[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

See, here's the thing that gets me about Zi-O's cameos vs. the AU Riders from Decade: the Zi-O cameos are basically AU Riders, too.

I understand where you're coming from, but I have to disagree. Even without their exact histories intact, basically all the returning characters have the same personalities you know and (hopefully) love. Emu, a guy who said in his own show he's a doctor before he's a Kamen Rider, is still all about helping his patients smile. Takeru was literally doing the same shtick as always, Kouta even kinda did still have his history, and so on.

Even with Shinji, by the end of that two parter, he felt to me like exactly what an older and more mature version of him would be like. That's what I've been enjoying about Zi-O's tributes. They seem more focused on capturing the heart of the old shows and characters rather than the superficial aspects. Shinji being a normal guy working for ORE Journal was a huge part of Ryuki's soul, and Zi-O delivered on that.

Admittedly, some of the arcs in Decade did that pretty well too, and some of Zi-O's homages obviously haven't been perfect, but I still feel the latter gets it right WAY more consistently.