Yeah, it actually felt connected to Kabuto, though mainly just to the Hoppers, whom I never liked much. But also through the stylistic touches like the emphasis on Tokyo Tower, the music cue when Gatack appeared, Woz doing Kabuto's raised-finger gesture, etc. Although it would've been more appropriate if they'd referred to Kagami as Masked Rider Gatack instead of Kamen Rider Gatack, because they used the full English version in that season. (The heavier armored "cocoon" form being Masked Form and the lighter, Clock Up-capable form underneath being Rider Form.)
Kagami, though, is one of a few returning Riders who've gotten much more serious with age, like Kido Shinji and Todoroki. Kagami was Kabuto's comic relief, the sympathetic doofus who balanced the arrogant, hypercapable Kabuto in a sort of Holmes-Watson relationship. There's no sign of that here.
Meanwhile, something weird is going on with the timelines. Kagami and the Zi-O gang have conflicting memories about the condition of Shibuya. KR continuity has always been a mess ever since Phase 2 started treating the formerly self-contained series as part of a shared history, but it seems that they're finally flirting with confronting that fact and justifying the timeline changes in the narrative. We'll see how far they take it.
That seemed like just a speculation rather than a proven explanation. Maybe it's the other way around -- he drew the Worms in his wake. Anyway, it still seems that Ginga's powers are reminiscent of Meteor from Fourze, right down to using miniature planets as weapons (and the costume being partly based on Meteor's). So I wonder if we'll find out that there's a connection to the Astroswitches and the cosmic being that the villain in Fourze was trying to contact.
I really wish they'd at least have a female Secondary Rider as a regular once in a while. The one nearly regular female Rider we've ever had was Marika from Gaim, and she was mostly a villain and just one of a veritable horde of Rider characters.
This was pretty good. I don't think I've ever seen a Sentai giant robot get so much personality and character exploration. It was sort of a variation on the Riddle of the Sphinx, but with a more sympathetic riddler. It was an interesting twist on the storytelling. We didn't even get a giant Minusaur this week (though I think it got away, so maybe it'll be back next week and we'll find out who its host is).
I gotta say, it seems unwise to debut a flame-based power when trying to save a kid from a pile of gunpowder. I guess the idea was that the armor not only generated flame but protected from it, but still, it's the first part that seems ill-considered there.
They seem to like their "quiz" characters this year, between Kamen Rider Quiz and this guy. On a side note, it's interesting to hear how Japanese appropriates English words and uses them in different ways than we do. Like saying "quiz" when we'd probably say "riddle." Or the odd way that "pinch" has been adopted as a loan word for a crisis or difficult situation. I mean, we say "in a pinch" too, but as an occasional slang term, not the default word for that concept.
That's pretty common in these shows, isn't it? The villains often seem to know the heroes' identities and surveil them in their everyday life, yet somehow don't attack them in their sleep or something. (One exception being Megaranger -- when the villains discovered their identities near the end of the season, their homes were immediately attacked, their families had to go into protective custody, and they got kicked out of school because it was too dangerous to have them around.)
