Hasbro's Power Rangers era and General Tokusatsu discussion

[Samurai8472]

Zi-O episode 46

https://www.mp4upload.com/7r9jbp7uytm2

We got a mini Double tribute with Zi-o using double armor and a bit of background music from kamen rider double when he was facing Eternal

That was an ambitious plan cooked up by the heroes to pull Geiz out of another world by using trinity

I did think the tense moment with Schwarz and Sougo in the rain was done better in a past Build episode.

Aqua sacrificing himself was unexpected. I’m sure time will be undone to revive him. At least held on to his courage in the end

There was a lot of ambitious plans in this episode like Ora trying her own plan to kill Schwartz

In the end it just proves that Another Decade is one tough opponent

Tomorrow chaser from drive returns!


Ryuusoulger 20

https://www.mp4upload.com/g7hc9t52qo4a

Nice way to have a mecha fight with the general but keep him alive since it was just a drawing

Towa didn’t seem to recognize Gaisoulg, but that’s par for the course as far as Toei is concerned. To be fair, Towa also
didn’t know he was called that in Saikyo Battle. Him and Banba kind of just show up and trash him. So it comes down to the usual- “skids by close enough for us to blend it into continuity later if we want to” camp.

 

[Christopher]

Zi-O: Whatever Schwartz intended by summoning White Woz back to life, it kinda backfired. Woz is always loyal only to his king, or in this case his savior, Geiz. And he's always been a devious sort, in either incarnation.

I was pleased that they brought back Miharu/Aqua after his one brief movie appearance, even giving him a sizeable role, but then they went and killed him off. Along with Ora, leaving Schwartz as the only Timejacker as we go into the endgame.

I'm disappointed that Schwartz's goal behind this whole byzantine season-long scheme seems to be only "Get all the power and rule the world." That's rather pedestrian.

We got a mini Double tribute with Zi-o using double armor and a bit of background music from kamen rider double when he was facing Eternal

Yeah, that was cool.


Ryu: A fun variation on the Minusaur premise, and more creative camera angles/storyboarding in the giant battle. Otherwise, a pretty standard plot about a Ranger forced outside their comfort zone and having to overcome a weakness.

And yeah, once Gaisorg (Gaisoulg, whatever) started showing up here, I figured the writers had their own plans for the character and the miniseries just borrowed him and did their own thing with him. Though maybe it can be reconciled by the fact that Gaisorg there was just a sentient suit of armor passing from wearer to wearer. Maybe this guy is the original owner, who has more control over it and isn't just a slave to its compulsion like the other wearers.

 

[Samurai8472]

Uchusen a scifi magazine in Japan regularly posts a "Details of Hero" section for Kamen Rider suits.

Just posting Grand Zi-O's photoshoot. This is from a bigger section detailing the rider suits in the "Over Quartzer" summer movie


Normally you can't see all this detail because the stuntman is moving around. Grand Zi-O is so.....grand and absurd that you can't look away from it.

https://pikdo.net/p/zio__z/2089194103484260586_5476796974

I wonder how well it will fare in years to come when it's stored away.

 

[Christopher]

The Grand Zi-O suit is amazing. There have been plenty of overcluttered final-form costumes in recent years, like Build's super-garish one, but this is just so intricate and detailed it's essentially a work of art. He's like a walking church covered in Kamen Rider gargoyles.

And I love how many of them are posed with their trademark gestures. Kuuga is doing that infuriating thumbs-up, Hibiki is doing that self-conscious "Yo" gesture of his, Kabuto is pointing skyward, W is doing the "Now, count up your sins" pose, Fourze is doing his exuberant "Uchuu KITAAAAAAAAA!!!," Wizard is holding out his magic ring, Build is doing that antenna stroke, etc.

Let's see if I can sort out who's where. It looks like they're chronologically ordered in a zigzag pattern:

Kuuga: right shoulder
Agito, Ryuki: right forearm (top to bottom)
Faiz, Blade, Hibiki: right leg (bottom to top)
Kabuto: right hip
Den-O, Kiva: right chest (bottom to top)
Decade: center chest
W: left shoulder
OOO, Fourze: left forearm (top to bottom)
Wizard, Gaim, Drive: left leg (bottom to top)
Ghost: left hip
Ex-Aid, Build: left chest (bottom to top)
Zi-O: forehead

 

[Samurai8472]

Zi-O episode 47.


https://www.mp4upload.com/yvvsin32vt0r

All I can say is "Onore DIKEIDO!!". It's all his fault. The conflicting timelines are an aftereffect of worlds merging and all Riders after Decade being pulled into one world

This is why Rider keeps its timelines separate. Having the villains of every show colliding outside of a Movie War context isn't fun at all, it's pure chaos for all involved. Holy cow. It's reached Doctor Who levels of finale insanity.

Did Zi-O just become "Decade season 2?" They even brought back the alternate reality graphic from Decade.

Tsukasa also played everyone almost since the beginning because he's Decade

- Decade knew that Time Jackers could take Rider powers and Watches can restore them if the original holder of the power uses them.

- Decade gave Sougo his RideWatch with 50% of his powers in the first arc. This was a backup in case his powers were taken.

- Decade played villain for the Time Jackers for fun and to investigate the Zi-O crew.

- Decade mentors Zi-O.

- Decade was fighting at 50% of his power level.

This was a very long term plan

The final moment of the episode is basically the same thing that happen to Natsumi's world in the first Decade episode.

Grand Zi-O throwing away all the ultimate weapons was another highlight


After Build's world merging and Zi-O's time shenanigans I have a feeling we might get something more low key in "Zero-One" Nothing on the level of time or world merging.

 

[Christopher]

All I can say is "Onore DIKEIDO!!". It's all his fault. The conflicting timelines are an aftereffect of worlds merging and all Riders after Decade being pulled into one world

No, that's not what they said. They said it's the result of all Riders merging into one, not all Rider worlds. They meant Zi-O, not Decade. I've suspected for some time that Schwartz was deliberately sending these Another Riders against Sougo so that he could acquire all their powers, and now we have confirmation of that, and we know why he did it -- because combining all the worlds' Riders into Zi-O will merge all their worlds into one world, which will let Schwartz destroy them all by just destroying the one.

It also ties back into something that seemed strange about the premise all along, that by Zi-O acquiring a past Rider's power, he eliminated that Rider from existence (at least as a Rider). That seemed like a bad thing. Now we see that it was part of the evil plan all along. If no other Riders existed, then all their villains survived, and if all their worlds merge, then Schwartz can pretty much let them destroy the combined world for him.

I guess this explains the inconsistencies of the show treating all the past series as one world even when they were distinctly separate -- something directly acknowledged in the Kabuto crossover, but not followed up on. I guess the worlds have been starting to merge ever since Schwartz started creating Another Riders, and that explains the anomalies. (Aside from the geographical anomaly of Futo Tower and Zawame City's Yggdrasil Tower both appearing in Tokyo.)

This was pretty clearly set after the movie, since Geiz is familiar with Mach and Krim Steinbelt.

 

[Samurai8472]

Ryusoulger 21

https://www.mp4upload.com/ny1kjvvcueij

Well at least we know how they'll massive repair city damage. They'll use ShineRaptor.

Ui’s is like a mix of DJ Sahara from Kamen rider gaim with the head wraps and a good version of Evolt from Kamen rider Build

I wonder if there’s a side effect of possessing Ui’s dad

Master pink being amazed by bubble tea from a Starbucks like company was fun

Dancing to the ED last week, it's Master Usagi herself.

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[Christopher]

This is a weird turn for the story to take -- people coming back from the dead and all that, and the crisis being caused by a Kishiryuu instead of a Minusaur. Some nice emotional reunion moments, though it's odd that we didn't get a scene of Ui's dad's first reaction to her mother's return, just the dinner scene later on. (And apparently what they call "hamburger" in Japan is more like what I know as Salisbury steak, rather than a sandwich on a bun. And it's somehow eaten with chopsticks!)

Well at least we know how they'll massive repair city damage. They'll use ShineRaptor.

Has ShineRaptor been acting behind the scenes in all those past seasons where the city was destroyed as far as the eye could see in one episode and back to normal in the next? Or in that LvP installment near the finale where that happened in the course of the same episode?

Ui’s is like a mix of DJ Sahara from Kamen rider gaim with the head wraps and a good version of Evolt from Kamen rider Build

I was reminded of DJ Sagara too, though he's lacking the goggles. (Sahara was the name of the family that Kamen Rider Black RX lived with.) As for the Evolt comparison, are you talking about the possession?

 

[Samurai8472]

Zi-O episode 48

https://www.mp4upload.com/vzycdlltv57r

The most talked about moment of last week happened. We finally get to see Tsukuyomi turn into a rider.

The jingle is catchy and a little bit cute. It's been teased a few times in the past. The Jiku driver already had Kamen Rider Tsukuyomi programmed into it. Tsukuyomi turning into a rider was also teased in the additional episode content clips

Saving it for the last minute sucks, but hopefully she gets a decent battle in the finale episode

Woz must have also have a surplus of drivers lying around somewhere

Another highlight was Zi-O vs Oma Zi-O. I really liked the whole confrontation as a concept, and it was executed pretty well for the most part. Putting aside whether there was good reason for them to physically fight in the first place, we've seen Sougo failed to overcome his future self after gathering the power of all the past Riders. This time, he makes use of Trinity, which represents the power of Sougo's bonds with his friends whom Oma Zi-O never had.

Also Decade VS Another Decade was another highlight

 

[Christopher]

The most talked about moment of last week happened. We finally get to see Tsukuyomi turn into a rider.

Nice costume, but it's hard for me to be impressed by another "female lead gets to be a Kamen Rider for one episode" twist, not when we've finally got a regular female Rider coming up in about 2 weeks. At least this time they're not waiting until the next season's crossover movie like Decade did with Natsumi/Kamen Rider Kiva-la.

So basically Zi-O is the only Rider this season whose Rider name isn't just his given name. Although, well, Tsukuyomi's real given name is Alpina, so that's an ambiguous case. I was going to say that "Kamen Rider Tsukuyomi" is one of the longest Rider names, but I guess that's only true in English; some of the names are even longer in Japanese pronunciation. For instance, "Stronger" is six syllables, su-to-ro-n-ga-a, while "Black RX" (Burakku Āru Ekkusu) is somewhere from 9-11 syllables, depending on how the double K's are counted.

I found the plot kind of confusing, but I guess that's because we don't know Decade's plan yet. How do they destroy the world but save the people? That sounds like the same sort of thing Build did a year ago, but he did it by merging one world with another, and now all the worlds are merged into one, so what's left? Also, it's weird that Decade said all the Rider worlds were separate until Sougo merged them, when that's implicitly pretty much what Decade did -- before his show, nearly all the seasons were self-contained, but after, they crossed over regularly and often referenced past Rider history (e.g. in Fourze's Kamen Rider Club). It was a messy and inconsistent overlap, but it's been there.

 

[Samurai8472]

Ryusoulger episode 22

https://www.mp4upload.com/elvkqp785dyg

A good episode for Asuna to shine. This episode hit a pretty strong emotional ending with Asuna having to say goodbye to Master Pink.

I got Power Ranger vibes when Cosmo armor was used in the cockpit. I'm sure it will be used outside of mecha battles though. It has already been advertised in the 4th quarter catalog with Bamba wearing it

Also it's been revealed that Beast Morphers will return with new episodes starting September 14th

https://news.tokunation.com/2019/08...st-morphers-episodes-begin-september-14-62694

 

[Christopher]

^Your link for the Ryusoulger episode isn't working at the moment -- I get a "connection timed out" message.

 

[Samurai8472]

^Your link for the Ryusoulger episode isn't working at the moment -- I get a "connection timed out" message.

^
Here's another link

https://www.mp4upload.com/4dl79b62yq90


Also I just heard Kamen Rider Zero-One's premiere will air a few hours after Zi-O's finale during the baton touch special event on TV Asahi, Youtube, Videopass and Toei Tokusatsu Fanclub.

They will air it again on august 31th at 11am on Youtube and TTFC and it will properly premiere on TV Asahi on september 1st at 9am.


Some preview pictures of the first few episodes of Zero-One.

That 3D printer looks ALOT like Kamen Rider builds bottle purifier setup

The Progrise keys are 3d printed by the big Hiden 3d printer.

 

[Christopher]

^Thanks, but the first link works now, and I finished the episode just before you posted. So it goes.

This was a terrific episode, with some great emotional moments (I'm still teary-eyed about Ui and her mother) and some terrific action choreography. The battle in the astral plane, or whatever you call that green vortex, was quite imaginative.

I'm a bit disappointed it turned out to be a Minusaur behind the life/death switching. Last week gave the impression that it was the twin Kishiryuu doing it, and that would've been an interestingly different story to tell. But I'm confused how Master Pink was able to spawn a Minusaur if she was dead. Wouldn't the Minusaur have to exist first in order to bring her back from the dead?

I'm a bit uncomfortable at seeing Creon so broken up and mournful about the Ryusoulgers killing his friend -- it makes it kind of hard to root for them, even knowing all the evil the Druidons have committed. Still, sometimes it impresses me how these shows are able to make us care about the villains as much as the heroes -- e.g. the lovely relationship between Yabaiba and Tsuetsue in Gaoranger, or the poignancy of the climactic story arcs of Heart, Brain, and Medic in Kamen Rider Drive.

A good episode for Asuna to shine.

Yes, terrific acting by Ichika Osaki, and some awesome stunt work by Ryusoul Pink's suit performer, who according to the Wiki is Ayumi Shimozono. Although it's a bit incongruous to see Asuna doing these graceful, flawless acrobatics in costume when she's normally such a klutz.

 

[Samurai8472]

Zi-O episode 49 series finale

https://www.mp4upload.com/6ey50r948uau


The end of an era.


Getting to see Grand and Oma at their full potential was fun, but this was basically the Build ending through a Zi-O filter. The post ending part was also similar with everyone alive and living in an alternate timeline/world

If Sougo put all the Heisei Riders back into their own worlds. Does that mean Build's ending was for nothing? Did Sougo just screw Sento? LOL

According to the official site Oma Zi-O tried to force the world to remember the Heisei Riders and make them the center of everything in spite of their history being erased, but that led to him disregarding the present and future while fighting alone for 50 years.


Series thoughts:

The Good:

I felt like Zi-O had a little success with the past Rider nostalgia. Bringing back actual actors and occasionally having them sometimes help in battle was a nice touch. The Agito tribute was definitely the best one IMO

Woz. The Woz character became really popular apparently.


Props to the suit actors in the finale Evolt's suit acting was really good though in spite of no lines. Look at his relaxed standing pose, his "hi" when he pops up or his hand dismissing Woz's announcement of Oma Zi-O. It really feels like he wasn't taking the battle seriously at all until he was already dead.



The parts that weren't that great. Not bad just not great.

There were a lot of cameos that felt kind of superfluous or underutilized. This came hand in hand with the story not really seeming to know where it was going. It was clunky at times. The Kiva tribute was terrible for instance.

This series had alot of promise towards the start, but could never get a handle on it's own rule set or where it wanted to go with it's characters.

In the beginning they were doing "Another Rider replaces the original Rider if the Another Rider was created in the past". Later on they just dropped it. It just made things in a mess at the end of each story.


There was alot of comparisons to last year's Kamen Rider series Kamen Rider Build. I feel Build had more likable characters. What Zi-O is doing this year I felt Build did it better.


In Zi-O we never really dive into the characters. You never really get into their mind spaces in any real depth.

I thought Schwarz was pretty weak. It's like they turned a switch on him to be more devious when the time called for it. Before that he was just....there. A show can only be as good as its villain. And Schwartz was ineffectual. We never know what he wants besides abstract power. His relationship with Tsukuyomi and Sougo is ill defined.

The Timejackers should have been built up to be something. Heure and Ora needed a backstory of why they became Timejackers. It never came (like how we never got Libra's backstory in Fourze but got backstory for a henchman in Leo).


Heres to the next era(Reiwa) !!

 

[Christopher]

Zi-O episode 49 series finale
...
Getting to see Grand and Oma at their full potential was fun, but this was basically the Build ending through a Zi-O filter. The post ending part was also similar with everyone alive and living in an alternate timeline/world

Yeah. It was disappointing that they just repeated the same finale premise as last year. I mean, the whole show was about revisiting the past, but that's too recent a past.

Also, Kamen Rider Tsukuyomi falls into the category of female cast members who briefly become Riders and get knocked out mere moments into their first and only fights, though she lasted a bit longer than Akira in Hibiki or that woman who donned the Delta belt for five seconds in Faiz. They made that big deal about her becoming a Rider and then didn't do anything with it. What a copout.

If Sougo put all the Heisei Riders back into their own worlds. Does that mean Build's ending was for nothing? Did Sougo just screw Sento? LOL

Well, according to the first of the Build NEW WORLD movies, the world they're on now isn't the world of the other Kamen Riders as previously implied -- rather, it's just a version of the World of Build where Pandora's Box never happened, and where Kamen Riders never existed. So presumably that's the world they were restored to at the end here.

The Good:

I felt like Zi-O had a little success with the past Rider nostalgia. Bringing back actual actors and occasionally having them sometimes help in battle was a nice touch. The Agito tribute was definitely the best one IMO

It was very much a mixed bag. The early season didn't handle it very well because it erased the history, so the returning actors were playing alternate versions of their characters and the connections to their shows' story arcs were minimal. It was better later on when they did proper sequels.

There were a lot of cameos that felt kind of superfluous or underutilized. This came hand in hand with the story not really seeming to know where it was going. It was clunky at times.

I'd agree there. Conceptually, it was a mess. It was mainly enjoyable for the characters and the humor, as well as the music and some of the other production values.

And you're right that deeper dives into the characters would've been good. I feel Sougo's uncle was underutilized. His calm acceptance of all the weirdness over the season made me think he knew more than he was letting on and would turn out to have some important secret identity, but no, he was nothing more than he appeared. Although the bit about him fixing all the broken Ridewatches was a nice payoff for a character who spent most of the season lamenting that he never got to fix a timepiece. Utterly implausible, since they're watches in name only, but nice.

Heres to the next era(Reiwa) !!

I'm pretty sure there was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by Zero-One when Zi-O was summoning past Riders to attack Schwartz. He was just a blur, but his name was called out.

I guess the idea here is that the "rebooted" timeline Sougo created is the Reiwa universe. It would be nice if they actually tried to keep it consistent this time, instead of the usual "Every season is a separate reality except when there's a crossover" approach.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Also, Kamen Rider Tsukuyomi falls into the category of female cast members who briefly become Riders and get knocked out mere moments into their first and only fights, though she lasted a bit longer than Akira in Hibiki or that woman who donned the Delta belt for five seconds in Faiz. They made that big deal about her becoming a Rider and then didn't do anything with it. What a copout.

That's typical of Shirakura. He is the guy responsible for Femme and Kivala. The only reason he even had a female rider was probably to one up Zero One (like he did Decade to one up Double). Frankly all his recent shows are just not very good compared to many of the other producers and more style over substance. The staff picks for Zi-O and going with writers who are more accommodating, but delivered some seriously underwhelming shows (like Ninninge) doomed the show from the start.

 

[Christopher]

That's typical of Shirakura. He is the guy responsible for Femme and Kivala. The only reason he even had a female rider was probably to one up Zero One (like he did Decade to one up Double).

I don't know what you mean by that. There wasn't a female Rider in W except for Akiko becoming Double in a dream sequence.

 

[Hound of UIster]

I don't know what you mean by that. There wasn't a female Rider in W except for Akiko becoming Double in a dream sequence.

W was intended as the original anniversary series for Heisei Rider. He made Decade in order to beat the crew of W to the punch.

 

[Samurai8472]

W was intended as the original anniversary series for Heisei Rider. He made Decade in order to beat the crew of W to the punch.

Is this the interview by chance?

http://tokusatsunetwork.com/2018/12/back-to-the-beginning-an-interview-with-shinichiro-shirakura/

Until Kamen Rider Decade came along, we realized that there were traces of Showa era storytelling. We created the 2009 series to response to that. After about 10 years, it became less of a response to Showa, starting with Kamen Rider W. We borrowed the idea of giving our characters jobs as well as motifs. It became more closer to Super Sentai in terms of storytelling.”