[Fish Sandwich]

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP02)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Hey everyone, guess what time it is!

When I started my post on the first episode that way, it was just a bit. When I was waffling on whether or not to make the same joke the next week, I was torn because I realized I'd be creating an obligation for myself to repeat that gag 40+ more times. But you know, it was also convenient. Having that guaranteed place to start writing from without having to think about it too much. Just find a screenshot I like enough, and go from there. I have to imagine it's a similar deal for Die?

Anyways, on the subject of the actual episode itself, while you can see in my original post that I was never hesitant to express the sense of trepidation I got from Zi-O even as I was massively enjoying it, there was one particular nagging thought I'm not sure I ever really brought up anywhere at the time.

You see, I got into Kamen Rider by watching the first few episodes of OOO, Kuuga, and Ryuki in a very short window. They're collectively my "first" show, and there's one thing they all have in common about how they started gripping me -- the second episode. Yuusuke in that burning church, declaring his intent to protect people's smiles; Shinji ripping up that card, putting his own life at risk to protect others; Eiji refusing to be Aknh's mindless servant even as he's about to fall off a building to his own death. The premieres for each of those shows established the world, but I think it's in the episode that followed where they truly established their heroes, and because that was my formative experience with the franchise, it's something I've come to expect from every Rider show I've watched since. Putting it in terms of Ex-Aid, for example, because I love to do that in these threads, you've got a second episode that ends with Emu deciding to stick with CR as a Rider specifically because he doesn't like Brave, looking straight at Hiiro and saying he doesn't trust a doctor like him to care about patients the way he does. And in that moment, just like the three I mentioned, I gained a lot of respect for the star of the show.

So then, Zi-O comes along, and you've got Sougo's whole speech about making time move for yourself in this episode. Looking at it in the broad strokes, it's another example of exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about -- Sougo defining what his beliefs are and how that becomes his driving motivation as a hero -- except, for the life of me, I just couldn't really get a grasp on it at the time. Saying it felt "hollow" wouldn't exactly be right, but like, when you see Kuuga in that church, you are rooting for that dude to save people 150%, you know? I wasn't feeling that for Zi-O in that moment. It was one of the things that made me genuinely worried, if only a little, that this show was going to end up being underwhelming and messy in the long run. But as you can also see in my original post, I was kinda watching Zi-O with a lot of faith? Like Sougo saying "nanka ikeru ki ga suru!!", I took it all in stride, considering the more positive possibility that by the time the show was over, a speech like that would feel like a crucially important part of how Zi-O established its running themes and messages. And you know, I can't say anything too explicit about how that turned out right now, but I will say that I was glad I always kept this scene in mind as the show moved forward.

...

Also! I'm going to forget to bring this up if I don't right now, and since you just got done with his initial set of episodes, I wanna give a shout out to Ryuuta Tasaki's direction for being up to the extremely high standard he always meets. There was a bunch of talk about the opening I didn't comment on, but yeah, I liked Over Quartzer as soon as I heard it, finding it an interesting contrast to Journey Through The Decade in its tone, and then I saw the visuals that go with it, and I liked it even more than I already did. There's just nothing like a good Tasaki opening. Actually, I've been reminiscing about myself a bunch, but I'd kinda like to turn back the clock on Tasaki for a moment too, and bring up just how long he's been directing some of the most stylish opening in Toei's tokusatsu shows. His first main director gig was for Seijuu Sentai Gingaman way back in 1998, but the year before that, he was apparently responsible for the opening of Denji Sentai Megaranger, and while it doesn't look like the credits explicitly mention that anywhere(?), when I first found that out, it was like a big puzzle piece falling into place.

Like, of course Megaranger's opening is one of my favorites in the franchise visually, if it was Tasaki's work. Of course it's cut in such a modern and energetic way that still holds up even now. Of course it manages to get across key traits of the main characters in just a couple shots each. Of course it's so stylish and just downright cool. You give this guy a song that already slaps, and he'll make it even cooler for you. This is very much the case with Zi-O's opening, which has loads of neat visuals, a couple of which end up holding more meaning that it seems like at first. It's also one of the few places you're going to consistently see Zi-O and Geiz on their Ride Strikers! Their poor, poor, neglected Ride Strikers...