Last week in this series... Well, there was no last week as I couldn't find a way to watch episode two of the f*****g show! ARRGH! Anyway, episode three is already out and I am still on episode two but do not worry, the summary and review for episode three will be out on Monday, thus getting this Zi-O train back on track. Angry rant aside, last time on the Kamen Rider Zi-O Summary/Review series, I, Kaiser Sensei, was a bit mixed on the season opener. Episode One had a great set-up but weak drama and of course this also has to be part one of a two parter, so this episode will either make me forgive the problems with the first episode or it will make them worse! Find out today in the review/summary of episode two of Kamen Rider Zi-O and this week's episode is called: Best Match 2017. (Click on "Read More" to read the full thing but do be warned, I spoil the f**k out of the show).
Summary
Episode two opens up with Kamen Rider Zi-O getting beat up by Kamen Rider Geiz... That's Geiz from the previous episode, whom was also called Kamen Rider Gez in the previous episode and now he isn't called that. I don't think that's a problem with the show, I just think the prior episode I watched was translated by a different group. Anyway, this fight scene is brief as it only last around thirty seconds and then BAM, cuts to the intro. After we see this week's sponsors for the show (McDonalds and BanDai) the episode kicks in and Kamen Rider Zi-O is still getting beaten up by Kamen Rider Geiz. Kamen Rider Geiz is preparing to finish Kamen Rider Zi-O with his special attack but it gets blocked off as Tsukuyomi steps in front of Kamen Rider Zi-O with her robot.
Kamen Rider Zi-O summons his motorbike and starts riding off but Kamen Rider Geiz brushes off Tsukuyomi and starts chasing down Kamen Rider Zi-O, on his very on motorbike. The two of them start riding down a road to where Kamen Rider Geiz catches up and tries to knock Kamen Rider Zi-O off of his bike by doing a pimp slap. Kamen Rider Zi-O manages to recover and escape by getting his bike to jump off of the side of the road, all while morphing his bike back into a capsule. Kamen Rider Zi-O hides and it works as Kamen Rider Geiz loses track of Kamen Rider Zi-O. Kamen Rider Geiz de-morphs back into Geiz and tells off Tsukuyomi for interfering.
Kamen Rider Zi-O de-morphs back into Sougo, to where we see the two mysterious people from the first episode. One holds a book and the other one is a mischievous child-ish person (yeah, I didn't describe what the second mysterious person looked like in the prior episode... Ooops!). The child like one is dancing around the guy that got turned into Evil Kamen Rider Build back in the previous episode, while the book guy is hovering around Sougo and praising him as his dark lord. Turns out I can stop calling one of them the Mysterious Guy With The Book as he has revealed his name and it's, Woz! Woz is describing the great prophecy to Sogou and how he is trying to stop Geiz and Tsukuyomi from changing history and all while the other mysterious person is turning the Ex-Evil Kamen Rider Build back into Evil Kamen Rider Build. After all of this, Woz disappears, leaving Sogou feeling confused.
Evil Kamen Rider Build is busy doing evil things such as absorbing high school baseball players but he is spotted by Geiz and Tsukuyomi. Geiz initially doesn't want to do anything about it but his heroic side kicks in and it's HENSHIN TIME, BABY! Geiz transforms into Kamen Rider Geiz… But we'll have to wait a little bit before we get to that battle.
Cutting back to Sougo who has returned home, only to see Woz is there and what Woz does is describe that the Evil Kamen Rider Build was caused by a change in history. Sougo gets worried about Kiryuu Sento/The Real Kamen Rider Build but Woz shrugs it off and says that he doesn't know what happened to him... That's a scary sign if I ever saw one. Woz also states that Sougo is not yet strong enough to defeat Evil Kamen Rider Build and also tells him that Geiz is fighting Evil Kamen Rider Build as they speak. Cutting back to the battle we see that Evil Kamen Rider Build is beating the crud out of Kamen Rider Geiz but Kamen Rider Zi-O comes in and saves Kamen Rider Geiz.
Kamen Rider Zi-O defeats Evil Kamen Rider Build with ease but lull and behold, another one comes from out of nowhere to restart the battle. Kamen Rider Zi-O leaves Kamen Rider Geiz in charge of taking care of Evil Kamen Rider Build, while he de-morphs back into Sougo and runs off to meet the real Kamen Rider Build and Kamen Rider Cross-Z. Sougo makes it to their place but notices something odd, they aren't Kamen Riders but are just people running a music shop. Meanwhile, Kamen Rider Geiz is still fighting Evil Kamen Rider Build but there are some weird time distortions going on that leaves Evil Kamen Rider Build confused. Kamen Rider Geiz manages to defeat Evil Kamen Rider Build with a sweet Rider Kick and finally puts an end to Evil Kamen Rider Build.
The time distortions seem to have ended and the real Kamen Rider Build and Kamen Rider Cross-Z return back to how they should be although they are confused as to why they are hugging each other and running a music shop. Kamen Rider Build and Cross Z now remember everything and lend Sougou their morphers. Oh No! More Evil Kamen Rider Build's keep on spawning, leaving Kamen Rider Geiz feeling exhausted and de-morphing. Sougo returns to the battle and figures out how to defeat Evil Kamen Rider Build and that's they have to go back to the past and defeat him there. Sougo and Geiz run to the time machine to where they set sights to the deep dark past of 2017... Yup, it's not very far back in time but time travel doesn't always have to be about going deep into time.
We are in the year 2017 and what a horrible year it is, Yooka-Laylee becomes the bane of most gamers (except for me, I like that game), Sphinx and The Cursed Mummy randomly gets re-released for the PC, and Kaiser Sensei isn't Kaiser Sensei yet, I was some guy drowning in obscurity... Actually, I still am... But anyway, back to 2017 where Evil Kamen Rider Build is beating up civilians with basketballs and is also sucking the souls out of high school athletes. The Real Kamen Rider Build and Cross-Z join the battle and Evil Kamen Rider Build runs up to hug them like they were his parents. The Real Kamen Rider Build and Cross-Z just shake him off and go to battle him but something bad happens, their powers are unstable and they can't fight Evil Kamen Rider Build properly. Evil Kamen Rider Build dives and starts swimming in the road that they are battling on... Yes, I do quite literally mean that he is swimming in the road. Evil Kamen Rider Build is about to finish off the good guys but here comes Sougo and Geiz to make sure that doesn't happen.
Kamen Rider Build and Cross-Z are happy to see Sougo and Geiz but they quickly get frozen as that mysterious child-ish stranger turns up and reveals himself to be a Time Jacker named, Uhr! Uhr reveals who the Evil Kamen Rider Build is and how he also saved him as the poor guy was originally meant to have died by getting hit by a car. This could be interesting! Could our heroes have to go back and stop the guy from surviving in order to save the future? Surely, they wouldn't go that dark in this era of Kamen Rider... Although, I can see them doing that in the 80's Kamen Rider series. Anyway, IT'S HENSHIN TIME, BABY! Sougo and Geiz transform into Kamen Rider Zi-O and Kamen Rider Geiz once again.
All four of our heroes go to take on Evil Kamen Rider Build but the Real Kamen Rider Build and Cross-Z have to back out as their powers have vanished into thin air. Evil Kamen Rider Build does a sneaky attack and turns the road into water, trapping Kamen Rider Zi-O! Kamen Rider Geiz powers up to his next form and saves Kamen Rider Zi-O from a potential watery grave but ends up getting caught up in Evil Kamen Rider Build's watery attacks. Kamen Rider Zi-O figures out how to defeat Evil Kamen Rider build and that's by using the special item that the Real Kamen Rider Build gave him back in 2018. Kamen Rider Zi-O goes to use the Kamen Rider Build Medal but before he does that, Woz pops up and celebrates that Kamen Rider Zi-O is on the path to evil.
Kamen Rider Zi-O uses the Kamen Rider Build Medal to morph into Kamen Rider Zi-O Build Mode and finishes off Evil Kamen Rider Build with an incredibly flashy attack (and not seizure inducing like the attacks in Kamen Rider Black) and not only saves time but also saves the guy from being hit by a car. Sougo also gives Kamen Rider Build and Cross-Z's special items back to them. Sougo and Geiz returns back... BACK TO THE FUTURE... I mean, uh, back to the present. Geiz and Tsukuyomi are still incredibly worried for the future and so they hatch up a new plan... If you guessed that their plan was to move in with Sougo then you've either seen this episode before or were one of the writers, because that's what exactly happens. This is also a throwback to something that happened during the first episode, a part that you may have missed as there was a sign at Sougou's place asking for people to rent a room. Anyway, that is it for episode two of Kamen Rider Zi-O.
Review
I was quite happy with this episode, all of my problems I had with the first episode were all gone. The characters weren't as one dimensional, actually, they've come a long way in just one episode as they are enjoyable and quite interesting. I am enjoying how the baddies have the powers of the Kamen Riders a lot more in this episode, sure, I liked this element in episode one but the concept has kicked into full gear in this episode and has become a much more fuller gimmick with a lot that they can do. I especially like that how the real Kamen Riders also have more at stake than simply just fighting an evil doppelganger, gives this concept a real fresh approach... Unlike that in that special 25th Anniversary Power Rangers episode where they were fighting cheesy robot clones. This Kamen Rider season takes the extra step of having our heroes fight people that have been corrupted instead of artificial creations. Now, I'm not saying that episode of Power Rangers was bad, I'm just saying that the evil robot clones in that episode were cheesy and not very threatening.
The pacing in this show has also improved, the scenes don't go on for too long or too short making for some satisfying viewing. I'm seriously looking forward to what happens next in the series and more importantly, who will they run into next? So yeah, all of the setup that was in the first episode has been paid off here. The acting has also improved, all of the actors have really gotten the hang of their characters and again, really impressive considering this is only the second episode. There's a lot of action in this episode and it was very entertaining with some good and creative moves and I liked how each fight scene felt like it meant something, no filler fights here.
Another thing that has been improved on is the CG as it looks more natural and not as rubbery as it was in the episode before this. The CG was also used well, it was only used when they needed it and not because they could use it. It's those little things that made the CG actually enhance the fight scenes and not ruin them. I also saw that the trippy background spinning effects from the first episode were no where to be seen in this one (minus the intro) and I am surprised that it got ditched this quickly. That's not a bad thing as while those transformation scenes looked cool, they also hurt my eyes but I have a feeling that they will be back.
Overall, really good episode but the downfall is that you'll need to experience the first episode to fully enjoy this one as it is a two parter. This episode has gotten me excited to re-watch the first episode as I can now see episode one in a different light, so maybe it's not that big of a downfall after all. I'm giving this episode an 8 out of 10 but if I were going to judge the two parts as one big episode then I'll give this two part series an 8.5 out of 10.
That's it for this week's episode, join us on Monday as I'll be looking over the third episode in the series and next week at my usual time I'll be covering Episode 4. Until then, I am Kaiser Sensei and I'll see you for more Summaries and Reviews of Kamen Rider Zi-O!... And Kamen Rider Black, yes, I also do Kamen Rider Black.
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