[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER ZI-O EPISODE 48 - “2068 - OMA TIME”



God, what a reversal.

One of my favorite episodes of this entire series, maybe. It’s beautiful, and smart, and sad, and triumphant in its encapsulation of everything this series did well.

The thing about all of these apocalypses that Kamen Riders work year-long to avert is that they don’t matter, honestly. The point isn’t the scale, or the intricacy of the plotting. They’re just a framework to build and explore characters, or to present themes and morals. Whether it’s a massive black hole or an invading army, it’s all beside the point. Fun to watch, but minor in comparison to what these shows are really for.

The point of the endgame is to tell us how it’s affecting our heroes. The specifics of what’s at risk, or what might be required to save the day. A bunch of Legend Mooks attacking Tokyo for two straight episodes is just plot, and I care less about plot than I do about characters. I want to know what this all means to Sougo, and how he views himself amongst all of this chaos.

God bless this episode. The details of Swartz’z mad scheme fade to the background, thankfully, as we spend the moments before the end finding out how Sougo will finally respond to the choice he was given episodes ago. Swartz presented him with three outcomes to choose from, and Sougo spent two episodes paralyzed by them. All of them required people to be sacrificed, or they solidified a terrible future. Here, we see the culmination of a year’s worth of character development, as Sougo realizes the one weapon that neither Swartz nor Oma Zi-O can match: his friendships.

It’s perfect, that message. The irony of a show about a boy who was destined to be king, saving the day by delegating and cooperating, is delicious. The fact that Trinity Form was how Oma Zi-O could be bested, because Oma Zi-O never had friends… I love it so much. It takes the four dozen little moments with these characters and forges them into a weapon capable of battling a god. It all feels like the best reward possible for people who emotionally invested in this show, because it’s explicitly about the inevitable value in connecting with people, how the future becomes brighter if we’re all there together. It’s everything Sougo ever said about making a future for everyone. Oma Zi-O only made a future for himself, and look how he got beat.

It’s the smartest thing, in an episode with a million smart Sougo moments. I love him getting one last pep talk from Uncle, and trying to hide the pride he felt from Uncle suggesting that Kamen Rider Zi-O protected people like a king. I love him stunning Tsukasa with a bittersweet embrace of a destined sacrifice. I love him giving Tsukuyomi the chance to be the hero she already was, but in a much more marketable form. (I’ll echo everyone I’ve ever seen in the SHF thread: Kamen Rider Tsukuyomi when, Bandai?!) I love how this whole episode is about people realizing that connections and empathy matter more than Time Nonsense.

Everyone in it gets a cute moment or two, but I adore how tightly this episode plays like Sougo’s Last Day On Earth. The weight of all of this insanity is worth a million times more than an explanation of said insanity, and I’m glad this show finally remembered that.