How to fix Kamen Rider Zi-O.

(SPOILER WARNING!!)

I had said previously that I was dropping Kamen Rider Zi-O after 6 episodes due to how insultingly bad the series was getting. However, I found myself going back to it and watching the next 3 episodes (as episode 10 inexplicably has not popped up on any website yet). The show is still gutter trash, but it hasn't reached the same level of insulting that we got in episode 6.

Still, looking back, I started think of how exactly the show could've been improved from it's inception and how the story (or lack thereof) has progressed thus far. I'm not gonna just say "have Riku Sanjou or Naruhisa Awakawa write it", as that was pretty obvious to me from day one. Those two actually KNOW how to write a good story with likeable protagonists. Instead, I will divide this into two categories and mark down how each could be improved immensely with simple revisions or difference in perspective.

With that said, let's begin where I feel the series suffers the most:

The Story:

On top of being derisive of Den-O's basis of a guy that helps some random lady as they travel through time to stop monsters from massively rewriting history, Zi-O's story has virtually nothing going for it thus far, with the exception of Sougo potentially becoming the evil overlord that Geiz and Woz believe he will end up as. But even then, it still feels derisive of other stories that have done this idea far better; the possibility of the protagonist becoming the villain due to both external and internal circumstances that forces them into that role. Hell, that was a major plot-point with Decade and how Tsukasa was trying to deny the idea that he is the Rider that will destroy all the others. Instead, he tried his hardest to earn the trust of his seniors and discover for himself what it means to be a Kamen Rider.

Zi-O, on the other hand, as just focused on the same damn thing with each episode:

Geiz: This guy is gonna ruin the world, so why don't we just stop him here and now?

Everyone else: Here's a stupid reason that stops you from completing your end goal and is used to say you're wrong when all evidence suggests that you're in the right.

Geiz: Oh, okay. I'll just accept it until I inexplicably don't.

Lather, rinse, repeat for every fucking episode.

On top of that, the subplots in each "arc" for the series has incredibly dumb and wrecks any appreciation one may have for it. The episodes focused on stopping Another Wizard, for instance, has said Kaijin do everything he does just to impress a random lady who will never love him the same way in return. And when he learns that lady is going to get married to his rival, he flips out and starts causing actual havoc instead of using his powers for a magic show. Appreciation for it is then ruined with how Zi-O has the guy talk to his past self to stop him for ever becoming Another Wizard, thus rendering the episodes focused on Another Wizard entirely pointless. Nothing was learned and nothing was achieved. Fan-fucking-tastic.

This could easily be remedied if it's not stated directly that Sougo will become Oma Zi-O, but instead leave it as a mystery for the characters to discover who their evil overlord is and how he came to power. Thus, necessitating the Time Jackers involvement with them creating the Another Riders to try and stop Zi-O and Geiz from fixing the timelines, which then allows for the original Riders to still exist without much in the way of narrative contradictions. Hell, the whole "Sougo becomes Oma Zi-O" thing could be a narrative red herring created by Woz as a means of sewing discord and mistrust in the team, along with Sougo questioning if his future is set in stone or if he can change it for the better. Automatically, you have a much more interesting character journey instead of "i WaNnA bE kInG!"

And on that note, that brings me to point number two:

The Characters:

Be honest with yourself, readers; the characters in this show are either one dimensional planks of wood or unlikable morons. Granted, there is more of the former category, but the latter is prevalent with it's lead "hero": Sougo Tokiwa. Sougo is, in every sense, an awful protagonist, on par with the likes of ToQger's Wrong Suzuki, Ninninger's Bakaharu Igasaki, and Kyuranger's Dumb-Luck with how horribly his characterisation is fucked up. At best, he's just an idiot, one with baseless aspirations to become a king (despite that fact that a majority of countries, including Japan, has abandoned that type of monarchy) and has no idea what the fuck he's even doing. At worst, he is a selfish, narcissistic, destructive, god-modding sociopath with no consideration of what other people may be feeling and completely ignorant of the consequences of his actions. He doesn't care if he destroys the future, so long as he gets to become a king.

I'd play the "Our Hero, ladies and gentlemen" clip, but I couldn't find one good enough nor short enough for this blog. Besides, I'm sure you're all thinking it already.

If he was more along the lines of a history savant and admired the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, that would actually make sense for him to model himself after that. Not in the sense that he would want to rule over a country, but be more of a modern day knight errand tasking himself with the duty to protect others in the name of hope. After all, Arthur was challenged by Merlin himself to oppose the whole "Might makes right" deposition, and instead decided the idea of "Might FOR right". That more aligns with the traditional ideals of a Kamen Rider; a person who uses the power that they wield, be forced or chosen, to save people simply because it's the right thing to do and it's how they hold on to what makes them human.

But of course, this being a Shinichiro Shurakura production and a Kento Shimoyama script, we don't get that. Instead, we get the bare bone minimum for the side characters, whilst the main character is a moron with delusions of grandeur who the story says is right when everything presented suggests that they should be wrong. Which is why Sougo is a horrible protagonist; he's not a character, he's a mouthpiece for the Shimoyama to project his own idiocy and hypocrisy onto other people. Combine that with Shurakura's lack of understanding of the merits of the franchise (to the point where he admits he has no clue of what heroism is), and you have a disaster of a main hero.

If more time was focused on actually giving the other characters, namely Tsukuyomi and Geiz, more time to flesh themselves as characters and actually allowing interaction between Sougo and the past Riders (who are little more than footnotes in the series, as half of them haven't even shown up), then maybe the cast could be stronger. And of course, it would help if the main "hero" wasn't a colossal douchebag with stupid aspirations.

Still, that's just how I would personally have fixed the series as it has been thus far. Other stuff like the integration of the gimmicks or the acknowledgement of previous canon could easily be handled by other experts, as I will admit that I have yet to see everything in the early Heisei run (specifically; Agito, Ryuki, Blade and Hibiki).

If you have any suggestions on how the series could be fixed, please let me know and I'd be happy to hear it.

So until next time; this is Callum Lewis, the newly christened Media Hood, signing off!