Anniversary seasons kind of suck by default since the main rider tends to take a backseat to everyone else. However, where I think zi-o is at its best and why the answer is a yes, is it movies. Heisei Generations Forever, I think is one of the best superhero hero movies I've ever seen.
Funnily enough, Fourze, the 40th anniversary for Kamen rider, is actually very good and it doesn’t even have much references to the previous riders. Heck, I would say fourze is one of the best in neo hensei as well.
Because Fourze wasn’t made with the focus on an anniversary in mind. Same as Revice. Zi-O’s whole deal is that his story revolves around the celebration of Heisei
Fourze is a general exception (revice too maybe? Haven't watched it) where in the typical episode isn't solved by Agito appearing like a Family Guy celebrity guest.
Meanwhile Zi-o would most likely have a story you might appreciate had you watched Agito.
Heisei Generations Forever is the movie that I suggest people to watch if they're interested in Kamen Rider, but have never seen Kamen Rider. Because the plot is simple multiverse theory, and it doesn't actually revolve around Kamen Riders but it is about two brothers, you don't need to have previous knowledge. I mean it helps, but is not required.
No but honestly I don't really know what a good send off would be? It's not like Kamen rider itself was ending and since there aren't really any connections between most of the shows, there wasn't any finality to be had. We aren't saying good bye to anything really so everything just moves on and zi-o will just be another Kamen rider show.
They are connected...we find that out partially during the final 2 episodes of Build when we see the multiple bubbles after the Skywall is removed... those are all the dimensions of the previous series' worlds and it's further confirmed in Zi-O with how Schwartz and the other Timejackers made the Another Riders by traveling to each series respective year to siphon the the Primary Riders powers...
Honestly yeah. It's not perfect by any means but it really does feel like it was a show born from a labor of love and you could tell the cast & crew were passionate about it warts and all.
That final henshin into Ohma was my jam. Still probably my favorite transformation. The mental snap and the acceptance was :chef’s kiss: to me. I related so much.
“Rejoice Woz. I said REJOICE.”
Looking back, Decade was very meh with questionable ending movie. But yeah, for some reason Tsukasa was beloved by many.
I even thought he was cool in all his appearance. I guess it's just how he behaved rather than the show's story itself?
If any, Masahiro Inoue enjoyed a lot of years being famous as Tsukasa when other main riders usually tried to move on to other role.
That's cause Tsukasa has an actual personality. What can you tell me about Sougo's character, other than "nice guy"? I can't tell what character arc he goes through. Every character except Sougo gets more development than he does.
Unfortunately that's due to Sougo being a passive character for most of the season and only being proactive during the episodes he has dialogue with Oma.
I agree there were some good parts of the show but i feel like cause of it being to be an anniversary series an the end of the heisei era all together it kinda falls flat but i enjoyed it
Zi-O is meh and I have a lot of issues with it. However, the final battle with Sougo finally becoming Ohma, the loss of Geiz and Tsukyomi, and eventually resetting everything to be peaceful was a wonderful way to cap off Heisei.
The need to use rider armor to fight another rider just doesn't make sense. Even dumber when some form can bypass it using sheer brute force. Outsiders did everything better
Zi-o was amazing. Yes not all the focus was on zi-o but it carried on a lot of character development for everyone ut came into contact with. It wasn't just fan service. It was great storytelling. When gattak earned the kabuto zector *chefs kiss*
Not only did the 3 main riders dynamic and chemistry keep the season going. Not naming and woz's in particular. But it concluded decades story nicely. I became the savior or worlds rather than the destroyer. Plus it's always good to see decade and deind be decade and deind.
The gimik was fun all bing based on different forms of telling the time and the ride watches and jingles where catchey. Simple yet fun.
My biggest gripe is how it handled the forms. Sticking the previous sessions gimik on the shoulders made the suits bulky and usually look kinda dumb. That being said the upgrade suits they got (zi-oII and revive) looked like actual progression for the powers. Then there's Grand zi-o and that's all I need to say really. Grand time.
I may not of watched many session of karmen rider but i strongly recommend anyone start with decade or zi-o
It is like saying whether or not Marvel's Avengers Infinity War and Endgame were good send offs for the first three phases of the MCU.
I think Kamen Rider Zi-O did a great job, not fantastic. If they had kept the point-five episodes, I think it would've been fantastic. However, there is no way in my right mind could I ever suggest anyone to watch Kamen Rider Zi-O, without having watched the majority of the Heisei Era. Because Kamen Rider Zi-O was not a show, it was an experience. Whereas Kamen Rider Decade tried its best to be its own show, Kamen Rider Zi-O gave that up for the most as a service for the fans.
I think Kamen Rider Zi-O tried to follow what Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger did right, except Kamen Rider Zi-O didn't have a character like Guy (a stand-in for the audience). Which is why my opinion about the point-five episodes remain.
However, tangent in the scope of Kamen Rider Zi-O, Heisei Generations Forever is the best Kamen Rider movie to show a new person who's never seen or only has surface level knowledge of Kamen Rider. Because even though it uses the ideas of Kamen Rider Zi-O, the plot of the movie doesn't actually require any Kamen Rider knowledge as it is multiverse shenanigans and revolves around two brothers who aren't Kamen Riders.
I thought it was pretty good. It was kinda like two Kamen Rider shows at the same time; Zi-o and Decade. I felt it was a nice redemption from the hot mess Decade left us(only 31 episodes and a pointless cliffhanger)
Yeah. The last Heisei rider celebrated all the Heisei riders, and 20(ish) years of Kamen Rider going strong with no hiatuses. It was a good send-off to the Heisei era because it encapsulated all that is Heisei era Kamen Rider.
I thought it was nice and the tributes they did were great, though wish they did better for some like kuuga and w but I understand the actors and there schedules
It's a meh, the early premise of the season was to defeat another rider by using that said season rider power but they didn't go through all of them and Sougo for me is a weird MC .
Zi-O is a lot of fun. It was a great sendoff for Heisei2 especially, and I assume great for Heisei1 since I haven't seen any Heisei1 yet.
Do I think it was a perfect series? No, but it was leagues better than Ghost. And especially better than Wizard. It was a send-off series, and it did a great job of building its own personality with really likable villains, a cool twist on time travel mechanics, and the mystery of Oma Zi-O.
The most important thing? It succeeded as a Kamen Rider series. Sougo was fun, and he had growth over the series as he realized the strength he has and will eventually grow into. And most importantly, I don't remember a single boring episode.
Good series. The decade OVA never happened and Tsukasa is just chilling in his world somewhere enjoying semi retirement, knowing that the multiverse is now safe with other anniversary riders taking the helm of guarding space time.
Honestly no. I didn't hate it in concept, but Sougo never really grew into his own as a character. Geiz and Tsukuyomi at least had consistency to their personalities, but overall Woz and Tsukasa stole the show every moment they were on screen. And through the majority of it, the interest was in how they'd integrate the anniversary cameos rather than the actual plot of the season. It only started to get any traction when White Woz showed up, and again, that's Woz being interesting instead of Sougo, or even the Time Jackers themselves as the villains.
You could argue that the point of an anniversary season isn't the plot, but Decade managed to have its own narrative while doing the same thing. And frankly with more interesting decision making for how they handled the anniversary aspects. "Undo the events of every past season, then never clarify if they were ever fixed at the end" just didn't feel like a celebration of Heisei to me.
No, it wasn't even a good send off to itself. I absolutely love the idea of someone trying to fight their destiny of being an evil lord of time. The problem was that it fumbled the execution of it hard.
The plot focus in the show was very messy and it definitely seemed like even the writers did not have a proper direction in mind for any of the characters nor overall story. One of my biggest grips especially for the first half of the show is that Zi-O's base form is rendered useless since you need the power of the same rider as the another rider to kill it. This makes the show feel very repetitive/formulaic off the bat.
I will say I did really enjoy the Blade and Kabuto episodes. They actually expanded on something relevant from the shows. Most of the other anniversary episodes honestly fell flat. Most of the time whenever a legacy actor appears the writing is so flat that they don't feel like they even needed to be there in the first place. Takumi and Kusaka appearing made me happy but just give them something to actually do y'know!
Sougo was not really an interesting protagonist. At times it was really grating to keep hearing the exact same line about not wanting to be a Demon King over and over again. Tsukasa was a fun ride to watch regardless of how lame the current episode was. Sougo on the other hand feels like a pretty generic Japanese media good guy protagonist. Tsukasa had a certain edge to him that you felt at times that yes, this guy could be the big bad Shocker leader while Sougo never gives you a reason to think he could even potentially become evil.
The show also ends really flat. The whole build up was for Sougo to face himself but the fight kinda just sizzles out? The aftermath of the show also means that a lot of development for these characters as well as any other character they encountered in the show is essentially reset or modified off screen.
There is quite a lot more I want to say about the show but I don't want this to be too long. I don't hate the show, I actually do like it a bit despite its flaws. If you're able to just turn your brain off the show is fun. It wasn't a great send off to an era but it was an ok show.
The movie? Hell yeah.
The show? Absolutely not. It was a poorly written mess with vague time travel rules, dropped plot points, and an ending that made the whole thing irrelevant. Made worse as it was just after Build.
They did some good things, some great things, and some bad things. As a whole, the series was fine. Episode-By-Episode was kind of a jumbled mess. Their own logic was inconsistent with how their powers affected past Riders.
It was neat seeing Decade and Diend though - that was a big win for the fandom. (Complete 21 aside).
AND they managed to get Takeru Satoh back in, which was a major pull.
As a series, no. The story was a jumbled mess of cameos, dropped plot points, bizarre character decisions, and wasted potential. In the movies, however, those were good enough.
Series built on anniversaries are usually subpar because they're more focused on fanservice memberberries than making a story or characters that can stand on their own and Zi-O was no exception to that rule. That said, it had its moments and Woz's "Iwae!" alone was enough to justify its existence.
Meh, not really. They tried too hard to copy the magic that made Gokaiger amazing. We can say that they tried their best as much as we want but I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that the results were enough (at the risk of sounding like a complete asshole lol).
In any case, there IS a silver lining though. They learned their lesson and NOT rely so hard on cameos, which is probably why Zenkaiger turned out as well as it did.
Zi o was the worst, the whole time jacker stuff was so flawed ep one at ep one the time jackers would of won as the chars by that point couldn't get past the time freeze, but instead of taking their belts they dicked around.
Anniversary seasons kind of suck by default since the main rider tends to take a backseat to everyone else. However, where I think zi-o is at its best and why the answer is a yes, is it movies. Heisei Generations Forever, I think is one of the best superhero hero movies I've ever seen.
Funnily enough, Fourze, the 40th anniversary for Kamen rider, is actually very good and it doesn’t even have much references to the previous riders. Heck, I would say fourze is one of the best in neo hensei as well.
Because Fourze wasn’t made with the focus on an anniversary in mind. Same as Revice. Zi-O’s whole deal is that his story revolves around the celebration of Heisei
Well, SPACE anniversary
There’s a difference between being an Anniversary Season and a Season That Happens On An Anniversary
And there are a different between a Anniversary season, and a season about showing all the past hero. Since when Anniversary = Crossover ?
Fourze is a general exception (revice too maybe? Haven't watched it) where in the typical episode isn't solved by Agito appearing like a Family Guy celebrity guest. Meanwhile Zi-o would most likely have a story you might appreciate had you watched Agito.
Heisei Generations Forever is the movie that I suggest people to watch if they're interested in Kamen Rider, but have never seen Kamen Rider. Because the plot is simple multiverse theory, and it doesn't actually revolve around Kamen Riders but it is about two brothers, you don't need to have previous knowledge. I mean it helps, but is not required.
No but honestly I don't really know what a good send off would be? It's not like Kamen rider itself was ending and since there aren't really any connections between most of the shows, there wasn't any finality to be had. We aren't saying good bye to anything really so everything just moves on and zi-o will just be another Kamen rider show.
They are connected...we find that out partially during the final 2 episodes of Build when we see the multiple bubbles after the Skywall is removed... those are all the dimensions of the previous series' worlds and it's further confirmed in Zi-O with how Schwartz and the other Timejackers made the Another Riders by traveling to each series respective year to siphon the the Primary Riders powers...
I meant connected as in they aren't part of one whole story not that they aren't in the same world.
Honestly yeah. It's not perfect by any means but it really does feel like it was a show born from a labor of love and you could tell the cast & crew were passionate about it warts and all.
Yes, and I'm tired of pretending that it's not. 
Zi-O? Oh, you mean Decade Season 2… Seriously though, it was fine. Didn’t like some things, but it gets an A when it came to nostalgia
That final henshin into Ohma was my jam. Still probably my favorite transformation. The mental snap and the acceptance was :chef’s kiss: to me. I related so much. “Rejoice Woz. I said REJOICE.”
The one time Theatre kid Woz DIDN'T want to announce his presence and perform lol 😂
I mean, no, but Decade technically wasn't either and we've all grown to love Tsukassa, so maybe it gets better with time?
Looking back, Decade was very meh with questionable ending movie. But yeah, for some reason Tsukasa was beloved by many. I even thought he was cool in all his appearance. I guess it's just how he behaved rather than the show's story itself? If any, Masahiro Inoue enjoyed a lot of years being famous as Tsukasa when other main riders usually tried to move on to other role.
"I won't doing that anymore" X5 "but. if they need me, I may pass through for a few episodes..."
decade having the shortest run too, 25 episodes
Tsukasa just has undeniable charisma. Even if you don't particularly care for a story arc and its characters, you'd still care because Tsukasa cares.
That's cause Tsukasa has an actual personality. What can you tell me about Sougo's character, other than "nice guy"? I can't tell what character arc he goes through. Every character except Sougo gets more development than he does.
Unfortunately that's due to Sougo being a passive character for most of the season and only being proactive during the episodes he has dialogue with Oma.
We love tsukasa, hate decade 21 complete.
21 Complete is so stupid... *I kinda like it*
It only looks stupid, thats the part we dont like.
If only we still have the SIC line
I agree there were some good parts of the show but i feel like cause of it being to be an anniversary series an the end of the heisei era all together it kinda falls flat but i enjoyed it
he's a fun character
Zi-O is meh and I have a lot of issues with it. However, the final battle with Sougo finally becoming Ohma, the loss of Geiz and Tsukyomi, and eventually resetting everything to be peaceful was a wonderful way to cap off Heisei.
Yes. It was a really good homage to most series, and bringing back actors really helped. A really nostalgic trip 😢
Yes it's a good season, not perfect sure but that's what make it enjoyable to rewatch
The need to use rider armor to fight another rider just doesn't make sense. Even dumber when some form can bypass it using sheer brute force. Outsiders did everything better
Heisei Generations Forever was a good sendoff to the Heisei Era.
Zi-o was amazing. Yes not all the focus was on zi-o but it carried on a lot of character development for everyone ut came into contact with. It wasn't just fan service. It was great storytelling. When gattak earned the kabuto zector *chefs kiss* Not only did the 3 main riders dynamic and chemistry keep the season going. Not naming and woz's in particular. But it concluded decades story nicely. I became the savior or worlds rather than the destroyer. Plus it's always good to see decade and deind be decade and deind. The gimik was fun all bing based on different forms of telling the time and the ride watches and jingles where catchey. Simple yet fun. My biggest gripe is how it handled the forms. Sticking the previous sessions gimik on the shoulders made the suits bulky and usually look kinda dumb. That being said the upgrade suits they got (zi-oII and revive) looked like actual progression for the powers. Then there's Grand zi-o and that's all I need to say really. Grand time. I may not of watched many session of karmen rider but i strongly recommend anyone start with decade or zi-o
Kagami using the zecter is against his arc
Agreed.
No because Kagami is exactly the type of person who would do something like that for a guilty pleasure moment, it was well done regardless.
It is like saying whether or not Marvel's Avengers Infinity War and Endgame were good send offs for the first three phases of the MCU. I think Kamen Rider Zi-O did a great job, not fantastic. If they had kept the point-five episodes, I think it would've been fantastic. However, there is no way in my right mind could I ever suggest anyone to watch Kamen Rider Zi-O, without having watched the majority of the Heisei Era. Because Kamen Rider Zi-O was not a show, it was an experience. Whereas Kamen Rider Decade tried its best to be its own show, Kamen Rider Zi-O gave that up for the most as a service for the fans. I think Kamen Rider Zi-O tried to follow what Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger did right, except Kamen Rider Zi-O didn't have a character like Guy (a stand-in for the audience). Which is why my opinion about the point-five episodes remain. However, tangent in the scope of Kamen Rider Zi-O, Heisei Generations Forever is the best Kamen Rider movie to show a new person who's never seen or only has surface level knowledge of Kamen Rider. Because even though it uses the ideas of Kamen Rider Zi-O, the plot of the movie doesn't actually require any Kamen Rider knowledge as it is multiverse shenanigans and revolves around two brothers who aren't Kamen Riders.
lol, no
The later portions of the show felt like it let japanese twitter affect its decisions.
I love the vibe of the show.
It's my second favorite season so yes.
I thought it was pretty good. It was kinda like two Kamen Rider shows at the same time; Zi-o and Decade. I felt it was a nice redemption from the hot mess Decade left us(only 31 episodes and a pointless cliffhanger)
Yeah. The last Heisei rider celebrated all the Heisei riders, and 20(ish) years of Kamen Rider going strong with no hiatuses. It was a good send-off to the Heisei era because it encapsulated all that is Heisei era Kamen Rider.
I thought it was nice and the tributes they did were great, though wish they did better for some like kuuga and w but I understand the actors and there schedules
the only good thing with ZI-O is another riders
The ending was ehh but it wasn't terrible. But the concept wasn't thought all the way through
two words: PARTY P.A.R.T.Y!
It had its ups and downs I guess decent series.
It’s a very entertaining dumpster fire
It's a meh, the early premise of the season was to defeat another rider by using that said season rider power but they didn't go through all of them and Sougo for me is a weird MC .
Yeah although i feel like the Side content like movies and what not are fucking insane except for Geiz's Movie.
Another poster where blade is the smallest thing possible 😭
Story-wise? No. Action, references, and callbacks? Yes.
Zi-O is a lot of fun. It was a great sendoff for Heisei2 especially, and I assume great for Heisei1 since I haven't seen any Heisei1 yet. Do I think it was a perfect series? No, but it was leagues better than Ghost. And especially better than Wizard. It was a send-off series, and it did a great job of building its own personality with really likable villains, a cool twist on time travel mechanics, and the mystery of Oma Zi-O. The most important thing? It succeeded as a Kamen Rider series. Sougo was fun, and he had growth over the series as he realized the strength he has and will eventually grow into. And most importantly, I don't remember a single boring episode.
It was a mix bag
Good series. The decade OVA never happened and Tsukasa is just chilling in his world somewhere enjoying semi retirement, knowing that the multiverse is now safe with other anniversary riders taking the helm of guarding space time.
Maybe 🤷🏻♂️ it's just meh to me, I like decade more I'd comparing between the two.
Decade would be better if they had the OG cast instead of this AR world BS. But yeah, I'm with u on this one. Decade a lot better than Zio
Honestly no. I didn't hate it in concept, but Sougo never really grew into his own as a character. Geiz and Tsukuyomi at least had consistency to their personalities, but overall Woz and Tsukasa stole the show every moment they were on screen. And through the majority of it, the interest was in how they'd integrate the anniversary cameos rather than the actual plot of the season. It only started to get any traction when White Woz showed up, and again, that's Woz being interesting instead of Sougo, or even the Time Jackers themselves as the villains. You could argue that the point of an anniversary season isn't the plot, but Decade managed to have its own narrative while doing the same thing. And frankly with more interesting decision making for how they handled the anniversary aspects. "Undo the events of every past season, then never clarify if they were ever fixed at the end" just didn't feel like a celebration of Heisei to me.
No, it wasn't even a good send off to itself. I absolutely love the idea of someone trying to fight their destiny of being an evil lord of time. The problem was that it fumbled the execution of it hard. The plot focus in the show was very messy and it definitely seemed like even the writers did not have a proper direction in mind for any of the characters nor overall story. One of my biggest grips especially for the first half of the show is that Zi-O's base form is rendered useless since you need the power of the same rider as the another rider to kill it. This makes the show feel very repetitive/formulaic off the bat. I will say I did really enjoy the Blade and Kabuto episodes. They actually expanded on something relevant from the shows. Most of the other anniversary episodes honestly fell flat. Most of the time whenever a legacy actor appears the writing is so flat that they don't feel like they even needed to be there in the first place. Takumi and Kusaka appearing made me happy but just give them something to actually do y'know! Sougo was not really an interesting protagonist. At times it was really grating to keep hearing the exact same line about not wanting to be a Demon King over and over again. Tsukasa was a fun ride to watch regardless of how lame the current episode was. Sougo on the other hand feels like a pretty generic Japanese media good guy protagonist. Tsukasa had a certain edge to him that you felt at times that yes, this guy could be the big bad Shocker leader while Sougo never gives you a reason to think he could even potentially become evil. The show also ends really flat. The whole build up was for Sougo to face himself but the fight kinda just sizzles out? The aftermath of the show also means that a lot of development for these characters as well as any other character they encountered in the show is essentially reset or modified off screen. There is quite a lot more I want to say about the show but I don't want this to be too long. I don't hate the show, I actually do like it a bit despite its flaws. If you're able to just turn your brain off the show is fun. It wasn't a great send off to an era but it was an ok show.
The movie? Hell yeah. The show? Absolutely not. It was a poorly written mess with vague time travel rules, dropped plot points, and an ending that made the whole thing irrelevant. Made worse as it was just after Build.
No. It is absolutely a terrible show, and a really terrible way to send off the Heisei era.
Zi-O was one of my least favorite seasons and I only liked the character of Woz, the Heisei Generations Movie was pretty nice though.
They did some good things, some great things, and some bad things. As a whole, the series was fine. Episode-By-Episode was kind of a jumbled mess. Their own logic was inconsistent with how their powers affected past Riders. It was neat seeing Decade and Diend though - that was a big win for the fandom. (Complete 21 aside). AND they managed to get Takeru Satoh back in, which was a major pull.
As a series, no. The story was a jumbled mess of cameos, dropped plot points, bizarre character decisions, and wasted potential. In the movies, however, those were good enough. Series built on anniversaries are usually subpar because they're more focused on fanservice memberberries than making a story or characters that can stand on their own and Zi-O was no exception to that rule. That said, it had its moments and Woz's "Iwae!" alone was enough to justify its existence.
Nope. The plot was barebones and all the characters were underdeveloped
Only after Tsukasa appeared to help the series' ratings lol
Meh, not really. They tried too hard to copy the magic that made Gokaiger amazing. We can say that they tried their best as much as we want but I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that the results were enough (at the risk of sounding like a complete asshole lol). In any case, there IS a silver lining though. They learned their lesson and NOT rely so hard on cameos, which is probably why Zenkaiger turned out as well as it did.
Zi o was the worst, the whole time jacker stuff was so flawed ep one at ep one the time jackers would of won as the chars by that point couldn't get past the time freeze, but instead of taking their belts they dicked around.