[Fish Sandwich]

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP20)

I was pretty hard on this two-parter at the time, by my standards at least, and for pretty similar reasons to why Die has for not connecting with it that much. The story never ~quite~ makes it to the point where it feels like it's really saying some new meaningful thing about the overall show in a way that feels particularly concrete.

Looking back though, I mean, I kinda don't care? I've actually rewatched this arc pretty recently on a complete whim, and divorced from the expectation of seeing it advance Zi-O as a whole, I found myself able to focus much more on what a solid pair of episodes it is on its own merits. It's not reframing and redefining our understanding of any of the principle characters, sure, but it does a great job letting the viewer just sorta soak in the current status quo now that White Woz is here. My outlook on them also improved yet more a bit back, when Die was talking about the previous two-parter, which further put things into perspective. Using the Quiz episodes to focus in on how Geiz feels about everything that's happening lately seems even more justified to me when you consider that Shinobi was ultimately a character used to comment on Sougo more than anything.

So yeah, as I've said, a lot to love about these episodes. More than their place in the grander narrative of the series, though, I really do appreciate them on that Wizard wavelength of being a very strong and emotional self-contained story about nicely developed guest characters whose own arcs also bring something interesting out of the regular cast. Satoshi Morota's direction especially helps to sell the intimate and sentimental tone of the episodes, and there's so much visually in here that gives everything a huge sense of weight. When I say these episodes let you soak them in, I mean it -- the atmosphere throughout is fantastic. I've always especially loved Mondo's reaction when his father gives his answer to the most important question of all at the end, for example, and I literally just noticed watching the scene back the way the focus of the camera shifts between the two of them at like, the exact moment for it to have the maximum emotional impact. That acoustic version of Over Quartzer doesn't hurt either: