Huh. That's an interesting angle to look at. Not sure if it makes me feel any different towards the Time Jackers, but it's definitely an interesting take.

Nice to know there are folks out there who can see them in a better light than what they're ultimately presented as.

I'm going off memory as well, so maybe I'm remembering them somehow worse than I'm making them out to be. I may know their Katakana spellings, but English is a whole different beast. Is it Weure? Wooelu? Aura? Uehra? Swartz at least is easy, so he's got that going for him.

Ha ha, guess who forgot to check his TokuNation notifications!

That's fair! I don't know how I'll feel about Oma Zi-O after the next few episodes. Currently, I like his role in the series -- both narratively and metaphorically -- about a thousand times more than Swartz.

It is a little surprising that Inoue didn't try nd loop in a few of the characters he created for the Ryuki movie. Might've made up for some of the things that went wrong with this special!

Poor Tezuka! Guy comes back to a role after almost twenty years and this was the story they gave him.

It does manage to construct a very sweet ending for these characters, no doubt.

Oh, I never looked at this story as more than a diversion, so there was no real sense of loss from me. I wasn't, like, mourning the better version of this show that was gone, since I knew it'd be back at the end of the arc.

I hope not! That's definitely not what I meant! Tsukuyomi is someone who has a more robust emotional toolkit than someone like Geiz, who only has a hammer in the shape of a martyr complex. Tsukuyomi's goal is to prevent a horrific future, but she's able to view Sougo as more than just the thing to kill to prevent a horrific future. Originally, she wanted to stick close to him for warning signs, and maybe help him avoid the ethical compromises that might turn him into a genocidal despot. Here, she sees him as way to defeat the more immediate threat of Hiryuu, and then something to deal with down the line.

I don't know, I think Tsukasa swiping food from a rebel hideout because he's bored is probably going to stick with me long-term.

I would be into this if the show had built it up at all, ever, instead of just having Swartz exposit it in Episode 43 of a 49-episode series.

The only downside for me in that castle assault is that everyone Henshins into their upgraded forms except Decade. Did he lose the K-Touch somewhere in the last ten years? Does it clash with the NeoDecadriver, so he refrains from using it? Did he hear about how much I dislike Decade Complete and this was all for my benefit? Very curious!

My mnemonic trick is spelling a normal word, and then getting at least one letter wrong. Hope this helps!

But, sure, I don't really dislike the Time Jackers, despite feeling like this reveal mortally wounds my excitement for their future appearances. The main problem with Oma Zi-O as an adversary is that he's purposefully stationed out of the characters' reach, so you need to have a more immediate threat, preferably one that can get clowned on every two weeks without robbing the show of any sense of stakes. The Time Jackers ably fill the role of sneering idiots that run away during the climax of most even-numbered episodes. I will always wish their schemes had more complexity than shoving a collectible into the chest of a random person and hoping Zi-O would die because of it (if that's even what this show is saying their plan even was now???), but at least I wasn't ever asked to care about villains that the show also never cared about.

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O: OVER QUARTZER

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/overq1.png

I like stories that end up being about something, but not at the expense of actually being stories.

This movie was like someone made a screenplay out of one of my posts, and I don’t mean that as a compliment. It’s a movie so hellbent on Talking About Heisei Kamen Rider that it mostly forgets to tell a story using the Kamen Riders of the Heisei era. It’s almost a spiritual sequel to Heisei Generations Forever, in its attempt to make the bonds of Heisei literal in its storytelling. It just never manages to say anything of substance?

It’s all over the place, this thing. We start with a Mach guest-appearance, then spend some time in the Sengoku Period for some slapstick comedy, then find out that Everything We’ve Ever Known About Sougo Is Wrong (in a development that looks at the stupidity of Swartz’z plot from Episode 43 and says “hold my beer”), then have a battle over Heisei’s sloppiness (???), then look at the aftereffects of the film’s plot and go Ha Ha WHO CARES. Tonally, it’s disorienting and unpleasant. It’s swinging wildly between insane extremes, never letting the audience get a handle on if the movie should be taken seriously or not. The only way to make it work would be to either ground it in character, or have a theme so transcendent that any plot defects are irrelevant.

So, spoiler, we’re 0 for 2 on that front.

The villains are brand-new, their organization is brand-new, and the main dude’s claim to being the Real Tokiwa Sougo makes absolutely zero sense, given the 43 episodes of TV we’ve already watched. There’s no real character to speak of, for any of them. They’re riffs on Showa Riders and pre-Kuuga Heisei Riders, which is cute but insubstantial. Barclkxs (I am never looking that up) is all unbelievable claims and Thematically-Relevant Platitudes. He never ever ever feels like anything other than the writer’s weird Anti-Heisei strawman, a character dedicated to destroying a thing we love to replace it with I don’t even know what. At least the dude in HeiGen Forever wanted to be the only one to smile! This guy’s just remaking history because he doesn’t like 21st-century Kamen Rider shows?

Our heroes don’t fare a whole lot better. The only members of Team Zi-O who get any real arcs are Woz and Sougo, and neither of them make a ton of sense. Woz’z plot depends heavily on his devotion to a character we’ve never seen before, fulfilling a nonsensical scheme that contradicts vast swaths of a show we’ve spent a year watching, before rejecting those dumb things to once again be the guy we’ve spent a year watching. It’s all ridiculous.

Sougo’s story is… god, I’m not even sure what it is? It’s more wrapped up in this movie’s central thesis than anything else, so maybe by untangling that, we can untangle Sougo’s story.

There are two plots in this movie where characters find out that the history they believed was really just a story they were being told. In the process of discovering the truth behind the fiction, they discover that the purpose of fiction is to provide a way to hope for a better world; we rewrite flaws as nobility, and selfishness as sacrifice. But inside those fictions are people making choices, and it’s wrong to stifle freedom to create a more ordered narrative. We’re allowed to be messy as people, because those messes help us learn who we really are.

As a theme, it’s not bad. The problem is that Barcklsx and the Quartzers won’t stop talking about Heisei’s disorder as though it’s a commonly-held opinion, rather than something pretty random that the movie never tries to provide any context for. He’s just like Your World Doesn’t Make Sense and starts hoovering people up into the sky; his argument is nowhere. If you’re going to make your entire film subservient to a particular thesis, it needs to be more than just some disconnected Sougo speeches. It needs to feel like a point-of-view, and it never does here.

This movie… it wants to be some sort of stirring defense of Heisei Kamen Rider, but I’ve got zero clue who or what it’s defending Heisei Kamen Rider from. I like Heisei Kamen Rider! Zi-O as a series is all about how great Heisei Kamen Rider is! I don’t understand what argument this movie thinks it’s winning, and I’m not sure why it moved heaven and earth to win it. No one in this movie does anything for reasons other than serving the metaphor. It tries to do roughly six hours worth of story in about 63 minutes. Its central theme feels incredibly personal to the writer, yet conveyed so unconvincingly that I’m not sure they even believe it themselves.

A surprisingly misbegotten film. It’s maybe the first Kamen Rider project I’ve ever seen where I wished it was about less?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/overq2.png

BONUS! WE ARE TALKING OVER OVER QUARTZER!

Because Androzani84 demanded it, here’s another commentary track for a Zi-O movie, brought to you by the same folks who did HeiGen Forever and a big chunk of the TN Plays Memory Of Heroez thread. (As always, special thanks to DreamSword for handling the recording and editing!) If you’ve ever wanted to hear my head explode in real time, here’s your chance!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/overq3.png

Yeah, this movie was on my "I cannot spend more than 24 minutes with these characters" skip list.

Okay so uh, this movie... not good!

However, I had a great time watching it, because hearing everyone transition from confusion to befuddlement to annoyance was just a great time.

Anyway! I won't lie, this film was like six different movies all stapled together and then put on speed, and in that sense, it really does just fire off a ton of things that make it easy to rip on, so it certainly gets "points" for that.

But, in the interest of fairness(ha), I'mma try to give this movie's' 'message' the benefit of the doubt and the best sort of idea I could piece together in it: I think, what it basically wants the villain's' point to be, is "Showa was consistently the same show every time, whereas Heisei was not, and I don't like change!"

Which I mean, okay, sure, he's the villain, so he's not supposed to have the strongest of points, but like, that is just fundamentally wrong on like every level? Showa shows, while not exactly deep, do have alot of differences between them in how they go about things, and Heisei, while there is certainly a bigger emphasis on plot, has alot of repeating trends, Neo-Heisei especially.

Really if anything I felt the point was more insulting to Showa than it at all was towards Heisei.

I can't really say too much else that everyone else hasn't said(The action was solid, some of the cinematography was okay, the plot makes zero sense, etc), so at the end of the day I'll just say this: This movie is, before anything else, Random. So maybe if you absolutely turn your brain off you'll be okay? Elsewise my advice is, watch it with some buddies and just riff on it. Much better use of the runtime.

Movie Time! Party (P-A-R-T-Y!) Edition!

-This movie is a really wild "What If?" story of an "ending" for Zi-O...If Heigen Forever was like, this sentimental event reflecting on the Heisei era, Over Quartzer is like, the bizzare farewell party that you can only half-remember the next day?

-It's hard to explain why I like this movie: it's isn't a solid all-rounder like A to Z, doesn't have the bombastic thrill of Megamax, nor a solid emotional core like TDS, but like....I think I love this movie, because it's a really fun mess?

-First off, I kinda adore the slighty more jokey tone this movie has? Considering this is technically our Drive tribute, this kinda flavor of humor fits?

-Speaking of Drive, it's Krim! and Gou! However brief and little involved they were in this plot, it was nice to seem them again!

-Geiz wearing his little vest while in costume and Tsukuyomi trading her cape for a veil, that's adorable?

-The Giant Crowd in this movie is a real minor thing but it kinda helps elevate things here and there, super fun.

-I know the premise of this movie is incredibly silly (what if there a another Tokiwa Sougo who was the real baddie all along, and our Sougo was never meant to be king) but I think it leads to a really cool idea to Sougo to ponder on for a beat?

-I mean, maaaaaybe it's because I was so tired of Swartz I was open to anyone else stepping up to the plate, but I really enjoyed the jail scene between Sougo and Woz? Just hit all the right buttons for me.

-I love how it's all "generic "All Rider" Sequence".....and then Brain shows up. Zangetsu? The GoRiders?! G?????? Manga Kuuga?????? Picking and choosing what to remember is no good concerning history, you gotta take all of it in! Even the bits you hide away in closets, or only find inbetween the cushions of your couch after years and years?

-I think the final form Rider Kick is good, not because its hype or anything, but the cut screams being sewn together so bizzarely ("AHehOUAUGHHE-"), it makes me laugh.

-Seems like a certain Rider has hopped into view! It's a story we haven't started yet, so I don't wanna jump to dicussing in detail, but I can just say? I do like the first look at Zero-One is a nightmare of Sougo's, and the second is him immediately slamming into a garage door!? What a stunning first impact for our rising hero, wouldn't you say?

-A bit of a shame you didn't enjoy this one, but totally understandable! OQ to me is just a little hour-or-so outing into the wild lands of AU territory, and I tend to take things like that a whole deal less seriously?

No, I didn't refer to you either for this one, I'm just making a statement of my own regarding both character's approach based on how not immediately finishing off the enemy or approaching them gently is frequently seen as the stupid or naive move that would have them getting backstabbed, and that for Zi-O, maybe it can be applied to the main trio if there isn't an enough context watching that scene.

Regardless if Swartz is terrible (written/performed), the reveal actually already happened in 28 back ago. It actually matters, because Tsukasa himself got his power stolen by Swartz for his own needs and creating Decade Ridewatch. Actually Swartz would be someone that is an evil version of Tsukasa soon. The other Time Jackers, due to realizing about how they're abused by Swartz, would also try to seek help to the main cast, well for Heure he had some leaning towards this before, but he's still doing villainous stuff before, but now Ora had to put her gigantic ego down for now, after believing that she's equal to Swartz when they're nowhere close. Now she's forced to grovel at the people she abused. Other than that, to dismiss Swartz as one more obstacle without taking into account of why/what/how is low-key similar to insisting any Kamen Riders to be like Geiz in their approach to enemy? Just kill off anyone who's "bad", regardless of context. Sure, Swartz is an irredeemable bastard, but so was Sougo in Geiz's eyes (and Ohma Zi-O too, in the future) to justify killing him.

Don't know about Heure and Ora contributing nothing to his schemes. But to sum it up, for the Another Rider schemes (or Swartz being the one to actually try turning Sougo into Ohma Zi-O), Swartz wanting the throne is only, position. What a person should possess in that position also matters; Ohma Zi-O is known for his overwhelming power of why he can be a dictatorian ruler that is unbeatable by everyone. Without that the king would be easily overthrown by those who oppose them. Dunno though for him leaving Tsukuyomi, may be dumb at first glance here but probably is something that is explainable in the future.

Something someone's looking for in a series is a subjective stuff though, like those who hate Sougo and bash him as terrible (outside of his debut too) for not being someone like Tsukasa. The bitter and spiteful Hiryu, other than only acting as Swartz's pawn, here loses sympathy from even Sougo, now only criticizing him for being stuck in the past (which Hiryu takes as further insults ofc). Junichiro (with amnesia) attempts to rescue Tsukuyomi here, but of course he'd be ineffectual doing that, other than using kitchen appliances as 'armor', Tsukuyomi herself is also far more capable in fighting than him too, would get worse treatment, but it shows him caring for her. And for here yeah, Woz was being undercover under Swartz, and Sougo would obviously believe in him as he never got angry to people who are in his way like Woz or the murderous Geiz before.

I sort of regret watching this, which is a thing I don't recall ever saying about Kamen Rider before.

definitely watch this movie with people who do not mind if you get apoplectic and almost terminally confused

It is incredibly funny to me that one of the longest-running gags in Heisei Kamen Rider is Krim getting involved in a plot via the absolute stupidest mechanisms. He finds out that his history is being erased (?) so he contacts two teenagers he's never met before (??) and Go -- who is zero help in a time-travel caper -- to stop brand-new villains from removing one and only one ancestor from one specific point in time (???), but I guess those villains never actually wanted to succeed anyway since they needed the Drive Ridewatch which Krim probably would've handed over anyway (????).

Why is it so hard to involve Krim in a logical way?! How did the Brain special include Chris Peppler with more nuance than this movie?!

It's one of my favorite things about Sougo? He wants people to follow their dreams and work to make a better future for themselves, even if he's an obstacle to that future. I think that's weirdly heroic, his refusal to put himself above anyone else?

Imagine watching this movie in an actual theater though, letting it and all of its everything wash over you in surround sound.

Here's just some scattered thoughts about it I have:

-I was going to say it's nice they found an excuse to bust out the Edo set again, before remembering they did do that in the first episode for no reason. So I guess its like coming full circle?!

-It actually ticks me off to see Geiz Revive lose to Woz GingaFinally. I do not care about power levels but the former is a symbol born from a culmination of an intense, high-emotions arc, and the latter is some spacesuit plucked from a random alien.

-I know I just said I don't care about power levels but its so sad/funny how much Grand Zi-O sucks. Some all-powerful ruler of time and space, huh!

-The movie form is neat! I like the idea of Sougo borrowing power from his evil future self to combat this current enemy that threatens them both. Though if the climax was going to be all about celebrating Heisei Riders, you'd think Grand Zi-O, which is literally a walking tribute to all of Heisei Riders, would be the one to use there...

-I like the inherent message that it's a good thing all the Rider shows are weird, messy, and different. If anything, I think they aren't weird and different enough lately! Now if this movie's message was that its a good thing that Zi-O specifically is weird and messy, well... that'd be another story >:0

-The credits sequence is a weirdly low-effort clipshow looking thing? That song is great though. Listen to P.A.R.T.Y. ~ユニバース・フェスティバル~ by DA PUMP on spotify or something right now!!

-I liked Heisei Generations FOREVER a lot more.

My favourite part is how when it flashes through shots of all the belts (the merchandise is the real heroes of this franchise!), Faiz's naturally is just empty because the phone gets taken out entirely for Blaster.

Those Questers look ridiculous to me. They look like they belong to a boy band or something. I thought they going to breakout and dance or something. LOL

So the whole reason we did that commentary was so that I could get the boring stuff out of the way and focus on this, since there are 13 Ridewatches total exclusive to this movie (which I think is something of a record?)

Ridewatch Playlist: The Movie Version

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

"Granted the power of Ohma Zi-O, the greatest kindest king, Zi-O Ohma Form"

And here, I went for the obvious choice of the movie theme, P.A.R.T.Y https://youtube.com/watch?v=46S6Ulzchbo

And next up is our bad guys.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=UXpsgnwTf1Y

"That form looks like Black! R! X! The evil Rider is… Barlcx"

And here, I went for the obvious lazy choice, with Kamen Rider Black RX https://youtube.com/watch?v=OTzdpMbGHww

"That form looks like Shin, ZO and J. The evil Rider is… Zonjis"

And here, I went for the one insert song in three movies, Hohoemi no Yukue https://youtube.com/watch?v=WlDzX_xXNNw

"That form looks like the Amazon Riders. The evil Rider is… Zamonas"

And I did likewise for this guy, with Eat Kill All https://youtube.com/watch?v=ERKwIwx8L5Q

And now that we've done the ones specifically released for the movie, now we've got the ones that were released under different circumstances.

Remix 1: Reiwa is Beautiful

https://youtube.com/watch?v=j9KIv-Gsn6Y

"The power changed by the sun, the Rider with the black body and the red eyes is… Black RX"

And like with Kuuga, Agito and Hibiki, we're doing this.

Revol = from "Revolcrash/Revolcane"

Ok, for this one, I just went with the three most distinctive songs from RX in order of how much I like them. Senjou no Rider RX https://youtube.com/watch?v=ctyIo7CmSu8

"Fighting with the metal body and the gun, the Prince of Burning Sorrow, Robo Rider!"

Hard = from "Hard Shot"

Gekishin RX! https://youtube.com/watch?v=8jQvA3gm-ns

"Fighting with the liquid body, the Prince of Anger, Bio Rider!"

Spark = from "Spark Cutter"

Hikari no Senshi https://youtube.com/watch?v=TC8-iLrn...OYkGpripMT7Ul2

Remix 2: No Heisei, No Rider

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ot-McG21xsI

"The fight begins. Fused with the grasshopper genes, Cyborg Soldier Level 3 is… Shin"

High Vibe = from "High Vibe Nail"

And for this mix, I just gave everyone their respective movies? themes, starting with Forever https://youtube.com/watch?v=aRIhYanro70

"Imbued with the power of nature, the Neo-lifeform, Experimental Subject #1 is… ZO"

ZO = from "ZO Punch/ZO Kick"

Ai ga Tomaranai https://youtube.com/watch?v=28Fp_U80VEw

"Jumbo Formation! The giant Rider with the power of the spirits of the land is… J"

Jumbo = from "Jumbo Formation"

Kokoro Tsunagu Ai https://youtube.com/watch?v=gqGX7RoF5-k

Remix 3: Heisei Will Return

(Disclaimer: I have no idea if anyone uses these as the catchphrases' translations. I am merely going off my own attempts to translate them, having never seen Amazons)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_-CNCb9BX9A

"Protect what you want to protect. The third Amazon Rider is… Amazon Omega"

And for him, I went with the choice of Die Set Down https://youtube.com/watch?v=6Cpl3Fxc-SI

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

"I will destroy all of the Amazons. The bestial hunter Rider is… Amazon Alfa"

And for him, I went with another obvious choice (look, there are only three songs on the soundtrack, and I already used one of them for Zamonas), Armour Zone https://youtube.com/watch?v=hxzuBcuNqls

"I must defeat my father to survive. The love-living new generation Amazon is? Amazon Neo"

Nothing for him, so I'll just close off with a fact I didn't share in the commentary. Zamonas was originally meant to be a hybrid of The First, The Next and Amazons (similar to Zonjis being a hybrid of Shin, ZO and J), but they couldn't figure out how to combine the aesthetics of Inoue's gritty movies about robot bug men with Kobayashi's gory streaming series about mutant piranha men.

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O: Over Quartzer)

This is easily one of my absolute favorite Kamen Rider movies ever, and it made for such a wonderful capstone to Kamen Rider Zi-O in particular. I won't lie, it's a bit frustrating to see Die being so dismissive of it, but then, I did write this about it at the time...

...so I guess this shouldn't be too surprising. But at the same time, like, man, it's *so* hard not to get fired up about this. The post at the top still says most of what I want to, but just... like, my opinion has settled now, and I still believe with all my heart that this thing is a postmodern masterpiece. It's this brilliant story of Heisei Rider being confronted by its own sins in the form of villains based on the Heisei Riders Who Aren't, while still making that a Zi-O story about the value of choosing your own path in life. It's loaded with very considered details, some of the best direction Tasaki has ever done, and tons of fun moments with characters I love. I simply couldn't imagine a more perfect celebration of everything Heisei Kamen Rider is, and everything that makes me love Zi-O so much.

Same. Its message of finding the balance between escapism and fandom just... boy, that really connected with me.

IWAE, all caps, is a great J-Pop band name, too.

The weirdest thing to me about the Zamonas suit is that the helmet looks 100% like a Sodo sticker to me. Something about the lack of gleam to it reads as incredibly flat to me. Very weird.

Reading you declare a movie I found to be confused and misguided as "a postmodern masterpiece" is, honestly, what these threads exist to do. I love this so much. Thank you for your dependably contrarian viewpoint. It's a bright spot for me, always.

...Which is why it was a bit of a bummer to see my dislike of this film categorized as "dismissive". I hope I didn't come off as not sincerely or fairly engaging with this movie? I definitely tried to approach it on its own terms, and I tried to be detailed in my criticisms. I never want anyone to think I'm being unfair to these projects, even the ones I have a hard time with.

To maybe expand a bit on those criticisms:

I FEEL LIKE THIS MOVIE IS YELLING AT ME TO LIKE THINGS I ALREADY LIKED

There's an earnestness to this film's call to embrace the entirety of Heisei Rider that, at points, feels like badgering. It's like this movie came in with the theory that the viewer a) didn't like modern Rider, and b) certainly didn't care for the weirder elements. In an effort to forcibly correct that viewpoint, it ended up veering too far in the other direction, making me feel like I needed to love those things more than I've ever loved anything, rather than just enjoying a lot of different parts of the franchise. It was like:

KAMEN RIDER IS ALLOWED TO BE WEIRD!

Yeah, man, I know. One of my favorite things is the Faiz HBV. I'm good with weird!

STOP DEMANDING THAT KAMEN RIDER WORK AS ONE CONTINUITY!

I-- I wasn't? I don't love the post-series crossover content. I'm totally fine with each show doing its own thing. I sort of prefer it?

KAMEN RIDER IS BIGGER THAN JUST TV SHOWS!

Dude, I preordered that Kuuga manga. I'm going to be carrying the book at my store! I'm super psyched about it!

IT'S OKAY FOR STORIES TO BE MESSY!

It... yeah! It is! I never said it wasn't!

I AM OKAY WITH THE METAPHOR; I AM LESS OKAY WITH THE METAPHOR OVERTAKING THE NARRATIVE

This movie's messaging, about the beauty of a messy, ever-evolving franchise made up of dozens of unique creative voices, is one I am 100% behind. I'm never going to be mad at a writer who wants to communicate something through a Kamen Rider property. But the problem for me is that we're left to explore that messaging with thinly-drawn villains who don't get enough screentime to develop their point-of-view; with uneven pacing that creates a middle section where too many things happen without enough context; with a gigantic finale that loses multiple characters; with a movie that takes its message and obscure references as self-evident, rather than worth interrogating and explaining.

There's a version of this film that I'd really like. It would be one that makes Barcklxs into a character that's more than just a glorified Shock Twist, and a story that slows itself down to try and better explain its thesis.

I hope this comes off more even-handed than I guess it didn't before? I'm happy to keep talking about this weird movie!

Over Quartzer is my second favorite KR summer movie. It was double-billed with Dinosaur Panic, my favorite Sentai summer movie. Both happen to involve time travel. As you can imagine, I had an awesome weekend when I watched those two in early 2020 (literally a week before the world went to hell)!

To paraphrase Sougo: Who cares if it's bumpy?! This isn't just a celebration of the Heisei Era. That's the metaphor to appeal to the audience who are already invested in Heisei, but it's also a celebration of individuality. I was excited to see Gou return and say his full catchphrase, it brought back fond memories of watching his story in Kamen Rider Drive. It's Sougo's history, but Gou's story doesn't stop there, he's still trying to revive Chaser. Sougo inherited the power of Heisei Rider, but we spent about 31-48 episodes with each of those Heisei Riders, seeing them learn and grow as people. Even if the timeline is littered with chaos, we can use that chaos to build a better future. That's the moral here. Not everything we've ever known about Sougo was wrong. As Oma Zi-O proves, he still succeeded in becoming king despite being used as a body double. Geiz and Woz came to the past to destroy and manipulate him respectively, only to be won over by his heroism, leading them to reject the consolidated yet hollow timeline the Quartzers were working for. We're not just confined to part of someone else's story, we can decide what we are for ourselves.

I love the casting for ISSA as Tokiwa SOUGO. Not only does it add another OP singer to the list of movie villain Riders, but from certain angles, he does resemble an older Okuno, which makes it more believable for Sougo to be mistaken as SOUGO. His hatred of the messy Heisei Era makes him an effective foil to Sougo, who celebrates history and the wisdom to learn from it. The trip to 1575 is a great example of this, where Sougo gets to cheerfully show off his vast historical knowledge and his easygoing attitude towards Gyuuzou fabricating and dramatizing Nobunaga's biography based on Geiz's personality which is closer to the actual demon king (it's so ironic!). Of course, my only complaint with this is that Nobunaga's depiction here is totally different from his Parka Ghost self, but I'm willing to let that slide since it's in service of a story that is also very relevant to Sougo.

There's lots of other cool stuff to praise here as well. The big coronation of Zi-O Oma Time and how he slices the hell out of those Dai Mazines with his giant golden energy swords! All the obscure wildcard Riders like G and Brain showing up for the climactic fight! That satisfying 20 Rider Kick recreating the original Heisei name announcement banner to destroy Barlckxs! The extremely catchy P.A.R.T.Y. theme! This movie is a highlight of Kamen Rider Zi-O for me and I couldn't imagine a more honest and extravagant way to honor the legacy of Heisei Rider and turn the page for Reiwa.

That's awesome! I'm super glad that this movie really resonated with some folks. It's only right for an anniversary show's Summer Movie to deliver a highly-concentrated burst of Kamen Rider excitement.

Apparently I did get a little too fired up about this then, so let me just say that I'm sorry if my description of your criticism was genuinely dismissive, because I know you're better than that! I don't doubt for a second you were trying to give the movie the benefit of the doubt as best you could. You know, at the end of the day, it's all art, and sometimes things that click with one person just won't click with another. It's not like the way you feel about Over Quartzer is any less valid than the way I do, and I apologize if I made it sound that way.

And hey, those expanded criticisms should even help me better explain the differences that probably exist in how we're approaching what the movie is doing, so, let me say from my perspective:

I DON'T FEEL LIKE OVER QUARTZER IS REALLY *ABOUT* VIEWERS AT ALL

It's not Heisei Generations Forever, after all. I said in that old review that this movie felt like a better realized version of that movie, but that was maybe an example of me being dismissive towards a movie I didn't connect with a ton. Especially after reading what you've had to say about it, Forever was very, very deeply concerned with fans, as a theme, and what Kamen Rider means to people. It's a film where crowds of excited children and nostalgic adults literally cheer on their favorite heroes during the climax. Over Quartzer, to me, it's not doing anything remotely like that. I called it a story about Heisei Kamen Rider being confronted by its own sins, and I think that's the best way I can put it.

SOUGO and the Quartzers don't really represent particular viewer opinions to me (even though I've seen people dunk on Decade and Zi-O for very similar reasons!), so much as they simply represent fundamental bits of logic that Heisei Rider has willfully ignored. It is objectively incorrect to call Kuuga the first Kamen Rider of Japan's Heisei Era, even though it's also entirely correct to call him the first Heisei Kamen Rider. That's the significance of the motifs for the villains, and that's the sort of stuff I think the film is tackling. It never really came off to me like any of that thematic stuff was necessarily trying to correct viewer opinions, so much as it was simply exploring the depths of the franchise in ways no other Rider thing ever has.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY THERE NEEDS TO BE A STRICT DISTINCTION BETWEEN METAPHOR AND NARRATIVE

This one alone probably spells out why this movie clicked with me so much, but yeah. It just seems weird to me to draw such a hard line and consider the former this separate thing that's actively distracting from the latter. To me, the metaphor IS the narrative in this film, and that's evidently something I'm completely fine with. There's still a satisfying enough story in here for me about Sougo realizing how that metaphor does nothing to change his dreams, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest that the antagonistic force he's up against is nothing besides a metaphor. I think this is definitely the part of the movie we're both the most "right" about? Unlike with some of your other criticisms, I'm pretty sure we're both seeing exactly the same thing here, it's just that how we react to it is fundamentally different. I'm pretty sure I would actively like SOUGO and his cronies less if they were more fleshed out as people.

This was all very helpful! I can't, y'know, get my brain to go there, but it's always fun to hear what other people are getting out of these shows. It's like being privy to a completely different band of data, stuff you can only see if you lived a different life. It's why these threads are something I love coming back to every day!

Oh, for sure! The world of fiction would be a very scary and altogether more boring place if everyone had the exact same weird outlook on storytelling as me (and Shirakura). Having different perspectives is a very important thing!

Over Quartzer is a mess, but it is a beautiful mess.

Despite many odd choices, retconning, and chaos, I found myself loving this movie, especially during a time when many movies were just disappointing me. My main focus of unapologetic joy was when literally every Heisei Rider appeared, thanks to Oma form (which is a terrific form, by the way, not as grand and glorious as Grand, nor regal and magnificent as Oma Zi-O), and then the final Rider Kick where everyone's kicks were their show logos and spelling out Reiwa, was something I wanted to applaud and cheer when I saw that.

Sure, the Drive tribute was just a cameo, the Sengoku plotline was kind of there (of course, I'm the fool who connected the young Nobunaga they meet as being similar to Sougo, almost meant to perfectly mirror the path Sougo would take in a way), and the Quartzers just show up to be the final big bad for team Zi-O (if for some insane, and paradoxal reason I decide to form a J-Pop band, that would absolutely be its name, and those Woz costumes would be our trademark). But maybe it's because, since I didn't see this until after Zi-O the Series concluded, I wasn't expecting this to be anything more than just one final Heisei Kamen Rider Kick to the face, and just decided to watch the chaos unfold, but I did end up liking this.

I also like the idea of the Quartzer Riders being "other" Heisei Riders. Barlucx being Black RX, who is technically the first Heisei Rider (Heisei began in 1989), Zonjis being the Neo Showa Trilogy, Shin, ZO, and J (because they were the last Ishinomori worked on completely, they were still counted as Showa, though he did lay the groundwork for Kuuga, but passed away before it was finished), and Zamonas, based off Kamen Rider Amazons, the edgy reboot to end all edgy reboots (there's probably worse out there, then again, I never watched Amazons). It felt like a perfect fit for what is the end of the last Heisei Rider Season, to include the true start and offshoot of the Heisei Riders.

It's no Heisei Generations Forever, but it's still something I found fun in, in spite of all the insanity and pent-up ideas that they might have otherwise thrown into Zi-O's show, I still have a soft spot for this movie regardless.

It's definitely a movie that unreservedly loves Heisei Rider, which is worth something all on its own.

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O HYPER BATTLE VIDEO - “KAMEN RIDER BIBIBI NO BIBILLGEIZ”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/ziohbv1.png

I was a little curious what Zi-O would do for its HBV. Would it introduce some super-deep-cut Ridewatch to honor Heisei? Would it be, like, a tribute to Heisei HBVs? Instead, it’s a completely normal HBV: An utterly hilarious, low-budget romp that conveys a simple lesson while letting our core cast screw around for twenty-odd minutes.

I prefer it this way? I like being reminded that Team Zi-O is, really, just a bunch of teenagers. There’s a very narrow window in the first five or six episodes that let these kids act like the poorly-socialized children they are, and it generated an almost impossibly deep reservoir of goodwill within me for this cast. Seeing them be weird early on let me forgive them a lot of strange decisions in their character arcs down the line. I like having this little reminder that they are all way too weird to have any other friends than each other.

The only character in this story who could plausibly claim to be an adult/authority figure is Woz, but he’s motivated by a) torturing Geiz, and b) helping Sougo learn the art of psychologically destroying your adversaries. He’s not really put in a position to temper these kids’ more extreme tendencies. He’s very much along for the ride this time, despite not being an actual child like Tsukuyomi and Sougo.

Sougo’s wacky in this one, and in a very delightful Pranks Are Fun way, but it’s Tsukuyomi who runs away with this special. I love the fact that Tsukuyomi is having a blast when they’re all goofing on Geiz’z stark terror, and is having more of a blast when it’s revealed that Geiz is maybe being stalked by actual ghosts. She’s fully committed to this bonkers exploration of a haunted schoolhouse, and she will not temper that enthusiasm just to make Woz and Sougo less petrified. She wants to see a goddamn ghost!

Still, this is a Geiz spotlight episode, and I think it was a successful one. The reveal that Geiz is a big ol’ scaredy-cat is believable, since he normally exists in a Superhero genre/context. He’s mostly just punching people in broad daylight, or after a nighttime speech? He doesn’t usually have spooky things happening around him. (Also, I cannot do jump-scare movies, so Geiz is the one in this story I can most empathize with. This story would’ve killed me.) Having his friends try and scare out his fear is a good start, and letting his fear be okay is a good ending. Add to it a neat new suit (the fear sweat on the mask is my favorite touch), and we have the framework for a good lesson-oriented comedy special.

Mostly a comedy special, though. Let’s be real, this thing was exquisitely ridiculous. Fun gags throughout, and a great/stupid/stupidly-great fight scene to callback on all of the physical comedy that was woven through the episode. (I think my favorite touch was Geiz clinging to Sougo’s ankle in terror, and shouting HENSHIN alongside Sougo as he transformed… but tripping Zi-O because he wouldn’t let go. A+ physical comedy!)

As fun as it might’ve been to try and do some Ultimate HBV easter egg-riddled thing, I like that we got something wholly Zi-O. A fun night of these four kids scaring each other and being gigantic weird dorks, with no bigger aim than that. Very nice treat for this show’s fans.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/ziohbv2.png

Bill... Bill Gates.

There we go, that's all I've got. It was a fun special though, Team Zi-O Shenanigans are always good.

Special Time! Spo-o-o-ky Edition!

-This is a delight of a HBV, just a bundle of laughs surrounding a simple concept: scaring the shit outta Geiz!

-I really do love all the actors' performance in this one? Geiz is so delightfully fun in how terrified he is, you can feel the excitement radiating off in waves from Sougo and Woz to scare Geiz(and later, when they become equally as terrified), even the Another Riders have some good gags, like Another Ghost being pushed around in a chair in the first chase scene, Another Gaim and Hibiki waving Ghost off as they rushes forward, their little dance!

-I just love Tsukuyomi in this one? She's having the time of her life in this one, good for her!

Sougo is incredibly proud of himself on that line, and it's terrific. I love how exuberant he is generally, but it's extra special when he gets to drop in some little joke.

The energy on this was like every actor had saved up their lunatic performances from the end of the Complementation episodes up until now, and they just detonated this special. Everyone involved is manic as hell, and it's delightful.

Blade arc so many good call backs in this one from Kaito cooking breakfast in his debut, the photo as cards spiraling towards the opening, to even mimicking Kenzaki first ever transformation! I love how Sougo graduation coincides with the beginning of a new arc. It is a clean slate for everybody! Btw where was uncle in this episode? Did Kaito knock him up and hid him away to make breakfast for everyone? I love the brief battle between Woz katakana and Diend barcodes. It's similar to what happened to Geiz and Quiz in episode 19. I Love how Sougo is trying to force Woz and Geiz to work together and it is just a nice new dynamic of having Woz as a roommate.

It was cool to see the Chalice suit again and how pristine it looks in comparison to Blade which not only has the piss colored yellow but now the torso is even turned purple for god's sake Toei please replace it unlike other suits this is actually a good investment considering how often the actor returns and yearly crossovers that just bring out the suit anyway regardless of the actor coming back or not! And speaking of the helmet for the preview for Episode 29 they actually tried digitally editing the helmet to remove the yellow only for it to be both half-assed but also like in the actual episode it was dropped!

https://i.ibb.co/nD6wNj4/Different-Blade-ZIOEp29.jpg

Episode 30!

Ever since Kento Shimoyama was first announced as the head writer of this show the Blade tribute was one of my most anticipated tributes in the entire show because of Gorider. And man did it not disappoint tying Amane and Hajime stories in order to get Kenzaki involved, Ohma Day being caused by the end of the world via the Sealing Stone , and Kenzaki and Hajime reacting to the gaudy Trinity it’s all great, Kaito has a reduced role but I love how he seems to be working for Ohma ZI-O to oppose Tsukasa working for the Time Jackers. And Sougo and White Woz gives some real good insights to both of these characters. The overall vibe of taking the legend powers but that being a good thing this time and how Trinity was born from Ohma Day not to rule but as sign of friendship the future looks bright.

This is one of my favorite favorite Kamen Rider things: when two characters are facing off through their Henshins. I love when bits of costume spar against bits of a different costume. It's the best!

Absolute best change, by far. I like knowing that Zi-O is lifting a burden, rather than, like, lobotomizing a hero.

Not much to say about this one, other than the main things I remember being the three Another Riders doing the Can-Can (which I mistook for the YMCA) and Tsukuyomi’s Sadako impression.

I will also mention that the guy who wrote this was a guest writer by the name of Kota Fukihara. But don’t really expect to see much more Rider content out of him, since he died of a brain haemorrhage 10 months after this came out.

Anyway, there’s also this.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Bg4uUs89oYE

“The blue Geiz facing his fears, Geiz Bibiru Armour”

Oh you're talking about Woz here, to steer Sougo becoming something he didn't want to. Otherwise, obviously this is heroic and not in a weird sense, I'd rather if the heroic definition isn't only mistakenly relegated into beating up bad guys/saving people from death or sacrificing oneself's life, it should be about any regular good deeds in any form.

Actually, this is the reality of Zi-O, Sougo's alternate self throughout the multiverse isn't only his older Ohma Zi-O form, but there are multiples of them. Barlckxs (whose name is based on Black RX, like other Quartzer members like Zamanos to Amazons) is another alternate self to Sougo too, so our Sougo is dealing with at least 2 evil versions of him in the alternate timeline, Ohma Zi-O and Barlckxs. Actually Barlckxs is purposely taking advantage of his similar identity to Sougo for his plans, like secretly saving Sougo as a child using his time powers so that Swartz would chose our Sougo to become the demon king (and is used as Barlckxs' secret body double) and gather all of the Heisei Riders' powers into one, and to unify the worlds of the Heisei Riders so Barlckxs could destroy and remake them. Then to ensure Ohma Zi-O's rise in that timeline, Barlckxs gave Woz the Ohma Advent Calendar which details how Oma Zi-O comes to be and have him sabotage any threat to those events. And most importantly, he takes advantage of Sougo's multiple selves to have the main cast is focused on the Sougo we see, so Barlckxs can reset the world without the main cast interfering.

The Sengoku Period part, is also an ironic part that is caused by Barlckxs, due to his schemes, Geiz became seen as Nobunaga (as the real one is crybaby and incompetent) and thus, Geiz is Sougo's inspiration as demon king, while Geiz at first wants to murder Sougo, and later wants to prevent him becoming one. Obviously though, his schemes would actually create someone who is far stronger than Barlckxs could ever be which leads to our Sougo gaining the power needed to defeat Barlckxs. Actually Barlckxs had a comparison to actual Sougo, being the foil to Ohma Zi-O as the evil future versions of our Sougo; Ohma Zi-O has metal watch band motif, lets Sougo act on his own including telling him a way to change his past, with minimal influence (Woz and Kasshin), and has powers based on Heisei Riders. Barlckxs has leather watch band motif, directly tries to get rid of Sougo, and has powers based on Showa/Lost-Heisei Riders.

For the riffs on Showa Riders and pre-Kuuga Heisei Riders though, I gotta praise some of the spectacles that is delivered by those Riders, like some folks here do. I do think that the fight scenes make use of the Rider powers quite well, though not 100% of it, but it gave similar vibes to the Decade's War sequence that existed at the beginning and late of the series. Zi-O Ohma Form, not actually Ohma Zi-O, but an extra final form based on it. And obviously, though the Rider Kicks combined for all the Riders are the simplistic ones, which'd make for a bland finishing move individually, there's a flavor added on it with the kicks forming the Heisei Riders logo. And for said Barlckxs, I don't know if this should be something you like too as he used Kamen Rider J's power to turn himself giant and the power of Black RX's Bio Rider form to be near-invincible, which are Showa's power, but fell to the Heisei Riders.

I'd say here that, Woz's portrayal seems to be the most vulnerable version of him with him losing his cool in his first battle with Geiz to tell about how he's different, and that he here seems to be the closest to the other main cast despite that he's in Quartzer's side at first, like he actually discussed plans normally with Tsukuyomi here. And after betraying Barlckxs, Woz also spouted actually uplifting ideals related to the Heisei Riders instead of only hyping up Riders' debuts or wanting for Ohma Zi-O's rise too here. I guess for Sougo, it's about how he came up to terms in how he was only a pawn for someone else's plans, though this is something that had been done in multiple Rider series like the reveal of how the main Riders are only pawns to someone else, but Sougo got pep talk from another case of false parody Rider, Takeshi Kinashi (to Takeshi Hongo), but even a silly parody like Kinashi can still fight evil with none of the recognition as an official Rider, there's absolutely no reason Sougo, who was still chosen to become Zi-O, shouldn't be able to as well. Though somehow this was the one that gave Sougo breakdown for the revelation of how he's a pawn.

Yeah, this one's really the poor executed part in my opinion, it's how the "inspiring speech" part of a plot can be really done hollow (but doesn't mean preaching is meaningless and that only action matters). Barlckxs only talked about Heisei being messy and that Sougo counters that it's ok being messy. I guess this is purposely done like this so the messy talk can be broadly applied to anything like this discussion, though how would rewriting flaws as nobility and selfishness as sacrifice, make a better world? It'd normalize problematic behaviors and desensitize current issues. No need fiction too to glamorize those, there's already media that glorifies negative actions, including uninentionally, as it sells more. But for overall plot, it may be is related to how inconsistent Heisei Riders from one another to coexist as a single time period, and so want to replace it with single cohesive narrative under their control (I too would prefer the Heisei Riders following their own continuity, would prefer crossovers to be not canon too). Barlckxs is just another self-righteous bastard... or has gigantic OCD, wait probably the former one relates to Sougo too about how he's oblivious, including Ohma Zi-O thinking he saved the world, about how he can't stand a world that doesn't suit his own image, thus he wants to retcon whole Heisei era so it fits his image, and then rule over it as King of Time.

Fish Sandwich probably didn't have anything to say about Zi-O's HBV!

...Because I still don't now. It's not one of those ones that ended up really sticking out for me, but it was a reliably good time all the same. I mostly remember Geiz's quivering transformation being especially amusing. Oh yeah, and they made it about Geiz! I'll always love that about it, and Bibill Geiz combines three of my favorite things (Ghost, the color blue, and groanworthy wordplay), so I'm solidly fond of it too.

Also worth noting they gave the HBV-exclusive form to him instead of Sougo? Usually the other Riders only get those when the main guy gets one first, so I think Geiz gets to be in some kind of club with Kagami from Kabuto or something.

I saw this on the Wiki, yeah. Sad to learn about it.

The action in this film was pretty great, absolutely. Nothing bad to say about the direction.

I really appreciated their restraint in this HBV, how they executed a fun little story and got out. This was a real Stick To The Basics special, which is very fun to see during this run of the series.

He did give us Ultraman Z, though, which is a hell of a legacy to leave behind.

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 44 - “2019 - AQUA’S CALL”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio44a.png

This is an episode that starts with a runner stumbling at the finish line, and, man, I really hope that choice of imagery doesn’t come back to haunt this show!

As it is, it’s not a terrible start to this show’s final arc. There’s a ton of ground to cover, and I think everything important gets handled smoothly throughout the episode. We catch up on Tsukasa, post-depowering, and he’s taking it as unimpressed as you’d think. Tsukuyomi is confronted with her potential time-meddling, as is Geiz. Swartz shows off his new Another Decade form, and it’s very Final Arc Villain in its design. Heure and Ora possibly get integrated in Team Zi-O, to some positive effect. There’s a Legend Rider who feels for all the world like they wanted to get the kid who played Drive Type Next but had to settle for Aqua instead. (He just doesn’t really fit in this story that great?) Even Uncle gets a fun scene to teach the kids how to cook.

All of that feels like it's trying to distract from the lack of urgency to this final batch of episodes. We’ve got a villain to fight, in Swartz’z Another Decade form, but we don’t really have a scheme to thwart. Team Zi-O isn’t actively looking for Swartz in this story, because they don’t really know what he’s planning to do, or what exactly he hopes to accomplish beyond Win. Similarly, there’s no sense of Swartz using his newfound power set to actively target Team Zi-O; he mostly seems like he’s trying to scoop up Heure?

It’s really this episode’s Achilles Heel, how there’s no explicit goal or tension to what’s happening here. We’ve got heroes, and villains, but there’s kind of no conflict happening here? Swartz takes a shot at Zi-O and Geiz by the end of the episode, but it all feels slightly undercooked, like a fight that’s happening due to proximity more than design. So much of this episode feels weirdly like an epilogue, with folks considering leaving and other folks considering a change of environments, which is a super weird energy for the start of the final six episodes?

Still, it’s not like this wasn’t a fun episode to watch. Aqua’s a super-weird Movie Rider, in a story that has a few Movie Rider suits in it. (They… didn’t think to do the Movie Rider tribute in the recently released movie?) His whole story was that he was a bit of a coward; or, at least, someone for whom bravery didn’t come easily. While Aqua Vs Another Drive doesn’t have the same allure as, say, Drive Type Next Vs Another Drive, the fact that Aqua is the one Movie Rider who will find an excuse to leave combat for the relative safety of exposition is actually a huge boon for this episode. He gets to nicely ask Tsukuyomi to leave 2019 before she absolutely wrecks it, and it’s a development that… again, this feels like an epilogue! She and Geiz 100% can’t leave while Swartz is trying to rule all of time, if she even still had her powers. It’s a weird plot to lay out? It’s maybe too big of an idea – Geiz and Tsukuyomi are hurting more than they’re helping – to exist alongside a bunch of other stuff in this episode. It’s an interesting concept, but the details are a little too vague for the amount of emotional weight that a consideration to leave 2019 might have to deal with.

Other than that, we’ve got Heure joining Team Zi-O, maybe, and it’s cute. I will always love Sougo’s commitment to people who fight for their future, even if they’re fighting against him. He’s clear that Heure has some atoning to do for, uh, an entire season of wrecking people’s lives, but he’s also more than willing to give Heure that shot at atoning. Seeing Sougo get excited over another friend moving in with him… man, that is the best. Easily the best scene in this episode.

It’s a light and enjoyable episode, honestly. That’s normally a great thing for this show to be… if there weren’t only five more episodes to go after this, and a villainous plot that no one’s even tried to explain. I need this show to start delineating its threats a little better!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio44b.png

Episode 44!

-We're back from special/movie land, so it's endgame time!

-It's pretty much entirely set-up tho, which is kinda a bummer, but it makes sense since we got quite a bit to cover. Kinda wild how much a good chunk of this episode feels like it could've been anywhere in the mid-section of Zi-O, which is kinda pelicular?

-It's sweet that they remembered him since he's also a future Rider, but I wonder if anyone was geniunely hyped to see Aqua again, or was there a general "oh, him" reaction. As for his purpose, uhhhhhhhh. Maybe if he came in like, 10-15 eps ago, his whole "you messing with time makes you as bad as the Jackers!" wouldve been a fun idea to explore, but now it just feels like a roadblock from immediately jumping to "Let's go find Swartz and beat his ass",,

-Sougo, being Sougo, openly accepts Huere and Ora into 9-to-5. I forgot about the scene between him and Heure (very cute!), it's something that I felt like I shouldve remembered?

-Glad to see Another Drive! Wonder why they didn't toss him in OQ, but whatever!

I'll be honest, I was never really a fan of the Uhr and Ora are seemingly going to be integrated into Team Zi-O plot they did there. They're seemingly misguided kids who got abandoned by their leader but like... they've still done some pretty messed up stuff. Basically I wasn't really a fan of how they were trying to pull a standard redemption for the two Time Jackers.

Aqua showing up was neat, while Dark Drive would've been cool there's already an issue with that likely being the original idea given well... Kamen Rider Hattari exists and Dark Drive cannot anymore. That being said hey if they somehow made use of Type Special and somehow gave us Eiji, that would have been cool. Someone from like the almost near immediate future and stuff.

Anyway I'll be real with you here and agree that this episode and the resulting other episodes do feel weird in terms of plot stuff. Honestly this last batch of episodes feel like they want to just do whatever they're feasibly able to do in terms of suits, fights, characters etc while making their way to the end of the show where well... listen, we've covered this all show, there's a 75% chance the show is going to end a particular way and this episode alongside others are sort of a way to get to it.

Anyway, time for another BGM Swap. This time we've got the usual themes from last time for three of them. So what I assume is an Aqua related BGM, Drive's Episode Preview theme, Decade's Episode preview them, and the BGM Swap I actually really liked this time despite it being a normal song... Cod-E ~E no Angō~ by SOPHIA because of our guest next time.

Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 45 Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXMEWvRVjws

Am I supposed to give a crap about Ora? Because I so don't.

I also now see why Androzani giggled at my prediction for Another Decade at the start of the thread.

The perils of time travel! He definitely meant to show up just after Tsukuyomi witnessed Sougo's origin and decided against killing him, where the irony of her being a destructive influence on Sougo would've been a deliciously ironic twist. Alas! Aqua is historically a barely-competent Rider, so he's well-suited for this temporal mix-up.

I think Ora moping around 9-to-5 and potentially selling out Heure to get back in Swartz'z good graces is exactly the sort of weird-ass scheming I always wanted the Time Jackers to do more of. She's -- at least in this episode -- not looking to reform, so much as she's looking to avoid taking any responsibility for her choices.

Heure, though! I thought this show (and the actor) did a decent job of reframing Heure's actions as someone who had the wrong role model, and things got out of hand. There's a genuine sense of self-loathing when Sougo cheerfully offers to protect him, where even Heure's like You Have To Be Kidding. I'm more interested in this kid than I've ever been before.

So, we’ve got something unusual this episode. One playlist, but 1 1/2 compare and contrasts.

Ridewatch Playlist: Love or Drive, Which is it? Mix

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ODBgUwUc2DY

“Fighting with the power of Shift Cars, the red car policeman Rider is… Drive”

I’m the rare man who doesn’t think Drive’s soundtrack has much in the way of standout songs. But that doesn’t mean I can’t make easy choices, like Surprise Drive https://youtube.com/watch?v=VoohGjK0w_s

“Signal Bike! Shift Car! The two powers come together into Drive, Type Deadheat!

“The blue body gives Drive his fastest form, Drive Type Formula”

While there’s no song for this suit, it did get a fairly prominent role in the “History Alteration Machine” side-arc, so I went with the theme for the last part of that arc, Time, from D-Video Special: Kamen Rider Yongou https://youtube.com/watch?v=CKkTNssiyoY

“Fuse with the super vehicle, Tridoron! The fastest, ultimate Drive, Type Tridoron”

And out of a desire to keep Spinning Wheel out of this (I’ve never cared for that song. Too much of a cacophony of voices to me), I went for Unlimited Drive https://youtube.com/watch?v=9qVoethGWFY

“The burning flaming bike Rider is Mach” (yes, that wording choice was deliberate)

And for him, I went with his insert song, Full Throttle https://youtube.com/watch?v=4_YZYbd6iUg

“The power of friends is passed on in this burning warrior, Chaser Mach”

“Awoken for justice, the human loving Rider is Chaser”

While this song isn’t particularly associated with him, the title kind of works. Don’t Lose Your Mind https://youtube.com/watch?v=1vVFOIC6yxM

And for Another Drive, we’re going with re-ray. No reason. https://youtube.com/watch?v=rzE5hbKE9O8

And for the last time, we present the list of the unreleased (it’s also the last time I’ll be doing the silly titles, but not the last time I’m doing this feature. I’ve got two more watches for the series, and three more for the post-show content)

Kamen Rider Drive (Type Wild)
Kamen Rider Drive (Type Technic)
Kamen Rider Drive (Type Fruits)
Kamen Rider Super Dead Heat Drive
Kamen Rider Drive (Type Special)
Kamen Rider Zero Drive
Kamen Rider Deadheat Mach
Kamen Rider Mach Chaser
Kamen Rider Protodrive
Kamen Rider Lupin
Kamen Rider 3
Kamen Rider 4
Kamen Rider Dark Drive (Type Next)
Kamen Rider Heart

As for the compare and contrast, Ora contrasts with both Shinnosuke and Kiriko. Shinnosuke was once a very passionate police officer who after injuring his partner during the "Global Freeze" incident, lost his passion and became more snarky and cynical after exiling himself to the Special Investigations Unit. Becoming Drive allowed him to regain his former personality while still keeping his snarkiness. Meanwhile, at first, Ora has been shown to have some standards before revealing it to be a lie, became more cold and heartless as the series went on to the point of being completely emotionless and relentless when she killed Yuko. In general, Shinnosuke is a police officer who tries to protect people, upholds justice, deeply cares about the people very close to him, and even still manages to be a warrior even without his Rider powers; Ora, however, is a Time Jacker who turns given people into Another Riders without any regard for the consequences of her actions, effectively making her a time criminal, and only cares about herself while feigning kindness to further her goals. And whereas Shinnosuke can use the Roidmudes’ Slowdown, but chooses not to, Ora as Another Drive has no hesitation in using Slowdown to pursue Heure. Meanwhile, Kiriko wanted to become Drive herself but failed to do so and therefore, chose to support Shinnosuke in any way she could and made sure he lived up to the ideals of a Kamen Rider. Kiriko eventually fell for Shinnosuke and married him as well. Ora, on the other hand, lets her Another Riders do whatever they wanted and while she did support them, she only supported them so long as they don’t disobey her in some way. Ora also doesn’t love anyone and uses the love of others to make them obedient to her.

And design-wise, in keeping with the Knight Rider elements present in Drive, Another Drive resembles the reboot version of KARR. Meanwhile, Another Decade is a hybrid of the first 9 Heisei monster groups (Grongi, Unknown, Mirror Monster, Orphnoch, Undead, Makamou, Worm, Imagin and Fangire), with his head modelled after Dai-Shocker’s logo.

As for some etymology, Tsukuyomi’s real name, Alpina, refers to Alpine watches, which are known for their high quality that will last much longer than other watches. Kind of like how she had stronger time powers than Schwartz.

Also, wow, is this the one time returning foes are actually stronger than the current Riders? Especially since both Sougo and Geiz have their final forms by now.

Heure is talked upon below, but regarding Ora, I actually kinda cheering with Geiz's no-nonsense approach to kick them out from 9-5 about how they feel entitled to get help from the enemies they victimized despite what atrocities they have done before. Geiz has become someone better throughout the series, but he draws the line much faster than Sougo for obvious reasons. Though as shown before, Sougo's the cunning manipulator here while Geiz is the gullible one though opposite to usual portrayal, so Sougo can be trusted in this decision. Continuing with Ora, as shown here, she's the one actually entitled, to be whiny and not having single feelings of gratefulness of having to help at 9-5, despite that she got a new place to stay now. Furthermore, not unlike Swartz, Ora was Another Drive, implying that she's scheming against Heure, despite Heure being concerned against her. After all, this is someone who had shown to pretend to care about someone else, including Heure at Kikai 2-parter, but in reality is just a manipulative scumbag.

What I want to talk about this episode is mainly the one below, but they do imply about how Swartz is taking advantage of the damaged timeline, partly unwittingly caused by Sougo, but actually, there are already multiple fractured timelines due to multiple time travelers going to the past to change the timeline, like how there are rule changes like multiple inconsistent timelines coexisting (White Woz's future where Geiz Revive won, and Riders coming from the future like Quiz despite how the future was ruined by Ohma Zi-O), and rule changing (such as Another Rider coexisting with the original Rider unlike the beginning). So this is admittedly, a slow buildup yeah regarding Swartz's method, and this'd be a spoiler at this point, but this one focuses on the timeline as a whole and how Swartz affected Heure and Ora first, and I don't know if you'd want the show to display Swartz anyway, this one seems to be damned if you do/don't situation for you.

I don't know if actually it's known that you better focus specifically on what you want to tell, and this episode does focus on what consequences that can be done by time travelling (but surprised that you actually liked this episode). While time travel stuff may be utter headache to discuss, it's something that can be quite inevitable that interfering with the past to change it would actually create a time loop that repeats over and over, causing the event you want to prevent instead (and then going back to prevent it, but it happened instead, and going back again). One of the reasons is that you would not be able to change any events in the past, because your future self would have already caused them to happen in the way that they did. No matter your intentions, everything that you did would only fulfill the past. Other than time-related stuff, this is also related into self-fulfilling prophecy (earliest form of time-loop too), when attempts to prevent it from happening can instead fulfill the prophecy, as expectation about something can affect a person's behavior in a way that leads those expectations to become a reality, an example is if investors think the stock market will crash, they will buy fewer stocks, prices will start to decline, and the market will actually crash.

In Geiz and Tsukuyomi's case, their self-fulfilling prophecy is ofc about how their attempts (or even... mere existence) to prevent Ohma Zi-O are actually a path of creating Ohma Zi-O instead, it causes time loop in the following (this is all Decade's fault though as usual! ONORE DIKEIDO! The Decade in question is Swartz):

1. Swartz got livid over Tsukuyomi being chosen as the heir over him and dumped her on another timeline and erased her memories.
2. He began his grand plan by going back in time to indoctrinate someone to become king, orchestrated a bus crash in 2010 to test who is worthy.
3. However he had a confrontation with surviving Tsukuyomi in said bus, and that caused Swartz to damage the bus in a way that caused it to crash the way it's seen in the series and had Sougo being chosen by him as a result.
4. Sougo developed an obsession to become king, and successfully became one but turning into unstoppable tyrant Ohma Zi-O.
5. Then the Resistance sent Geiz and Tsukuyomi to the past to stop his tyranny.
6. Time Jackers are going back to the past as well due to how unstoppable Ohma Zi-O is.
7. While the other 2 wanted a puppet king that they can control, Swartz had his own differing reasons in doing so (he won't replace Ohma Zi-O as the king he needed, but at 2068 he's plain unstoppable)..
8. Go back to 1.

Yeah, this was what I meant when I talked about Yuko's death and Sougo's reaction to that (which was you thinking it's more about him specifically feeling heartbreak), Sougo's someone who is so accepting to anyone, he's not having that reaction to Yuko due to how he picked favorite for her (or Sailor Girl) that he mourned someone only because it's someone he loved, but he's someone who cares about everyone. He had similar reaction to Heure here as with Yuko's, sympathy towards enemies if he thinks they're in low position (Yuko being betrayed by Ora, her cruel manipulating aside, and now Heure is dumped by Swartz, and he didn't have a home unlike Geiz). Though I'd think the part of how Sougo acknowledged Heure and Ora's crimes aren't done well here with him lacking the proper ferocity to point that out (only that part, before trying to help Heure later). It's more of a passing moment, but there's probably something a bit similar in Tsukuyomi protecting Heure as well from Another Drive (a.k.a Ora)?

I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶A̶l̶p̶i̶n̶a̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶,̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶a̶n̶d̶,̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶m̶i̶x̶e̶d̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ ̶"̶A̶l̶p̶i̶n̶e̶"̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶b̶r̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶w̶e̶l̶l̶!̶ ̶:̶o̶

Alpina relates to a white moth (Eudonia alpina) which fits her dress too. And Swartz had similar theme naming too as families, whose name is based on Swatch, another brand of Swiss watches, but his name is also a portmanteau with the term "quartz", the mineral used to regulate the electronic oscillator installed in clocks and watches.

I also think SOUGO could be a metaphor for avaricious companies that constantly make sequels and remakes to their IPs, instead of making new original content.

Damn, I didn't know about that. R.I.P.

While I agree with the consensus in this thread that Swartz is kind of meh as a final villain, Another Decade is definitely a big deal! Remember when I mentioned how Another Decade couldn't exist back in the Ghost arc, since the Time Jackers can't trace Tsukasa's origin? Well, turns out another way to make Another Rider is just to take the power from the Rider, as Swartz accomplished in the Another Zi-O II arc. So now Another Decade exists! Probably the most dangerous paradox in the show. It also means that Tsukasa's involvement here is an actual case of "This is all Decade's fault!", since him merely staying away would've prevented Swartz from obtaining that power.

This isn't the first time a final villain used the power of Decade though, Callas became Decade Violent Emotion in the last level of Battride War.

Heure was always the least malicious of the Time Jackers, he's done some typical bad things but nothing as depraved as Ora and Swartz have committed. He's also done some good things (for antihero reasons), like saving Another Ghost's host from his original death and helping Woz outsmart White Woz. He also has the most loyalty to his fellow Time Jackers, being the only one to not use them and he didn't hesitate to help Ora escape after Swartz betrayed them. So I like how easily Sougo can befriend him, since Sougo can see both the good and bad in people and he probably sees that Heure is someone who became this way due to his past of being orphaned and that loneliness is something he can relate to due to being ostracized for his dream of becoming king.

I've never thought about that before, but you're right, it's unusual that the movie which was also the Drive tribute didn't include the corresponding Another Rider. I guess it's not like they could've made one in 1575 though.

Historically? It's humorous that you say that, considering Aqua hasn't even been born yet.

More love for Unlimited Drive! :thumb:

Yeah, Sougo's backstory is one big causal loop. Tsukuyomi accidentally escalates the bus incident of 2009, resulting in all the kids including Sougo and Hiryu getting transported to the Day of Oma. SOUGO uses his powers offscreen to set up Sougo as the chosen one. Swartz takes the bait and manipulates him to become king so he can gain more power. Geiz doesn't directly influence that event, but he has a minor role, since his decision to kill Sougo is what brought Tsukuyomi to the present, to stop him from doing that. Similarly, his doubt about killing Sougo during the Another Zi-O arc is what brought Tsukuyomi to 2009, seeking her own solution.