[cosmicrescend0]

I mentioned at the beginning of the thread, that on my feelings on Zi-O were....Complicated, on my first watch, and I was rewatching to properly straighten my feelings out about the show.

When I first watched the show, the first time around, I didn't know what Zi-O wanted to do for its audience: did it want to purely celebrate the last 20 years through sheer fanservice, to be this reflection upon Heisei Rider (both sublety and overtly, the good and the bad) before the franchise takes a leap into a new future, or just tell a story about its own characters like any other season, because it was obviously struggling to do those ideas indiviually, much less trying to do it all simulateously! As a result, didn't have much fun with this show.

Now, at the end of my rewatch......Well, Zi-O didn't magically get better, it's still sorta this goopy melting pot of half-baked and overcooked ideas? But! I feel like a have a much better understanding of the vision, and it's lead to a deeper apperication of what the show was trying to do, as messy as it was.

Overall, I wouldn't say I necessarily like or dislike Zi-O as a season, I respect it for what it is. I like these kids, Uncle and Woz all very much though, so I wouldn't mind re-watching some arcs in isolation though!

Some assorted thoughts.

-Sougo! I've mentioned this before, but not having a proper grasp on the kid absolutely soured my experience with the show on the inital watch. I did grew to have some vaguely positive feelings towards him, but those moments were really few and far between in the show proper, the bulk of my positivity on Sougo relying on a certain piece of post-show content. The kid still baffles me at points, but I Get Him Now, so he's bumped up from "eh..." to "alright" in my book!

-I'm sure everyone and their grandma will say that Zi-O turning out the way it did reflects Heisei Rider's......quirks, better than any flashy all-star Rider Kick of celebration could, and I agree! It truly ended up encompassing all the delights and defects of that era, more or less. Reiwa is still in its infancy, and I'm sure some folks will say it's currently "More Of The Same" for KR, but rewatching Zi-O gave me a reminder of the gap between the two, the different traits and whatnot.
(And of course, it's a conversation for another time, but I'll be interested to see your thoughts on Reiwa Rider's own little assortment of quirks when we get there, Die!)