[Kurona]

Oh, hey, was just thinking of making this thread!



So, uh... that was... certainly a movie.

There's a lot here I like; and the bones of a good story are here in Aruto's connection to his father; said father's involvement in creating Zero-One; and the resolution of Aruto not succeeding anyone but instead being his own origin (which as a moral, is really good and forward-thinking).

Unfortunately I'm not very positive it works. The movie jumps around almost randomly and haphazardly; as if it had a vision and a lot of random "wouldn't-it-be-cool-if" ideas with little concept of how to structure them or create a cohesive story.

Zi-O barely has a place in this movie -- it hardly continues these characters' story; the new Timejacker is an afterthought; no-one beyond the main four returns; the history of the Heisei Riders is little more than a namedrop and a Momotaros voice cameo; and everything gets reset by the end probably for Next Time: Geiz. Sougo and Aruto don't exactly have a connection with each other throughout the movie and this cast which I was very excited to see return ultimately just... ended up being extra Kamen Riders to help fight and occasionally spout a catchphrase. Woz doesn't even get to rejoice, like, come on! At least we finally got to see Tsukuyomi fight... and... I guess she can do that one energy ball attack Burai did once in Zyuranger and never again.

As for Zero-One, despite every cast member featuring; all of them are just alternate universe versions that get wiped away after the credits, so it's difficult to form any connection beyond "yeah, I guess this is how Fuwa would turn out in a Terminator AU". That said, it's pretty interesting to see more sympathetic sides of Hiden's two stooges; the series treats them as jokes but this movie oddly went out of its way to make them dedicated and empathetic heroes. Can't say I'm complaining.

Really though, this is a movie about Aruto, Soreo and Will with everything else being window dressing. And like I say, there's definitely the core of a good story in here, but it's a bit messy and I'd be disingenuous if I said it all comes together and ultimately works. You only really get a good grasp for the base concept because the execution really fails to sell you. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost theorise that the base story here was originally conceptualised as 2-3 episodes in Zero-One before having to be thrown into a Zi-O crossover.

Another Ichigo, um, exists? It took 'all of the Rider powers' from Sougo, but he never got Showa Rider powers, and he's able to use the full extent of Grand just fine? So what-- gah, it's Zi-O. I should know by now that at its best and its worst, you just don't question this series.

Talking of Grand Zi-O, uh, best scene in the movie! Aruto going "WHO THE HECK ARE THOSE GUYS" got me laughing so bad, and it's nice to see the Grand Zi-O powers actually used in a satisfying way again. Only took, like, the 6 months since its debut!