[Fish Sandwich]

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP05)

I kinda feel like this episode was a big moment for Zi-O, in retrospect? Like, you had two episodes with Build's main two Riders, and two episodes with Ex-Aid's main two Riders, and then, you know, if you're making this series, you've immediately hit that wall where you can't just have the stars of the previous shows back guaranteed. And the viewers know this is going to be a problem, and everyone knows it's why Decade, a show that only had half as many Riders to deal with, avoided putting focus on returning actors. You've got to do something to assure the fans a concept like "a Fourze tribute with no Fourze" can somehow make for an entertaining episode, so what do you do?

Get Fourze's main director to give it the right visual flair, and write an episode with a clever twist waiting in the wings where Another Fourze blows up at the end only to reveal he's also Another Faiz.

It's really not a bad way to prove Zi-O can still do interesting things without having main stars to play with. I mean, yeah, the episode also promises more antics from Takkun and Kusaka by the end too, but I think it's also making it a point to expand the creative possibilities of the format so that the show's plots can gradually stop leaning on that sort of thing. All in all, I remember this episode feeling like it was continuing a notable upward swing for Zi-O's quality, Sakamoto's explosion-heavy fight scenes are always fun, and yes, as a Faiz fan, it is hard to say no to the prospect of more Takkun and Kusaka. Another thing I also dig looking back is that, yeah, this one makes it a point how lonely Sougo is without Geiz and Tsukuyomi, and I appreciate the groundwork the show was continuing to lay down. I was still warming up to Sougo when I first watched this one, but like a lot of things in the early episodes, I kinda realize know just how important this stuff ended up being to why I enjoy these characters so much.