[Fish Sandwich]

(Fish Sandwich also watched Kamen Rider Zi-O - EP36)

I feel like past me pretty much hit the nail on the head when I said this episode being "good" or not isn't really important to me. Because plenty of time has passed, and exactly like I thought, this two-parter is still insanely memorable, and stands out as something completely different from Zi-O's usual fare.

Does it stand out in a bad way? If you told me it did, I'd have no trouble seeing your point.

Does it stand out in a good way? If you told me it did, I'd be able to see where you're coming from.

For my part, on the surface, there is an absolute ton about this plot conceptually I don't like, and yet Yuuko is just such a compelling presence that she holds the whole thing together for me. It's easier to just laugh off what a non-entity Kamen Rider Ginga is when the other antagonist here is picking up the slack to this degree. I think a lot of it is just in her performance, especially. Part of the Another Riders' concept is supposed to be that they're people the Time Jackers are setting up as rulers, and Yuuko is one of the scarce few to actually have an explicit interest in that. And the way she carries herself, it's like, it's not hard to see her *as* a queen? She's already dominating every scene she's in, after all.

These are messy episodes, based on what's probably Inoue's messiest series, and just like Kiva itself, while I have an easy time making fun of them for their bizarre choices, at the end of the day, this is a two-parter I think back on surprisingly fondly.