[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 27 - ?THE DAY IT ALL BEGAN 2009?

It was fun to watch, though. I like Woz and dislike Hat Woz, so this episode?s triumph of The New Kamen Rider Woz is exactly the sort of story beat that forgives a lot of stalling. (This episode has a lot of stalling!) The cleverness of the Woz/Heure team is really thrilling, and I geeked out over them full-on outsmarting Hat Woz. Woz is just cool, I guess. I like how the performance has modulated a bit more into something that feels less? manic? Woz has been humbled by the strategies of Hat Woz, and he?s come out the other side a man of renewed dedication, but less certainty. He can?t just sit back and let the future play out; he?s going to have to speak up for what he wants.

This makes use of the same name before like the ones seen in Faiz (Kusaka) or Blade (Hirose)! White Woz writes in his tablet that the Kamen Rider Woz power will return to Woz, but he didn't specify which Woz, so his probability manipulation instead lands another Woz (not Another Woz) advantage! So it's quite a gag that is also plot relevant and something useful to advance it. And yeah there'd be his IWAE on his own henshin too. Other than Heure before starting to improve (also joining Woz while Ora coldly told him off), Woz also started to improve here as he showed a bit of concern to Geiz to warn him about Geiz Revive's use. Previously he'd only be annoyed at Sougo ignoring him when he checked the Another Ex-Aid victim and encourage Sougo's bloodlust, showing his lack of empathy. A bit as he'd still be about creating Ohma Zi-O, the tyrant one, by fighting Geiz here, and Heure's still convincing Hiryu to corrupt random people as Another Riders.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Which leads us into Uncle?s speech to Sougo. I really loved it! It?s nothing we didn?t already know about Sougo (he?s hiding how much it hurts him to lose his friends, even briefly), but it reinforces how difficult it?s been for Uncle to be the best guardian for a lonely boy with strange aspirations. Uncle?s constant need to be a positive force has maybe given Sougo the wrong template of adulthood, creating a sad boy who doesn?t want to burden people with his unhappiness. That?s not great for a kid, and it?s probably extra not great for a budding time overlord. Sougo can?t live his life in isolation, smiling through his pain. He needs to be honest and vulnerable in his need for connection, like everyone does. As a corollary to Tsukuyomi?s lesson about putting Sougo on a pedestal, Sougo can?t put himself on a pedestal, either. He needs to treat his emotional concerns with the same validity he treats the emotional concerns of others. He can?t save people unless he can save himself.

Another reason why Sougo can end up as Ohma Zi-O in the future is explored here, as Junichiro puts it, someone who'd deny their feelings of loneliness would be a ruler that has no empathy for their subjects. Which was what Ohma Zi-O ended up as. So another key to solve Sougo succumbing to his capacity of evil like in the original timeline has been solved too here, other than not being denial about his dark impulses inside. I don't know if this change is also partially caused by Geiz and Tsukuyomi barging in, as Sougo's stronger feelings of loneliness in this case might be caused by a real chance of him getting actual friends that is snubbed away from him here, which leads to Junichiro to act up here and scold him (Junichiro's still the main player and biggest contributor here though!). And this seems to also show that Junichiro genuinely takes Sougo's dream to become a king seriously, he's the one to guide Sougo on the right path here, instead of those 2 friends barging in. While in the original timeline, likely as Sougo never had a chance to get real friends, he'd act the same as previously which'd not drive Junichiro to scold him thus he ends up as what Junichiro warned him as Ohma Zi-O.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Otherwise, he?d be Geiz, who is single-minded in his urge to reach emotional catharsis by fighting someone who is Definitely Not Anyone He Cares About to the death. Most of Geiz?z stuff this episode is, like Sougo?s, not really new information, but it?s handled as deftly as a Cards On The Table episode can manage. He feels guilty over Tsukuyomi?s trip to 2009 and her presumed murder/suicide bus tour. He?s practically re-energized by Woz?z pep talk about the Revive watch?s list of side effects. (Side effects include: dry mouth, minor headache, minor diarrhea, heart stoppage, and chapped lips.) He?s mostly just wandering around this episode, waiting for his chance to kill Definitely Not His Best Friend.

At their beginning fight, Sougo actually play smart by, actually being a pragmatist that he attacked with his finisher while Geiz charged his finishers up, so it wasn't fully charged and at the end, Sougo was able to make a comeback that they tied their battle instead. And Geiz finally rises to not be Woz's humiliation target anymore! But other than that, this episode makes it clear(er) on how rotten White Woz is, as you said above you didn't like him, it's revealed more now. About the side effects Geiz suffered as Revive? It shows that White Woz doesn't actually have a sympathy towards even Geiz. He only cares about Geiz killing Sougo so his timeline comes to pass, otherwise he'd let Geiz perish by his hyped up power. White Woz also refered to Geiz as "my savior", which literally means only a personal savior for him only as in making his timeline a reality, others who suffer from this be damned. He even now refered that his envisioned world would only benefit the few, likely only him! It was a spoiler before, but not anymore, the main problem in the world White Woz envisioned isn't Geiz or his psychological and emotional issues, but White Woz himself as made clear here including to Geiz himself. An appropriate time for him to get his payback I guess.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It?s that sort of episode? Beyond a new, better Kamen Rider Woz, and Uncle?s impressively delivered chastisement of Sougo?s bullshit sunny demeanor, this is mostly just an episode that fills in backstory and begins to connect series arc dots. We get to see some of Sougo?s ?dream?, revealed here to be some weirdo test by Swartz to reveal Zi-O?s identity, but it?s not a pressing detail for Zi-O or Geiz?z present. It?s stuff that matters to the series, but not to the characters.

No offense and I understand about this but Swartz is quite undersold here in this talk. Plot or character is different storytelling and one is not better than the others even if character is prefered one here, but, I think this is the first real dive into Swartz, other than him using his underlings as fodders. It's something more than just Tsukuyomi expectedly won't resort into killing Sougo, now turns out Swartz is the one that wants Sougo to be Ohma Zi-O, although admittedly this is a set up (still not everything can be told in one episode), as the reason is still unknown for now (key: Ohma Zi-O is someone very OP), but turns out that Swartz already had the king candidate he needs, which is Sougo himself, and that's done by him further crossing all the lines to involve endangering any of the Tsukasa bus' passengers. This also shows that Sougo is still quite gutsy as a child, directly confronting Swartz too. Likely that leads into Swartz choosing Sougo to be made as a king though. I don't know if this'd not sit well but the origin of Zi-O premise starts there. But regardless of the opinion, it's to make Swartz as despicable as possible... even more than Ohma Zi-O himself!

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Originally Posted by TheRaizin

It becomes clear at this point on how Sougo's rise to power came to be. Without the likes of Tsukuyomi or Geiz, Sougo definitely would have become Ohma ZI-O much sooner as without friends he's really isolated.

Junichiro: Am I a joke to you? Pointing out about Sougo potentially turning into a ruler without empathy...