Sougo Tokiwa (Kamen Rider Zi-O)

Sougo Tokiwa (常磐ソウゴ, Tokiwa Sōgo), alternatively spelt Sogo Tokiwa, is the main protagonist of Kamen Rider Zi-O. He is an 18-year-old (19 as of Episode 34) high school student (graduated as of Episode 29) who is inspired to become a great king through kindness by becoming Kamen Rider Zi-O

Why He Rocks

 * 1) His fate on whether or not he becomes a Demon King is very interesting to watch, as it gives him a clear motivation and the idea of the Main Rider becoming a villain is a cool concept
 * 2) He has a very likable personality, that being a positive-thinking, optimistic, friendly and peaceful but also somewhat oblivious manchild, well mixed in traits taken from other Heisei Riders such as Yusuke Godai/Kamen Rider Kuuga and Shinji Kido/Kamen Rider Ryuki.
 * 3) Due to him being such a fish out of water in the show's plot, he does provide a lot of good comedic moments, mostly because of his stupidity and good chemistry with the rest of the cast
 * 4) Within the first dozen episodes, it's shown that his grades aren't bad due to a lack of intellect, but rather a lack of direction, and whenever it comes to his goal of kingship, or protecting people, he can be dangerously cunning, so much so that it's hard to see where Oma Zi-O ends and Sougo begins.
 * 5) * Even though he acts like a clumsy and dumb nice-guy, when he gets serious well... Sougo becoming Oma Zi-O in the future looks a lot more plausible.
 * 6) * He may look unassuming, naive, and just as far from his future self as he could be. He does have some fairly stupid moments, but otherwise is a scarily good strategist, manipulator, and fighter. Don't let his idiotic facade fool you, as he is also a cunning and clever manipulator.
 * 7) He's arguably the most powerful Kamen Rider in the franchise, having a mix of powers based off of previous Legend Riders and original abilities.
 * 8) He might be a nice guy compared to his future counterpart, but he's both a scarily cunning manipulator and a brutally effective fighter.
 * 9) Sougo's kind and dopey nature belie the fact that he can be shockingly cunning and manipulative when he wants to be. Geiz realizes by the end of #8 that he spent the entire two-parter as a puppet on Sougo's strings, a two-parter where Sougo even manipulates Woz into giving him the information that he wants. Not long after, Sougo also reveals that he's a much better fighter than he's been letting on.
 * 10) A lot of his suits also look very well made such as his base form, Build Armor, Ex-Aid Armor, OOO Armor, Zi-O II, and Ohma Zi-O.
 * 11) He's a very loving and compassionate person, caring for all of his friends and willing to avenge them if they've been wronged, even Geiz whose entire purpose at the start was to kill Sougo.
 * 12) He consistently stayed a good character even outside of the main show, as he was great in Over Quartzer, Heisei Generations Forever, and Reiwa: The First Generation
 * 13) * Ever since learning about his future self being a tyrant, Sougo's been doing his damndest to make sure he doesn't go down that path. That being said, if he has to protect his friends, he's more than willing to embark on the road to him becoming Oma Zi-O. Just ask Another Ryuga, who Sougo demolished with the Zi-O II Ridewatch - the very same Ridewatch that triggered his transformation into Oma Zi-O in the first place.
 * 14) As said before he does have good chemistry with most of the characters he interacts with, mainly Geiz Myokoin/Kamen Rider Geiz, Black Woz/Kamen Rider Woz, and Aruto Hiden/Kamen Rider Zero-One

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some people may get annoyed by his immature personality and his subpar social skills.
 * 2) * Even though he is a compassionate kid, but he just doesn't seem to notice what people around him feel; for instance, he had no idea that Geiz was angry until the other rider grabbed his collar and screamed in his face. The other option may be that he is well aware of everything, but he doesn't care unless those feelings are directed at him or have to be accounted for in a plan (his or someone else's).
 * 3) * In #22, his mediocre social skills caused Tsukuyomi to turn against him. His mirror self, however, implies that it's not so much his communication skills being subpar, but actually intentional without him even realizing it.
 * 4) * While Sougo is very intelligent and a master manipulator, he's so head over heels for Yuko that he shuts off his brain and believes every word she says, making it unbelievably easy to trick him into believing she's his first love.
 * 5) He's so polite and optimistic that it's scary sometimes.
 * 6) We never get any backstory as to why he wants to be a king.
 * 7) Some of his suits look pretty bad, mainly the Gaim Armor and W Armor.

Trivia

 * He is named after the apartment complex Shotaro Ishinomori stayed in during his mangaka days, Tokiwa-sou.
 * "Tokiwa" also carries the word (とき Toki), which can be translated into 'time' when it is written in kanji "時".
 * He's an altered version of SOUGO Tokiwa, the original Sougo and the Leader of Quartzer. He also has eight different versions of himself running around in the Rider Time: Kamen Rider Zi-O VS Decade spin-off.
 * Sougo happens to be a very big fan of Nobunaga Oda, perhaps even more so when he discovers that Sougo becomes a demon king himself in the future and sees Nobunaga as a sort of role model to use.
 * He dreams of being a king. Sure enough, he finds out that unless he changes his ways, his future self is an omnipotent tyrant who rules the world with an iron fist. This happens again in the Another Zi-O II arc since meeting Oma Zi-O, Sougo has done his best to avert that future and it finally happens in #41 when he is Ret-Gone from history. But this allows Hiryu to take his place as an even worse Oma Zi-O.
 * One of his powers as king is the ability to not only see the future in his dreams but create the future by dreaming about it. While Sougo doesn't consciously control the dreams, they're based on his subconscious memories, fears, and desires. It's implied that the entire Geiz Revive arc is the product of Sougo's newfound terror at the thought of becoming Oma Zi-O and wanting to create someone who could kill him. This gift is used to hide that his so-called "dream" of the man in black was actually a memory of Swartz abducting him as a child.