[Fish Sandwich]

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP19)

Kamen Rider Quiz was one of those things in these shows that I'd swear was done specifically to appeal solely to me, and me alone. I mean, it's the actor who played one of my favorite toku heroes ever, only now he's a Kamen Rider with that unbeatable red/blue hero color scheme, a hilariously awesome gimmick, and a suit made with Dark Ghost's helmet. He's representing Go-Busters AND Ghost at the same time!!! And then, so as not to waste the brilliance of this character, they wrote the plot for this two-parter to put a huge focus ON his character, placing the spotlight more on his personality and his relationship to his family without bothering to try and flesh out what a Quiz world would actually look like. And those writing priorities are also totally my speed! I really enjoy how Mondo interacts with the main cast throughout this one.

There's a lot I love about these episodes, is the short of it. And that goes beyond Quiz, too. Just as a random tiny thing, that bit with Sougo teasing Woz by pretending to not know which Woz he is makes me grin like... well, exactly like Sougo does, after teasing Woz about which Woz he is.

Oh, and there was also a new insert theme in there, huh!

Future Guardian is just as great a theme for Geiz as Zi-O's is for him, and for very similar reasons. The overall sound matches Geiz's character perfectly in its own way, with a much more intense and traditionally heroic flavor, and once again, Fujibayashi's lyrics are on point. I love that both of the main Riders got insert themes. They really do feel like two parts of a set in my mind, and I love that both of them turned out so well.

The way the show used Future Guardian here is unfortunately nowhere near as good as the treatment Sougo got, however. It's rather haphazardly played during the fight at the end of this episode, which is not at all a climactic moment, and it gets cut off before it even hits the chorus. Back after the episode aired, I basically totally forgot what it even sounded like until the full song was released way later, because its use here was just that unmemorable to me. Like, the song is great! You'd basically have to be trying to get me not to remember it! In that sense, I guess it sort of loops back around into being impressive?