[Librarian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Fang

Was there any confirmation that Zi-O would be ending early like Decade, or will be go for a full year per usual? If it follows the current pattern we'd have thirty-eight episodes of two-parters with past Riders, and then the final arc of at least ten episodes.

That's essentially the plan, though not all 19 will need two-parters and once the show starts picking up steam, it has more room to move story-wise. First quarter is essentially the "getting to know you" phase, with then quarter 2 as the "okay we know you, so kick more ass", with quarter 3 as the climax twist, and quarter 4 the finale. Slider to adjust based on episode lengths and scheduling needs. But thanks to the push of decade/W, they have an extra year to play with to lead into the 50th. So there's no time crunch unlike Decade to W. They have a buffer room now to play with on that. So there's no need to have Zi-O with a lower episode count.

Decade to W was different because it was celebrating 10 years of Heisei and then also the Rider 40th in 2011.

Zi-O is celebrating 20th series, end of an era, and then there's still time to set up the 2021 series for the 50th. So we should likely expect these to be considered the "anniversary years" of series. 20th heisei, then 50th on the overall count(next series), then 50 years(2021). So it's that 2020-2021 series that's the question on shortened or not. Since they'd likely want the 50th series to kick start there or some other major acknowledgement of it as the overall 50th of the franchise.

After the Den-O episodes, we should start getting some more randomness mixed into Zi-O though to change the pattern up. So Quarter 2 may contain a Climax twist, as well as Quarter 3. With Quarter 4 going right for the throat. And we also still have the movies and HBVs.

So basically:
Likely the first quarter is going to have a lot of two parters. Q2 will pick up steam in other ways with an included subversion twist, Q3 the additional subversion twist, and Q4 the finale stretch. But Den-O's episodes should shake up the concept some randomly too.