Staring at them head-on like that... Fourze looks so angry! And Ghost perpetually has 0_0 face going on.

So apparently when Toei was prepping Agito, one of the finalists was disqualified and Toshiki Kashu eventually got the role of Shoichi/Agito. The reason? The disqualified finalist turned out to be the son of Mr. Ryo Hayami aka Keisuke Jin aka KAMEN RIDER X and due to a rule within Toei that says actors who are children of Kamen Rider actors cannot be part of the cast he did not make the cut. Now I don't know if this only applies to rider roles only, but I would not be surprised if this also applied to supporting roles as well so that they do not get involved in any form of nepotism-related shenanigans. Thoughts?

Meanwhile, the main writer for Agito... had a dad who worked as the main writer on Showa Kamen Rider series. Fun rule!

I wonder how the show would have been different with a different actor, kind of like Kamen Rider Eric Stoltz!

To be fair Toshiki Inoue was already a well known writer for various animes and had worked on various other toku sbows. Most notably Jetman so this feels alot less of Neopotism and more like hey we got a famous J-Drama writer that also made Toei alot of meny with his various toku shows (Jetman, Agito anf Faiz)

Plus he has a a daughter who wrote the novel for Kamen Rider Decade (and a few episodes of Pretty Cure, but that’s neither here nor there).

Ghost had a distinct lack of insert songs, but I found it's soundtrack to be one of the most memorable, so it sort of balanced out on that front.

...Yet I still wished somehow that the ridiculous tune that is "Go! Go! Ghost!" could have made it into the show at some point:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3H8mT6pfiA

Fourze is a high school student when he got his powers, so he was literally raised and trained to be evil before even becoming a rider.

I keep hearing cryptic, vaguely threatening comments about Zero-One's plot. I think I made a terrible mistake not watching this one live. :lol At this point it might be easier to let it finish and binge it all at once though.

Listening to the trainwreck that is the Heisei Generations Forever medley again, it made me realize that Agito and Fourze's themes work really well together :lol

That medley is a glorious trainwreck. It shouldn't work, and maybe it doesn't, but by god if it doesn't sound great.

Fun fact, a fan made video for that medley is what got me into Kamen Rider as a whole

Year ago me was very confused about what I was watching but was super into it.

You've probably just described 98% of people's Kamen Rider fandom origin stories.

My first full experience with Kamen Rider and Toku as a whole beyond Power Rangers was, uh.

Super Hero Taisen.

It was an interesting introduction!

My first experience with Japanese Toku was Toku Spider-Man.

I really should rewatch it. It's been ages.

Like, the only part of that song that works is the Agito-Fourze mash. Someone should make just that :lol

And Supaidaman is so good, I love it :lol

I unironically love the whole thing even if it just has no build-up (heehee) to just shouting about beating hearts.

My favorite bit is the Kuuga to Build/Zi-O part

Also Drive got shafted

I just took a listen to that medley again, and I agree. That transition was super smooth.

Infact, a couple of the transitions are pretty okay, but overall, yeah, that medley is very much designed for film, rather than being a song you listen to on its own. Quite a shame.

... am I the only one who unironically likes it? It's just fun to listen to!

I'm right there with you! I'm a bit sad that certain songs are barely present; but overall I still enjoy it a lot

I'm not ashamed to admit but I also jam out to that song more times that I can remember. And would love for all those fusion remixs in that song to be released separately.

Me

All we need is Driv-And you're done :lol

I want to like it more, but they didn't mesh the songs together well enough. Break the Chain is sped up for some reason, Shonen Yo is stupid loud compared to everything else, Life is Show Time serves as a bridge with no other purpose or mash up.

Like, there's so much possibility for good mixes, but they just...Didn't :lol

This discussion lead me to discovering this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klwvxVgcTmM

I like it.

This is just a dumb joke, but there's been so much talk lately about how little screentime Zero-Two turned out to get in favor of a form with a connection to the Ark that I couldn't help but think, what with my longstanding issue with this kind of thing in Zero-One:

Even Zero-Two's ability to immediately get overshadowed in the narrative is upgraded from Rising Hopper. :lol

You know seeing how Ultraman allows an anime of its franchise and whatnot, really disappointed Toei is not following suit with a Kamen Rider Spirits anime. Seriously ZX is rider no. 10 and all fans ever got was a one-shot tv special back in the 1980s and a magazine serialization last I checked. And ZX was so well-fleshed out and garnered some new fans via Kamen Rider Spirits at the time I think that it is a such a waste for it to not be animated.

Part of me is legitimately afraid that the reason they haven't is because it would have no products to sell.

I can agree likeness rights being a possible problem but I think there is room for merch. For starters if it ever happens they can probably re-release Showa Rider figuarts but now with a interchangable head of their civilian form in the Muraeda art style added to the product, and following this get Showa Rider FRS production going, and then the usual anime merch/swag stuff, the Banpresto prize figures, etc. Best of all? Taki Rider figuarts and FRS, ZX clones, JUDO the Badan leader web exclusives, etc.

Figures make up a small part overall of Kamen Rider's merchandising; their bread and butter is DX roleplay items. This is why even Amazons got a DX belt.

New DX Kamen Rider ZX Belt! Comes with three actual ninja bombs!

Yeah, I love it too.

And as for the lack of a Spirits Merch. I think it’s a mercy thing, since Showa-themed legend mercy hasn’t sold well for years. Build and Zi-O never even released theirs, beyond some teasing in Zi-O’s movie and final stage.

... Build and Zi-O had manga?

Showa themed legend merch, I think that means.

And elbow shurikens. :lolol

Absolutely. But the scenario I am envisioning is the show being more like how the Netflix ULTRAMAN anime functions, and merch being mostly focused on model kits and figures or just go further and make it an opportunity to re-release Showa rider merch for the older consumers who buy figuarts and CSM belts, etc. and the Tamashi Web exclusive consumers as well. Heck maybe even reissue DX Showa rider henshin belts if they felt they wanna cater to the vintage toy fans as well.

Me watching the first two episodes of Zero One: Oh, so this show is about dreams and how sometimes you have to give them up to protect the dreams of others!

People: talk about the rest of the season

Me: what the heck is this show about...

If none of you have listened to this before, I can't recommend it enough

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTbOEtUqo7A

"One Two Rider, danananam jump! Three Four Rider, danananam, kick!"

What peak lyrics.

I was a little surprised that the intro was all about Leangle, but I guess it makes sense.

Legit one of the best Rider songs ever. Lots of gratuitous action (and cheap bootleg subtitles?) make it even better!

youtube.com/watch?v=YYFW4nHmh38

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...wo_profile.png

So since the red on Zero-Two's chest was meant to be a scarf/muffler, it makes me wonder.......

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...ildProfile.png

......Does the pointy rabbit ears and tank gun on Build were also meant to be a scarf?