Actually yeah Horobi's real a̶r̶k̶ arc does start here, but it seems that you're just not invested in it. Dunno if you'd receive this better when this started earlier as, Jin's arc also started quite late, at ep. 25. Now Horobi gotta face someone who disagrees with him more, and quite have some heart-to-heart with them, of course with none other than Aruto, changing from previously rejecting temporary team-up with MetsubouJinrai.net. But after knowing Horobi's origins, Aruto'd want to reason with him and talked about him straying away from his origins as a nurturer Humagear. Other than that, Midori also talked about Horobi being created to help humanity later. Though for now, Horobi is hypocritical of killing his own kind and excuses it with his hatred of humanity ("corrupting" them, and reminder that Horobi was an abusive dad to Jin), and created an irony that, Horobi previously was created to nurture next generation humanity, but due to MetsubouJinrai.net, seeks to eradicate humanity instead.

It was implied that Ark is fighting for a noble cause for Humagears, but in reality Ark is more of embodiment of malice and hatred itself, pure spite, rather than something fighting for the good of Humagears, so while it still won't be a good character to you, there still are no good intentions regarding it. It's fully in character for Ark to not care about even Humagears. Metal Cluster Hopper before was being coded from pure evil. It before controlled Metal Cluster Hopper with visible pleasure in its attacks against its own Magia just as happily as it does Raiders.

I don't know what do you define "success" or not regarding KR shows, because so far, no matter how bad (or badly received) a series is, no Rider series has been stopped midway due to "failure" or such. Unless you'd refer to the merch sales, which wouldn't be story-related, but yeah iirc for this one no Rider show had huge failures on this. Other than that, the Yua's part is also still a setup, thus won't talk much about it yet, other than how there's a slapstick regarding her and Fuwa which I wondered if it's comedy effect or it's also canonical for Yua to know the ways to KO Fuwa (as she's a fighter). Her hair being tied up may be an indicator of her having more relaxed personality now (though striking Fuwa like that still isn't nice). For the Gai part, yeah his previous defeats are tiring, but this one's satisfying to have ZAIA Spec also exposed as unsafe too.

AS their name implies, it's based on Trilobites, an extinct marine arachnomorph anthropoid species, and their face masks heavily resemble a fossilized Trilobite. Those wearing the same gray trilobite-shaped face mask, also symbolizes that they've lost all identity. Other than this though, the design is also based on Shocker footsoldiers (Showa).

It also seems that, culture is also something that is put on pedestal above most anything, and that moral relativism view is pushed. To push the idea that good vs evil does not exist, solely "good/bad for my personal interests", treating everything as subjective, with one of the excuses being culture; good/bad is only a random construct of random culture. So calling out bad deeds as something bad is discouraged, while you can't object against how a culture is made. In short, culture justifies everything. While understanding culture is something good, this (or mainly moral relativism view) seems to blind people of recognizing the problem of prejudice, silencing those who call out the bad deeds in the name of culture.

Gai though isn't only like that to Humagears, he was an awful boss to Yua and the others, used humans as a tool like Humagears, is a parasite to humanity who steals powers from more talented people around, and claiming that the Ark's judgment is exactly what mankind deserves. He wants to preserve his image, so why would he admit that he's wrong? (this is also one of many reasons humans won't admit their wrongdoings, ego, not only prejudice)

Yua redemption and Horobi being Horobi.

I forgot how much I honestly liked Yua's redemption until I read some of the posts here to refresh my (terrible) memory. Could it have been done better? Sure. But I'm perfectly fine with what we got instead. It works for her and Fuwa, who also has great spotlight this episode (and maybe it was this episode or the next, where Naki exposes his sense of humor, which was pretty funny), so yeah, I liked this episode.

Horobi Episode, while I don't think I completely dislike him, I can agree he is just "Enemy General" of the show and not much else, but with how the ARK is just nothing but hatred, malice, and contempt (thanks, Gai), I do like this approach better than just "Humans bad, robots good" that these kinds of stories usually end up being.

Also, hoping I didn't end up spoiling anything with how bad I am at remembering events. These later episodes are blurring together for me.

Whoops! Been so busy with school prep that I've been slacking.....Time to catch up with Episode 33 and 34!

33......For me, Yua's big moment really feels like a "Yeah i *totally* get what you were going for with this character, but so many chunks of this plot felt kinda undercooked that I'm not sure whether to feel relieved or disappointed at this resolution?" Fuwa having fake memories sure can be a divisive topic among fans, but personally I didn't mind. Love-chan is a fun Humagear, and that's about it for 33!

Episode 34!

- I've never seen someone eat lettuce like that, so that bit is kinda engrained in the brain (a whole leaf? at least cut it up or something....)


-Kinda sad this is one of the episodes where we sorta have to skim over the Humagear of the Week and their career for the sake of the overarching plot, I think this is a very interesting topic, yknow.....(To be more spefic, I wish we got more parallel between the father/son duo and Horobi/Jin, seems like a missed opputurnity...)

-"Humans do nothing but destroying the environment", and not even 3 minutes after Horobi's goons are shredding up the vegetables. Seems a bit....?

-The gag with Fuwa showing up a bit too late, hysterical. Never change, Fuwa. (The chop too!)

-Yua doing Naki's extraction because she feels responsible for robbing Fuwa of his past, that's nice. How unfortunate that Naki......is suddenly evil now? Like yeah maybe doing this operation in the Daybreak base where the empty Humagear shell could potenially auto-connect to Ark as soon as the Naki's data has finished transferring.....

- "Becuase Ark wills it/Everything is for the sake of the Ark/Something Ark something extinction something human malice something"........man, is that all you can say, Horobi? There's a point to be made about Horobi in comparison to other Humagears: I don't think he's reached Singularity, he's as dependent on Ark as any normal Humagear is to Zea pre-ZAIA buyout. He's kinda outdated, in a way. Can he even see the road he's walking down? (Yeah yeah, murder all the humans and connect every Humagear to Ark. Tell me Horobi....what happens after that, when all of Ark's desires is fufilled? Do you even have an idea what a Humagear-ruled soicety looks like, what will you take or discard from the things human soicety has left you? Oh I remembered....you're not doing the thinking here, Ark is!) I wish trying to "crack" Horobi was less about "Remember what you were bulit for!" and more "Is a life like Horobi's truly fufilling, even for a Humagear?"or something like that.

-Anyone feel a bit....interested in the reveal Soreo was the blueprint for every other Father-type Humagear. (Like I feel the assumption we're supposed to make is that Korenosuke went "Wow! This Humagear I made for my grandson is really helping him out, lots of other struggling kids could benefit from this!!", but "huh, my grandson lost his parents...this might be the perfect time to give that new Humagear concept we've been working on a test run!" could also be true, lol)

That's true, culture supported Gai's campaign to replace Aruto as president, so Gai deemed himself to be morally correct based on their validation. There are advantages to culture, uniting people through shared values, but it can also cause stagnation and discourage critical thinking, if it goes against a majority opinion. Critical thinking is absolutely necessary for morality and progress, instead of just relying on what others claim is right and wrong. Gai's justification to Aruto is that everybody else is okay with what he's doing, so Aruto must be in the wrong for being a minority. Gai's constant need for approval prevents him from seeing outside of that majority opinion, or acknowledging that Yua might have a point whenever she talks back to him, like it's a personal attack on his own misguided sense of morality. By culture validating his prejudice, they're also validating his ego, which is a dangerous combination.

I honestly got the feeling that she was probably doing that weekly before Episode 1. Fuwa - as a resolute and focused teammate - is still Fuwa, which means he's basically impossible to direct in any useful way. She probably had to knock that dude out just to take a lunch break.

Sure, but couldn't he be more persuasive about it? There were scenes in the last ten episodes where Horobi's appeals to Jin, about rejoining MetsubouJinrai and following Ark, that at least tried to find a logical coordinate inside Horobi's repetitive and emotionless approach. This time, it's just We're Going To Burn The World Down To Save Our People From Fire, and it's too dumb to not have anyone point out the hypocrisy of it.

They're both way less interesting to me at this point than Jin, that's for sure!

I only ever mean the quality of the stories. I've never hit a show yet that I expect to be cancelled, and I definitely don't want that for Zero-One.

I think you did fine! Nothing seemed like new information to me.

I was at a small restaurant a few months ago with a friend, when the restaurant owner came out with some organic basil he'd bought from a local grower. The owner went around to each table, talking about the basil with glowing, life-altering terms, and asking people to try a leaf. Just, like, eat some basil. Very much reminded of that weird experience with Aruto's snack of a single lettuce leaf.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 35 - “WHAT DO HUMAGEARS DREAM OF?”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone35a.png

Episode 35: "Thanks for the feedback! What if this episode was almost entirely devoted to a conflict between Horobi and Gai?"

https://media.giphy.com/media/3oEjHG...v8Ig/giphy.gif

Not my favorite episode! I don’t think it does anything egregiously wrong – it’s not an episode I want to scrub from my memory or anything – but it’s so heavily devoted to telling a story that marginalizes Aruto and the Shotrisers (who are also playing this Sunday at The Hideout; doors open at 8pm) that I found myself only vaguely entertained by the fight choreography, instead of drawn into the storytelling. I just don’t care who wins in a fight between a hypocritical terrorist and an egomaniacal capitalist? Is that rude to say?

There were things I liked, though. I found the hospital interludes with Naki, Fuwa, and Yua to be an episode highlight, and maybe a series highlight. I was always 1000% uninvested in Fuwa’s Secret Past, mostly because it’s only been brought up recently, and Fuwa himself barely cares about it. The reveal that he’s just some boring, unexceptional dude is both a hilarious subversion of Yua’s quest to uncover the truth, and the smartest decision this show could ever make. Fuwa’s past fundamentally doesn’t matter. We’ve already gone on Fuwa’s emotional journey. We've watched him shed the intolerance and anger he’d shielded himself with for over a decade, and rebuild himself into a hero who protects anyone or anything that needs protection. There’s nothing from his past that would help illuminate his character, because we already had 30-plus episodes of illumination. The best choice is to defuse it all with a joke.

(Taking the Fuwa’s Just Basic joke and then elevating it by having Naki deliver an affectless take on Aruto’s gags, at which point Fuwa is exposed as a dude who can’t help laughing at puns? That’s just the icing on a very delicious cake.)

Aruto’s role in this episode was interesting, if a little too beholden to daddy issues for me to praise it. There’s some heroism to be found in Aruto’s desire to reignite Horobi’s paternal instincts, and put the blame for MetsubouJinrai’s terrorism back on Gai’s plotting, but I think it’s a plot that doesn’t completely square that circle. There’s no real remorse from Horobi, and only a slight indication that he doesn’t view Zero-One as negatively as he does the rest of humanity. But, like, MetsubouJinrai is completely reformed! The Ark is still setting their agenda! I don’t love a story where the hero gets out on a weird limb just because he’s reminded of his dad, you know? There’s a lot of projection in Aruto’s plot this episode, without anyone really pushing back on his potential naivete (that would be Fuwa’s job, if he weren’t in the hospital!), and that leaves his story not totally clicking with me.

But the bulk of this episode was concerned with the battle between ZAIA and MetsubouJinrai, and I really liked… how it was shot. Great staging for the opening of the battle, with Horobi and Thouser’s Henshins centered in the frame, flanked by mooks. Fun back and forth combat between the two generals, with each of them getting cool finishers. And I like how Horobi’s saved by the people who have faith in him, while Gai is beaten ONCE AGAIN by assuming his adversaries will eat an endless amount of shit. It’s a nice encapsulation of the show’s beliefs.

It’s just that the stakes are… I don’t care? I don’t care about Horobi (yet?), and I don’t care about Gai. Either one of them triumphing over the other is unappealing and mostly uninteresting. Aruto’s left to act as a slightly-delusional voice of support, Naki’s only around for the finale, Jin’s nowhere to be found (did he have an appointment or something?), and the Shotrisers are cleaning up their mess from last episode. There’s no one for me to root for in the back half of this episode. We’re probably three episodes – at a minimum – from Horobi being in a place where I might see him as worthy of redemption. (When Aruto’s like Follow Your Dream, I was having really vivid flashbacks to Phoenix’s spotlight story from Wizard. Maybe don’t tell the unrepentant villain to do the things that make them happy!) And Gai’s, like, Gai. He exists on this show to get humiliated. What stakes am I supposed to be invested in for this episode?

Sort of a bum note to go into the COVID Era* on. There’s still some really great characters on this show, and interesting topics to cover, but not every episode mixes them together in the best ways.

—

*PROGRAMMING QUESTION

So, let’s talk about the COVID Era!

I’ve got a bunch of stuff, but I’m not entirely sure I’ve got it scheduled correctly. Over the next few days, I’m planning on covering the following specials in the following order:

-Episode 35.5
-President Specials 1 and 2
-Shooting Special
-Super Job War 1 and 2

Is that right? Should anything be moved around? Any feedback would be appreciated!

https://i.imgur.com/6p0mqSz.png

Loved this two parter. Was very invested in the evolving dynamic between Horobi and Jin.

Also yes, that order for the COVID episodes works fine.

Not much to say about this episode other than... I really liked that they brought back Horobi's cool finisher.

I also noticed that unless Horobi starts at an advantage, whether that be a surprise attack or getting the jump on his opponent, he loses. Every time it's a straight fight he loses to some degree, but if he somehow gets the drop on a person, he's usually the one in control. Just... something interesting to note tbh.

Okay so you've got the airdates on these episodes slightly off. Episode 35.5 is at the end of the Covid Era where they basically started to kinda get back into gear. The order officially and chronologically is

1. Presidents Specials
2. Shooting Special
3. Super Job War
4. Episode 35.5

I can't think of much to say on this episode, but I won't lie, I only watched the two President Specials and episode 33.5, the Shooting Special seemed unappealing to me after already watching two recap episodes, and since I binged the show after it was completed, the Super Job Wars episodes covered material that was still too fresh in my mind for me to be able to enjoy them.

It's Episode 35!

-The hospital bit is easily one of my favorite moments in 01 ever. For someone who doesn't feel as strong about Yua/Fuwa's dynamic as the show wants me to feel, I think Naki is an interesting third wheel to attach to that dynamic? Too bad they're already back with MJBR...

-Oh hey, looks like the first person on Naki's "I want to fufill the dreams of others in order to find my own" list is Horobi, how unfortunate for everyone else!

-Hey, we get more Horobi stuff...it's....Something, Alright. Aruto wanting Horobi to see himself as more than an avatar for enacting Ark's desires, as an actual indiviual with his own dreams and desires, that's a pleasant enough idea. Doing it through "Remembeeeeeeer you're a father!", I'm not really fond of? Like yeah, most parents would go through great lengths to protect their children, but that isn't all that parenthood is, nor it is an idea exclusive to it? Ark's last directive was to revive MJBR after all, you obviously can't do that if Jin gets scrapped. (I feel like the whole argument for emerging feelings of parenthood could have a heftier argument if they did a little more with Horobi and Jin's dynamic during Jin's revival? Parents watch over the growth of their kids, attempt to guide them to what they think is right, and praise them for moving forward. With Jin going through a major growth, I thought it would've been a bit more interesting to get meatier convos about the newfound gap between the two's diverging viewpoints.....)

Oh damn, I thought COVID era was slightly later, but here we are! I've only watch 35.5, so I'm sure this'll be a good time.

Oh, I liked this episode when it aired, but as it went on in my head for long and a couple of rewatches, I kind of despise it now.

The hospital scene hurts me inside because of how it was handled. Fuwa learns that he doesn't have a very special life up until he was brainwashed and turned into an AIMs soldier, so in a logical sense that must mean Fuwa has to be worried about the people he's left behind, his friends, his family!

Yeah, uh, no. They used this scene for Yua and Naki to to actually MOCK him. That... angers me on a level I cannot explain with words!

Next one is a 50/50 deal. I love Horobi and Thouser's fight, it was Gai at his absolute best and he was surrounded by Battle Raiders which are a very cool team, mind you. I also really like the context behind it, it's one of the few times Gai steps up to the plate to clean up the mess he started, Metsuboujinrai. I.. Don't see what's wrong with that, he's actually going out of his way to clean up his mess!

This is Thouser at one of his bests, he beats Horobi by utilizing the fact that he has more powers than him, overwhelming him with just how much he can dish out so Horobi's learning wouldn't be able to keep up with him.

But then.. Aruto protects Horobi? And Gai gets interrupted by Naki to allow Horobi to get a shot in beating him? This sours Aruto for me, allowing a robo-terrorist to live just because daddy issues, I get it that he also had a humagear dad, but it just doesn't hit me right. He protects Horobi and lets him get away, disallowing Gai from cleaning his mess, but also allowing Horobi the pieces he needs for his master plan of bringing back the Ark.

And no, that line at the end "Maybe Aruto will be the one to change the Humagears' future" or something I forgot, you cannot convince me for Horobi with that. All I saw here was that Gai was denied of making things right for once.

https://i.imgur.com/ixbOcns.jpg

Rei pretty much summed up my thoughts on this episode more eloquently than I could. So I’ll just share this and move on.

I am an older brother to protect a satellite, There. Astronaut: Uchuyaro Raiden.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=n7YbqnW7iB8

Jin and Horobi's relationship is very interesting, yes! Which is why it was so baffling to have Jin vanish from the episode before the second half!

Thanks! I'll go with that. We'll try and burn through them all before Friday.

There... may not be a lot to discuss! We'll see!

The idea of Horobi being a father to Jin is definitely a character trait that was a real big deal to Jin right before he got detonated, then sort of was absent when Jin came back (Jin's reappearance being more like a kid who came from college with a different perspective than how he was raised, instead of Jin needing Horobi's protection and guidance), and now we're resurfacing the old father/son dynamic. The problem this time is that it's weirdly more about Aruto and Horobi, two characters who don't really know each other at all, so the dialogue over fatherhood is all Aruto's backstory and Horobi's confusion. They're talking past each other in ways that don't really feel as dramatic as if it were centered on Jin and Horobi.

Yeah, it doesn't feel like we've seen enough non-terrorism from Horobi to have Aruto protecting him. Horobi just destroyed Midori last episode! After a hostage exchange! For no benefit! Right in front of Aruto!

I'll mark this one down for later use, since I kinda missed this threat for a good while and now decided to comment on the show at the end ^^

I will always have to say something about this show somehow.

Through, I did actually enjoy this episode at the time, even if I find Horobi as interesting as a dishwasher. I kinda have soured on it over time, though, which is kinda disappointing.

Gai vs Horobi feels like it represents the human vs. Humagear conflict at it's most extreme...neither are particularly in the right or genuinely acting heroically, and Gai is basically cleaning up his own mess, but it just shows how far this potential conflict can go if it's not nipped in the bud and stopped. And Aruto's caught right in the middle.

I think I understand where Aruto is coming from with Horobi. It's kind of like when Aruto fought Jin where he can see what Horobi would've been if he hadn't been re-programmed by Ark, and he can relate to Jin in terms of Horobi being Jin's father just like Aruto's own father was a Humagear, and Aruto knows the solution to this conflict isn't just to keep fighting and destroying each other but through peace, conversation, and believing that humans and Humagears can be more together. And even if it doesn't make complete sense in the face of reality or Horobi's own actions, it's Aruto's earnestness that seems to still get through to Horobi like it did with Jin.

Fuwa reacted to his past about how I expected, but I actually kind of wonder how different he would've been since so much of his anger and passion seemed to have come from the programming of hating Humagears.

Naki with that Is-style Aruto humor.

Ikazuchi! Metsuboujinrai is making a comeback.

It's a subversion, but I totally called it during the first time watching. If Fuwa's fake past is about a really traumatic event, then to make the real past distinct, it's gotta be something like opposite, the boring average life. I predicted that real Fuwa would be an unremarkable man. So it'd be a smart choice for you (I don't know how's an investing secret past), as there are those who'd think it's the most terrible decision the show made instead. Regarding how Fuwa's emotional journey is done on fake memories, what I'd think here is about, the concern about how Gai's cruel action on Fuwa can seem validated here because at the end it turns Fuwa "better", as if "Gai tried to create a hero with his own methods" and that "the end justifies the means". Though of course for this case, it won't be done considering how hatable Gai is (and the show treats the audience with continuous Gai humiliation, though it's not for you).

It's now a changed approach from how Aruto rejected MetsubouJinrai.net's cooperation at the beginning, but now he extends the same approach to Horobi as what he'd do to any other Humagears. I don't know why do you think that it's because it reminds Aruto of his dad? Aruto's doing this for Humagears, and Horobi is also one, Aruto believes in how Humagears can dream and he's giving that sentiment to Horobi too here. But overall, this part is another one where Humagears are (sort of) won over by Aruto's compassion. Now Horobi had slightly joined the Humagears that provided data for Metal Cluster Hopper, and also to a lesser extent Jin. Jin and to a lesser extent Horobi are the ones who value Aruto due to viewing him as different from other humans, but that's why Horobi having no real remorse still makes sense here. Just because they value Aruto, doesn't mean they'd extend it to any other humans, or that it's a road to redemption (especially Horobi) as stated itself by Horobi that Aruto's different. Aruto isn't whole humanity, and people can treat various individuals differently.

Well yeah, Horobi vs Gai is an example of evil vs evil, there'd be no one to root for here, but it's a reminder that someone isn't good simply for targeting bad guys (not a few example in KR). About the combat part, it also showcases Horobi being a skilled fighter that can catch up to Thouser despite the power difference. And is a proof that Thouser falls behind not only because he's weaker, but because he's someone who only throws power around (and stealing powers from others), which probably due to him being a non-fighter CEO. Regarding Gai, I'd say that, I find this part to be the most satisfying karma on him, instead of him being beaten up in a fight, that even ZAIA Spec isn't safe either, like Humagears, and Gai is put on Aruto's position for once, to going out on a limb convincing the public of his products. Really shows that all of Gai talking about Humagears being dangerous, while technically right, was only his agenda to put out his competitors and get profit for his product. The hacking is also a part of Gai's downfall (as well as repaying Aruto), that Naki hacked his force to turn against him.

For this one I think it's just simple, why would Gai admit his wrongdoings at this point? If he did it, he's finished, for obvious reasons (that's just suicide). Though maintaining his good image is also very effective to carry out his goals with others having harder time to challenge him due to the public being on their side, they can have the heroes be met with harassment lawsuits, breaking & entering or assault charges, bad press, or even got them painted as bad guys. Villains that has good publicity is just one of the most frustrating opponents that can be faced. And yeah, many do claim that morality solely depends on what others claim as right/wrong or their perspectives (as in moral relativism), which I was never onboard with, with one of the reasons in villains with good publicity (or the opposite, of heroes that has bad image, especially undeserved).

About Gai not acknowledging Yua, "nobody asked for your opinion" is also one of the common excuses for people to be an asshole (other than "culture", culture isn't the only one due to its "disadvantages", which is more about various excuses people can pull), because people want to feel like what they say has worth (especially narcissists like Gai), and by uttering "nobody asked for your opinion" for disagreeable takes that they took offense to, by ignoring their feedback, they're telling others what they said don't matter, and therefore they don't matter, as a safety net, to protect themselves from criticism.

It'd be something that's expected from Aruto, or other characters similar to him though, to try seeing the good in others, and he did it when he learned more about Horobi's backstory, compared to him at the beginning. Though this part of extending sympathy to villains are often, frustratingly, as you said, done by letting them go completely. So personally for you what'd you think the series/Aruto should've done against Horobi here, while also keeping Aruto in-character of seeing the good in others?

I second this.

I guess that depends on whether or not you consider Recap City to be a good time?

I understand why you feel that way and I can sympathize with that. However, I thought this was one of those complicated scenarios where there's no perfect outcome. Horobi and Thouzer were both trying to murder each other, which Aruto in good conscience couldn't allow to happen when he saw a way for both of them to live. It just happened that Thouzer was winning, so Aruto had to take Horobi's side to break up the fight. Sure, protecting a genocidal terrorist was risky, but Aruto didn't want Jin to be orphaned like he was. He believed he was keeping a family together, so he made the choice he thought was right at the time. That's heroic enough for me.

I agree that Gai was acting in his clients' interest, after Naki hijacked the ZAIASpecs and endangered innocent humans. He was the offended party this time, so his retaliation was pretty fair and for once he didn't deserve to be punished. Honestly, I have to praise his combat tactics to beat the much more experienced and skilled Horobi and it's just too bad that Naki interfered when it wasn't necessary. Even though Horobi won thanks to that unfair play, we know Thouzer was the rightful winner. It reminded me of the duel between Patren 1 and Lupin X, where the former threw the fight on purpose.

Of course, there's no way Gai would spare any time to reflect on his behavior, when nobody's putting any pressure on him to change. As long as people continue to support his decisions, he has no incentive to change. He's like the ThousanDriver, designed to be perfect, no room for improvement. To need improvement would mean he'd have to admit being imperfect, which is a truth he's afraid to confront, that's he's not the 1000% perpetually perfect man he thinks he needs to be.

I think the one fun thing about this episode is... there is no right side or answer. Really my only complaint is someone not calling Aruto out (Sadly Fuwa was receiving burns for being normal lol) but this was definitely a situation in that there is no real person to root for here.

And you know, I'd believe Gai was trying to set things right... if he was actually the kind of person who meant that. See I don't see Gai trying to make things right or clean up his mess, that would involve him actually realizing he did something wrong. No, this is basically a publicity stunt because he knows he needs to keep the masses shut up somehow. He could've done this at any time but instead he only reacts to a very bad hacking because he needs to. He's not doing this for anyone, he's just making sure his sales go up. So it's very much a case in which... should you really root for him?

But also should you root for Horobi? Probably not. Though it's clear there's some semblance of something other than being a genocidal killer AI in his programming, no matter how subtle it is. But even then uh... yeah I'd rather not get genocided.

Granted, I knew who I wanted to win. I'm sorry Thouser, but Horobi has a really cool impact frame finisher and I'm glad he got to bust it out again.

Noted!

Yeah, like... I don't mind Aruto doing something dumb like defending a genocidal terrorist from a deranged plutocrat, but I need there to at least be an acknowledgement from someone within the show that is a real Hail Mary of a move from our main character. If Aruto's gonna be like Dads Are Magic, then I need literally anyone to point out that Horobi is not exactly gunning for Robot Father Of The Year.

Unless I'm misremembering, Aruto brings up that Horobi's the same type of Robot Dad as his own. The show's definitely trying to tie together Horobi's role as parent with Aruto's upbringing.

I didn't even see this as a "publicity stunt", so much as Gai being furious about MetsubouJinrai screwing with his company. Gai showing up to their hideout with an army was just for revenge.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE - “PRESIDENTS SPECIALS”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zeroone/prez1.png

Better than I thought it was going to be?

Like, the only piece of new footage is of an upcoming Ark suit, as far as I can tell. Every bit of Aruto’s reaction footage is cribbed from other episodes, same as all of the Izu/”Izu” stuff from Satellite There. The rest of the two specials is just the main arc of Zero-One, from Aruto’s point of view. It’s a clip show.

And yet!

And yet, it’s both really amazing what they were able to accomplish just stringing together all of these segments, and kind of cool that they did it all in a way that pushes the main narrative forward. We’ve got the Ark running a con so it can get all of Aruto’s secrets and strategies. We’ve got an evil version of Izu that works for the Ark, which I feel like was a spur of the moment decision by the producers to make use of a random shot in the opening credits. We’ve got a peek at an Ark Kamen Rider, letting us know that the Ark’s plans do not begin and end with MetsubouJinrai. There’s so much clever storytelling to make these two episodes feel integral to the series, and not just the best the production team could do in These Unprecedented Times.

More than that, though, it’s just really well-written? Much like the Izu’s Lecture Room stuff, these two episodes get a ton of mileage off of how Aruto and Izu play off of each other, and that’s not even counting the fun quirk of Kinda Rude Izu. (She’s great, though. I’m very excited for her to join the cast properly, and see what that actor does with the part.) There’s just a lot of solid writing going on, giving the events of the past emotional weight and narrative context, until it feels like Aruto’s last 34 episodes have a new poignancy and energy. Nothing in these two episodes ever feels like a Wiki entry, which is incredibly difficult to pull off.

I don’t… like, I get why people would skip these specials. You’re gonna see “Izu” and the Ark Rider suit soon enough. Beyond connecting a few dots that aren’t crucial to your enjoyment of the series, there isn’t much relevant data. But the production team and cast honestly created something very fun out of an impossible set of restrictions, and that alone makes these episodes essential viewing for me. Really astonished by how fun this all turned out to be.

—

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 09: BEROTHA MAGIA

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zeroone/prez2.jpg

Since I just watched a recap of Zero-One’s career, let’s go all the way back to his first enemy: the Berotha Magia!

The body on this guy is just the Trilobite figure I did a few days ago, but with maybe a couple extra stickers. There’s a bunch of green added to the silver, but otherwise it’s the same figure. The second box (he’s a two-boxer, if you can believe it) has his gigantic noggin, a couple arm pieces, the pauldrons, his blades, a couple hands, and the base. Stickers for the eyes, headphone-ears, arm pieces, and weapons. It’s a super straightforward figure.

I like it, though. It’s a good, basic monster suit for Zero-One to detonate. He doesn’t distract from our hero’s first Henshin, but he’s still stylish enough to sell this show’s enemies. Kinda neat to have Zero-One’s first bad guy be a bug guy? I don’t really have any deep thoughts on the Berotha Magia; it’s just a good starter villain for our hero to take out in a very stylish way.

Yeah, while it is unfortunate that life threw the crew a curve ball, it was clear they did the best they could think of given, well, everything. I don't blame them, it's just a really unfortunate circumstance.

The cast and crew really did their all to like, make these specials feel unique. And while I feel like the President's Specials are the most important of this batch, just because of the new little things we learned, there's still some great character moments in the other ones.

Like, what definitely makes these specials stand out heavily is the character work that goes into them. They definitely elevate it to a level to where you don't feel like you're watching a clipshow? Plus the way they have to use various clips and stitch them together makes for some hilarious moments.

That being said hello Evil "Izu" man, wouldn't you have been an interesting character to introduce earlier... and definitely a more interesting choice of character for Aruto to receive Metal Cluster from had they thought of this choice earlier.

Then you've got this interesting Ark Rider Dude, and seemingly Ark itself voiced by Sho Hayami! Dude has a real good voice and the most I have to say is because of this casting I found out how much of polar opposite character's he plays. Dude can voice an alien car that's curious about Earth and is the nicest most justice filled robot that someone can be in Exkaiser... and then you've got on the other end of the spectrum Aizen Sosuke from Bleach! Ha ha... fun times.

I actually do like these Presidential Specials, though I did just skip through them to get to any actual new stuff, I like the conversation Aruto and Fake Izu have, though I don't know how Aruto couldn't tell that that who he was talking to wasn't Izu. You'd think someone who's been around Izu for awhile would notice that this Izu is snarky and nothing like normal Izu, but I digress, I do like these episodes quite a bit, and even though you can clearly see the effects Covid had on them, I still like them better than an episode like 28 (not that that's an amazing accomplishment considering that episode), and I don't feel like my time was all too wasted by watching these specials.

Yeah, I think they tried to make the best of a bad situation with these COVID recap specials and also tried to make it as fun and as interesting as they could.

Like, props to Noa Tsurushima for portraying Not!Is playing the actual Is for Aruto's sake and trying to get information out from under him. She keeps breaking character in amusing ways to comment on what's happening and there's the growing dread as it gets more and more clear what she's after/really like, but her acting both in-universe and out is pretty great. And I like how Aruto slowly realizes something's wrong.

Also - if you're going to have your main villain played by a prominent seiyuu, you can't go wrong with Show Hayami. And just the fact that the first time we "hear" Ark is him directly addressing Aruto and laughing at him is...positively chilling.

A bit late to join ep 34 and 35. I refrain to base my opinion solely on ep 34 because there's a bigger picture that you can only see after watching ep 35. Those two episodes might not be the best in terms of the plot and, at the of the day, those episodes don't add much beside preparing the Ark's appearance.

Still, it's such a nice breath of fresh air to see Horobi finally taking up the stage. By this point, I kinda miss Horobi's MO and actions in motion as hypocrite it could be. I enjoy seeing Gai for the past few episodes but we're at the point where Gai is basically just a chump villain. If ep 34 - 35 centered around Gai again, I think the reception would have been even more terrible. Seeing Horobi taking the spotlight here was the best direction the show could have taken in this point of story. In addition, if anyone deserved to kick Gai's ass again, Horobi was the best choice to do that.

I also find it funny about how they handle Aruto and Jin's relationship here. I usually dislike the way most characters in this series rarely maximize their interactions with people outside their faction. You know Aruto still bonds with Fuwa and Jin, but I doubt it was as close as between Aruto and Izu. So it's very funny to see Aruto questioned why Jin was on Horobi's side. Yeah, Jin helps Aruto here and there during this arc but that's only because they have mutual conclusion or enemy. Jin might believe in Aruto's vision but his loyalty is still with Metsubojinrai, especially Horobi. I'm glad Takahashi used this style of writing so Jin didn't become a carbon copy of Parado. If he wanted, he could just write Jin the same way like he wrote Parado. Thank God we didn't get Parado 2.0 here.

Regarding Horobi, I think most people dislike Horobi because of his hypocrite. While I certainly agree with that, how they handled it was quite nice. Not the best but serviceable. In short, human is always a hypocritical creature like it or not. We as humans are not perfect. So the way how Horobi was doing those hypocritical actions and being dazed by his own contractions really humanized him a bit. Horobi needs to realize he's more than just a mindless machine who must do something to the letter. If you see ep 34 - 35 as a story of Horobi's wrongdoings again, you might disappoint yourself. However, if you see these episodes as a prelude for Horobi's journey to finally acknowledge his own heart, maybe it would give a better side of perspective.

I certainly agree these two episodes might not be the best offer Zero One have. If I can, I could make a huge criticism for how they handled Horobi. In spite of that, I still these two episodes are still serviceable for what they are. Could it have been better? Yes. Are you content with this episode? I firmly can say yes. After going through huge misstep in the Job Arc, a single fluke in this episode was nothing. Mistakes are bound to happen, just make sure you are not bounded by those mistakes. Better write this one, you would need it later.

To me, this was a real Lemonade Out Of Lemons situation. There'd've been no reason to do these specials if it weren't for COVID, and they're surprisingly entertaining.

I don't know him (I'm terrible with identifying Japanese VAs), but it was super fun to hear Ark directly address Aruto! Everything up to this point had obscured exactly how much sentience or individuality Ark had, choosing instead to focus on the Humagears that were its weapons. To have it openly taunt Aruto... very cool moment!

It is a little suspicious how Aruto doesn't catch onto "Izu"'s various affectations, or snide remarks, or excitement for Ark's plans, or deep knowledge of only MetsubouJinrai, etc. I could try and explain it as either Aruto generally not being too up on subterfuge, or him not expecting someone to copy Izu, but it's incredibly sad to see him give up every single secret to the Ark like that. I really hope no one tells the Hiden Manufacturing head of security! He will probably not love it!

Yeah, it's a very Aruto thing, assuming that one team-up equals a complete rejection of previous bonds and beliefs. While Jin was willing to give Aruto the benefit of the doubt, MetsubouJinrai is his family (for all intents and purposes), and that's going to win out over a well-meaning human he's shared maybe two conversations with that weren't aggressive or taunting.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE - “SHOOTING SPECIAL”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../shooting1.png

Definitely a step down from the Presidents Specials, in a bunch of ways.

The biggest problem is how the special reuses footage to provide a framing sequence for the flashbacks. The Aruto specials used a little bit of establishing shots – mostly dialogue-free clips of Aruto looking around – and then built their story out of voiceovers. This time, we’re treated to a whole bunch of repurposed footage from Episode 34, and the distracting mixture of redubbed dialogue (especially egregious when it switches between original lines and new lines) and out-of-continuity characters (not sure they'd be hanging out with Jin at this point!) robs this special of any sense that it’s canon.

There’s also the problem of how this abbreviated look at the Shotrisers’ arcs kind of doesn’t do them any favors? Fuwa, in particular, just comes off as a comically-dense lunatic, mostly operating as either someone’s pawn or his own worst enemy. Yua’s ostensibly trying to restore Fuwa’s confidence by recapping his victories, but when she puts it all in a row, it only invites mockery and concern. I like this guy, and I like his arc, but watching this special made me think I’m rooting for a madman.

(Yua’s arc is hilariously waved off, just a couple Oh You Switched Gigs asides that feel incredibly in need of elaboration.)

It sort of doesn’t help that the Shotrisers spent so much of this show at odds. Yua’s trying to help Fuwa, but she can’t resist a) busting his balls, and b) pointing out that they aren’t friends, and they’re barely even teammates. I don’t know if I’d’ve picked these two for a Fuwa-focused special? Their chemistry is… it’s not great! Naki would’ve been a better pick, maybe!

Kinda surprised at how this one let me down. It’s still laudable that the producers were able to put anything at all together, but this special’s sloppier and dumber than I’d’ve hoped.

Yeah when I mentioned that the President Special episodes were the most important ones, that was basically what I meant. There's not much in the Shooting Special, though tbh the Job War's specials probably hold one of my singular favorite character moments in all of Zero-One. We'll get to that later though, of course.

But yeah when it comes to Substance the Shooting Special isn't that standout. We've very much hit the point in the Covid Specials where they're just buying time so they can film new scenes again.

This special is in second place out of the COVID block for me solely for this.

https://i.imgur.com/lsQjVGK.png

The footage is so obviously ADR'd that it is hilarious.

Yeah, these recap specials are just that, recap specials, it's commendable in the first place that they're still trying to put out new content, even if just through repurposed scenes and voice-overs. I can't act like I really care all too much about these specials, though I can't really go too hard on them considering the conditions they were under, but that doesn't change the fact that they're still boring to watch. At least the Presidential Specials introduced a new plot relevant character as well as a new suit, this special and the Super Job Wars ones have nothing to really discuss about them and I would probably skip them on a future rewatch, but at least they put something out even in those tough conditions.

Kiramager was in its first block of episodes at this time, and they didn't even try for new content -- they simply re-aired episodes 1 and 2, and also did a TV debut of Episode 0 (a movie-exclusive pre-series special of the series). It's pretty interesting to contrast that to what 01 did

Yeah, this one... they really didn't have anything new to say about Fuwa? Dude's arc is pretty much A to B to C, and he's sort of anti-introspection, so what else can you do but make a Greatest Hits special?

It's incredibly funny that they redubbed Fuwa's mental torture at the hands of Naki/ZAIA into him feeling bummed out that he isn't a very effective Kamen Rider, and maybe could use a new job. That's such a bonkers ending!

That's certainly a more direct and economical solution to weeks of no new episodes. I wonder how much of Zero-One's decision-making was about trying to maintain momentum as they rounded the corner into their final act(s)? That, or just goofing around to alleviate lockdown boredom. We all took up new hobbies, you know? Some people started doing puzzles, or got real into home repair. The Zero-One producers made clip shows.

Actually for Kiramager they re aired first two episodes while also addung in brand new deleted scenes as a bonus.

Honestly, there's a lot I love in these specials because of how inherently ridiculous some of the reused footage, dubbed over scenes, and overall execution work.

You've got Yua knocking out Fuwa multiple times and enjoying whatever pleasure she can derive from that while also being unable to resist roasting Fuwa while ostensibly trying to help him.

You have Jin, who could probably care less about Vulcan, going out of his way to help Fuwa get through his career listlessness (I guess he needs Yua's help that badly).

You have Aruto seeing Fuwa going through a tough time and being like the best boss ever by saying Fuwa can totally leave to find a new job he's happier with and Aruto's willing to write a reference in probably the most obviously dubbed over scene of the whole special.

Basically the whole thing turns into a "look how great these service workers are!" special and how Fuwa is somehow seemingly incapable of doing any of them.

I just love it so, so much.

Exactly! Kurona was definitely underselling the Kiramager side of the hiatus, not that any of these cookie crumbs can be considered high quality dining, of course. There was one particular deleted scene from the Director's Cut of Episode 2 that made a lot of Juru/Sena fans very happy!

There was also the Calamental Institute featuring Director's Cuts of Episode 7 and 8, which reminds me that I still need to watch that at some point!

The rest is pretty trivial, like Shovellow asking the other Machines to help him remember a specific Marrskman based on ridiculously vague details. Although dubbing over Machines is much easier than the Zero One side lip-syncing to human characters. It's not like there are any unique angles to Machines in the Carat base anyway, so you'd have to be a serious Kiramager fanatic to identify recycled footage.

I don't have much to say here regarding those recap episodes to fill out Coronavirus time (President Special, both parts, and Shooting Special)Another one I watched those with 2x speed. but for some:

Aruto views Horobi beating Gai up as a part of "everyone working together"? Seems so in how Aruto talked about him and Horobi getting mutual understanding next. Aruto sees the good in everyone, but in this case, it's really not a case of Horobi joining the cast (even if you'd like people who don't like each other working together) and that view shouldn't be supported. Horobi is an evil dude fighting another evil dude.

Seems that Fuwa and Yua really didn't get along that much before, as stated here. Or perhaps it can be unknowingly affectionate to each other case in their vow to keep connected despite their different allegiance before, but then again them acting like friends that time was your complaint at that part (ep. 10).

For other parts, like "evil Izu", of course I'd talk about it when the actual episode is brought up. Otherwise, your insights for recap episodes can be useful to be a tips for more recaps to come (though there's the anti-wiki/information move as usual from you, but at least the President Special ones can show how a good dynamic can be done without being blatantly goofy and 'parodic' like Build's ep. 41; compromising info).

I think it's Aruto's method to get through Horobi, but he'd use different method when approaching another Humagears, but then again the only problematic Humagears are MetsubouJinrai.net memberswith the only other one being MC Check It Out who goes misantrophic through his own volition.

The Berotha Magia is created from a comedian Humagear. Berotha’s design is based on an extinct praying mantis species, specifically kujiberotha teruyuki. A species named after a Japanese actor who is also known for his comedian roles, Kagawa Teruyuki. His name is also a play on the term "gut-buster", meaning an extremely funny joke. Also, it also references that whenever he tells a joke, his artificial abs burst out.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE - “SUPER JOB WAR BATTLE ETC.”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zeroone/jobwar1.png

I’m so tired!

This one was a grind, man. It’s a clever enough concept – Team Zero-One explains a bunch of jobs to Fuwa, then realizes he’s not suited to any of them because his entire skillset is Yelling and Randomly Being In Places, so all he can be is a Kamen Rider – but the execution is not great.

The first half of each episode is relatively strong, as the jokes come fast and mean. (Everyone’s like Oh Fuwa’s Too Fuwa To Do This Job, and they’re right, but it’s so mean. This guy just had a breakdown!) But then the second half of each episode becomes more and more just, like, whole scenes from episodes? A little joke at the front or back, but then a whole scene of some random thing. The topic should be Jobs, but we also skirt around Fuwa’s various failures, Yua’s resignation from ZAIA, and a weird amount of Gai plots. The definition is real loose, and it makes the back half of each episode feel like the producers completely ran out of ideas.

And then it’s all a dream, which is fine (like, who cares?), but then they try to wrap this all up with a moral and totally bungle it. Fuwa’s lesson is that he’s meant to be a Kamen Rider – he’ll suffer to do the job, but he’s not built to do anything else. Fair, sure, whatever. But Aruto’s like We Learned That Jobs Are Good And Teamwork Is Important, and… no? No, Fuwa definitely did not learn that? The dream versions of his friends just busted his balls for an hour, and reminded him CONSTANTLY that anything requiring collaboration with teammates or leading others was well beyond Fuwa’s capabilities/interests, and his value is in following his weird impulses until it results in justice somehow. He definitely didn’t learn the value of flower arranging!

Pretty much the worst of these specials? Nominally funny (everyone’s so casually dismissive of Fuwa!), but barely enough runway on this for a 15-minute special, let alone two full episodes. Very glad I’m done with these clip shows! This one almost broke me!

(Fuwa’s “gorilla” drawing is perfect, though.)

"Check out how much style it has!"

This is the most important part of these specials and one of my favorite character moments of Zero-One. Where Fuwa draws a gorilla and is like so proud of it. Reall good stuff, A+ stuff.

MAN YOU CAN REALLY TELL HOW BADLY THEY NEEDED TO STRETCH THINGS OUT.

But yeah, absolutely the best scene is Fuwa drawing a gorilla. It was so good that I think it became limited edition merch, pretty sure I saw keychains of it.

The fact that it's only 60% Definitely Not A Gorilla is the most amazing choice. Could've gone all Not, or all Gorilla, but there's just enough in there where you can see what Fuwa was trying for, even though the result is worthy of public ridicule. They made a mess of most of these two specials, but the producers and staff NAILED that drawing.

Gotta admire Aruto trying his best to support Fuwa here.