[FreshToku]

This is the episode that changed everything (everything Zi-O anyway) for me. Up until this point of the show, I had gotten accustomed to the status quo of the show doing these arcs where they reference an older show, Sougo acts like a weirdo, Geiz is wary of Sougo, Woz says the line, rinse and repeat. It was entertaining for the most part, and I don't mean to sound like there wasn't interesting character stuff that happened in those episodes, but for the most part I kinda just don't register any of those events beyond the episode that happened in? But of course, they had to have happened of course. Because a lot of the events in episode 15 only hit because we've spent time watching these characters.

To get one particular nitpick aside, the dream. As far as this episode is concerned, it's the 'explanation' for why Sougo wants to be a king. It's... not really? Why wouldn't he have just assumed it was only a dream? And even if he decided to believe it at face value for whatever reason, it still makes no sense and doesn't go towards explaining anything about the way he acts in episode 1 and so on.

But you know what? That's all in the past! I'm fine with focusing on the present and just the important fact that he has this unshakable goal of wanting to rule the world but be a good guy about it. It's an insane, kinda inherently evil ambition to have, but I'm willing to just believe and accept that Sougo believes in it so strongly that he simply has to try and do his best to accomplish it, no matter what the rest of the world says. And this is the episode where the world really seems set out to punish him for it.

I want to draw special attention to the scene in the middle, where Geiz declares once and for all that he's going to eliminate Zi-O. The framing and the music of the scene, along with that shot of Kamen Rider Geiz slowly walking up towards Sougo, I think it's really good! For the first time, Geiz saying he's going to kill Sougo isn't just part of his schtick, but it feels like this tragic decision because he feels like his hopes that things would turn out okay have been dashed.

Granted, Geiz's cool points here gets kinda dampened by the fact that he's about to get absolutely wrecked by Kasshin, and the conflict shifts from 'oh no geiz is attacking zi-o' to 'oh geiz is gonna get killed'. Oh well!

I'll add that I also really like Decade here acting as the antagonist. I don't really have much attachment to him or his show, but just the fact that he's an iconic Kamen Rider from a previous show, outright calling out Zi-O as being the villain here. Combined with Woz's words about how the tyrannical Oma Zi-O is the Zi-O he knows, it just feels more and more like the universe is out to smite Sougo for his dreams.

Speaking of! I really like Oma Zi-O, by the way? Just right off, his design is absolutely sick. On his own, he's kinda just a generic evil overlord, right? Ruler of the world with overwhelming power and what not, you've probably played an RPG with someone like him in it. But at the same time, that's also all he needs to be, because he's Sougo's future, and I feel like that fact alone gives his story so much more intrigue and dimension than a lot of other similar villains in the franchise. You (or maybe just me!) can't help but be fascinated by everything he says to his past self!

I guess since the very first episode, I've been waiting for the show to dig in to its premise about someone fighting their seemingly inevitable terrible destiny, and this episode really delivered all at once. It's all set-up to part two, but I think I spent that whole week until the next episode waiting in excitement. I hope you'll like the answers you see in the next episode!

But anyway, movie time for now : P Hope Build is still somewhat fresh in your mind because it's crossover time! ...Like, actual proper crossover time instead of what we got in the first two episodes : )