Sento and Banjo are an iconic duo, right up there with Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, and R2-D2 and C-3PO.

First off, I'd like to talk about the Armor Times. I honestly adore the use of the gimmick items being a part of the suits, it's such a dumb, yet ironically cool, both in terms of design and the fact that it really feels as though Zi-O and Geiz are basically inheriting their powers quite literally.

To swing back on my previous nitpick on the Another Riders' designs, this is what I mean about kind of wishing they had some influence from their Kaijin on their designs (one such example I'll bring up later in the thread). Nothing against the designs, and the personalities of their respective monsters does shine through, but I kind of wish we got some of Decade's flair with the designs, like the new ones that fit perfectly within the series and world they were a part of.

This episode is also where I was finding Sougo gradually growing on me, where he inherits Build's powers, from fuddling Sento's catchphrase to summoning the floating text, which all reads a bunch of dumb stuff like "the alphabet," "I learned this in 3rd grade," 2+2=4," just love how adorkable he is, and how Sento and Banjo react to it.

And of course, I haven't forgotten about Die's boy, Geiz. Now I knew from the trailers, exactly what he was going to be like, and that's not a bad thing in the least, heck, being a on-track mind about beating the guy who's going to be come King of the World, to even infiltrating his school to observe him, I can't dislike him, even if he was the old "I'll beat you, but I might as well wait until the time is right" kind of person, I do like him, plus his suit and jingle are great, and that's enough to sell him for me.

One thing I do want to mention now that people are bringing it up. This set of episodes does end up having an absolutely fun punchline in regards to one joke.

And that's the little quip Tsukuyomi brings up in Episode 1 of "Sougo Tokiwa, excels in history, bad in math" when she's talking to Sougo the first time I believe.

And here we see that fully in practice during the usage of the Build Armor's finisher with literally no equations in the mix.

I feel like this would've gotten too busy, as a design? Like, Build But Monstrous/S.I.C. is already a pretty tricky design, but adding on SMASH stuff, or whatever... I feel like it'd come off too indistinct? Like the hero and villain parts of the design would create a really ill-defined soup.

I thought he was very good in this episode! He's goal-oriented, which is not a label I can slap on a lot of our heroes. (I'm actually okay with Tsukuyomi being a little wary of making a firm decision on what to do about Sougo, because things are very fluid right now! Maybe wait a couple days and see if Sougo starts building labor camps with his rice or whatever.) He's disinclined to help random strangers, because he's trying to prevent a mass genocide, but he's able to be guilted into it, regardless. Him rolling his eyes when Tsukuyomi is like C'mon Dude was pretty great. He's a fun character!

Then I fully expect Another Decade to be a genuine and likable hero who's out to do good for the world.

I have to admit I feel like I remember Decade using his bike more than this list indicates. Or Kiva. I mean, Hibiki at least has the excuse that his bike doesn't appear until way later in his show and as part of an executive mandate.

(Also Saber had more screentime for bikes than Zero-One? Wow).

I really thought OOO would be higher tbh, I swore they rode the ride vendor's lots of places.

Also worth noting that Blade's surprisingly high ranking is likely down to one specific episode. If anything, that chart might've undercounted the time Blade spent on his bike, because I remember it being three or four hours from that episode alone.

Good thing you like him I don't I think Sougo is one of the worst riders ever.

I love how that was your takeaway from that whole post, rather than the flagrant Zordon quote.

And Kuuga had those episodes where he either fought with his bike or had a bike dual with a Grongi.

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 3 - “DOCTOR GAMER 2018”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio3a.png
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio3b.png

Sorta split on this one? It’s an episode that takes forever to get going, but I was way less into it once it did?

Like, I could’ve watched an entire episode of Sougo being an average student and the team of Geiz and Tsukuyomi being incredibly weird. It’s the best part of this episode, by a mile. The time spent establishing this potentially combustible grouping is the smartest decision this show has made to date. They’re very fun together, once the show lets them get into a routine.

Sougo snaps into focus here, as a kid who’s well-meaning but overmatched by the world. Him talking about how a friend is going to have a place in Sougo’s future kingdom comes off less as a warning sign to get a mental health professional involved, and more as a cute affectation. There’s a lot of warmth to his ineptitude, and his earnestness makes him feel central to the narrative. He’s a comedy character intersecting with a sci-fi story, and that tension finally starts feeling like something valuable.

Everything in the school was great, for the ways it reframed the story as one that’s interfering with a normal kid’s normal life. Having Tsukuyomi and Geiz very poorly surveil Sougo is a fantastic plotline, because it grounds the story back into Sougo’s life, instead of dragging him all over time and space for reasons he can’t comprehend. It’s also funny as hell? Every cut to our two Time Orphans pressing their faces up to windows or peering from binoculars at a six foot distance was great. It’s a big episode for our core trio.

But Geiz! Big episode for Geiz, specifically! As this episode’s (non-cameo) Legend Rider would indicate, this is a story about pushing Geiz to be less of a taciturn assassin and more of a goddamn Kamen Rider.

Hiiro’s a dude who, ironically, took a while to become a hero. As Kamen Rider Brave (a thing he is not called once in this episode), he warred against the Bugsters for pride, for vengeance, for guilt. It took him a long time to fight for people, to protect their futures. Geiz is sort of in the early stages of that, where he’s willing to fight monsters and threaten teenage doofuses, but actually helping people is something he more or less needs to be cajoled into. Tsukuyomi teases him about it in this episode, that he’s accidentally giving Sougo valuable advice and pretty integral to their success as a group of heroes. But it’s Hiiro’s direct plea to investigate Emu’s disappearance that feels like a turning point. It’s the Zi-O story I’d hoped to see, where a hero sees something of themselves in our cast, and wants to make their journey a little easier, a little more navigable. Hiiro handing Geiz the crucial clue and Geiz being like What Wait… best point in the episode.

And then everything after that is a bit of a bummer.

It’s the dumb rules they set for themselves that help weaken the finale. We were told last time that only Ex-Aid’s power can defeat Another Ex-Aid… but Zi-O and Geiz don’t have that yet, so they can only fight Another Ex-Aid to a standstill, at best.

That sucks! I’m all about Kamen Rider stories where our heroes try and push back an unrelenting tide, or battle a foe that’s impossible to defeat in order to stall for another shot at success. Stories about never giving up, or taking on insurmountable odds? Yeah, sure, definitely. But not in the third episode. It’s way way too early for our heroes to be like Welp Time To Bang Our Heads Against The Wall, but that’s sort of the only outcome we’re likely to get in these multi-part stories? This isn’t about our heroes being unaware of a monster’s pattern, or weak-point, or whatever, all the normal narrative tricks to delay a successful resolution until the concluding installment. This is the show outright saying You Can’t Win Until Part Two, and it sucked all the fun out of the fight for me.

Beyond that hiccup, it was a fun episode. As much of an Ex-Aid fan as I am, I wish they’d never fought a monster. Everything up to them ending up in the Game World was delightfully strange, and addictively sweet. Letting Tsukuyomi and Geiz get as weird as Sougo was a godsend. Gimme a hundred more scenes of Sougo being terrible at tasks and Geiz accidentally being helpful and Tsukuyomi cheerfully stalking people. That version of this show is the best.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio3c.png

—

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O COMPLEMENTATION PROJECT EPISODE 3.5 - “REGAL SPOILERS”

Hey, I never talked about Ora! She’s okay!

In the actual episode, we only see her tease Heure about last episode’s disaster, and convince a terrified father to become Another Ex-Aid. It’s not a lot! I liked her playful demeanor, but it’s not a million miles away from what we got with Heure. Ora’s taller, though? So there’s that?

Also, this short film was the best one yet. It continues the theme of the episode, where our heroes work as a team for the first time (it is a Kamen Rider Ex-Aid tribute story, so expect Teamwork to be a main theme), while being recalibrated for Insane. When Ora informs the heroes that there’ll be a Rider War in the future, Team Zi-O strategizes how to prevent it. Tsukuyomi wants to “persuade” the writer (which comes off as “seduce”), Geiz wants to kill the producers, and Sougo (with the most unrealistic suggestion, naturally) makes a case for blowing up all of Toei Studios.

They’re way better when they’re a group of lunatic teenagers! I’m glad this show finally figured that out!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/ziocp3a.png

If there's one nice thing I can say about the Ex-Aid Episodes... it's that they continue the nice setup in terms of the dynamic the cast has. And one of my absolute favorite dynamics is that while Tsukuyomi and Geiz will dress for the time period, they will not fully dress for the time period. Tsukuyomi rocking her cape while Geiz is wearing his harness. It also cracked me up how he had his lunch just hooked to it too!

I never really got deflated by the "Oh they can't beat it the first time" style this series basically gives out at the beginning. Mostly cause I just enjoy some fun fight scenes, and there's some neat stuff in here. Might just be my mindset though.

Anyway, now that we've more solidly settled into our dynamic. While the scenes at school are great, I absolutely adore the 9-5-DO (Clockshop) scenes in particular. Not just in this episode either, I'm talking about like... in all of Zi-O. I feel like the scenes set in that shop/house are some of the strongest ones for a variety of reasons. And I can't wait for you to get more of them as you continue through.

Not much to say on the BGM Swap this time, just more EXCITE!

Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 4 Preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE9E4Db8W90

Episode 3, oh man, Episode 3!!!!!!!

This is the episode where I started to enjoy what Zi-O was putting down? With the tutorial arc out of the way, this is where Zi-O properly takes its first step, in my opinion! I liked this episode alot better than 1 and 2.

-Our main trio! Their dynamic is on full display this episode as they try to work out the Mystery of the Week, and it's great! (That whole school bit? Perfect.) I love how Geiz is so adamantly I'm Not Going to Help You, standing away as far as possible from Sougo in every other scene, only to push the investigation forward in his own ways. Tsukuyomi and Sougo are a bit more in sync, with Tsuku being our brain, and Sougo Doing His Best off of that infomation, and I kinda love that? This episode reminded me that I really did love these 3*, excited to see their escapades again.

(*Sougo is probably at his best for me when he's bouncing off these two? Still pretty nuetral on him atm.)

-Oh yeah, the Ex-Aid guys are here! I thought Hiiro's Legend Rider apperance was pretty solid. Fun little callback here and there, provided some info for the kids, didn't overstay his welcome: that's all I needed. Definitely felt like a step up from the Build one. I have genuinely forgotten what Emu's deal in this arc was, so looking forward to discovering it again.

Overall, solid episode, only hindered by that odd cliffhanger due to the rules of the show.

-Feel free to use "Destroying Toei Studio would be faster!" for expressing all of your Rider related woes, I know I sure have.

I mean, the breakfast scene in this episode was pretty great! It absolutely set the baseline for Team Zi-O, and it did it with good humor and slight missile attacks.

Plus, I just like scenes where everyone sits around and eats? It's a nicely de-escalated version of the normal tensions, where people can sort of be dicks but still take part in a communal activity. (It will not surprise anyone that Inoue excelled at these scenes.) For all of the cafes in the franchise, there're precious few scenes of casts eating together. It's surprisingly beneficial to investing in the characters?

Hiiro and Geiz... *chef's kiss*. Whoever figured out that, in a story that's going to touch on Teamwork, you should 100% have Brave go up to the new secondary and go I See You? Brilliant. Fastest way to get Geiz to start collaborating with the team.

I have for sure seen that screencap, even before I knew where it came from. I'd never blow up Toei, though. They make all my favorite stuff! Sougo is being characteristically short-sighted in this scene! Do not emulate his behavior!

What do you think Another Ex-Aid Designs?

Sougo is at his best when he's just a doofus somehow managing to obtain horrendous powers and going "Yeah, I can use these for good". The dynamic established here is honestly the best part of these early episodes, and gives Zi-O the thing that always comes up when I compare it to Decade. Consistency. Decade is constantly moving between worlds, never belonging, with the cafe/photo shop/the old guy and Kivara never really fitting in. Here, Junchiro and the Clock Repair shop is an essential part of the show, and I think it's stronger for it.

Also, I compltely forgot Hiiro was in this one, whoops!

It's fine? All of the Another designs just read as Kamen Rider S.I.C. to me, honestly. They're all monstrous takes on established designs. They're good at what they're doing, but there's very little in any specific monster suit for me to get excited about.

I think I'd maybe push back on some of that, since the Hikari Photo Studio sort of was the same thing? (I mean, I'm only three episodes into Zi-O! Maybe it's not!) Tsukasa and Natsumi and Onodera had the same weird domesticity that Team Zi-O has. I don't know if that's what makes the dynamic feel different?

To me, it's that Sougo needs help. (In many different ways!) Tsukasa always vaguely-to-loudly resented anyone trying to assist him, and most episodes backed him up. Here, Sougo is definitely unable to do anything without someone giving him a hand. The team aspect of the show is significantly heightened from Decade, which makes similar scenes feel a bit more caring.

Part 1 of the Ex-Aid Tribute was definite step up from the premier imo. I felt that spending more time seeing Sougo average school day while contrasting with his current interaction with Geiz and Tsukuyomi was a piece of concise storytelling.

Also I can't help but bring this up but while Sougo trying to find "M" he runs into these two guys.

https://stat.ameba.jp/user_images/20...4266943397.jpg

That's Tom Constatine a senior editor of Tokusatsu Newtwork and Paul Sullivan aka IgaDevil. I just thought it was fun two well known English speaking Kamen Rider fans who's done alot in terms of help bridging the understanding of tokusatsu and Japan for us that don't live there.

This is somewhat unrelated but I recently saw a Youtube video complining every single eating scene in Ultraman TDG Trilogy. And made me come to the realization that these are humanizing moments for characaters so I'd definitly agree with the sentiment here. Though with Covid (understandably of course) these types of scenes have been drastically reduce.

Tom Constantine is also a suit actor (I don't know which ones he wore), and also made a cameo in RealxTime.

Oh, neat! I wondered why there were two random white dudes in the middle of this Japanese arcade. What a nice thing for Toei to do!

It seems like this is the reason why cafes were even added to tokusatsu shows, to create a recurring space to hang out with the characters. But I don't think I've really seen them used that way? Continuously? It's just an additional workplace, and that's about it. No one really hangs out and eats at these places?

(Occasionally, sure. Kabuto had some fun stories with food and prep. Kuuga and Pole Pole, maybe. Den-O, a little. Like, stuff here and there, but not recurring.)

Anyone else think the only game Sougo's probably good at is Sid Meier's Civilization?

Tsukuyomi and Geiz have an interesting dynamic, as stated before that neither of them (even Tsukuyomi who's the good cop) are willing to fully accept Sougo as not a threat, something where usually one's with, one's against. Both are only reluctantly sticking with him, unsure of whether or not he's truly just a daydreaming simpleton, and that's what makes this cast interesting. Also, couldn't help comparing Geiz as the one kid who's just there waiting to steal your lunch money, while trying and failing to be inconspicuous, especially with those outfits (and yet, Tsukuyomi had no disguise or tried to blend in for feudal Japan. Nice work, kid!).

Also, unpopular opinion, but I like the uncle (he's right there with Wizard's Shunpei). Sure, it's a bit of a shame his knowledge of the previous Riders was cut, but I still find him strangely likable? He just has this kind old uncle aura, something so mundane and normal in contrast to time travelers and the like, and yet, I can't help but enjoy this guy.

And boy, this .5 episode was straight up the producers making fun of themselves, by having the cast joke about destroying the company they work at as their solution to stop the villains. Of course, I also had a good laugh at the part where Aura freezes the cast and they're all holding up various words for stop. These shorts have some great moments, both entertaining and a bit of information about the world, which is really neat, and I had a great time with these (now to get around to the Net Movies).

I had no idea who these guys were when I first saw this, and had also completely forgot about them. He also does Entaku Kishi Avalon, a Japan-based English local Hero, whose also getting an indie Tokusatsu series.

Yeah, the interesting part of their dynamic is that Tsukuyomi and Geiz are both worried about How Do We Fix This Kid versus Does This Kid Need To Be Fixed, which is a change up from the usual Protect/Destroy binary. It's about Empathy versus Expediency, and Nature versus Nurture. Tsukuyomi believes that they can prevent Sougo's villainous future by working alongside him, while Geiz is just waiting for Sougo's darkness to become undeniable. It's an interesting group!

(Also, I love that Geiz in Episode 3 is all I'm Looking For A Sign You're Becoming A Power-Hungry Warlord, pointedly ignoring that Sougo had his first Henshin two episodes ago, and stole his first Legend Rider's power last episode. I don't... I'm not sure how many more warning signs it's going to take? We're going to be fifty years in the future, with Old Man Geiz saying, "Okay, Oma Zi-O: One more obliterated village and I'm going to think you're becoming evil! I'm watching you!")

This is actually a common misconception that I've seen a lot of fans make. As a Certified Zi-O Expert who's gone through rigorous training at an accredited institution (Omacademy Of Zi-O Study; "After our three-day course, You'll Be Over-Quartzified!") I can tell you that Tsukuyomi did not, in fact, take Sougo back to the Edo era. She specifically took him to Toei's Edo set, which was bringing in revenue as a tourist attraction. (Basically, a Japanese Renaissance Fair.) The year was actually 2018, which is why no one noticed hers or Sougo's clothes.

Hope this clears things up!

I don't really have anything to say about this episode. I don't remember much about it or the next, frankly. I do remember the school scenes, but forgot which episode they were were.

I'm not sure what the deal is with Geiz and his neck thing, but it was pretty funny that he wore that with his school uniform.

In any case, I really came here for our English cover of the week. Excite seems to be a hard one to actually sing and make sound decent? I chose this as I think it at least sounds pretty decently close to the original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhSU...K0TjZo&index=1

That's his Threatening Sougo neckwear, and it's always in style.

Well, here we are at episode 3. I think I can clear this with.

Ridewatch Playlist - Buttocks Storage Mix.

So, without further ado, let?s do all but one of Ex-Aid's watches (I'm saving the last one for a special occasion later on).

https://youtube.com/watch?v=B4Mt41dEVMA

"Fighting with the power of games, the Doctor Rider is... Ex-Aid"

And in case you're thinking I'm just going to tack the opening theme onto every main Rider?s primary form, you would be wrong. (There are two mixes later on which don't feature the main theme at all in any form) , so I'm giving Ex-Aid his battle song, Stormy Story https://youtube.com/watch?v=YGSYG9sP684

"The RPG Rider of swords and magic is Brave"

And since he has no inserts, I?m using his V-Cinema's theme song Fellow Soldier https://youtube.com/watch?v=FDV5SYahNtg

"100 shots, 100 hits, the Shooting Rider is Snipe"

And here is where I use EXCITE https://youtube.com/watch?v=E13jVMczRJg

"Bursting! The high gear Bike Rider is Lazer"

And this is the song I went with for your personal best in show, Kaze no Mukou e https://youtube.com/watch?v=VOekMW6_P1c

"Fighting with Pipupepo power, the Mascot Rider is... POPPY!"

And here I went for the obvious choice, People Game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX9X...cGxlIGdhbWU%3D

"Puzzles and fighting. The Rider fighting with two games is Para-DX"

And his theme is Real Game https://youtube.com/watch?v=6j3CAHoZQhs

"The ultimate Game Master. The Rider with the talents of a god is... Genm"

And for him, I went for the theme of his TTFC battle with Thouser, Game Changer https://youtube.com/watch?v=eHDrMK7l0QY

"The power of a god with mastery over time. The ultimate Last Boss Rider is... Cronus"

And he also gets his insert theme, JUSTICE https://youtube.com/watch?v=-FHdFqgni-g

"Ex-Aid is Level MAX! Super machine Maximum Gamer"

"The hyper invincible golden body. Perfect Victory"s Ex-Aid! Muteki Gamer!"

And the song of choice is Time of Victory https://youtube.com/watch?v=w2jvEKlo1po

"The white-bodied legendary hero. Brave Legacy Gamer"

"The admiral armoured in the battleship, Snipe Simulation Gamer"

https://youtube.com/watch?v=X3tx6QvsWv8

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

"You are me and I am you. The split-in-two Ex-Aid. Double Action Gamer XXL/XXR"

While I wanted to use B.A.T.T.L.E.G.A.M.E, it turned out that this form(s) had its own theme, entitled Let's Try Together https://youtube.com/watch?v=k3i5rzZze-w

And now for the list of the unreleased, though Ex-Aid did well in the fan poll, getting three out of 10 winners (Poppy, Cronus and the one I'm being secretive about, which you can probably deduce)

Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Action Gamer Level 1)
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Robot Action Gamer Level 3)
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Sports Action Gamer Level 3)
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Burger Action Gamer Level 4)
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Hunter Action Gamer Level 5 - Full Dragon)
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Double Action Gamer Level X)
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Ghost Gamer Level 1)
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Ghost Gamer Level 2)
Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (Creator Gamer)
Kamen Rider Brave (Quest Gamer Level 1)
Kamen Rider Brave (Beat Quest Gamer Level 3)
Kamen Rider Brave (Hunter Quest Gamer Level 5 - Full Dragon)
Kamen Rider Brave (Fantasy Gamer Level 50)
Kamen Rider Brave (Galaxian Gamer)
Kamen Rider Snipe (Shooting Gamer Level 1 ? Proto)
Kamen Rider Snipe (Shooting Gamer Level 1)
Kamen Rider Snipe (Combat Shooting Gamer Level 3)
Kamen Rider Snipe (Hunter Shooting Gamer Level 5 - Full Dragon)
Kamen Rider Lazer (Bike Gamer Level 1)
Kamen Rider Lazer (Chambara Bike Gamer Level 3)
Kamen Rider Lazer (Hunter Bike Gamer Level 5 - Dragon Claw)
Kamen Rider Lazer Turbo (Bike Gamer Level 0)
Kamen Rider Lazer Turbo (Proto Sports Bike Gamer Level 0)
Kamen Rider Lazer Turbo (Proto Combat Bike Gamer Level 0)
Kamen Rider Lazer-X
Kamen Rider Genm (Action Gamer Level 1)
Kamen Rider Genm (Sports Action Gamer Level 3)
Kamen Rider Genm (Wizard Gamer Level 1)
Kamen Rider Genm (Wizard Gamer Level 2)
Kamen Rider Genm (Action Gamer Level 0)
Kamen Rider Genm (Zombie Action Gamer Level X-0)
Kamen Rider Genm (Proto Sports Action Gamer Level 0)
Kamen Rider Genm (God Maximum Gamer Level Billion)
Kamen Rider Para-DX (Puzzle Gamer Level 50)
Kamen Rider Para-DX (Fighter Gamer Level 50)
Kamen Rider Para-DX (Double Fighter Gamer Level 39)
Ride-Player
Kamen Rider True Brave
Kamen Rider Fuma
Kamen Rider Another Para-DX

Now as for the episode, since the white dudes have been talked about, I'll mention that Ora's name is Italian for "hour" (I can confirm, they aren't just going to use foreign translations of hour for every Time Jacker) and move on to Another Ex-Aid. He contrasts the original in that he?s someone who?s manufacturing a disease to save his son's life, whereas Emu became a doctor to cure diseases after one saved his life. And as for design, he?s essentially a twisted version of Mighty from Mighty Action X, reflecting how the Bugsters were opponents from video games bought to life, while also bearing a resemblance to the Predator from its eponymous movie (Yeah, a few Another Riders will resemble something from pop culture, but aside from here, it's appropriate to the Rider they're based on).

And there's also a slight goof I noticed on rewatching. When Geiz activates Finish Time: Drive, the voice announcing "Drive" is that of the Build Driver when you crank the handle with only the Drive bottle inserted. https://youtube.com/watch?v=A7J-u9ZdHHc

I completely forgotten/missed that, it's been a while (Though my mind should have cast back to Fourze when they went to Kyoto). But thanks for clearing the misconception!

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP03)

I don't really have a ton of strong memories about this one? Which is, I guess, exactly what I also remember most about it. The general sense that it was the first "regular" episode of the show. A lot less cramped than those first two, and a lot less devoted to setting up a status quo, meaning it had way more room to breathe, which was nice. Reading Die's thoughts on it, especially, it's like, yeah, I also kinda dig that this one made so much room just for wacky school antics. I definitely enjoy that aspect to the dynamic of the main trio in Zi-O, where Sougo is this super awkward goofy kid, and then Tsukuyomi and Geiz act as foils to that while also being awkward kids. In particular, the idea of the two of them always having that one part of their outfit they never stop wearing was a stroke of genius in my book. I adore how literally it visually represents the idea that they never *quite* grasp how to blend in with the crowd. It makes them seem kind of adorably dumb, and that's something that fits right in with Sougo.

Very cool! And thanks for the RideWatch clips!

Happy to help! Definitely remember this very factual and correct anecdote! Don't bother looking it up! Any other source is just trying to trick you!

Yeah, all of their hamfisted surveillance and unconvincing infiltration really worked for me. It's the first episode where I could see the Time Orphans as kids who've taken on too much, rather than highly-skilled warriors from a bleak future. I was right there with Sougo when he was shocked they were his age. Getting to see them as goofy kids play-acting as hardened warriors... man, it was exactly what I needed this show to do.

Guess compared to the previous 2, I understand here about how a character focus can produce a much better result (compared to an introductory episode and an utterly confusing episode). Still though character focus isn't the best way or that other way is worse it's the execution. This episode played what's established about the characters previously well. Sougo is destined to become a dystopian ruler and Geiz with Tsukuyomi time traveled from 2068 to the present to avoid Ohma Zi-O future (for this part, their approach doesn't really matter)? Have them investigate Sougo by infiltrating the school he's in!

This'd add up more establishment for the trio that played up their origins, that Sougo's still ordinary student and that Geiz and Tsukuyomi are both young too. This'd play up the latter 2's characterization more that they're from the future, thus they're out of touch to the personal era (remember they're still young)... which is similar to Sougo but with reasons that make more sense, they're still keeping their trademark part of their outfit, as well as doing the job badly in investigating him. Oh, I forgot. despite being out of touch, other than Geiz and Tsukuyomi's 'capabilities' in following Sougo, Sougo's actually can be cunning and manipulative which he used here to get rid from those 2. Geiz and Tsukuyomi also didn't actually attend class, though they got bento from the clueless Junichiro, still a good thing though to eat that as Junichiro is a supreme cook.

Hiiro is a hero in the beginning too.... anti-hero is a subcategory of hero. Him doing good things for selfish reasons would still create a good outcome for those others, but the selfish reason made his morality on a grey area. And true Geiz inadvertently gave Sougo the solution with his mocking of Sougo trying the Mighty Action X game... and I think it's a lesson that can be taken from Sougo (though this'd be hard to implement) instead, that he here focuses on finding the solution, rather than focusing on defending his pride or such with Geiz mocking him. That means the one that should be put on focus are something on the bigger picture instead of the more petty thing. Regarding him 'turning more like Kamen Rider'.... so what are you using the term Kamen Rider for? Because there are lots of evil Kamen Rider that never changed since Heisei Phase 1.

This is completely subjective stuff though. If the show establish that as a rule then yeah, gotta work up on that. This has been told before too in the Build 2-parter that only the same power can beat the Another Rider. I also think that the Another Rider can only be beaten by the same power is a no limits fallacy anyway, like, I don't believe that really overpowered Riders (or other power wielder) can't put down a pseudo-MOTW in Another Riders. The heroes being at standstill isn't equal to banging their heads against the wall as they aren't in hopeless situation as in Cronus debut or something.

Ora? Playful? Lol. She acted playful here... keyword here... but well...
Regarding lunatic teenagers, so better keeping Geiz as taciturn assassin? Sougo's suggestion here is more in line with his Ohma Zi-O persona, that it goes even beyond Geiz' brutality here to just murder. Ex-Aid isn't what I had on my mind about teamwork though... the trio living together on Junichiro's place gave me the vibes of Phase 1 Heisei more.

Some of it's also... like, I'm not sure what Geiz and Tsukuyomi's home-life was like? The only stuff we've seen so far is that Oma Zi-O is blowing up people's loved ones every minute of every day, and then using Time Powers to blow them up some more. Like, did Geiz ever go to school? Is he just some child soldier? Tsukuyomi briefly mentions that she's played non-tactile games (so there's some fun in this dystopian future? Although: Ready Player One) but it's unclear if she's had any non-warfare/non-time travel education.

And then, it's also letting Sougo be a help, because Geiz and Tsukuyomi are pretty bad at just existing in a place? They're great at Time Missions and stuff, but they're not great at being two teenagers. Sougo can help them out with that, which makes his-- his whole thing come off a little more useful.

She's playful in the main episode! She blows on that pinwheel!

Not only does it make for a funny visual, but for Geiz specifically I take it as symbolism as to how he's trying to keep himself concealed and guarded; Both literally and figuratively not sticking his neck out. I love it.

Maybe I'm totally off base here, but I moreso took the whole method of defeating Another Riders to more be the case that they can only be permanently defeated via the Ride Armors. Like, we clearly see our heroes defeating the Monster Riders in combat, it's just that without the proper Ride Armor, the Anothers can just get easily revived a short time afterward.

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 4 - “NO CONTINUES 2016”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio4a.png

Episodes 3 and 4… they’re just a better introduction to this show? In almost every way?

It’s not wildly different than the first two episodes, when you think about it. The broad strokes are the same: Another Rider, mistrust, exposition, Time Jacker, a Legend Rider gracefully abdicating their power to the newest hero, Sougo hilariously screwing up a finisher, lessons learned. It’s a standard early-series thing, where we’re establishing a formula so that the viewers can get comfortable with this year’s storytelling. The beats are pretty similar.

They’re just executed so well, where the show is both leveraging the Legend Rider aspect better, and letting the kids of Team Zi-O feel more like characters and less like plot pieces.

It’s a set of episodes that draw smartly from Ex-Aid’s version of Teamwork, where it’s more about finding commonality with people you don’t like in order to achieve a shared goal. The heroes of Ex-Aid mostly despised each other, but they still managed some Perfect Co-op when the moment required it. They looked past their conflicting motivations and general messiah/martyr complexes to see that they wanted the same thing, just for different reasons. Achieving their shared goal was a positive for everyone, so it was worth tabling their feuds for a few minutes.

That’s pretty much Geiz and Sougo? Geiz isn’t convinced that Oma Zi-O isn’t only a couple charmingly-obtained RideWatches away for Sougo, and Sougo can’t really convince him that there isn’t a chance that Oma Zi-O is where this all ends up. There’s all this mistrust and uncertainty to what the future holds, and what the best course of action is… so maybe it’s easier to focus on the present? On the immediate task? Fighting Another Rider, saving a life, it doesn’t really matter what Sougo thinks of Geiz or what Geiz thinks of Sougo. The outcome is positive, so it’s worth pursuing together.

The Ex-Aid character comparisons from last episode, with Geiz and Hiiro, continue in this episode, but not at all how I’d expected. It’s a little thread about how the bottomless empathy and desire to avoid conflict for Team Zi-O is Tsukuyomi, not Sougo. (He's a sweet kid in this one, though.) While Geiz is the headstrong I’m Not Here To Make Friends grump that made Hiiro go It Me, Sougo listens to Emu plead with a crazed father to stop harming innocents and looks to Tsukuyomi, to say We Have One Of Those On Our Team Too. Sougo sees the way that she holds out hope that people can be better than their worst moment, and sees Emu’s compassion, and really gets how he fits into this group of weirdo teenagers.

It’s an episode that massively rehabilitates Sougo’s place in the group from the horrifying disregard of the first couple episodes. He’s starting to see that Geiz and Tsukuyomi aren’t wacky neighbors or impetuous killers, they’re two people who are here to host a year-long intervention for him. The series stakes are legitimized by humanizing them; by seeing Geiz’z anger and Tsukuyomi’s uncertainty, and caring about them both, Sougo has to treat Oma Zi-O as a real threat. He has to be a better person, now, today, for these two kids. He needs to be a positive influence on the world, because he sees how worried they are. His actions matter now.

It’s a phenomenal episode for our team. It takes all of the best non-Lazer parts of Ex-Aid (I love how they explicitly set the 2016 stuff in the second episode of Ex-Aid so that 1, Hiiro could be a massive asshole; and 2, there’d be a canonical reason why only Brave and Ex-Aid are around) to tell a story about working with people who you aren’t quite friendly with, and how a good team includes multiple viewpoints to see all the possibilities. It’s a story so smart and mature that I think it put Emu through puberty again? (His voice got so deep!)

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/zio4b.png

—

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O COMPLEMENTATION PROJECT EPISODE 4.5 - “A CONFESSION FROM LEGENDS”

PLEASE STOP TRYING TO EXPLAIN THESE THINGS.

THE EXPLANATIONS ARE CONFUSING AND RIDDLED WITH PLOTHOLES.

EX-AID LOSING HIS POWERS IN 2016 WOULDN’T AFFECT BRAVE, BECAUSE BRAVE GOT HIS POWERS FIRST.

IT DEFINITELY ALSO WOULDN’T AFFECT GENM, WHO WOULD PROBABLY END UP RULING THE WORLD.

YOU ARE ONLY MAKING IT WORSE.

You’re also making Sougo more relatable by his confusion, so I guess it’s not all bad? (Also, Geiz, you and Sougo are friends. Just accept it.) (Also also, no, I will not be calling Emu “B-M”. Never. That’s rude.)

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zio/ziocp4a.png

Yeah okay, see for the whole Rider Powers disappearing you need to understand that in this series, the Main Rider is basically the center of everything and if they're erased, everything falls apart and ceases to exist. Like just everything related to stuff.

Anyway in terms of these episodes, this basically completes our full introductory arc of the status quo. While 1 and 2 definitely set up things, 3 and 4 basically fully set up everything. Not much to say other than I really love Ex-Aid Armor's gauntlet hammers!

This time for our BGM Preview we have two sets of BGM Swaps given the content of next time. For this one in particular I prefer the first one but I appreciate the added touches in the second BGM Swap.

Zero's Legend Episode Previews Corner - EP 5 Preview:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI01eg13UhU

Not relating to anything to the topic at hand apart from being ZI-O related, but...

Tsukuyomi a cute.
That's it.

https://scontent.fmnl13-2.fna.fbcdn....vg&oe=6254DE1F

This is relevant! I will allow it! I will also agree with it!

Huh that was kind of fast it almost feels like you kind of done a 180 on Sougo and your investment on the whole conflict between him and the future thanks to humanizing Geiz and Tsukuyomi. I thought it would've taken at least 5 episodes lolm

But yeah I'm echoing how you feel that this was a better introduction arc than the actual premeire it establish a base formula, characters, and antagonist while allowing the cast to grow through interaction both with themselves and the Legends.

I also love the blending of using actual episodes as times go back to. It a easy way of incorperating nostalgia with the plot seeing Ex-Aid episode 2 again but this time with a robot flying over it.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FFikMgAU...jpg&name=large
Also for no other reason I'm posting this image. I just love the color grading on Brave costume in this scene. It makes blue even more appealing than it already is too me

Episode 4....

-It's been a while since Ex-Aid, I don't remember if Emu was always the type to be weirdly cryptic about his plans, or its just an odd quirk of Zi-O's writing. Him trying to make the dad voluntarily give up his powers definitely felt like Emu to me tho.

-I feel like the Ridewatch handoff here too, was also slightly better than Bulid? With Sougo understanding what Emu's plan was and being willing to help, drawing parallels between Tsukuyomi and Emu. Feels more like a better way of doing the "Oh this kid's alright! sure I'll give you this weird watch that I'm not even sure why I'm carrying this!" thing.

-that last scene with our trio?? With Sougo essentially telling them to pull the trigger whenever they feel is right, because he trusts their judgement? I think this is where I first looked at Sougo at anything other than neutral, I think it says alot about him that while he's not giving up on his dreams of becoming King, he does properly recongize how severe Oma Zi-O is as a threat and is willing to die by Tsukuyomi and Geiz's hands, yknow?

-Side note.....I know we briefly talked about Geiz and Tsukuyomi's fashion sense lasttime, but can we talk about Sougo's? I noted he dresses rather plainly in my first watch, but I'd forgotten how Baggy his clothes are, dude's drowning in there. Sougo's actor has a pretty small frame, so maybe they wanted him to look a bit bigger? (But it kinda backfires whenever he puts the Jiku Driver on, it gives him a cinched waist look lmao)


......I personally count stuff like that under Rule #3, because things get Complicated if you start thinking about Rider Erasure for too long.

Like, how far back does the "Making Sure This Person Doesn't Become A Rider" rewrites go? Do you just make sure they never get the Driver in their hands? For Riders with specific conditions to become one (Smash essence intake, Bugster Virus, etc), do we erase those events as well? What happens to Rider suits who has multiple users, like Build? Erase the Driver from existence i guess, but that opens up another can of worms.....It's an endless rabbit hole, better to not think about it too much.

So, here's a secret, please don't tell anyone else in this thread: I desperately want to like these shows. I hate hating them. For as critical as I can come off, and as angry as I can get about certain things (see below!), I genuinely love Kamen Rider shows. All of them. Every single cast. I was so angry at the first episode of this show because it is so easy to get me on a show's side, and they couldn't even manage that. When they put the merest effort into telling a thematically coherent story with characters I enjoy watching, I'm thrilled.

It's a little weird? I can chalk it up to him being a little older now (that adult timbre to his voice!), maybe, but I think it's more to do with how Team Zi-O is going about things? Emu's desperately trying to get the dad to reconsider his actions and be there for his son, while Team Zi-O is all about Rider Kicks and power-ups. It's a little insensitive? And 100% not helping?

Yeah, it's a million miles away from his Sucks To Be You attitude of the premiere. In a way that has a great big flashing HERE IS ONE OF THE THEMES OF THE SHOW over it, Sougo's appraisal of a piece of history (well, future history, but still) takes on a deeper significance when he can connect it to individual struggles. It's not Oma Zi-O Is Bad, it's his friends being hurt by his choices. There's a weight to it, from him understanding that History is a dry fact, but history is something that affected people.

It's summertime! Give these kids a break! Japanese summers can get humid!

So, here's the part that makes me madder at this new piece of information than literally anything else in this show: it means Kamen Riders objectively make everything worse. If every single apocalyptic villain and every single rampaging monster can be eliminated because one single hero never gained their powers, Narutaki from Decade was right: Kamen Riders are the villains of these shows.

I hate that idea so much.