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Trivia / Kamen Rider Zi-O

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  • Acting for Two:
    • Keisuke Watanabe portrays both Black and White Woz.
    • So Okuno pulls triple duty as Prime Sougo, Sougo from 3 days in the Future ("Gaim Arc"), and Dark Sougo ("Ryuki Arc"). Zi-O vs. Decade takes it up to eleven by having him portray the prime Sougo and six alternate versions of him (Including one in Decade vs. Zi-O), all with separate personalities.
    • Takamasa Suga reprises both Shinji Kido and Dark Shinji in the "Ryuki Arc".
    • Yuichi Nakamura reprises his roles as Kyosuke Kiriya in the "Hibiki Arc" and Yuto Sakurai in the "Den-O Arc" respectively. Lampshaded in episode 39 when Sougo mistook Yuto for Kiriya.
    • Ayaka Konno portrays both Ora and the alternate Paradox Roidmude's disguise.
  • Actor-Inspired Element: Heure and Ora’s names were selected by their actors.
    • Sougo being in high school was decided upon when So Okuno was cast.
    • Daiki returning was based on a suggestion by Masahiro Inoue.
  • Actor Leaves, Character Dies: The ultimate fate of Tsukasa Kadoya in Zi-O vs. Decade, being the last production related to the franchise that Masahiro Inoue intends to star in.
  • Awesome, Dear Boy: The reason why Satoshi Matsuda/Ren Akiyama is back for Rider Time Ryuki, a spin-off of Zi-O based on Ryuki is because of his wish to reprise his role after seeing multiple past actors of last Rider seasons return.
  • Cash-Cow Franchise:
    • The Ridewatches have a lineup that, when including giveaways, limited items, and other obscure sources, numbers at approximately 246 unique watches. This includes all upgraded and final forms for every phase 2 Heisei Rider (barring Brave Level 50, but including Zangetsu Kachidoki Arms), every final form for every primary phase 1 Heisei Rider and some forms/watches for the other Riders, and even some hypothetical or SIC Hero Saga-exclusive forms like CycloneAccelExtreme and Ouja Survive. All without any indication that they'd ever be used in the show or related material, and even ignoring that the super form Ridewatches are redundant to the Decade Ridewatch's functions. Bandai even tried to go even further by including basic alternate forms as part of the lineup, before being rejected in polls. Even after Zi-O had finished airing, they even made more with the Saber and Decade Complete Form 21 Ridewatches, and continue to release even more Ridewatches, with the Quartzer auxiliary Ridewatches seeing a release in 2022. This went even further when less than a week after Kamen Rider Geats finished airing, they announced more Ridewatches for Revi and Vice, Geats and Gotchard, the last of which hadn't even started airing when the announcement was made.
    • This also applies to the gashapon variants of the Ridewatches (which have no lights or moving parts), with pods flying out of the machines in such vast quantities that secondhand stores have literal buckets full of dead watches at a discount. There's even a Premium Bandai box with dozens of them in a bundle, sold at a high premium despite GP trinkets being meant to be the "budget" option for collecting in each series.
  • The Cast Showoff: So Okuno by the time of Zi-O vs. Decade, due to the wildly different personalities of all seven Sougos. In no particular order, he manages to portray Sougo's original persona, a brash and party-loving Jerk with a Heart of Gold, The Social Darwinist, a traditional delinquent, a childish softie, and a total coward, all within the span of three normal-length episodes. Add that to him singing "Zi-O, Toki no Ouja" during the main series and the opening scenes of the aforementioned special featuring his stunt chops, and you've got a guy with talent.
  • Cast the Runner-Up: Keisuke Watanabe originally auditioned for the title character, but was passed over in favor of the writers believing Sougo's character would work better as an Ordinary High-School Student, which he looked too old for. He was instead cast as Woz as a result.
  • Casting Gag:
    • While Rikiya Koyama has voiced Big Bad-types before, his first scene in this show involves curbstomping waves of freedom fighters very similar to Joe the Haze.
      • He has also played a character whose main method of fighting involves manipulating time.
    • This is not first time that Hideya Tawada played a shinobi in another series written by Kento Shimoyama.
    • Jingi Irie previously starred as the titular human-robot Kikaider from the recent Kikaider Reboot movie. The episode he premeres in is even called "It's Kikai! 2121", or in Japanese: "Kikaidā! 2121".
    • This is not the first time Amane Kurihara's actress, Hikari Kajiwara, guest starred as a Monster of the Week character. She was also previously Ritsuko Usaka/Altar Zodiarts.
    • Tomokazu Sugita has two cases: He's the voice actor of the Kivat family in Kamen Rider Kiva, as the Kiva arc is Ginga's debut episode. Additionally, his voice actor is also the titular hero of Ultraman Ginga, as well as the fact that both characters are from the future.
    • Katsuhisa Namase (Junichiro Tokiwa) previously starred in Keibuho Yabe Kenzo, a TV series that had featured several Kamen Rider alumni as guest stars and lampshaded the everloving hell out of it by having every single aspect of their characters be a reference to their Rider role. Even better, several of those guest stars went on to appear in Zi-O itself alongside Namase.
  • Dawson Casting:
    • The then 21 years old Gaku Oshida and 20 years old Shieri Ohata portrays 18-years-old Geiz and Tsukiyomi respectively.
    • Played straight with 22-year-old Atomu Mizuishi, who portrayed the then 18-year-old Ryuichi Sakuma/Another Faiz/Fourze in the 2003 era, and inverted when he also portrays the 26/33-year-old versions of Ryuichi in 2011 and 2018 respectively.
    • A downplayed example with 34-year-old Kento Handa; reprising his role as Takumi Inui, he mostly appears in The Present Day but, for a few seconds, he also portrays his 18-year-old self in new footage featuring Takumi's powers being erased in 2003.
    • 17/24/28-year-old Yuko Kitajima/Another Kiva is played by 40-year-old Yumiko Shaku.
  • Descended Creator: Kamen Rider Barlckxs from the summer movie is played by ISSA, one of the singers of the show's opening and movie's namesake Over Quartzer.
  • "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune:
    • "Zi-O! King of time!" is sung by So Okuno.
    • "Future Guardian" Geiz' Leitmotif is sung by Gaku Oshida.
    • "Black&White" is sung by Keisuke Watanabe.
    • "Tsuki no Michiru Toki" is sung by Shieri Ohata.
    • "Revolutionize" is sung by Rihito Itagaki, Ayaka Konno, and Kentaro Kanesaki.
    • The theme for Rider Time: Shinobi "IZANAGI" is sung by Hideya Tawada.
  • Flip-Flop of God: Masahiro Inoue said that the series finale would be the final time he played Decade, but then he proceeded to star in the Decade vs Zi-O/Zi-O vs Decade two part special, which he claims will be the last time. Though he mentioned on a live stream with Kimito Totani that the reprisals would never end. It implies that Masahiro is okay with reprising his role as Decade, but wants a fairly long break before his next appearance.
  • Meaningful Release Date: The debut of Decade Complete Form 21 in Zi-O vs. Decade aired on 2/21/21.
  • Meme Acknowledgement:
    • As multiple fans began pointing out the similarities of both Geiz and Ren Akiyama, the series took note of this, with the latter's actor releasing a preview of himself in Geiz's costume, which was done for a scene in episode 3 of Rider Time Ryuki where Shinji mistakes Geiz for the just-deceased Ren.
    • The memes of Yuko Kitajima/Another Kiva using manhole covers as her weapon has become this as in 2020, her actress Yumiko Shaku was chosen to promote a line of Pokemon-themed manhole covers to be installed in the Tottori prefecture in Japan.
  • Milestone Celebration:
    • Much like Kamen Rider Decade, this seems to be the one for the Phase 2 Heisei Kamen Rider series, as well as the Heisei era overall, being the 10th and 20th respectivelynote .
    • In terms of individual tributes, episode 21, the first episode of the Ryuki tribute shares the airdate (February 3) of the first episode of Ryuki itself.
  • Prop Recycling:
    • Episode 11.5 reveals that the interior of Kujigojido has been decorated with assorted stuff from past seasons, like the wall clocks from Kamen Rider Build and Kamen Rider W.
    • The Decade Armor allows Zi-O to access previous Riders' Mid-Season Upgrade forms like RabbitTank Sparkling or Grateful Damashii. These forms use the original Rider costume's bodysuit, with the Ziku Driver and Decade Armor's helmet and chestplate on top of them.
    • The giant ornamental clock behind Black Woz during his narrating at the start and end of each episode is a repainted version of Kamen Rider Cronus's own giant ornamental clock from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid.
      • It later on becomes the giant clock in Zi-O Trinity's "cockpit" that indicates who is in control of the main body.
    • The Future Riders recycle and kitbash costumes from several past seasons. Most prominently, all of them use copies of the Ziku Driver painted silver and modified called the Mirai Driver to use different items as centerpieces instead of Ridewatches.
      • Kamen Rider Shinobi's costume is made with parts from Kamen Rider Dark Necrom with the shoulder armor and retooled Ride-Player helmet.
      • The mooks he fights against are the Dustards from Kamen Rider Fourze.
      • In Rider Time Shinobi, he gets a secondary rider, Kamen Rider Hattari, who’s helmet and suit is retooled from Kamen Rider Dark Drive.
      • Also Yami Shinobi, The Big Bad of Rider Time Shinobi has his suit recycled from Another Shinobi, an enforced version of this trope.
      • Kamen Rider Quiz's costume is a retooled Ghost helmet on a similarly retooled standard Ex-Aid rider body.
      • Kamen Rider Kikai's costume is a remodeled version of the Guardians helmet and armor suit. Unlike the previous two who uses parts of past riders his suit is a retooled Mooks suit. Fittingly, he's actually part of the Humanoise's ground forces who had a Heel–Face Turn, meaning he's actually an Elite Mook.
      • Kamen Rider Ginga’s helmet is retooled from Kamen Rider Mage's helmet and his costume is a modified version of Kamen Rider Fourze Meteor Fusion States with Meteor's regular legs and feet.
    • Another AgitΩ costume uses the original Another Agito suit, and appears almost identical to it, there are a few minor differences such as the chest plate is labeled with the original Rider's name and the Another Rider's date of creation like other Another Riders, the Ank Point's color is changed to solid yellow with red accents, and the suit uses a new head with longer crests and a more distinct mouth with teeth.
    • Another Kiva's head is a redesign of the Bat Dopant's head.
    • Kamen Rider Zamonas uses the suit of Amazon Omega, the boots of Amazon Alpha, and the color scheme of Amazon Neo. His chest is colored silver, reminiscent of Amazon Sigma.
    • Another Diend's costume is used by using both Chinomanako Diend Form head, chest and shoulders, and Another Decade’s legs, arms and suit.
    • Geiz Majesty's shoulder pads are retooled and repainted from Kamen Rider Zamonas, his helmet is repainted from from his normal helmet, and his chest armor is retooled and repainted from his WizardArmor, adorned with RideWatches.
    • Most of the Another Riders used the same leg and lower arm designs.
      • Another Wizard
      • Another Gaim
      • Another Quiz
      • Another Ryuga/Ryuki, because it’s the same suit.
      • Another Blade only had the legs
      • Another Kiva
      • Another Kabuto
  • Recycled Script: Quite a few beats in the final arc feel like they were copied from Kamen Rider Build's finale, right down to the hero shouting the villain's name after he kills one of the Riders. Besides that we've got an Omnicidal Maniac trying to destroy everything, the Riders dying one-by-one in the Final Battle (with one of them getting a broken faceplate) and a Reset Button Ending that restores everyone to life. Hilariously, Evolto was present in both final battles.
  • Role Reprise: Part of Sougo's quest involves meeting the past Riders; unlike Decade, he'll meet at least part of the original casts. In order of release, he meets:
    • Kamen Rider Build: Sento Kiryu/Kamen Rider Build, Ryuga Banjo/Kamen Rider Cross-Z, Kazumi Sawatari/Kamen Rider Grease, Gentoku Himuro/Kamen Rider Rogue and Misora Isurugi.
    • Kamen Rider Ex-Aid: Emu Hojo/Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, Hiiro Kagami/Kamen Rider Brave, and Kuroto Dan/Kamen Rider Genm.
    • Kamen Rider Fourze: Chuta Ohsugi, Daita "Kong" Kondo and Chikao "Nezumi" Nezu.note 
    • Kamen Rider 555: Takumi Inui/Kamen Rider Faiz and Masato Kusaka/Kamen Rider Kaixa.
    • Kamen Rider Wizard: Kosuke Nitoh/Kamen Rider Beast.
    • Kamen Rider OOO: Eiji Hino/Kamen Rider OOO, Hina Izumi, Michal Minato/Kamen Rider Aqua, and Akira Date/Kamen Rider Birth.
    • Kamen Rider Gaim: Kouta Kazuraba/Armored Rider Gaim and Kaito Kumon/Armored Rider Baron.
    • Kamen Rider Ghost: Takeru Tenkujii/Kamen Rider Ghost, Makoto Fukami/Kamen Rider Specter, Shibuya, and Narita.
    • Kamen Rider Decade: Tsukasa Kadoya/Kamen Rider Decade, Daiki Kaito/Kamen Rider Diend, Yusuke Onodera/A.R. Kamen Rider Kuuga and Narutaki.
    • Kamen Rider Double: The Master of Fumennote , Katsumi Daido/Kamen Rider Eternal and Ryu Terui/Kamen Rider Accel.
    • Kamen Rider Den-O: Ryotaro Nogami/Kamen Rider Den-O, Ownernote , the Tarosnote , Yuto Sakurai and Deneb/Kamen Rider Zeronos.
    • Kamen Rider Ryuki: Shinji Kido/Kamen Rider Ryukinote , Dark Shinji/Kamen Rider Ryuga, Daisuke Okubo, Ren Akiyama/Kamen Rider Knight, Goro Yura/Kamen Rider Zolda, Miyuki Tezuka/Kamen Rider Raia, Jun Shibaura/Kamen Rider Gai, Takeshi Asakura/Kamen Rider Ouja and Kamen Rider Odinnote .
    • Kamen Rider Agito: Shouichi Tsugami/Kamen Rider Agitonote , Takahiro Omuro/Kamen Rider G3 Mild and Mana Kazaya.
    • Kamen Rider Blade: Kazuma Kenzaki/Kamen Rider Blade, Hajime Aikawa/Kamen Rider Chalice and Amane Kurihara.
    • Kamen Rider Hibiki: Tomizo Todayama/Kamen Rider Todoroki and Kyosuke Kiriya/"Transformed Kyosuke"/Kamen Rider Kyoki.
    • Kamen Rider Kiva: Jiro/Garulu/Kamen Rider Ixa (Proto Ixa - First User).
    • Kamen Rider Kabuto: Arata Kagami/Kamen Rider Gatack, Sou Yaguruma/Kamen Rider KickHopper and Shun Kageyama/Kamen Rider PunchHopper.
    • Kamen Rider Drive: Go Shijima/Kamen Rider Mach, Krim Steinbelt/Mr. Beltnote , and Chase/Kamen Rider Proto-Drive/Mashin Chaser/Kamen Rider Chaser.
    • Kamen Rider: The First/The Next: Hayato Ichimonji/Kamen Rider 2note 
    • Kamen Rider Amazons: Jin Takayama/Kamen Rider Amazon Alphanote 
  • Real Life Writes the Plot:
    • In general, this happens whenever one of the actors can't reprise their role due to scheduling conflicts. Usually, this happens because many of them has reached stardom, which ironically, is often due to their breakthrough role in Kamen Rider.
    • Episode 6.5 openly admits that the Fourze arc was hamstrung because both Souta Fukushi and Ryo Yoshizawa (Gentaro/Fourze and Ryusei/Meteor) couldn't reprise their roles because they were busy filming the live-action Bleach movienote . In order to patch the holes left by their absence, the arc was tied in with Faiz, aided by the fact that it's Faiz's 15th anniversary and both Kento Handa and Kohei Murakami (Takumi/Faiz and Kusaka/Kaixa) were available to return. There are still a few hints of the arc's original intentions, primarily that Another Fourze/Faiz is a Shadow Archetype for Ryusei. The writing staff was able to spin this to tie the plot in with Faiz by revealing that both Another Fourze/Faiz and the girl he's trying to save were members of the Ryusei School, turning the hints towards Meteor into a Red Herring.
    • Episode 9.5 lampshades that Kuroto Dan's appearance in the OOO tribute arc was due to Tetsuya Iwanaga's busy schedule only allowing him to return during the time they were filming the OOO arc, with the story written around this to involve him in the plot as Another OOO, as well as having the release of a Genm Ridewatch product campaign scheduled together with the release of OOO-related Zi-O products in November 2018 to accommodate this.
    • Episode 13.5 reveals the Ghost tribute arc was delayed due to Shun Nishime being busy with filming and stage play commitments, hence Zi-O's use of the Ghost Armor being rather late despite Geiz having the Ridewatch to begin with. When asked about the possibility of Ryoma Takeuchi returning for Drive however, Nishime/Takeru advised everyone not to talk about it.
    • Miho Kirishima/Kamen Rider Femme’s absence in Rider Time: Ryuki owes to her actress, Natsuki Katou, giving birth to her second child at the time it was being filmed. This is the reason Abyss (originally from Decade) is one of the 13 Riders in the new Rider War instead of Femme.
    • The Hibiki arc using Kyosuke instead of Hibiki or Asumu is likely due to this, with Hibiki's actor having been fired and blacklisted due to power-harassment allegationsnote , and the latter due to his actor retiring in 2018. Jouji Shibue wasn't able to reprise his role as Iori Izumi/Kamen Rider Ibuki either due to being busy filming on Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger. Kenji Matsuda didn't reprise his role as Kamen Rider Zanki, likely because Hibiki's history was not erased since Another Hibiki was created in 2019. As a result, Zanki remains dead.
    • Decade’s increased appearances from the Kabuto arc onwards were due to Masahhiro Inoue’s schedule being busy prior to this.
    • Most ironically, however, is that Zi-O did not have the major Real Life Writes the Plot event that allowed Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger to enjoy a massive boom of eager returning veteran actors, namely the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunamiExplanation .
  • Troubled Production: Scheduling and plotting the scripts around the returning alumni made production much harder than most Rider shows. Ironically, the incident that caused its spiritual predecessor Gokaiger to suffer its own case of Troubled Production prevented this problem, since the show was not meant to have a lot of veterans return, but through their discovery of the show, many eagerly went above and beyond to take part, even just as a cameo, making the scheduling and writing process much easier for that show.
  • What Could Have Been:
    • Masaki Suda was unable to reprise his role as Philip in Heisei Generations FOREVER because his career had massively taken off, with his schedule reportedly being booked solid for the next two years, leading to his planned role in the film to be replaced by Woz. Which is a shame, because he reportedly said he would have loved to come back.
    • Oddly enough, neither was Renn Kiriyama able to reprise his role as Shotaro Hidari for undisclosed reasons, despite having reprised his role for multiple movies before and sharing the same sentiments with Suda.
    • Hiro Mizushima (Souji Tendou) posted on Instagram to say that he hadn’t been contacted about returning, but added that he does not view his time on Kamen Rider Kabuto as Old Shame, considering it the starting point of his career, expressing fondness for his cast- and crewmates, and hoping for success for Heisei Generations FOREVER.
    • Another Double was originally planned to have a human identity, but the idea was scrapped due to time constraints; Shirakura revealed in 2023 that he was going to be an ex-fan who turned against the series after the 2011 earthquake, believing that the people should not celebrate heroes who aren't there for them.note 
    • Natsuki Katou said that she would have gladly reprised her role as Miho Kirishima in Rider Time: Ryuki, but was pregnant with her second child (who was born around the time the mini-series was filmed) and thus was physically unable to return. Interestingly, this seemingly led Toei to opt to not use Femme at all (as opposed to use the rider but have someone else take on the identity, like they did with Scissors, Tiger, Imperer, and Verde), and instead use Abyss.
    • Although he did end up reprising the role in Rider Time Ryuki, Satoshi Matsuda expressed an interest in reprising his role of Ren Akiyama for the main show prior to the Ryuki arc filming. It’s possible that had Toei not been able to get Takamasa Suga or Kanji Tsuda back to reprise their roles as Shinji and Daisuke, Ren would’ve appeared in the TV series as well.
    • Producer Shirakura said around the beginning that he was going to contact Jo Odagiri to see if he could reprise his role. One must wonder that if he did return, if it was going to be for a tribute arc since Kuuga was the only Rider who did not get a tribute of any kind on the show (Den-O had its own arc and W and Drive combined their tribute with the Movie Riders arc and the final arc respectively).
    • Around the time of the OOO arc, images were released showing Zi-O MachArmor. However, Sougo didn't obtain the Mach Ridewatch until near the end of the series in Over Quartzer, by which point the use of individual Ridewatches had completely dropped off, meaning it never appeared outside those original pictures.
    • A toy catalog list reveals Tsukuyomi was supposed to become a Rider far earlier in the show’s run and even get a Rider Armor. The Rider Armor never appeared and she only got to be a Rider in the last two episodes.
    • After the series' run, storyboarder Seima Muto revealed three unused sketches of Another Riders for Cross-Z, Chalice, and Mach, which also implies possible scrapped plans for more secondary Riders to have their own Another Riders as well.
    • The Time Jackers were intended to have their own monster forms, but Shirakura vetoed this, saying that main villains being Recurring Bosses was something that Super Sentai already did better. Similarly, Tsukuyomi was meant to receive a monster form, but Shirakura instead suggested she become a Rider. In an ironic twist, every Time Jacker ended up becoming monsters in the form of Another Riders.
    • In a similar case to Ankh from OOO, Woz was originally intended to become the Big Bad at the end, but his chemistry with the rest of the heroic cast and popularity with the audience led to him remaining a Token Evil Teammate throughout the series, never making a full Face–Heel Turn. The idea however would be repurposed somewhat in material outside the main series, with the V-Cinema promoting White Woz to the position of Big Bad.
    • Originally Kamen Rider Zamonas or possibly Barlckxs was also supposed to incorporate designs of the Reboot Riders of Kamen Rider: The First and Kamen Rider: The Next instead of just Kamen Rider Amazons, but was scrapped once the suit designer found it impossible to do.
    • Swartz and Tsukuyomi were originally conceived to be Ohma Zi-O's children during early concept planning, but that was scrapped once the Fridge Logic of it kicked in.
    • Kimito Totani reprised his role as Daiki Kaito in the series, and was also planning to return for Decade vs Zi-O, but had to turn it down to take care of one of his sick parents.
    • According to Masahiro Inoue, he wanted Decade to fight as Complete 21 without having its full power being kneecapped by both a stab wound and Another Decade (meaning it's operating at less than half power during its debut), but was presumably shot down by Toshiki Inoue.

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