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Kamen Rider Zero-One Episode 32- "The Runway Of Dreams!" Discussion
Hiden Manufacturing has a chance to win an important new client by preparing a HumaGear fashion show.
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It's official; Fuwa is main Rider.
While Aruto was planning a fashion show Fuwa got to kick Thouser's butt. I know the narrative will side with Aruto, but it's so painful knowing that while Aruto clowns around Fuwa's doing what is technically his job |
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Great episode, good resolution for Naki/Fuwa's subplot but Thouser getting his ass kicked every single episode now is starting to get stale. I do hope next week will be cathartic though, with it being Yua's turn and they've been building that up for lord knows how long. |
Man back in the day usually it's aroubd this episode we'd get a final form, although it was since Ex-Ais final forms debut around episode 39.
Can't believe Zero-One is actually 30+ episodes now. |
Why did the thing in the Model Humagear's hand have to look like a dick?
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I've come to realize that nearly every conflict involving Thouser since the Competition arc has actually been symbolic of Gai's influence over the cast:
On the opposing side, all of Gai's losses have represented the rest of the cast breaking free of being his pawns. With Yua finally rebelling next episode. So rest assured for all of you put off by Zero-Ones constant one-sided battles. Next week should be the end for Thouser's losing streak. |
And perhaps by then Gai will either step aside or get an upgrade.
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Hmmm.
I ultimately liked this episode; and what it was about; and where each character is by the end. But I'm not, like, entirely sure about the execution? Naki while I love them, I just don't feel I know enough about them to warrant this triumph. Like basically every single part of their development was in this one episode, and it all felt a bit too sudden. I like their resolution to help other Humagears achieve their dreams -- very Faiz, and I never thought I'd be saying that as a compliment. But I'm not sure where it came from? Naki was never really about that and I think this episode is the only one they even SAID the word 'Dream'. Again, I like the direction they went in; but I don't think I've grasped the full journey. Yua, as well, kind of continues to disappoint me. I know that she's FINALLY leaving Gai next episode and FINALLY becoming a Kamen Rider again, but... at this point? She barely shows any resentment or any holding back in her role. Gai says 'your work rate has decreased recently', but, what? She's going above and fucking beyond what he asks! She went out of her way to nab the Assault Wolf key; devise a plan to use it on Fuwa; is downright bloodthirsty in every single fight she's in... maybe back in the Firefighter episode I was behind her all the way but at this point she does not feel ready for redemption; she's not doing anything towards that beyond making a sad pouty face every few scenes. It's not even like she's doing all this to protect someone else she cares about; it's purely centred on what Gai will do to her. Which, while sad, is a little hard to get behind and a little hard to root for her as a hero. I've also gotta say that much as I'm trying to sort of gloss over it to work out what they're trying to say with it... what, exactly, is the legality of anything going on right now? Humagears legally belong to Gai and he's ordered a recall, but a huge modelling company still holds onto one of theirs with no repercussion and apparently no fall in public support? So, okay, I guess Delmo is their private property. So ZAIA/Hiden Intelligence is just, allowed to walk up and smash their stuff with incredibly powerful weapons? The worst part is I'm not even sure... what this is supposed to represent, exactly. A lot of people here complained about Gai doing stuff like turning Humagear into Magias even in front of live television, and that's fair; but I was able to read into that as him being a CEO that holds so much power and public support that he is able to just get away with this and have rabid defenders no matter what; and he'll have whole PR teams at his beck and call to make him look like the good guy somehow. It was all about him being at the top and having absolute power and agency, whether the other characters realised it or not. But I don't see that here? Nothing about it makes any sense and it stretches my sense of disbelief just a little too far. At what point do the authorities step in? ... I started off saying I LIKED this, right? Well... well yeah, ultimately, I do. There's a lot of issues but I loved Naki Opening Their Eyes To The Next Faiz; I loved Delmo's whole story -- which, by the way, oh my god they figured out how to not make it a 2-parter -- I love that little bit of development of Fuwa working for Hiden Manufacturing now; I love Izu's humour and I love Aruto continuously going out of his way to do everything he can for his Humagears. There's a lot more here that I like than I dislike... it's just that the latter is starting to creep in a little too much. |
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The reason why the public believes Gai is in charge is because he broadcasted himself saying that he owns the rights to Humagears, and that ZAIA+Hiden has made a decision to scrap them. So legally what Gai is doing is illegal, but the authorities can't/won't stop him because the "authorities" in this scenario are technically A.I.M.S. who are ordered by the government to deal with all cases of rampaging AI. But A.I.M.S. is funded and supplied weapons by ZAIA, so there's no way in hell they'll disobey him. So what is happening in this entire scenario is:
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I think, going off what Gai said an episode or two ago, is that Hiden is now offering to trade in old Humagears for ZAIASpecs. They can't legally force you to give up your humagears, of course, but oh look, Gai's spent the last 10 episodes engineering it so that, to the public, they look like death robots that could snap at any moment.
And yeah, it's like Pineapple says above. He claims to have the rights to do this, and Aruto doesn't want to go to the courts because that's no fun in a Toku show, and also no-one in AIMS will testify against ZAIA. But Gai can't legally issue a shutdown against Hiden Manufacturing because Aruto owns the Humagear patent, he can (in theory) make all he wants. All Gai can do to establish his control and petty ego against Aruto is have his two AIMS goons and himself go beat him up, and honestly I think he's only there because he loves fighting and smushing Aruto's face into the dirt. |
Metal Cluster Hopper is still strong, on a 1v1 battle without innocents to protect, he does very well. But you put Aruto in a position to defend someone while fighting, he can't handle it.
This is about right for power levels. |
I won't get bored of watching Gai's %1000 smug ass getting handed to him
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You know, I like this show, but it would be 1000% (heh) better with a more unique villain. Like, Gai is just evil. That's it. I feel like everything interesting and great in this show happens when he's not in frame. That doesn’t mean that he's forgettable, it’s his actions that set things up and the hate he accumulated will forever make him the "guy" everyone loves to hate.
Case in point: Him appearing in this episode and being "I'm evil and you’re my tools" was the usual boring shtick. The resulting catwalk with Izu and Aruto and Naki's struggle for a dream were excellent. They only came to be because Gai was a douchebag, but Gai himself plays no role in these scenes. I really wish Gai was handled better. More cracks in his facade, more insanity showing through, maybe set up a motive that gives him at least some redeeming factor the audiences can identify with. Because as people pointed out in other episode discussion posts, he's not wrong. HumaGear as they are now are terribly deadly and dangerous. Yes, because humanity pushes them to, but the best course of action, realistically, would be to shut them all down. Did he set this shit up by letting the Ark browse 4chan? Absolutely. Did he push everything to the extreme to get people to hate the HumaGear? Positive. Was he wrong with them being dangerous to humanity? Debatable. I in no shape or form dislike this show. It makes me happy every single weak. I never was disappointed with a single episode. But sometimes I wonder if this couldn't have been handled in a better way, Gai as a character specifically. |
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- Ryuuta Tasaki directed this one, and did a great job (dig the static clearing away when Naki says "I am not a tool"!), but with both him and Ishida having worked on this show now, it kinds of cements how much Zero-One ISN'T a new era for Kamen Rider, if there was still any doubt left. They're literally still using the same directors from 20 years ago. Not really a complaint, when they're putting all that experience to good use, but still, I find it amusing. - Masaya Kakehi is finally back writing, and I think that explains why this one is so solid. Great character work, clear stakes to the fights (Protecting a HumaGear that isn't on a rampage. Why is that hard?), and unlike the last few, it didn't feel the need to milk my memories of how much better this show used to be with flashbacks to the early episodes. - I haven't mentioned this yet, but I actually hated Yua a little from really early on! I remember someone pointing out in one of the more recent episode threads that her role early in the show only seemed more independent because we didn't see her directly hanging around Gai, but like, that actually just made her the scapegoat for me to hate for using Fuwa like a piece of equipment. So her current role has, in a bizarre way, actually upped my opinion of her by adding an element of pity, putting her firmly in what I've decided to call "The Tsukuyomi Zone". Basically that means I like her so little, I started feeling bad about it, and I'm now super ready for the next episode! - If Zero-One transforms twice in an episode, please, please have him use two forms. This is the same problem shows like Build run into. When you replace varied, creative monsters of the week entirely with less than half a dozen recurring antagonists who never change their methods, the heroes never have any reason to try different tactics either. I like Metal Cluster Hopper, but man am I getting sick of seeing Metal Cluster Hopper. - I keep trying to think of some terrible Aruto joke involving ドッグ and 道具 since they keep using that word too frequently, and Gai's tools of choice are a wolf and a jackal, but it's just not happening. |
I was worried Delmo would be one of those "the victim-of-the-week is a jerk but we have to protect them anyway" characters who pop up sometimes in Kamen Rider, because making a model character vain and arrogant is a really easy trope. So it was a very pleasant surprise to see her talk about her pride in a way that was inspiring instead of annoying, especially when she called out the ZAIA mooks and mind-controlled Naki/Fuwa. I can't remember the last time an unarmed civilian stood up to monsters and Riders like that Is she related to that comedian HumaGear Taro? Because that took serious guts!
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Gai is just Elon Musk and if you insult him his stans pop out of the walls to remind you you're just jealous that he's eternally 24, that's how he gets away with all of this.
But yeah, episode was pretty good (as usual)! Was Naki's development a little rushed? Maybe, but when they can realise that being a tool faster than an actual person (Hi Yua) is bad and Gai ain't worth listening to, I'm all for it. Especially since they seem to be going more Jin's way that Horobi. What is Horobi up to these days? Napping in the base or something, who knows. Also, that scene with the shadow in the base - top direction. Yua I continue to like, but more as a case of "Hmm, she's interesting" than having ever done anything likeable. Especially since, this episode, she seems to have fully resigned herself to working with ZAIA, coming up with the big "Use the old Upgrade plan"... and Gai still isn't happy. Probably because it didn't work, but still. Her motivation seems to be "ZAIA already owns me, may as well put my energy into that and hope things get better"... and she's just about realising that part c of that is never going to happen. Gai will never give her the "Good job Yua" she craves, and her Horseshoe Crab friends have even less personality than the Hell Bro's, so they're never going to go drinking with her. Maybe once upon a time she thought ZAIA had a point, but now, she's only doing it because what other options does she have? As if Fuwa's going to accept her after all she's done to him in the name of our copyrghted lord ZAIA enterprises! (Predictions for what will happen next week - that.) Actual Humagear plot of the epsode was good, good episode. |
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I just hope Naki's chip will be transferred out of Fuwa's body and into a new one. Make Naki her own rider!
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I'd rather Naki keep Assault Wolf and make it their own than get some dodgy kitbashed form. Unless, you know, the dodgy kitbased form is very good.
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https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20191211033041 |
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Once again Fuwa proves himself to be the 'real' Kamen Rider of this show. Aruto continues to be grating and annoying. Izu rocked the runaway. |
- Naki's arc might've been rushed, but it's honestly better than I would've expected, which was "Naki gets taken out of Fuwa with little to no fanfare, joins MetsubouJinrai again, has no real arc of their own at all". This way they actually get a real awesome moment of their own and get their own opportunity to tell Gai to shove it.
- I thought at first that Delmo would be portrayed as a "pretty but kinda stupid" sorta character, but I'm glad that ultimately she was portrayed as inspiring. That her standing up to Naki/Fuwa/Fuwaki didn't just end in her being attacked but instead ultimately helped Naki to reach singularity. - I'm glad that Yua's finally going to stand up to Gai next episode, but it feels like it would've been better if there wasn't an entire arc and change of her just being a lackey for Gai, having 'nam flashbacks when someone says the word "tool", and forgetting that she's a Rider. I'm not excited so much as I am thinking "Finally..." |
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Yua, when someone says tool one too many times:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWijx_AgPiA
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Amatsu Gai's favorite tool is a jackal-hammer! (Hai! Aruto jaaaanaito!) |
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