Is it me or do I tend to have an extreme favoritism towards the episodes written by Nobohiro Mouri? Granted, I didn't like the ToQGer/Gaim crossover doesn't mean I won't like the rest of Mouri's works. It's just like I didn't like the Dryer Jigen episode of Jetman didn't stop me from admiring later works and episodes written by Naruhisa Arakawa! The two episodes for me are a nice throwback to the Agito series. Heck, it's not that OTHER AGITO from Kamen Rider Decade -- a show that I felt ruined the Heisei era with its Alternate Reality worlds. Instead, we have Shouichi/Tetsuya for real and not that homeless bum from Decade! However, I do still feel that Toshiki Inoue would have probably been better for the two-parter arcs instead of Mouri.
So I do did get disappointed that the lore behind the Lords isn't explored further. Agito did have a buildup which made you wonder why did they kill people with the power of Agito? Why did they leave other humans alone? Why did the Overlord of Darkness fear the power of Agito? Those were questions here and there especially when it's revealed that both Light and Darkness are pretty much like Prometheus and Epimethius. Prometheus gave the fire (which supposedly belonged to the gods) as a gift to mankind -- something that Light gave to mankind in the form of the Agito seed. I guess Darkness himself decided not to intervene anymore with people born with Agito powers for this reason -- he realized that he hasn't fully understood mankind any further and decided not to intervene.
The arc feels like a what-if episode. Agito aired in 2001 and it's 2019 -- it means it's been freaking 18 years since Agito aired! Feeling old? We see the Agito restaurant and Mana working as a waitress. Well, we know that actress Rina Akiyama did get married a few years ago though I never considered myself a fan of her. Shouichi still runs the restaurant so how was it after 15 years? Then there's also a tribute to Another Agito. We know what happened to the real Another Agito (Kino Kaoru) died in the original canon. Now, Another Agito has another host courtesy of Schwartz -- people become Another Agito. I kinda wished the Overlords decided to intervene but we get none of it. It was also a nice nod when both Zi-O Trinity Form and Agito Trinity form save the day from destruction.
What's interesting is that Schwartz does mention he could be related to Tsukuyomi. Tsukuyomi herself has no memory of her past or who she is. She discovers she has this power. The parallelism is there with Shouichi/Tatsuya because of the amnesia and discovering you have those powers. Nothing was shown of Tatsuya's past until late in Agito. Tsukuyomi is also getting the same treatment in the same way. I even wonder could Schwartz be the brother of Tsukuyomi? If so I do expect a bit of a conflicted finale arc.
There's also the fight against fate here. Sougo is still determined to fight fate -- he's still determined that when he inevitably gets full power that he will never succumb to become Demon King Zi-O. But how will that happen? Demon King Zi-O is still taunting his younger self that there's nothing that he can do. But is it? White Woz now has ceased to exist. Can Sougo find a way not to become Demon King Zi-O and become a good king instead of an evil one? I can't wait to find out.
Next week will feature Kamen Rider Hibiki -- a season that I kind of disliked because of how weird it can get. I thought pacing was slow in its first half! How will the Hibiki arc turn out? I hope Hibiki can redeem itself after the sudden change where Shigenori Takatera was replaced by Shinichiro Shirakura or the whole boring first half with Tyuyoshi Kida. I'll just set my bar low again.
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