuyomi is revealed to be an amnesiac do-gooder with a made-up name who fears her growing power, and what her friends might think of it, while the villains attempt to understand her significance to their schemes. It’s incredibly on-the-nose. We went from blank slate to Shouichi With Bangs in about two scenes, and it’s a little clunky. Like, apropos of absolutely nothing, Sougo just flat out asks Tsukuyomi for her backstory while Team Zi-O is walking down the street. It’s not the smoothest writing ever?

But I do like how Shouichi’s journey is a good template for what Tsukuyomi’s bound to learn: labels are pointless, never be afraid to be true to yourself, and trust in your friends to care about you. (If no one says Tsukuyomi Is Tsukuyomi, I’m going to completely lose my shit. It’s right there!!!) That part of Agito was my favorite, give or take a Houjou. I liked how it was a series about suspicion, and mistrust, and how we fear losing acceptance even as we sometimes resent the need for it; but then finding out that we can only be our best selves when we stop thinking of ourselves as less than our best selves. Real self-improvement only happens with self-acceptance.

There’s a serenity to that message, and it was such a huge part of the Shouichi character. It’s fantastic to see that the actor still has it, that warmth and tranquility. Just seeing Shouichi was a delight, and this episode delivered some very fun additional Agito alums. Omuro, captain of the still-hopeless G3 Unit! Mana, looking only vaguely like she should be adorned in timepieces, but still working in food service! And Anotherer Agito, who is now some sort of zombie that wants to turn G3 operators/equippers into more Agitos! (Hoping Hikawa is Anotherer Agito, because him desperately wanting to be a powerful hero and it endangering all of his coworkers is a super-duper Hikawa story.)

I thought this did an amazing job tying Tsukuyomi’s need for a backstory/relevance into an Agito homage. It’s more directly related to Team Zi-O than the Blade story was last time, while still managing to feel like the Agito cast has skin in the game. Another good episode in this new era!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio31b.png

And now we get to the Agito Tribute which is another fun set of episodes because they tied in Tsukuyomi into them and really, I prefer this over what they were trying to do with her between Zi-O II and Geiz Revive.

Once again I love the short gags at 9-5-DO and just the gags in general. Sougo of all people deciding to look Agito up online and getting the restaurant is hilarious. So is him going to said restaurant and after promptly finding out Agito is not there, Geiz just casually being like "Hey we have the Time Mazine, want to go to France?" is absolutely the best.

Will say though I need to rant. I know you don't care much about the auxiliary armor but man. Man was it painful to watch Futurering Quiz's form usage here and in Another Ryuga's fight. Like, the one where Hat Woz used it against Hiryu was the best use of it he had out of his debut despite getting owned. Purely because they had Hat Woz use a purposely deceptive question that had no real answer only for Hiryu to go "Mugen no Kanosei" and use Another Ghost to defeat the infinite debate question.

Meanwhile with Another Ryuga it was like "I can beat you true or false" when he obviously couldn't and here we get Woz's stupid guess that isn't really a question. Like... Quiz's powers can be so much more but you the show uses them terribly.

Anyway, Legend Rider Preview gets what I'm assuming is the Agito preview theme used later on in the show and Tsukuyomi's theme yet again because well, this is her set of episodes to shine in a sense.

Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 32 Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Au-OmWLB-I

When I heard who Zi-O was bringing back for its Agito arc I had one very specific thing that I needed to have included. It's a small but very important detail. I needed to hear Rina Akiyama say "Shouichi-kun." It was about 20% of her dialogue on the original series and it would have been an absolute failure on Zi-O as an anniversary show if it had been left out. Thankfully, the writers knew better and, while it's not the main contributing factor, it is definitely still part of why these two episodes are basically tied with the Blade arc as my favorite tributes.

I loved this about these episodes. As much as I generally give, at best, zero fucks about Tsukuyomi, it was really nice to see the writers recognize the parallels to Agito and use them to not only pay tribute to the original show, but to also help move this show's story forward. You really get the sense that the writers have been doing their homework on the older shows and it pays off with some really great moments (including, in the next episode, my single favorite moment in all of Zi-O).

I don't know what went on behind the scenes during this phase of Zi-O - I imagine that's a question for either Fish or Androzani - but the decision to rework how the anniversary elements function was absolutely a stroke of genius.

It's an incredibly funny episode that renders the investigative portion of one of these stories just utterly ridiculous. These kids... I love how their successes are both inexplicable and inevitable. There's a point where Woz is like Shit The Watches'll Just Show Up Like They Always Do, and he's not wrong! The team mostly just runs into random monsters! The trip to the restaurant (complete with Sougo making absolutely zero sense to a charmingly baffled Mana and an immediately embarrassed Geiz) actually provides helpful intel! Every stupid idea or poorly-considered attempt weirdly improves their situation, because at least they're trying something. It's like a metaphor!

I think I squealed in delight when Shouichi said "Mana-chan" with a big smile on his face. It's not even, like, a catchphrase or anything, it's just him saying Mana's name with an honorific. But that relationship. Eighteen years later, she's still like a little sister to him. That's great. (And they both look great!)

I don't know if they always had Tsukuyomi Might Be A time Jacker in their back pocket, or if they did it because of this Agito story, but the opening credits thing makes me think it's the former. If that's the case, I can't imagine the amount of effort the production team went through to make sure these actors were all free for these weeks of filming. It's nuts, the degree of difficulty to get that all to line up.

Awaken, Episode 31!

-Gotta get this outta the way, it's nice that they're trying to make Tsuku relavant again after the show's been sliding towards "The Sougo, Geiz, and Woz Show", but revealing Tsukuyomi has amnesia and time powers in the same episode.......It's Not Good. I think I might hate it, actually! Personally I would've thrown the amnesia tidbit in a way earlier episode and let the time-powers debut in this episode.

-......Almost forgot Heure and Ora was still in the show, feels like it's been forever since they've done anything other than stand around.

-But who cares about all that because it's the Agito arc!!!! Agito is one of my favorites, and this arc is my favorite in terms of Legend Rider content! For this first part, it's as good as I remember!

-I really like how raw Another Agito's fighting style. The sight of that one G3 slamming into the glass, it reminds me of the viciousness of the Lords (Monsters in early Heisei in general, i guess) Importing that kind of tone 1:1 would feel odd, so I'm glad they found a way to evoke it without feeling out of place in Zi-O.

-Speaking of G3, isn't it hilarious? That a system that was outdated/ill-equipped for the monsters running around currently when it debuted is now even more ill-equipped now?

-I love how they've twisted the "Seeds of Agito" plotline from the original show into this fun little zombie schtick, it's good!

-Hey it's Omuro, glad we could get at least one member of the G3 team back! Very happy to see Mana again! (As an additional note, if you go Jun Kaname's (Hikawa) Youtube channel, he uploaded a 2-part special where the G3 Unit + Hojo's actors got together in 2020, answered questions, and had a good time! However....it's totally untranslated, so I won't be posting it unfortunately!)

-I'm going to save the Shouichi talk for next time but man! Love that guy! Such a good pick for a story like this!

Okay, so last episode saw the debut of Zi-O Trinity, which had a hilarious debut (thank you, Woz), but here lies my problem with Zi-O II. See, Trinity feels more like a gimmick form more than a power-up form, it's not a bad form, but compared to Zi-O II, it feels weaker? Maybe that's just how I remember it, but that's how it feels, which again, not a bad form, just not much of an upgrade, despite the clever numbering scheme (the numbers theory still stands here).

Overall, not too big of an episode for me there, aside the new form, so moving on...

Agito! I think the Another Rider was obvious here, but the fact that you get enough Another Agitos to fill an all Riders (and maybe Sentai) deathmatch, or just one for every Another Agito fan, is still kind of funny. Not much to say here, but I guess I'm not much of a fan of amnesiac characters, though there are some done good, I don't dislike Tsukuyomi's (or at least not at this point), but I wasn't exactly thrilled either, but who am I to complain when this is Agito we're talking about which is all about an amnesiac protagonist!

I think I prefer it this way? Beyond the Agitocity of it all, I really dislike super drawn out mysteries on these shows, and my least favorite of those are ones about Mysterious Backstories. I'd rather have it presented in the first half of an episode, and then start providing clues in the second half of the same episode.

They are officially the Tsukuyomis of Team Time Jacker, so it makes sense they'd be more involved in this story.

They absolutely nailed how every G3 testing sequence started with a useful establishing graphic and ended in tragedy.

As Woz points out here, it's a form that's not great against large groups (you're better off with three Riders than one Rider with three times the power), so it feels like a more situational powerup form. It's actually kind of fun to debut this awesome new form last episode, and then immediately give Team Zi-O a problem that the new powerup can't solve.

Also, super funny to see Geiz Revive make a mid-episode comeback against a bunch of what're basically mooks, since I'm pretty sure we were told that using it was killing Geiz? Is that not a thing anymore?

Also also, with this being an Agito story, I'm a little miffed that Zi-O Trinity didn't debut here, and then never get used again. What a blunder!

Agito episodes were one of the best. :rock:

The first one was very good!

As I mentioned a while ago, Tsukuyomi’s plot line is one they planned from the start (her having amnesia was hinted at back in the OOO episode, where she fails to recognise a historical fact that GEIZ recognises. GEIZ). The reason it took so long to begin was that they had a clear end in sight (namely, her becoming a Kamen Rider. Is that really a spoiler at this point?), but couldn’t act on it until they had a design finalised. Though at one point, they were planning to have her turn into a monster at the end of it (which was during a period where they were planning to have the Time Jackers turn into monsters and serve as regular opponents, a concept that Shirakura vetoed as “Too Sentai”), but Shirakura suggested the Rider ending.

Anyway, since the show has begun inverting the usual titles (going from relevant statement:year to year:relevant statement), I’m doing the same and moving all my regular features to the second part.

Though I will say, because making that many Another Agito heads for the extras would be time and resource-consuming (at one point, they put the original Another Agito head on Patient Zero, so the newly created one can get the main one), they made do with other similar looking monsters, such as the assistant to Gaim’s movie villain in his TV appearances, two of Uva’s Yummies and one of Amazons’s Mooks.