Sorry if I missed anyone else mentioning this, but the transformation dance that Thouser the dog does? That model of Aibo will actually do this with the appropriate commands.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xu-SGcwFx-A

Yeah, it's great, but that kind of happens next episode, so it is spoilers. But I do agree that it's great.

Just letting you know before a mod does Nokination, your signature's too large and needs to be resized

I thought from what was being said that this was this episode.

Oh well, a dancing dog isn't enough of a spoiler for me to worry about.

One of those days where there is a lot going on (nothing bad!), so I haven't had/won't have time to respond to a lot of today's comments on Episode 38, but:

1) You're all incredibly smart and considerate Kamen Rider fans, and I treasure every last one of you;
2) I appreciate the episode's dissenters braving the headwinds to voice their misgivings;
3) I would die for that robot dog.

See you after dinner for Episode 39!

*except dreamsword. that dude just cant form a cohesive thought to save his life.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 39 - “UNPREDICTABLE OUTCOME”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone39a.png

See, this episode is way more of what I’m looking for, structurally. There’s a core character beat – Gai’s personal evolution – and then the episode spins that out to talk about Progress as a concept: how personal growth is necessary to meet new challenges, and how tricky and sometimes off-putting it can be to others when you improve yourself.

If this’d just been an episode about Gai going on an apology tour, it’d still be a fantastic episode. His egotism and narcissism haven’t dimmed in the light of his newfound dog-based emotional healing, which is the best decision this show has ever and could ever make. Gai’s the worst kind of less-awful dipshit, where the move from Genocidal Capitalist to Just Sort Of An Asshole has him so in awe of his capacity for change that he needs everyone to know about his arduous journey of self-discovery. His revelations are saccharine and generic, but since they happened to him, he’s convinced they’re fascinating and unique. (When he tells Aruto that he’s the embodiment of Grampa Hiden’s dream!!!) He’s funnier as a changed man than he ever was scary as a villain, and I am eating his nonsense up.

But we also get the Ark stuff, and that’s even better.

I love how Gai’s bid for redemption becomes 1000% less funny when Aruto’s involved. There’s weight behind Aruto’s anger, and it’s the weight of an entire series cleaning up Gai’s messes. Gai just being like I’m Happy Now is… I was going to say “it’s nice, but”, except it’s not even nice to Aruto. He ended up fixing Gai, kind of accidentally (when he saved the VPs from Hiden Intelligence, he was mostly just happy to have Gai out of his hair), but that doesn’t even start to make up for the shit Gai pulled. He created a humanity-hating satellite that is currently trying to exterminate humanity! Who cares about his goddamn dog! (I do. Forever.) Aruto’s righteous in his fury at Gai, demanding that Gai stop praising himself for his growth and start actively making a positive difference in the lives of people he’d hurt. And, yeah, bow better! 90 degrees!

Gai’s apology tour is a super fun way to loop in some of the show’s many subplots, to create a more organic placement of scenes in the episode. The Shotrisers aren’t just operating on the fringes, they’re dialed into both the plot (getting AIMS back up and running as something other than ZAIA’s jackboots) and the themes (Fuwa is willing to give Gai the benefit of the doubt, owning his grudge and turning it into something useful).

Even the Ikazuchi stuff is just another facet of the theme of Progress, where his second Singularity is immediately mistrusted by Jin, but welcomed by Aruto. This entire episode’s hero plot is about how the only way to beat Ark is to collaborate in ways it can’t predict: by leveraging Raiden’s return, or by teaming up with Kamen Rider Thouser. Ark can’t predict that people would change or grow. His view of others is as tools, as something that can be easily quantified and harnessed. People becoming better than they were yesterday – more humble, more considerate, more generous – literally doesn’t compute for the Ark. The Ark’s strength is in the predictable.

Which is why Aruto’s so soundly defeated at the end. Aruto’s exceptionally easy to trap, because he always cares so much. Gai joining the fight is totally unpredictable. Jin turning on Horobi is unpredictable. But Aruto showing up without a way to defeat the enemy, because he has to try anyway? You can set your watch to that.

When the enemy can even turn Aruto’s selflessness against him, it’s a dark ending. But, man, I am very interested in how Team Zero-One is gonna turn this one around. I think I’m finally caring about the villain plot of this series?

Something I noticed about alot of the stories I've consumed in my lifetime is how many times, they preach about people being better and changing, and the mere mention of that results in them being easily forgiven. While I do somewhat understand that in terms of kids media: The lesson about not holding onto grudges and to accept people's' apologies, it's also something that, if it's not also in adult media, then it tends to swing in the opposite extreme of zero forgiveness.

So to see Zero-One not only continue its themes of self-improvement and redemption, but to then also have damn near every character go "Gai, you can't seriously expect us to just forget all the crap you did" was incredibly refreshing and brought me completely on board. The previous episode already set a great stage with Gai's' backstory; Continuing the show's' message about the cycle of hatred, but this episode nailed it on Gai working to be better.

It's not that we as the audience should just instantly forgive Gai, but rather acknowledge the root of his psychology and see that he is genuine in his attempts to make amends. Because that's the thing: Yes, people can change and turn around for the better, but only if they actually desire to do so. I felt that Zero-One really nailed it in terms of showcasing this idea. Redemption is very rarely instant; It's alot of hard work!

Plus, the showcasing of the importance of therapy via Ai is always welcome in whatever episode that it's in.

...And yes, Dancing Thouser is absolutely incredible and I take no shame in stating that.

I'm really glad you're enjoying Ark as a villain. A lot of people consider him like a bland guy, but I really enjoyed him as the new big bad. And he definitely has a good balance of "Yeah the heroes can defeat him but he's still a legitimate threat". We see that perfectly in this episode where he's caught off guard with Thouser's arrival and has to rework his plans even if it's just slightly and then manages to pull the biggest win in the series with him fully taking over Zea at the end.

That being said, yeah! They handle Gai's turn around surprisingly well, while the lead up to it might have felt rushed, the one thing I thought they were smart to do was have everyone not automatically forgive him. They'll work with him, they'll agree to his help, but they're not going to wholly forgive him and be buddy buddy with him like nothing's ever happened.

I think my favorite reactions to Gai, if I'm remembering correctly, was the two random AIM's employee's just staring at Gai in befuddlement while he's just there having the time of his life with his dog.

I don't have much to really say on this episode, it's good, but there's not really a specific topic I could discuss from it, I do (still) like Thouser (the dog) though, and the dance he does at the beginning is actually something the real AIBO robotic dog can do as well, with a command, it'll do the dance that Thouser does, which is certainly pretty neat (even though it's already been pointed out). Aside from that, it's a good episode, and definitely an improvement from the last episode, even if there's a bit too much fighting for my taste, but still pretty good.

Is this the episode where Ark impatiently taps his fingers waiting for the MCH jingle/aibo dance to end? That was a super funny couple of seconds

I'm just sitting here feeling bad for Ikazuchi, man.
And Show Hayami is playing him so well. Like such efficient cold, logical, menace and directness while still coming off as condescending and cruel.

(And yes, I know this is the same man who voiced Sosuke Aizen).
Yeah, and it wouldn't make any sense for everyone to immediately or naturally forgive and forget or be all buddy buddy with him. Even Aruto's restraining himself a little even if he seems a smidge more willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, if only under the circumstances.

The whole point of Humagears, and why Aruto fights for them, is so that they and humanity can both be better than they were before. Aruto fights for the idea of progress, of improvement. He's not going to sit there and pretend Gai never caused harm, but he's going to give Gai the chance to be a better person and correct his mistakes.

Gai says that he's the embodiment of Grampa Hiden's dreams, but he's also the embodiment of Aruto's hopes. I... sort of think that is not going help Aruto sleep at night.

It's really all I ever want in a villain plot, you know? I want the villain to have to react to the hero, rather than just Be All-Powerful or whatever. I liked that Ark gamed out Team Zero-One until he got precisely what he needed to take out There.

So great! It's another scene of Gai being like Bask In My Magnanimity And Humility and these two grunts are like Okay, and then Gai's so offended that they don't care about his emotional growth! SO GREAT!

I weirdly thought this was sort of a combat-light episode? I'm curious what you'd say was the proper amount of fight footage.

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

I'm with you on that! Excellent comedy from the usually humorless Ark.

The team-up battle was great, Thouser and Metal Cluster Zero-One look great as a combi, he even gets a double kick with Zero-One, something we've yet to see Fuwa, the secondary rider, do as well. They really do make a good combo.

I love that no one[/I] absolutely forgave Gai. I saw a lot of people back then (and still now) that everyone forgave Gai and that was that. No one here forgave him, they just went along and tolerated him, because as much of a bastard he was, he is still very much useful on their side against the Ark. And they handled it well, too, he doesn't just become part of the cast neatly like some redemptions are, no, there is a certain are of awkwardness around him now acting like this because it's so unlike him! And Gai doesn't lament this either, he says sorry and will actually act on it to do better next time.

And now for Raiden, sigh Raiden. I just wish he was utilized as a character better and wasn't killed off during his first appearance. I actually had his SHF, but I sold it recently since I figured he was just taking up space and liking the suit just wasn't enough to keep it around.

https://i.imgur.com/H2H6dNv.jpg

Yeah, I found the cast's ambivalence to Gai's Very Important Epiphany That Is Bright And Beautiful And Will Make You Weep With Sympathy to be a solid distillation of both the show's themes of self-improvement through partnership, and the universal character trait of no one in the cast giving a shit about Gai's rich interior life. (The only person in the cast who cares even a little about his tragic childhood is his robot dog! No one cares that he turned himself around!) The irony of Gai's bullshit being tolerated because he's a useful tool is delicious.

I do enjoy most of the fighting in these shows, but when a lot of these fights are just 'character shows up to fight Ark, gets beaten up, and has to give up' it's almost getting boring. I get that the Ark is supposed to be a major threat, but with how much they have to rush due to Covid, I'd wish they would cut down on these scenes, since I don't feel it's necessary to have 3 episodes in a row where the Ark just shows off his strength, or at least that they would have these fights offscreen so that we could just know that the heroes lost without a 3 minute scene of them hopelessly fighting, though I'm probably in the minority here who thinks that.

Not much to say this time, so I’ll share two production facts.

Aruto’s actor did the stunt where he got thrown through the air himself, despite being scared of heights.

This was the last episode to be completed before COVID hit. From here on in, the writers had to truncate their plans significantly (Takahashi has gone on record saying it would’ve just been a retread of Ex-Aid, with Aruto slowly getting all the secondary villains redeemed to join him in fighting the Ark if they’d had the full 51 episodes they’d planned for).

I'm not sure wheather I like this better than what we actually got tbh. It really all up to the execution. I do hope one day we might get like a movie or miniseries using these original plans in a what if scenario.

And I might as well get this out of the way now(even if it's early) but that really how I feel about Zero-One as whole I'm not sure where it falls for me. It not the worst thing in the world but I don't love it either. I wish I loved it because I see so many people both on here and other places love it so much. And I'm honestly jealous that I can't feel the same. And maybe that's my biggest dissapointment? Myself for not feeling the same as the others. That maybe I'm just not seeing what others are seeing?

The only other time I commented was when we where reccomending Ultraman and really hating on Episode 27.
So I want end things on a positive note and balance that previous post negativity I'll echo what everyone is saying and I'd loved entire Zero-One/Thouser vs. Ark-Zero fight(in general this show has great choreography) and loved the cast reaction to Gai "redemption"

Okay so ep 39... If I'm being frank, it wasn't as good as ep 38 was but it was much better than ep 37 for its plot progression and some of its characters' moments. The best part of this episode hands down for how they handled Gai post-redemption. Obviously it's understandable and an imperative for ANYONE not to immediately forgive Gai for all of his sins. But the cute part of this was how the show used Thouser dog as Gai's chain in morality and behavior. The scene where Gai apologized to Fuwa and Yua were alright but it was Thouser, who made puppy eyes to Gai, skyrocketed the scene into nebulous. Like obviously Gai bowed in apologize for them but Thouser insisted Gai to make a 'dogeza'. That's just... I really can't speak too much about it. That's almost he same amount of hilarity and craziness, like when Shouichi challenged Hikawa in a tennis with a frypan. Even everyone on Aims were having trouble focusing because Gai was playing with Thouser in the background. Like Die said, if this was solely an episode of Gai's tour for apology, I would not complain at all.

My biggest gripe in this episode was, unlike Die, I think the show or Takahashi made a slight weird step that lower my expectation for the Ark's calculation. I do like that Ark had some predictions about Gai joining force with Aruto. That's like one instance in the Xth amount of calculation that Ark had but such probability was so small that he didn't expect such thing to happen. I actually like this aspect where the Ark was only taken aback and let a guard down because some small percentage of surprising events like that.

What I don't like was how the show portrayed the Ark as an omnipotent future-calculating machine by manipulating... Aruto and Ikazuchi. The two characters who, unfortunately, might be not the best one in the brain. Aruto, of course, put his heart more to action than his thought and don't forget how Ikazuchi was easily puppeteered by Mestubojinrai without even realizing it. Obviously manipulating both of them were too easy, so to have the Ark HAD to explicitly said they were gullible was disappointing. Even someone who is scared and traumatized by the Ark like Jin obviously felt something amiss when Ikazuchi arrived. Like I don't think it was special for Ark to say he outwits some random citizen than a chessmaster. Even Gai and Co. managed to figure out Ark's intention with little clue they had. Unfortunately the episode painted my expectation for the Ark in the worse light. It felt like a simple villain who took leverage on someone like Banjo and said it was the most amazing thing he could muster. The Ark gained control Zea was good but I wish there was more wits to it than simply portraying Aruto for the Nth time where he was dancing right in the villain's palm.

Now that you mention it, we got a double Rider Kick with Aruto and Jin too.

And Nachi Sakuragi himself who had talked about how he wanted to make Gai as hated as possible, surpassing Kusaka, who was his inspiration. So they're on the way to make an irredeemable character, and honestly yeah, how Gai was handled was why some (including me here) would prefer KR letting villains stay evil, especially the more depraved ones, while the one who'd get redeemed are the characters who actually are planned to be redeemed, like Alain or probably Parado and Gentoku. Though yeah, those villains are also not close to be as terrible as Gai. In Ex-Aid, someone who did many atrocities like Kuroto was not made redeemed too, just happened to have mutual goal with the heroes, and he'd return to his old ways in alternate endings.

I mean, I do like how Aruto and the other cast handled him, as they don't immediately give him an easy time and would want for him to actually prove it and no BSing. While you have talked about horrible people not coming from nowhere before, but, didn't you say that people don't change 180? I'd think Gai's "redemption" here is a case of changing 180, after the series tried to write him as someone who'd stoop at any low to achieve something consciously without ever considering of others, even those that work closely with him, he just suddenly realizes what he did is wrong here. Much better people (well, almost anyone would be) like Fuwa or Yua would make use of a therapist to get themselves lifted off the burden. Gai's father is a stereotypical Asian strict parent, and I do think it'd suck to live with him, but still, Gai's crimes are just disproportionate compared to how he went through in his backstory. His dad is annoying, but didn't pull real atrocities that Gai would put others at far more miserable state than his dad did.

I'd not stop Kamen Rider trying to rehabilitate someone and not destroying them, but, I also don't want for rehabilitating someone to look bad or BS. Because if rehabilitating someone is done badly, that can encourage the destroying path more for people due to rehabilitating people being proven stupid. The stupid one can come in some forms like letting villains go completely and have them backstab or continue their rampage, or for Gai's case, a case that is so unbelievable, it's be something seen as stupid to attempt that it's basically suicide realistically, some can swore off rehabilitating altogether.

I'd've been okay with that, Aruto slowly turning all the villains against the Ark, but I can't say I'm bummed it's not happening. There's something so perfunctory about that type of story, where it's gratifying but predictable. It'd feel like a checklist, where Aruto goes through four different two-parters until he's got, like, the full set. Better to make it more strategic, or at least more unexpected.

Never beat yourself up if/when you don't get the same thing out of a show as anyone else. We all process art differently, and it's no big deal to think a show is passable entertainment that you're not in love with.

To paraphrase a wrestling commentator cliche, The Ark's not out here getting paid by the hour. It makes sense that he'd attack the weakest points, to create the optimal conditions for victory in the shortest span of time.

Sure, but the key difference is that Kuroto wasn't trying to be redeemed. Gai's asking for forgiveness, and is willing (so far) to putting the work in to obtain it. Whether or not he deserves forgiveness is up to the people he wronged, as well as the viewers. He may not get what he's after! That's one possibility!

Well, one, I'd argue that Gai hasn't changed 180 degrees, he just has some newfound clarity about how his actions have prevented him from finding any happiness or contentment, and is working towards a better outcome. He's still an egotistical asshole, and he needs a lot of guidance in figuring out what the right course of action is. He's only started a path, not finished his rehabilitation.

And, two, that's the thing about redemption: it's an incredibly long process, and not guaranteed to end to anyone's satisfaction. It... I mean, we are in a Kamen Rider discussion thread, not a philosophy thread, so I'm not gonna write a few thousand words on my beliefs regarding human morality and societal judgment, but Gai's not instantly Good just because he feels bad about his past actions. That's not how redeption works. It's not up to Gai if he's been redeemed, it's up to everyone but Gai. All he can do is try to be better than he was yesterday, and try to atone to the people he harmed.

Finally, I think the show is absolutely leaving it up to the viewers to decide how much forgiveness they want to offer Gai's character. I don't think anyone's saying Gai Is A Hero And You Have To Love Him And Forget About His Villainy. You don't! Gai can still try to be better without anyone's forgiveness or support! His self-improvement is not dependent on anyone else's authorization! Things are allowed to be complicated!

So you personally think Gai has not changed 180 degrees, which is the reason for you to enjoy this, fair enough. You think Gai is not good yet here. But, had he suddenly gain conscience that all his actions are wrong? Going from someone who makes excuse to avoid responsibilities and continue his atrocities. As said here, there needs to be lot of guidance, and someone like Gai shouldn't suddenly realize that his actions are wrong? It had to be done with him going through extensive lesson of what's right and wrong, and especially for the difficult part, evil often cannot comprehend goodness, they often look down on virtue for quite good reasons (oftentimes kid's shows don't give good arguments to elevate good), viewing right/wrong as only obstacles in their goal, or something unappealing as they don't immediately get benefit for that, or even just weakness (an argument is, how Aruto fell to ARk here as you said), etc. How to make them not only understand morality, but also actually are interested in achieving that.

Not to mention he had dim view of humanity overall too, other than him, it gotta be like educating an extreme misantrophe. It's not about other's reaction (which is done well btw), characters or audience, but the mere part of Gai admitting he's wrong and genuinely trying to be better. I thought it's 180 that he can immediately admit he's wrong and, for me personally, he completely abandoned his negative traits here? (not being asshole anymore, more below)

Actually I don't know what kind of asshole deed he pulled up for now. The 1000% part Aruto is sick of hearing? I won't think that it's an asshole behavior, just uttering 1000% that is. If people'd think he's sincere in his attempts to be better, then the 1000% in this case is only to emphasize is certainity. Obviously, even someone's wrongdoings that are far tamer than Gai's can have people being an asshole against that, constantly rubbing it in their face or gloat at those who admit they're wrong, which can be done to as a way to "keep them in line", but actually can lead into people never admitting they were wrong, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of attitudes. Or for those who still admit that they're wrong, behave extremely carefully, as any slightest mistakes can have them easily condemned. Even more for someone with gigantic atrocities like Gai. So it'd make sense for Gai to try being as polite and pleasing as he can (and that also can be accused as purposely groveling for favor), and thus I didn't get the part of his "asshole" part here?

But as I've said before, yeah I like how the other casts are handled here, that they're not making light of Gai's crimes including Aruto. Even if this is also personally to me, the part I view as an example not to do when redeeming characters, I don't agree if people'd think the cast forgave him too. It may deny the audience some satisfaction for the heroes not taking this advantage to go hard on him, but as some people said here, tolerating Gai may be a good move for everyone too, and the irony that he now is an useful "tool" for others to use. So other than it being a human rights to not gang up on someone defenseless (even if they're bad, like laws), it's the reason why empty vengeance shouldn't be done, and not going hard doesn't mean letting them off the hook. And though people are ought not to rub it in to someone who admits they're wrong, the one who is wrong is also ought to be genuine in their apology and actually act on it instead of faking it to escape from their responsibility and act on their desires, as all Aruto, Fuwa, and Yua attest.

I didn't talk about this before due to obvious reasons (you haven't reached this part), but yeah Ark is NOT someone simply made unbeatable, Ark's forte is his adaptive skills to gain advantage of any situation, even in unpredictable events. Ark isn't perfect though, as ihe accused Zea as the reason behind Aruto and Gai's cooperation, though it still can think quickly against anything including those 'mistakes'. Aruto always championed about Humagear's ability to learn and adapt... and now he had to face an enemy that uses that very ability to accomplish evil. But glad that a show can answer your demands even after this late, as you previously didn't care about Ark (and no he's STILL about personification of hate that goes against the plan of creating a safe world for Humagears after awakening), and sometimes first impression permanently sticks. I wonder what can be absolved from bad first impression and what can't to you (usually for people, it's when it's done too little too late at finale, not at middle).

Oh, I just mean that he's still sort of a pain to be around. He's an asshole in the more pedestrian sense, where you definitely don't want to be stuck talking to him at a party. He's still pretty stuck-up, even if it's in a less insulting way.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 40 - “TOWARD MY DREAM AND MY DREAM”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone40a.png

This is one where I sort of don’t know if the ends justify the means?

I really liked where this episode ended. Beyond the catharsis of seeing Aruto humiliate the Ark via some absolutely jaw-dropping action choreography (I’m particularly a fan of using a bunch of Zero-Two doubles to pop in and out of frame, to make Aruto feel impossibly fast), I love how this ending reinforces the series-long notion of interconnected fates. Aruto’s argument in favor of human/Humagear coexistence is that things like happiness, or success, or contentment aren't – if you’ll pardon the expression – zero-sum things. Someone else doesn’t necessarily succeed at someone else's expense; we can all succeed together. Aruto empowers Izu to be better, which in turn empowers Aruto to be strong enough to defeat the Ark. We can win by helping others win. I love that message.

But the road to get there? Man, I don’t know.

The first ten minutes of this episode had me riveted. I 1000% bought into the idea that the Ark murdered Aruto. I was like, Holy Shit. What a bold turn, to leave Aruto’s dream in the hands of the people who looked up to him! What a great demonstration of this show’s themes and theories! And, god, Izu’s performance! Heartbreaking and vulnerable, it got me entirely on this show’s side.

Until they murdered the rest of the cast, and I was like Oh It’s Just A Dream. The stakes basically evaporated, and I was just biding my time until the twist was revealed. Which somehow got worse, as the twist was that Aruto was psychologically torturing Izu (who consented?) until she hit her Singularity Point and coughed up an upgrade that could beat the Ark. It’s… boy, I don’t love it? It takes something enormously affecting, like Izu crying over the body of her dead friend, and turns into some sort of Heroic Prank, and that’s a kind of a horrible way to evolve the core relationship of this show. It shortcuts it in ways that may help the heroes succeed today, but at the cost of a more honest and thoughtful story.

Still, that ending! I do like that ending. Bonus points for Izu being super mad at Aruto. Me too, Izu! Me too!

—

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 09: KAMEN RIDER ZERO-TWO

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone40b.jpg

Much like the episode that introduces it, I’m sort of torn on this suit.

I generally like it. I think it cleanly communicates Upgrade Zero-One form, even if it doesn’t really nail Designed With Izu. The decrease in COLOR and increase in red and silver keep the suit itself firmly ensconced in the Zero-One aesthetic, and the blocks of color are pleasant to look at. (I know the red gloves and Two of it all are Showa references, but I don’t truck with Showa. Feel free to gush over that aspect if you’d like.) There’re some in-universe aspects to the new Driver that I feel like are too over-thought – I’m not sure we needed to define the central emblem as a link between Aruto’s family, considering this suit already has to shoulder the thematic weight of humans and Humagears working in unison on a dream – but the Driver itself is solid in design. Which, yeah, that’s sort of my whole thing about this suit: I don’t know if it’s hitting all of the beats it wants to, but I like looking at it enough to not really care.

Befitting a new Aruto form, this figure really goes all out. Well-placed stickers help shape the colors of the legs, while paint and molded plastic cover the torso and head. This is a figure where you can definitely see the budget being dumped into it.

A little conflicted about some of the story elements around this suit, but it’s still awfully pretty.

And so we get to my favorite suit in Zero-One. There's a reason I've had it as my main icon and as the holder of "Zero" out of all the other Zero's in Toku. I just really love the suit in that it represents a clear upgrade from Shining Hopper specifically. Cause like, both Assault and Metal Cluster were Ark related inventions. The fact that we basically went back to the beginning, all the way back to base Zero-One aesthetic was really nice. I love it as an evolution to Zero-One's design, and this starts the Reiwa Trend of wanting to slim down/make the Final Forms a bit more simple in terms of look.

And I think they managed it pretty well. A lot of people were sour on it when it first dropped and I get why, but I still love it. Also it has an energy scarf? Like duh, if you remember me gushing about Ichigata then of course I'm going to love it!

Anyway to get the nitty gritty of how we got to this point out of the way. Yeah I totally see why you wouldn't like the method of how we got there. Even I'm not the happiest about it, but I do feel like Izu being rightfully angry about it helps offset it by just a bit. But like, desperate times call for desperate measures, you know?

So let's talk about Zero-Two's debut fight and how wonderfully it's setup and choreographed. Just the very beginning where you think it's going to be a repeat of Shining Hopper, Aruto gets one up on Ark and but then Ark manages to predict things and declare the form as useless. But nope, Zero-Two "Nothing Personel's" Ark and immediately start's laying the smackdown.

http://cdn.discordapp.com/attachment...5283546e15.gif

This specific moment is one I love, you can just feel the raw intensity in Aruto's counters. And I love the idea of 02's "headspace" being represented by floating 02 numeric code which of course does not exist in standard 01010 code and further exemplifies how Zero-Two can just break any conceived system or planning.

Points to the very practical "We have two suits, we're going to utilize both of them and sound effects to show how fast Zero-Two is" where you just have Zero-Two exit the frame before coming in from another not even missing a beat.

Also Zero-Two Big Bang is a really cool callout and it was nice to see Ark just so thoroughly defeated. We've had them match and overwhelm the Ark before, but just barely and usually with multiple people. This time it was just one Rider with the hopes and dreams of Humagears and Humans.

If you cant' tell I really loved this episode and consider Zero-Two to have a place among my favorite Final Form Debut's.

I love the Zero-Two suit. The pops of silver and red really add a lot to a design that was already one of the better base suits. Even better, it's an upgrade that manages to stay as sleek and stylish as the base suit. I will always appreciate a design that doesn't go overboard with stacking on more armor, accessories, and miscellaneous pieces of flair.

If it’s not clear by now, I’m in this more for the belt jingles than the suits, but dear god, I did not love 02’s jingle at all.

Zero-TwoRose: road to (Glory Has to) lead to (Growing path to) Change 1 to 2! Kamen rider zero-two. It’s Never Over!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=mBC-zcj5eSQ

(Admittedly, I like the idea that the belt sounds change when a hidden button is pressed, but I think later products used that conceit better).

Also, I’m not keen on the in-universe origin being Is just… pooping it out of her ear. Especially since it seems way sillier than the usual 3D printing method.

And since Aruto was able to create this, I’ve got a joke prepared, by the same guy as my last meme.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...7D7D59022.jpeg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...0F84A5E35.jpeg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...55A5B40D5.jpeg

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...2937F3B5A.jpeg

We're at that point now. I'll get these out of the way, Zero-Two is a fantastic debut, I love use of practical effects and just how overall minimal in VFX it is, it's a stark contrast to a certain sword-based rider's final form debut next year who goes to the other extreme side of the spectrum in dashing colors. Zero-Two is an amazing suit, it was weird at first how it was simple initially in the magazine leaks, but I fell in love with it immediately. I pre-ordered the SHF already!

NOW, we're here, THIS was something I want to share going forward from this point of the show here on out.

https://www.facebook.com/bakanki/pos...ubNwrwSPQvYgYl

These are short doujins done by @10pperance on Twitter, please follow them, they're an amazing artist. They've done some great in-between stories for Zero-One, this one in particular would be right after Zero-Two's debut fight. It's absolutely adorable and their work is one of the shining gems of this series.

https://scontent-hkg4-2.xx.fbcdn.net...0Q&oe=6322A10B

Ok, it's time...

This is the worst episode of Zero-One for me, by a huge margin, and was what ultimately made the show crumble down for me, something it never managed to recover from, not even once in any of the following material.

My first problem:
Is as the main player. Let's start with the fact that Is is probably the flattest and blandest character in the show for me. In a show filled with robots, why exactly is our main robot the most robotic while pretty much every other Humagear has more of a personality beyond: submissive, likes her work, is cute, and has a light sense of humor? Like, she is so hard to invest in for me since there is next to nothing to really grab onto with her. What doesn't help is the fact of how often she is reduced to a plot device as well, aka, put in completely avoidable danger like a lemming just to solicit an emotional response of the cast and viewers in the laziest way possible.
And she is here again. Her personal development is secondary compared to the creation of Zero-Two, which really rubs me the wrong way. Also, didn't she already reach singularity when she allowed Aruto to use Zero-One against Gai after he was ousted? That was a direct disregarding of an order. That had to be a singularity, right? So why are we doing this again?

Second problem:
It destroys any menace the Ark had left by showing it as a complete idiot. If it was gonna kill Aruto anyway, why in gods name did it not murder him on the bridge? What possible reason could it have beyond the writers saying no or the hero would lose? It utterly deflates the Ark as a villain because either it is completely incompetent, which is totally possible, or it is as smart as the writers want it to be and breaks the illusion.

Third problem:
Aruto feels completely detached from his own final form development. He already was a character starved for his own big moments, and taking that one away from him makes him come off as even more forgettable, at least in my opinion.

And the big one:
This episode tramples over the show's established rules like it's a track competition. Rider Gear can only really be made by 3D-Printers linked to either the Ark or Zea satellites, and potentially, however, AIMS made their gear, and Is and the Humagear had to break into Metsubo's base to create the Hopper Blade? And we are now in a situation where Aruto has no ways of accessing either of those? No problem, it just magically appears, completely different from how anything has worked in this show! Is's brother dies once his memory unit is removed? Forget about that Is's fine! Why would she be in any sort of danger?
It signaled to me that the show didn't care about playing within the rules it had established for itself and would just handwave everything to get to the point where it wanted to be. And that was where all the goodwill and "that'll probably pay off later" that had pilled up during the show effectively evaporated for me at once and really showed how much of a cobled-together mess this show really had been.

So, yeah, I really, really dislike this episode on basically every level, and it's most likely my least favorite Final Form episode in the franchise.

Also, one more thing. Zero-Two looks very meh to me. Too close to base to really differentiate, and dear god is it top-heavy! If they were gonna do the Nigo reference, why aren't his boots red?

THIS EP! HOLY MOLY! First of all, this episode slapped back all of my opinions about how I dislike the way Ark was portrayed with its manipulating and calculating power. Because, man do I LOVE how pragmatic the Ark was in this episode. It was as if Evolt stopped playing around and went to serious mode. I rarely see such a villain like Ark, who doesn't give a moment for our heroes to breath or transform. It was this episode that cemented how Ark didn't give a sh*t for humanity to survive. That shot where he cancelled Fuwa's transformation and went for the kill, that WAS brutal. I think the Ark was fed up after waiting Aruto transformed to Metal Cluster Hopper, accompanied by Thouser' dance, in the previous episode.

Now for Zero Two. For the longest time, I really despised this form as much as I despite Zi-O II. However as time passes, my opinions about it start to warm up and I do like and enjoy Zero-Two by large margin. Even I started appreciate the sleek and slim body of Zero Two which I thought was a weak follow-up from MCH. If Toei wanted, they could make a cluster clutter of Final Form but I respect their decision to go back to the basic for this instance.

At first, I also dislike how basically Zero-Two just copycatted Shinning Hopper's ability. But after thorough and multiple rewatching, I started to find how distinct Zero-Two's ability. Obliviously, they went an extra mile to use TWO Zero-Two's suits to emulate the superspeed and Zero-Two's ability to counter the Ark's prediction. There's a small detail in Enchilada's GIF in how the Ark couldn't read Zero-Two's movement. There was an obvious delay in Ark's movement because he acted based on what it PREDICTS and not what is actually HAPPENING.

Basically, I like to think that Zero-Two's ability is more of a reality bending or simply making impossibility to be possible. Like making the binary code to 020202, making the Ark having a tremendous lag, and having a body double which in reality NOT possible. But it DO happened and it IS possible. Unlike Shining Hopper's superspeed and calculation, Zero-Two basically willed something like miracle to happen! It's no wonder why Zero-Two was made from Izu reaching more than Singularity because for such a lifeless robot, of course, it was impossible. But it WAS possible! If Takeru said 'Humanity's potential is infinite!', then I would say 'Humanity AND Humagears' potential is more than infinite!'

Other than that, this episode made me realized how much I love seeing Aruto and Izu on every possible scenes they had. They almost feel a good old-couple together, even Aruto like to crack a joke like an old man too. It was heartbreaking to see Izu started begging Aruto to open his eyes. It was as if an old wife had just lost his beloved husband and life partner. If I was Izu, of course, I wouldn't easily forgive Aruto for basically tormenting me in a never ending nightmare like that. Aruto legitly MADE an almost unforgivable sins not unlike Gai. But it was just so cute to see those two together in every possible moments. I hope nothing bad WILL happen to either Aruto and Izu.

Fun fact too: During the filming, Izu's actress, Noa Tsurushima, forced herself to cry too much to the point that she couldn't stop shedding tears. Because of this, the staff had to take an immediate break to comfort and relieve the girl from the weight of the scenario.

I wasn't down with the simulation twist either. Maybe it's just me, but I actually would've 1000% bought it if the show had claimed that Izu was somehow time traveling due to her becoming magic upon reaching the singularity or somesuch. Given all the other fantastical stuff that happens not only in this franchise, but specifically this entry? I don't feel it would've been too much of a stretch.

That aside though I rather liked the episode for many of the reasons that alot of others have said. Especially since it debuts my favorite song in Zero-One:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHtBc4HiD14

This is a strange episode to me personally, I was honestly confused by it the first time through, and only on later watches did I realize what happened, though it's not surprising with how convoluted this episode is. I first thought that Izu was in some sense, time traveling, but I guess it was all just a simulation? Why would the show dedicate so much time to something that's apparently just a simulation, I know that Zea is very advanced, but how could it have possibly predicted literally everything? Aside from that, I do like the episode, but it's hard for me to accept that half the episode was just a simulation that apparently predicted exactly what Ark would do, unless I missed something (which is entirely possible, since I mostly rely on my previous viewing and skipping through the episode), I just can't suspend my disbelief that much, and this just felt weird and out of place, but still a fine episode I guess.

The protagonist dying before reviving with their Final Form is a fairly common trope, as Gentarou and Shinnosuke have experienced. Takeru actually went beyond death in his Final Form debut episode. So Aruto not really dying is an interesting subversion. Even though the scenario of this episode is just a simulation, it showed a real future, so I think this emphasizes how unstoppable the Ark is as it finally goes all-out murdering everybody it deems a threat to its victory. It sucks that Aruto has to drive Izu to despair to escalate her singularity, but it was a desperate situation and I don't think he would've gone through with it if there were any other options. It also shows his faith in technology, by putting his life in the hands of a robot.

Zero Two is two cool! And that's how you know it's Aruto!

(I can't take credit though, as I did copy that joke from Twokaizer)

Unfortunately, it's also the most tragic victim of you-know-what. Episode 40 is very late for a Final Form debut and with only 5 episodes to go, I recommend that you savor all of Aruto's appearances as Zero Two. To give you an idea of how tragic this is, Aruto uses the Rise Hopper more than Zero Two. Yeah, you know it's bad when even the bike gets more focus than the Final Form. Even Flying Falcon's absence for most of Q1 pales in comparison to the neglect that poor Zero Two has to endure. The only consolation is that a certain NG+ accelerator in Memory of Heroez lets you use it as much as you want, but that game barely features Aruto anyway. I think it's a terrible injustice and it sours my opinion of the otherwise decent final arc.

Now Is The Right Time!

Personally, my least favorite Final Form episode in the franchise is Kuuga Episode 48. Not enough special effects, no cool insert theme, the choreography is just two dudes punching each other. Pretty disappointing.

Zero Two is an upgrade to Rising Hopper before it's a Rider 2 reference, so I think the yellow legs are more thematically appropriate. A Kamen Rider should have an authentic design, even if it does reference something else.

Trinary is a totally real thing that uses 0s, 1s and 2s. Even though Ark is a powerful AI that can predict people's actions, it's still a binary AI. It doesn't understand the true power of the number 2, which is depicted from its perspective as Zero Two somehow overwriting reality. This looks like a miracle, but Zero Two is just operating on a higher level of processing, similar to how Zi-O II can't predict Geiz Revive Typhoon. Symbolically, Zero Two was created through the magic of friendship between Aruto and Izu. Ark doesn't understand the concept of friendship, so it has no way to counter this. But yeah, Zero Two is OP as hell and human potential is infinite!

About other's reaction? I'd think Gai is annoying to be around because of course, they can't ever forget that it's the man who caused all the problems in the series. It'd be a reasonable grudge and distrust against someone formerly depraved. For a man like him, assholery (I still think there's none of it, about Thouser whimpering?) isn't required to have others don't want to be stuck... his very existence does.

The simulations reminded us that, for all the technology and powers the non-Humagear Riders have (or any human Riders period of all franchise), they're still only human. And Ark very well knows this. Ark doesn't kill Aruto, Fuwa, Gai and Yua with flashy finishers, he kills them with little more than single, mundane bullet each. This also shows that Ark doesn't play around (along with exploiting the Rider's human weakness), in Ikazuchi's body he breaks into Hiden Manufacturing to prevent the slightest chance of Aruto figuring something out by killing him, then after playing with Jin for a bit and doing the deed, basically kills the others, and Gai, with quick, pin-point shots to the heart. He doesn't even give the chance for Fuwa to fight back, interrupting his transformation by destroying his Rider Models before killing him.

Ark's main thing is its adaptive and calculating nature, and in this part, Aruto and Izu's direct link to Zea ultimately pays off this episode, through those links Zea was able to formulate and fill Aruto in with its plan within the seconds it took for Ark to rip off the Zero-One Driver, as well as revive itself by linking itself to Izu (something Ark didn't foresee). However, there's something bad for Izu from that, despite her boosted abilities like producing Progrise Keys, Drivers, and simulation capabilities, the last one is the reason she's able to run thousands of simulations of Ark's plan, and grieving in the process. And... her sadness is what's required to create Zero-Two, as her Singularity requires to experiences an emotion she’s never felt before while running Zea’s simulations. So it's about Ark vs Zea war, and Zea defeating Ark, but at the cost of Izu's smile. There's... an expense here of Zea winning.

Like some of the other final form upgrades (actually this one's just a new version, enhanced version of base Zero-One, which is why the design resembles it more), Zero-Two has all various Hopper forms powers; improved version of Ichi-Gata's energy scarf, the speed from previous Hopper forms, predictive abilities of Shining Hopper, the strength and defensive power from Metal Cluster Hopper, and Cluster Cell constructs from the Progrise Hopper Blade. Shining Hopper tests 25,000 scenarios per prediction, while Zero-Two tests 2 trillion. Aruto's humor rubs into even Zero-Two's henshin jingle, exaggerates the "to" in the jingle, as it's Zero-"Two". Zero-Two also has a similar name and theme to Nigou (#2) and also patterned after a grasshopper, with a suit featuring red gloves and heavier silver accents. And, Zero-Two has Zea's AI working with Aruto directly instead of Aruto's consciousness being sent to Zea, so Zero-Two is also the culmination of humans and AI working together as Aruto envisioned.

I guess it's interesting to look at Aruto's handling of Is here and what he put her through for the sake of the mission, especially knowing how much they care for each other and how kind Aruto is. The fact that he saw no other option and was willing to subject her to this, knowing how much it would hurt her, because there was no other way adds, I think, a new layer to Aruto as a character and emphasizes how precious he is to Is even as she's rightfully angry with him at the end.

Zero-Two! There's a lot to unpack here now that we've finally gotten our Final Form.

But it's kind of unconventional as far as Final Forms go. Especially in recent memory they've usually gone for very busy or ostentatious designs, which I think work from a certain perspective and I've enjoyed them myself, but there's something to the base simplicity and streamlined nature of Zero-Two that makes it really stand out.

And it's also unconventional in the sense that it's technically both a Final Form and a separate Rider, since it has it's own belt. Because Zero-One has basically peaked and Aruto now has to evolve past that, into Zero-Two. Which means Metal Cluster Hopper is technically Zero-One's Final Form, but let's not get into an OOO Final Form argument...

As an individual form it captures what works for Rising Hopper and builds on that into a new form, still distinct yet also obviously channeling the base form in a way that just works.

And, of course, watching Aruto as Zero-Two beat the tar out of Ark is immensely satisfying. A great Final Form debut!

The concluding fight scene was incredibly cool. Definitely feel okay saying that!

Yeah, my big problem with late-series suits is that the shoulders get real big and unwieldy. Zero-Two does not do that, and I appreciate it.

This is one of those things where... I don't know, I can't care? It's like every time someone pulls an entire Driver out of their back pocket: you just gotta let some stuff go to enjoy these shows.

I can see why! It's a very fun suit.

So, I disagree with a lot of your points, some objectively (Izu's role is integral to the series' themes; Izu and Aruto collaborating on Zero-Two is literally what this show is about) and some subjectively (see above re: the manufacture of the Zero-Two Driver; I think Zero-Two looks cool), but this point is something that legitimately bothers me from the episode. If the whole story had been Izu stressing out and imagining the worst, fine. But if this is all really possible, why didn't the Ark just murder Aruto on the bridge? Why wait for him to go back to Hiden Manufacturing, rest up for a few hours, and then get murdered? The Ark's either a villain who wants to cause suffering, or it's a villain that wants to succeed as efficiently as possible. It can't be both!

(Also, JESUS CHRIST, why does everyone sit around while Horobi re-abducts Ikazuchi for service in MetsubouJinrai? Ikazuchi just escaped from this robot death cult! There are, like, four Kamen Riders there that could easily stop him! Are they all just looking for an excuse to head back to Daybreak Town?!)

Ha ha, I really like this reading! Thanks!

I seriously just thought she was having a breakdown? This is an incredibly stressful time for Izu, as she can't really do much for Aruto than be supportive. A story where she has to be more involved in the battle -- which is where they ended up -- feels very relevant to her character at this point, but I didn't like how they set it up. Better for her to have maybe overcome her own sense of helplessness to be a positive force against the Ark.

It's just how There and Ark see the world, as limited possibilities that can be catalogued and countered. There/Izu is just doing what Ark's done, using the last episode's status quo to extrapolate what Ark would do next, and then adapting a strategy to defeat it.

I wish any of that had been a major part of the episode? The closest we get is Aruto's (funny) Mea Culpa at the end, which isn't really sufficient to me. I think there needed to be either a serious admission that this was a horrible thing to ask (Sento explaining the Hazard Trigger to Misora, for example), or Izu taking the lead on this plan. Having it be Aruto's suggestion and Izu's suffering... I don't love it!

That's a great way of putting it!

Yeah, I kinda like that part. I like that part of the story is that Aruto has to evolve beyond the plans of his grandfather and become his own kind of hero. Zero-One was someone else's dream; Zero-Two is the dream of Aruto and Izu.

I feel like the Ark is definitely inconsistent in it's actions, but I suppose that's what happens when you're made up of human malice and there's a lot of conflicting malice types. You can never really be sure if you want to just immediately crush someone and watch their life drain from their eyes or toy with them in a cruel manner.

I imagine Ark thought that its grandstand against Aruto would be enough to get the job done. But it sat for a while, especially now that it has an entire undamaged satellite for processing power, thought and realized "Oh... oh wait maybe I should just kill everyone."

Admittedly one thing I'm sad about this episode is the loss of the building for Hiden Manufacturing, it was so young...

The big problem I have is that, if memory serves, the Ark specifically says that it can kill Aruto now because it took over There, and there's no need to keep him alive. There's no new information between the end of 39 and the start of 40, so why in the world didn't it kill him as soon as it took over There?

Like, the plotting for the Ark always seems to want to have its cake and eat it too. It wants to be The Ark Has Calculated This Eventuality And Already Countered It, and it also wants to be The Ark Is Crazy And Does Crazy Things Sometimes. Normally I don't care a whole lot, but this episode really bothered me.