[Fish Sandwich]

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP04)

This still isn't a super standout arc of the show for me, but looking back, I definitely still remember feeling like it set a much nicer standard for the show than the first pair of episodes did. The way the guest stars are worked in is more smooth, the pacing is much nicer, and there's stronger character development for the series regulars. Really not much to complain about.

...And personally, I've also never felt the need to complain about the whole central conceit of how Another Riders and Ride Watches work? Even now, I really feel like this single line from episode 2.5 is all you need to worry about:



Like, basically the whole thing is just one big Shirakura-ism, in that they're taking something very meta and portraying it literally on screen. As a broad idea, I honestly kinda dig a lot about it. Die, you seem to be reading into it in the most negative way possible, but the existence of Kamen Rider is supposed to be tragic, and that goes way back before Zi-O. They only ever exist as a result of some evil system of authority or horrible event producing them, whether directly or indirectly. This is even the case for Sougo himself.

I feel like if Zi-O is saying the only way to get rid of the heroes who try to turn that around is to just outright get rid of that entire chain of events, it's more of a testament to the indomitable Rider spirit than anything? Like, if Pandora's Box is around, Sento will become Build eventually, and he will fight for Love & Peace. I think that's probably what the end of episode 2 is trying to imply as well, by pointing out the blank Ride Watch will eventually become the Build Watch, and Sougo suggesting that's because even altering history won't stop Build from being Build. And of course, that answers your other gripe, by directly offering the hope that these fan-favorite characters aren't gone. (And you know, going back to the Shirakura-ism angle, they'll need these Riders again for more crossovers, so...)

As for why these plots are written to end this way, admittedly, I'm not too sure. I know the middle is that way because having the guest Riders be de-powered keeps the focus on Zi-O and Geiz, where it belongs, but off the top of my head, all I can imagine is that they deliberately wanted to make Zi-O's victories feel like losses too, as some way to emphasize that Sougo's heroism may end up with him being the villain, but I don't know. It's a weird thing for an anniversary show to be doing, but just like its title character's personality, I feel like I wouldn't like Zi-O anywhere near as much if it wasn't doing weird things all the time.