Kamen Rider Zi-O Discussion Thread

March Zi-O scans:

I just watched episode 25 which was uploaded by Overtime earlier today. Uncle Tokiwa confirms that Sougo's parents are in fact dead due to a bus accident in 2009, shortly before Sougo's 9th birthday. Sougo and Kakogawa Hiryu, the true identity of Another Zi-O, survived the incident. Hiryu knows Sougo and acts bitter towards him but Sougo doesn't recall why.

I have some theories:

Authentic Zi-O's year is 2018 and Another Zi-O's year is 2019. Black Woz and Swartz remark that the star of kings shines approaching the Day of Oma. Perhaps in the original timeline, Sougo didn't become Zi-O until 2019 and Another Zi-O's power comes from that overwritten timeline.

Episode 24 revealed that Sougo's visions don't just predict the future, they create the future. He has inadvertently imagined the Dai Mazines, Oma Zi-O and the Humanoiz in to existence, ensuring humanity's doom no matter which future prevails. What if he also dreamed the bus accident?

This incident is clearly the reason Tsukuyomi is going to investigate 2009. If Sougo really did cause the deaths of his and Hiryu's parents, it would explain Hiryu's hostility. Another Zi-O is shown to possess Zi-O II's clairvoyance which means he might have some effect on the timeline.

^ Actually, Crossranger, it was Black Woz who discovered Kadoya Tsukasa's name, not Myokouin Geiz.

I just watched episode 27. I expected to find answers to the 2009 backstory only to be puzzled by more questions.

Before that, I'd like to share my opinion about Geiz Revive. Fury and Typhoon forms remind me of Sanagiman and Inazuman respectively from Movie War Ultimatum. A brown tanky shell that shatters to reveal a blue fast interior. Rider Wiki also likened the 2 forms to Geiz's butterfly motif with Fury being a cocoon and Typhoon being a metamorphosis. Hyper Kabuto's Perfect Zecter had a melee finisher called Maximum Hyper Typhoon. Revive Typhoon is extremely fast like Hyper Kabuto and wields the Zikan Jaclaw in claw mode for a flurry of swift melee attacks which seem virtually impossible to dodge. Zi-O II's and Another Zi-O's clairvoyance is rendered useless against Typhoon's insane speed.

Geiz Revive had almost defeated Zi-O II until Black Woz intervened and transported Geiz away. Here we learn about the downside of Revive as Geiz suddenly sheds blood. Black Woz explains this side effect as the compression and expansion of time to give Fury its durability and Typhoon its speed. Geiz's body is pushed beyond the limits of a normal human. However, Geiz mistakenly believes Tsukuyomi died trying to murder kid Sougo due to his indecision and feels that killing Sougo is his responsibility even if it costs his life. He's serious about sacrificing himself since he already did it to defeat Another Ryuuga. Despite Black Woz's generous warning, Geiz uses Revive to kick his a*s and again to kick Another Zi-O's a*s. Of course, his bloodshed continues as he neglects the damage he's inflicting on his own body.

Of course, Geiz's interpretation of the 2009 incident is completely wrong as Tsukuyomi, despite her recent behavior, would never harm a powerless kid. The backstory is shown in Swartz's flashback, revealing him to be the cause of the crash and Tsukasa as the driver. Swartz threatens Sougo, prompting Tsukuyomi to point her Faiz Phone X at him. This is the part where things stop making sense. Swartz flees the doomed bus and Tsukasa teleports himself, Tsukuyomi and all the kids to safety, including Sougo and Hiryu. Even though Sougo and Hiryu were later hospitalized with leg injuries, Sougo walks fine here. So they weren't injured in the bus crash and they weren't the only 2 survivors. How did they obtain these injuries? What happened to the other kids? Why are there rampaging Dai Mazines in 2009? Huh?!

Uncle Tokiwa finally expresses his concern to Sougo and warns him that denying his feelings will cause him to become a king with no empathy for the people, kind of like Oma Zi-O. He knows Sougo is lonely without Geiz and Tsukuyomi, but Sougo accustomed to having no friends just pretended it was okay instead of acknowledging the problem, until now when he was confronted. He doesn't want to end up like the guy his uncle described.

Black Woz retaliates by teaming up with Uhr and Hiryu to relieve White Woz of his Rider power. After all, the escalation of Zi-O's and Geiz's rivalry is White Woz's fault. Hiryu steals his power and White Woz writes in his future book that the power returns to "Woz", his vagueness proving to be a terrible mistake as Black Woz seizes the opportunity to obtain it. Having fell for their ingenious plan, White Woz finally loses his cool as he realizes he just gave away his power for free! Yeah, nice going, White Woz (sarcasm). I guess Black Woz learned from his overlord's manipulation, giving him a tactical advantage over his alternate self.

Geiz Revive is confident that he can beat Black Woz a second time but is surprised to see his possession of the BeyonDriver as he proceeds to henshin in to Kamen Rider Woz and honor his debut with a typical Woz speech. Sougo hurries towards the action on his Ride Striker. Yeah, that's right, he's actually using his bike!

Kamen Rider Zi-O April Scans:

This year seems to be Reverse Psychology April Fools for Kamen Rider. Everything they're saying is true. Not only the announcement of Brain being the last Heisei Rider but also the announcement of Shinobi being the first Reiwa Rider we know about. Nobody is safe from April Fools anymore.

I watched episode 29 and 30. Advent of the Day of Oma.

Swartz asks White Woz if he's a person who uses others or a person who gets used by others. This foreshadows his destiny at the end of the Blade arc. Now we know Swartz gave Sougo his future creation power and the Dai Mazines were rampaging in 2019, the original Day of Oma, not 2009. Swartz is the mastermind who created Oma Zi-O and the dystopian future.

Black Woz tells his fellow riders and Tsukuyomi that their enemies are Swartz and White Woz, ignoring the other Time Jackers. He seems to consider Uhr more of an ally than an enemy after he helped him obtain Kamen Rider Woz's powers but Ora is still against them. Both Time Jackers not mentioned are also not seen in this arc, despite being a significant turning point for the show.

Kaito Daiki steals Sougo's and Geiz's Ride Watches like the meddling thief he is while they're distracted by the meal he prepared for them. Kamen Rider Woz fights Diend and retrieves all but the Geiz, Geiz Revive and Zi-O II Ride Watches, leaving Geiz frustrated that he's out of action. Kaito gives the Geiz Revive and Zi-O II Ride Watches to White Woz, telling him to take his own treasure himself, the power of Kamen Rider Woz. Kaito is after a treasure other than the Ride Watches he collected.

With his new arsenal of Kamen Ride Cards, Kaito is able to summon a different Kaito, Kamen Rider Balon, as well as appropriately named knight motif rider, Kamen Rider Knight, and other Heisei Phase 2 secondary riders, Accel and Birth.

Black Woz observes that Another Blade's year is 2019 in contrast to the authentic Blade coming from 2004. This confirms that the year is when they were created, not the power. That's why Another Zi-O was dated 2019.

Sougo attempts to fix the friendship between Geiz and Black Woz but Tsukuyomi explains their backstory and why Geiz doesn't trust Woz. Before he was Oma Zi-O's servant, he was leader of the anti-Oma rebellion. Apparently, he deceived them and led Geiz's and Tsukuyomi's comrades to their deaths at the hands of Oma Zi-O. Maybe Oma Zi-O revealed an important secret to Woz that caused him to switch sides.

Having lost his power and his savior, White Woz has given up on the future he came from and resorts to destroying it by facilitating a fight to the death between the 2 Jokers from Blade. I'm out of the loop about a lot of Blade but I understand the basics. 1 Joker = Apocalypse. I'm not sure why they would fight willingly if they knew what would happen.

White Woz also facilitated a second fight between Kamen Rider Woz and Diend, using "Black Woz" in his Future Note to summon him. Which means losing his power was preventable if he wasn't so vague when he wrote it. At least he learned from his mistake.

Sougo appeals to the good side of White Woz and convinces him to not give up on the future by creating it in the present, which Sougo does in his dreams. White Woz gives Sougo the Trinity Ride Watch created from the Geiz Revive and Zi-O II Ride Watches and his own body. Sougo gratefully accepts the Ride Watches as Another Blade absorbs the Jokers' powers to become the last Joker and start the apocalypse.

Geiz and Woz leave their future conflict in the past and the 3 riders unite as Kamen Rider Zi-O Trinity. It's a very random merged form and I don't like the design, although Zi-O lamenting his face is a nice throwback to Momotaros' first reaction to Climax Form.

With Another Blade defeated and the Day of Oma over, the time paradox is resolved and White Woz and his future was disappearing. He confesses to Black Woz his intrigue about the future Sougo will create and asks him to take care of the overlord. He also warns him about the future schemes of Swartz before fading away. Ultimately, White Woz was a person who used others, trusting them to create a future he couldn't. And now Black Woz is the only Woz once more. I guess the characters will refer to him as just "Woz" from now on since there's no need for distinction anymore.

The 2 Wozzes may be different on the surface, but deep down they seem to be on the same page (get it?). The only real difference is White Woz's hat. Maybe hats are just fashionable in the Geiz Revive timeline considering Mondo also wears one. Speaking of future riders, it looks like the future worse than Oma Zi-O has been prevented so the Humanoiz shouldn't be a problem anymore. As for Rentarou and Mondo, they exist before 2068 so it's still possible for them to become riders if Oma Zi-O's timeline can be overwritten.

The kids in the bus incident are still trapped in Oma Zi-O's 2019 though and only Tsukuyomi, Tsukasa and Swartz know what really happened to them. Surprisingly, Kaito has obtained the treasure he was looking for, the Future Note, and reveals that he was working for Oma Zi-O, the enemy of White Woz. Oma Zi-O challenges Sougo to collect the remaining Ride Watches to become the overlord.

This show is getting really interesting! More people should talk about it.

awesome scan! can't wait to see Ginga and Woz as Ginga in action!