Headscratchers / Kamen Rider Zi-O

• When Sougo and Tsukuyomi are escaping from Geiz, they end up time traveling back into 2017, the year of Build. However, the Skywall is present for some reason, even though it shouldn't exist in the main Rider world. So did Sougo and Tsukuyomi end up in Build's world somehow? Does that mean that the Time Mazine can also travel to different worlds/dimensions?
  • It's still unclear if Sento's plan at the end made his universe part of the main one or if it was just creating a new Earth in his. For the time being, I assume they arrived sometime before the endgame.
  • It can be presumed that the Time Mazine traveled to a time before Build's world and the main Rider world combined, as it has been stated in the show that it traveled to 30 September 2017. As for the question on whether the Time Mazine can travel to other worlds, I guess so. If the Time Mazine remained in the main Rider world, it would have traveled to a time without the Skywall.
  • What confuses me is that while this seems to be in the midgame (Sento openly told Sougo his identity) it also has some elements froom the early game (a Smash roamed freely around, Nascita still stood, Banjo still uses his base Cross~Z form)
  • It's possible that the Time Mazine can jump between the World of Build and the main Rider World because both were merged in the finale of Build.
  • Considering the discussion in episode 2.5, it seems like Zi-O isn't really trying to fit itself perfectly into the continuity of the previous Rider series, instead just establishing the most iconic general elements of them.
  • This is an anniversary series above all else. It's more interested in celebrating the brand than being all that logical. I mean, the series rule of removing the enemies of the Riders from history when their Another-version is made alone is a continuity nightmare they don't want to deal with.
  • Common speculation is that the time-space distortions that began to have a lasting impact on the plot towards the end started to appear here.

• Is it just me or is the Time Mazine a lot bigger inside than its outside?
  • It could be like the TARDIS. Bigger in the inside.

• What makes Zi-O more powerful than Decade? Or why need Decade since Zi-O basically has the same powers as him?
  • His power will be doubled then, I guess?
  • Its probably what he can potentially become. If Sougo is truly Oma Zi-O then not only he can use the powers of previous riders, he can potentially eventually manipulate time, sent out a shockwave that can disintegrate people use, use telekinesis, and other powers that we don't know of.
  • For the first question, the above covers it succinctly. Beyond his potential though is the key difference. Decade was the master of space, Zi-O is the master of time. While both are a united existential concept, the application of both is very different. For the second, a similar concept is in play. Decade's power copying is absolute, only failing to copy the unique Drivers/Belts that each Rider uses, and his Decadriver is superior anyway, as well as more versatile. Zi-O merely creates an armor that allows him to approximate a Rider's powers. Perhaps Decade's armor will further boost those powers when funneled though his armor?
  • Technically, the only claims that Zi-O is the 'strongest Rider' is mostly just hype from Woz, and we'll have to see if it matches up. As for actual analysis, Zi-O can travel through time and space, which means he transcends both Den-O and Decade in those categories. Decade has the power to harness the forms of other Riders, but his limit is that he has to either have the actual Rider at his side, or use only one form at a time. In contrast, Zi-O can use his weapons to harness different forms and powers on the fly. For instance, Build Armor form can immediately harness Den-O's power through his Zikan Gilade, without having to sacrifice his current form, which makes him slightly more variable than Decade. As for actual power levels, that depends on how strong he'll be at the end of the series.
  • As it turns out, DecadeArmor actually enhances the power of other Rider Armors significantly, letting him use forms based on their early Super Mode instead of their default forms.
    • As of the Finale of Zi-O, I think it is safe to say Ohma Zi-O is the single most powerful being to have existed in the world of Kamen Rider as a whole. Black Woz really means it when he hypes him up.
• Is the type of kingship Sougo dreams to be the same as the ancient times? If the system is a monarchy, then he has absolutely no chance since he was not born from a royal family. So why he doesn't aim for something which will help him get closer to modern leadership (a.k.a. politics) such as, for example, being a lawyer? (Most politicians started as lawyers and knowing the law surely helps in being a political leader)
  • Knowing Sougo, he would want his title to be king rather than being some kind of leader. Also, when asked what he means when he says his dream is to be a king, Sougo cannot come up with an answer. It’s a childish dream he’s held onto for his whole life without really putting much thought into how he’s going to achieve it.
  • If it is just any kind of king, Sougo still has a chance. He can become devoutly religious, working through the ranks to become a Pope, who has a next-to-absolute chance to become the King of Vatican City. (I know that being religious just for that purpose kinda destroys itself...)
  • Also, it's possible that his definition of becoming a king could include being the first king in a nation (as in it's founder). He considers Dan Kuroto a role model during the OOO Tribute arc (despite the fact that, if his definition of kingship was the one from ancient times, that would disqualify Kuroto), so perhaps what he intends to do is form his own country peacefully. Does make one wonder how he'll react to Fangire King Wataru Kurenai (assuming that aspect of Kiva doesn't change due to the interference of the Time Jackers).

• If a Best Match in Build is composed of one organic item, and one non-organic item, what makes "Swimmer" and "Archer" a Best Match? The two words imply organic, as they refer to a person, again, organic.
  • Archery could be considered inorganic because it requires a bow and arrow.
  • It also relates to how this is a warped version of Build's power.
  • It could also be because an archer can kill a swimmer with his bow and arrow, fitting Evolt's theme for the Best Matches.
  • I was thinking it had something to do with how swimming relates to water, which also relates to pirates, which relates to Build's KaizokuRessha form, which used a bow.

• According to supplementary information on Oma Zi-O, he can't slot Ridewatches into his Ziku Driver, though admittedly not like he'd need to. And indeed, his driver seems to be physically different than present day Sougo's. Is that a hint about his identity, or just something to make a note of for now?
  • Apparently his Driver seems to be a modified version, perhaps designed to enhance his power. It's possible he modified his Driver to self-contain all of the Ride Watch powers into itself, so he wouldn't have to carry around a hundred different Transformation Trinkets, which is admittedly a practical idea. It's also possible that for a more Doylist explanation, it's so they don't have to make any new toys from the get-go, or so they can sell this second version of the Driver during the third quarter of the show, kind of like the Evol Driver or Buggle Driver.
    • Although I don't doubt they'll sell it as a second version of the Ziku Driver later on, I'd like to point out that it's worth noting that just because it looks different, doesn't automatically mean that it's not the same driver - New Den-O is explicitly stated to have the same belt his grandfather used, yet it has a different color due to age.
    • I guess we know now. But if it seems an Ass Pull when the driver transformed in the final episode, remember that we've seen that a few times before, even as far back as Black RX.

• It has been stated that the virus Another Ex-Aid spreads is the Bugster Virus, so why weren't his victims "fading and glitching" like the victims from Ex-Aid?
  • Perhaps his strain is a mutation of the normal variant? In return for losing those traits, it seems to be harder to treat.
  • He needed his victims alive and whole, so it's likely he altered the strain to prime them for what he needed.
  • For an out of universe reason, the glitch effects are used in this show to represent the Time Jackers stopping/altering time. It might be too confusing, at least to viewers who never saw Ex-Aid, if similar effects were used for something totally different.
• What's the deal with the power level of Ridewatches between Sougo and Geiz? Geiz can summon ghosts and levitate using the Ghost Armor and can go superspeed using the Drive Armor but for Sougo, his abilities with Build and Ex-Aid doesn't show some unique abilities other than him using blocks to jump when in the Ex-Aid armor? Is Sougo getting the short end of the stick?
  • Given that Zi-O is supposed to inherit the power of all the Riders, I see it as Geiz is only temporarily holding them, and Sougo will ultimately get them anyway.
  • Part of it is their backgrounds. Sougo is a Ordinary High-School Student while Geiz is a hardened freedom fighter. This means that Geiz had to be more serious, disciplined, and intelligent than Sougo just to survive. You can see it when they fight: Sougo uses his strange variants of Rider fighting styles and finishers because he just makes it up as he goes while Geiz mimics the Rider's abilities and finishers almost perfectly. If Geiz seems like the better Rider of the two now, it's because he honestly is. At least this early on, he's better. It'd be weird if he weren't given his mission. If past experience is any indication, Sougo will eventually mature and surpass him with some unique abilities as the series progresses.
  • It probably is simply down to Sougo being a rookie at first.

• Ryuki was already negated out of existence at the end of its season. What exactly would Another Ryuki end up doing to the timeline?
  • Undoing the Rider Battle? So the Mirror World could totally be a thing, just without any of the proper Riders to deal with it?
  • Except that Another Riders also erase the villains from the timeline. This means that either the Kanzakis are Ret-Gone or Yui never unlocked the Mirror World in the first place, preventing the Mirror Monsters from ever existing?
    • Actually, the series goes through multiple Time Vents, and considering that it's possible that the Time Mazines can also travel between timelines (hence the presence of the Skywall in the Build tribute episode, despite Build not existing in the main world at that time), perhaps Another Ryuki will be created during one of those Time Vents? The only other alternative (no pun intended) I can think of would be that they visit the Decade World of Ryuki, but I doubt they'd do that.

• There was suspiciously not a single Genm Corp. logo or game to be seen nor was the company name mentioned in the Ret-Gone timeline of Ex-Aid, instead vague posters of a factionalized version of Tokyo Game Show was used as hints to the audience that it was an unnamed gaming company. Should Ex-Aid being erased from history even have affected Genm Corp's title too? Note that the company was established by Masamune long before the events of Ex-Aid even happened and the Ex-Aid tribute arc also featured the company-branded console.
  • Remember, Ex-Aid's timeline is doubly messed up due to Ora's efforts in #3 and #4, and now Heure's. Plus he changed Kuroto's history back when OOO should have taken place, that alone messes with Genm's Corp's timeline royally.
• The Time Jackers’ plot doesn’t make much sense. They go back in time to create Another Riders and offer them powers that can only be kept if they give them. So far, that makes sense and seems like a good way to manipulate someone long-term. However, they seem to make no effort to get any of their Another Rider creations to do anything useful for their plans. Not even directing them to kill Zi-O or Geiz, the only real threat to their schemes. Instead, they just passively let their perverted Riders do whatever the please and wait for Zi-O and Geiz to defeat them when they randomly encounter them. We can assume that they either can’t or wont take the powers themselves, so why aren’t they directing their proxies in any meaningful way despite being fully capable of doing so?
  • I believe it somehow ties into the still unknown Rider battle that's supposed to happen. Since the Riders are all supposed to fight, and assuming that everyone sans Zi-O and Geiz are replaced, it gives greater odds to supplant Ohma Zi-O. Doing further damage to the time line just seems to help, somehow, hence letting their candidates just do whatever they want.
  • The Time Jackers, Black Woz, and White Woz all have the same goal: to get their chosen king strong enough to beat the others on Oma-day.
  • Actually, it is because Swartz has been manipulating the Time Jackers, along with almost everyone else in the series, to fulfill his own personal agenda. The Time Jackers' purpose has never been meant to "dethrone" Ohma Zi-O in the first place. They are just pawns for Swartz's plan to make himself more powerful and become a King himself.

• Why are Sougo and Geiz so passive about dealing with the Another Riders and Time Jackers. Given that the Another Riders must be made in their year of origin and continue to exist into 2018, shouldn’t it be a priority of at least Geiz to go back to the year of each main Rider and deal with the Another version rather than only do so after randomly bumping into one in 2018? They have proven to have the necessary information to know when each Rider first appeared. I get that Geiz doesn’t want more damage to the time stream, but the Jackers’ plans have, retroactively, already happened. The damage is already done, so it’s best to nip it in the bud.
  • To his credit, Sougo does seem to care, but he's more focused on his dream. Geiz is focused on him, so while he's worried, not enough to be so proactive.
  • If Geiz wanted to stop the Another Riders, it would make more sense for him to go after the Time Jackers themselves and stop them for good (he doesn't have any problems attacking unarmed people using his Rider powers, as demonstrated in episode 1). His priorities are probably "Stop Oma Zi-O first, deal with the Time Jackers second".
    • It's easier said than done to hunt down the Time Jackers. Remember that the Jackers can stop time, even for Ziku Driver users. Hunting them down and eliminating them is nigh impossible unless one gets in an ambush, and even then we still don't know what else they have up their sleeves.
  • Another fact is that they don't know who's going to become an Another Rider until it already happens. Geiz doesn't want to spend time chasing after Kiva or Blade if he can help it. He wants to focus on monitoring Sougo, but if an Another Rider pops up, he'll attack without a shadow of a doubt, as Another Wizard can attest to. Geiz also really, really doesn't want Sougo going after Another Riders because that would mean Sougo would get more power, and get closer to becoming Oma Zi-O. So he'll chase after Another Riders on his own, if he can help it. But since he's a secondary Rider, he'll never get a say in those things.
  • At the end of the day the Time Jackers really aren't a threat compared to Oma Zi-O, Decade, and now White Woz. Sougo and Geiz aren't proactive because they are the bottom of the barrel of the Rogues Gallery and there are far more threatening antagonists out there. Geiz may be stubborn but he is right. Once Oma Zi-O and the others are dealt with then the Time Jacker problem can be eliminated. It's two riders against multiple armies they don't have the resources or manpower to police the timestream like the Timerangers or Den-O.

• Tsukasa's back and he's got a new version of his Driver that, based on some magazine scans, will let him use the powers of the Riders who came after him but before Sougo. Except, recall that his original Driver was perfectly capable of reading the W Final Form Ride Card back in the first Movie War. Why exactly is he getting a new Driver? (Beyond the obvious toy sales reasons)
  • Well Tsukasa most likely learned about the other riders during some of the crossover movies he was in (Super Hero Taisen, Kamen Rider Taisen, the last two episodes of Wizard, etc.) so it's all possible that he went to their own A.R. universes to see them battle, and ask if they had Rider Cards he could use. Then, he might have had somebody upgrade the Decadriver to adapt to the new powers he acquired as the original could only use the first nine Heisei Rider powers along with the Showa powers. Plus, with a new driver, it can show that he is a potential threat to both Zi-O and Geiz as not only he can copy the other rider's powers as well, but he can do it better than them. And for that Final Form Ride Card part, well those only affect the riders that he's using them for (think Kuuga Gouram) so they don't affect his own powers that much.
    • Actually, speaking of the Taisen movies, there's another issue. Tsukasa and Kaito have shown that they aren't affected by the timeline changes (presumably due to coming from different worlds). So how come Tsukasa became a Shocker Rider back in Super Hero Taisen GP: Kamen Rider #3 when he shouldn't have been affected at all?
  • Also remember that he's sort of the de-facto guardian of the Rider multiverse and it's been awhile that he's been out of the active game. Ensuring his belt is as strong as it can be ensures that not only can he properly fight new threats, but also use the powers of some specific Riders like Kouta, or Takeru who become literal gods.
  • We see him in Zi-O using powers of different forms without changing them. (Say with Wizard, if it had been in his own series, he'd have had to use "Form Ride: Water" and then "Attack Ride: Liquid" to use that water attack he used once. Instead, he just gestures while he's still in Flame Style. The real-world reason is probably "who wants to make new cards, repair even more old costumes, etc. for all those one-off attacks?" but it could be that the new Driver streamlines the use of his borrowed powers, making them quicker and easier to access.)
  • He wanted his belt to be magenta like his rider form.

• It is somewhat debatable whether Makimura/Another Ghost is actually dead. On one hand, it makes sense due to Ghost originally being a sort of post-mortem Kamen Rider. On the other hand, if he actually is an Almost Dead Guy instead, it makes for nice contrast with Takeru, who fully died before. This is also rather plausible due to Heure using this point as a bargaining chip to stop Zi-O from defeating him, as Makimura would die without Another Ghost in a similar fashion to how Shingo Izumi from Kamen Rider OOO would die without Ankh possessing him.
  • Episode 14 reveals that a change in the past caused him to be fully alive, but Heure turned him into Another Ghost anyway.

• Even though Oma Zi-O is born, what stops other successors to become Kamen Riders and their own Ridewatches be added to Oma Zi-O's collection?
  • After Oma Zi-O conquered everything, the explanation is that apparently there was nothing left to make new Riders with. He was the only one with Rider powers, and he probably eliminated any evil organizations like Shocker to reduce competition. It's hinted that Geiz is the first Rider to appear since Oma Zi-O rose to power. Also this is why the future Riders (Shinobi, Quiz, and Kikai) are so abnormal. They're apparently from a new timeline, hence why regular Ridewatches don't work with them and why the BeyonDriver exists; they're a temporal anomaly. They aren't supposed to exist, and Woz's Driver was designed to deal with them. For a Doylist explanation, having Ridewatches of future Riders would mean that the Driver could be hacked to reveal them before the series would air. Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and Kamen Rider Gaim only got away with having toys for their successors in crossovers because their Transformation Trinkets have their own sounds separate from their belts, and therefore the belts can't be hacked to reveal future projects. Since Zi-O's belt has pin combos that can be hacked, they can't create a watch for the unreleased Riders.
  • All of this is confirmed in Episode 17 in the form of the Day of Oma. When Zi-O became Oma Zi-O, it erased all possibility of future Kamen Riders of being born (aside from Geiz). However, there's another timeline where Geiz defeated Oma Zi-O, allowing Shinobi, Quiz, and Kikai to exist in that timeline.
  • Furthermore, in Episode 18 it's made clear that Sougo's actions created the new future entirely, so it's possible Oma Zi-O will never happen either.
• Speaking of Kikai, for the Humanoise once they're found out, why didn't the producers dust off some past robot-like grunts and maybe repaint 'em? Even if you know they're robots, Kikai beating up old people doesn't really make for an epic battle! For example, even if there's no good reason for the Dustards from Fourze to be working for Shinobi's unrelated villains, at least it looked good, right? Any mass-produced robotic enemy (or at least having a design that'd look robotic with the right repaint) from a TOEI-owned work would do.
• White Woz could, in theory, create the Shinobi Miridewatch at anytime if he wanted, but didn't until Sougo gave Rentaro some wise words about making his own future. Could it be White Woz's "Future Direction Notebook" is only capable of altering the future if the probability is high enough?
  • According to the episode, he actually couldn't until Sougo intervened, because Rentaro had given up his future by taking on the Another Shinobi Watch. Once his spirit awoke to his inner heroism, he showed that he not only could become Shinobi, but that he would, which is only when Woz could actually create the watch. So we're still not sure on probabilities or limits, save for that the events he's fiddling with have to be able to happen in the first place.
• Apparently the creation of an Another Rider from the future doesn't erase the Future Rider, it's just who it is used on that may or may not erase them. And the creation of the Miridewatch doesn't erase the Future Rider's powers, as evidenced at the end of Episode 20, when Quiz's powers were forcibly taken by White Woz, but still at the end Mondo was still wearing the belt and pendant. So Ridewatches and Miridewatches have different circumstances consequences to timeline?
  • Part of it is likely to be due to the fact that the Riders they are based on still don’t actually exist yet. The RideWatchs steal the history of the target Rider, but as of 2019, the future Riders don’t have any history to be erased. That and these guys are from an alternate future than what’s supposed to happen, so that likely has an impact. Honestly, given the rest of this series happily not making much sense with its time-erasing shenanigans, it’s probably best to not think about it too much.
  • Apparently the Miride Watches that White Woz uses actually do the opposite of what regular Ride Watches do. Instead of erasing history, they insure that future happens. White Woz is using the Miride Watches to make sure that the Geiz Revive timeline occurs. That's what they're for.
• So after watching Episode 21, I come to the question that has been bouncing in my head. What does Tsukuyomi really want for the future? I know what every other character in this season wants, but with her I don't have the faintest clue. If she really wants to prevent Oma Zi-O, why didn't she let Geiz kill Sougo at the start of the season? And yes that's dark, but I'm just asking.
  • She isn't straight-forward like Geiz, nor she is hot-headed, so when she saw Sougo's actions she started to assume he couldn't become Oma Zi-O with how he acted rather than his thoughts.
  • Adding to the above, she's also not willing to kill Sougo now, because not only is he kind and caring for others, but he's also done nothing wrong as of now, hence why she's not only trying things peacefully, but why she actually seems to like Sougo, even smiling at him on occasion. It's the classic question of going back in time to kill Baby Hitler. Sure you'd ultimately be preventing countless atrocities, but at that moment in time, you'd also be killing an innocent life. Do you do the deed, or do you try for a non-violent solution?
• Episode 26: Let me get this straight. You witness Tsukuyomi about to kill young Sougo but in doing so, cause the bus crash that killed Sougo's parents. And the next thing after you witness this is....to kill Sougo? WHAT KIND OF FREAKING LOGIC IS THAT? WAKE UP GEIZ!! From my perspective, it's Tsukuyomi is to blame. Not only did she fail to kill young Sougo, she CAUSED Oma Zi-O to be born. If anything, you should kill her.
  • Another Zi-O isn't much better either. "The woman in white went back in time to kill you and killed my parents, so I'm going to kill you despite knowing you aren't the one who did it because who cares that I saw the woman in white pull the trigger." Great job, writers. Bravo.
  • In Hiryu’s case, it can be blamed on both the stress of losing his family, combined with a child's logical process. Sougo is to blame because Tsukuyomi was there for him. Hence logically had he not been there, she wouldn't have been there, the accident wouldn't have happened, and thus it's his fault. While there are obvious holes in this thinking, a kid wouldn't be able to piece things together like an adult would. For Geiz, he feels responsible for Tsukuyomi's "death", as well as her being on that bus in the first place because he couldn't kill Sougo. It's a combo of grief, blame, and a desire to at least do as she asked and save the future in her memory. Equally full of holes, but again, grief is a mighty powerful motivator and a truly awesome brain blocker.
  • Alternatively, Geiz does understands. Imagine that you've just learned that the greatest evil is nothing more than a sweet kid albeit with a little delusions of grandeur. What's worse is that the only reason this kid became Oma Zi-O is because your crazed ally went back in time and ruins his childhood. Geiz is horrified and remorseful that his future is destroyed thanks to his and his friends' failures and selfishness. It's heavily speculated that Geiz targeting Another Zi-O is to vent his rage against Tsukuyomi as he does blames her for creating Oma Zi-O. And he fights Zi-O because it is a form of Mercy Kill to atone for hurting Sougo and out of fear that Sougo would perform Then Let Me Be Evil if he founds out what really happened to his parents.
  • Hiryu also is using an Another Watch, and we have been shown that Another Watches tend to make users unstable. It's possible that beforehand he was more rational, but the Watch has made his long suppressed rage multiply.
    • Hiryu has held onto this grudge since childhood, far longer than he's had the Another Watch. He's had every reason to not blame Sougo and to blame others, but still chose to blame Sougo even when both were recovering in the hospital. Every reveal of that flashback makes his role as an antagonist weaker and weaker. Combined with Geiz having literally no reason to suddenly declare he should kill Sougo when he has access to a time machine and could choose to simply go back and stop Tsukuyomi if he thinks she's going to kill herself, and this arc has been running almost entirely on the characters all being unyieldingly antagonistic on very little evidence if not outright blatantly wrong information in Hiryuu's case.
• Why exactly would Another Zi-O be some sort of Godzilla Threshold that both Uhr and Hora all but wet themselves? Is it that it's still the power of Zi-O, and thus still dangerous? Or is it the user? Uhr does mention a curious line when speaking to Hora, in that "What good does it do if this Hiryuu becomes king?!"
  • The main mission is to replace Oma Zi-O with Another Riders of their own. I'm guessing that they don't want Another Zi-O is because of his power set which makes sense. They don't want their puppet king to be just as powerful or more powerful than them.
• We're speculating that Tsukasa is playing the Stealth Mentor, and thus won't get definitive answers until later, but did it seem like he was waiting for Tsukuyomi to get on the bus before leaving? Not only was the trip apparently delayed, but he only seemed to react after she got on. I can't be the only one that noticed that, right?

• How come the future Riders use repaints of Zi-O's Driver? Even if you stick a ninja star, question mark, or wrench and screwdriver on top of it, it's still got a very obvious wristwatch dial on top and Ridewatch slots on the sides that don't fit the themes of the future Riders at all, and so far there is no sign that their technology is connected. There are other Drivers (and even non-Driver props) that could be retooled.
  • Episode 24 explained that Sougo can unintentionally create new Riders based on his time powers, and since the Ziku Driver is the one he remembers the most, it would be given to the Future Riders with a few modifications.

• More of a Rider Time: Ryuki question, but why is Kamen Rider Abyss, who originated from Decade, used for this special instead of Kamen Rider Femme, who was from Ryuki? Is it a costume problem with Femme's original suit that forced them not to use it, or an unknown second element?
  • The actress for Femme was pregnant during filming, so she couldn’t come back. Since most Riders are basically Red Shirt, they may have wanted to avert Disposable Woman.
  • In-Universe explanation, the mastermind most likely knew or learned about Femme's past. She didn't want her to suffer the same fate as she did.
  • This may also have something to do with about half the riders not wielded by the original owners either.

• At the end of Episode 30, we see Oma Zi-O has the Agito, Hibiki, Kabuto, Den-O, Kiva and Drive Ridewatches. How is there a second Drive Ridewatch?
  • Closest I got was Foreshadowing. Remember, while Geiz stole the Ghost and Drive Ridewatches from Oma Zi-O, Decade depowered the Ghost one during a fight. Considering Takeru had a Ghost Ridewatch on him, if/when Drive comes into the picture, then there will be some event where Geiz loses the Drive Ridewatch, but another copy will be around for them to use.
  • Yeah given that Agito is the next Rider to appear, it seems that Oma was essentially saying "You two want to change the future? Get these powers first." So either Tsukasa depowers Drive's Ridewatch, or its used for some evil purpose and is either destroyed or again, depowered.
  • It's possible that Oma Zi-O's version of the Drive Watch only worked with himself, and his own timeline. Sougo might need to create his own Drive Watch in this timeline to complete his own collection.
  • Perhaps they need to collect the Ridewatch and deal with the corresponding Another Rider. Seeing as how Geiz hadn't dealt with Another Ghost before the show, perhaps Oma Zi-O doesn't count the watch as having been obtained until they have the Ridewatch and have dealt with the Another Rider^note since all Ridewatches were obtained and the corresponding Another Rider was dealt with shortly afterwards.
  • And all of this is confirmed by Episode 41. Sougo never truly gained the Drive Ridewatch as it came from a timeline where Geiz stole it from Oma Zi-O. As Sougo needs to collect the Ridewatches himself to truly become the king he wants to be, they need to find somebody from Drive and get that Ridewatch to have things properly work.

• When does Rider Time: Shinobi takes place? Since the Geiz Revive timeline ceased to exist, shouldn't the World of Shinobi be gone as well?
  • It might supposed to happen in Geiz Revive timeline before it ceased to exist.
• Also after using the power of Another Shinobi to harm people, shouldn't Shinobi suffer Heroic BSoD which in turn causes Kamen Rider Shinobi to never exist?
  • That cannot happen, because Sougo gave him encouragement, in fact that's the reason the Shinobi Miridewatch gets created in the first place.

• Given the reveal, why Tsukuyomi's power never activated in earlier episodes? She had been in lots of danger already, and technically died once before Zi-O reversed the time.
  • Maybe she was never in direct danger like she was in episode 31 and maybe Hora's time powers were just too strong for Tsukuyomi's own time powers to overpower?
  • Because she's forgotten about her powers. Literally.

• So Rider Time: Ryuki is supposed to take place between episodes 28 and 29? I'm sorry, but the fact that Sougo needs the Ryuki Ridewatch at all basically makes that impossible. Episode 28 takes place long after he obtained Zi-O II, which is established to be able to defeat Another Riders on its own without the corresponding Ridewatch. Are we sure this isn't another case of Shirakura being misquoted?
  • Sougo needs the other Ridewatches in order to ascend to near Oma Zi-O levels. Just because he can permanently defeat Another Riders with Zi-O II, doesn't mean he can forget about collecting the Ridewatches from his predecessors.
  • Plus, I think the time gap might not be exactly accurate. I think when it meant Rider Time Ryuki took place between Episode 28 and 29, I think it meant that the mini-series takes place between Episode 28 and somewhat halfway Episode 29. Meaning that Sougo and Geiz were fighting off both Another Ryuki and Another Blade when their Ridewatches were stolen by Diend.
    • Supported by episode 30, which has Oma Zi-O tell Sougo to claim the remaining Ridewatches if he wants to change the future - however, the Ryuki Ridewatch isn't present, suggesting the special already happened.
  • OP. I'm really expected to believe Sougo and Geiz would just let an Another Rider run rampant killing people if they had the power to stop it (which, according to Geiz in the second episode, they DON'T)? If these events took place pre episode 22, i.e. before Sougo got Zi-O II, this would make sense, but if they took place in between 28 and 29, there's really no excuse for Another Ryuki to be able to rampage virtually unchallenged like that, whether they need the Ryuki Ridewatch in the long run or not.
    • It's entirely possible that with Another Blade running about and everyone scrambling to find Kenzaki and Aikawa, the heroes attributed his attacks to her. After all, nobody would think that there would be a second Another Rider from the Mirror World. There's also just the idea that they simply didn't hear of Another Ryuki's rampage until most of the special was over. It's easy to not pay attention to news of one killing spree when you're chasing a monster that can trigger The End of the World as We Know It.

• Why is out of all the time is Ginga in a Kamen Rider Kiva tribute arc when Ginga is space theme while Kiva is horror movies theme.
  • A nod to space-based horror movies perhaps. Besides, it's a little too late to throw him in with Fourze.
  • Probably a nod to the Casting Gag that they have with Ginga. He's being played by the same guy who voiced the Kivat family.
  • Well, it's not like Kamen Rider Ginga would politely and patiently wait for Kiva's arc to end conclusively or for an arc for another Rider with the appropriate theme (especially when it already happened) to happen before popping in unannounced.
  • It's implied through his murmur as he crystalizes under the shade that he's here to stop Another Kiva.

• Maybe I'm narrow-minded in my empathy but why should Yuko Kitajima be considered sympathetic? She lies to everyone and to herself that she didn't commit murder but she actually did and her murder is killing an innocent woman whose only crime is just falling in love with her ex-lover and that woman wasn't some bitch who flaunted with her relationship in front of Yuko's face. I don't even think Ora's killing of her as Moral Event Horizon considering how much of an Asshole Victim Yuko is when she manipulates Sougo for her own purposes?
  • Maybe it's less of killing a bad person and more of killing someone in a vulnerable state?
  • She isn't really supposed to be taken sympathetically. She's a deluded madwoman who thinks she's better than everyone around her. Even in death she was convinced she was an 'umbrella for people'. And Sougo fell for it because he was so head-over-heels that he was willing to accept her sob stories. Even the King of Time can suffer from Love Makes You Stupid. Sougo was new to love, his only crush being the memory of 'Ms. Sailor', and as anyone can attest, when you're new to relationships it's easy to throw trust where it really shouldn't be thrown, and you're willing to put aside things that shouldn't be ignored (in this case, the fact that she was a pathological liar, murderer, and a Yandere). So the scene was really framed through his eyes, him feeling sad that his first crush (or so he thought) had died so horribly.

• What is the deal with the Shibuya meteor? Kagami seems to remember Shibuya in 2019 as being devastated by the impact, yet Sougo and Geiz have no memory, even from documentation on the meteor strike and Shibuya is perfectly fine now. Diverging timelines? Confirmation that at least Kabuto as well as Build and Decade take place in separate universes? Or that worlds are combining again just like in Decade?
  • The fabric of time is unraveling as the show goes on. The meteor strike of 1999 that brought the Worms never happened, and there was never a ZECT, but the Kabuto Riders and their Zecters are still around and remember everything that happened in the original timeline even with an Another Kabuto running around. It may even be that the meteor approaching Earth in 2019 is the 1999 meteor, happening 20 years later than it's supposed to and without Hyper Kabuto's interference to reduce its size.

• Why did the Kabuto Zecter go to Kagami? Souji, with all his Chosen One personality would not willingly relinquish the Zecter, even to his so-called partner. Why now? Was he somehow just magically overseeing events unfold from wherever he was in France at the end of Kabuto and finally decided Kagami was worthy, or did the Zecter just leave him for Kagami? Or did he just disappear/die off-screen after the Heisei Generations FOREVER movie?
  • We know Zecters have a mind of their own. I'm thinking that, wherever he was at the moment, Souji had no need of it, so there was no reason it shouldn't go lend its power to Kagami for a while before going home.

• While we know that the real reason is that the show runners don’t want to make all the various suits for the remaining Riders, is there any real reason as to why the Time Jackers have decided to make Another Riders in the present now? It seemed more beneficial for them to keep on erasing Riders from history rather than creating situations where these veteran Riders can come and help. On another note, how are these Another Riders existing concurrently with their namesakes? Wasn’t preventing that part of the point of Another Riders to begin with?
  • Based on episode 37, it might be out of their control as Tsukasa states it's due to paradoxes that's allowing the original Riders to exist with the Another Riders. And another point is the Time Jackers seem to switching to gathering the original Rider powers as seen as Swartz's attempt to get Agito or Heure's attempt to get Hibiki so Sougo doesn't gain the power to become Oma Zi-O. And due to Zi-O II, a normal Another Rider can't beat Sougo anymore and that's not getting into the other power ups that Sougo's side has gotten since then like Geiz Revive or Zi-O Trinity.

• The movie basically treats the Heisei Riders like the only Riders that exist. A major Rider fan from a world where they're just a TV show has a room filled with Heisei Rider merch but not one Showa Rider, and Tid seems satisfied that he can rule the world if he stops the Heisei Riders from coming into existence as if there aren't a whole bunch more Riders who'd ruin his day if he tried. I know the out-of-universe reason is that it's Heisei Rider tribute as the Heisei Era is ending, but that doesn't make it logical: In-Universe, taking out merely some the Riders that are out there doesn't give you free license to rule the world; you'd have to deal with all their predecessors, the oldest of which can still Rider Kick you into next week (and has his own film to prove it.) And it's hard to imagine such a huge Rider fan like Ataru doesn't care even a little about even one Rider before Kuuga. Yeah, they're before his time, but DVDs are a thing, as are team-up appearances. Not even a little love for Kotaro Minami after Decade and Kamen Rider 3, or Takeshi Hongo after his film? Imagine the most obsessed Trekkie you've ever met not knowing who Captain Kirk is.
  • In their defense, it's been implied that the Rider timeline has become massively fucked up by the actions of both the Time Jackers and Zi-O. It's possible that the timeline Zi-O exists in only contains Heisei Riders due to everyone's shenanigans. Alternatively, since the Showa Riders' powers are far more tame and limited in scope, Tid probably gambled that he could take them in a head-on fight. Perhaps he already did.
  • Well in the sense that Kuuga was the start of the Heisei Riders, he is also thought as the revival of the Kamen Riders franchise as a whole, he was even marketed as such too. The Heisei Riders' existence meant lots of people were exposed to the Kamen Rider franchise firsthand and not just as something that aired for old people thus reopening the door to the Showa Riders. By getting rid of the Heisei Riders, Tid essentially kills the franchise by making sure the Showa Riders and the Kamen Riders as a whole are seen as relics of the past.
  • As per Den-O arc, it seems the events of the movie isn't exactly canon. The creator himself said 'an event similar to the movie happened to Sougo'.

• What's the point of Grand Zi-O summoning Riders from the past? Isn't it no different from summoning clones of riders like Decade and Di-End?
  • First off, Rule of Cool. Secondly, by summoning a Rider from a specific point in the past, he can instantly summon them in that form that he needs them in. Di-End can't summon a Rider in anything other than base form, while Decade can only use one Rider's power at a time. [GrandZi-O] can basically do what both of them do but at the same time. Not to mention, his ability to control the Rider's timeline means he can revert damage done to them or pause them to delay attacks for a tactical advantage. Neither Decade or Di-End can lay claim to that level of strategic control over their powers/minions.
  • A little WMG, but it's also possible that he's not actually summoning that Rider from the past, so much as he is making something like a Time Remnant of that Rider. If he actually called that Rider from their timeline, that would mean removing them from their own history, and thus potentially get them killed and creating yet another paradox in the Timey-Wimey Ball that is the Zi-O timeline. Thus, he calls in their shadow, allowing him to use them as meat shields and cannon fodder without worry of hurting the heroes he admires so.
  • This is probably the case, since we've seen summoned Riders get hit and vanish - clearly not killing the originals as that'd change history big-time! Also, if the real riders were actually being snatched out of their times and places, they'd be confused, one minute fighting one of their own series' monsters and now suddenly alongside Zi-O; they always immediately attack Zi-O's opponent and never act like the real characters got surprise-hijacked.

• So I can understand that Grand Zi-O may not work properly as Sougo never truly collected the Drive Ridewatch. But what about the Wizard Ridewatch? Last time I checked, Geiz got it from Kosuke Nitoh. Does that mean that the Wizard powers won't work properly because Sougo never truly collected that Ridewatch along with the Drive one, or is the Wizard Ridewatch safe due to some weird loop hole?
  • The requirement is that the Ridewatch must be properly obtained, in this case, "properly obtained" means the person who originally had it, must be willingly handing it off to Sougo. In Wizard Ridewatch's case, Nitoh willingly handed the Wizard Ridewatch to Geiz, and since Geiz was sent by Sougo as Sougo's representative, it's treated the same as willingly handing it to Sougo.
  • Also the Drive Ridewatch came from Oma Zi-O's timeline and not Sougo's while the Wizard watch is from his timeline. By this point in time our Sougo's timeline is VERY different from Oma Zi-O's thus the reason why the Drive power isn't working.

• Why do Kamen Rider Woz’s finishers in a Futuring form retain their names (eg. Final Quiz Flash), but the Ginga forms don’t? (eg. Gigantic Ginga becomes Chou Ginga Explosion)
  • They don't. Futuring Quiz has the Quiz Shock Break. Shinobi has the Ninpo: Jikan Shibari No Jutsu. Kikai has the Full Metal Break. It seems that the BeyonDriver doesn't care much for the original names of the attacks.

• One of the shots of the final episode preview show W, OOO, Wizard, and Gaim in their final forms. Someone wanna explain why OOO and Gaim are using TaJaDor and Pine Arms if their final forms are PuToTyra and Kiwami?
  • It's especially weird cuz we even see them use the latter forms in the movie.

• The finale confuses me. Right near the end, Sougo's final goal is revealed to be to restore the timeline to the way it was before all this, since being king without friends is too lonely for him to bear. I get that. But, when he actually goes about it, we see The Multiverse restored too. Kamen Rider and Super Sentai (especially Super Sentai) generally get the Shrug of God in terms of what's connected and what isn't; but Riders crossover and connect with each other very frequently (Ghost, Ex-Aid and Build in particular) and it wasn't until the debut of Another Decade that the main timeline not being standalone has ever come up. So, unless it's all just one big Revision, what exactly just went down?
  • Well episode 48 states that the Riders were originally all from different universes so it's probably a revision?
  • Generally their worlds are split, but when something happens to connect them, they can visit each other. Movies and such often have villains entering a world to do something and the Rider gives chase, usually to another's world. Just think of them as separate unless something big is going down.
  • The way things played out in the finale, the only explanation is that the universe we saw this season wasn't the main timeline. Instead, it's an altered timeline where things played the same, but the interference by the Time Jackers obviously caused some changes, making the time travel run on multiverse theory. This means that the past riders we saw were A.R. riders that all existed in the so call World of Zi-O Decade mentioned a few times, and would have the same personality as their prime counterparts had with some minor tweaks, which would explain some inconsistencies the show presented such Sento taking the name Takumi in the present and Masato having a more decent personality. The merger of the worlds happened because the Ridewatches started to bleed their powers into this world, and hence the multiverse started to screw up the world. Admittedly I'm pulling this out of nowhere, but it's some what of a theory.
    • Probably AR world where Tajador and Pine forms are OOO and Gaim final forms; and the final villains are weaker than OG series. I mean Oma Zi-O just one shot them all...
    • Wrong, the Final Villains summoned by Swartz are more powerful than the original ones. They come from the timeline where they have WON. Also, Evolto does not need to go to Phase 4 to use his Black Hole abilities, that means he is more powerful. Ohma Zi-O one hit kills everyone means Ohma Zi-O is STRONG, not the others are weak.
• I never got why the writers pulled that in the last couple episodes. All throughout Zi-O it was never about anything like that, and we could even see how their tampering altered time. Characters from different series interacted with no sign of alternate worlds, like OOO characters being in the resistance against Kuroto Dan, or an old acquaintance of Takumi and Kusaka from 555 having gone to the school in Fourze. Another Zi-O made new watches from past Another Riders by finding the former villains/victims around town, clearly not in alternate worlds from each other even though many had had contact with the original Riders they were made from. Then outta nowhere the writers forgot it wasn't Decade's un-plot with AR worlds just 'cause Tsukasa and Kaito are around. The worlds are no longer going to collide due to the powers of the worlds' Riders! ...which I thought they took care of back in 2010. (On top of that, Decade's AR World Riders were not the originals, usually with different actors and situations, to the very vocal displeasure of those past series' fans. The original Riders were not considered to each occupy an alternate world even within Decade.) It's really disappointing, as one of the things that made us all immediately love Zi-O and consider it an improvement on Decade was not only the original Riders, but it had a story all its own that made sense. Why throw away what Zi-O got right and replace it with what Decade got wrong?

• In the finale, Geiz dies after protecting Sougo. Anybody else confused why Sougo didn't use the Zi-O II Watch to undo it like he did earlier?
  • The same reason why he didn't use it to undo the deaths of the people that Another Kiva killed; Plot Induced Stupidity. Also blinding, incomprehensible rage tends to do the trick as well.
  • Word of God says that Sougo Stopped rewinding time to revive people because he knew Tsukoyomi considered doing that evil and toying with people's lifes in that way shouldn't be done, and if he did he would be ending doing the same thing like Zi-O II did with Geiz... that gives another important question, How the hell Sougo considers Tsukoyomi's feelings more important that, well...The lives of Uhr, Aqua and Geiz!?
  • Remember that doing so before almost cost him both her and Geiz as friends, even though every use of it was heroic and to save a life. If there's one thing Sougo will adhere to, it's the wishes of his friends, for better or worse.

• I forget the episode number/title at this point, but in one episode, everyone uses their Super Mode... except Decade, who looks a bit awkward standing there in his base form alongside Woz Ginga, Geiz Revive, and Grand Zi-O. Did something happen to the Decade Complete Form suit or something?
  • Late in the season Decade mentioned that the Decade Ridewatch had half of his full power imprinted on it. He might have had only enough power to change into his base form and utilize Ride changes, but not enough to enter Complete Form. Production wise; since Decade Complete Form only features the first nine riders besides himself, the crew felt it would have been expensive for them to make a new suit featuring the Phase Two riders if they didn't use it a lot.
• Here's something regarding Rider Time: Ryuki. What exactly was the reason for the Battle Fight? Sara said she wanted to pick one person out to stop Another Ryuki from killing more people right? So instead of the Rider Battle,she could have just given Shinji his power and memory back. Also, to stop Another Ryuki from killing, she decided that she should have 13 people KILL each other to do it? Granted, she is manipulated by Shiro/Odin, but even then Shiro has no need for the War anymore. This time he is willing to dirty his hands even more by harvesting the life essence of people killed by Another Ryuki. What is the point?