Actually, Aruto legally owns the rights to Humagears. I did a quick rewatch of episode 30, and the patent for Humagears was part of the things passed down to Aruto along with the 01-Driver.

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:

• Aruto is trying to restore public faith in Humagears, and reactivating them one at a time.
• Gai is pointing his finger at all of this and going "That fashion model humagear is clearly out of control, A.I.M.S. go destroy her!!!"
• A.I.M.S. obeys
• Fight scene

That... actually makes a lot of sense of things, thank you

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

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.

Oh, well, I guess you're just gonna take this one, then? Works for me. I'm a little exhausted from writing about Kuuga to put a lot of thought into this right now (and the legal system in this show is melting my brain; if Fuwa stole his ShotRiser, is Aruto harboring a fugitive?), but, uh, just pretend everything Kurona said is what I said too, because it might as well be. I do have a few original thoughts to add, though:

- 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!

LMAO that's what I'm just going to assume happened

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.