I still don't know what "Over-Quartzer" means but while "Journey Through the Decade" was this very dramatic and almost melancholic ballad like Opening, Zi-O's is more jazzy, fun, and twisty which I think works pretty well.

Sougo's a nice kid who wants to be king. That's...pretty much it!

Toei wasted no time using their classic Edo sets. It's almost as much a staple as the Kamen Rider Quarry.

Where as Decade's design was kind of garish but in a way taht surprisingly worked and stood out, Zi-O's design is clinical, basic, yet it's functional nature serves to make the design still "pop" in my opinion.

I like everything about Tsukuyomi's whole look. That long dark hair, the white dress and black leggings, the boots, etc. It's a very eye-catching look that honestly wouldn't look out of place in an anime. Also from the get-go you have an interesting character conflict where we start out seeing her father (?) seemingly murdered by Ohma Zi-O but she still goes out of her way to save his younger self and give him a chance even when it seems like she's wasting her time. Which contrasts with Geiz who just wants to go full "time travel murder."

If I had a nickel for every time a 2nd Rider was introduced trying to kill the Main Rider...I mean, honestly I'd have a lot of nickels. I did find it kind of interesting that Zi-O didn't just get all the Main Riders, it was initially split between Geiz having some and Zi-O having some as well (although of course Zi-O got the most). I kind of wonder if making Geiz' gimmick being just 2nd Rider based could have worked.

Just like with Decade, the prior Rider has a role to play in the premier of an anniversary show, although it's actually Sento and not just some weird cosmic version of Wataru. Granted there's also some wibbly wobbly timey-wimey elements at play that kind of make Sento and Banjo's involvement a little...interesting, but it's still nice to see them.

I always thought the Another Riders were kind of a genius convention for this show because it kind of sums up the Heisei era of Kamen Rider and the entire concept of Kamen Rider by basically taking the Riders and turning them into Kaijin, fulfilling the need for Kamen Riders to fight Kaijin while also echoing the Rider vs Rider element that became a thing with the Heisei era. And, y'know, Riders are more often than not interconnected with their Kaijin so to just straight up make them Kaijin is perfect. They also come about it in creative ways where Another Build retains Build's Fullbottle gimmick but in a way that makes sense for the user rather than just a copy and paste. And if I remember right, did they not get the monster designer from the respective Rider shows to do the Another Rider designs?

I have watched the first episode! As a person who hasn't watched enough kamen rider I can say it was... okay. Die is right Sougo is a really weird protagonist as is his want to be king. We don't really get much in the way of depth here and I feel that's really really necessary when you're introducing a character who goes onto to be an evil tyrant. As of this moment it feels like Sougo puts his personal satisfaction over that of others, and like his call to action towards the end wasn't particularly interesting or satisfying.

I just don't get it, why does Sougo want to be a king what does he get out of it? What is a "King" in his mind? does he have an idea of what a king is? There are a lot of questions her about motivation tbh.

Geiz on the other hand is decently compelling, he's very classic rider in a sense taking up an unbearable burden (killing what amounts to an innocent man to save the future) so that no one else has to to suffer or carry that weight. Also he uses a ghost power up, and that's cool!

Tsukuyomi is also neat and is a clear opposite to Geiz. As Die noted earlier she wants to save Sougo from himself.

Woz is just generally neat and I enjoy his character and outfit (hoods are cool).

I haven't watched build, so I didn't feel much seeing Sento and Banjou, but they're interesting enough to establish some things and that time travel has effects on the time line, since I assume Sougo doesn't know anything about the skywall.

So overall it was passable. I just feel like I know nothing about Sougo and that's not good when he's the main character, and even worse when Kamen Rider is usually so good at setting up who main characters are and why they fight in first episodes.

Not a big Zi-O fan myself. Dropped watching it in the early 20s, and what I saw from people who kept going didn't really make me regret my choice. The one good thing I'll say though is that I had a bigger crush on Woz then I've ever had before or since on any other fictional character. His actor does an incredible job with the character, and I was mainly watching it for him. I also have weird taste in fictional men though, so your mileage may vary

I think I prefer Zi-O?

It sort of had to be more simplistic than Decade's suit, since the Legend gimmick is so different. Decade switched out entirely for the old suits, whereas Zi-O is always Plus Legend. There needs to be a simple suit underneath the Plus Legend, in order to keep the whole thing legible.

And I really like the gimmick of the suit designs! A friend of mine rolled his eyes when I explained it, but I love the watchband that runs down from the helmet... and the helmet is a watchface.

(The tiny "kamen" on the watchface and the great big "RIDER", I'm sort of split on. In another language? It looks cool. If it were in English? I'd probably hate it.)

Also, I appreciate Zi-O smartly repping the magenta! It's an anniversary tradition!

Ooh, I hadn't heard this! Can anyone confirm or deny?

It's weird, because this episode does take time to portray Sougo as someone who dislikes conflict? Like, he's okay getting pushed around and thrown in a lake, if it means it defused a fight. There's a tiny flash of him as a guy who wants to use his power to bring peace -- a very Kamen Rider thing! -- but the episode doesn't do a lot to highlight this as a motivation, or interrogate the facist overtones of that philosophy.

It's... I feel like this episode was intentional in not explaining Sougo's worldview, because every conceivable explanation is really unsettling.

Maybe my favorite part -- and the thing that solidified this as Geiz'z show -- is that Geiz travels back to kill Sougo, and almost the first thing Sougo does is declare that he's going to become a warlord no matter what.

Like, this is just proving Geiz right? That they should kill Sougo immediately? And Tsukuyomi was 100% wrong in thinking she could prevent the worst possible outcome?

A+ hero stuff for Kamen Rider Zi-O!

I don't 100% know how they want to explain this, but technically Build's world at this point in time is a parallel reality?

Woz, like Tsukuyomi, is plenty hot in a Fantasy RPG way. They both have this semi-regal look to them, which plays well against their theatrical nature and air of lunatic zeal. (They both come off headstrong in really watchable ways.)

But Geiz! Geiz, with his dedicated aggression and brooding demeanor! He's like like a time-traveling Ren from Ryuki, and that's nothing to sneeze at! Don't sleep on Geiz!

I prefer Decade's base design over ZI-O. Decade's whole silhouette and design stands out and allows his place as his own rider, it's got a bold and cool feeling to it. ZI-O's a bit too simplistic in my opinion and doesn't really speak about anything apart from the clock motif. He looks incomplete, which I guess is the point, considering he suits that come after (besides one) becomes much better.

I mean, I think that was the point, right? By introducing the secondary characters first, struggling from Oma ZI-O, we're thrown into their point of view as they meet Sougo. And it's the point that his idea of becoming king is absurd, ridiculous, and unfit of the current era he is in. And considering this is a Shirakura show, I think it's not the right idea to go into this analyzing every bit of of Sougo's psyche on why he wants to be king. At least not now and not at this level. He wants to be king, much to the dismay of his relatives and social life.

Even in his debut as a Kamen Rider, it's mostly not treated as this thing that is supposed to be good. It doesn't feel right that Sougo should have these powers.

Well, it's treated by Tsukuyomi and Geiz as something bad -- the first step towards becoming Oma Zi-O -- but I'm not at all sure the show is treating it as something bad? It gives Sougo this big heroic speech, complete with stirring music and beautifully-shot Henshin, and that's not the sort of thing you do unless you want to tell the audience how to feel. It definitely comes across as though we're supposed to be moved by Sougo's heroism.

And good, bad... not really what I'm most upset about? The idea that power doesn't necessarily have a moral coordinate is a standard Kamen Rider philosophy. Using Darkness To Bring Light, and all that. I got nothing against a story that wants to weigh the good Sougo could do in the present against the evil he might perpetrate in the future. It's more that there's no rational or relatable explanation for Sougo's desire to be a king, so the story just acts like there's no counter-argument beyond Potential Future Armageddon. I feel like there are plenty of other things you could put in the Con column!

They did not. The show only has two designers, Tamotsu Shinohara (Ryuki, Faiz, Kiva and Build) and Yutaka Izubuchi (who did some Sentai designs in the 80s). Getting every designer back would be impossible (since the guy who did Blade, Kabuto and Den-O died before the show was even conceived, while the guy who did Gaim is contracted to Gen Urobuchi?s company) and would result in a lot of clashing designs.

"I'm gonna be the nicest Demon King ever!" That's a line that made me believe I was going to like Sougo and Zi-O as a whole. It's such an absurd line, that I can't help but love. One of the best quotes of the season and the year.

This was the first Rider season I watched as it aired. I remember when Zi-O's design was first revealed, I instantly loved it. I adored the clock theme, the Katagana for Kamen (on the forehead) and Rider (for the eyes), the color scheme, the strong feeling of royalty it had, it was just so good.

The opening, Over X Quartzer, is fantastic! It's one of my favorite openings, both visually and musically, feeling very Anime for Rider (I'm aware the others had their own flair of "Anime-like," but Zi-O just hit something that went beyond that to me), and the detail at the end with every Kamen Rider logo cycling over to Zi-O's was great. Also really enjoy the almost Egyptian style music, fitting for Zi-O's theme about time and kingship.

Now onto the premiere, the start is straight-up Decade. Oma Zi-O (great suit by the way), just trampling over everyone felt like the beginning of Decade, which if funny since both are anniversary seasons. But I strangely love how there's a shrine to his debut transformation and the Heisei Riders (the worst future, nobody remembers the Showa Riders...) as a testament to his reign.

Then we meet Sougo, who starts out singin' "Oh, I just can't wait to be King!" and that's about it for his character, which somewhat baffles me how he ends up as Oma Zi-O in the first place, but hey, I had speculations, though I'll probably talk more about them later. Tsukuyomi, the one trying to resolve things peacefully, honestly didn't think too much of her, though she does have some moments. And then there's the best boy in the show, who I was convinced from the start, Woz. Just Woz. He may be a suped up Phillip, but he's the best, loved every moment he was on screen, just him being the Demon King's butler, without being an actual butler, was just a joy to watch every week. Also, boy, do people in the future have an interesting fashion sense.

The Another Riders are interesting, being monster versions of previous Riders, though part of me wishes they had elements of their own monsters in their designs for reasons I'll get into in a later post. But the idea of these being like "what if the Riders were never the good guys and stayed bad?" kind of deal, even though they're absolutely not, was something I liked about the villains, other than that used Za Warudo!

I really like the Time Majin, just the idea of a time travelling robot sounds cool, despite being only CGI. But the time travelling elements have some fun little details, like whenever the time period shows up on screen, and it's especially neat how in the Build timeline, it's the day after Cross-Z debuts. Speaking of Build, I loved seeing Sento and Banjo again, and how Sougo, despite knowing nothing about them, nerds out over the fridge lab (even if we don't see the inside), but just how well they were getting along before getting blasted.

And then there's Zi-O's majestic debut. Woz really made this transformation even better with his speech, as if the visual of Sougo's transformation wasn't cool enough on its own. And then finally, we have Ren- I mean Geiz! Whom, I'll talk about more in the next episode, but first impressions, "Die, boy!" also, collectable merch!

There's a thing in there about History Being Written By The Winners that I'm curious if this show will delve into. It's not unusual for tyrants to align themselves with the stories of former national heroes, to make their rise and reign feel contiguous with the country's backstory. That could be fun to see this show grapple with, someone twisting the Heisei Legacy for their own legitimacy.

I believe you've misspelled "Die's boy", as Geiz is the best cast-member Kamen Rider on this show so far, and the second-best character after Tsukuyomi. Please update your spellcheck, please and thank you.

Damn, it started and almost missing out (probably would come back into the Legend Rider thread later).

Actually what's baffling for me is about how Sougo wants to become a king.... but he doesn't actually work for it. You said he can't study to become a king, while what I thought was about how Sougo is all talk no action, which makes him really delusional, to become king you gotta study to become a wise, responsible, and knowledgable one which are iirc required trait to be a king, yet Sougo doesn't even want to go to study (at college here). So you're viewing things as generic if there's no reason? That seems more about not being fleshed out at this point, because even giving a reason for someone's desire still had them being able to be labeled generic.

At this point, yeah, Tsukuyomi is someone on the upper echelon on moral righteousness just like the main Riders (never count out Sougo from this though... he's likely naive and delusional but that isn't a moral flaw), she doesn't only have the good intention to improve the situation and outcome, but also the (Rider) sensibility to try to go for the best outcome for every party involved (other than being forced to KO Banjou), she knew that there was a tyrannical king on her timeline that she tried to fix, but she knows that it doesn't mean that any methods can be used to achieve that good intention, Sougo at this time, while annoying, is a harmless kid, she used the compassionate method to try to guide him on the right path as he's still harmless. Sougo doesn't deserve to be gruesomely killed at this point. And this is like the biggest appreciation for Tsukuyomi I've seen... ever. From what I get she's one of the most generally hated character in the whole franchise (likely for good reason, and likely you'd follow suit too later). It's as if your appreciation of Tsukuyomi here is just like how you appreciate Kai from Den-O.

Not saving innocent stranger, but he did accomplish something here, he stopped the fighting between people who are involved in a fight, or at least despite being dumped into water, he cares more about how the people arguing had stopped, he prioritizes what happens to others here, putting others above him. Otherwise Sougo is one of the most out of touch from reality characters in KR yeah. Though did he talk about being 'demon king' instead of being tyrant? (I watched this on local TV with dubs, so there'd be no subs) Because the term demon doesn't always mean figuratively, it can mean literally as if Sougo becomes someone that is demonic-looking/vibe/darkness power but is good despite the outer look.

Geiz makes sense, but he's in the wrong here as, just like the idea of time travelling to kill Hitler or such, at this point, Sougo hadn?t done anything monstrous enough to warrant his murder. He's the usual anti-heroic secondary Rider who'd dirty his hands to accomplish his goal, and his resemblance to Ren (Akiyama ok? Not Amagasaki) has been a memetic factor (and he truly does resemble him!). But there'd be something that is particularly funny much later regarding that, but this'd be a spoiler. I'd view Geiz' Rider design as worse than Zi-O though. Woz is the most memetic character (IWAE!) in this series and is overall the most beloved (.. or considered the only good thing about Zi-O), though he's the usual hammy and over the top-type. He's an example of how someone helping the protagonist doesn't mean they're good people, Woz wants to raise a brutal ruler and this is the first step of giving Sougo the Zi-O Driver, Woz'd only care about serving the king without regard of him eventually turning the world into hellhole.