Kamen Rider Zi-O


is a Japanese tokusatsu drama in Toei Company's Kamen Rider Series. It is the twenty-ninth television series overall, as well as the twentieth and final series in the Heisei period. Toei registered the Kamen Rider Zi-O trademark on May 5, 2018. The show premiered on September 2, 2018, following the finale of Kamen Rider Build, joining Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger and later, the miniseries Super Sentai Strongest Battle, followed by Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger in the Super Hero Time line-up. The series has a time travel/multiverse motif while paying a tribute to all of the previous Heisei-era Kamen Riders, due to being a spiritual sequel to Kamen Rider Decade. The series and related films also feature returning actors reprising their roles from the previous Heisei series.

Plot

Sogo Tokiwa, a high school senior born in the year 2000, dreams of one day becoming a king. Suddenly, he meets a mysterious girl named Tsukuyomi, who has come from the year 2068 with an ominous warning: "You will become Kamen Rider Zi-O, the King of Time; the demon destined to rule the world." Despite being troubled by his potential fate, Sogo becomes Kamen Rider Zi-O in order to save the space-time continuum from the Time Jackers, a group seeking to alter the history of the Heisei Kamen Riders for their own ends. He is aided in his quest by Geiz Myokoin, a resistance fighter from 2068 capable of becoming Kamen Rider Geiz who initially intended to kill Sogo to prevent his future tyranny, and a self-titled prophet named Woz, who wants the youth to become the tyrant Ohma Zi-O, who later gains the power to become Kamen Rider Woz. Along their journey, Sogo and his friends meet several Kamen Riders from the past and their allies; earning their trust and obtaining their powers.
Following his high school graduation, Sogo discovers that Swartz, the Time Jackers' leader, is actually Tsukuyomi's older brother and was manipulating both the Riders and his fellow Jackers in his plan to fuse the entirety of the Kamen Rider multiverse into a single, unified world in order to destroy it and save his world. Despite their best efforts, Sogo and his allies fail to stop Swartz until the former accepts his destiny and becomes Ohma Zi-O to destroy him. Instead of taking control of the world as it was foretold he would do however, Sogo renounces his powers in order to undo Swartz's damage; creating a new reality where he lives in peace with Geiz, Tsukuyomi, and the other Time Jackers.

Episodes

As the show pays tribute to the Heisei period Kamen Riders, each episode title consists of a short phrase related to a particular Heisei Rider series and a year relevant to it. Throughout the series, Zi-O's predecessor Kamen Rider Decade's involvement steadily becomes more prevalent, with "*" denoting episodes where his involvement overlapped with another Rider's tribute episode.
Kamen Rider Zi-O made his first appearance as a cameo in the film .

''Heisei Generations Forever''

A Movie War film, titled was released on December 22, 2018, featuring the casts of Kamen Rider Zi-O, Kamen Rider Build, and Kamen Rider Den-O. Actor Shunsuke Daitō portrayed the film's main antagonist, the Super Time Jacker Tid, and actor Kenichi Takitō voiced the Imagin Futaros. Aside from Build, actors Toshiki Kashu, Takamasa Suga, Masahiro Inoue and Shun Nishime returned to vocally reprise their respective roles, while Takeru Satoh physically reprised his role as Ryotaro Nogami. This film is a shared tribute to Kamen Rider Kuuga, Kamen Rider Den-O and Kamen Rider W.

''Over Quartzer''

was released on July 26, 2019, double billed with the film for Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger. Japanese boy band Da Pump portrayed the Quartzers, the movie's main antagonists, with Kamen Rider Barlckxs portrayed by Da Pump vocalist ISSA while Zyuden Sentai Kyoryugers choreographer Papaya Suzuki and actor Syuusuke Saito portrayed Kamen Riders Zonjis and Zamonas respectively. Additionally, Kamen Rider Drives Yu Inaba and Chris Peppler returned to reprise their roles. This film is a shared tribute to Kamen Rider Drive, the Heisei era’s Showa era-themed Kamen Rider series, and the entire Heisei Kamen Rider Series as a whole. It also introduced the first Kamen Rider of the Reiwa period, Kamen Rider Zero-One. This movie takes place after episode 43 and also serves as an alternate ending to the series.

''Reiwa The First Generation''

A Movie War film, titled was released on December 21, 2019, featuring the casts of Kamen Rider Zi-O and Kamen Rider Zero-One. This film is a shared tribute to Kamen Rider Zero-One, the original Kamen Rider, and the entire Heisei Kamen Rider Series as a whole. The events of the film take place after the end of the main series.

Special episodes

  1. Episode 1.5:
  2. Episode 2.5:
  3. Episode 3.5:
  4. Episode 4.5:
  5. Episode 5.5:
  6. Episode 6.5:
  7. Episode 7.5:
  8. Episode 8.5:
  9. Episode 9.5:
  10. Episode 10.5:
  11. Episode 11.5:
  12. Episode 12.5:
  13. Episode 13.5:
  14. Episode 14.5:
  15. Episode 15.5:
  16. Episode 16.5:
is a V-Cinema release that focuses on a side story starring Geiz Myokoin. The events of the V-Cinema take place after the end of the main series and Kamen Rider Reiwa: The First Generation. The V-Cinema is written by Nobuhiro Mouri and directed by Satoshi Morota, and was released on April 22, 2020. Kimito Totani, Kōhei Murakami, Minehiro Kinomoto, and Hiroaki Iwanaga returned to reprise their respective roles. The theme song is "Brand New Day" performed by Triplane.

Video game

Kamen Rider: Climax Scramble, known in Japan as, is the seventh installment of the series. This game was released on November 29, 2018 for the Nintendo Switch.

Cast

;Opening theme
;Insert themes
The following opening and insert themes from previous series are reused in Zi-O: "BELIEVE YOURSELF" from Kamen Rider Agito in episode 32 and "Kagayaki" from Kamen Rider Hibiki in episode 34.