Rider Time Zi-O: Roze from Remnant
Behind the Scenes Special 2!
Alright, it has been a long while since we've had one of these. Some would even say too long considering it's been about 2 and a half years. But hey, I suppose that just meant there could be a lot of questions given we've covered four different Sagas in that time. If you haven't seen the first one, I'd suggest reading it as it basically goes into how I managed to even form the concept of the series to begin with alongside covering Saga 1 in detail.
How this works is we'll split this up into three different portions. The first will be general information I'll be hitting that's fairly minor but still worth noting. After that we'll be covering each Saga one at a time. That being said, for Sagas with Interludes I'll be clumping all of those into one category at the end of the discussion. And finally questions will be answered if I didn't already answer them in the massive Saga Breakdowns. Speaking of Sagas…
[Miscellaneous Details]
Sagas: So the change in terminology from Arc to Saga was mostly thanks to the Arrival of Oma's Day Arc… making me realize it was actually comprised of different Arcs and not just it being one huge one. It was during a talk with my supervisor Josh that I realized the term Saga would end up as more fitting. Especially once we got deeper in with how certain sections of the story did have separate Arcs within the same 'Arc'.
ED Themes: While I'll commit to this story having the main OP Theme always being Over-Quartzer, I do believe each Saga has its own personal ED Theme with its own separate ED sequence. If you haven't been around my social media pages, I'll list them here and now.
-Saga #1: Lost Huntress 2018 – (Thank You! by Home Made Kazoku)
-Saga #2: Rising Riders of Remnant – (Futuristic Imagination by School Food Punishment)
-Saga #3: Arrival of Oma's Day – (WARRIORS by Yuichi Ikusawa)
-Saga #4: A New Age for Remnant – (Trust Me by Yuya Matsushita)
-Saga #5: The Grand Rider World – (The Blessing by YOASOBI)
-Saga #6: Who Will Be King 2019 – (Transcending Time by Void_Chords feat. Ryohei & Foggy-D)
-Saga #7: [REDACTED] – (PROMISE ~Without You~ by JAM Project feat. Masami Okui)
-Saga #EX: Roze Gaiden Collection – (AVIATION by Void_Chords feat. Ryohei & Foggy-D)
Will I ever write out these sequences? Maybe one day if I'm feeling bored, but I've never been one to write OPs and EDs directly into the chapters themselves. Especially considering how long the chapters already are. I will admit though that for certain ones that are specifically end credits sequences (Especially Trust Me/Transcending Time/AVIATION) it's just me replacing characters/modifying interactions in my head.
Also yes, I did confirm how many Sagas we have in Roze from Remnant, because I had said before around Chapter 80 or so of the standard chapters, we were about halfway finished. But that's about all for the preamble, let's get started with the main discussion.
[Saga #2 Discussion: Rising Riders of Remnant]
Troubled Homecoming Arc (22-25):
-I knew I wanted to keep a narration for the Saga, but realized Woz doing it for most of the chapters wouldn't exactly work given Sougo's current state. Especially since everyone was 'separated' from him at first. So I opted for an unseen narrator before revealing that it was Jinn doing the narrating. She eventually gets retired as the introductory narrator once we were far enough in to reintegrate Woz.
-During 'A Roze's Homecoming', Sougo asking a question about Qrow being able to banter in bird form was a reference to a cut dialogue/sequence during Tyrian's fight against Qrow, Robyn, and Clover in V7.
-'A New Direction' was very much the start of the scattered subplot involving the friendship bracelets that Ruby bought. Truthfully it was just me wanting to include something cut and neat from the show as a sort of emotional moment during the Saga's final chapters. It was only later on that I got the idea to feature them as part of Roze RWBY's birth.
-Ruby's "Let's do that one thing!" this chapter is a reference/foreshadowing to Geiz pulling the same bit during the fight with Ginga. I very much enjoyed that gag so I had to include my own take on it first.
-'Uncovered Fables & Consequences' was quite possibly the oddest chapter to write since I was taking content from three canon episodes and pushing it together due to cutting the villain sections. The Jinn Segment of the chapter was the hardest to figure out for a while since I didn't want to do a full on redo of the Lost Fable given it was the same as in canon. I chose to keep Jinn's narration as the only dialogue alongside any reactions while only going for descriptions of what happened in the flashback itself.
-'The Brunswick Enigma' has a dream sequence for Sougo that had me pull from the teaser cliffhangers of Quiz and Kikai from the show itself. Shinobi didn't get one so I made it up. But the idea of all the Riders approaching before bursting into rose petals was to foreshadow that Weiss, Blake, and Yang temporarily becoming those Riders.
-We also see Tsukuyomi first activating her powers as a Time Jacker here. Considering they activated under stress before with just an Another Agito assaulting her, I figured this even more desperate situation with the Apathy would force her powers to activate even earlier. This ends up changing the path of her character in future chapters fairly heavily, so it was interesting to implement it this early before going on to figure out how to work with it.
Roadblock in Argus Arc (26-29):
-With 'Two Kinds of Arrivals' we have the very selective "Who becomes what Another Rider" on Remnant process I had. Mainly since I didn't want any repeats on Remnant's side when it came to notable characters becoming Another Riders. Dee was the first of these and became Another Ghost purely because of his death. The White Fang member becoming Another OOO was mostly because I needed a semi-filler Another Rider for the upcoming debuts. Dudley got Another W purely for the idea of making Qrow "pay for his crimes" fitting well enough.
-'A Flashing, Shocking… Transformation?' was the first part of an internal compromise for me after realizing that three extra permanent Riders, especially before Tsukuyomi, would be a bit hard to juggle. The first step was to make Weiss, Blake, and Yang the Mirai Riders which killed two birds with one stone. I was able to give those Riders more screen time, and WBY was able to help out more in Rider fights. Of course this was a temporary measure and originally before they were going to get Rider Weapons as replacements, they were going to get retooled Rider suits of prior Riders as new permanent transformations. Ideas floated around in initial concepts were that Weiss' would be based on Brave, Blake's on Faiz, and Yang's on Cross-Z.
-The selection for who was what Mirai Rider was honestly quite simple. Blake just fell in as a really good fit for Shinobi immediately. Kikai fitting Yang just made a lot of sense. Poor Weiss got the short end of the stick though since Quiz was the only Rider left for her.
-I'm sure a few people noticed it, but in 'An Unorthodox Solution' I reference that the clothing store Sougo and Oscar shop at is labeled Soup. This is a reference to the viral scene from Code MENT in which Lelouch questions why Suzaku is shopping for clothes at the Soup Store. While it'd be hard to reference the scene word for word, I settled for this more subtle variation.
Inevitable Confrontation & Return Arc (30-35):
-'Of Mecha and Another Riders' has the second hint of Killbus and the inevitable Cross-Z New World Chapters in it. With Sento not noticing the White Panel moving before he goes to take it.
-Yang's transformation into Kikai was something I knew had to happen when she confronted Adam, and it was the first specific point I had placed for WBY's transformation debuts. The result had me work backwards before I figured Blake and Weiss sharing their debuts would work well enough.
-The original plan for the ending was to have Takeru show up alongside Sento and Ryuga, but that ended up being scrapped fairly fast with me replacing Takeru with Godai instead.
-'The Power of Kamen Riders' has me fully reveal Tid as the main antagonist for this Saga. Considering I was rather vague on his death, I figured once I had him show up as a hooded figure that people would likely catch on that I hadn't fully killed him. Especially when Another Riders started to show up. Of course his powers are on the fritz and still fairly messed up so there are some side effects.
-One of those being that the Another Riders stability fluctuates to where Mirai Riders can defeat them. And it's why Adam's Anotherwatch for Ryuki only snaps in half and he's able to force the transformation back on again.
-Shiro-Woz appearing to Blake and Yang specifically is to foreshadow their eventual splitting off from the rest of their team and Team Zi-O. Though speaking of Blake and Yang, because of their Rider powers they don't end up attaining any of the damage to their outfits/weapons during this confrontation like they did in canon.
-'A Blooming Silver Roze' marks the debut of Silver Roze, in which I basically cornered myself by having it happen via the Leviathan Grimm. Mostly because Ruby would be stuck in one place thanks to her being on the Queen Lancer Summon so she could only do so much. It's why the chapter afterwards is also focused on her new form.
-Of course, this also features the reveal to the audience of Summer Rose as Tsukasa's mysterious accomplice from the previous Saga. Her and Tsukasa's remarks about Ruby jumping down the Leviathan's throat is also foreshadowing to Summer utilizing the exact same strategy to King Grimm during her debut as Rose in the Rose of Remnant Arc.
-I was also always stumped on how to exactly induce an 'Ultimate' transformation for Another Kuuga given I was not following the plot to Heisei Generations Forever for this. So I figured given the ancient magical properties it has, that the Relic of Knowledge would provide a good substitute.
-I believe this is the first instance of Temporal Cloaking for the Time Mazines being brought up in the story too. But it was basically my little addition to explain how exactly the machines stay undisturbed. Especially when the Zi-O Crew parks them in very public places as seen in the series. It's a feature that ends up coming in handy for later Sagas as a result.
-'Time to Say Goodbye' as a mere title serves a couple of purposes. It's a RWBY OP reference, and it's very much a misdirect title since I wanted to keep it vague on if Ruby would be splitting off from her team again or not.
-The Rider + Huntsmen Combination Finisher against Another Ultimate Kuuga was very much me doing my own variant of the All Heisei Kick. While I'd like to include an actual All Heisei Finisher, but that requires me needing to figure out who exactly they'd perform it on.
-I'll admit if there's a misstep I probably made in this chapter specifically… it was having Oscar get kidnapped alongside losing the lamp. It was an in the moment decision to increase the urgency and make it to where they'd need to immediately go to Earth instead of potentially putting it off. The most I had planned for Oscar's role post-retrieval was hanging out with the others to have some normalcy in his life/having him there to vouch for Tsukasa during Blade's Chapters. I say misstep since while I don't regret my decision I'm sure me initiating this likely put expectations on Oscar potentially becoming a part of the main cast and having a fair degree of importance when he was at most, a guest addition and he would be rotated out with Penny joining in after the end of Saga 4.
-'Kamen Rider World 1994' had one main purpose, and that was to get the 90's Trilogy Rider Ridewatches alongside Black RX's fully formed for eventual Over Quartzer related stuff. Beyond that it was just a fun romp where everyone got to meet some older Legend Riders, and I got to take a concept (the actual Kamen Rider World) and expand it further.
-Jumbo J utilizing the Arma Gigas' sword for a finisher against Giant Shadow Moon is a deliberate reference/homage to Daizyujin's finisher since the actor for Kouji Segawa also played Geki/TyrannoRanger in Zyuranger.
-The stinger with the Shocker Scientists was very much me setting up way in advance that Shocker had seen some form of Remnant Technology/Roze's Weapon Time ability. Something that they would try and make their own version of later on.
-'Welcome Back to 2018' is wholly original for the most part, since the most I really adapt from an existing episode of Zi-O is the one scene with Junichiro and Sougo from Episode 16 of Zi-O.
-Summer giving Ruby a lot of cash, alongside Team RWBY getting their own apartment was basically my way to make it to where we didn't have 6 (8 later if you count Woz and Oscar) other people living with Junichiro and Sougo.
-The Final scene with Kugai alongside the one with Takatora and Oren was mainly included in this chapter because I didn't want to bloat the Gaim Chapters too much from the start with a lot of setup.
[Saga #3 Discussion: Arrival of Oma's Day]
A False Restart Arc (36-37.5):
-'Blooming Next Stage 2013' is me deciding to put a Legend Rider Arc first to act as a bit of normalcy for the cast. They're getting back into the groove, there's a new status quo, I wanted to explore that a bit before things start to fall apart. It was also to spread out the Legend Riders since while I did have a lot of prior visited ones return… I had only planned three new ones for this Saga (Gaim, Blade, Agito). So I figured putting Gaim at the front would help to where it wasn't entirely loaded towards the end.
-The scene where Zack and Mitsuzane meet Sougo, Ruby, and Geiz just as all five transform was me referencing a similar scene from the ToQger Crossover that Gaim had.
-I wanted to expand on Ruby's Silver Eyes slightly, mainly in usage given Silver Roze's prominence. Considering Takeru's lifestyle, Ruby being helped by him via meditation training was something that I figured worked out nicely.
-'Riders on Parade 2019' starts a silly in-joke between me and my supervisor Josh, in that we refer to the main incident in this chapter as "Ruby gets traumatized by a Banana". But speaking seriously, Ruby's failed trial with Kaito was planned to be the start her downward spiral that would eventually give Kagami an entrance into the story.
-Most new forms I give Riders are usually based on pre-existing material. In this case it was Ryugen Jimber Dragonfruits Arms. This form in particular I believe is in the Gaim Novel but there's also an SIC figure of it.
-There's a small one line reference to the Torkia Republic in this chapter, which was basically the hint that I'd be adapting the Zangetsu Stage Play.
-Speaking of hints, Jonouchi's and Oren's placements in what they're doing are also setup for me having my own version of Gridon vs. Bravo running. Especially when I have Sylphi making her debut outside of an adaptation of that special.
-The Evolved Shika Inves was picked as a Summon for Weiss to use purely because of its size, unique shape, and that it would be a nicely agile brawler for her to utilize.
Preparations for the Savior's Advent Arc (38-41.5):
-'Shinobi Festival 2019' the major change of these chapters is having Isamichi debut as Kamen Rider Hattari instead of being entirely non-existent. It was mainly to give the Shinobi focused stuff a buff since it'd mostly be the same and I've already fully introduced Shiro-Woz into the story by this point so his debut can't really carry the first half of the chapters as it could in the show's episodes.
-This chapter also starts the short-running subplot of Weiss trying to help Sougo pass and graduate high school.
-'The Futurering Shinobi 2022' had me used Leo Dustards to distract Weiss and Yang. They were brought in since they're upgraded versions of the Dustards and that group of grunts were reused as enemies for Shinobi.
-'The Shocking Truth 2019' Quiz literally has no details for him other than his own personal character's background. So I had to make up a scenario for Sougo's dream this time, the grunts being Buglars and the villain being Enter from Go-Busters. This was less an idea for Quiz's world and more a shout-out given Red Buster's actor also played Kamen Rider Quiz.
-This was one chapter that I was writing on the fly as I went since I knew I wanted Another Quiz alongside a similar chain of events to happen. But aside from adding the Questioning/Mind Reading abilities and the stuff with Yang, I didn't preplan much of the meat of this. This was especially the case since I couldn't really use Mondo like the show did. So getting Sento and Goto involved was a last minute decision that ended up working out well enough.
-The ending scene of 'The Final Answer 2040' was fun to write as setting Silver Roze before Zi-O II had an unintentional side effect I only realized then. Because it's a retool of Zi-O II, the characters would know what kind of Ridewatch Woz was trying to get 'fixed', alongside it likely resulting in an upgrade.
Reflections & Reaffirmations Arc (42-45.5):
-The idea to bring in Seito University Hospital in 'Return to Mirror World F:2002' as the place where the group takes Shinji instead of the one from the episodes was basically my way to include some more Legend content cameos.
-'King and Kamen Rider 2019' is where we have the official introduction of Kagami in these chapters. I very much based certain aspects of her interactions with Ruby off of Persona Shadows here. Her vanishing when Ruby denies her is basically her more subtle way of breaking free.
-This chapter also sees the major difference that takes place by giving Tsukuyomi her powers earlier.
-This chapter also very much helps cement the change of Tsukuyomi getting her powers early. Instead of reacting in fear, she can't judge Sougo because of her own powers. Meanwhile that role is shifted over to Blake and Yang who were already a bit wary thanks to Woz's proclamations and confirmation of those being true.
-'Hijacking Rider 2019' has me make Tsukuyomi and Geiz's new base of operations for the next few chapters the Daitenku Temple. This is mainly to add some more Legend Rider cameos, but also because the two are seen in a temple-like locale during the actual show. This also puts them in contact with Ruby since she frequents the temple due to her meditation training with Takeru.
-I really wanted to make Another Kikai one of the more terrifying Another Riders here, especially with what would inevitably come later both in the next chapter and in the coming Saga. I wanted to run with the idea of an intelligent parasite, it being smart to catch Blake off guard and take her over. Not to mention its ability to assimilate the host's techniques into its attacks, definitely one of my favorite Another Riders to work with.
-'Best Friend Forever 2121' has me do a change to the climatic fight, which is Weiss becoming Another Kikai instead of Uhr. It's for a few reasons, mostly to add extra drama in for Sougo and Ruby, but also to make sure Uhr didn't get too many sympathy points. I feel like Another Kikai was the start in the show where they put Uhr as the more innocent of the Time Jackers. And considering what he helps contribute to during later Sagas in Roze…
-A subtle thing I do in the chapters is also pay off Weiss helping Sougo study. While he does fail and pass all the same, the grades he shows in the chapters and show are different. The grades in the chapters are higher (even if only slightly) than the ones in the show.
Another Rider Double Threat Arc (46-51.5):
-'The Queen's First Move 2019' is my start at extending the Another Zi-O Episode adaptation. Instead of simply going for an equal 4 Episodes = 4 Chapters, I extended it to 6 Chapters. I wanted to build Hiryu and Kagami up a bit more, especially since the method to recreate the Anotherwatches was different this time. Adding the Legend Rider cameos was mostly a bonus just to expand the scope a bit more.
-Getting Kagami's name down was the hardest part actually, because I didn't want to just refer to her as Mirror Ruby. The names Thorn, Kuro, Roze, and Kuroze were considered at points. Josh suggested Kuroi Bara since well, Black Rose, alongside just using Kagami in general and the latter just stuck. I would have gone for Kagemi, but it's too late and I'm not retroactively changing it because things have come up that would complicate that.
-The reason I gave Kagami a bident was purely because I wanted her to dual wield two blades, but also have a pole-arm. And I felt combining them at the hilts to form a sort of dual bladed mode was a bit too close to Another Zi-O's weapons. Thus the idea of them being the ends of a bident was formed.
-I set Muchiri up as a very pet/animal-like monster despite it being a Greeed purely because it's a unique case. The medals used to create it were utilizing pure desire, and it was only a set of 3 and not 10-1=9 like the other Greeed. So that's why it adopts a fairly different personality for its short run.
-Because I was messing with how Anotherwatches were recreated, that helped tie into the climax of 'Rozes of Another Zi-O 2019' where Another Zi-O and Another Roze's reveals are at the site where Another Kuuga was created. I figured it worked pretty well on a thematic level, the two most recent Another Riders in terms of date being revealed exactly where the Another Rider with the earliest date (so far) was born.
-'GeizRevive 2019' and this Arc in general has me very much walk the line of Geiz and Tsukuyomi still going along the path their canon selves did, but with their stances/personalities reflecting the events of Roze. It was difficult to balance, but I felt it worked out in the end.
-'The Day it All Began 2009' is where we get Oscar's full reintroduction into the main story, and while I do admit I probably shouldn't have had him come this early due to raising expectations, I couldn't pass up Tsukasa the Bus Driver and his trainee Oscar as a bit.
-'The Enigma of Zi-O 2017' is where we finally get my attempt at Ruby's big breakdown way before we even saw it in V9. It's a lot cleaner/not as hostile as the one in canon, but it makes sense as to why. Ruby's in a much better place than she was during V9, and her issues are a bit different in this case. So of course it comes out a lot differently but it comes out all the same.
-The end of the chapter was my attempt at basically saying "Hey, you know Weiss should get to summon the full Nevermore sometime" and doing it here. Plus it makes for a good believable escape when it comes to Sougo getting mobbed by Hiryu and the Another Riders. Especially considering the episode I'm adapting from just cuts to him at the parking garage shortly after the mobbing starts.
-'Riders United 2019' this was definitely a big chapter to juggle as most of it was a fight and I had more Another Riders than in canon. I wanted Sougo and Geiz's form spam but with a slight spin (the unique finishers), but I also wanted to do some fun Team RWBY stuff. Each member of Team RWBY joining up with Roze and getting to wield Rider Weapons was my way of hinting that they'd likely get their own Rider Weapons soon.
RWBY's Rider Assistance Arc (52-60):
-So let's talk about this particular arc in general. In which I'm sure a lot of people were very confused when I suddenly sprung it up. This Arc is what makes the Oma's Day Saga the longest one, because of the nine chapters focusing on V-Cinema/TTFC/Stage Show content. The main purpose of this Arc was to set up various bits for later.
-Certain Riders needed to be introduced/put back into active status for the inevitable cavalry arrival in the A New Age for Remnant Saga. I needed Kuroto's assistance to the Time Jackers for certain events that happen in the Grand Rider World Saga. And I needed a decent space of chapters to spread out Team RWBY getting their Rider Weapons.
-Speaking of Rider Weapons, figuring out the ones for Blake and Yang were mostly easy. Well Yang was the easiest, the Magma/Blizzard Knuckles only had another competing which was the Twin Breaker, and I felt the Knuckles fit better. Blake was a bit harder to figure out since I wanted to go with something ninja-like but eventually settled for the Gashacon Sparrow. The 4Koma Ninpoutou was definitely considered, but dropped when I knew I wanted each of their weapons to be from different Rider series and not the same one.
-Weiss… Weiss had several options actually. The Skull Magnum, which was mostly because of Skull's Song/Phrase, 'Nobody's Perfect' and something, something 'it kind of fit, sort of'. Gan Gun Hand because 'What if I just gave Weiss a rifle? Lol'. Dark Visor Zwei was a more serious answer since it had multiple functions of being a bow, sword, and shield, plus summoning a Mirror Monster. Chalice Arrow was finally picked because it'd be easier to deal with since Blade was coming up soon. Plus it had a lot of versatility in its cards compared to the ones Knight Survive has.
-When talking about 'A Specter's Plight 2019' and 'Specter Siblings 2019'… there's not much to talk about with the TTFC Special I adapted. Like it was very much adding a few extra characters in from Ghost, removing the Saber cast because we're not there yet, and inserting the Roze/Zi-O Crew, adding a distraction in the form of Xibalba. That being said…
-Let's talk about the original concepts I had for the Specter Chapters because me wanting to introduce Makoto and Alain into the story was something I wanted to do before we got the Ghost TTFC Specials.
-There are a few characters from the original version that ended up getting cut, mainly Ganma World natives like Alia and Chloe, since this original version would have had the group take a trip to the Ganma World after Takeru recommends them to Alain when the Ganma Leader brings up a potential uprising.
-The main plot would have been a group of unnamed followers of Danton (similar to the three named ones we get in the Saber crossover) trying to enact revenge on the Ganma World. They'd mess around with some Ganma equipment and end up bringing back the Ganmaizers via a backup of some sort. That would lead into the main conflict between them and our heroes.
-Other cut bits that were very big changes from the two Chapters was the finale. The main idea would have been characters that weren't able to transform being given Proto Mega Ulorders and Luminary Eyecons to transform and help out via Alia who would transform into Dark Necrom Pink. This would have included WBY, Oscar, Tsukuyomi at the time, Chloe, and Kanon who at the point this was first conceived, was not a Rider via Kanon Specter yet.
-Double Dragon 2019 sees a change to how the usual cold open segments work, with Woz wrangling Sento and Ryuga to do it specifically to synergize with how the V-Cinema opens. Of course due to this being split into two chapters, I decided to have some fun with Ruby being added in the next chapter.
-The structure of these two chapters sees the V-Cinema plot being utilized in full force with only one major change, which is Yang taking Yui Mabuchi's place. This was mostly to spotlight Yang given what she was going to get in these chapters, and also because I felt Yui's role was a bit redundant and something odd to put in a post-series story. Yang of course was placed her because of her eventual Rider weapon claim.
-Galactic Cross-Z 2019 the addition of Geiz and Ruby makes it to where Killbus isn't as big of a dominating factor in his final fight. This also allowed me to modify Cross-Z Evol's debut in that it doesn't get knocked back as hard by Killbus due to Geiz and Ruby's interference earlier in the fight.
-Fellow Soldier 2019 the main challenge here was trying to shift around the drama between Taiga and Nico from the V-Cinema. It was easier once I had Yang take the hit and get infected with the Bugster Virus instead of Luke Kidman. It let me delve a bit more into a Nico who wanted to take the job seriously instead of brushing it aside like they did in the V-Cinema where they have her breaking off from Taiga to become a gamer again.
-Yang also had the unfortunate luck of being the one to take the hit mostly because I needed a way for Blake to get fully involved from the start since at the end of the day, this was the start of Blake getting her Gashacon Sparrow.
-This chapter alongside Genm vs Lazer 2019 was supposed to be two chapters in length and not one. I decided to make this change because then that'd mean five weeks straight of Ex-Aid and I knew even that was overkill.
-The Heart of a Bugster 2019 was definitely a tough one to figure out as well, but also the fastest of the V-Cinemas to write since it was only one part originally. Mostly because Ruby and the others can't get organically involved with the movie until Another Parad reveals his true colors which is already a decent way through the movie.
-Genm vs. Lazer 2019 was a blast to write since I basically put all hands on deck for this chapter, having everyone in the main cast (at the time) active in some way or another. It's very much an action focused chapter just like the V-Cinema was. I also used this chance to bring in a few Rider cameos as well as have Poppy and Parad actually transform since only Taiga and Hiiro kind of got that courtesy in the V-Cinema.
-Zangetsu Lost 2019 and Return of Zangetsu 2019 had the trip to Torkia take place after the Ex-Aid V-Cinemas mostly because I didn't want to do a big mini-arc and then switch into the Blade and Agito Chapters which were pretty large scale in their final confrontations too.
-These were probably the hardest chapters I've had to structure when it comes to adapting content specifically. I had watched the stage play again to refresh myself but even then I was having trouble figuring out how to split it. So I basically went scene by scene, wrote down what happened, and then worked on adding Roze elements to it. Once that was done I managed to figure out a good cut point for parts one and two.
-I mainly chose a straight adaptation of the stage play instead of taking elements from it like I do for Final Stages because it's a pretty solid production. I'd recommend anyone who hasn't to try and track it down and watch it. It's very "Takatora walks into an AU of Gaim" but still rather fun.
Triple Lunar Turnabout Arc (61-67):
-A New Joker 2004 was an interesting chapter to deal with since I had decided to split Blade from two parts into three due to me having to Another Blade and Another Chalice needing to be defeated, Zi-O Trinity needed to debut, and Weiss needd to get her Chalice Arrow as her Rider Weapon. That meant doing a different cut off point for the end of the chapter instead of what happened in the show.
-Jokers of Aces 2019 is where I have the one and only chance where I get to basically fire the gun I loaded fairly early on about Silver Roze being stronger and potentially able to deal with an Another Rider permanently. I didn't need to waste a Weapon Time or an Armor Time on Another Chalice, so he was the perfect Another Rider to do it with.
-This also reveals Daiki's brother as Another Chalice, in which I follow up from his decision to leave on his own during the Diend two-parter in Decade. In what I figured was the best conclusion… no matter how long he spent, he really couldn't get anywhere on his own after Fourteen died. Thus he was perfect pickings for Shiro-Woz to grab and tempt.
-2019: Trinity has Begun has a last minute inclusion in that I wasn't originally going to include Tachibana. I figured I'd want to kind of expand the guest cast and Tachibana by himself didn't hurt. I would've attempted to bring in Mutsuki, but the chapters were already getting very packed.
-The Another Rider portion was also fun to write due to giving Another Blade a dual identity. Amane starts it off, but once the Monolith is summoned I have Swartz up the threat level by making it the Another Rider instead. It was also a way for me to basically stick together every bit of the Battle Fight system in one target, the Monolith as well as the powers of the Jokers. This in turn meant that the system could be easily demolished with a Rider Kick courtesy of Zi-O Trinity.
-Deciding to give Weiss the Bossroach was also a last minute decision as I realized I needed to figure out a way to keep Team RWBY occupied. So having the Monolith bring out an enhanced Darkroach and one that I think is fairly cool (mostly cause he's a repaint of an already cool design) while having Weiss get the decisive blow was too good to pass up.
-2001: Agito Awakening has me use an SIC Character as inspiration for this variant of Another Agito. The idea for him to bring out Formica Pedes was also my way of making his mindset fit with the powers, and also because I had planned the Another Agito Army bit for the upcoming Saga already.
-Because Tsukuyomi's powers came in earlier, I realized her acting irrationally over her fear of them didn't work. So I decided to have Another Agito push her buttons in just the right ways to get a similar reaction.
-Shinnosuke makes a real big early bird cameo here despite him not being scheduled to show up for a long while. I mostly did it to flesh out things a bit further while also introducing Hikawa.
-2019: Agito Evolution I knew I wanted to give Another Agito an enhanced form while keeping Shouichi active. Originally I was going to have him go straight into Mirage Agito, but utilizing the appearance of Evil Agito from the Ryuki HBV as a stopgap was pretty fun.
-Let's talk about the real Another Agito seemingly showing up for a bit… I just wanted to include Kino in some form. So his ghost of sorts forming because an Another Rider is parading around in a form similar to his while he was alive is the exact kind of insane thing that I feel could happen.
-We also get RWBY vs Oma Zi-O in this chapter, in which I have some fun by damaging Yang's prosthetic and breaking Gambol Shroud for Blake just to set them up for the upgrades they'd be getting when they would return to Atlas.
-2068: Believe in Tsukuyomi is where we have the culmination of what I started in the Specter chapters which is Tsukuyomi's transformation. It happens way earlier than the show did and I figured that if there was any part of this story where Tsukuyomi would transform, it would be the Agito tribute.
-The Zikan Girade Tsu is a fun weapon because of how I came up with the concept of it. There was some art of a helmetless Zi-O II and Tsukuyomi, the two giving each other a high five and for some reason Tsukuyomi was holding the Zikan Girade. Oddly enough it felt like it fit her so as a result I gave her a recolor to match her suit better.
-The Oma Zi-O fight also served another purpose aside from making sure Tsukuyomi could transform, and that's Oma lending a bit of his power to Team RWBY that would activate when the time was right. That being Roze RWBY, which is fitting since this is the second to last episode of the Saga.
-2019: Truths Unveiled was mainly conceived as a transitional chapter to get into the next Saga. But two important plot beats needed to happen. The first of which is shifting Junichiro learning that Sougo is a Kamen Rider from the end of the series to what is essentially the middle part of my story. Junichiro purposely getting caught in an attack was also to show the Time Jacker's shift in tactics.
-Of course that alone wasn't going to fill up the chapter and thus the Kaito and Ruby refight was something I saved in my pocket for this very moment. Originally it wasn't going to be a fight with Kaito acknowledging Ruby's growth immediately but I figured a short scuffle would end up working out well enough.
-The Jester (Narutaki) gives the Time Jackers a boatload of monster equipment, and this is mainly for a singular reason. I needed something that wasn't Another Riders for before Volume 8 hit when it came to Rider enemies. Since it'd feel like a waste for the Time Jackers to utilize Another Riders on random attacks. Plus there were only so many Another Riders and this was before I had fully drafted out the motw chapters for the early portions of the next saga.
-The scene of Weiss randomly giving Sougo her scarf was a cute little thing my supervisor (Josh) wanted me to do, and I thought it was cute too so I did it.
[Interludes]
-'Detour in Zawame' mainly exists for me to give Ruby and Takatora more time together since I planned on having her be one of the main characters joining in on the adaptation of the Zangetsu stage play.
-'Reflection of Shadow and Snow' was pretty much my way of getting in some Blake and Weiss content. The two by themselves don't interact often so giving the two a moment to themselves alongside having them reflect on the past battles over some food felt like a good place for an interlude. The bit with the karaoke was to reference VA's/Rider Inserts, but it also allowed me to make a brief cameo for Gentoku even if he's only named as the 'Prime Minister's Aid/Son' by people passing by. That is mostly as a reference for his karaoke bits in the Rogue Blu-Ray Specials.
-'Chasing the Dimensional Thief' wasn't an originally planned Interlude, it was mostly put in fairly late because I figured some sort of status update on Oscar's situation would be appreciated. It also let me do a little bit more teasing with Summer via the debut of the Roseiber.
'Nazo Toki Labyrinth' this chapter is purely to set up for the Another Ending Trilogy later, but does allow me to give Ruby the Para-DX Ridewatch and let's Ruby and Weiss relax a bit after the Kikai Chapters.
-'A Much Needed Day Off' is a chapter that only exists because of Dynazenon Episode 8. The Kaiju Eugenicists just hanging out and goofing off at Ground 1 in the show made me go "Hey that'd be fun for the cast to do", and so I went for the real world setting of Round 1 and went for a lot of references just to up the fun factor. Particular references include…
-Yang talking about getting a Turkey as a prize for getting a Turkey references Yakuza 0 in which you meet Nugget the chicken via getting a Turkey at a bowling alley.
-Weiss swinging a baseball bat like a sword is a reference to Saber doing the same from the Unlimited Bladeworks anime.
-Superwomen in Love: Honey Trap & Rapid Rabbit is the manga that Blake is reading.
-The Persona 4 Arena Ultimax/Kagami being revealed as a Persona Reference is pretty self explanatory but I will put it here regardless.
[Saga #4 Discussion: A New Age for Remnant]
Kamen Riders in Atlas Arc (68-74):
-This Saga features a change up in the narration as while Woz is still the main narrator, Jinn will pop in to help out for the most part. I mostly wanted to do this to show how different this Saga will be compared to the others.
-The Greatest Kingdom was fun to plan out on how I'd have the Riders show off just a bit, especially with putting Sougo's future vision alongside Tsukuyomi's time stop to good use with the end involving the Ace Ops.
-I was debating whether or not to have Ruby stay a Rider or hang it up for a bit. But hanging it up for a bit worked well in her renewed balance where she'd work as a Huntress for as long as she could. Plus her return as Roze would end up becoming more impactful to the story alongside being a huge surprise to the Ace Ops later on.
-I mentioned this before, but because I was writing Sympho-Saber at the same time I kept using Saber instead of Sabyr at various points during the opening fight. This resulted in the mental imagery of Saber Brave Dragon acting like Primitive Dragon and the cast fighting against that.
-I was unsure of how to end the chapter originally, but I decided that despite getting a better deal I'd have Geiz call back to Sougo's line from when they first met Cordovin where he says "Atlas kind of sucks" to where Geiz modifies it, "Atlas really sucks".
-New Ideas and Careful Approaches was a chapter I wasn't sure would have enough in it due to only adapting a singular episode, and that being mostly exposition from a one room scene that takes up most of the episode. But the addition of Team Zi-O to the already large group as well as having to explain their deal was enough to push it to where I didn't need to reach and try and add more.
-It was also very amusing to write Sougo in this chapter, utilizing his more underhanded side towards the benefit of his friends.I very much tried to show Sougo reading the situation and realizing the best way to act without many restrictions was to agree to Ironwood's terms but also make his own stipulations. It's something that would catch Ironwood off guard since usually people try to go against him, and as a result he'd be more inclined to agree with Sougo who's hesitant but willing to work with him.
-The First Steps Forward is where I start cramming episodes together, that being episodes 3 and 4 of Volume 7. When it came to the mission in the Dust Mine I figured aside from some opening setup to show what's different, it wouldn't go that much differently given Ruby's not a Rider at the moment and the teams are the same as they were in canon. It's why that sequence is very much cut out and condensed in favor of following around Team Zi-O briefly.
-There's also something I wanted to address which is the small running bit of certain people being able to tell something's off about Sougo. It's mostly Sougo's existence making itself known to certain people like Jacques here and later on Willow when she first meets him.
-A Chilling First Mission is the start of what I consider the complimentary episodes for the RWBY's Rider Assistance Arc. While that prior Arc was for RWBY to tackle Rider issues with limited appearances by Zi-O characters. This part of the arc sees Team Zi-O tackling Huntsmen issues.
-This particular chapter's purpose was to have Winter be one of the first Remnant native outside of the immediate group to see Riders and Monsters in action. It was also to slowly start building a rapport between Winter and Geiz for later on.
-During these chapters I've also created a few OC's in order to fill out the chapter with named minor characters. Officer Pico's name is derived from Picton Blue, a nice lighter shade that helps with the ice motif given he's the Ice Age Dopant.
-Likewise, Ceila's name is derived from Celadon Blue, which is fitting given her Semblance alongside her being the Ice Smash.
-This is also one of the few chapters where I hint at Arrowfell related stuff happening in the background for a potential Gaiden. Though I ended up not making a Gaiden for it in the end, I figure it's still fun little details to show that "Yes this is a thing that's also occurring".
-Meeting Mantle's Best the main purpose was to introduce Team Zi-O to the Happy Huntresses as well as get their alliance going. It was something I wanted to occur that way there was a bit less tension between Team RWBY, JNR and the Happy Huntresses once I got to Volume 8.
-The Crater Café locale the group eats at is an actual locale in Mantle that's seen in the background of one of the episodes in V7.
-This chapter alongside the others was fun to work on when detailing the fights. While not as kitted out as the others, Tsukuyomi is a cool Rider to work with for an extended period of time. And because the Riders don't want to get too crazy, having them scale back on their forms lets me try and figure out some fun scenarios.
-Experiments Down Below features two more minor OCs in Senna (Sienna) and Angelo (Tangelo) just to add a bit more flavor into the text than just daughter and father. We also have our antagonist for the episode, Veda Mikado (Mikado Yellow).
-Veda's a funny one since I had figured her name out a while back, and then without warning Arrowfell decides "Hey yeah so this one character with a portrait in Mantle is named Mikado Lem. Thankfully their names are in different places so they aren't related.
-Desires and Destiny is very much a chapter designed to keep hammering into Winter that, the Time Jackers aren't a good thing, and how destructive and dangerous different monster types can be depending on who spawns or becomes them.
Towards the Boiling Point Arc (75-79):
-For An Evening Break I was originally going to have Tsukuyomi join Blake and Yang at the club as well as have a short bit there cut between everything but decided against it. I felt Tsukuyomi just deciding to study some more Remnant history and her brief chat with Winter was a better set of scenes to utilize.
-The brief chase with Tyrian is me getting inspired from the Commentary from V7 where during the Battle of Atlas, Tyrian would've escaped through alleyways and used the Grimm to try and keep Clover, Qrow, and Robyn off his tail.
-A Grim Aftermath had me laying additional groundwork for Sougo's eventual confrontation with Tyrian later on after having already written the scene. While I enjoyed the scene later on, I figured I'd add just a bit more build up by pushing the notion that Sougo wasn't exactly okay when it came to the massacre Tyrian caused.
-I modified Robyn's interaction with Blake and Yang given Sougo's connection to the Happy Huntresses to make it less of a struggle and more of a setup. I also wanted the two to still take part even with Sougo leaking Amity so that they could take the fall for him later. Them taking the fall mainly showing how far they've come from their initial mistrust of Sougo.
-There's not much to talk about The Fast Approaching Storm since it's really just combining both 'Cordially Invited' and 'As Above So Below' into a single chapter. But I did like modifying some interactions like Weiss and Willow's alongside adding interactions like Robyn and Penny's brief meeting.
-The Battle for Mantle was definitely where I got to have fun with the Zi-O Crew making as much use of Ruby's Secondary/Extra Ridewatches due to the nature of the Grimm Invasion.
-Upon figuring out Sougo's Semblance I knew that this was the place where it needed to be unlocked. After all, having a very commanding power by being able to look over the battlefield and spot details no one else can? Fitting for a King and strategist like Sougo.
-The main reason I decided to shove both Ironwood vs. Watts and Qrow/Clover/Robyn vs. Tyrian from 'Gravity' into this chapter was because I wanted to have the entirety of the next chapter devoted to Ironwood's falling out with the heroes.
-With Lines in the Snow I knew I wanted Summer's reveal of being alive still to happen in this chapter. The shock factor was considered, but I mainly chose this chapter because the thought of Summer showing up after Salem talks smack about her in front of her kids was too amusing to pass up.
-When playing with how I knew this chapter would be the start of divergences, I mixed up Team RWBY's fight against the Ace Ops. Mainly in the Ace Ops being taken out faster and in a different order, since Ruby can transform now and WBY have powerful Rider Weapons.
-Of course you can't talk about changes without talking about Sougo saving Clover. It was mostly done to show a major divergence point, but I also felt keeping Clover alive would be more interesting. Of course, I can't talk about this without mentioning the beatdown of Tyrian, which as many people guessed, was inspired by one particular scene of Kuuga.
Preparations for War Arc (80-83):
-Advent of the Grimm Queen had one of the first ideas for the chapter being "Have Woz use Quiz to troll Neo" since the fight against Neopolitan was one of the events being covered here.
-Likewise the second idea was showing Cinder how out of her league she was by having Geiz confront her in Revive. Of course this later gave me the chance to keep Winter from getting critically injured, keeping her in better shape for the V8 adaptation.
-Silver Roze was split up and rendered unusable for two major reasons. One, to show Winter's resolve in that despite the chance, she wouldn't betray her sister and friends after seeing Ironwood at the start of next chapter. Two, was to handicap Ruby to further necessitate her coming power-up of Rose Armor.
-I chose to not end the chapter at Salem's arrival, mostly since I knew I had to start the setup for the coming chapters and I didn't need most of the next chapter being almost entirely in the Burger Bar. Plus getting a minor bit of Ruby, Yang, Qrow and Summer reconnecting again before everything went hectic and everyone split up was important to cover.
-Forging a New Path was where the Fake Relic plotline comes to an end. If anyone was going to figure out it was a fake it was going to be Salem. She's been around ancient magic long enough to where she'd be able to figure out it was a copy. Of course I had a bit of fun with her reactions to hint at what's happened prior given her previous reactions to Tsukasa and Summer's arrival.
-Ozpin revealing himself to everyone earlier was purely because I knew he wouldn't keep quiet at Summer's reappearance. Not to mention mostly everyone is on the same page of lying to Ironwood due to Teams RWBY and Zi-O talking it out back on Earth. This results in Ruby and Yang not having a disagreement here, the two mostly just bouncing back and forth with only Ren and Nora bringing up any tension due to their current relationship.
-I'll get a bit more deeply into why I chose who for what team, but given their less prominent appearances, let's talk about Team Gather Riders. Tsukasa, Summer, Woz, and Qrow were grouped together for a few reasons. One was to keep Woz from going with Sougo and breaking the Infiltration Mission further, second was to put Qrow in a situation that simulated but was different from his isolation from everyone in Volume 8. What with him getting able to talk to Summer again and being in a more down time situation before he returned.
-While I was able to deal with most casualties in V8 and save basically everyone… there was one person I really couldn't save no matter what. That would be Councilman Sleet being shot by Ironwood. There was just no way to spin the scene in a way to save him compared to the others where it was easy to alter the circumstances.
-I figured that despite how behind Atlas was, they just managed to get creative enough when doing a rush job with the Rider Data. I feel like with enough time and resources, they could make something like G3. But basically reverse engineering and modifying the medical braces Winter had into an exoskeleton shows they could maybe get there. The modifications was also to have Winter be able to kind of keep up in what little fights she would participate in, at least until I got an idea once I saw all the puzzle pieces lined up.
-The end of this chapter also starts me trying to keep Uhr and Ora relevant in this particular half of the Saga. Swartz and Finis basically take center stage here with their manipulations of Ironwood and Cinder. So to keep the younger Time Jackers from falling behind since they didn't have a candidate to bounce off of, I chose to give them a more confrontational role.
-Search, Infiltrate, Rescue has the Mantle Rescue Team's mission not deviate too much from canon though I did have an additional conversation with Geiz and Oscar. This is mostly to touch on the merge a bit and mostly that I do want the other characters to acknowledge it and see what they can do to help even if the results won't be immediate.
-Sougo's reaction to Penny's explanation of Ruby's Semblance, while hard to spot because this is not a visual medium, is basically a Pop Team Epic reference.
-Ceila and (later on) Dr. Mikado were both, while mostly made for episodic chapters, named characters in the story. So getting to see them after their chapters was something I wanted to do, even if it was brief appearances.
-Like with saving Clover, the fight with Penny against the Ace Ops was very ripe for me to utilize Zi-O II. Sougo's presence basically ensured that Penny wouldn't have the opportunity to be hacked. Of course however, that was mostly to set up a false sense of security and relief for later.
-Part of the reason for Uhr and Ora getting the ability to transform was also because I needed the Hound to at least get away. Geiz Revive could easily outpace and outpower the experimental Grimm despite its smarts. I also figured I'd play towards Uhr and Ora's Time Mazine themes, which is why Uhr got Ganma equipment and why I gave Ora Night Rogue, because bat themed warrior and that kind of fits with her usage of Kiva equipment. It was also to fit later with her temporary usage of Bikaiser.
-While I did want the Hound to get away, in Approaching the Turning Point it's clearer that I wanted to give it a head start. I mainly wanted the Rescue Team to get far enough to where they'd be in the position they were in during canon. But with Geiz Revive, it helped make sure I was able to rescue Oscar before he could get captured and tortured.
-The scene with Winter and Marrow venting their doubts to each other was added very late, like close to release late. I felt like I needed to add at least one scene to show the two being on the same page, that way later it'd feel a bit more natural for them to defect.
-While things were going off script, I felt the need for Salem to still act the way she does to Cinder. She's been fighting for years and she's on the cusp of a significant victory. Of course she's going to ignore Narutaki's warnings and assume Cinder will fall in line as easily as in canon. And of course that will be her downfall in this particular Saga.
-Ren and Tsukuyomi's conversation was something I really wanted to have, especially as a mirror to Goto's conversation with Tsuki earlier in the story. It felt like a good addition to Ren's character growth in Volume 8.
-Of course this chapter also has the setup and beginning of the Rose of Remnant Arc, in which I need to address a couple things.
-The first is Yang not hearing the story, and I mostly did that since I didn't want to trivialize the idea of the groups still being separated even though they could feasibly get back together at any time. It was also because I wanted to show that Yang had her own concerns and it wasn't really about the details to her in the end. Plus while Yang is Summer's daughter, Ruby is the one who needs to witness the story in a personal manner due to the nature of Kamen Rider Rose.
-The second is… the slapdash combination of Gaia Memory tech is something that was decided after I chose to hold off on the original idea for the arc. Which was Summer going to Haruto, getting the Lamp and using Jinn for the question. But considering Summer's adventure covers both Remnant and Earth and not just Remnant, I figured it would be a bit weird that Jinn would know some bits that would happen on Earth, you know? It's also because I figured out what I'd want to use the last question on and I'd rather not use it up before then.
Rose of Remnant Arc (84-86):
-The title of the Arc is very much me wanting to mess around with the naming scheme of the story. I've done this before, the chapter Roze to Remnant. So Rose of Remnant being a play on the title was fun to do.
-The Next Time segments as well as the opening Narration were also changed to fit that this was a story being told by Summer. Felt it gave the Arc a further unique characteristic, especially since I only ever differentiated the chapters by number.
-Our missing scientist Maru is derived from Deep Koamaru, figured I'd go for a named character here even if he doesn't really do much, technically.
-Argent Venator (Silver Hunter) was an interesting weapon to design when it came to the process. Especially since I crafted this way before V9. The original name in planning was Silver Lupine.
-The twin blade idea came from observing how STRQ had similarities to RWBY. Taiyang was likely the brawler like Yang, Qrow and Ruby are scythe Wielders, and while I've seen people pair Blake and Raven up, I personally think Raven's revolving blade setup works more like Weiss' Myrtenaster. This had me look towards Blake for the inspiration with Argent Venator being twin blades, while also taking into account that Summer would likely go for long range. This basically had me design twin curved blades that could combine into a single rifle. Zero the Silver Knight from GARO was also an inspiration when it came to the weapons.
-While Tsukasa has an Aura thanks to Summer giving him one, I've still yet to decide a Semblance for him to be honest.
-Writing Tsukasa pre-Zi-O was definitely a lot of fun, whether it was how he'd act and react, or his powers in general since he's working on pre NeoDecadriver rules. Which means in order to access a certain part of a Rider's power, he has to use Form/Attack Ride Cards. Comparing that to Neo where he can just use abilities from other forms on command, it was neat to work with.
-I also wanted to have fun with Summer's Semblance here, giving the readers and characters a taste of it while not outright stating what it is. It only shows up a few times but I make those few times count before the proper field usage later.
-Kamen Rider Rose was an interesting Rider to figure out how to make. When it comes to Riders it's almost like mentally performing a kitbash. I see what parts already exist and try to make a Rider out of it, modifying the parts or imagining original ones where necessary.
-An original part of Rose's design would have been the buckle being molded to fit a retracted Roseiber at the front center of her waist. I instead changed it to where the Roseiber would be holstered on a loop at the side. The idea to copy Diend's buckle in design was mostly to future proof a potential K-Touch upgrade by allowing the base Decadriver part to be used.
-The final battle against GrimmKing was basically me paying off the foreshadowing/remark from the Silver Roze vs. Leviathan fight, in which Summer as Rose pulled the exact same move though a bit more extensively.
-Originally there was less to this arc as the portions involving Summer's recovery weren't present in the initial draft. The most that was included was her initial waking up before it'd cut to a quick narration from Summer before returning to the present. Upon adding the additional scenes, that became most of the Part III alongside the Salem confrontation. This meant I pushed back events a lot when it came to fitting what in certain chapters.
-The initial chapter was meant to end with Tsukasa and Summer entering the Shocker base, not Summer being cornered by Shocker themselves. Likewise the second chapter was meant to end with Summer arriving on Earth and being surrounded. Due to the additional content I basically shoved all of the Remnant adventure in the first two parts.
-So let's talk timeline stuff just because this is a place where I can finally get things out of the way. Since this ties into the backstory to Roze from Remnant and it is pretty spread out so it is likely confusing.
-In 1994 Shocker is laying low, but a few researchers catch the battle between a revived Shadow Moon and a group of Kamen Riders, some of which hold interesting transforming weapons and one who can utilize different weapons of Riders. They proceed to hold onto this footage but it's heavily degraded over time as they don't think of looking back through it consistently.
-At the end of Faiz's battle in 2004, Takumi's fate is seemingly unknown. However thanks to Geiz's battle against Another Faiz our future guardian loses a blank Ridewatch. That Ridewatch is eventually found by Keitaro and taken back as a good luck charm. Due to me implementing temporal recovering into the Ridewatches themselves (as seen with Ankh's Medal and the Arcle), the blank Ridewatch (that eventually becomes Kaixa's) slowly but surely heals Takumi of his Orphnoch degradation.
-Skipping ahead to 2015, the result of Takumi being in stable condition means that Shocker can't take advantage of him and as a result their time altering plans come up with several failed experiments. They instead choose to turn to world traversing and an alternate version of the events of Ninninger vs. Drive take place, though Rose of Remnant takes the place of Kamen Rider Taisen GP which is why it takes place on the specific dates I set it in on 2015.
-Summer's presence in Rider history is clearly noticed by Oma Zi-O, and as a result, that kicks off what happens at the start of the story.
-The funniest part of this Arc in general was it coinciding with the climax of RWBY V9 in which we got more details of Summer and her disappearance. Not enough, but it was enough for everyone and myself to wonder if I was hit by Apollo's gift of prophecy, haha.
Relief from Another World Arc (87-91):
-The man intention for Signal for the Future was to give the same vibes of Amity, especially with Woz losing his Miridewatches and Penny's fate turning from hacking to becoming an Another Rider. This would then be contrasted with the very hopeful ending of all the Riders showing up.
-Sougo's and Whitley's scene was something I really wanted even if it was very minor, just someone kind of young reaching out and inspiring some positive change into Whitley even if it is just through a minor conversation.
-So let's talk Riders since I'm sure a lot of people were curious about the reasons behind my choices. I'll explain a particular four later but let's go for the general crowd. I tried to pick as many non-primary Riders as possible and I wanted to grab a full representation of every Legend Rider the group's interacted with.
-Eiji was picked just because I really wanted Eiji saving Penny via Tajador, Ankh showing up too was because he wasn't about to let Eiji go to another world with the Core Medals on his own.
-I had planned for Cross-Z Build to show up in the early stages of this so Banjo being here was a must.
-I wanted to get a bit odd with the Ex-Aid picks, especially since Emu was likely still recovering from the shoulder wound he got in the V-Cinema chapters. Taiga and Nico as a partner duo where they could easily double up on Snipe due to the Gashats present was something I thought would be fun.
-Date was here in place of Goto because I wanted to showcase the first user of Birth/current Proto Birth a bit more. Also I'd like to imagine after the two met during Zombie Chronicle, he and Taiga hit it off well enough and that's why he's part of this group during the introductions.
-Kanon was chosen to show up because I really wanted to keep using Kanon Specter, it's one of my favorite Rider designs from Ghost.
-W themselves wasn't originally supposed to show up, Accel was going to be the plan. Shotaro and Philip only did once I got Gaia Memories involved in Summer explaining her background.
-I mean, I absolutely had to include Godai as he's definitely one of the more significant Riders that have impacted Sougo and Ruby. Plus he's been to Remnant before so that was already a plus.
-Shinji was picked because he was the only Rider that the group had met after the Another Ryuki chapters. Plus I wanted to show off a Rider being able to get a copy of their powers via a Ridewatch as prep for the inevitable Fourze chapters.
-Takumi was here mostly because of him being one of the closer Heisei Riders to Ruby in particular due to appearing earlier, the same reasoning was made for Nitoh.
-While the idea of bringing in G3 was tempting, Shoichi was brought in instead due to his role with Tsukuyomi during the Agito chapters.
-Likewise, Hajime showed up instead of Kenzaki since he believed he owed Team RWBY, but more in particular, Weiss, a debt of some kind of service due to what happened during Another Blade.
-While Nitoh did meet Ruby prior to her being Roze, he was also chosen because I wanted to keep Haruto still on Earth guarding the real Relic. Not to mention I wanted to run the bit of Chimera being able to devour Grimm.
-Daiki was already out and about so I figured I'd keep him around while Natsumi was brought in because well, of course she'd want to help Tsukasa and Summer out.
-Kouta was brought in mainly as the powerhouse, basically an entity that could likely assist in various large scale problems.
-Last but not least, Sento was brought in because of his technical knowhow, specifically to repair Amity Tower and so that Mantle could start getting back on its feet once the Grimm started getting cleared out.
-And of course I've said it before, but the entire montage sequence with the Riders appearing was very much a direct callback to Heisei Generations Forever.
-Game Changer sees the introduction of Hi-Roze as an alternative Another Roze. The way I saw it, Cinder's Maiden powers were essentially in molding Another Roze into her own variation. I do consider Kagami's original version of the form to be the purest opposite to Kamen Rider Roze, especially given her link to Ruby. It's why I had Cinder's variation of the form differ so much.
-Originally I was only planning on Another Kikai to be the only Mirai Another Rider showing up. But considering I wouldn't have a chance like this again I had Quiz and Shinobi's Watches also taken, with Emerald taking the role of Another Shinobi. Had Neo not snuck off, then she likely would have become Another Quiz.
-Ironwood gets a single modification to Another Zi-O and that's a coattail to help mimic the style of a General while he's transformed. It was to show while he did manage to cause a change in the transformation it clearly wasn't enough even if he shows usage of some different abilities later on.
-I was still planning this Saga while V8 was airing, and was taking notes constantly at what I'd want to do. Immediately once the ending of 'Midnight' happened, the idea 'Zi-O Trinity kicks a giant Grimm Whale' entered my brain and was the first idea for the chapter.
-Pawns with Power sees me finally utilizing the Another Agito Army ability of Another Agito, as I knew I wanted to save it for when I'd have Ironwood become Another Zi-O. It was mostly so I also didn't repeat since I figured Another Agito Army twice in the story would get a bit tiring.
-Even if they weren't captured, a high stress, heavy conversation based fight against the Ace Ops would still work to evolving Ren's Semblance once deep enough in the fight.
-I never did reveal what Another Riders Winter and Marrow would have potentially become had they not defected. With what used Another Riders I had left, it'd be Wizard for Winter and OOO for Marrow.
-Harriet was chosen as Another Faiz due to her speed and Faiz Axel. Elm was given Another Blade due to her bulk and the bulk of that particular Another Rider. Vine was given Another Gaim due to his name, his weapon's name, and Semblance fitting the plant motif for Another Gaim.
-When it came to the ending scene with Penny revealed to be completely taken over by Another Kikai, I may have had a certain scene from the mid-point of Symphogear XV on in the background to help set the mood. Just thought I'd give that fun fact.
-All or Nothing Maiden Rescue takes heavy inspiration taken from Zenkaiger Episode 40 "Rescue My Father, One Chance!" in regards to the title and how I wanted the fight against Another Kikai to go. There are also some cues from W Episode 32 in how certain scenes play out too.
-My original and early plan for Ruby's debut fight with Rose Armor was just the Time Jackers assaulting the Schnee Manor with the remaining monsters they had in stock. It was to push Ruby enough to where she'd need something beyond Weapon Time since she didn't have Silver Roze. Eventually this was scrapped when I realized I could go for a more emotional approach.
-Originally, Penny was just meant to transform into plain Kikai with some green eyes instead of red. It was a last minute decision (due future decisions made) to change Kikai's colors and rename Penny's variant Kikai II. So yes, there's a reason for that, I cannot share that reason yet of course. Have fun wondering what exactly will come from this.
-The Hunter and the Hunted had me perplexed for a while when considering the episode. The Hound is a dangerous Grimm, but when put up against two Riders, three Huntresses with Rider Weapons, and an active/not-disabled Maiden? That's where the issues start to pile up…
-The decision was then made to bring Evolt into the story again, me adding a few scenes of him in earlier chapters to better show his presence. Evolt's presence meant I could tamper a bit and "modify" The Hound, in which I probably made it even worse…
-This also meant ending it in a more horrifying and chilling way, instead of the Grimm regenerating over the Faunus host but getting crushed, I have Evolt fully take over with Sougo being forced to end it with stacked finishers powering each other up.
The War's Climax Arc (92-97):
-Arrival of Briar Rose introduces the titular Briar Rose. Its original name was The Rider to make it similar to The Hound. This made fight scenes a bit hard to work with however so it quickly became a placeholder until I figured the name Briar Rose would work.
-So despite the similarities to the Genomix System that Demons used in Revice… this was just me giving Briar Rose its own twisted version of Attack/Weapon Ride. It was also to foreshadow what Salem would do in the final chapters of the Saga.
-Petal Dance of the Rozes has me fully reveal Summer's swapping Semblance as Petal Dance. So let's get into how exactly I ended up figuring out what I wanted her Semblance to be.
-The first piece of inspiration was this kind of joking Tumblr post that had the RWBY Cast talk about their Semblances which quickly dove into them realizing how their Semblances related to trauma/issues they experience. With that in mind I tried to take what we knew of Summer and form it into a Semblance.
-Summer was someone who went out on her own, clearly confronting Salem, to try and achieve an outcome that would better the lives of everyone. She put herself before others, and that ended up becoming the base idea of what exactly I should be looking for in designing her Semblance. Especially if you remember how she utilized it when she switched places with Tsukasa during the Rose of Remnant Arc.
-The second piece of information was just when I decided to randomly peruse Crunchyroll Collection as I do. I came across the clip of Boogie Woogie from Jujutsu Kaisen. Boogie Woogie being a technique where the user would clap his hands and swap him and another person/object if the requirements were met. So I looked deeper into the episode it came from before the realization just hit me. That's when I knew that Summer's Semblance should be a teleport swap between her and whatever's linked to her Aura. This also inspired me to base the fight scene off the episode Boogie Woogie is used in as well.
-The name Petal Dance came from me deciding to give her a flashy petal effect, while also realizing that Dance worked well since she and whoever she chooses are moving around in tandem.
-Of course that's only one major aspect of this chapter, the next being the elephant in the room, or the Kagami in the mirror I should say. Because I should address that… Kagami was meant to be a one and done, only appearing in the prior Saga before vanishing entirely.
-It was thanks to watching more anime fights on Youtube, or in this case going back to Ichigo vs. Grimmjow III from Bleach. At that point Ichigo can use a Hollow Mask to boost his power, and it made me wonder if I should try something similar with Ruby, her gaining a brief power boost thanks to a few factors.
-Due to Kagami being so connected to Another Roze and now residing within Ruby that would connect Ruby and Cinder together. And at certain points 'Kagami' would manifest into a brief power boost at certain points. At least until the idea evolved into Kagami just fully awakening and becoming a voice inside Ruby's head (Ala Piccolo and Nail in DBZA).
-Eventually that led to other things, and I realized making Kagami a semi-recurring character was the best angle to go for. After all, I do have both Ruby and Kagami acknowledge later on that this may not be the last time they meet, not to mention what comments were made about Kagami in the Reflected Future Gaiden.
-Part of the reason I had Emerald become Another Shinobi was because I wanted to keep her turn against Salem but I knew with what I had planned that would be near next to impossible. So I went for a bit of a harsher route for her, being forced into Another Shinobi by Cinder of all people and that being the final straw that gets Emerald to shift away from Salem and especially Cinder's side.
-The reveal of Argent Venator being only one of Summer's weapons is me doing a bit of last minute editing. I really love the design of Sundered Rose and my brain went "why not both" when it came to how I'd even bring Sundered Rose in. So I crafted a quick explanation of sorts. Plus having Summer wield both weapons however is also an intentional reference to Kratos from the Norse God of War Games. The connections being both are parents who wield an axe and twin blades.
-The Spark of Revolution marks one of the only times in this massive story that I don't start with an opening narration of any kind, instead choosing to adapt Ironwood's 'Ultimatum' speech a bit differently.
-So let's talk our final four guest Riders, who behind the scenes have been referred to as the "Ironwood's Worst Nightmare Squad" constantly. Gentoku, Alain, and Takatora have all been in or are in leadership roles and have tangled extensively with them in their own series/movies. Likewise Poppy and Alain to a certain degree have experience with being controlled/controlling others, similar to how Ironwood attempted to gain control of Penny. These four were the first Riders picked because I knew I wanted them to be a part of the Final Confrontation somehow.
-Winter's scene of echoing the Zangetsu Shin transformation from Movie War Full Throttle was a decision made the closer I was to writing the chapter. I really wanted a cool moment for Winter to make up for her not becoming the Winter Maiden and realized I had the tools to do that via Zangetsu Shin.
-Hazel vs. Geiz Revive Goretsu was a matchup I knew I wanted for a long while, if only because I really wanted two powerhouses going at each other. Likewise, Ruby's brief confrontation against Mercury was a fun matchup I wanted to do to give Ruby a bit of catharsis given their major confrontation in V3.
-Clashes in the Shattered Sky was probably the biggest chapter to work with in regards to placements and where everyone was. Because while mostly everyone was centralized to Atlas Academy (and the military base connected below), there were a lot of characters moving around and pivoting to different areas constantly.
-I knew I didn't want Cinder down an arm but I knew that her Grimm Arm needed to go to entirely separate her from Salem. Of course I then realized that the setting being Atlas worked to my advantage, so Finis threatening the scientists to hook Cinder up with a new limb ended up going smoothly.
-When it came to the confession for Frozen Time, I knew it had to be in the final battle. Partial inspiration came from Pirates of the Caribbean III with the marriage during the final battle of that movie. So I wanted to take that sort of energy and switch gears towards a confession during a very hectic fight. The ship name was also decided long before that point so usage of the words freeze and froze, alongside time were very much purposeful.
-Grimm Chimera here did not have an extensive planning out in terms of how I described and envisioned her. I basically figured in my brain that I needed a bulking humanoid monster to create this gigantic wall that will slowly wear everyone down and figured it relatively fast.
-Go Forth Roze RWBY! Talking about this chapter allows me to go into what the potential/original plan I had for Salem was going to be. I allude to it in it being everyone's initial plan to deal with Salem. It was risky and also hard to pull off but the idea was to utilize the Time Mazines ability to open up gateways and chuck a regenerating Salem into a time gateway without protection. The way I've always figured about the time gateways that you need a machine of some kind to access any of the time periods in the gateway. Without it you're sort of bouncing around in this tunnel and considering how volatile it can get with certain time periods, Salem would likely be falling through and getting destroyed over and over again.
-I chose to scrap it for the Oma Zi-O route fairly early on. Mostly because I wanted to bring up a few reminders of Salem as a character instead of just having her chucked somewhere and seemingly just never having a chance to return. Despite shelving her for the time being, I do have plans for her and Remnant in way later chapters.
-Roze RWBY was at the center of this chapter in planning in a lot of ways. I wanted to try and pull a slight reference for its debut, which was Double Extreme Fusion Garo from the Carved Seal of Flames GARO anime. That reference was responsible for the location (floating debris field), how the transformation occurred (freefall while power-up object flies towards the user), etc. Even Ruby's speech to Salem about how "Another will rise" was also semi-quoting said Garo as well.
-Pushing Roze RWBY so close to Rose Armor was definitely a choice I realized I was making. Because I'm debuting two power-ups near each other but… I'm still confident in how I did it. I juggle both forms as ones Ruby constantly goes to when the circumstances call for it. Especially when we get to the Grand Rider World Saga, where if Ruby uses one form in one chapter, she'll likely use the other in the next.
-Remnant's New Dawn had me taking cues from the final episode of Bleach's Soul Society Arc, in which it's very much a cool down episode with a lot of character interactions alongside little to no fighting occurring. It also allowed me to bring in a few cameos like Tai and Glynda.
-Originally Raven was going to make an appearance with Tai but I figured I'd save it for later on, just to give both members of Team STRQ their own separate reaction to Summer returning.
-Also this is where I reveal the sub-ship Picturesque Rose in which I basically reveal Tsukasa and Summer's relationship. I say sub purely based on the fact that, with Remnant travel back on the board, Summer's mindset with Tsukasa prodding would very much have her continuing where things left off but adding Tsukasa into the mix.
-Sougo making a small in-door festival is me yet again utilizing elements from the Zi-O/Decade Rider Time duology. I figured now would be a good time to include that kind of reference, especially since he's not in school anymore.
-While I had the scene with Sougo being told about what happened in 2009 written already, upon the second to last episode of Ice Queendom airing I knew I had to make an important change. That was taking the conversation between Weiss and her grandpa Nicholas and having her recall it to Sougo. The way Nicholas talked about being compared to a king, wanting to help people, and building a metaphorical castle… it just resonated way too much with Zi-O that I knew I had to use it.
-Originally I was going to have Weiss move in with Sougo and the others at 9-5-DO at the end of this chapter. That was instead changed to the Drive Chapters once I figured what exactly Weiss' birthday present would be. So I ended up reworking the scene to where it was Sougo introducing Weiss as his girlfriend to Junichiro.
[Saga #5 Discussion: The Grand Rider World]
Legend Oni Issues Arc (98-99.5):
-2005: Echoes of Failed Oni and the next chapter have me not change much of the plot when it comes to how I decided to adapt Hibiki. Like with Ghost, Blade, and Agito if I see an idea I can work with and modify then I won't consider a completely original plot. When we hit Blade in the show, I was very much satisfied with how they did most of the Legend Rider Tributes onwards.
-The main change for this story is just adding Hibiki, and while Ibuki was on the table I decided to keep this story a more intimate one and leave him out.
-Speaking of Ibuki, let's talk about him, Garren, and Ixa as those are the three outliers in regards to Ridewatches and this is the best place to say this. Yes, I will be having the cast collect the three remaining Ridewatches before the end of the story. As for how it happens… that's the fun part and I can't wait till we get there.
-2019: Heisei Oni, Reiwa Oni Weiss was especially fun to work with in this chapter as her side plot was running similar beats to Woz's. Of course her crisis wasn't as bad as Woz's was, so she was able to think more clearly.
-I'll often use higher tiered grunts or past monsters to sort of help even the odds here and the Gyuki here are that entirely. It's also why I had True Ongekido Roze Ver. being the requirement to win the battle here.
-Weiss' realization was me basically writing in real time as I realized that a history book alongside a fairytale book would be the perfect gifts for Sougo's birthday.
Time for Space Arc (100-102.5):
-So originally the plan was to split Another Fourze and Kamen Rider Ginga into separate two chapter mini-arcs for this particular Arc. The issue that kept coming up was both being inadequate as a singular focus for two chapters a piece.
-Another Fourze while versatile wouldn't be able to keep up with the Riders at this point, especially since he didn't have the trick of being the same host as Another Faiz. Ginga while a destructive force… he's a distraction placed in the middle of the Another Kiva story in the show.
-Original plans also included having Nadeshiko show up for Ginga and for Boot to be exclusive to Ginga's portion. Had this been a full four chapters then I might have been able to bring back some of the older KRC Members during the Ginga portion but it's hard to say.
-Kannagi was always meant to come back, his revival via space-time distortions being my way of showing the deteriorating situation further. Of course early concepts had there being two Gingas, one mindless and one being Kannagi. Eventually he was shifted into Another Fourze and later Chou Ginga-Oh once I chose to make him the central antagonist of the Arc.
-2011: Back to School, Switch On! Sees a major change in why Penny and Sougo head to AGHS to begin with. The original overarching subplot was Summer wanting to do something for Ruby and her team and wanted to throw a proper celebration/graduation of them being Huntresses. She'd enlist Sougo and Penny to scope ahead at AGHS to use it for the festivities and this would be why they'd be trying to talk to Gentaro.
-Of course the idea of graduation and growing would come back later in Gentaro's brief talk with Team RWBY in the next chapter, so the idea wasn't entirely lost.
-While Toei's attempts to perform an Ishinomori renaissance are hit and miss, I did always love the idea of Inazuman just being the hero of Fourze's future. As such I knew I wanted to feature him prominently here.
-I decided to take extreme liberties here with Boot, mostly because the most I could find of him is from the Rider Wiki. But having a design and a few blurbs for him was enough for me to do my own take on the character. I went with his 'exterminate Kamen Riders' personality purely based on his title but I figured it could be fun having this entirely separate entity.
-I also decided to make all three spotlight characters (Kannagi, Ginga, Boot) SOLU as well just to further tie them to Fourze and because meteors striking the earth isn't just exclusive to Worm.
-2019: Return of the Galaxy King gives me some fun bits to work with when it comes to Woz and Boot. Whether it's Woz trying to further understand the SOLU, or Boot himself having some minor interactions with civilians (the balloon scene was a fun one to write).
-Originally this chapter was going to see the surprise of Kengo being able to fully restore the Fourze Driver but with limited capabilities. I decided to cut the idea and instead mention that Kengo is getting close to bringing it back just in case. Instead I opted to use the Fourze Ridewatch as a way for Fourze to fully show back up. Though had I gone with the original idea the likely strongest form I'd have Gentaro utilize is Fusion States.
-This chapter is very much where I start bringing in the hints that the Battle for Atlas really did a number on Swartz and the Time Jackers. Swartz by this point has not been present except for a brief conversation here and is fairly scarce afterwards as he's solely focused on preparing Another Zi-O II. Meanwhile the Time Jackers are basically running around doing their own things uncoordinated.
-2068: Limit Break, Ginga Finally! There's a tiny blink and you'll miss it bit in the show's Kiva Tribute, and that's Another Kiva landing an actual hit on Ginga. That made me think, given Kiva's moon imagery, if that was meant to show that the Another Rider was a counter to Ginga, especially when he weakened when the sun was blocked out. This eventually led me to utilize Tsukuyomi's moon theme as a trump card against Ginga instead of everyone trying to hit him really hard at the same time.
-Originally Ruby and Kagami were going to utilize the Para-DX Ridewatch in the Rose Ridewatch to access a technique Parad used to split himself into his weaker forms, basically doing something similar. I eventually switched it to the Darkvisorzwei and Trick Vent due to Kagami's connection to the Mirror World feeling like it'd work a bit better. Plus I wanted to utilize an older Rider's Ridewatch as well.
-I do a lot of changes to Ginga's attacks, but one change was in relation to his Seiyu who also voiced Ultraman Ginga. Gigantic Ginga in particular was changed to where it mimicked exactly how Ultraman Ginga's 'Ginga Especially' attack worked and was brought out in his series.
-Woz GingaFinaly was a debut I was always trying to figure out, especially in terms of opponent since I didn't want it to just be an Another Rider. Once Kannagi was selected as the antagonist with him regaining Chou GingaOh that made plotting the fight easier.
-The ending scene with Tsukasa and Summer was put there mostly because the originally planned graduation ending of this Arc wasn't happening and ending after the battle was rather abrupt. Of course Kengo was originally with them but he had so little dialogue I ended up cutting him out of that final scene to instead focus more on Summer and Tsukasa.
Time & Space at it again Arc (103-106.5):
-2014: Surprise, Drive?! The main source of inspiration for this set of chapters was the Drive Final Stage. It really helped that Zi-O decided to bring back the Paradox Roidmude as Another Drive in show too. While it was a last minute reveal and it was mostly 'Ora', I'd say it still counts as one of the few Another Riders I didn't change the host for.
-A bit after writing these chapters the Juuga and Orteca Special happened and so I decided to put in a nod to Rinna's new research institute as a result.
-I should note that the Sword Roidmude was the request of a lot of Reviews/Comments when it came to me asking about your favorite Heisei Monsters. His appearance here was a necessity for reasons you'll learn soon. But that doesn't count against him showing up again, especially because of his popularity. It's just amusing that I already had plans with him and he ended up being a fairly popular monster.
-I used Another Cross-Z, I used Another Chalice, I had to use Another Mach and it absolutely had to be Chaser or rather his Proto Body and restored Core thanks to Finis. Helps keep the fight from being an immediate stomp.
-The Time Jackers enter a real fun diverging point in 2019: Unlimited Drive where I just completely fracture the group at this point. With Swartz off preparing Another Zi-O II and Another Riders dwindling, I thought it'd be fun to see the remaining three scatter off into their own schemes for the most part with Cinder being the only connective tissue between them.
-When it came to these chapters, I knew with how strong the group had gotten, Final Forms for other Riders were now on the table to be utilized. Of course like with prior Rider Tributes in this Saga this goes for the Another Riders, the Paradox Roidmude being the second phase of Another Drive's fight in this case.
-2006: Next Level, Kabuto is the start of another set of chapters where I enjoyed the story enough to not necessitate a brand new story. Instead I went to add as much as I could which included a proper appearance for Tendou.
-I wanted some kind of reference to God Speed Love in this story, and a radio playing an instrumental of God Bless America? That was the perfect reference I feel.
-A fun bit to do was bringing Otta back and running a bit on Worms being able to mimic people just like Roidmudes.
-I got to do a fun time loop with Hyper Kabuto here, his appearance in this chapter mirroring his proper debut in the show itself. When it came to Kabuto and Tendou, I knew I had to do something fun and Hyper Kabuto giving out the Kabuto Ridewatch already was perfect.
-So the original scene with Sougo hurrying off into space with Weiss yelling was different at the start. Originally I planned on having Sougo give Weiss a sudden kiss on the cheek to fluster her before hurrying off. But I realized that'd take away some impact for the kiss I planned to end off the last main chapter of the Saga, so it was changed accordingly.
-2019: Lords of the Speed is where I was a bit conflicted but eventually decided to give in to keeping most of the story from the show intact. Mostly in that I'd let Arata become Kabuto but as a sort of rescue/desperation move, while still showing that Arata can utilize Kabuto effectively. Tendou's comment about Arata being Kabuto feeling 'right' was taken from the actor's Youtube Channel where he had Arata's actor on as a guest and they talked briefly about the Zi-O Episodes.
-Of course I knew I needed a big finish, so I eventually settled on bringing Hyper Gatack into play, him and Hyper Kabuto fighting alongside Geiz and Tsukuyomi as the big finale.
-There was a potential idea to give Yang a chance to become TheBee since that Zector was free for use. But I ended up just not having any room for it. Plus I realized that if I had both Yang and Weiss transform into different Riders, I'd be leaving Blake out from the fun and there was no real solid place for her to transform in the chapters of this Saga.
-The idea to give Penny the ability to make elemental charges for others to utilize was inspired by Revice (Jack/Thunder Gale) with the fight in this chapter taking cues from Revice and Live vs. the Rafflessia Deadman.
Fangire Tragedy Arc (107-108.5):
-This was an arc I knew I wanted to rebuild from the ground up as it's probably my least favorite of the latter Rider Tributes in Zi-O. Of course plans ended up shifting entirely from the original scope of it.
-The full cast was meant to be present for this and both Yasuko and Rin were to be alive and present with one of the sisters taking up a much crueler role while very much pushing the other under the bus. Not to mention, Nago as Ixa was also originally going to be present in the returning legend cast.
-I had a slight Meta idea/gag to try and 'channel Inoue' alongside the melodrama of Kiva and that was to write more exaggerated and careless performances for the cast with everyone even commenting on it at the end as things return to normal. Eventually I decided for something different with the groundwork I had.
-2008: Wake Up, Queen's Descent! Splitting the Main Characters in this alongside keeping the returning Kiva cast to Wataru, Taiga, and Jiro were a way to give this story a more intimate feeling.
-I also figured this Arc being about different kinds of love would give me a perfect chance to show what exactly happens when you push the 'Weiss button' with Sougo.
-Sougo's charge against Dark Kiva that ends this chapter and starts next chapter is a deliberate homage/reference to Otoya's and King's confrontation in 41 and 42 of Kiva, though Sougo ends up managing to luck out better than Otoya.
-2019: True Kiva's Supernova sees me give Weiss a slight upgrade in her Glyphs, in which she uses the points of the emblem to attack by launching them out. I was inspired via two different sources, the first and most obvious one being Arrowfell in which that's a side effect of Weiss' glyph platforms in the game. The second is me watching the OP for Witch from Mercury and watching Aeriel's Gund-Bits shield formation block a blast before spiraling out to attack and being inspired by that. I wanted Roze RWBY to do something like that and that led me back to remember how Arrowfell utilized the Glyphs.
-Weiss also getting a chance to be Ixa was mostly because I also wanted to include Ixa even if I couldn't include the primary current day user. The thought was maybe Jiro returning to the role due to the limited cast but I ended up deciding on Weiss being a temporary user after some thinking.
-Yasuko getting to be Dark Kiva was to make sure she'd last a decent while, but also… I really wanted an excuse to let Taiga transform into Saga again. Saga's my favorite suit from Kiva and I really wanted to put it in.
Grand Awakening Arc (109-114.5):
-2007: DenLiner has Arrived! Another Den-O was a mystery for me on who I'd get to fill the role. The canon choice didn't really work for how I wanted to set up this final arc. Likewise an original idea was a disgruntled KingLiner employee (inspiration coming from the Den-O Final Stage) as someone who was fed up with the Den-O crew and wanting to teach them a lesson.
-Eventually I settled on creating Gestern since he presented me several opportunities. One such opportunity was a brief look into 2068 and some hints at how Salem was faring. The main point was having someone who would absolutely jump at the chance of finishing off Zi-O alongside someone somewhat connected to Geiz and Tsukuyomi.
-Futaros originally wasn't going to be a part of Tsukuyomi's backstory until drafting out more ideas for the Den-O Tribute. Especially when I knew this would be the point where she'd investigate her past more deeply. In order to make his appearance less sudden though, I had him cameo in various ways starting with Tsukuyomi's flashback at the end of the Fourze chapters.
-It was also fairly early on I decided that this Futaros would be the one from the main show/movie timeline. It was decided on for a few reasons, mostly to show this story was mainly a divergence from the main show. I also decided on it because Futaros has the slimmest chance of ever returning, so there was no harm in making a fun reference/implication like that.
-WBY being possessed by Urataros, Ryutaros, and Kintaros was something that was locked in from the very beginning. The idea of Momotaros possessing Ruby was also on the table, but I just loved Momo-Geiz too much that I ended up not going through with it.
-Ryotaro was brought into the story mainly because of course I needed the central figure of the Main Rider of Den-O. But he was also brought in as someone to easily mediate and deal with Yuto's declarations in order to prevent GrandZi-O's creation from being stalled.
-2019: The Grand Climax has GrandZi-O ready to go from the minute one which meant an extremely early climax followed by a lot of decompressing before we slowly start to bring up the tension again.
-Due to me getting rid of the Another Rider plot from the show it meant I didn't really have an emotional climax of sorts. So with Junichiro more heavily involved in Sougo's Rider life at this point, I decided to have him stick around, being kidnapped, before finally getting to meet with Sougo's parents one last time. It was a scene I enjoyed including and some pay-off for Junichiro learning the truth earlier than usual.
-Speaking of emotional climaxes, while I knew I couldn't make it as strong as Generations Forever, I still wanted to include Momotaros' "we'd never forget you" line to Ryotaro in this chapter.
-1973: Cross of Fire I knew I wanted Cinder to last fairly long despite the deteriorating state I put her in so I ended up going for her stealing Ridewatches and adding their power to her own. Of course she's still very much unstable, but it keeps everyone on their toes as a result.
-When it came to Finis' last stand I knew Another Ichigo had to happen, but I knew I had to basically set it separately than combining it with Zero-One like The First Generation. So to add to it I ended up making it the unofficial part 3 of the Den-O chapters alongside taking a visit to the Showa Era with an Ichigo cameo to boot.
-I know some were a bit disappointed with Finis' end in this chapter, but I knew I couldn't keep stretching them out further than this. They're a movie villain and I only have so much to work with, the fact that I stretched it for this long is a miracle. Another Zero-One is still happening, but obviously things are going to be different.
-2019: World, Reset has Salem's reappearance after being shelved for about 20 chapters or so back. While she gets immediately shelved again upon the end of her bout with Grand Zi-O her appearance here was for two reasons. One to make sure you all didn't forget about her, and Two to make sure Sougo still had a decent streak as Grand Zi-O as I wanted to keep the form from showing fatigue early.
-Though that doesn't mean Sougo himself can't show fatigue as I explicitly mention how long Sougo and Ruby have been running around and fighting without break. It's to mostly show that, while yes, Sougo has an absurdly powerful form… if he doesn't have the stamina to back it up, he's not going to last long, especially in a world that wants at his throat constantly.
-WBY along with Geiz being part of the resistance and their memories being messed with was one of the first things planned. I really wanted to twist the knife in for Sougo and Ruby, but show that there were still some bright spots. Mostly in WBY being aware something was wrong alongside being unable to actually deal fatal blows against Sougo and Ruby.
-Tsukuyomi being the Queen to Hiryu's King alongside Woz masquerading as Aka-Woz were me utilizing the Queen Tsukuyomi plotline from the Zi-O Final Stage.
-Tsukasa's a lot more reined in here from the show, though that's mostly due to Summer's influence alongside the Decade Cast being support for the Roze Cast. The groups have had more interactions thanks to their time in Atlas and so of course that means Tsukasa's going to act differently.
-I also went with a slightly altered take on Another Zi-O II's abilities, in that if I plan on using as much of Zi-O's content if possible, that includes considering Another Oma Zi-O. That meant Another Zi-O II casually rewriting world history was a bit of an issue. I decided to alter it to where he could only alter a certain part of the world and it would spread out, with Riders being unaffected and only being forced outside the effected zone.
-I also mention this briefly and subtly but Hiryu as Another Zi-O II also had to use a lot of power to even try and mostly alter WBY's personalities due to them being from another world/timeline. This is also adding on the attempted subjugation of Tsukuyomi to act as his Queen. It's why I mention the radius of the affected area is only the city and it's slowly expanding. More of the world would have been affected had he not had to do that much heavy lifting on the initial usage.
-2019: Missing World The Decade Cast plays a far more supportive role in this story, including Daiki who is more reined in as well. I needed a workaround to his antics, so instead of him deciding to go along with Swartz he's instead captured and mind controlled.
-Weiss' "Sit boy" to Geiz is absolutely a reference to Inuyasha and one I'm glad I was able to include in.
-The final scene with Swartz and Tsukuyomi was probably my favorite to write as it's an entire inverse of how it ends in the actual episode. It was also a good way to show that things were about to be different in the next chapter.
-2019: Tsukuyomi's Counterattack has me entirely change Tsukuyomi's and Swartz' confrontation with each other. With Tsukuyomi in the know alongside having a longer time utilizing her powers than in the show she's able to act accordingly and deal with Swartz throughout the chapter to where the Time Jacker Leader has now been dethroned.
-While a very late debut, I also knew I wanted to show off Den-O's Armor Time and Tsukuyomi using it here was the chance I needed once I figured I needed to divide the fights up.
-Shinkuroze actually didn't exist at first as Cinder was just going to be a powered up Hi-Roze. But upon looking at Crimson Vail from Revice, with it being repainted from Jack Revice, I was inspired to go for a black and red repaint/modified look of my own.
-Originally an idea was to have the characters just let Cinder roam around Tokyo, there being enough Riders and heroes around to where she wouldn't get far if she tried anything. Eventually I decided on her just being transported back to Remnant to be incarcerated to hold her in place just in case I had any specific plans for her.
-If there was any point to have Weiss and Sougo kiss, it was the end of this chapter to close off the Saga (mostly). The location, that being near some swings, was inspired by Shin Ultraman and ORK which had swing set scenes I ended up finding fun.
[Interludes]
-The main purpose for most of the Interludes this time around was to put focus on Penny and any fun adventures I could think of. I eventually decided that her learning to play the guitar as a hobby would be the main connecting tissue. That in general is very much a Kikaider reference in how Jiro would always walk around with a guitar.
-The secondary purpose was to set up for future events in the main chapters, such as Penny practicing with her magic to set elemental charges or her learning how to control a Time Mazine for when she fought Another Ichigo.
-The Mysterious Instructor had me introduce Naoya Kaido under his stage name of Naoto Kamiya which was basically my clever way of referencing his role in Revice: The Mystery.
-Originally everything in the chapter only covered Penny's side of the story. I ended up adding Ruby's segments later due to realizing how short the Interlude was.
-Who was the Man with the Electric Guitar as a title is a reference to how Drive would structure its episode titles. With Drive being the next I felt the need to do a fun reference via the preceding interlude.
-The chapter was originally going to involve Roidmudes as a prelude to Another Drive but I ended up scrapping that, instead going for an unused Zodiarts, Aquila, which had a design and concept drawn up.
-Kikaider was always in the cards for this chapter, with the Roidmudes complimenting it. Aquila was only decided after figuring I'd turn the interlude into a mini Kikaider x Inazuman story, with Aquila fitting in due to Inazuman's prominence in Fourze's story.
-Secrets Unveiled has me pull an opening that most people didn't get the reference to. It's referencing the opening scene of Ohranger Episode 21 where the newly repaired Ohranger Robo and Red Puncher are exercise dancing in order to make sure everything's running correctly. The scene is also set to the insert I added as well, Overnight Sensation by TRF.
-The rest of the chapter is fairly simple but around the time of writing it we were deep into Volume 9, and that influenced the conversation between Blake and Weiss about "things turning out differently".
-This is probably the most I've had the main plot sort of slide into one of these Interludes, which is the continued adventures of Narutaki and Neo with their monster collection. It alongside the brief Worm encounter had been put here mostly since I didn't have much room to do something similar in the Kabuto chapters.
-Another Side was originally going to just be the stuff in Atlas, it was a last minute decision to add the Raven and Summer confrontation as I had yet to really decide if I wanted to really bring Raven into the story or not.
-The Limitless Possibilities of Zi-O spawned into existence because the thought "could Sougo just summon Gaim from the one time he was lying on the bed?" occurred. It then spiraled into Sougo and Weiss having a training session where he brought out Riders in more unique/hilarious moments.
[Questions Not Yet Answered]
Now while I have likely answered a fair few inquiries in my explanations there are some questions I've yet to answer properly. So let's talk about them here.
Dragon Rider 66 Asked:
(What were your thoughts were with some of your original stuff here like Tsukuyomi's Ride Gadget gimmick along with the Armor times?)
Answer: I wanted to give Tsukuyomi some unique stuff in order for her to keep up with the others since Zi-O, Geiz, Roze, and Woz are deep into forms and upgrades. It's why I decided that certain Armor Times that would show up during Saga 5 would be debuted by Tsukuyomi instead. Basically keep her evened out with the others even if she's lacking in a true power-up form.
MaskedRide Asked:
(Will this get a crossover with Song of Swords?)
Answer: Crossovers are definitely a thought I had when it comes to my other story. Heck if you've read SoS then I've already done quite a bit of hinting at the direction this story will take through various clues I have of SoS dipping its toes in the Roze pond so to speak. Though I don't have any solidified plans for a crossover yet, but it'll likely be something Post-Series for both of them.
SonoZafuru Asked:
(Are you sure you weren't cursed with Apollo's gift of prophecy when you wrote parts of this story? Especially with the third part of the Rose of Remnant story releasing on the same day we (finally) get some details about Summer's final night.)
Answer: Oh I wish since that'd potentially make life a bit easier now wouldn't it? But no, it's just extreme luck on my part in which I get amusing circumstances happening. Such as me predicting a lot of major elements from the OOO 10th Film or as you said, managing to land Rose of Remnant's final chapter on the same day we got V9's finale which included some juicy Summer content.
Blackmetalzane22 Asked:
1. (Was Sougo always planned to get together with Weiss?)
Answer: Originally I wasn't going to have any ships in the story. At least until someone wondered in the early chapters if Ruby and Sougo would get together. That led to me and my Supervisor Josh just brainstorming the potential routes to go, and we eventually landed on Sougo and Weiss after discussing it further.
2. (In some of the early chapters, it almost seemed like Geiz had a crush on Ruby, since he got flustered a few times with her. Did have a crush, or was he just caught off guard from the way Ruby acted?)
Answer: I'll be legit, that was probably accidental on my part. It was mostly just him getting caught off guard by the way Ruby acted, especially since I'd like to imagine Geiz isn't too much of a social person. Add in the fact that he doesn't have an undying hatred of Ruby like he does Sougo, and that's mostly why he reacted differently to her.
3. (I believe it was stated somewhere, can't remember where, that Ruby and Summer have the same Semblance. So what made you change it to the Boogie Woogie from Jujustu Kaisen?)
Answer: From what I've looked up, it seems to be people mostly guessing based on the first opening's visuals. We've never had confirmation on her Semblance which led to me brainstorming ideas which I mentioned earlier on.
4. (Out of all the Saga's you've written for this story, so far, which one was your favorite to write, and which was your least favorite?)
Answer: Don't make me choose between my children, I love them all equally, how could you? Nah but being serious, A New Age for Remnant is probably so far my favorite of the bunch I've written for. While The Grand Rider World had some moments I had been waiting to get to, getting to do a more extensive remix of multiple RWBY Volumes alongside getting to fully bring in Summer was a lot of fun.
As for least favorite… it's probably Rising Riders of Remnant with Arrival of Oma's Day at a close second. While Arrival of Oma's Day did have the RWBY's Rider Assistance Arc being fairly long and definitely being a chore to write at points, the surrounding stuff was a lot of fun to write. Meanwhile with Rising Riders of Remnant… it was a lot of just following Volume 6 for the most part alongside odd pacing things since I didn't want static non-changed scenes involving the villains of RWBY. Plus it's a very short return to Remnant and there was no real natural way to draw it out further than what I did.
That's not to say I didn't enjoy what I did for the Saga, but it definitely was one the weaker ones that I look back on.
5. (Do you plan on doing any other Kamen Rider stories that involve RWBY, or is Roze from Remnant all you're doing with them?)
Answer: So far the answer is no. Unless I get a really good idea, any future Rider related ideas involving RWBY will likely involve post-series crossover stuff with Roze Gaiden.
Anthony Galupo Asked:
(Can you please do a reaction fanfiction about this please with the RWBY cast?)
Answer: Now this is something I get a lot, especially since I also have people asking if they can make reaction fanfiction of Roze. The answer as of right now is a simple no on both accounts. While I am very flattered that people want to make a react fic of mine, there's something that doesn't sit right with me about it. Not to mention I have no real interest in making a react fic of my own work.
NiChoZoLubigan Asked:
1. (Will you crossover other Rider fanfics like Micheal Ravencroft's Rider fics and/or the OC Riders?)
Answer: I'm open to considering any potential collaboration when it comes to either of my stories. I don't go seeking these out though, as I'm rather socially anxious and nervous in general. If someone comes with an offer though I'll consider it, it just depends.
2. (Like other people. Will you do a storyline centered on Saber x Symphogear and this fic?)
Answer: The furthest I'm likely to go in terms of the main story is Zero-One due to that still having major Zi-O Content (Another Zero-One). Sympho-Saber definitely has the potential of a crossover post-series though.
Anoter55 Asked:
(What was your original idea with Penny because I remember a dialogue about (How are they connected when they were in atlas).)
Answer: I'm unsure what you mean by this… if you mean certain dialogue that Penny had during the early parts of the New Age Saga, then it was my attempt to hint at an Arrowfell Gaiden in which plans fell through.
SymphogearPug Asked:
(When did Weiss/Sougo each start catching feelings for each other?)
Answer: Now this is something I didn't get to surprisingly, but while the signs were there since middle-ish of Saga 2, I'd like to say anything major happened after returning to 2018. There's a lot more downtime and no real missions going on, plus Weiss helping tutor Sougo. The one on one sessions the two had were more than likely the spark that would eventually burst into something more.
[Final Words]
This was certainly a bigger undertaking than the prior Behind the Scenes, if only because I was covering four Sagas instead of just one. But we managed to get through it and I do hope this has been enlightening in different ways.
Not much else to say other than to take care of the usual housekeeping, though there's a bit more this time. Roze will return in March with the idea to hit 3 Chapters being posted a month, which means you can expect Roze back on March 9th. If you're curious on a schedule I hope to have one out my profile before the end of February.
Of course I have to mention that this story does have a TV Tropes page, so please check it out, edit it, etc. Like usual you can find me on my writing twitter Zero's Workshop under the handle ZeroEnchiladas. I also now have a Discord Server for my writing where readers and fans can come and hang out with the link to it on my twitter. With that said, thanks for reading and I'll see you all next time.