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Kamen Rider Zero-One Episode 38- "I Am 1000% Your Friend!" Discussion
The Ark rampage continues as Gai attempts to ally with Aruto. But where are his true loyalties???
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ah man... Gai was not "redeemed" as hard as I thought this was going to be...
that was actually pretty handled well... man having Tiger parent(s) really is hard... I can attest since I have 'em. Gai's inferiority complex in his youth then it gradually encompassed to superiority complex when he became an adult... as much as I really don't want him to get redeemed, this is okay I guess... it wasn't forced fed as I thought it was gonna be... |
I have a feeling Gai won't be around for long. Not dead, but he'll be possessed by the Ark later on.
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watch Gai's father is going to be the main bad guy TBF By this point in the show seems like the writers made up their mind on their endgame choices so having a guy come right the heck out of nowhere with little to no foreshadowing would be cheep at least with both Drive and Ex-Aid there was foreshadowing that Banno and Masamunee would be an important plus good move by Ex-Aid's writer for making you think Masamune was in jail for something Kuroto did (I mean it kinda was but he set the whole thing up so he could use Kuroto as a scapegoat)
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I'm waiting for subs to make a proper judgment but man this was beautiful.
I can already hear some people being like "Come on, this is what twisted him so much? Some childhood trauma over a robot dog?", but, really? That kind of shit is exactly what turns children into malicious adults. Constant mental abuse, the feeling of never being good enough, losing the one thing you actually care about. The scene were little boy Gai packs up the robot dog and closes the box is essentially an Old Yeller-kinda situation, he is forced to end his best friend. Are we supposed to forgive Gai now? Absolutely not, he's cruel, despicable and evil. His sins aren't washed away, but given one chance he can at least go forward and do the right thing. For a character that was essentially only created to be Aruto's flipside adversary, and who did nothing but one-up his assholery every week until he finally got what he deserved, I feel like it's perfect to let him open a door towards a better future. For himself and the ones he wronged. Although I believe it will eventually end with Gai realizing he cannot possibly repent for what he has done, and he will go out either defending against or destroying the Arc he created. By the way, among the entire great scenes in this episode, robot dog jumping into action and braking like Izu does whenever she comes in hot was adorable. I also like this scene a lot because it makes you really aware how amazing Thouser's suit is. It was always "cool", but you were quickly led to hate it because of who wears it and what he does with it, but Thouser standing before Aruto at the end was so epic. Lastly, I'm glancing over AI-chan on purpose because I couldn't understand a word she said, but she really has to be the best thing Aruto ever came up with. It helped three characters to find a resolution for themselves within three single episodes. Turns out therapy robots aren’t half-bad of an idea. |
Honestly the Ai-chan thing is cute but... I wish it was Aruto himself who was talking with the characters, actually making a connection between our cast instead of leaving it to a voice in a box...
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Gai wouldn’t have accepted a talk from Aruto. Fuwa doesn't open up to him and Yua cannot talk to anyone out of guilt. Of course with due time and fitting writing this could’ve been pulled off, but for a better pace I don’t mind that it is Aruto's invention helping everyone out. Because in the end it achieves the same thing. They are connected by Aruto, by his dream. |
I feel a bit cautious about Ai-chan activating the printer machine by herself, on how her AI is becoming more advanced each day. Wonder if she'll play a bigger role in the rest of series.
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The weirdest thing about the robotic dog is that he isn't named One One. When is Aruto going to make that pun, huh? ZAIA Dog Thouzer sure knows how to make a dramatic entrance though. Maybe he could be a good sidekick. I was so prepared to choose the joke option in the poll but 1) I didn't want to disrespect the dog and 2) Gai having an abusive parent actually explains quite a lot about his behavior. It doesn't redeem all of his sins, Daybreak happened and people died, but his backstory does make him a little sympathetic. Ark is his mistake, he needs to help fix it. |
I feel that if Aruto could combine the ai-chan concept with robo pet. He would have a really great product that would help so many people.
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Suppose Gai survives, I assume he will get a V-Cinema film that becomes his true redemption story, gets an upgrade, and finally move on with his life.
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Saw this in an Fb group which summarizes Gai's emotions.
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"I wasn't worth a percent" is making me laugh really hard.
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Yeah, after a lot of jokes going round about Gai's redemption for the last week, this was surprisingly alright? Maybe even pretty good?
As others have said, Gai is in no position to be redeemed. He's done some bad stuff. And this episode doubles down on that. He tries to kill the Vice-Prez, of all people, the most ineffectual joke character there is! And, I think most notably, the episode ends on him actually saving Aruto. Even structurallyy, the show knows this is a big decision, and actually has him doing something that starts him on the path to redemption *before* the main cast decide he's secretly good all along. This episode shows that, while it doesn't erase your past actions, you can confront your past traumas and try to better yourself. I get the feeling he's not gonna come out on top by the end of the show - your consequences do come back to haunt you, after all - but he can at least try to be better than he was. Obviously, there's still time to make future judgements, and how Fuwa/Yua react to this is gonna be a big factor. But right now? I'm more optimistic about this than I was. In other, non-Amatsu news, Yua and Fuwa continue to be great together, and they've even picked up their own squad! I won't lie, I don't remember which iteration of the Hard Boyz these two are, but given they seem to like Yua, I'm gonna guess it's the ones we assumed died off screen 8 episodes or so ago. Nice to see that AIMS don't entirely agree with ZAIA's policy of having them get their arses kicked every episode. Aruto is still great, especially in his utter brushing off of Gai. He couldn't stand the guy a few weeks back, but he's been so humiliated by everyone that even Aruto just makes jokes at his expense. (Seriously though, no comments about how Gai Amatsu, 45 year old president, named his big bad Rider form after his tin dog?) |
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I find it kinda cute, and endearing that Gai decided to name his Rider Form after his former robo dog, the only thing that really brought him joy in life.
But it's also very hilarious that that's the case. Also it makes me really not like the 5th choice in this poll because like... we have two Thouser's now. And the fact that I can legitimately say, "Wow Thouser's a neat dude." and it be in context of the dog, is great. But yeah it's funny how everyone was overblowing this redemption, no one's forgiving him just yet, and at least on image previews it seems Yua and Fuwa are severely annoyed/skeptical of him this coming Saturday. Gai's just kinda realized that, you know, he's been a shit and he wants sort of, work to being a better person. We just finally really got the backstory that made him who he is, and it's a completely understandable backstory too! It's just something we probably should have gotten hints about way earlier! The idea of someone being mentally abused into being perfect, to the point where their forced to believe their only way of comfort from that is just a weakness, is seriously messed up. Like when you contextualize events, you realize just how messed up Gai's childhood ended up being in regards to things he does. 1000% was basically something that belittled him his entire childhood. And Thouser is basically a tribute to his lost friend, the thing that brought him out of despair temporarily. And it's just intriguing to see these two conflicting things be a part of Gai's character early on. Does that excuse everything he did? No. It does at least give us context as to why he's as messed up as he is though. But it's clear that he seemingly wants to try and be better. Of course like others have said, Karma will likely bite him in the ass. But that's all about Thouser, can I just say, closing this off that I loved how we got the bike again? Also Rising Hopper just bouncing forward back and forth on both sides of the bike as it drove forward was really cool for a transformation. |
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It's Micchy all over again. Someone who was an unprecedented asshole that everybody wanted to see them get the worst punishment possible, but then they get the unexpected outcome of them releazing how much of a total prick they were being and want to redeem themselves. That's the most endearing thing about Rider. I liked it a bit better than Gentoku from Build, and I much as I love Build, even I'm willing to admit it was disappointing how out of nowhere and hand waved it was.
Can't wait for the next ep, Zero Two is coming soon. |
NO NO NO NO NO!! I didn't want to see this! I didn't want to sympathize with Gai! I wanted him to get his 1000% karma paid back at him! Not throw a robot dog from out of nowhere or any build up for sympathy and expect all is forgiven in an instant!
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Gai's not being forgiven in an instant, in fact, a major point in next week's episode is him trying to convince Yaiba and Fuwa to forgive him, which they don't want to do. Even Aruto wasn't expecting him to turn around, no one did and no one has just upped and forgiven him yet. Relax please. |
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I have a feeling Gai will later get possessed by the Ark in order for it to gain Ark-One.
I can imagine while inside of the Ark's influence, he sees his father scolding him as torment. But eventually, Aruto & illusions of Ichi-Gata & Korenosuke come to his rescue with the power of Zero-Two. It's a theory I thought up on. |
I almost shed a tear for Gai this episode. Being told that his best wasn't good enough must have really messed with him, and it's pretty interesting that despite his decision to get rid of Dogser, he still named his Rider form after him because it was his only source of happiness.
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Wonder what’ll be the fate of Ikazuchi? Who’s side is he on? And what if he passes his key to Subaru to be the new Ikazuchi if he dies?
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There is a very Citizen Kane vibe that I get from Gai especially as of this episode.
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I am thinking Gai will try to trick Ark into possessing him and then he will sacrifice himself to destroy it. It won't kill him, but it will be the start of his road to redemption. Then he uses his wealth to help others achieve a 1000% dream.
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https://i.imgur.com/I9Wgmb2.png
My feelings on this episode are 1000% conflicted. It was extremely bold, made a lot of daring choices, and had a lot of moments that really went for big emotional punches that pushed the story leaps and bounds forward. I don't feel a shred of hatred, or even true aggravation towards it. It was also downright nonsensical, relies on payoffs to things that have never been set up, and left me sitting there, start to finish, wondering when and why this show's writing went down the toilet. I cannot bring myself to call it good, no matter how hard I try. And I hate feeling that way. I think I'm going to have just go from the beginning here. I'm really sorry, but this is going to be another long one. Right off the bat, I think part of my problem is that the episode basically laid out nitpicking bait for me with how Gai being accused was handled. The idea that nobody thought to copy all the incriminating evidence before bringing it to the guy you're accusing in a private room is baffling, but I'm also well aware Fukuzoe and his crew aren't exactly the smartest people around, and more importantly, it's standard fictional procedure. You've gotta have the bad guy rip up the papers or whatever. I get it, but it also gnaws at me as I'm watching it because it feels like an omen of how much the writing is willing to take shortcuts for drama. It puts me in a mood where I start getting ready to find faults. And that should be really unfair on my part, right? This kind of cynical thinking is exactly the sort of thing I discourage at every opportunity. But then the thing that apparently finally takes Gai down after all this time, right after this, is that... he assaulted somebody as Thouser, and they have a video of it. That first thing has happened on several occasions before, with the only flimsy justification I can think of being that all those other times, Aruto was already transformed or something. "Just use video evidence" was also something the show explicitly showed the problem with back when MC Check It Out was hanging around. At the time, that was a smart way to plug a plot hole, and yet now, it's swung back around to making things even more confusing. The entire sequence was giving me nightmarish flashbacks to everything I ever complained about during the competition arc. And that's such a shame! Because there's so much about the scene I fundamentally like! The idea of having our two rival CEO's meet back up in the presidential secret lab of Hiden Intelligence for one final duel, as our underdog heroes finally manage to put the villain in a position of desperation? That's like, THE most perfect possible way to end Zero-One and Thouser's run as enemies. It's a short fight, but it's shot as well as ever, and using such a confined space, that's also a set we've come to know so well as a place where people don't ever fight gives it such a great novelty factor. Takahashi even brought back the secret entrance that I think was only ever used if the episode that introduced Shining Hopper, which wasn't even written by him! That's great attention to detail! So I'm just totally confused about how to feel after all this, and everything after that doesn't help much. The stuff with MetsubouJinrai right now is neither super interesting nor particularly offensive, so I'll completely skip talking about it to focus on the elephant in the room. Or the, uh, robot dog, in this case. Thouser's road to redemption here felt like a joke the entire time to me. I'm not even opposed to the idea, either, so that wasn't the problem. It's just that everything about the execution came off as almost... sarcastic? Or at least like it didn't really want to put in the time and effort to truly get us to that point. This backstory may have been planned from the start for all I know, but it's something we've never got the slightest hint of until now, and I found it hard to not feel like it was a mistake to throw all of this out here right now. Giving Gai a sympathetic backstory of having an extremely s***ty dad is something I could've guessed. It was the backstory for Takahashi's previous evil CEO Rider, after all. It's also in the same camp of Gai's over the top evilness in that it's way more realistic than I think we all wish it were, so believability isn't the issue either. But going all in on it this late in the game, and having Gai realize the error of his ways through his previously undocumented love for a robot puppy, it just didn't feel authentic to me? Not helped by how Ai-chan's ability to get anyone to admit any deep personal truth feels like another cheap writing shortcut no matter how much it emphasizes the good AI can do. And as much as I didn't like all the central drama with Gai, the absolute biggest cheat in this episode had to the AIMS Raider goons suddenly having conflicted emotions about their role serving under Thouser because it was convenient to Yua's arc. This is where I say "what if" again, but hey, what if those Raider guys had just been a recurring, specific duo of people who could've gotten names and more scenes to actually demonstrate the things they're saying about their faith in Yua or their doubts about Gai? Because as it is, unless I'm forgetting something, there are only a scarce few scenes that could even be construed as supporting this. Judging by the other responses in this thread, I seem to be pretty alone in feeling none of this worked all that well, and man, I've never been happier to be the contrarian here, because finding out everybody hated this plot point was the only thing that could've made me feel worse. Good on all of you for seeing the good in this one. The whole "Thouser was a dog the whole time" thing, I desperately want to like it. It's exactly the kind of stupidly crazy concept I love from Kamen Rider, and selling me on villain redemption stories is as easy as can be. I'll probably even enjoy what they do with Thouser from this point on way more than I enjoyed how we got here. But, you know, I knew Adel had issues with his dad long before he went totally off the deep end. I saw that develop. I was given the time to understand why Mitsuzane would let his desperation to cling to the security of his familiar life drive him to madness. I could tell Kuroto Dan genuinely believed himself to be a benevolent god, and he never once actually made an attempt to reform, even when working with the heroes. All I've known about Gai for half a series is that he is just about the most repugnant human being imaginable, and literally nothing else. This episode had to do a ton of work to make that ending feel earned, and honestly, it did do the work. The way it's all put together, the music, the direction, it's all great, but, at least in this case, giving it 100% effort really might not have been enough. Seeing Rising Hopper on a bike again was pretty great though. |
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Those two suddenly showing up and saying "We didn't feel right working for ZAIA." with zero prior moments to show this felt like plot convenience just to give Yua her place to potentially go back to. Speaking of Yua, you could tell she didn't agree with some, if not most, of the things Gai told her to do. You could tell from episode 16 that she was uncomfortable with her employment under Gai. That's what made her leaving in episode 33 a great payoff (imo) since it had been building for almost a full 18 episodes. The way the Raiders just happened to have a turn around never hinted at felt forced. |
God damn it, Zero-One. You actually made me sympathize with Gai. You complete bastard.
Like, yeah, the bit where the two AIMS mooks show up and try to pretend they've actually been characters up to this point was lame, but I will be damned if the Gai story didn't know exactly which emotional buttons to hit for me. He still sucks, but I am ride or die for the robo puppy. |
How the fuck did they make someone as despicable as Gai so sympathetic? It's like they're making Kamoshida sympathetic!
But they did it. Somehow. I am conflicted. Does this mean bad people aren't that bad? Everyone is an asshole but also innocent?! Mnemo- *does not compute* *SengalBoy has stopped responding* |
After thinking on it for a bit, count me in the boat of 'i dont like this and think it sucks' when it comes to everything regarding Thouser. I was kinda thinking to hold off making any internal conclusions about it since this episode does end on a cliffhanger, but I'm pretty sure the show has said all it's going to about Gai now.
Putting aside my feelings about Gai though, I'm going to be upset if the show has him be instrumental to the creation of Zero One's final form. I didn't like it in Ex-Aid when not only did Hyper Muteki come about entirely without Emu's involvement, but that Kuroto could just make a gashat that makes you invincible without any particular special steps or or requirements, especially after all the build-up that went into Maximum Mighty's creation. With the track record Zero One has had so far, I have a feeling that it's going to follow the same trend as all the previous power-ups and just have either Gai or Izu come in and go 'hey, here's your new toy, go get em'. |
Also I'm biased towards anything AI-chan simply because of her seiyuu. Hell maybe if she is popular enough they could make Mao herself cameo in a finale or something.
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Hey turns out I was so busy ranting I forgot to mention two other things I really liked about the episode:
- This episode title is another one that loses meaning in a translation due Japanese having so many words for "I". It's either past-Gai speaking to Dog Thouser, or possibly Dog Thouser itself talking. I'm not totally sure, but either way, it's another title I like a lot. - Aruto talking about how he plans to stay with Hiden Manufacturing! How did I forget that! I guess it's not the most amazing thing in the world, but it was a moment where it really felt to me like Aruto has matured and grown over the course of being Zero-One. Taking pride in his accomplishments and the work he's doing like that, I don't know, it just felt a world away from the guy in the premiere who seemed borderline self-deluded about how amusing people actually find his standup comedy. Quote:
Still, I'm honestly pretty optimistic? Zero-One himself has had two major upgrades (which is to say, I don't count the Assault Grip), and both of them did a great job having thematic weight in my opinion. Shining Hopper through Wazu, and especially Metal Cluster Hopper via the Progrise Blade were both pretty direct products of Aruto's faith in HumaGears, and I loved that angle. For the next one though, given what it is, I'd much prefer it if they took elements like him starting his own company and turned that into a nice unified point with the theme from The First Generation that Aruto is nobody's successor, even if the movie isn't directly referenced. |
I just accept that the decline in quality of story telling as "covid-19 collateral" and have it at that
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