The one thing I dislike about Yaguruma being Another Kabuto is that it means we see so much less of the KickHopper suit. I love that suit, and I love how it looks when he's in a scene with PunchHopper.

I think it works! There's a potential narrative reason for Worm Kageyama to be a little older, a little dumpy: it feeds into Yaguruma's nihilistic worldview, for Kageyama to come back the same, but worse. But there's also the meta reason of, like, Kageyama always looked in not great shape?

(That said, the episode isn't doing that dude any favors by having Sougo compare 2019 Kageyama to a picture from 2006. I don't think anyone's going to feel flattered by a thirteen year time jump?)

Count me as a Kagami Superfan! And I don't remember how I felt about the Hoppers at the time, but I remember feeling delighted to see them too. I completely forgot this episode did anything with Tsukasa and Tsukiyomi in it, but I think that's inevitable when this had KickHopper delievring such a classi edgelord line surrounded by flames, and Fourze Armour VS a world-ending meteor.

That little tease of NEXT LEVEL right before the opening also had me flipping out. Do you have a ranking in your mind of your fav rider openings?

It's a very random part of this episode. Tsukuyomi has a brief flash of mysterious strangers while she remembers to use her time powers again, and Tsukasa -- never more my guy -- shows up to be like Why Don't We Just Go To The Future And Figure This Out. Like the last couple times anyone from Decade popped in, it's not really this episode's A or B plot.

I don't really, no. I'm not huge on Phase 1 theme songs in general (Phase 2 is, literally, way more my jam), but I like a couple. NEXT LEVEL is, truly, a next level theme song. If I'm ranking just Phase 1, it'd go:

-Kabuto
-Kiva
-Den-O
-the rest of them

I'm excited to hear where Kabuto's theme lands on other people's Phase 1 lists!

This is a fun arc. I love seeing Kagami again.
A little distracting to see the Kabuto suits in disrepair tho, especially Gattack's armed form, but it's fiiiiiiine.

The irony of the Hopper suits being pristine while the Gatack suit crumbles is delicious.

Cast Off! It's Episode 37!

-Geiz screaming for Woz as he launches into the intro, too good.

-Watching tributes naturally leads me to thinking about how I feel about the original show, and man....Kabuto sure was something else. I can't really compartmentalize it into "good" or "bad" like other seasons, it is its own beast for better or worse. At the very least, the absence of a certain someone walking the path of heaven reminded me how much i really enjoyed the season's characters, theyre a real wild bunch!

-Kaaaaa-gaaaaaami! This feels....nice. Like yeah this is definitely what was he'd be like as an older dude. A nice evolution of the character. Him shoulder-bashing Kageyama into the dirt was a fun move.

-The kids going "Hey, haven't the rules changed a bit?" after all this time....In any other show, I'd probably be a little pissed at them dancing around addressing it, but like. It's Zi-O? I know these kids are far more concerned about other things than keeping an eye on the fabric of space-time! (Tsukasa going "Well, space-time is essentially Fucked right now" is a good enough answer for me right now)

I think it worked great because the show uses Tsukuyomi and Sougo as basically the Pro/Con of exploring these discrepancies. While Tsukuyomi has a personal stake in what's going on, she's also just naturally curious and slightly distrustful of random good fortune. Sougo, meanwhile, is just like I'm Having A Great Time and that's the end of his curiosity.

God the dinner scene at the start of episode24 is great from visual storytelling angle. Just the use of both literal and metaphrocial seperation between Geiz and Tsukuyomi as they dine in silence. The entire episode has this atmphospheric vibe as Sougo treks through both reality and dream often alone or in wide area to show case how big everything is and how small Sougo is in the all of it. Rento being his imaginary friend was such a sweet yet sad moment as you realize that Sougo because of his dream was always on lonely path and that always led to Ohma ZI-O. And i can't help but feel the kids in this case represent Sougo innocence and the belief that friends can come back together after all.

Now onto the things I don't like it's frustrating how the show has done such a good job of delving into the headspace of Sougo and Geiz to paint their actions in a new light we see them in but refuses to do anything of that sorts for Tsukuyomi and to give more context as to her reasonings to siding with White Woz. Similarly way to take the sails out of potentially making both Heure and Ora intreasting characters as Ora is just evil and Heure does nothing even being betrayed and the group dynamic between Time Jackers just stays the same despite the fact that both of them have now betrayed Heure.

Maybe! It gets a little trickier when the kids get scared of Rento and Sougo has to tell them that you need to have faith in your friends, even if you have a fight. So it could be that the kids are Sougo's earlier self-centered view of friendship; seeing Rento as a guardian and playmate, without really considering his individuality. Sougo himself is an empathetic view of friendship, allowing people to disagree without cutting them out of your life.

I love how Another ZI-O already had OOO powers at the beggining because thry obviosuly couldn't get back Kuroto actor for like 10 seconds lol. But yeah continuing with the last episode lots of dread and lonelyness from Sougo. I love catching up with the Another Rider Host however broef even if they aren't fully fleshed out charcaters them living good lives too me proves that despite all the riders getting erased, and dark future approaching that there small victories. Also White Woz failing to uses Quiz powers correctly is one of the show smartest uses of humor.