It is, and I like that it's exactly what Woz was afraid of. He doesn't mind Sougo having unexpected motivations for obtaining power, but changing history -- even a little bit -- is completely out-of-bounds. Little changes like a guard being alive when he should've died could lead to massive changes to the future, and Woz'z inability to gently guide Sougo away from those decisions is a great motivation for a ramped-up villain group.

Yeah, the Decade RideWatch seems to have completely different principles behind it than the other RideWatches. Nothing in Tsukasa's arc says that he's not the same guy we knew in the Decade series, down to his power set and (enhanced) Driver. I definitely took him as having all his old memories.

I should point out that it's the existence of the Another Rider that removes their memories, not the presence of a RideWatch. There is no Another Decade here, so he is never replaced. There's a bit more than that, but I can't say at this point, but the lack of an Another Decade is enough to explain the lack of memory loss.

Good point! Thanks!

Let me say this to start: as someone who loves a good portmanteau, the Heisaber is possibly the single most delightfully named doodad in all of Kamen Rider. The fact that I don't really remember what it looks like or what it does (specifically; obviously, it shoots CGI at things like most other Rider weapons) cannot detract from that.

Second, I want to talk a little bit about Zi-O's Decade armor. I generally like it. Decade's design is an all-time favorite, of course, so there's so automatic predisposition, but I think it avoids the big problem that I have with with the other Rider Armors. This is kind of related to my big problem with Rider weapons in general, but I'm rarely a big fan of armor power-ups. I think that Gaim is the only show that pulled it off well. With Zi-O and Ex-Aid, in particular, it often comes off looking like a mess of giant floppy foam and plastic pieces hanging off of the suit. The Decade armor, in contrast, is relatively clean and it brings back a lot of the lines from the original suit that I enjoyed so much.

It does, yeah. I guess it's not a spoiler to say that the show did start changing how it handled a lot of these elements now, but I will say that, in hindsight, it began earlier than I remembered.

I think Build will always be my favorite usage of both form changes and power-ups. The form changes in particular were neat palette swaps and weird accessories, rather than bulky pauldrons and crazy headdresses.

Zi-O's really leaned into a Maximalist aesthetic for the suits and monsters, so I can't pretend that Decade Armor isn't very much an expression of the story's reality, but I still don't dig it.

That said, I like how they slipped 2009 into the big barcode on the chest. That's cute.

I've actually never seen Zi-O(I saw that it was being written by the guys who made Ninninger(the show that killed Sentai for me) and butchered Hibiki(other than Inoue) and decided I was staying the f--k away)(funnily enough I'm told the Hibiki episodes are the best ones) but I'm told a reoccurring problem with it isn't that the main cast is poorly written per say but the recurring characters steal the spotlight from them 90% of the time

I didn't talk about those other people but me (actually would feel more alone here), I was more talking about the inconsistency part or such, not about his "the worst" traits. Him being instrumental in the defeat of those menaces are due to him being OP, you only need to be powerful (or genius) enough to be instrumental of anything (not that being a gigantic pain in the ass makes one being powerful). For favoritism was talking not about Zi-O but in general for any other franchise aspect.

From what I said before, the similarity between Sougo and Tsukasa are both of them being manipulative and that it can cause tensions to the allies (like Woz against him changing time here I guess), but other than that, both are also anniversary Riders who deal with threats to all of the Kamen Rider multiverse that stems from their own actions from their time as nearly all-powerful villains (Destroyer of the World, Ohma Zi-O). And other contrast is that, Tsukasa's villainy was in the past whereas Sougo's is in the future (2068). Tsukasa met alternate versions of the other Riders, while Sougo meets the actual legend Riders (y'know, the returning actors even Takumi Inui). Tsukasa was portrayed in his show as the most powerful Kamen Rider of all, and acted as a mentor who imparts lessons to the AR Riders that he meets, while Sougo is outclassed as a fighter and a hero by most of the other Riders that he encounters, and spends the show learning and growing from what they have to teach him.

Regarding Sougo and Takeru here, Sougo is being calculating and smart again, though the plan is quite simple to go back in time so Makimura won't die. It still won't prevent the threat as Heure still shoved the Ghost Watch, but Heure's mind games are solved here as previously it was relying on the heroes still letting Makimura died if they beat Another Ghost, but now if Another Ghost is beaten, then it's the usual the host is reverted back. Takeru also saw through Geiz's denial with him fighting for Sougo of which his tsundere tendencies are becoming more and more obvious. Now Zi-O got a mid-season upgrade in Decade Ridewatch that also allows him to access other mid-season upgrades, but this is the part where I draw a line at bulkiness, as I said before I'm not into the overly boxy design here or also the "plastered" Rider face/other parts.

This tribute is executed well yeah, compared to like, OOO tribute before of which it was more of a Kuroto tribute. And Heiseiber is a nice name! Like a well-played word play.

Don't know how to feel on this with the misguided view of masculinity that pink makes them more sissy or something here (including Tsukasa correcting it as magenta ofc, but it's not about him but about overall directing here).

The Time Jackers removing Decade's powers would require an understanding of just what the fuck happened in the Decade Movie Wars, that's why he's fine. As a certain Dhampir said, "Decade has no story".

But yeah, Ghost 2-parter! Always fun to see Takeru back, as others have said, everyone of his post-show appearances, but also more of the gang makes this feel like an extended outing for the Ghost cast. And, let's be real, if any secondary could just jump in for five minutes for a fight scene with no other explanation than "I've got your back", it would be Makoto.

I don't remember the details, but it's something how well this works as a Ghost plot when it also has to be the introduction of everyone's favourite destroyer of worlds, Tsukasa Kadoya. There were a lot of jokes before Zi-O aired that they should just do Decade 2, and in a way, him being here almost makes that a reality. Of course, now we're on the flipside, with Decade actively assisting the villains because it probably amuses him. All that's missing is Narutaki showing up to warn the time orphans.

I mean, not really my experience, but it's worth finding out for yourself.

I don't think any of that is true?

For one, every tokusatsu hero eventually becomes powerful enough to defeat the Final Boss; that's just this genre's storytelling model. Every hero is eventually "OP", at least until the next hero's Winter Movie. It's a weirdly pejorative way of describing the central pillar of toy-driven storytelling.

For another, Tsukasa's problems can't ever be solved by being More Powerful, just like every other Kamen Rider doesn't resolve their central emotional conflicts with a power-up or role-play item. The stuff that Tsukasa has to fix inside himself... that struggle runs parallel to the monsters and supervillains and apocalypses. Him overcoming the things that are broken inside of him, that's the power he needs to defeat some giant CG monster or whatever. The point of all these shows is that the power is pointless without emotional growth.

The fact that the derided hero from the derided anniversary show could arrive to such breathless acclaim as a fix to this series is maybe the most perfect History Is Open To Interpretation metaphor I can think of. Tsukasa is just so many of this show's themes (Good Intentions Fade With Time, for example) wrapped up in a magenta shirt. It's so good!

Once again, as someone who's yet to see Ghost, I enjoyed this arc?

It's funny, since I have no real context about Ghost (except for "Ore wa Tenkuuji Takeru!" memes, and lots of dying), but I genuinely think I liked these episodes. It was rather fun to see Takeru and Sougo interact, especially for episode 14, it was an entertaining setup with them being invisible and working together to solve the arc's problem-of-the-week.

And of course, the return of our favorite Destroyer of Worlds whose always to blame for everything, (Onore) Decade, Tsukasa Kadoya! While he doesn't do much here, I like how his upgrade is simply "now he can use all the Heisei Riders," though funny enough, I wouldn't have minded seeing Tsukasa have a Jikuu Driver, or new belt. I don't know, maybe it's because I find it fun to see a returning character use the new season's gimmicks, which is seen in recent Ultra Seasons, but I'm happy to see this jerk back at it again.

And of course, I am a stupidly huge fan of Decade Armor. Its jingle is wonderful, having the stutter when activated, then bursts with energy once Zi-O dons the armor, the design fits the criteria of Decade Complete levels of absurd, featuring a card face mask (that changes between Riders to boot), a bar code with Katakana for "Kamen Rider Zi-O Decade Armor 2009." But a detail I find most interesting is that his eyes, that read "Decade," are green instead of Magenta/Pink (at this point, I'm convinced Zi-O is Pink, since Tsukasa insists Decade's Magenta, which is something he himself still stands by outside of Decade), almost making it seem like Decade's power is truly not his to control, considering how he obtains it.

Also, Woz and Tsukasa's interactions when Decade Armor debuted was glorious. And The Heiseiber is legitimately one of my favorite Rider weapons of all time. I just love the design, the sounds, the aesthetic, and that name. That wonderful name.

The .5 with Ghost was amusing in how Sougo and Geiz rip on Takeru for being the most Shounen Anime Rider, even bringing Dragon Ball, another property Toei owns which they jokingly bleep out (like with the BLEACH Movie they also did). And the one with Tsukasa... They said the thing! Gosh, I love how self-aware these things are.