nightjaeger

Oh, wow.

I promise, I really, really thought it was a joke, but you can actually buy it as a single.

The look on their faces near the end of the MV, when they're sitting on the wing chair... I thought that was a dead giveaway that it was a gag, but it seems it was totally legit.

Let me be clear: just because I thought it was a joke doesn't mean I thought it was bad. I really liked it, as I felt it showed the characters' odd friendship, as well as two actors who have known each other a long time, having a bit of fun and recognising their acting and character history. It was cute, nice and funny.

Also: Handa Kento did a cover of the song a few years ago! It's better and has its own weird MV that I think also makes reference to both characters.

Hahahahahahaha haaaaaa haaaaaa!

Poor Geiz.

In the actors' defence, I don't think the Geiz appearance would have benefited the episode anyway, so I wouldn't have filmed it.

I have to wonder if the bit of Woz that was "cut" was really cut, or whether it was just a gag.

I loved Woz's impersonation of Sougo: "Sougo has concerns!"

I hope the actors who play Woz and Sougo are friends in real life, they're so cute together.

I don't know what to believe!

Was Fourze an homage to 555?!

I loved the humorous references to the live-action Bleach movie. I still want to watch that at some point, but only because Fourze and Meteor are in it.

I think they handled Fourze and Meteor's absences quite well. Given that part of Fourze was about friendship and really everyone supporting one another, having the teacher as the main reappearing character fit perfectly with that. You don't need Fourze - any of his friends can speak for him!

(These "point-fives" are all utterly insane.)

For those who don't know, the only Kamen Rider series I've completely watched are Ryuki and DCD. Despite this, Ryuki and V3 are my equal favourites so far.

But... Zi-O, only five episodes in, is already on the verge of taking top spot.

The revelations about the FaizPhone X were just plain amazing. I have never watched an episode of 555, so the little easter eggs referring to that series were going to be lost on me, but still... it was genius, and the way they revealed it here was glorious.

Also: have I mentioned how much I love Sougo?

I need to put Tokiwa-sou on my list of places to visit! It's weird, as I always thought "Tokiwa Sougo" would be a time ("toki") reference, but maybe not?

During the final battle with Another Ex-Aid in episode four, I actually wondered how the legend Riders keep track of what they do and don't "know" at each point.

So of course the "point-five" conveniently discusses it.

Having seen some Super Sentai and Kamen Rider scripts before (extras and minor staff actually sell them online!) I'm pretty confident what Emu handed Sougo was a real script. Good gosh, that would be tricky to follow.

I thought it may be easier if they filmed it in chronological order - the 2016 scenes, then 2018 - but that would just pass off the problem to the Zi-O characters.

Hiiro raised a really good point about how just because the timeline changed it doesn't mean his character's personality would, especially his character, for whom Rider powers were really just a tool. It would be slightly different for Emu, but not too much.

I didn't quite get the joke with "A Emu" and "B Emu", and Geiz's response rap was just absurdly silly, but I'm sure it was profoundly funny to those in the know.

LOL, poor Emu - the only one to realise the spoilers didn't (haven't?) happen, at least not yet.

After this "episode" reinforcing my views about how lovely Sougo is, I felt the need to investigate the actor. He seems very much like Sougo in real life! It'll be weird if I see him in anything else, now!

Some things don't quite align, though:

- The actor quit school in his final year after being cast as Sougo. Sougo still goes to school.
- Sougo is bad at/doesn't play video games - his actor is a big fan.

The producers spoke about difficulties in casting an actor for Sougo - they wanted a "young man" with a "kingly aura", and I think they've cast him exceptionally well. It's been hard to put my finger on what makes him so perfect for the show, but once I read that, it really clicked.

Most of my confusion about episode two was resolved after seeing Sougo go ask for answers from Genius Physicist Takumi!

Rule #1 (of 3)
A Rider's power cannot exist twice in the same timeline, hence why the show Build never happened once Zi-O got Build's powers. Similarly, Build and Cross-Z's flickering powers were presumably the result of Geiz repeatedly "defeating" Another Build in 2018.

Rule #2 (of 3)
An Another Rider can only be defeated by the powers of the Rider it is Another of. Why? We don't know, but Takumi seems to think we might find out if we keep watching.

Rule #3 (of 3)
... is not that if you nitpick too much you'll be kicked by a horse. That's nonsense, apparently.

So what is Rule #3?!

This series really is remarkable, but I wish more of this stuff was revealed in the show proper, rather than the online "supplementary" content.

I feel Takumi/Sento and Banjou should have some sort of side series. If they MST3K'ed old Rider shows in-character I'd be all over that!

The main team we follow in this series is the kawarimono team. I'm seeing this translated all over the web as "weird" team or "oddball" team, but that isn't what that means. (It's close, but not quite right.) Kawarimono is for things which don't fit into other categories. It doesn't imply strangeness or weirdness any more than it implies being special.

Think about the members:

GoukaiRed - a pirate. What other group might he belong to? The vehicle group? No. The swordsman group? Maybe, but he's equally proficient with a gun. The strong group? That's for the rhino/bull/bulldozer characters.

AkaNinger - he could go in a "ninja" group, but there isn't one. The Kakurangers and Hurricangers are split onto different teams, which makes sense, otherwise the theoretical ninja team would all be from those few shows.

SasoriOrange - an orange scorpion alien. Could go with the Dairangers and Changemen but again, they're split.

JyuohEagle - can't be on an animal team, because his whole schtick is that he's human (as opposed to his Jyuman teammates).

ToQ-5 - her whole thing is being uncategorisable!

So it isn't that they're weird or oddball, just that they don't fit into the other 31 teams. Which is of course quite arbitrary - Rita could have based the teams on other things, where they may well have fit.

During the opening battle against the Goukaigers, I immediately thought that Gaisorg was a possessed Luka, but when we see Gaisorg unmasked in the preview for the second episode, even though we only see him from behind, it clearly isn't Luka. It actually looks a lot like AkaNinger to me, but that wouldn't make a great deal of sense at this point.

I was really happy to see BoukenSilver in action. It made me wonder how actors remember their characters don't know each other, even though they've acted together before. BoukenSilver's actor, playing the character Roy, met SasoriOrange in Kyuuranger VS Space Squad. But there they are, fighting like strangers.

I noticed something that I think will be important with the music: during each battle, it plays the henshin/roll call music of the eventual winner (if there are multiple characters on the winning team, it will play all of their music at some point). I thought I may be wrong during AkaNinger's battle with Go-OnRed, as he looked set to lose, but he ultimately won...

JyuohEagle and AkaNinger have both aged really well. I wish they'd get a team-up movie.

I loved Kagura's reaction to Captain Marvelous, and Yamato smirking in the background. He knows Marvelous is a big softy, but poor Kagura...! I also really liked how Kagura and Takaharu are immediately friends. It fits their characters perfectly, and also reminds me of the smart alec PE teachers sitting up the back during every school curriculum day I've ever attended...

Planet Nemesis reminds me of the Golden Saucer from Final Fantasy VII. I was waiting for Cait Sith to come out.

Rita's name cannot be a coincidence. She's a sorceress with a staff. Or is she? SasoriOrange and ToQ-5 both described what they saw as "appearing like magic", not necessarily actual magic. I don't think she's what she seems. Also, Sakamoto Koichi is the director, and he has a strong connection to another sorceress named Rita.

This is so well directed. It's essentially flawless. I know Arakawa Naruhisa has a tendency to stick his nose in and push for things to be consistent. I vaguely remember an article during the airing of Goukaiger where he said they suggested updating the 1970s and 1980s special effects and he strongly resisted. Why would their guns sound different now? They're the same guns.

I like how they've added the voices for the non-returning actors. Some were wrong, sadly - BoukenYellow, the blue Jetman - but many seem lifted from the characters' own shows. I'm pretty confident the grunts of the Goukaigers in their battle with Gaisorg come from the episode of Goukaiger where they battled Basco in a forest after he defeated Marvelous. Which just goes to show how many times I've watched Goukaiger over the years...

The only real concern I have is why they'd all so willingly fight one another. JyuohEagle explained it in his battle with Patran-1, I guess, when he said they should pit their techniques and skill against each other, not try to hurt each other. But I still can't imagine characters who are friends fighting one another. The only time we really saw that, though, was the fight between the yellow OhRanger and the yellow Carranger, but I don't know if they were actually friends after their versus movie, since I've never seen it.

There's also no mention of teammates trying to contact one another. BoukenSilver mentions he can't contact SGS, but did he try contacting BoukenYellow?

I think the show did address those issues. I'm just inclined to think there'd be more characters who are suspicious of what's going on than there seem to be.

All in all, though, this was basically perfect. Can't wait for the next episode.

That was pretty danged amazing.

Tokiwa is such an endearing guy (and very pleasant to look at). Geiz is really irritating - he's meant to be tough and whatnot, but he doesn't come across that way at all, just very full of himself.

I really liked how easily Tsukuyomi was able to take care of Build and Cross-Z. It not only showed how capable she is (and her gun has such a cool visual effect), but it made me wonder: if she is so tough, why couldn't she and a whole army defeat Oma Zi-O?

I'm very impressed with the Zi-O suit design and the henshin poses for both Riders. The visual effects are all just quite generally very cool, too.

I wasn't overly fond of the little person who gave the Build watch to the basketball player. I think they will grow to annoy me very quickly. Woz, however, seems absurdly cool. I kinda want Zi-O to become the evil demon king just so Woz can be happy, 'cause he seems just so lovely.

A really good start, I feel.