After a few years of Kouta's space-godness basically being "Yeah he can just fly around space and also dig up Mr Belt from the Drive Pit", having him be represnted with such abstract, overwhelming weirdness is great. Not to mention how he's the first one to resist getting wiped from time just long enough to fix Geiz and Sougo's relationship with a helpful bit of time trickery. Thank you Fruit Jesus.

Oh, and also in "Minor plot details that no-one should worry about", I remember people theorising/claiming that the Hellheim here is a fake created by Another Gaim, which is why Baron didn't turn into an Invess after five minutes.

Yeah, I've liked how the show has had the few Geiz plots be ones with secondaries. It's fun to see grim executioner Geiz run up against dudes who've already had his character arc (Hiiro, Kaito) or dudes who could not be less impressed with his character arc (Kousuke).

Judgmentally-Weird Space God is my favorite post-show version of Kouta. I do sorta miss that orange puffy vest, though.

I didn't like how Kaito ended up as a villain, but I thought it was smart to use that as a warning to Geiz about what he could became if he doesn't change his ways. Reminds me of Kaito's advice to Shapool about fighting for your right to live in Gaim Saga Balon, which was also written by Mouri, along with Gaim Saga Knuckle and some of the Gaim episodes I actually enjoyed. I thought it was a good decision to let him write this arc for sure.

Since you brought up God Kouta's fashion sense, I want to mention that I like his new casual white outfit. It looks a lot more practical than the Kiwami armor he was wearing before.

Oh right... how can I forget. Undercover was the word I'm looking for. I do thought Sougo went undercover against Kuroto somewhat. But then again you thought Sougo became cunning instead of always cunning, and I thought Sougo puts a dimwitted act normally unless when it's necessary (ep. 8). I guess it can also be a case of how Sougo's scatter-brained act is too convincing that it can be a criticism for some that he seems inconsistent or the series being tryhard to make him not seem a fool, including him extending his stay to further investigate Kuroto's rule by fighting Geiz, also capturing Eiji and Hina. At least it's not portrayed as if Sougo realized Kuroto is wrong or something, he just stated his true motivation later when taking him down. And to be specific I was refering to scenarios like Ryuki Survive debut or especially when Shinji's the one almost finishing him. Also Geiz constantly looked for excuse to kill Sougo (I refer to the fight where Geiz fought him with Sougo using Geiz's kick to henshin for example, that's started by Geiz), if he can go through that is not known but likely not... i̶t̶'̶d̶ ̶f̶u̶r̶t̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶R̶e̶n̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶p̶p̶e̶a̶r̶e̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶.

And even Sougo's last name is Tokiwa. Toki means time. His uncle also owns a clock shop and repair service. The intro also had Sougo inspecting clocks on his uncle's shop. Other than that Woz here gave a clock for Junichiro to fix.... finally being a customer that abides to Junichiro's needs. Woz seems to be trying to get along with Sougo's relatives too here, albeit probably he can do that to gain favor for Sougo. Woz further shows to be villainous here though (albeit he's affably evil) to act upon elimitating Geiz and prevent Sougo helping him, to ensure that the tyrant comes. But Sougo states Woz as a nice guy against Junichiro. You're right he can'r see the bad in people and that one is blind, or him acting stupid.

"All-powerful"... so both Sougo too? How did you guess that Sougo is also all-powerful? I know that Ohma Zi-O did rule the world but for him to be deemed all-powerful by that first.... For Kouta's advice to Sougo there, it's true that, they're your friends, not your tools. They're individuals who are allowed to act on their own and not be controlled to your own wishes even if it's well-meaning (doesn't mean they're allowed to be given free pass when they're wrong). That'd be potentially using those as pawns in worst case scenario. Ironically, Kouta's advice here would be an anti-Micchy approach, of which Kouta constantly being lenient to him due to their childhood relation thus he won't view Micchy this way, as someone who doesn't view his "friends" as people, but rather an emotional satisfaction and extension of himself, ignoring his friends' thoughts and feelings and forcing his views and methods on them, and would discard those who aren't going along.

True, there's a tease of Ora following Geiz and it makes sense that the Time Jackers would try to recruit Geiz as both wants to kill Zi-O, though with different goals. This is a parallel to Woz, where he's a villain that worked to help Ohma Zi-O that happens to be the cheerful hero, thus he's creating good outcomes for now by giving Sougo more power to help his desire to save the day. While the Time Jacker planned for a hero, albeit anti-heroic one, to help them in fulfilling his goal, that had similar method to Time Jackers, thus he'd create bad outcome by helping Time Jacker's goals. For screwing around with history, I don't know if that alone is wrong, I'd view Time Jackers as being wrong for not creating better outcome than Ohma Zi-O but reshaping it for their own selfish desires as well as the people who got hurt in their plans like the Armored Riders' victims. Geiz is wrong due to targeting the still-noble Sougo for now, and his black and white mentality to Another Riders is unrelated to him time travelling.

I guess it's more of a weird situation than her acting weird. It'd be odd for both her and Woz that Sougo keeps going and coming back with him making statements that are different from his current occupation. And that there's a new consequence too for now that Sougo getting Gaim Arms isn't something that is recorded on Woz's book yet (he's a prophet). Though both Sougos here know Tsukuyomi well and trusts her to help them going on both of their respective mission. Her being exasperated about insane things is the opposite of being weird... she's taking the sane (wo)man role here, actually that's a voice of reason role still. And the part of her getting Sougo into a fight to test... it's not recognized as quirky part of her or such by others.

Kaito shows off his social mastery again to correctly evaluate that Geiz has hesitation on his part to do his mission. Like usual he reveals something within person that they deny or even don't realize. Other than that, Geiz is ironically dealing with someone that is a bit similar to Sougo, that while Kaito's an anti-hero for most of the series, at the end, as Lord Baron, he turned into an anti-villain who'd want to improve the world, but is done by destroying the current one. Sougo's a more extreme case on both ends, in the original timeline he was a straight hero (if he was the same in his youth as him now) that turned into straight villain, even irredeemable one.

I forgot to post this before going to work, so here we are.

I've been looking forward to this when I started it. These, especially their other Kamen Rider English cover, are kinda what got me to do this whole bit. They are fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTpt...K0TjZo&index=3

One thing I forgot to mention is that I love how Woz finally gives the Uncle a clock to repair… and he goes into the usual spiel about how he only repairs clocks.

It sorta matches Mai's outfit now, which I prefer. They finally both look like they're in the same Final Fantasy cosplay group!

I think some of it's also Sougo's belief in his own morality. Sougo doesn't think he'll become Oma Zi-O due to his own innate sense of right and wrong, or the influence of the Time Orphans, or whatever. So when Woz shows up to get Sougo to embrace his power and become a Despot, Sougo just adds a Good prefix onto that title automatically. Every Woz that, to us, plays as Woz Is Trying To Build A Time Tyrant, to Sougo just plays as A Fan Is Giving Me Solid Advice. It's not so much Sougo ignoring or misunderstanding Woz'z motivations or goals, it's Sougo viewing any assistance as a stepping stone to being a Gooder Despot.

It can be both! The situation is increasingly inexplicable, sure, but she's getting sort of manic and testy about it. She's not confused, at a certain point; she's angry. It's really fun!

Worth the wait! Thanks!

It's such a good gag! The delivery on that joke is so perfect, because it takes forever to finally land on the Like This punchline. Uncle's got some impeccable comedic timing.

Wow, looking at these images, I forgot how gorgeous the cinematography is.

This episode is all about visuals! And Gaim Armor is visually and aesthetically appealing. It comes in just like the Fruit Armors from Gaim, zipper and everything, it's got multiple "arms" resembling sliced fruit, and Sougo, continuing to butcher his Senpais catchphrases, goes full Kabuki. I also love how, thinking back on it, Another Gaim could probably double as an Overlord Gaim.

I also think I finished Gaim at this point? But again, I'm not too sure at the moment. But I did kind of like this episode... But then there's the time shenanigans. Nothing wrong, per se, but it's a little off? Maybe they were trying to reference Mai from Gaim, but something just bugs me about how they pull it off. Of course, maybe that's just my brain skewing my perception of it, since it ain't fresh in my mind, and the episode set it up that way, and I'm once again chasing myself into a corner.

Anyway, nice to see the Forest of Helheim again, absolutely nailing the visuals, and Kaito. I didn't forget about Kouta, our favorite Space Fruit God, and the crazy world he appears in when confronting Sougo (wow, someone's an artistic lad). And Woz brought Uncle a clock to fix! The stars have aligned!

Another note, I love the Time Jackers' Time Majins and how they're based off things from previous Rider Shows, not only that but they look pretty darn good, too.

M̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶M̶a̶i̶'̶s̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶f̶i̶t̶ ̶l̶o̶o̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶a̶c̶k̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶K̶o̶u̶t̶a̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶o̶u̶t̶f̶i̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶m̶a̶t̶c̶h̶ ̶K̶o̶u̶t̶a̶'̶s̶.̶

Nice explanation for what Sougo thinks regarding Woz here. True that Woz's assistance would be a help to Sougo thus he's seen as nice... and Sougo can be oblivious to the surroundings, like how people feel. Other than that what do you think regarding:

Well, an absolutely confusing opening sequence that promises an event that the show has no idea how to eventually deliver would be a very apt Gaim tribute!

I mean, we don't know if Another Gaim (for example) is going to work out better for humanity than Oma Zi-O or Sougo The Good Despot (probably not as good for dance crews, maybe), which is sort of Swartz'z point. Changing History has unintended consequences any way you try it, so why is Geiz'z version more heroic than Swartz'z? (Not my view, but it's the Time Jacker argument for moral relativism.)