Yeah, this is kinda where I'm at, too. It's a nice throwback to the first episode of Kabuto, but it still feels kind of weird in a way that just never sat right with me. I'm not sure why, but your comment about Kagami's growth as Gatack does resonate with me.

I did like the Hopper stuff, though, and apparently this was the episode where we saw Tsukoyomi's childhood.

I mean, it's what I'd like to see? It improves my experience of watching table-setting episodes? I'm not sure I'd phrase it differently.

Kageyama is a Worm sent to infiltrate and, eventually, destroy the Earth. That's all the motivation Kagami ever needed!

If my older brother dressed like that, I'd get some amnesia, too.

Aw, that's very cute! I like when even the guys they can't get back end up caring about their show's legacy.

Oh, god, this was light years better than the Decade story for Kabuto. Please don't make me remember that!

That is definitely the impression this episode wants to give you about Kagami's feelings after Kabuto! It's just not really accurate?

Like, they used a couple clips that are from Kabuto, but they're slightly out of context. Kagami did want the Kabuto Zecter... but for, like, an episode. Gatack did fight Kabuto... but it ended up not being a huge part of the series or anything. Kagami's arc in Kabuto was him realizing that he'd always feel inferior as long as he kept measuring himself against Tendou, so he needed to stop doing that. To have him be like I Always Felt Like A Failure Because I Wasn't Kabuto is a) not really his arc in the series past, like, the first dozen episodes; and b) weirdly dismissive of his many successes as his own hero. The one thing Kagami never lacked in Kabuto was willpower and a stubborn/stupid (it depends if you ask Tendou) belief in right and wrong.

Anyway, long story short, Zi-O kinda needed to cheat to give Kagami an arc in this story that resolved via obtaining the Kabuto Zecter.

Just guessing on why, but Kagami's growth is like, the highlight of early Kabuto(maybe even all of it!) in my opinion? Dude had to flail, struggle, and fight for every inch that eventually led to getting that Gatack Zecter. I'd wager that "underdog" story is what caused me and so many people really like the guy. So seeing this slew of recent tributes take such care in their references, for this one to go like "Uhhhhhh. Kagami really wanted that Kabuto Zecter once, right? Prove he was better than Tendou, or something like that?" felt a little...shallow? Like it ended up missing the forest for the trees in trying to justify it? (Kagami didn't become Gatack in an attempt to one-up or emulate Tendou, he's Gatack because he wants to help others! Gatack's debut ep is arguably all about that!) I'd be so bold as to say if they cut the part where Kagami talks about Tendou, the whole thing would feel a touch better in execution.

Geiz resolves for using Revive stemming from seeing the event of 2009 brings it all back to his guilt and really this episode is Geiz moment of introspection and finally his resolve to do it. Even if he regrets it for the rest of his life it's now or never for him he has to kill Sougo. And Sougo dosen't run away he trust in Geiz judgement it time for this end one way or another.

Also White Woz rejoicing c'mon even if you don't like White Woz you gotta admit this was pretty hype. And god Shippu is so cool that line about surpassing the future with his speed was so badass. And not to count our Goretsu him taking and dishing out Another ZI-O who at this point march ZI-O II( who've been shilling the last three episodes) was the nail in the coffin for the true match.

The whole Geiz Revive intro sequence -- Hat Woz'z IWAE, both form changes, how much Another Zi-O gets clowned on -- was really well done. There's a lot of negative emotions running through this stretch of the show, and we're watching a friendship dissolve under specious reasoning -slash- Geiz'z monumental martyr complex, but this show never forgets to make the suit action appropriately boss.

Surprisingly, no-one was willing to give my theory that Tendou himself set up Kagami to become Kabuto as a ploy to give the demon king kid his watch the time of day back when this first aired.

And speaking of watches…

Ridewatch Playlist: Ten no Michi Mix

https://youtube.com/watch?v=3QhWSOAwN58

“Cast Off for super acceleration. The beetle Rider is… Kabuto”

And luckily for me, Kabuto’s actual soundtrack is so small, I can apply one thing for everyone. So let’s start with Next Level https://youtube.com/watch?v=hHSSksH_W4E

“Super speed crossing over time. The rainbow wings are flapping, Kabuto Hyper Form”

And next up is Lord of the Speed https://youtube.com/watch?v=kPca4H4KoeA

“Kabuto’s partner, the blue stag beetle Rider is Gatack”

And finally, let’s end it with Full Force https://youtube.com/watch?v=3EdUGFCKWPc

And for Another Kabuto, I went with Miss You, a song from one of his actor’s albums that basically sums him up here https://youtube.com/watch?v=MeokBPRMvEI

And as for the unreleased:
Kamen Rider Kabuto (Masked Form)
Kamen Rider Gatack (Masked Form)
Kamen Rider TheBee (Rider Form)
Kamen Rider TheBee (Masked Form)
Kamen Rider Drake (Rider Form)
Kamen Rider Drake (Masked Form)
Kamen Rider Sasword (Rider Form)
Kamen Rider Sasword (Masked Form)
Kamen Rider KickHopper
Kamen Rider PunchHopper
Kamen Rider Dark Kabuto (Rider Form)
Kamen Rider Dark Kabuto (Masked Form)
Kamen Rider Caucasus
Kamen Rider Hercus
Kamen Rider Ketaros

And for the compare and contrast, Tendou and Yaguruma both started out as perfectionists, with the main difference being that Tendou had everything go right for him, due to his belief that he was walking the path of Heaven, while Yaguruma’s own arrogance cost him everything, eventually resulting in him deciding to search for Hell. And whereas Tendou is dedicated to preserving the world to keep both of his sisters safe, Yaguruma was willing to see it destroyed so he could be with the Worm!Kageyama (which also contrasts Kagami killing the Worm that copied his brother after accepting that he was really gone).

Design wise, aside from resembling a worm, there are a lot of visual jokes in Another Kabuto’s design. Not only is his head modelled after a samurai helmet (a Kabuto), but his belt is modelled after Stronger’s.

Next time: A new Zi-O power-up that DOESN’T debut alongside a card themed Rider? Unheard of

My brain honestly turned off when Kagami received the Zecter. It's not narratively correct for him to have it, but just for this one time thing, to help the new rider, it kind of felt right. Plus it was fun to see the (disrepaired) Kabuto suit move in a way that's not Tendou.

Although, it's kind of weird to see the Kabuto Zecter turn into a watch and then later come back to Tendou. Does Sougo get it back now?

While Kiriya and Hibiki was about how douche he is, I'm not really into this either, but Kagami and Kabuto was about Kagami's status perhaps, about how much of a pathetic loser Kagami was, someone who is miserable including being rejected by Kabuto Zecter, but later his growth made him to be the only person Tendou respects as his equal, and here he shows his mettle once more by using Tendou's Zecter, performing a feat similar to Tendou taking and using the Zecters of other riders (TheBee, Drake and Sasword). So I guess this is about how both Tendou and Kagami are the only ones to be able to make use of other people's Zecters, to show about how equally awesome Tendou and Kagami are (the opposite of him being pathetic) now. Though as you said Kabuto's about someone being their own's best selves, and it'd can be done by Kagami evolving as Gatack (he did have Hyper Gatack) which should be the one I prefer too by performing a feat equal to Tendou as Gatack (and there can be more badass showings than taking other Zecters), but I guess it's the purpose of making Kagami become Kabuto.

Not that it'd likely matter to you but yeah there'd be more to come on this, after all, what kind of family Tsukuyomi and Swartz wasn't known yet at this point. And then, CMIIW, but I guess Tsukuyomi would be something poorly chosen for Japanese myth naming to (code) name the female lead who has a sibling conflict (as there's a sibling conflict between Amaterasu, Susano'o, and Tsukuyomi in Japanese myth). And Tsukuyomi is one of the male siblings too, not the female one which is Amaterasu, and then Tsukuyomi and Susano'o are the bigger scumbag ones among the siblings. They don't seem to implement Japanese myth other than her codename so perhaps Amaterasu can suit her more for her gender and role. Other than that, if this episode is praised for the action, then Tsukuyomi should get credit for stopping the huge asteroid for the others to have a chance (by her stopping time powers). Once again here, Swartz inadvertently 'helps' the heroes here by giving back the Fourze and Ginga Finally Watches so they can stop the asteroid, but this good outcome is meant to be self-serving as, if the Earth is conquered by Worms before he was born then he'd die too.

Specifically, Yaguruma's similar but different to Geiz. Yaguruma's the evil version of Geiz here, both are the Riders who are put in a situation where they have to kill their loved ones (since ep. 15 for Geiz), but Geiz is someone who albeit started morally grey, he still was mostly better than Yaguruma at that point and he became even better person due to Sougo's influence and also his inherent moral compass from his well-meaning mission, while Yaguruma's someone who due to only caring about Kageyama, he literally only cares about him and it wouldn't matter to him if the Earth is destroyed/turned into hell so they can still be together, as Earth is already a hell to him (but not necessarily to others). Yaguruma is Geiz when he's so consumed by his desires instead of the world (including Geiz's self-righteousness at the beginning), as well as how Yaguruma never moved on from Kageyama's death in the series 13 years ago, so this version of Yaguruma here is set as continuation from the end of Kabuto where he had killed Kageyama as a Worm (so he had done it unlike Geiz).

The Kabuto arc is nice, I figure if I'd seen Kabuto, my thought might be different, but for now, I thought they were good.

I don't know Kagami at all, but I did kind of feel like they were just doing the same thing they did for the Hibiki route, so I didn't feel too attached to them making him Kabuto, since from what it sounds like, the Kabuto Zecter just picks whoever it thinks is fun, so hearing things like "Kagami is the real hero of Kabuto" don't mean anything to me, for the reasons I mentioned earlier, and my lack of knowledge on Kabuto as a whole (so I probably insulted every Kabuto fan and should get a Rider Kick to the face). But the Kabuto suits are still some of my favorites, which I talked about in length in the Kabuto arc in Decade.

I also enjoyed the one time shenanigans nonsense at the start about Shibuya getting blown up years ago, even though it's just there to put in the Kabuto connection, because they didn't get too crazy with it, I didn't mind it at all. But Zi-O and Woz destroying the Worm Meteor was a great scene, and Fourze wasn't forgotten! Which I love how they still found it in themselves to reuse some of the old forms instead of making them obsolete whenever a new form debuted.

It's probably already apparent by now that the Heisei Phase 1 Armor Times are somewhat more streamlined than the Phase 2 armors, so Kabuto's Armor Time using the Zecters for shoulder guards was genius and aesthetically pleasing, though I have to say, it looks less like a Kabuto armor and more like Zi-O just straight up stole his suit than added some bells and whistles to it.

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP38)

https://i.imgur.com/FyAtmpO.png

There's kinda no getting around how unnecessary it is to see Kagami actually become Kabuto. A big theme in that show was how it's more important to overcome yourself than it is to worry about "surpassing" others -- something Kagami learned more than anyone -- and we've even got the other end of that spectrum here in Yaguruma, a man who basically threw his entire life away all because he let beating Kabuto distract him from following his own path. Like, y'all can diss that Decade tribute all you want, but I think it had a much stronger grasp on the elements of Kabuto it chose to focus on. So, yeah, Kagami as Kabuto -- nothing we needed to see.

And yet, "unnecessary" is really the most scathing criticism I can give it?

It's something where I should be downright offended by it, as a Kabuto fan. I mean, if you've seen the show, you probably understand just how critical a point it is that Kabuto and Gatack are equals, and that the identity Kagami carved out for himself is not just a silver medal. It's like, downright blasphemous of Zi-O to even *risk* suggesting that. ...Just like it was blasphemy to undo the bittersweet tragedy of Blade's ending, or to have the most unpopular character in Hibiki earn a title basically nobody wanted to see him inherit.

Zi-O has a way of making me enjoy these things I should hate seeing, and that's just as true as ever here. I can only barely tell you the reasons why, but I think it ultimately comes down to two pretty simple words -- it's fun.

I figured this plot point might bug me more now than it did at the time, since, like I said, I've become a lot more passionate about Kabuto, especially when it comes to the messages and themes it explored, but man, I just can't be bothered to care? Kagami using the Kabuto Zecter is cool, probably something plenty of fans wanted to see happen, and something that Zi-O made happen, long after it seemed like there was any chance it would. It might not be a moment that perfectly fits Kagami's character, but it fits the vibe of this stretch of the show flawlessly. Who knows, maybe this is just part of that Geiz character arc I have with Zi-O as a series. Like I've gone so soft I simply can't view it with any suspicion anymore. But as awkward as some of the details become when you stop to think about them, this really is a delightful episode, and I can't help but let it off the hook for that alone. Maybe that stunt team did really good work, okay?! What's so wrong about that being the focus of praise every now and then?

This is probably one of those times where my attempt to defend something is only going to make it look worse, but I feel like the episode really sets a tone when it opens up with Sougo destroying a big rock in space, only to be met with the threat of Bigger Rock. I feel like it was a conscious decision to have Geiz and Yaguruma's scenes together be the main source of emotional complexity here, because I just can't imagine that was ever the overall priority for this story. We've got a hint of depth there, some overarching Plot progression with Tsukuyomi, and a dash of simple fanservicey fun with Sougo, even as they play a bit fast and loose with Kagami's character to get us there. (To be clear, I don't think Kagami's feelings are portrayed in a way that undoes any of his development, which is critical.) This is a two-parter with a little bit of everything, that arguably doesn't do particularly great at any one element, but adds up to a whole that's still satisfying. I guess you could say it's fun to watch, all the way through, but not a story you'd be ravin...

Wait, I did start this off trying to disagree with Die, right?