[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 31 - “2001 - AWAKEN YOUR AGITO!”



As far as third act reveals go, Tsukuyomi Might Be A Time Jacker is one of the least surprising. Ever since the first episode (I think?), there’s been that shot in the opening credits of Tsukuyomi descending a flight of stairs, flanked by vanishing Time Jackers. The none-too-subtle implication is that Tsukuyomi’s history is tied up with the Time Jackers, and that she’s probably one of them.

I don’t 100% know if that’s where they’re going, but it seems likely. It gives Tsukuyomi a storyline, which she desperately needs. It gives her a personal goal, separate from the boys, which matters even more. (There’s a point where Woz takes over the exposition for Tsukuyomi’s backstory from Tsukuyomi, and I wanted to scream JESUS CHRIST AT LEAST LET HER DELIVER HER OWN GODDAMN BACKSTORY so badly.) And it, of all things, gives her a hook for this two-parter.

I mean, the hook is basically that they gave Tsukuyomi Shouichi’s character profile almost in its entirety, but: baby steps. Yeah, Tsukuyomi is revealed to be an amnesiac do-gooder with a made-up name who fears her growing power, and what her friends might think of it, while the villains attempt to understand her significance to their schemes. It’s incredibly on-the-nose. We went from blank slate to Shouichi With Bangs in about two scenes, and it’s a little clunky. Like, apropos of absolutely nothing, Sougo just flat out asks Tsukuyomi for her backstory while Team Zi-O is walking down the street. It’s not the smoothest writing ever?

But I do like how Shouichi’s journey is a good template for what Tsukuyomi’s bound to learn: labels are pointless, never be afraid to be true to yourself, and trust in your friends to care about you. (If no one says Tsukuyomi Is Tsukuyomi, I’m going to completely lose my shit. It’s right there!!!) That part of Agito was my favorite, give or take a Houjou. I liked how it was a series about suspicion, and mistrust, and how we fear losing acceptance even as we sometimes resent the need for it; but then finding out that we can only be our best selves when we stop thinking of ourselves as less than our best selves. Real self-improvement only happens with self-acceptance.

There’s a serenity to that message, and it was such a huge part of the Shouichi character. It’s fantastic to see that the actor still has it, that warmth and tranquility. Just seeing Shouichi was a delight, and this episode delivered some very fun additional Agito alums. Omuro, captain of the still-hopeless G3 Unit! Mana, looking only vaguely like she should be adorned in timepieces, but still working in food service! And Anotherer Agito, who is now some sort of zombie that wants to turn G3 operators/equippers into more Agitos! (Hoping Hikawa is Anotherer Agito, because him desperately wanting to be a powerful hero and it endangering all of his coworkers is a super-duper Hikawa story.)

I thought this did an amazing job tying Tsukuyomi’s need for a backstory/relevance into an Agito homage. It’s more directly related to Team Zi-O than the Blade story was last time, while still managing to feel like the Agito cast has skin in the game. Another good episode in this new era!