[Fish Sandwich]

Hey everyone, guess what time it is!



Huh, that's strange. As it is written in the episode synopsis, it should be time for the Hibiki arc. So why is Kamen Rider Zeronos here? Perhaps it's another Fourze/Faiz thing, or... wait. Oh no, they wouldn't. They couldn't. They shouldn't! Anyone but him, please! If we're bringing a Kiriya into this episode, I'd rather have it be Lazer!

Although, having watched the episode, I'm surprisingly okay with all of this. I won't give any real judgement until I see how this story ends but like Xtreme RX says, the way they're using him is actually pretty well thought out and actively avoids trying to convince the audience he's a cool character. I kind of took it for granted that he wouldn't actually be Hibiki but it's a pretty clever bait-and-switch. Even if it seems strange they're specifically making the Hibiki episodes a tribute to the Inoue chunk of that show (Todoroki's even here!), it's a good episode of Zi-O in its own right.

Although it does get me wondering if Shirakura is like, super proud of the Hibiki retool all these years later and specifically demanded this be the plot they do. I have to imagine which actors Toei can get back affects the plots more than the other way around, but still.