Hey kids, do you want to talk about the cycle of violence?

I joke that this series is a better Detroit Become Human/The Last of Us 2 what with the AI/Swerve to the Cycle of Violence, but I feel like this show does a lot better than those two games in those specific areas.

There was a lot of good stuff in this episode, personally I enjoyed the Ark-One fight against Horobi and the Magia Softball League. Like I wasn't finding myself completely rooting for Aruto here, dude shouldn't be doing this. But I was absolutely captivated by his thirst for revenge. There's just this mystifying element to Ark-One's fight scenes. Where he's just tanking through everything and completely beating down Horobi in every regard. The slow walk towards Horobi where he's preparing the big finisher for Horobi and immediately countering Horobi's attempt to deny that finisher. Real good stuff.

I also like how the show is actively showing that Aruto does not want anyone involved. He deals with the Shotrisers and Thousers in the most humane way possible, and when he ends up killing Jin you get to see how Aruto just has a face of instant despair and regret at what he's done because that was not the plan.

Everything else in this episode was pretty good, but I definitely remember the final fight of the episode more for the visceral and just walking tank nature of Ark-One Aruto.

I like that you can see that the Ark-One suit had to be repaired several times because each time it took a hit, the entire breastplate just teared itself off. They really had no time to do a bunch of VFX stuff so they just went on practical effects which is always the best option.

Anyway, well, Jin's dead, again. At this point he's really lost his charm to me as his own character.

I honestly can't think of much to say on this episode, last episode (even with its flaws) was my favorite in the whole series, so this one doesn't really do much for me. It's still a fine episode though, with Jin dying for the second time, though as I just said, this is the second time and we know he can come back, so even if it is sad, it doesn't have too much impact on me when I have to specify that this is his second time dying. Still a fine episode, but kind of average for one of the final 3 episodes.

Yeah, the early fight scene against Team Zero-One wasn't as flashy as the episode climax fight, but I think I liked it better. It's more clever, in that Ark-One is taking apart his former friends so that they can't interfere with his vengeance, rather than demolishing them in a fight. The shot of Ark-One just turning and walking away from them as they know they can't stop him... pretty great!

Aww, I liked Jin's death scene. Jin's role as Secret ZAIA Agent is dumb, but I like his use as Horobi's would-be conscience, the Izu to Horobi's Aruto. Him sacrificing himself to (hopefully) give Horobi the opportunity to turn his life around is some nice symmetry for Jin.

It's so funny to me that last episode I was super down on, and nearly everyone turned up to tell me how it moved them. Meanwhile, I liked this one, and folks seem sorta Meh about it. Fascinating fandom! I love it!

I think I just got disappointed by Jin's developments after his revival. I was looking forward to see the Burning Falcon suit frequently, especially with how frequent he was during first 16 episodes. (that said, I might need to go back for his SHF someday, dunno why I haven't gotten it yet)

There is a comparison I used to draw. Jin's posture. During his revival he stood straight, but as the season went on and along with Horobi coming back, Jin's posture started slouching until he kind just looked like how he did back in the first episodes. I really thought pairing Horobi with Jin was a bad move and he should've been in his own little faction.

And here lies the biggest issue in Horobi, outside of his (or others like Ark's) power ofc, his inculpability. Though Ark-uto had his fall from grace, it's still caused by Horobi, Horobi is the one who triggered back Ark by killing Izu, thus making Ark-uto hateful, and feeds Ark by that. In his mission to prevent Ark, Horobi ironically just re-activated it again, and of course, he'd shift the blame to only humans being inherently malicious, ignoring why Ark-uto feel like that, yet he condems Ark-uto when the same thing happened to him, ignoring the whole time that Humagear's dark emotions counts just as much as humans for Ark to operate. Above the poisonous nature of revenge, this is the problem of never owing up your actions, and in this context, Horobi would be just more and more unrepentant no matter how many damage he'd cause via his hypocrisy. This is also about self-fulfilling prophecy, which can be caused by an obsession to avoid something; Horobi feared humans creating an Ark, yet he's the one who did it.

This part continues to show Horobi being dedicated to his utter hatred for humanity. The reason why he brushes off Jin's suggestions and even threatened him is because, having a heart is a human trait, and Horobi acknowledging it would mean he's not different from the very humans he wanted to destroy, a "hypocrite" (when he's already one for various reasons). His misantrophy isn't as simple as in only killing all humans, he's extremely clouded in his judgment to humans and would view every single thing humans do/have in negative light. In his point of view; Humagears learning from humans are implanting malice on Humagears, because humans have malice and learning human traits would certainly mean malice is part of them. Humagears working with humans means they're conspiring to achieve a malicious agenda, because in his mind, humans only do something malicious. Humagears tolerating humans mean they're ok with letting the world get destroyed because they're keeping the malices on the Earth exist. Etc.

On the opposite end, Jin no longer has a prejudice towards humanity, it must be since ep. 36, but he showed it here, as he points out to Horobi that humans can't be blamed for anything, and that it's Horobi's malice that drove him to kill Izu, not the "justice" he envisioned, as malice isn't exclusive to humans Jin also clearly spoke for human's favor here. But other than what Izu said about learning from biased data, what should be learned (including me too, can be hard) is that, individuals aren't groups/hive minds, can be different among each other, and entire species shouldn't take the blame if there are bad apples among them. U̶n̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶d̶u̶c̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶'̶s̶ ̶g̶r̶o̶u̶p̶ ̶l̶e̶s̶s̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶n̶t̶i̶r̶e̶ ̶g̶r̶o̶u̶p̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶l̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶'̶s̶ ̶m̶i̶s̶t̶a̶k̶e̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶e̶n̶c̶o̶u̶r̶a̶g̶e̶ ̶"̶s̶o̶l̶i̶d̶a̶r̶i̶t̶y̶"̶.̶

Tbh, the series painted Ark-uto as a villain here, but while Ark-uto's certainly a lot darker and more unscrupulous than his usual portrayal, they didn't really show actual villainous behaviors from him. He's only out to kill Horobi, a genocidal, hypocritical terrorist, but against others, he didn't do malicious shit at them, just being rougher than usual. He only defended himself against Riders who attack him first, and he held back to only disable their devices. He also didn't intentionally kill Jin (it's due to him shielding Horobi), and actually had remorse at doing so. These are similar to how many secondary Riders operate at the early of the series, being ruled by darker emotions and clashing with others for their views, and none of those secondary Riders are evil (except Kusaka, or Kaito at the end). He's portrayed as a villain here due to his darker emotions feeding Ark thus is one of the catalyst for the war? Ark-uto became morally ambiguous at this point, but consequence isn't a part that determines morality, and it'd be Azu and Ark's fault to launch the war itself and manipulate Ark-uto. Him accidentally killing Jin, while disastrous, is something that can happen any kind morality; recklessness.

And this is not something Ark-uto needed if he only wanted to take revenge against Horobi only. He already had goddamn Zero-Two Driver, something not an Ark remnant, and it's much more powerful than Horobi, and even more powerful than Ark-One Driver too, albeit the Ark-One Driver is still something that outlcasses everyone. At that time, Aruto already had much more powerful equipments, including against Horobi if he can defeat Ark before, and here it's just proven, Horobi is no threat against Aruto in the fight, he can't do anything against him. Though there can be more complicated stuff outside of Ark-uto beating the tar out of Horobi, like people attached to him such as Jin sacrificing himself for him or the escalating war, but that shows the threat is still Ark, and Azu. With his current equipment Horobi can't be a big threat to Aruto, and ended up just a pawn to Azu, and she's the one to give him new equipment here too. Unless you refer for the people caught in the crossfire in Horobi's crusade too regarding Horobi being a threat (I'd think it's Ark's stuff).

One of my favorite underrated episodes in this franchise is Kuuga's Ep 41. Even in my childhood, I used to rewatch that episode several times. There was a clear and strong message that Godai (and the show) wanted to tell for Nana ( and the audience by extension ). That scene was when Godai told Nana not to return a punch back with another punch, complete with a visual where Godai moving his fists back and forth. Returning violence with violence might sound be the easiest solution out there but... Wouldn't it be sad if there's an never ending chain of violence like that? It took roughly 20 years to finally see how strong Godai's message was as whole.

I don't have too much to say about this episode mainly because it's mainly a plot progression episode. Those words above just summarized my opinions. It's kinda saddening to see how Aruto sink so low in these episodes. As TheRaizin said maybe we all didn't imagine how mentally ill Aruto was until it was too late. Basically I see Aruto as Nana if she didn't get some pep talk from Godai. I'm pretty sure the only reason Aruto's fall into Ark-One and reciprocating the chain of violence was because no one comforted him until Azu did (Thanks, Fuwa) and no one gave him a strong pep talk like Godai was.

Aruto would have been stopped if someone had told him :

"Hey, dude, I know it must be hurt to see Izu exploded like that in front of your eyes. I KNOW you hate and despise Horobi so much. But, would it be the best solution for you to return the favor back to Horobi? If Izu was still here, she would tell you to use your fists to help human and Humagears alike. She wouldn't want you to sink your hands in bloodshed. She wants you to finish what she had started and failed to accomplish : Saving Horobi."

I don't think the scene where Horobi killed Izu was a plot machination. I like how metaphorically, Horobi transformed to Kamen Rider Horobi to execute Izu. It was like Horobi himself, deep inside, didn't want to kill Izu and he only transformed back because he NEEDED the Kamen Rider persona to maybe hide his tears behind the mask. I don't think there was anything bad, idiotic, or OOC for either Horobi and Izu. Their actions in the last episode was kept based and grounded with their background and lesson.

Though, if we want to be fair, I don't like the inclusion of Jin in Horobi's murder on Izu. I also blame Jin because he DID save Izu from getting shot by Ark-Zero a few episodes ago in a superspeed fashion. To see him not having enough react time to save Izu was a bit BS in my eyes. The argument for Jin here is easy to debate but I wish they just get rid of Jin until the aftermath of Izu's death.


Sorry if my words to Fuwa was a bit harsh, I do like Fuwa as a character. I just wish there was more deep and intimate between Aruto and Fuwa as close as Aruto and Izu. Maybe if Fuwa actually approached to Aruto and say "Hey, President... I'm sorry for what you have to deal with" or something like that. If Aruto was unresponsive, that would be a good reason to leave him alone. This was the part that I felt more of a plot machination because Takahashi deliberately didn't let Fuwa or anyone else to approach Aruto so Azu could take the place. Fuwa's character might be so IN character for him but I wish there was more layer for Fuwa. Even Banjo, who was all muscle, still had his times to shine to keep Sento in check and brought him back from some funks.

Even digging two graves probably wouldn't be enough. Have you heard about Gandhi's famous quote, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"? A revenge seeker risks invoking the vengeance of their target's loved ones. A ripple in the water can create tidal waves of destruction. Horobi was wrong for killing Izu, but Ark-uto accidentally killing Jin only reinforced Horobi's resolve, as he saw his biggest fear come true, the death of his son at the hands of humanity. It may have started as a conflict between two people, much like the Job Competition, but it never ends with two people. The world doesn't revolve around only two people. Aruto's actions bring shame to his people and Horobi's bring shame to his people. Their conflict will snowball in to society.

My favorite scene from this episode is close to the start, where Jin interrogates Horobi's belief, as they stand with the clotheslines between them. It's pretty rare for KR to have the final villain murder the female lead and then depict the villain as someone to pity rather than hate. While I mourn Izu's loss with everybody else, I can't bring myself to hate Horobi for killing her, cause deep down, he's already hating himself enough. He's refusing to listen to his heart (like Onari always advised) cause he doesn't want to feel even more suffering and he'd rather keep going with his misguided genocide than admit to himself the painful truth that he did something terrible he can never take back. It's a different spin on Gai's arc and just as tragic and it makes Horobi one of the most complex villains in KR.

Please hear me out! Maybe you thought that I don't like Ark One for usurping screentime from Zero Two, but actually, I think that's fitting. Zero Two represents the friendship between Aruto and Izu, so Ark One represents the "friendship" between Aruto and Azu. The loss of Izu left a void in Aruto's heart and Ark One is the form that void takes. As DreadBringer pointed out though, Zero Two is still the stronger form so I think this development would've worked better if there was an in-universe reason why he could no longer use it.

An obsolete magazine also revealed a look at a scrapped fight between Zero Two and Ark One, which means they were originally supposed to be different characters, but the development made it more natural for Aruto to be both and you can't exactly have Aruto fight himself literally. I am curious how that alternate reality without you-know-what would have turned out though.

While Ark Zero could possess HumaGears, Ark One doesn't discriminate, showing that there's capacity for malice on both sides. Even though the AI itself is destroyed, Azu continues to spread its evil influence like a virus, in the form of Ark-branded Rider Systems to those who desire destruction.

No need to apologize, I can kind of understand your frustration to an extent. But for sure, I'm never going to say no to more Aruto/Isamu scenes, totally with you on that. Their development is so deeply connected to each other's contrasting philosophies, making Aruto more independent to seize his dream and making Isamu more open-minded to decide what his dream should be. I'd love for them to have more interactions, but even without that, I think they've both come a long way just by observing each other's ways. People can have mutual respect, but might not always know the best way to show it and Isamu doesn't have much experience with the touchy-feely stuff, so yeah, his inaction was in-character at least, even if it wasn't necessarily the best for Aruto. It's a bump in the road, but I think they can bounce back.

Seeing As basically having Aruto wrapped around her finger because she looks so much like Is is pretty sad, and seeing Aruto kill Jin knowing how far their relationship has come and knowing how Aruto feels about fathers and sons...really shows just how much all this hate, malice, and inability to really move on has hurt so, so many.

Oh yeah, I guess they finally explained how Jin came back too.

You're not wrong, and I expect that this show's tendency to plateau its characters is something I'll be talking about later this week in the Series Wrap-Up. I still like Jin, but he (and several other characters) feel like they reached a level of personal evolution and then the show was basically done with them.

I don't know if Horobi has an "utter hatred for humanity"? This part of his character arc is about when you've been steeped in a hateful culture for your whole life, and now you have the opportunity to make up your own mind. He was never really wronged by humanity. No one has a grudge against him that he isn't responsible for. (Like, people hate Horobi, but it's because he's a genocidal terrorist, not because he's a Humagear.) The Ark was the one who turned him against humanity, but the Ark's gone now. The rest of MetsubouJinrai is using this new chapter in their lives to find fulfillment in self-determination. Horobi's terrified of making his own decisions, charting his own course, so he regresses back to the simplicity of the Ark's bullshit, but now with the veneer of his own desires. It's not, though, and that's why it's not helping him.

Wanting to murder someone in order to get revenge is always wrong! It's sort of this story's thesis statement!

Fair enough! For me, it was a plot development that made Izu act recklessly so that one to two men could have very strong feelings for a few episodes, but I am clearly in the minority with that opinion.

I'm not sure I like this story better than Gai's? Horobi's depression and derangement has already had more severe costs than Gai's, so I'm not super inclined to feel pity for the guy. I'd love for him to find some self-awareness and regret for his actions, like Gai (well, regret anyway), but until that happens I'm not gonna be real He's Been Through A Lot about our homicidal/genocidal purple Rider.

Killing a son directly in front of his father is sort of a nightmare scenario for Aruto, yeah. The other way around might've been even worse for him, but this one's still pretty bad!

I completely forgot that Jin got killed again. I’m realizing that a lot of Zero-One’s endgame didn’t stick in my long term memory.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 44 - “THERE’S ONLY ONE PERSON WHO CAN STOP YOU…”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone44a.png

See, this is all I wanted.

This episode was so good that I mostly don’t give a shit about how much I disliked this story’s beginning. It’s literally everything I want in a Zero-One story: personal stakes with societal metaphors, and societal stakes with personal metaphors. There’s weight to every interaction, and a sense of how minor ripples become crushing waves. Aruto and Horobi become a story about how difficult it can be to let go of hatred, as well as a story of how valuable it can be to think of the similarities of our circumstances.

Mostly, though, it’s a story about how Hatred and Hope are each others’ antithesis, and how one can only exist in the other’s absence. Aruto spent a year fixing his friends (and some foes), helping them see the pointlessness of anger and hatred and intolerance and bigotry. His work let them dream of better futures, and hope for a better world. They can be the force for good that Aruto used to be. It’s a role Aruto can’t take on, because he’s chosen hatred instead of hope. He’s given himself over to anger and self-deception, defined himself as someone who wants to destroy someone else, and left himself no room to hold onto a dream. He can’t leap towards a dream when he’s rooted by hatred.

Giving over an entire episode to the ways hope can be just as transmissible as hatred… that’s really lovely? This is a story that doesn’t shy away from real-life parallels (that AIMS guy was going to execute a protestor, right on this superhero show designed to sell toys to Japanese children), and so it gains additional power from its hopefulness. The point of the heroes here is to argue for the right of Humagears to feel let down, to feel underappreciated, and then to ask for a chance to make it up to them. It’s trying to meet rage with acknowledgement and apology. It’s defusing anger by admitting culpability. It’s the most humane way to resolve this sort of situation, and I almost can’t believe this show did it.

Because it’s kind of the entire point this show’s trying to make about people, you know? It’s that we’re constantly divided by things, despite being so fundamentally the same that it’s ridiculous to hate one another. The humans and Humagears have different origins, but they both want to be free and safe, while fearing that someone might prevent that. We all just, deep down, want to know that we’re safe to be ourselves. That’s it. The loss of that, or the denial of that, is what makes us turn on each other. The ways we hate each other is one of the most common things about people, just like how Aruto and Horobi’s rage and shame are identical. Being able to see the same dream in one another might be the answer to so much pain.

Also, this was a completely awesome superhero show.

I sometimes forget to talk about these shows on that level, but, HOLY SHIT. The fight between Aruto and Fuwa was beautiful and heartbreaking, as Aruto grew more and more enraged at Fuwa’s attempts to stop him. We got a little of last episode’s silent dismissal, until Fuwa’s emotional attacks started making contact. Then, Aruto just started pummeling him. It’s hard to watch, because the fight isn’t tokusatsu action, really; it’s a beating. Fuwa’s two-headed wolf form (so great to have Naki back in the plot) is janky and almost inoperable from the start. He can’t hope to stop Aruto, but Fuwa can at least weather enough punishment to maybe talk some sense into him. It doesn’t work, because Aruto can’t let go of his mix of denial (none of this is his fault, he just needs to defeat Horobi) and depression (it doesn’t matter if he’s hated, it doesn’t matter if he hurts his friends). It’s the saddest fight Aruto ever won.

AHHHH I’m doing it again! The fights! The superhero drama! Incredibly cool to see Horobi and Aruto have their final battle on the same car park that Geiz and Sougo almost had their duel! And with Ark-Horobi as the hot new suit and the Progrise Key that is the Ark half of the Ark-Zero face instead of the Zero side like Aruto has! And with weapons everywhere! In a fight no one can really win because doing violence to others is really doing violence to yourself! Because AHHHH I’M JUST TALKING ABOUT THE EMOTIONS AGAIN SHIT SHIT SHIT THE END

This episode is mostly buildup, which I guess makes sense, so that the final episode doesn't have to rush through several plotlines, but it also leads to this episode kind of disappointing me. They make an incredibly big point about how Aruto and Horobi fighting will cause a war between HumaGears and humans, which seems strange to me, just because someone who loved HumaGears and is now fighting one of them, there's riots breaking out, just because one person (who has fought HumaGears in the past) is now fighting someone they know is evil?

I get that him being the Ark is a major betrayal, but that doesn't mean that you need to riot or anything, and most of the HumaGears that are, shouldn't have gained Singularity yet, so they should still be following their intended path, but I guess the show wants us to believe that because of Aruto, they've all turned their backs on every human, so unless they somehow all gained Singularity from finding out that Aruto has somewhat betrayed them, this should be happening on a much minor scale, I get it's something that's pretty minor, but it still bothers me.

It's still a good episode, but I personally didn't enjoy that aspect of it, but the rest, including Yua growing to care about the HumaGears was nice, but when I didn't like such a major aspect of the episode, I can't really say it was more than just alright.

Yeah I had a feeling this episode would be more your speed. We just really needed to sort of spend the last two episodes building up to this. Because what do you know? Taking vengeance and giving into hatred can sometimes cause ripples that affect everyone involved!

It was a good episode for the side characters, you get to see Raiden almost get through to Horobi, you get to see Fuwa and Naki try and get through to Aruto, Yua steps up, Gai even helps out a little bit. This is really their episode to shine while two characters are just steeped in hatred. I wouldn't even call Aruto and Horobi straight up villains at this point. They're basically two people consumed with grief and hatred who only want to hurt each other despite the fact that their feud could very well shake the world to it's core. So at best their antagonists.

Speaking of fights though, we get to Zero-Two once more having a 100% win streak, but not without the chance of it possibly losing. I mean if anyone was going to get some sort of advantage on Zero-Two, it being "I will break my transformation devices constantly to transform" Fuwa, is beautiful honestly.

And that's not just talking about how Fuwa is so desperate to not only stop Aruto, but also to just get him to see some kind of sense. He'll take the beatings, he'll take the pain the form gives him, and he'll try and reach out to this guy who's hurting. Cause like, as cool as his new haphazard form is, the writing is on the wall, Fuwa is not winning this.

I also like the choice to use Zero-Two in this instance and it having the Ark Scream. You can still tell Aruto is influenced by the Ark, but you can tell he's trying to hold back, especially after last time. Like yeah he easily was able to walk through all his allies, but then he killed Jin with Ark-One. And I think that's why he chose to don Zero-Two this episode, because at some level deep down, that's a form that won't kill Fuwa.

Overall a fantastic episode and now you see Bandai's ingenious idea and the start of Geats' Desire Driver roots. Where you can just slap a new faceplate/attachment on a Driver to make it something completely different via Horobi's Zetsumetsu Driver.

I think it's more that, like the Ark when it was reprogrammed by Gai, we all take our cues on how to behave -- who to embrace, who to despise -- from someone with more power than us. We imbue them with too much significance, maybe. When we're failed by these people, or called upon by these people, we lose the ability to see other people as more than With Us or Against Us. The hope is that we can retain our ability to connect with one another rather than turning on each other, and see how we all want the same things deep down.

It's the best. This show was frequently not great at leveraging the full strength of its cast, even pre-COVID (Fuwa didn't get a lot of quality material during the Job War arc), so it's nice to see the show remembering that Naki, Fuwa, Ikazuchi, Yua, Fukuzoe, Siesta, and Gai are all pretty goddamn great.

I gotta buy so much cool DX stuff now! And none of it's cheap! Or cheap to ship!

God I completely forgot about the Fukuzoe scene! Thank you for reminding me! For me mostly just tolerating him and his assistant all season, to see them all step up in Aruto's absence was a really good scene to see. Again, like, this episode was really just a lot of great stuff for the side characters and a good note to end them on since the bulk of next episode is absolutely going to be the Aruto and Horobi confrontation.

The decision to focus on the supporting cast -- besides being entertaining and poignant just on the merits -- is also super important to increasing the drama of Aruto's abdication of his heroism. Like, his dream came true. He created a world where humans and Humagears opted to bridge their differences and live in peace, and it was shepherded in by people who looked to Aruto on how to be better people. But he can't appreciate it. That's such a gut-punch, you know?

This is probably the most "real" the Humagears and their entire conflict within society has felt across the entire show, especially in today's climate, and it's all the more poignant to see it coming at the end with emotions heightened and our hero having lost his path. And he knows this, and doesn't expect he'll ever be the same person again, but he can't break himself away from this path any more than Horobi can, despite the voices on their ear trying to tell them to stop.

Yua got to really step up. Gai's trying to do his part (Williamson is surprisingly on the up and up). Team HIDEN stand by Aruto and the ideals of the company even when all hope seems lost.

We're nearing the end so now's as good as time as any to get one last major interaction between our Main Rider and Secondary Rider, as Fuwa confronts Aruto in the most Fuwa way possible, but you can see how much he wants to get through to him and bring Aruto back to being the guy who helped Fuwa through so much. Also, Naki!

Orthros Vulcan! It's not even really an upgrade, but the emotional resonance of Fuwa and Naki coming together to transform and stop Aruto, even if they don't really stand a chance (but darn it if they don't try) is absolutely palpable. And if anyone could pull off a crazy last-minute form no one would expect, it's Fuwa.

But it was nice to see Zero-Two again just to remind us it still exists even if it got kind of forgotten about in all the Ark-One craziness.

Speaking of last-minute final forms, Ark Horobi! Gotta have our Final Boss getting their Final Form and our two protagonists equal as we head towards the Final Showdown and a dash of Unlimited Zero-One Weapons Works. And with so much hinging on this one fight, even when things seem at their bleakest, we set the stage for the finale of Kamen Rider Zero-One.

I thought the Humagear protests were distasteful, especially since they rally under a guy who's only been known to be a terrorist and then is seen publicly with Ark-made equipment. That just felt wrong to me. I get the message, but I wasn't into how it was handled. But it's just my belief system talking, I just don't personally believe androids are a good way to discuss human rights. They're robots sold by a company for other companies.

Fukuzoe's scene was amazing though, I haven't spoken about him but he's one of my favorite side characters. He was initially presented as this sniveling guy who wanted the company, but was revealed to be someone who actually wholeheartedly supported it for all the right reasons in service of Granpda Hiden, he just personally didn't like that he got Nepotism'd (lol).

Another thing I really liked was the whole scene between Fuwa, Naki, and Aruto. I love emergency forms and it being a repaint of Assault Wolf makes it better because I love Assault's bulky armor. This is... also might have been the scene that made me kind of ship Fuwa and Naki.

And we’re down to the last two episodes, so we’ve only got a shoestring budget left for new suits, starting with a red to white Assault Wolf repaint.

Progrise: Unbreakable Immortal! Orthros Vulcan! Awakening the instincts of two beasts long lost.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=VICIYpQpP9k

And Horobi finally gets a new form, which looks so good I thought it was an entirely new suit for a long time (it turned out to be Ichigata’s suit, which is thematically appropriate, since Horobi is a corrupted version of the program that created Robo-Dad)

Progrise (Ark!): Destruction, Ruin, Despair, Extinction! Ark-Scorpion! The conclusion after evil climbs the top of the highest mountain of rock.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=QHB3RpiUohg

And there’s a subtle joke in there: “highest rock” translates into Japanese as “Taikawa”, as in the main reason Horobi is our final boss.

Everyone is talking about how great Fukuzoe was that they forgot my boy, Yamashita. It's only after my second rewatch that I started to appreciate the amount of gag and comedy that Yamashita brought and also elevated Fukuzoe's moments. Fukuzoe and Shesta giving dogeza was nice, Yamashita also GAVE dogeza was perfection. He is firmly my favorite 'underrated' side character for me.

That aside, I agree with everyone's opinions on how great this as an penultimate episode. In the late stage of Zero-One, it's pretty hard to see a build-up and plot progression episode like this with such a concise precision and an enjoyable pacing. From the Fukuzoe Co. dogeza, Yua calming the Humagears protestants, Gai giving back AIMS in Yua's responsibility, Williamson's satisfied smile, and so on. Even with my critic for Fuwa a few episodes ago, undoubtedly it's fitting that Fuwa was the one who tried the hardest to bring Aruto back.

If there's one nitpick here, I don't like how they used Ikazuchi to stop Horobi. By the time, Horobi said what Ikazuchi would do if Subaru was killed by humans, Ikazuchi basically got a memory overheat after that. A bit of shame from an otherwise satisfying episode. It would be better if Horobi and Ikazuchi could engage in one last par, akin to Fuwa and Aruto. That could be used as a testimony for Horobi's Ark-Scorpion power later.


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I wish I could put more images on my posts like Die did but it was a bit of hassle. This episode gave some engaging and acrobatic shots here and there. I LOVE the fight between Zero-Two and Vulcan here. It was less a fight and more of Aruto swatting a fly when he was trying to walk away. It was only after Aruto was fed up by Fuwa's constant meddling that the show used Ark-One's dark room visual. Seeing Aruto in that dark room with sparks were genuinely terrifying and heartbreaking. Kudos for Fuwa to be the ONLY one to land a clear hit to Zero-Two and even Aruto was a bit astounded that Fuwa's fist did land on him. Even small details like Zero-Two didn't move an inch when Vulcan was trying his best to give one final punch; Aruto had already read Fuwa's final fist won't land on him a second time.

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One of my favorite shots in this episode was the shot when Azu was hugging Aruto from the back. That basically described Aruto's mental health that time. I think the biggest reason why Aruto perfectly accepted Azu's temptation was simply because he NEEDED Izu. The reason why Aruto donned the Ark-One's suit was simply to feel the presence of Izu, or at least someone similar to her. If anyone read Ark-One body parts on the Wikia, there's a part called Ark Signal One somewhere in the helmet. That part gave the user somewhat a calm and relieving sensation even if we saw how aggressive Ark-One was on the outside. That shot of Aruto and Azu might perfectly describe the sensation of Ark Signal One. Aruto could NOT move on from Izu's death and he let himself to be drowned in basically ecstasy just to feel Izu was on his side no matter how fake it was.

Horobi specifically went apeshit because Izu (who he killed), and to a lesser extent Jin, both imply that Horobi is like humans, due to having a heart for example. That seems to be extreme hatred for humanity, to even condemn the traits and implication of being like them. You don't have to be wronged to hate something eh? Reminder that Horobi assumed humans as corrupting Izu. Horobi certainly would think that humans hate him because he's Humagear (or similarly malice-related assumptions), or that humans that work with them are just enslaving Humagears. It's true that people hate Horobi because he's a genocidal terrorist, but that can be so much different in Horobi's POV, even if he's laughably wrong, because he had twisted view on humanity or anything they do (and his inculpability, ofc he'd not assume he's a terrorist, he claimed what he did is only "justice"). And regarding Ark, why it doesn't help Horobi's desires? Because Horobi came close into creating another Ark by his actions by killing someone else's loved ones and filling them with malice. It's an irony in a self-fulfilling prophecy form, fearing Ark's creation, but played a part in creating another one.

Of course it's wrong. But... someone that did something wrong doesn't instantly go to villain territory. Wanting to murder someone in order to get revenge is also often used in some secondary Riders' plots, as I said, and none of them are baddies (except Kusaka or Kaito at the end of series). Their needs to, for example, get revenge are their corrupting traits that should be addressed, but they're still good guys albeit morally grey (anti-heroes), that fought alongside the other good guys but can clash with them for their wrong traits.

Actually, Horobi's derangement is also a part of Gai's costs in his actions. Gai corrupting Ark, would have Horobi being hacked by said Ark and form MetsubouJinrai.net, and after Horobi broke free from Ark's control, still not immediately changed his worldview, the influence of Ark and the events that happened before remains.

There can be a difference between hatred and anger, Aruto was angry at Jin before his first death for using his "friends" as henchmen, that's righteous anger but still would be anger too. I also do like this direction of displaying societal problems (you're ok with the focus on nameless characters like AIMS/Humagear armies?), and this also adds up complexity on even the personal problems Aruto had (still rooted from idiocy though like Izu negotiating alone or Ark-Zero...), now Aruto can't exactly brutalize Horobi for good outcome. He may defeat and kill Horobi for good (albeit not as easy as before), but now it'd only a "proof" for Humagears that humans are their enemies via Horobi's murder. Horobi by himself isn't really a threat to Aruto, but I'd admit here his legacy is. Like Gai's good public image before. Though as you said, Aruto's legacy (in his influenced friends) also combats Horobi's potential legacy, so Aruto's previous selflessness wasn't for naught.

President Williamson here displays the kind of leadership/authority that is often deemed as competent, having cold-hearted, pragmatic, and unsentimental traits, to 'help' making tough decisions, quell hesitations, and be 'professional'. Added with how leaders can be put on pedestal, those cold-detached traits can be also encouraged in general (and dismissing leaders who aren't like that), and that anything a leader do can be excused as their job to give orders and call the shots, and those who defy them can be the ones seen at unfaithful, rebellious, etc. But sometimes, leaders can just be close-minded control freaks who impose their feelings on anyone around and not giving thought about their opinions. And in this case, those cold traits are what'd doom people, not helping.

Williamson is in the wrong here regarding his leadership traits, and this shows that what matters more isn't winning a war, but how to prevent a war. Kindness can be detrimental on battlefield, but bloodshed is better avoided altogether (if the goal is to ensure safety, rather than actually evil warmongers wanting to prove superiority or such, Williamson does want to protect people) and kindness would accomplish that better. Which Yua demonstrated here. Yua was also someone who is previously cold, aloof, and ruthless, and was more open and relaxed after leaving Gai, and gaining more compassion here is what solved the problem here. Beating someone senseless, or forcing them into submission may keep you safe, but it will only fuel the racial tension which is the root of the war, as it just proves their suspicion of humans. Empathy has more chance of reducing racial tension as other than making it easier for them, it also defies negative expectations, including not immediately retaliating with force the part it seemed to fail. Though Yua's approach is risky like Izu's to Horobi, there should be more protection gears even if she doesn't intend to retaliate with force. Fortunately, Williamson is reasonable enough to see the error of his ways.

The problem is more complex, but as this episode title already suggested, there's only one person who can stop Horobi... Aruto. Aruto's the one that has the most superior equipment before, both in Zero-Two Driver and Ark-One Driver, and now Horobi's the one that get better equipment. This being a beating is completely expected, OrthrosVulcan (what he used here) is not even as powerful as RampageVulcan (final form). Other than that Fuwa actually had poor approach in trying to restrain Aruto. He should've explained the current state of things to Aruto, instead of telling him not to fight Horobi with vague reasons. He also didn't empathize with him over Izu's death at all, and when it failed, he attacks Aruto. Other than that, it seems to not cross Fuwa's mind that Horobi's still out there. After talking down Aruto, does he have any other solution in mind to stop Horobi? He knew that there's an upcoming war, but Fuwa had quite poor judgment of things there, hopefully in character if the consequence is Fuwa being brutally beaten up for this.

I'd agree with Horobi's complexity, though his character journey starts really late in the series, and that he had tragic aspects like being enslaved by Ark for 12 years, but claiming to depict a villain as something to hate/pity/etc. is still subjective. Actually, villains are often the most well-liked characters, regardless of how depraved (actually, KR's one of the franchises where I've actually seen widespread hate for someone depraved like Micchy or Gai-pre ep. 38), because they are seen as cool, charismatic, plot-movers, or sufficient power fantasy (not only being strong, but also be wild and free with those), o̶r̶ ̶b̶e̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶s̶e̶x̶y̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶A̶z̶u̶ ̶(̶H̶o̶r̶o̶b̶i̶'̶s̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶-̶l̶o̶o̶k̶i̶n̶g̶,̶ ̶a̶c̶k̶n̶o̶w̶l̶e̶d̶g̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶m̶o̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶Z̶e̶r̶o̶-̶O̶n̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶)̶. So yeah... how much hate someone get doesn't determine their heinousness (G̶a̶i̶ ̶h̶a̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶g̶o̶o̶d̶ ̶i̶m̶a̶g̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶-̶e̶p̶.̶ ̶3̶8̶). Annoying characters are those that tend to be hated the most, and heroes too can be viewed in lower regard to the villains (annoying also heavily depends, like even being boring or 'weak' can also count). If there'd be a dislike for Horobi, it'd more because of him being dull and wooden, instead of his actions.

I can enjoy him as a villain more (at least more than Die), but personally I too don't think he deserves pity at this point, and people like him are the ones who should be condemned for hypocrisy, instead of mostly clean heroes that rubbed the wrong way in certain aspects (with that being deemed as 'hypocrisy'). Complexity fleshes out a character and makes them better written, but that shouldn't affect their overall heinousness (characters of any morality can be complex). I'd think him not listening to his heart and hating himself for having it is part of his misantrophy of refusing to become like humans and adds into his complexity, but that's the very thing that escalated his villainy further (pointing this out got Izu killed), or feeding his inculpability to hypocritically shift the blame to anyone else. Horobi (or MetsubouJinrai.net under Ark before, he's the leader) very much resembles real life cults, and cult leaders in podcasts also come up with all sorts of justifications for immoral actions.

Role has no relation to morality. Protagonist only means main character, and antagonist only means their oppositions. Aruto's still alive and kicking without diminishing role, he's still the main protagonist, regardless of his current morality state. Horobi's the one that has biggest animosity towards Aruto, thus he's the central antagonist (again) at this point. Other than that anyway, why would being consumed by grief and hatred negate someone's villainy (especially Horobi's)? It's just an explanation on how they ended up this way, but otherwise Horobi still wanted to exterminate humanity, as well as any Humagears who got "corrupted" by them (as in, not like-minded with him). He also sends Humagears to their potential death for his cause. He's a threat to both humanity and good number of Humagears, while deflecting any blames placed on him which'd make him harder to convince for now. That's villainy.

I'll have something to say about that Soreo scene when we get to the next/last episode.

I recall you weren't super inclined to feel pity for Kusakabe Souji either, so I guess this is another "agree to disagree" type of situation here?

You're right that depiction is subjective, so I probably should've phrased it better. Sorry about that. However, writers usually intend to depict characters in a certain way and expect how viewers will react to that. I feel like this was Takahashi's intention for Horobi here, like how Horobi feels in his heart that his actions are wrong but is too afraid to admit it to himself. While it worked for me, I totally respect that some people might feel reluctant to pity him after he killed Izu. Like, you mentioned Mitsuzane, who Haganeya tried to depict in that way by essentially changing his entire personality to accommodate a change in morality and I didn't buy that at all, so I've been in the opposite position as well. Horobi still has a heart, which means he has the potential to see the error in his ways and I want to believe in that heart. Ultimately, it's each viewer's opinion that counts, not the writer's intention.

She really did, in probably my favorite part of the episode. (I even used it for the screencap!) Yua's seen Humagears as tools, she's been seen by others as a tool, and she's seen herself as a tool. She understands the self-loathing and rage those views can create. There's maybe no one better in the cast, save for Aruto, to make a grand speech that attempts to both apologize to Humagears and draw parallels to humanity. All-time great moment for AIMS' leader.

I don't love a bunch of things about Reiwa First Gen, but I liked how that movie showed Fukuzoe's dedication to Grandpa Hiden's dream. Dude worked for a decade as a fugitive from Humagear attack squads, just to finish the old man's work. He legitimately cares about that company! He just sorta needed Aruto to help him understand what a company is, you know?

That's hilarious! Thanks!

One of my disappointments for this series is that we never really got a sense of how MetsubouJinrai gets along, especially with late additions like Naki and Ikazuchi. There aren't a lot of quiet, character-building moments of conversation -- not that Horobi would've been much use in them. The actual connection of the robot death cultists is something that confrontation scene needed, and it's... like, Ikazuchi's trying real hard to deliver some emotion into that scene, but it's not like these guys have Aruto/Fuwa-levels of history draw from.

Very much so! My favorite version of this series was when we got to see how larger societal conditions (and corporate maneuvering) directly impacted random humans and Humagears. The collateral damage of conflict is... it's like one of the main things this show wants to talk about.

I think it's also, like, Williamson just got here. He doesn't really know any of these guys, or have an emotional connection to them. He's trying to stop a global catastrophe, and all he knows is that it comes down to Horobi and Aruto. Their actions are dangerous in and of themselves, but they're also inciting Humagear revolts. He doesn't care about Horobi or Aruto, he's just trying to prevent disaster. I don't think he's a bad guy, or bad at his job, he's just making decisions on bad data. Which is a theme of this show!

I, uh, actually had to Google that name. I don't retain a lot of this stuff really well after I move on to the next show. Kabuto might as well have been a hundred years ago.

As such, I also don't remember when I was supposed to pity Souji, and why I didn't? I will take your word for it, though.

I always just find Williamson amusing because he comes in all mysterious, out-of-nowhere, and ominous...and he turns out to be surprisingly reasonable and understanding.

His arc is just "You have all let this situation spiral woefully out of control, and I'm here to get things back on track" > "Oh, you guys have this; carry on." Sort of ridiculous to even bring him into the show, but I guess they already paid the guy or something?

You know what?

I'm just going to wait for the Finale to round up my thoughts on the past few episodes.

But glad to hear you're enjoying it!

I'll see you in about half an hour!

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 45 - “EACH ONE’S FUTURE”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone45a.png

Solid effort.

The thing I liked the best was the idea that, when it comes to breaking a cycle of violence, it doesn’t matter who breaks it. Looking for who’s most at fault was dooming Aruto and Horobi to horrible futures for them, and probably the rest of the world as well. Aruto killed Jin, but Horobi killed Izu, but humans created the Ark, but MetsubouJinrai blew up Aruto’s dad. It’s blame all the way down the list, but that can also be their liberation. Everyone’s at fault, and everyone’s angry, and everyone feels sorrow, and everyone feels regret. If we can see ourselves in the people who wronged us, or that we’ve wronged, maybe there can be an escape from things like vengeance and hatred. The heroic thing is to be the one to make the first move.

Other than that… I mean, it’s an ALL ACTION FINALE, which was a blast to watch, but I’m sort of at a loss to talk about. It’s just Aruto and Horobi, and their reconciliation. That’s it. That’s the plot of the episode. There’re little data points around the edges – Jin’s two-stage regeneration, which mostly works as a Greek chorus for the fight – but this isn’t a story that anyone else can participate in. It’s up to Aruto and Horobi to fix their/society’s core issue, or die trying.

Once that’s done, it’s just epilogue stuff for the cast, including teases for what look to be 800 pieces of post-show content. (Like, I think everyone in the credits sequence gets a dedicated post-show movie or special?) It's little snapshots that form grace notes for a group of weirdos, and I'm sure I'll want to dig into them more when I hit those other projects. Well, except one thing.

I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of Izu’s journey/resurrection in REALxTIME, but I thought the scene she has with Aruto here was very sweet, for a couple reasons.

The first is that Izu was the one who was there for every step of Aruto’s journey from terrible comedian to hero of Humagears -slash- terrible comedian, and now he can be there for every step of her journey from blank slate to best friend. The opportunity to pay back help, to let the lessons you’ve learned be passed on to others, that’s such a core philosophy of this show. No one succeeds by themselves.

The other is that, like, Aruto’s her dad now. This episode’s overwhelmed with the trauma of lost children and lost parents, so the nice conclusion to that is Horobi having a future with his kid, and Aruto becoming a father to Izu. It’s a chance to let go of previous generations’ guidelines and outlooks, and an opportunity to start a different cycle: one of respect and individuality, where everyone gets to jump towards their own dream. Like, this was a story about inherited biases and generational trauma, but here’s an ending where people are trying to atone for that and create a generation that doesn’t have to carry their baggage.

Yeah, that’s a good way to end this series.

https://i.imgur.com/w9Y6BI8.png

So, we're here, the final episode, I'll start right off the bat by saying that this is a pretty good episode, not my favorite in the series, but still good, I can't say I was too disappointed with it, but it makes you wonder what they could've done without the Covid delays. Now onto the actual episode, Aruto and Horobi begin their fight and it looks pretty good, I've complained quite a bit about fights in this series, but for this episode, I'm fine with them. Aruto and Horobi argue with each other's points while fighting, with Aruto even agreeing with some of Horobi's points (yeah, Aruto, maybe you shouldn't be agreeing with the villain who you are also trying to stop/kill).

The other three riders try and think of a way to stop the fight, with Yua trying to restore Jin to see if it could stop Horobi, which really just proves how pointless Jin dying really was, when he's able to be brought back in such a short span of time that he'll be back before the fight ends. We then find out that Aruto apparently wants Horobi to defeat him.

So I guess Fuwa did somewhat get through to him, but apparently not enough for Aruto to not still go and fight Horobi and start an entire war, but I guess it's fine since Horobi is supposedly the only one who can stop him (clearly he still has some control of his body, so couldn't he just throw away the Progrisekey?) Horobi manages to defeat Aruto (and destroy the Ark driver too), and we see that Aruto is doing this to try and 'show Horobi what the heart is' which is a sentence that doesn't really make much sense when you think about it, and also sounds very cheesy, but it does sound like the kind of thing I'd expect to hear from Zero-One, so I guess it's alright?

We then get to see Aruto's father saying a lot more sentimental stuff, so that's cool, I guess. Zea also makes Aruto a new driver (is this the final form of Zero-One? Is Zero-Two the final form? Is MCH the actual final form because it was the last one on the actual Zero-One driver? These are questions that will plague your mind so don't think too hard about them). Horobi then realizes that he's being hypocritical, since he is really furious at Aruto for killing Jin, when he's no better for killing Izu.

The two of them then proceed to sort of argue, even though they both believe in the same thing, they then proceed to transform, with Aruto going into his new 'Realizing Hopper' form (which is possibly the greatest and stupidest name to come out of this show), and as I said before, don't question whether this is his final form or not.

They then punch each other for a bit, as you do when your entire worldview has been shifted in a Kamen Rider show, they use their finishers on each other and it's pretty cool. Then everything is good again, yup, no war happened, everyone's doing good, and there's nothing to be worried about. You'd think that's joke, but nope, everything's good now, no time is needed to see even just the HumaGears realizing (I don't ever want to say that word again) that Aruto didn't betray them, but nope, there's no time for that, though that's not really anyone's fault, considering Covid, but it's still a bit too rushed for my taste. Wait, Gai now has 5 dogs, and we get to see Thouser again! I was kidding this is an amazing finale and a terrific way to close out on Zero-One.

Oh, right, there's still time left in the episode, we now see what everyone's up to, Yua and now Naki are doing A.I.M.S work, Fuwa is helping people and I guess doesn't have a job? That's a strange future for him, Horobi and Jin are doing the same thing, but it makes sense that they wouldn't have jobs, since they were both previously terrorists and are HumaGears. Then we get.. some incredibly obvious movie bait, which must've been very annoying when watching this weekly and having to wait several months before the movie would come out.

We finally end off with Aruto making a new Izu, who has none of the memories and merely looks the same and acts the same as pre-Singularity Izu, which I know some people really don't like, but I personally don't mind it. And that's it for the show, it's a bit weird to know that it's over, I've left messages here since episode 17 and so even though there's still more side content left, it's a bit melancholic to see the show go.

All in all, my final thoughts on this episode, it's pretty good (aside from the Thouser scene which was perfect), and my thoughts on the series as a whole, it's pretty great, a few shortcomings and Covid definitely didn't help the show, but I can't help but love the show either way.

I honestly don't have much to say about this other than... I really enjoyed that Aruto spared Horobi, which is something that the show crew was talking about prior to the episode as "Something never before done in Rider" and that is true I feel. It's been a while since I've seen a lot of series but I feel like Horobi's the first final opponent that's been spared?

Overall a pretty cool fight, not my favorite, but I love how it mostly just devolves into two grief filled people trying to sort out their feelings and I love that? Also I know a lot of people don't like Realizing Hopper but I dig it for a few reasons, none too important but I dig it.

Fun Fact: The Thouser Squad has names, Milly, Billy, Tri, and Quad.

Also one thing that I absolutely hated about talk surrounding this episode was how "I can't believe they pulled a Decade!" and like. I don't know... I don't feel like it's even on that level? Like Toei can't do that again, they've gone on record saying that they got hounded by people for doing a stunt like that. The main story that wanted to be told was finished this episode, Azu is basically just our person who'll allow further spin-offs. Like how our Mr. Paradise guy is just a tease that there's still more to come for this series that got cut short due to outside complications. More specifically a certain summer movie that had to get delayed and released in the Winter.

I think it's less that Aruto doesn't/didn't have control of his body, but more that he didn't have control of his emotions. There's something broken inside of him, and if Horobi doesn't kill him, he's just going to keep hurting people. He's fighting Horobi so that Horobi can end his suffering.

But the larger problem is that that's saving Aruto (from his pain, at least) at the cost of saving Horobi. By abandoning his suicide run, Aruto has a chance to save both of them.

Ha ha, I always feel that way in these threads. I get so used to the routine of watching episodes and talking about them, but then I lift my head up and: it's done. Show's done. Like you said, more content still to be covered (so much content), but there's a bittersweet feeling to reaching the final TV episode.

Yeah, I... people really think this show didn't have an ending? It has an incredibly definitive ending! There's an acknowledgement that these people will have further lives and adventures (and new villains will arise), but, like, the point of everything Aruto fought and suffered for is to create a future for all of these people. Why would you never want to see this cast again? What was unresolved from this 45-episode story?

Toku viewers! I sometimes dislike them!

So, they've never established or rather set in stone what 'Kamen Rider' actually means in the show. Everyone just kind of has their own definition of it. However, I still had a dumb smile on my face when Aruto said "We're Kamen Rider, aren't we?" because saying those that in any kind of hopeful way always just gives me the happy feelings.

It was nice to see them give the Rising Hopper suit back in action as the ultimate end to this conflict, however I feel as though it's not quite right for it be the suit that beats Horobi. I think it would've been more thematically powerful if Aruto used Zero-Two or used Realizing Hopper with the Zero-Two driver to signify that this by Aruto's own will.

Also, Zero-Two is Zero-One's final form. No, Realizing isn't, Metal Cluster isn't either, Zero-Two is the final form for Aruto. Realizing and its successors are in their own subcategory.

And then the final piece to end the show on left me scratching my head and attempted coping. After everything Aruto went through, after endlessly claiming that Humagears are their own people, that they are irreplaceable. He... Builds another Izu?!

I was dumbfounded. This is so wrong in so many levels. I would have been fine if he made another Humagear secretary so long as it wasn't a literal duplicate of Izu, Shesta doesn't even help either, basically uttering what is so wrong about it and then he just smiles like nothing is wrong with it. Morally reprehensible from Aruto.


https://scontent-hkg4-2.xx.fbcdn.net...Dw&oe=632B19AB

[QUOTE=TheRaizin;836393]So, they've never established or rather set in stone what 'Kamen Rider' actually means in the show. Everyone just kind of has their own definition of it. However, I still had a dumb smile on my face when Aruto said "We're Kamen Rider, aren't we?" because saying those that in any kind of hopeful way always just gives me the happy feelings.

Yeah, I like how everyone considers themselves a Kamen Rider so long as they're willing to fight for their beliefs. It doesn't take a Driver or whatever. You just gotta fight for something bigger than yourself.

So, I sort of didn't like it at first, either. It seems disrespectful. (Fukuzoe sort of calls it out as such.) But then I thought about who was doing it, and why.

Aruto had a dad. That dad died, and he got a new robot dad.

The idea of replacing a loved one with a robot, and forging a new connection off of that... I think that's how Aruto first learned to deal with grief? It's not him replacing Izu; it's him honoring Izu. He names his new secretary after Izu. It's a chance to forge a new bond, and a chance to give this Izu the future the destroyed Izu never got to experience.

Like, it's maybe not healthy! But I think it's within the reality of Aruto's life.

We don't even know if Aruto's dad was present at all in his life, I only ever recall him talking about his Humagear dad. And he never brought him back, it'd be tarnishing the sacrifice he's done for Aruto.

It'd be more morally sound if he made another humagear, a different person, someone else to experience the life Izu-One never got. This is a really horrible move on his part. I can't agree with any of this.

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

Fair enough! I'm sorry it didn't work for you!

I think there's something very simplistic and powerful about a Rider finale that's ultimately just one big clash of ideals, action, and FX between the hero and the final boss, especially when it's been so built up and is so poignant to the series' central conflict. It kind of makes it so the rest of the cast doesn't get as much to do, but the show is called Kamen Rider Zero-One.

Speaking of which...Realize Hopper! Such a last-minute "Final Form" which is basically just an excuse to bring back the base form one last time, and really the kickstarter of a trend, yet at the same time...it is nice to see the suit again, what it symbolizes of Aruto retaking his dream and ideals to become a hero once more, and the connection between him and Is that is the core of the story.

And it's pretty nice that Aruto defeats Horobi but doesn't destroy him, instead saving him and connecting with him to end the fighting and finally achieve some semblance of peace. And it's always kind of cool when we get a win that doesn't end in a destruction. But it still ends in a Rider Kick, of course!

Also, just the acting of Horobi when he talks about how much he hates Aruto after what happened to Jin but realizing that that must have been what killing Is felt like for Aruto...just the pure, raw, emotion, was great.

Also, I like how it's in the final episode and when basically telling off As how badly she underestimated him that Jin finally calls Aruto by his name instead of Zero-One.

And as we resolve the main conflict (for now) we get everyone moving on to the next legs of their journey after taking in all the lessons and experiences they gained through the show...Yua leading a newly refurbished and proper AIMS with Naki, Fuwa going full vigilante, saving people when they need saving no matter the rules, Gai starting from scratch with Thouser in tow, Horobi auditioning for a Demon Slayer stage play and making it a father/son trip, and Ikazuchi back with his bro.

But we can't forget about Aruto and how he brings back Is. She's not the same Is and she might never be, especially since she's starting from scratch, but just like Is was there for him throughout his journey and helped him become the man he is today, he's going to be there for this Is and help her become the person he knows she can be, because Aruto still needs her.

Oh, and here's some Summer Movie teasing!

Horobi was really great in this episode. I think the bit that hit me the hardest was when he was screaming about how his hatred of humans was because they cursed him with a heart. It's a vulnerability to Horobi that he's been trying to keep hidden for 44 episodes, and now he can't do anything but feel things. Very strong scene.

And that’s all she wrote. (Ok not really, but I’m not a fan of the post show movies. the Genm/Thouser TTFC stuff however…). And I’ll end it with a look at the exclusives from the Memorial Progrisekey set: HIDEN Intelligence.

Progrise: Initialise! Realising Hopper! A rider kick to the sky turns to take off toward a dream.

Progrise: I leap toward a dream with a President. Secretary: Is.

Or alternatively:

Cannot Read.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=6BfC0sPX18U

So overall, I liked the resolution being Aruto becoming Zero-One once more, and that there was a reason for once that the base form manages to overpower the final villain that gave the strongest form a hard time (Ark-One counts as a Zero-One form both for his page on official websites and for this example). My one downside to this is that I’m a little too cavalier with the spoiler (it’s a miracle I didn’t mention it at all throughout this thread before now)

Proceeds to sleep instead.

But seriously, if I'd known beforehand, I'd have stuck around. No worries.

So, we've now reached the big turning point in the show. ARK Gets beaten with the "help" of Metsuboujinrai, then Horobi proceeds to inherit the ARK's will anyway and kills Izu. I'm sure we all knew Izu was going to bite the dust at some point, moreso given that she has no backup, meaning she's one of the few Humagears who get perma-killed.

And then ARK-One is born, with Aruto now inheriting that power, and like with the previous ARK, he flexes his power on everyone, until Naki gives Fuwa some extra firepower to oppose him. And while a recolor of Assault Wolf with Naki's colors, it's still a nice-looking suit, maybe even like this color palette better than Assault. While ARK-One looks like a zombie Zero-One, which is a neat idea, it still retains its mish-matched machine monster look from old ARK, but with some of Zero-One's design being mixed into the machine.

I also want to take a moment to appreciate Fukuzoe and his companion (whose name escapes me at the moment). These two, while were more like comedic characters in the early, who did a good job on entertaining me, Fukuzoe, who does indeed deserve to be a boss, has an incredible role in the ARK Arc (that sounded more redundant than in my head) showing how great he is as a president, even accepting Aruto's views of Humagears which shows how Aruto, while just thrown in because he's the founder's grandson, he still made an impact on them all, and he really makes this arc worthwhile.

Now we have the final confrontation between Horobi, now given an ARK Makeover, and while not as mixed quite as well as ARK-One, I actually love ARK Horobi's look very well, as it looks more like Horobi has more control of the ARK than Aruto, giving more Horobi to the ARK suit, and Aruto/ARK-One. Which is quite a setup for their battlefield, with a bunch of weapons strewn about for them to pull out and fight with, it was a neat way to set it all up.

Then finally, we get that Deus-ex Machina to bring Aruto back to Zero-One and once more, take off toward a dream and the true final form is revealed, Realizing Hopper! It's just Rising Hopper, but they wanted it to feel special, which I won't complain about, since Rider usually finishes off the season with their base forms anyway (with some exceptions), and boy! The fights throughout the ARK Saga were amazing! Even with current events, they pulled some amazing fight scenes in this arc, and made the best with what they got.

I'd say much more about this, but I also just woke up, so my tired brain likely messed up in places, but I'll have an extra post to cover some other details (which will probably focus on how the "Pandemic" Arc fared and some other points I'd like to mention), but for now. Zero-One set up Reiwa's most unique trait so far, and that's it's fantastic action scenes.