[Kamen Rider Lucha]

I finished Zi-O about a week ago, and after taking some time to consider, here are my thoughts and feelings...

I liked it a lot! It has its flaws, but what Rider show doesn't? The cast is unusually great, and their chemistry really fuels the show, especially in the middle stretch where most toku starts to drag. The Another Riders were super cool. Sougo is one of the most compelling primary Riders of the last ten years (the kind-yet-sorta-sociopathic, sweet-but-megalomaniacal good guy isn't an archetype I've ever seen before, let alone cast in the roll of a loveable hero). The relationships are complex and heartfelt. The action was bombastic and fun. And the stakes are reliably HUGE. I probably would have gotten more out of the tribute arcs had I seen more of the early-Heisei series, but overall the returning-Rider stories were still very well-done (with a couple misses here and there).

IMO, this show does not deserve a fraction of the hate it gets. Do I understand why a certain type of fan dislikes it? Sure -- the rules of time travel are confusing and inconsistent, and if you're someone who enjoys tightly-woven and logic-driven plots, that's gonna ruffle your feathers. Even someone like me, who isn't bothered by logical inconsistency as long as I'm emotionally invested in the story, had moments where I was like "wait, that doesn't make any sense." The problem is that, by and large, no Rider series is free of plot holes or giant leaps in logic, and this criticism is only ever levied against the shows fandom group-think has arbitrarily deemed sub-par.

Ultimately, a lot of the plot holes and inconsistencies are explained... just not until the end. As a culture, we've gotten so used to being immediately spoon-fed answers to all of our questions by cowardly and feckless writers terrified to tease out a mystery lest they upset a mob of pedantic and demanding internet nerds desperate to prove their superiority to a piece of fiction by subjecting it to unrealistic standards it has never demonstrated a desire to meet. Obviously, I think that's a shame, and it's refreshing that Zi-O didn't fall for that bullshit.

Zi-O isn't my favorite Rider show, but it's better than many, and it's exactly the show I hoped Kento Shimoyama would spearhead after the ultimately-disappointing-but-still-amiable Ninninger. If your goals when it comes to watching toku are to have fun and feel big emotions, and you don't necessarily care about messy logic, then I suggest giving it a chance. If you're the kind of fan who needs to pick out all of the elements of a children's show to feed your own ego... well, steer clear.