Gotta love how a famous actor takes the time to talk to and mentor some random dude he met, not knowing that he's also a Humagear sent to ruin the movie and thereby creating a dramatically ironic situation worthy of any drama.

Aruto and Fukuzoe playing roles in the drama and Is trying to signal him to about the fight going on is peak Zero-One comedy.

It's not often we see a recurring Kaijin who survives being destroyed and actually gets some cosmetic upgrades the next time they appear. And I just love how Assassin-chan just...tries his best.

Drama brewing in AIMS with Yua and Fuwa, but Fuwa reacts to it in a very Fuwa-esque way and at the end of the day they're still keeping at it like professionals.

I wondered why this random key showed up without a corresponding form change or holster or weapon or organizer. Now I know! Thanks!

I originally had it slotted for last night, because of the continuity placement, but then I thought, "This movie didn't come out for another two months. I gotta watch it with the episodes it came out alongside." It's just my preference for these shows, to watch them like a small Japanese child would've, merch purchases inclusive.

(The one switch-up is going to be some of the Blu-ray features or whatever. Stuff like Project Thouser will get dropped in wherever it's least likely to spoil anything. I'm not just saving it for the end of the series.)

It's a perfectly deployed gag. This show's been great in general about having fun bits of business for Izu, but the last couple episodes have been high points. The charades here, and her bizarre run to deliver Breaking Mammoth last time? Really funny stuff.

Ah, doing the whole release order thing. Honestly that's fair! And that ensures minor spoilers won't crop up. For Project Thouser though yeah I'd recommend at least doing Part 1 somewhere close to when it released rather than what continuity stuff says on the Wik, I think it was around April? For part 2 I'd probably put that closer to the end of the series since it came out post series and probably has a few end of series nuggets. Been a while since I watched them tbh.

Oh yeah so fun fact about that skid scene, it was so iconic that they used it to tease her SH Figuarts reveal by having just a shot of her feet with spark marks. Nearly everyone managed to figure it out of course because that scene was just so iconic and then when it was time they unveiled the full image.

http://www.shfiguarts.com/content/ar...0702100410.jpg

It'd be ok to use Assassin-chan, Ansatsu-chan is Jin's nickname for him, while Horobi nicknames him Dodo. Big irony for Owada (actor = character), as he didn't believe in Enji due to his robotic nature as a Humagear, but he finds approval in another robotic being, a Magia-born. Assassin's always about changing and growing, he's someone who also constantly adapts in fighting, becoming more deadly than each of his previous incarnations, like how he got twin swords before and becoming faster, and as in this episode, he can use finishers like Riders. He also quickly adapts into the choreography of Owada movies he watched. I'd think it's interesting method too for the MetsubouJinrai.net to insist watching a movie to improve fighting skills. There's something more going on in the MetsubouJinrai.net of Assassin acting more than just a tool.... even glorified MOTW like him here got a taste of some humane trait, even if malicious one, of him trying to off Enji, and also Jin's policy of not attacking other Humagears.

Surprised that you didn't like this one here, despite that for this one, they clearly put effort in Fuwa and Yua's interaction, and this is the usual chemistry between them. Otherwise, it can be kind of expected in how someone cold and distant like her to show lack of regard to some degree (including in how she only values efficiency like viewing Humagears as tools mindset), though she does have some humanizing moments like protecting civilians from Jin or activating hospital Humagears back, and genuine affection for Fuwa to warn him that she can betray him again, due to how ZAIA's tasks can put their friendship at odds. Of course, Fuwa's someone who views Yua as genuine friend and partner, so perhaps he's seeing the good in her here regardless of her working against the public good, like how she helped him before. This part is probably played up as the difficulty to maintain friendship, while you're on opposing sides, especially for Fuwa who is the one lacking knowledge of her shadiness, but knows some good on her including to him. Fuwa's platonic friendship with Yua is one of his traits too, though wouldn't call his previous portrayals as righteous anger, merely targeting evil Humagears won't be that, righteous one wouldn't be for personal reasons like gratification and not going off rails.

So yeah, Androzani already pointed out Gatling Hedgehog, but this episode also features a few other things that I think more or less mark the end of this particular stretch of the show halfheartedly shilling a bunch of random merchandise. There's that big showcase of unfamiliar Progrise Keys right at the start, with a particular focus on Exciting Stag, which was also up for preorder around this time, as well as the bit with Zero-One using the Attache Arrow, because in a reverse of what happened with his sword, the boxes for the Attache Shotgun and Arrow both prominently featured Zero-One on them, implying Zero-One would use them. ...They never bothered having him use the Shotgun at all, if you'll forgive that spoiler. These past few episodes mark an interesting little era for the show in that sense, because there's really not any other chunk of Zero-One that seems to care that much about getting every little thing being sold in there, and given just how minor a lot of these recent showcases have been, I think you can sort of tell the people making the show really wanted to just be making their show as much as they could.

And as one weird little era of Zero-One comes to a close, another one begins, because from episode 10 to 13, the action director is actually not Jun Watanabe, but Takeshi Miyazaki, who was the main action director for a whole boatload of the Heisei shows.

None of these things really matter that much to the end product here though, which is an enjoyable episode as always. I don't have some huge rave about prepared or anything, but it's definitely another one I think I liked a lot more than Die. Ansatsu-chan is always great, and I do really enjoy the dynamic between Fuwa and Yua here.

I've never heard of "NG" being used that way? It generally refers to flubs that make a take unusable (which may or may not be due to an actor messing up), and also has a broader meaning outside of film, that something is for whatever reason unacceptable, not allowed, or, put most simply, No Good. I'd be surprised if that actually was where Enji's name comes from? NG is enuji, for one thing, so I always assumed Enji comes simply from enjiru (演じる), which means "to act (in a role)".

Legitimately never realized the dude was Yuuya though. That's actually really cool!

Hmm. I've currently got both Project Thouser episodes set for after Episode 16, since (according to the Wiki) it's the first 16 episodes that those specials sort of cover. (It sounds a lot like the Alain and Rogue specials?) Is that not a good place to watch them? Should they be held off for later? I am open to suggestions!

I think that's my problem, though. Fuwa's treating it like his friend lied to him, instead of his coworker having ulterior motives that might affect their effectiveness in the field. Like, if I've got a coworker who said they were going to pick up food for me when they were out getting lunch and they didn't, that's sort of shitty, but these things aren't a huge deal in the long run. But if I've got a coworker who is sabotaging our business for another person, I'm probably not going to be as forgiving or understanding.

I wanted to say that I'm glad they're going to stop prioritizing toy demonstrations instead of storytelling, since that's putting the cart in front of the horse... but I guess that's the other way around? The toy demonstrations are what pay for the storytelling, so the toy demonstrations are actually the horse? Weird to consider.

Either way, yeah, I enjoy the early eras of weekly form changes and bucketloads of flashy weaponry, but it's always better when these shows can make those things feel more organic. A new collectible showing up because it represents some journey the characters have taken is worth more to me than some tossed-off Here's A Thing You'll Use One Time To Defeat This Singular Enemy. Not sure if that's a controversial statement?

Eh it's less that they cover those episodes and more explain things about them but also cover stuff that was more common knowledge by the time the Blu-Ray released. 16 is fine for Part 1 I'd say at least hold off on Part 2 till after Episode 25 at the earliest if I'm being honest, 29 is also a safe spot as well, probably safer but that's just my suggestion.

I feel like those two statements contradict each other? Objectively speaking, the place Project Thouser is least likely to spoil the series IS after you've watched the series.

I really would not recommend watching both parts at once, at the very least. They don't even have the same director, and they're both clearly written with the intent that the viewer is finding out about things that happened earlier in the show with the knowledge of things that happened later, filling in details that weren't apparent at the time. There's one thing in particular that part two addresses that the series kept a mystery right up until the final few episodes? Nothing that will absolutely ruin the viewing experience for you, probably, but, let me put it this way:

Part one literally opens with a scene from episode 17, so I think that's your bare minimum there (and even then, it'd still be giving you just a ~little~ more info than you're probably meant to have going into the next arc), and part two closes with a shot that gets reused in the V-Cinema duology, which it shares a director with, so there really isn't any harm in saving it for after the series and before the movies, which is when it came out anyway.

https://media.giphy.com/media/RkzJzW4xUm0X6/giphy.gif

Okay! I will add it to the series-sized pile of post-series content! Thank you for the context!

(That's basically what I was talking about with the seemingly-contradictory statement earlier. I thought it was something that was reacting to chunks of story, and I would rather experience it where it was nominally topical, rather than finishing the series with a 20-minute episode of something that's set during Act 1. But I don't know what these things even are! It's incredibly difficult to try and schedule ancillary content without knowing what the hell it is, and what it's responding to! My least-favorite part of watching Kamen Rider!)

Your best friend in terms of scheduling things is probably just by Release Order.

That's like the safest way to consume anything if I'm being honest.