Schwartz tells Uhr and Ora that Oma Zi-O became king because he had the ambition. Uhr knows just who to shove a Ride Watch into next.
Over at the shop, Sougo shows Tsukuyomi a painting of Oda Nobunaga. She doesn’t know who he is so Sougo explains that he had a king-like position during the Sengoku period and worked to unify Japan. Geiz comes in and says Nobunaga was once called a demon king as well and killed many innocent people. In the end, his own people rebelled and killed him.
Geiz says Sougo as Oma Zi-O will suffer the same fate. Sougo says he won’t, but instead will become a kind demon king.
Uncle Junichiro hurries in to show them the Breaking News. Dan Foundation CEO Dan Kuroto has declared independence from Japan!
At Odawara Castle, after licking his lips, Kuroto makes a televised announcement that he is now King. Sougo thinks that’s so cool.
Kuroto declares the grounds of Dan Foundation and its people are now independent from Japan and does not adhere to Japanese law. The people begin to yell out that this is absurd. But Kuroto tosses a Core Medal into one of the men who first speaks up and turns him into a Yummy.
Kuroto says the man is now his loyal servant and he will do the same to anyone else who defies him.
The correspondent at the scene also reports that Kuroto has kidnapped a Diet member and is holding him hostage.
Sougo decides to go check out this new king for himself. Uncle Junichiro asks Sougo to buy some chicken for dinner while he’s out. Geiz and Tsukuyomi also leave to see what’s going on.
Sougo tries sneaking into the castle from the back and arrives just as two Yummies are about to attack two more people. Sougo and Geiz henshin to Fourze and Wizard armor, respectively.
After some initial difficulty, Sougo and Geiz are able to release the two people from the Yummy forms.
Sougo says Geiz is so strong and decides to appoint him head of his royal guards.
Just then. Kuroto appears and takes exception to Geiz calling him a demon king. Kuroto says his new name after obtaining the power of OOO is Dan Kuroto-Oh.
Kuroto shows them his Another OOO form. But a fire hawk flies in and shoots at Kuroto. Kuroto drops a Ride Watch as he chases after the bird. Tsukuyomi notices the year 2016 on Kuroto’s back.
Sougo chases after Kuroto.
Geiz picks up the Ride Watch and sees the year is 2016 on it as well. Geiz says they should go to 2016 and defeat the Another Rider even without Sougo.
Woz pops up and asks Sougo if he’s interested in King Kuroto. Sougo wants to find out more so he sneaks into the castle. Woz is pleased.
In their Time Mazine, Tsukuyomi and Geiz find Kuroto created the Dan Foundation after his father died and strategically gobbled up other companies to help his company grow quickly.
Tsukuyomi notices the Ride Watch has a figure that looks like Ex-Aid on it. She wonders if they are related.
They arrive in 2016 and Geiz quickly henshins to face Another OOO. Kuroto remembers Uhr had warned him about troublemakers.
Kuroto summons some Yummies to fight Geiz.
Back in 2018, Kuroto is getting measured for some new robes by… Izumi Hina. She currently works in the clothing department, but she is brave to speak up and say what Kuroto is doing is wrong.
Kuroto likes her attitude and decides to make her his queen. She of course doesn’t want to, so Kuroto slaps her so hard she falls to the floor. He decides to kill her, but Sougo comes in and excitedly shakes his hand, essentially stopping Kuroto from finishing her off.
In 2016, Geiz uses the Ride Watch Kuroto dropped earlier and he uphenshins to Genm Armor. As Geiz battles Kuroto, Tsukuyomi realizes the year on Another OOO’s back says 2010, not 2016.
Geiz delivers a Critical Time Burst at Another OOO.
Tsukuyomi calls Sougo to ask how Kuroto is doing in 2018, but he’s perfectly fine. Another OOO in 2016 is still very much alive.
Kuroto makes Sougo his servant and he happily accepts. Hina asks Sougo if he knows what kind of a person Kuroto is, but Sougo says that’s what he wants to find out.
Kuroto orders Yummies to lock Hina up.
Sougo tells Tsukuyomi for her and Geiz to hurry back to 2018.
Woz pops up and says Another OOO can’t be defeated without OOO’s power, so Sougo should be looking for that. But Sougo says it’s alright since this might help in his becoming king.
Geiz and Tsukuyomi arrive back in 2018. Sougo meets them outside and asks them to not interfere in what he’s doing as he’s observing King Kuroto.
Geiz says he has to defeat Sougo now then if he’s #TeamKuroto. Geiz henshins.
Sougo seems to have expected Geiz’s reaction. He henshins as well and they battle.
Sougo goes Build. Geiz warns Sougo that he’s truly on the path of the demon king now. “If you say so,” Sougo says.
They continue fighting until Sougo delivers a Vortec Time Break at Geiz, forcing him to dehenshin. Tsukuyomi runs over to Geiz and she scoops him up into the Time Mazine.
Kuroto loves what he saw from Sougo so much that he’s making him the head of his royal guard.
Uncle Junichiro is watching news coverage of the attempt to rescue the Diet member when Tsukuyomi brings the injured Geiz into the shop. She asks Uncle Junichiro for the First Aid Kit.
Woz reads from his book and says only one king can exist during this time. But which of the two kings will that be. The key lies in the hands of another Legend.
The Yummies throw Hina into confinement where the Diet member is also being kept.
The Diet member introduces himself as… Hino Eiji.
Recap: Episode 9.5 – The King, God, and the Adult
Sougo wonders why he would join Kuroto’s army. He takes the jacket off and says he is the first Rider king. Woz pops up and says he’s actually the third king after king of trains Den-O and king of kings OOO.
Sougo says that’s just their names. He says Ryuki has Ouja and Blade has a King form. Even Kiva has an Emperor form which is even higher than a king.
Woz is amused with Sougo’s humility.
Sougo then points out that the DX Time Mazine, OOO Watch, OOO Armor and DX Taka Watchroid are being released over the next two weeks to coincide with the OOO arc. But why is Dan Kuroto making an appearance here?
Woz says the Genm promo is also starting in the next week where you can get a limited edition Genm Watch with certain purchases.
Sougo thinks they’re just being manipulated by Bandai the toy company.
Kuroto laughs and says he would never rearrange his schedule for a toy company. The toy company works around his busy schedule.
Sougo says he doesn’t understand why Kuroto is considered a legend. Woz checks his book and says the toy release schedule can changed depending on which legends they can get to appear.
Kuroto reminds them he isn’t a legend, he is a god.
Kuroto then yanks Sougo around for flubbing his lines earlier.
Episode Thoughts
So I was a little I’m confused as to how they’d be able to work out Kuroto in the OOO arc. But it all made sense. Even if it was merely for the toys as they said in 9.5 lol
Uhr choosing Kuroto to shove the OOO Watch in definitely makes sense. The only thing that was a little confusing though is the fact that Uhr shoved the Watch into Kuroto in 2016, but obviously OOO takes place in 2010. So unlike the other another Riders, we have Another OOO being created not in the year that OOO took place in. I was expecting that to be the topic of episode 9.5. But that wasn’t the case lol
It does make the butterfly effect of changed history and stuff more complicated with Sougo and the Gang having to go back to give Eiji the blank Watch in 2010 I guess.
But wait, this is all part of the “just go with it” aspect of Zi-O. lol And I promised myself not to overthink it. So never mind lol
Anyway, I guess Genm is very popular with toys so it makes sense for them to bring back Iwanaga Tetsuya here. And again, they were able to weave Kuroto into the plot of the episode very creatively. I’m definitely looking more forward to seeing more Eiji in the next episode though.
Especially since Kuroto was particularly horrible this episode with his abuse of Hina. I mean, I still haven’t finished the Ex-Aid epilogues (I have half of the last one left), partly because of how insane Kuroto has really become. But it was just uncomfortably bad seeing King Kuroto acting that way with Hina. And Hina of all people too which made it even more tough to watch.
Neither Hina or Eiji’s reveals in this episode were surprising since they were both spoiled in the preview from last week. But it was still awesome to see that pan up to see Hina’s face before Kuroto assaults her.
And it was very obvious early on that Eiji was the Diet member taken hostage.
What’s been interesting so far is that even after the splits into new timelines, all the legendary Riders still end up doing things or in places they would’ve been as Riders. Like, them not being Riders anymore doesn’t necessarily change their fates or destinies.
That’s definitely a very interesting idea. That even if parts of history have changed, the future and the fate and destinies of the former Riders would still be the same.
Eiji being in the Diet certainly makes sense and fits his character. Like, if you know Eiji, you know he’d make a very good and honest politician. He’s dedicated to public service and helping people. So to think after six, or I guess now eight years, Eiji becoming a member of the Diet is very believable and logical.
When it comes to the bromance, I think Geiz’s reaction to Sougo at the end is very warranted. That is considering how Geiz seemed to have been, at the very least, changing his tune on Sougo after the last episode. At the same time, we weren’t really sure which way Geiz was shifting towards. But considering his reactions in this episode, it would appear that he was trusting Sougo a little more. But Sougo again turns to some shifty actions in this episode, even though we know that he was doing it only to gain King Kuroto’s trust.
We’ll see what happens next episode.
Overall, I liked this episode very much. It was interesting and exciting. It definitely hurt to see Eiji and Hina not knowing each other. But that makes the next episode even more exciting!