YMMV / Kamen Rider Zi-O

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Ever since it is revealed that Yuko lied about being wrongly incarcerated, it’s hard to tell which of her statements are true and to what extent. For example, did Yuko tell Sougo to protect the world as a sign of genuine redemption, an attempt to keep the act up to her death, or some weird, delusional mix of both?
  • Was Kagami truly accepted by the Kabuto Zecter, or was it just sent by Tendou to aid Kagami in stopping the impending meteor as well as tasking him to hand it to Sougo as a Ridewatch in his place? Or maybe a bit of both?
  • The actions taken by the Leader of Quartzer/SOUGO Tokiwa in light of The Reveal of Swartz's plans. Was he really trying to just erase the Heisei Era and replace it so he could rule over it, or is he a Well-Intentioned Extremist intentionally screwing Swartz over and trying to save his world, albeit at a huge cost?^note Swartz's plans revolve around Sougo obtaining the power of the Heisei Kamen Riders and draw their timelines into his own, therefore allowing Swartz the opportunity to destroy the combined world and preserve his own timeline
  • Oma Zi-O, for the same reasons as Barlckxs. Is he really The Caligula who reigns over a ruined future, or is he little more than a Broken Ace who was able to defeat Swartz, but all at the cost of the people most precious to him? It is implied to be the latter, since Oma Zi-O was unable to defend against Zi-O Trinity^note On account of Oma Zi-O never meeting Geiz in the original events of his timeline, but when you consider the Stable Time Loop that Swartz put into place...
• Angst? What Angst?: The mutual dislike Geiz and Woz have towards each other just goes away even though it never reaches any real resolution, and everything we learn about the pair's history - that Woz was The Captain for Geiz's resistance cell until he betrayed them out to Oma Zi-O and got all of Geiz's friends killed implies that Geiz should hate Woz about as much as he does Oma Zi-O. Despite this, their rivalry is suddenly dropped around halfway through and the two spend the rest of the series fighting alongside each other with little issue.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Daiki as Another Zi-O II goes down rather easily, taking only a brief beating from Decade Zi-O and three finishing moves from Grand Zi-O before the Another Ridewatch is destroyed for good. It's even more surprising given that the original was able to survive being Rider Kick-ed by every Rider in rapid succession and the watch was still intact.
• Awesome Ego:
  • From the very beginning, Oma Zi-O's sheer arrogance, egomania, and unending pride is on full display, with him boasting about being king as his right in almost every episode he's in, showcasing a level of entitlement never seen before in the franchise. However, given how powerful and godlike his abilities are, one can't help but feel that this attitude is completely justified.
  • Tsukasa Kadoya constantly boasts that he's good at everything except for photography, and proceeds to back up his claims by displaying his competence.
• Awesome Music:
  • The opening, "Over “Quartzer”", by Shuta Shueyoshi (of AAA, the performers of Kamen Rider Den-O's opening) featuring ISSA, the performer of Kamen Rider 555‘s opening.) With two veteran Rider singers on the job, needless to say it’s amazing. The electronic-influenced music also lends itself very well with the series' theme.
  • Zi-O’s Image Song “Zi-O! King of Time!” is pretty cool as well, and it is sung by So Okuno himself. It was played in #16 when Sougo once again decides to become king and #22 when Zi-O II debuts.
  • The opening for Rider Time Shinobi, “IZANAGI” is sung by Hideya Tawada and perfectly captures the ninja theme of the rider.
  • The opening for Rider Time Ryuki, “Go! Now! ～Alive A life neeo～” is sung by the original singer for "Alive A life", Rica Matsumoto, and its every bit as awesome as the first one.
  • "Believe Yourself" from the Kamen Rider Agito OST played in Zi-O #32 during the Zi-O Trinity and Agito Trinity team up fight, and it once again proves it is still one of the best ending themes in the franchise's history.
  • "Kagayaki", the first opening from Kamen Rider Hibiki played in #34, during Kiriya’s debut fight as Hibiki. It seems that from now on, the theme music of past seasons will be returning!
  • Woz's Image Song for both Black and White counterparts, "Black & White" sung by the actor Keisuke Watanabe, played in episodes 37 and 38 showing off WozGinga Wakusei and Taiyo forms for each respective episodes.
  • Kamen Rider Grand Zi-O's image song, "Next New Wφrld" by RIDER CHIPS, plays during the form's debut, and takes what was already an Awesome Moment and makes it even better.
  • If that wasn't enough the jingle that plays during Grand Zi-O's henshin is awesome. While it may go on for a almost a minute those minutes are spent with an catchy jingle, wherein they somehow manage to make a song where the lyrics are just listing the different Kamen Riders that came before Zi-O but also manages to make it catchy and amazing.
  • The theme to Zi-O vs. Decade and Decade vs. Zi-O, "Inside Out", sung by both Masahiro Inoue and So Okuno, has two versions for each series, channeling the score for the respective seasons.
• Badass Decay:
  • Kamen Rider Odin is not nearly the unstoppable force in Rider Time: Ryuki that he was in the original, being taken out by Zi-O and Geiz with the Ryuki and Knight Ridewatches in a Beam-O-War rather easily despite possessing all three Survive Cards, when the original could trounce them all on his own. This is somewhat justified as we see both Survive Rekka and Survive Shippu disintegrate before Odin could fire off his Final Vent, which presumably greatly reduced his power.
  • Zi-O's final form, Grand Zi-O, is shown to be very powerful, capable of summoning past riders and giving Sougo a massive boost in fighting capabilities only to get kicked around a single episode after its debut, Which makes sense, as it is an incomplete version of Oma Zi-O. Not to mention, the threats afterwards are much more powerful than a run of the mill Monster of the Week like Another Den-O and often have similar powers. Plus, the first person he faces with this form after Another Den-O is... Oma Zi-O himself.
• Base-Breaking Character: Hiryu Kakogawa/Another Zi-O, who is often seen as a one or two-dimensional character who doesn't do much besides oppose Zi-O. While he had somewhat sympathetic motives for revenge in the beginning (Sougo and Tsukuyomi seemingly caused his parents' deaths), he quickly devolves into Narutaki-levels of opposing the hero just for the sake of it, leaving him a flat and annoying character who lacks the hamminess that made Narutaki or fellow Evil Counterpart Kuroto Dan fun, or any further sympathetic qualities like Mitsuzane (Though he certainly has the latter two's wrath and jealousy down). It reaches truly absurd levels in the "Another Zi-O II" sub-arc, where Hiryu becomes Oma Zi-O instead just to spite Sougo, and when defeated again, makes no further apperances and isn't even brought up again for the rest of the series. Though as explained under Catharsis Factor and They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character, there are still those that nevertheless understood that he was still a Tragic Villain and/or at least enjoyed watching his ass get handed to him, with both sides sometimes agreeing that not much was done with him afterward. Some even consider his appearance in Final Stage an improvement, where finally defeating Sougo is treated more as killing two birds with one stone with his next goal, his additional motivations are given more emphasis, and can be considered the closest thing to a proper conclusion to his character for the moment.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • The giant robot toad that spits out Shinobi's gear during his transformation. Granted, it's given a name and information in supplementary sources, but the ridiculousness of it and the fact it's never used in combat makes it seem like little more than a "What the fuck" moment. Though, as it turns out in Rider Time Shinobi, this is something every ninja possesses in 2022 for some reason.
  • White Woz’s green Time Mazine. It appears in his debut episode when he arrives in 2019, but that is all we see of it, even though it was implied he also used it offscreen to bring Mondo/Kamen Rider Quiz to 2019 as well.
  • White Woz's Future Note was also shown to have the ability to make Miridewatches once the possibility of creating one is assured, but this was only ever used once. The rest of the Miridewatches created had their powers directly absorbed from the Kamen Riders (and one Another Rider) themselves.
  • Kamen Rider Ginga. In the middle of the Kiva arc, at a time when the show is digging much deeper into the franchise lore, a random meteor appears and drops Ginga on everyone. His appearance is waved away as being the result of a time distortion, he exists purely to act as a big wall and give Woz a power up then disappears as bizarrely as he appeared. His being classed as one of the future riders is equally bizarre as there's no evidence of him being from another time.
• Broken Base:
  • The lack of any returning characters or tributes to Kuuga in the show proper outside of the movie can lead to debates. One side complains on how Toei didn’t do anything to celebrate the first Heisei Rider and that if Joe Odagiri was unwilling or unable to reprise his role, then they could have brought back another actor such as the actor for Karou Ichijo, Sakurako Sawatari, or even Riku, the original Kuuga. Others felt that given the negative reception of AR! Yusuke,^note who, ironically returned for Kamen Rider Decade vs. Zi-O: Decade's Death Game and was met with mostly positive reception it was understandable not to have a Kuuga tribute since it wouldn't have been a true Kuuga tribute without Godai and it was extremely unlikely for Odagiri to return so it's better to have no tribute than a half-hearted one for Kuuga.
  • The final arc effectively pressing the Reset Button and re-establishing Kamen Rider as a segmented Multiverse again (First verbally by Tsukasa then literally by Sougo in the finale) is either a well-executed untangling of the season's Timey-Wimey Ball that simplifies the franchise's loose ends or its a half-hearted spectacle that barely changes anything and just makes past crossovers/cameos feel needlessly weird.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • It is very satisfying to see when things don’t go White Woz’s way considering what a colossal asshole he is. Especially when he gets beaten up or outsmarted which include: Getting defeated by Another Ryuga and even more satisfyingly is the original (and far more likable) Black Woz tricking him along with Heure and Hiryuu to steal his Kamen Rider powers for himself.
  • Similarly, the end of the Blade arc for fans of the original for finally giving Kenzaki and Hajime a happy ending years later.
  • The Hibiki Arc can come across as this as it finally shows Kyosuke’s character traits in a negative light and how his behavior has lead to him being disliked by other Oni and alienated him from his pupil. Similarly, it’s gratifying to see him finally move past these flaws years after his home series ended.
  • The Kabuto Arc, for many who weren't a fan of Tendou and preferred Kagami with Kagami finally being able to use the Kabuto Zecter.
  • Hiryu/Another Zi-O II on the receiving end of Grand Zi-O's beatdown at the end of #43 was extremely satisfying to watch, after seeing how he continued to blame Sougo for something he didn't do, threw Sougo's offer for redemption back in his face and became a tyrant worse than Oma Zi-O purely out of spite. Best part? Said beatdown is so powerful that it fixes all of time and space, causing Hiryu to lose his position as Oma Zi-O. He also loses his Another Zi-O Watch for good after Diend and Swartz take it from him, while the heroes sees Hiryu as an Asshole Victim for becoming far worse than he initially was.
  • Even though it was just a Roidmude imitating her, it is satisfying to see any version of Ora get her comeuppance for killing Heure and leaving him to die after everything he did to save her. The utter beatdown Grand Zi-O gives her is further sweetened with her being engulfed in flames before exploding. And then we finally get Ora biting the dust just one episode later.
  • After his callous manipulation of the heroes and his underlings, the horrible crimes he committed over the series, and his willingness to cause destruction and death on an interdimensional scale, it is extremely satisfying to see Swartz/Another Decade finally receive his comeuppance in the final episode via a fatal Rider Kick from Oma Zi-O — the very same Oma Zi-O he manipulated Sougo into becoming. It's made even sweeter by his rage at seeing his plans go up in flames, all punctuated by his scream of agony, rage and excruciating pain as he finally painfully disintegrates from existence.
  • Final Stage offers more delight at the expense of Hiryu when despite becoming Another Oma Zi-O, the real Oma Zi-O shows up, while Sougo assumes Zi-O Oma Form again. The two each take turns pummeling the now-helpless avatar of hatred and despair before finally putting him down for good by sandwiching him between a running full-strength roundhouse kick from Oma Zi-O and a more traditional flying kick from Zi-O Oma Form, ensuring that he may not be coming back no matter what new timeline crops up.
• Complete Monster: See here
• Contested Sequel: In comparaison to Kamen Rider Build, Zi-O remains a divisive season among Rider fans. Fans praises it for being a spectacular send-off to the Heisei Era of Kamen Rider with an endearing cast of characters and creative concepts that doesn't let it's rules or worldbuilding bring it down. Detractors, however criticize how Zi-O is so tunnel-visioned on its tributes that it completely ignores it’s underwhelming characters who's writing and development are either insufficent at best or non-existent at worst and the sheer amount of plot lines and concepts that go nowhere and are handwaved with little fanfare such as the whole arc surrounding Geiz Revive or the day of Ohma. Nowadays, Zi-O is either seen as an fun, turn-your-brain-off season with fanservice galore or an shallow, bare-bones, discount Gokaiger with flawed writing that prioritize spectacle and fan-service over having good writing with interesting characters.
• Continuity Lock-Out: To be expected given it's nature as an anniversary, but Zi-O is very reliant on you having seen the prior series in order to get the desired emotional context. This is most apparent with the series relation to Kamen Rider Decade, which the series does very little to explain to new viewers about despite acting as effectively a Stealth Sequel.
• Critic-Proof: Despite the season being quite contested, it is the most successful Kamen Rider show in terms of toy sales by leaps and bounds. ^note For reference, third place belongs to Kamen Rider OOO at 26.3 billion yen. Second place is Kamen Rider Zero-One at 26.7 billion yen. Kamen Rider Zi-O sits at a whopping 30.2 billion yen, nearly 4 billion more than both.
• Crosses the Line Twice: A writer’s revolt by the characters to prevent the plot is fairly funny meta humor. Blowing up Toei with everyone in it is going too far, yet still not enough.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Rentaro Kagura/Kamen Rider Shinobi was seemingly meant to be a one-off Rider for his arc, but gained immense popularity due to having an awesome fighting style, suit design and being played by Hideya Tawada (who previously played Starninger), to the point of even getting his own spinoff elaborating on his timeline. Many fans are hoping that he gets an official full Shinobi series in 2022, and there were fans who were genuinely disappointed when the 2022—23 season turned out to be Kamen Rider Geats, although it's mitigated by Shinobi's return in a Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club web special where he teams up with that show's own ninja-themed Rider in 2023 with said special acting as Shinobi's 46th episode.
  • Of the Another Riders, Yuko Kitajima/Another Kiva became one of the most popular due to having a more fleshed-out character from most Another Riders as an initially sympathetic Visionary Villain openly defying the Time Jackers for a better world who turns out to be a secret murder-happy psycho ala Asakura. Also her incredible proficiency with manhole covers.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • Upon getting a close look at Oma Zi-O's helmet◊, people noticed that his eyes and "eyebrows" resemble the shape of an eagle. This has caused some to speculate that Oma Zi-O is somehow connected to Shocker.
  • Kamen Rider Woz’s forms are based on future riders, but instead of being ones from past series (i.e., Aqua, New Den-O), they’re riders who haven't been seen before. Theories range from them being the rider forms of the other Time Jackers, or other riders from the future of Zi-O. Eventually it was revealed that they’re riders from alternate timelines.
  • In #31, it is revealed that Tsukuyomi has no memories prior to joining the Resistance, and that she somehow possesses the ability to manipulate time. While the extent of her powers is unknown, it does make one wonder: could she possibly be Sougo’s daughter or granddaughter?
    • When asked by Woz, Swartz stated he didn't do anything to Tsukuyomi, but Woz stated that the ability she possesses is something only Swartz can grant. This causes Swartz to speculate, in front of Woz, that Tsukuyomi might be an natural Time Jacker like him.
    • As it turns out, Swartz was using Exact Words, as they're actually siblings, which is what he meant by them being “cut from the same cloth.” This could lead to another theory that Swartz might also be Sougo's son or grandson, and is actually speeding up and/or altering the process of how his father/grandfather got his powers. And then #43 further reveals that Swartz and Tsukuyomi are royalty, and that their natural time powers are exclusive to their family.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: While the ending is mostly happy for the cast of Zi-O and many other riders who had gotten their happy endings in the original shows, the riders who didn't get a happy ending until Zi-O now got theirs overridden by their original canon and are still in the same predicament (For example, Takumi and Kusaka are both dead, Blade and Chalice are still Joker Undeads, etc...), assuming Sougo didn't change their history as well.
  • Might no longer be the case as Sougo only sacrificed his Oma Zi-O power to undo the damage caused by Swartz and the restoration does not affect the change of history to the respective canon Rider. One of the Next Time films for instance has Kusaka as one of the returning Secondary Riders, implying He and Takumi remain Back from the Dead.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • The Another Riders were well-received by many fans for their unique concept, along with the potential of their twisted designs that cleverly incorporate the aspects of the characters they were based off of.
  • Oma Zi-O is also this thanks to being the evil future counterpart of Sougo whose Rider form traded the original Zi-O's white for royal gold and has insane amount of powers along with the personality befitting the Evil Overlord of the future.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: Shirakura came under backlash during the Kiva Arc when fans noted that the Geiz Revive Ridewatch's side effect suddenly disappeared with no in-show explanation. When questioned about it on Twitter, Shirakura likened the side effect's disappearance to how he would get nosebleeds from starting a workout three years ago, and then the bleeding stopped after a week's worth of exercising. This did not sit well with fans, citing Shirakura's explanation to be "weak" and "lazy writing".
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • As the four Future Riders' backstories were either briefly touched on or not explained at all, and Rider Time: Shinobi was only a brief glimpse at Shinobi's plot that ended on a cliffhanger, many fans have gone and created entire fan-made seasons for them.
  • As technically, Another Riders can be based on Riders other than the main ones of their respective seasons, it is common for fans to make their own designs for Another Riders based on Riders that did not have one.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Another Riders - Bizarro Riders^ExplanationDue to fans likening them to Superman's Evil Knockoff Bizarro, and possibly to avoid any confusion with Another Agito., Kaijin Riders^ExplanationAs a reference to Chinomanako, who was called an "Ayakashi Rider"; he also used cards to summon previous Rider monsters, labeled as "KaijinRide" cards.
  • Sougo/Zi-O - Destroyer of Catchphrases/Finishers^ExplanationDue to the fact that Zi-O completely butchers Build and Ex-Aid's catchphrase and finishers with an abridged version of his own., 我が魔王~/"Waga Maō~"^ExplanationLiterally "My Demon King", and Woz's over-the-top way of addressing Sougo.
  • The new Woz suffered from this heavily to differentiate him from the original Woz, having been given names such as "New Woz" or "Another Woz"^note initally used by the Wiki. Eventually the official name stated on the TV-Asahi website is the In-Series Nickname "White Woz", while Woz himself is renamed as "Black Woz".
  • Geiz - 我が救世主~/"Waga Kyūseishu~"^ExplanationLiterally "My Savior"; White Woz's equally over-the-top way of addressing Geiz, after the reveal of an alternate future created by Geiz Revive defeating Oma Zi-O.
  • Another AgitΩ: At least on this very wiki, because Another Agito already existed in Agito's original series, and Another AgitΩ himself has the omega symbol (Ω) instead of an 'o' on the chest plate, he's called this in order to differentiate the two.
• Fashion-Victim Villain: Debate on the extent of his villainy aside, while Woz’s costume is well-liked and appropriate as a post-apocalyptic prophet, White Woz has been mocked for his civilian clothing looking like a teenage girl from a Disney Channel original movie.
• Growing the Beard: After a rocky start, many agree that the show has gradually improved over time, with a few specific turning points often looked to as when the show got better.
  • #15: “Back to 2068”, the first non-tribute episode of the series, which saw Sougo come face-to-face with the reality that him becoming Oma Zi-O is a strong possibility, getting his act together after many complaints that he was being too cavalier about causing the Bad Future, and the subsequent plot developments helped the show come into its own identity.
  • #21-22, the Ryuki tribute arc, mark the point where the tribute episodes become more straightforward and comprehensible by having the Another Riders be created in the present, dropping the plot point about their creations stealing the original Riders’ histories, which many fans considered to be a confusing Timey-Wimey Ball that made the time travel a bunch of incoherent shenanigans.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Toei Studio blowing up in #3.5 becomes this in light of the incident at Kyoto Animation Studio, where an arsonist set off an explosion at the studio and caused a fire that killed at least 35 people.
  • Geiz's earlier misassumption of Agito (actually Decade using Kamen Ride Agito card) joining forces with the Time Jackers in #13 becomes this when in #32, Shoichi Tsugami's powers were stolen by Heure, turning the Another AgitΩ into an actual evil Agito.
  • Within a week after #36's reveal of Yuko/Another Kiva being a murderous yandere, a legitimate yandere incident occurred in Japan where a woman named Yuka attempted to murder a man out of her obsessive love for him.
  • The Another Den-O episodes are taken to a harsher degree in Kamen Rider Outsiders when Yuto Sakurai spent most of the arc trying to kill Sougo before he could become Ohma Zi-O. When we see Yuto again in episode 3 of Outsiders as Kamen Rider Zein, he has basically become walked on the same path as the Overlord of Time. The following episode reveals that this Yuto is an Alternate Self of the original coming from a Bad Future where something tragic befell Airi, putting him in the same shoes as Takuya Endo.
  • Another one related to Outsiders: Sougo's journey to become Ohma Zi-O has him collecting all Rider powers entrusted to him by his predecessors through Ridewatches become this when almost every heroic Rider, Sougo included, surrendered their Rider powers to Zein, an authoritarian A.I. bent on subjugating mankind in the name of expunging malice. In essence bringing forth an artificial, present-day version of Ohma Zi-O to the surface who is no less far worse than the Overlord of Time himself.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Actor Katsuhisa Namase starred in the TV series Keibuho Yabe Kenzo, whose second season was positively dripping with references to Kamen Rider^note Usually in the form of guest appearances by Rider alumni, whom Kenzo would always end up nicknaming after their past roles; for example, Taiko Katono's character, Chie Saburo was nicknamed "Chaser" and at one point was given a fire axe with a traffic signal strapped to the handle, with him shouting "Itte iiyo!/Go for it!" as he used it.. And then he was cast in this series as Sougo's uncle Junichiro.
  • A fairly common joke answer to the question of “what do you think the 20th Heisei Rider will be” before Zi-O‘s announcement was “Decade 2”. Given the premise of Zi-O and the trailer confirming that old characters will return as Zi-O travels to their time periods, it turns out Zi-O is pretty close to a second Decade! What's even more hilarious is the toy catalogue revealing Zi-O’s Mid-Season Upgrade. It’s called Zi-O 2!
  • For that matter, one of the Decade movie themes is named “The Next Decade”, which becomes oddly prophetic now.
  • Thanks to Another Ex-Aid incorporating the “dreads” from normal Ex-Aid's Muteki form, the end result looks oddly similar to a Predator, considering that this episode came just after the release of The Predator.
  • A meme predating the one about “incels” (involuntary celibates) states that retaining your virginity past the age of 30 turns you into a wizard - guess what the premise behind Another Wizard is.^note Although unlike the "victims" of so-called Nice Guy Syndrome, he doesn't expect to be rewarded with love just for being a good person; he tries to do things to impress her but Cannot Spit It Out when trying to confess his feelings.
  • Kamen Rider Gaim had movie-exclusive Legend Rider forms which were shaped like the specific Rider’s head; in the case of Rider #1, this resulted in Gaim wearing his face as a chestplate. Appropriately enough, Zi-O’s Gaim form is set up the same way, so the chestplate is Gaim’s face.
  • This or Harsher in Hindsight. During the last episode of Build, Sento writes up a 49-episode series pitch based on the events of Build so that people would remember him. In Heisei Generations FOREVER, he ends up in a world where he is a fictional character.
  • Many jokingly referred to Chinomanako from the Decade/Shinkenger crossover as “Another Diend”. With the Next Time movies, there is an actual Another Diend and it’s made from recycled parts of Chinomanako.
  • One of the minor complaints hurled towards this series is the fact that Another Fourze and Faiz sharing the same undersuit, as while it allows easy modification for Ryuichi Sakuma, who uses two Another Rider forms at the same time, it avoids the two to appear as separate people at the same time when an army of Another Riders appeared under Hiryu Kakogawa. In the V-Cinema of Kamen Rider 555: Paradise Regained, this is basically how Next Kaixa is portrayed, using the same undersuit with different armor parts rather than an all new suit altogether, giving off the impression as Kaixa's movie-exclusive Super Mode.
• Ho Yay:
  • Woz’s effusive praise and adoration of Sougo can come off this way. Add that to the way he’s always appearing everywhere Sougo is and giving him what can only be described as loving looks it makes you wonder what the exact relationship he has with him in the future.
    • This extends to his alternate self, who has No Sense of Personal Space towards Geiz.
  • Between how resistant Geiz becomes to the idea of killing Sougo and how much banter the two of them get, it's not a stretch to think that Geiz is crushing hard on Sougo.
  • Naturally some of the returning characters are still showing off the Ho Yay they had in their series.
    • Sento Kiryu and Ryuga Banjo are more chummy in the present thanks to time alterations caused by Another Build, but it seems like their bond was strong enough that even Another Build had their Ho Yay installed in his personality with him hugging Ryuga upon seeing him and saying they are a Best Match. Sento even says he feels oddly jealous about this after Ryuga frees himself from Another Build's grasp.
    • While Ankh isn’t present in this series (probably as a result of Another OOO negating the existence of the Greeed) and isn’t even mentioned, it’s still heavily implied Eiji still remembers him in some way. Considering the fact Eiji has a red feather on his suit and that he has two RideWatches with the second one being based on the Tajador Combo.
    • Shinji and Ren tend to be a bit more cooperative with each other in Rider Time: Ryuki (albeit not without their usual bickering), and when Ren shielded Shinji from Asakura, Shinji realized that Ren was the man he wished to see again, wanting to bicker just like old times the next time they see each other.
    • Daiki Kaito still has that teasing attitude towards Tsukasa. In the final episode, he's overjoyed that he and Tsukasa can witness the end of the world together. Tsukasa's response is to basically yell "stop flirting and fight!"
• I Knew It!: Swartz was a very popular guess as the one who becomes Another Decade. Sure enough, episode 44 shows him become Another Decade.
• It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: Part of the critique Zi-O's final arc is that it repeats many of the same plot beats that Build's final arc does, namely the Riders racing to stop the villain from destroying the world, the hero's allies being picked off one-by-one and the hero resetting everything. Even Build's Say My Name moment gets copied in one episode.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Geiz may be a rough Knight Templar who only wants to initially destroy Sougo to prevent the Bad Future, he also lost several comrades (including one who he held dear for) due to Oma Zi-O and became sour at Woz due to the latter being originally their Resistance captain that turned on them in favor of the Demon King.
  • While Heure is an Enfant Terrible who commits horrific acts to make his Another Riders, as the show progressed, the lad ended up suffering from serious abuse, ranging from White Woz staging an inescapable death trap on him for information to being mistreated by his fellow Time Jackers. Even Sougo felt sorry for how homeless Heure was despite being aware of the lad's misdeeds.
  • Yuko Kitajima was falsely arrested for a crime she did not commit, lost 4 years of her life, and even lost her former lover in the process. However, her method of making things better is to destroy anything in her way of what she views as a better world. However, it's revealed in the next episode that she did the murder after all.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Most older Rider fans only watched this show due to their favorite characters from pasts Kamen Rider shows being reprised by their original actors.
  • There are fans who watch this show just to see what the Another Riders will look and act like in comparison to the original counterpart.
  • Woz. That is all. Quite often you'll hear the phrase "Watch for Tsukasa, stay for Woz."
• Magnificent Bastard: (Black) Woz is a prophet from the future seeking to ensure the rise of Ohma Zi-O. Once captain of a resistance cell, Woz infiltrated Ohma Zi-O's forces while secretly defecting to his side for real, feeding the resistance faulty information in order to lure them into a trap. Traveling back in time to ensure Tsukuyomi and Geiz do not prevent Ohma Zi-O's rise, Woz gives Sougo the Ziku Driver that allows him to become Kamen Rider Zi-O and assists him by providing him with data on various past Kamen Riders. When his Alternate Self "White" Woz travels back in time to stop Sougo's rise, Woz temporarily allies with the Time Jackers and tricks White Woz into giving him his Rider powers. In the end, Woz was successful in bringing about Sougo's ascension as Ohma Zi-O, and when Sougo chose to use his new powers to restore everything to normal, Woz accepted his decision, forever loyal to his Demon King.
• Memetic Loser: Decade Complete 21. His questionably hideous design is merely the tip of the iceberg. Despite being anticipated as Decade's most powerful form, when he finally transforms, all he does is wipe out several low-level Inves, which any base-form Rider would've been capable of doing. However, his poor showing against Oma Zi-O (and a weaker variant of him, no less) is the most damning indictment against him. Decade is subjected to a total Curbstomp Battle, being unable to land so much as a single solid hit on his opponent. The image of a defeated Decade laying on the ground is the most common source of mockery. To twist the knife even further, Zi-O puts up a much better fight with just the Decade and Saber Ridewatches.
• Memetic Mutation: See this page for examples.
• Memetic Troll:
  • Kaito is back yet again, and he still trolls pretty much everyone. Only he can get away with stealing something while making breakfast for you.
  • Woz has shades of this as well due to his hammy declarations.
• Moral Event Horizon: See this page for examples.
• Most Wonderful Sound: As usual for the franchise, the Ziku Driver and BeyonDriver produces a few of these. The Ridewatches, which most of the sounds came from, also produce heavenly sounds, and the past Rider Ridewatches also borrow parts of the transformation sounds from their respective Rider's Drivers for both the transformation and finisher, many of which also qualify.
  • The standby music for Ride HeiSaber, Zi-O II, and Woz's forms, are among the most glorious standby music Kamen Rider fans have ever heard, instantly becoming major fan favorites.
  • If its sheer length doesn't bother you, the music from the Grand Zi-O Ridewatch is definitely this, with the standby music cycling through all of the Heisei Riders' henshin sounds, and the activation music namedropping every single one of the Heisei Riders. The same also applies for the Geiz Majesty Ridewatch's activation music namedropping every secondary Rider from G3 to Cross-Z.
• Narm:
  • #1 has Tsukuyomi taking Sougo back to the Cretaceous period, where our hero is eyed by a Tyrannosaurus as a meal. Nothing too crazy for a show using time travel… until the T. Rex starts making elephant noises.
  • The Humanoise in Kikai’s future are robots with the appearance of humans who want to wipe out all human life. Not a bad concept, but because of the Humanoise not wearing any sort of uniform or indication along with the age of the first ones we see, it comes across as Kikai just randomly beating up the elderly.
• Narm Charm:
  • Woz's hamminess towards Sougo can be seen as annoying or just plain ridiculous but seeing how devoted or loyal he is and his huge speeches makes him out to be very charming.
  • Decade Complete 21. It is a more ridiculous version of Decade's already gaudy Super Mode with all the other Heisei Rider cards plus Zero-One with cards of secondary Riders on his cape. But how over the top it looks has people enjoy it in a So Bad, It's Good kind of way.
• Older Than They Think: The harmful effects of Geiz Revive on Geiz being given a Hand Wave would come across as a cheap explanation... until you remember that Otoya Kurenai also suffered harmful effects from using the proto Ixa system, before eventually becoming its most frequent user and his eventual death is implied to be from using Dark Kiva and injuries sustained in the final battle, rather than proto Ixa.
• Questionable Casting: While it may have been due to the returning actors’ schedules, some fans have this reaction to news of well-known actors of the Kamen Rider franchise reprising their lesser-known roles compared to their more popular ones.^note Rina Akiyama as Mana Kazaya instead of Naomi, Yuichi Nakamura as Kyosuke Kiriya/Kamen Rider Kyoki instead of Yuto Sakurai/Kamen Rider Zeronos, Kenji Matsuda as Jiro/Garulu/Kamen Rider Ixa instead of Zaomaru Zaitsuhara/Kamen Rider Zanki - although in the case of the last of the 3, it's somewhat justified, since the Hibiki arc didn't change the past, meaning that Zanki is still dead.
  • Adding to this is the fact that Tomokazu Sugita, well-known for his voice role of Kivat-bat the 3rd in Kamen Rider Kiva, was announced to return in the shared Kiva/Ginga Arc but was casted to voice new character Kamen Rider Ginga instead of reprising his role of Kivat.
  • As it was eventually confirmed that Yuichi Nakamura would still also play Yuto Sakurai/Kamen Rider Zeronos, some fans still have this reaction anyways, with others expecting an I Am Not Spock joke to be made in the show, which does happen, which is in 2007: DenLiner Crash!
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Tsukasa was a Base-Breaking Character in his home series but here, he's shown to have matured significantly and even when he sided against Sougo, it was for really good reasons rather than just being a jerk. It also helps that he plays a Stealth Mentor to both Sougo and Tsukuyomi very well.
  • Daiki's characterization in this series also got redeemed him in the eyes of fans after his controversial portrayal in Kamen Rider × Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen that landed him to scrappy status in the first place.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Atom Mitsuishi (Another Fourze/Another Faiz) is Shiguru
  • Another Ghost’s sister is Asuna.
  • Tsutomu Tsuzumiya/Another Hibiki (Rihito Noda) is Shinya Kaburagi.
• Shocking Moments:
  • The fact that Heure uses the Captain Ghost in #4, complete with a strange robot mode to stop Sougo’s Time Mazine and it escalates further with Ora using the Castle Doran in #10 as well.
  • Woz becoming a Rider was already something many people saw coming. But Woz using the powers of future Kamen Riders? That threw everybody for a loop. The reveal about Kamen Rider Woz is another shocker—in that he’s a new Woz, appearing simultaneously with the original Woz. Who also looks appropriately shocked.
  • #9 has Past Riders having the potential in becoming Another Riders and Zi-O’s rise to Demon King seems closer than ever.
  • The Heisei Generations FOREVER trailer has the Rider world slowly becoming dissolved into the real world, with an evil Time Jacker intending on erasing all of the Heisei Riders.
  • Tsukasa Kadoya returns, and he uses a magenta colored version of the Decadriver that lets him use the powers of ALL the Heisei era riders. Additionally, his subsequent transformation into his successors’ forms also draws comparisons to the Gokaigers being able to use the Ranger Keys from Go-Busters to Ninningers during their guest appearance in Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger.
  • The long awaited return of Ryotaro Nogami.
  • The Day of Oma arc, where not only have Riders from the future made an appearance, but also the fact that they also come with their own Another Rider counterparts.
  • The Another Zi-O arc, in which all hell has broken loose. The powers of Kamen Rider Woz have swapped, the Another Riders have crowned their King, and he can birth more himself, and Geiz and Sougo are fighting for the future, with the former gaining his upgrade and finding out its too much for his body to handle. It is also revealed that Swartz was behind both the bus accident, and Sougo becoming Zi-O in the first place.
  • The reveal that Grand Zi-O's main ability isn't just summoning other Riders - but summoning any version of the 20 main Heisei Kamen Riders and any weapon they have wielded in the past 20 years of the Heisei era directly from any point in time. Then the episode after that reveals he can rewind and pause said summoned Riders.
  • Due to not having the actual Drive Ridewatch, Sougo's fight with Oma Zi-O causes Hiryu of the Another Zi-O arc to return and become Another Zi-O II as well as the new Oma Zi-O.
  • #43 ends with Another Zi-O II defeated, but Swartz gets what he wants, not only stealing Tsukuyomi's time powers and taking back the powers he gave to Ora, but also his main objective: Decade's powers. And the preview for the next episode seemingly shows him becoming Another Decade.
  • In the movie, Over Quartzer: Zi-O Ohma Form summoning every Heisei Rider in their Final Forms for a spectacular All Rider Finish.
  • The penultimate episode gives us a big one. Tsukuyomi, at long last, becoming a Kamen Rider!
  • The finale has Sougo willingly become Oma Zi-O and reveal Oma Zi-O’s power isn’t just the combination of the twenty main Heisei Riders, it’s the combined power of EVERY Heisei Rider, good and bad.
  • The Next Time Kamen Rider Movies: starts with a big reveal. Geiz gets his own Grand Ridewatch in the form of Geiz Majesty, which takes from every Secondary Rider instead.
• So Okay, It's Average: While bare bones as a Rider series and not without its flaws, Zi-O generally nails its tributes to past Riders and is mostly seen as better than the previous anniversary series, even if it isn't that spectacular in and of itself and it's sister series has had better anniversary seasons.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Not towards Build but still qualifies as an anniversary season. It is agreed that it does tribute episodes better than Decade even if they can't bring back every main characters from past seasons. It also expands on the story of Decade somewhat, with fans happy about the character development of Tsukasa and Kaito.
• Take That, Scrappy!:
  • The Hibiki arc pretty much bashed on how Kyosuke Kiriya is not a good successor to Hibiki and that it was his behavior that caused his former pupil to become Another Hibiki. Even after he become Hibiki, he immediately gave his Ride Watch to Sougo, knowing that he’s not on the same level as his master.
  • Considering how some fans feel about Amane Kurihara, having her forcefully turned into Another Blade in the Blade arc might be more than a coincidence.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • The announcement that Kento Shimoyama, who is best known for writing the much maligned Shuriken Sentai Ninninger, would be the head writer, has provoked quite a few negative reactions from the fandom.
    • However, supporters of this decision quickly countered with the fact that Shimoyama was later the head writer for Kamen Sentai Gorider, arguably one of the best received Rider crossovers in the whole franchise. The negativity came back in full force when another counter-argument was brought up in regards to Shimoyama’s writing style is his tendency to give Adaptational Heroism to antiheroic/villainous riders such as Kaito Kumon & Yoko Minato from the aforementioned Gorider web series, and Masato Kusaka from the Fourze/555 tribute arcs.
  • The negativity goes up to eleven when it was revealed that Shinichiro Shirakura, the executive producer for the second half of Kamen Rider Hibiki, the controversial Super Hero Taisen movies and the progenitor of a certain controversial “fangs” statement about Kamen Rider Amazons would be the producer.
    • Apparently some members of the cast and crew were aware of Shirakura’s notoriety, and this was mercilessly lampshaded in #6.5.
  • The Zi-O vs. Decade special had its reveal trailer be met with a very sour reaction due to the clunky appearance of Decade's (otherwise highly-anticipated) updated Complete Form, Complete 21, and DecadeArmor Saber Form consisting of only Saber's default faceplate plus lettering for "SABER / BRAVE DRAGON," thus breaking the established rules of the Decade Ridewatch's functions (though several fans do admit to liking Complete 21 just due to how absurd it is). The Decade vs. Zi-O special, on the other hand, had a more positive reception due to featuring the return of Yusuke Onodera, Natsumi Hikari, and their associated powers.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Kamen Rider Tsukuyomi never actually fights once she appears, the most being a stab to the back to Swartz, which she likely could have done in her human form anyways. Kamen Rider: Reiwa the First Generation rectifies this by giving her a fight scene alongside Kamen Riders Woz and Geiz. Next Time: Geiz Majesty carries on what the earlier named film did and even showcases her Finishing Move.
  • Despite having a big enough role in the story, Hiryu Kakogawa doesn't appear again after his final defeat when the way his last scene was handled suggested that he might be Back for the Finale, even if, at best, he would likely die at Swartz's hands as an act of redemption before coming back in the new timeline. Either way, it's not made clear what happens to him by the epilogue. Even Final Stage doesn't seem to address if he ever found out about Swartz or even SOUGO/Barlckxs' true goals, or how he managed to become the new Barlckxs and take command of the Quartzer Riders in order to set up the plot.
  • The 2068 incarnation of Oma Zi-O. It has never been explored or even explained how this version of Sougo obtained all of the Ridewatches and what experiences led him into becoming the most terrible, horrible tyrant in history who kicks off the entire storyline. He makes surprisingly few appearances throughout the show despite being a recurring villain and never gets a proper fight with his past self.
  • Not Tsukasa himself, but his choices when it came to using the Neo-Decadriver. While he did use the fan-favorite Build, he also used Wizard and Ghost, who are both from polarizing series. A lot of fans expressed the desire to see Tsukasa use more Kamen Riders from the Phase 2 Heisei era (it gets even worse when Tsukasa returns in the Rider Time specials and doesn't transform into any other Riders).^note The justification for this is that Tsukasa's main form was far more powerful than the other forms, and he'd only switch to them to access exclusive abilities or limit himself for certain opponents. Kaito was exempt from this, since he summoned mostly Heisei Phase 2 Riders (Accel, Birth, Baron, Specter and Brave, with Knight being the only Rider from Phase 1).
  • The Future Riders all also had a lot of potential, but while Shinobi got his own special, we do not see anything out of Quiz and Kikai outside of their respective two-episode arcs, even though Kikai's Robot War future could have been interesting.^note In Kikai's case, Kamen Rider Zero-One would also have rogue androids as enemies, so it's possible they wanted to avoid featuring a plot too similar to the succeeding Rider.
  • Kamen Rider Ginga as well. Despite making an impressive introduction, he only lasts for two episodes and winds up just being used to give Woz a powerup, with little explanation given for his origins in that time beyond saying he came from a time warp.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Reportedly, the original plan for the finale was that Black Woz was going to turn against the heroes and be the Final Boss. While the full details aren't clear, it likely would have made for a much more interesting and emotional climax than the fairly generic "Final Battle against the Big Bad" we got. The novel may have been an attempt to rectify this to a degree by making a fourth Woz the last villain the heroes face off in continuity, who has a much more solid grasp of time control than the others and successfully enslaves his world's Geiz and Tsukuyomi with Anotherwatches to that end.
  • Despite it being the thing the heroes are trying to prevent, the Bad Future of 2068 isn't very fleshed out or brought up that much. We barely find out anything about what Oma Zi-O's rule was like, what Geiz and Tsukuyomi's lives were like under him or how La Résistance formed to oppose him.
• Tough Act to Follow:
  • Although the series definitely has its fans, it had the unenviable task of following Ex-Aid and Build, two extremely-popular series, with both of them being considered two of the Heisei era's best entries. Not helping is the fact that it was followed up by Zero-One, which was another well-liked series despite its problems. All of the above were considered to have excellent writing, while Zi-O's wasn't regarded as highly. With all of these facts put together, Zi-O unfortunately fell by the wayside for many people thanks to being sandwiched in-between two highly-regarded entries.
• Unexpected Character: Now has its own page.
• Viewer Gender Confusion: It is easy to mistake Heure as being a girl not only due to his feminine appearance, but also his high-pitched voice. His actor, Rihito Igataki, is actually just a child actor.
• WTH, Costuming Department?:
  • For the Next Time films, most fans' reactions to Geiz Majesty involve the fact that the Secondary Rider Ridewaches being stuck onto the costume just seems like a lazy design choice.
  • Decade Complete Form 21 in Decade vs. Zi-O notably has an oversized headpiece mainly used to display a Zero-Two card on top of the Complete Form card, as well as the cards of non-primary Riders stuck on to the cape. Those who don't like it for its absurdity instead think that it looks absolutely hideous. Even Tsukasa's own actor isn't too big a fan of the design.
• Woolseyism: A lot of Zi-O’s naming conventions and puns don’t translate well into English, so Over-Time’s subs substitute those names for these. Some of them are better than others.
  • Zikan Gilade = Edge of Time
  • Giri Giri Slash = Edge Slash
  • Zikan ZAxe = Time Z-Axe
    • Bow Mode Sound = You bow to me!^note Episodes past its first appearance simply use "Bow!" instead.
    • Axe Mode Sound = Oh no, an Axe!^note Episodes past its first appearance simply use "Oh, no!" instead.
  • Giwa Giwa Shoot = Brink Shot
  • Ōma Kōrin Reki = Twilight Chronicle
  • Dan Kuroto Ō = Dan KuroKing^note This came off as an Accidental Pun due to "Kuroto Ō/Kuroto King" sounding like a single word "KurotŌ".
  • Zikan Despear = Time’s Upspear^note While most have taken "Despear" as a pun for "despair", the "Time's Up" translation was likely taken from the loosely heard "Jikan desu", a stricter way of saying "It is time./Time is up." in comparison to "Jikan Girei/Time's Up" from the Zikan Gilade.
    • Spear Mode Sound = Spearsome
    • Scythe Mode Sound = Sicklest
    • Cane Mode Sound = Caneonical
  • Kamen Rider Quiz’s Catchphrase = “The answer is ‘to save the world’. And it’s always the right answer.”^note The phrase in Japanese is “Sukuue yo sekai, kotae yo seikai” (“Save the world, give the correct answer”), which is a play on the homophones sekai ("world") and seikai ("correct answer"). As this wordplay would have been nigh-impossible to translate into English, Over-Time changed it accordingly to better fit Quiz’s ego and game show theme.
  • Kamen Rider Kikai’s Finishing Move = Mechanical Annihilator^note The phrase in Japanese is "Kikai de Hakai da" (“Machine will destroy”). Phonetically it also invokes another Kikaider reference as "Kikai de" and "Hakai da" sound similar to “Kikaider” and “Hakaider” respectively. The new name mostly keeps the translation while being a pun on Hakaider's solo film, "Mechanical Violator Hakaider."
  • Gōretsu and Shippu forms = Fury and Typhoon, basically straight translations.

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