This has nothing to do with the story whatsoever.

(Brief Aside, Metsubojinrai was an alright movie that was botched by being a part 1 to this part 2 of a movie which uh... I don't like it. Felt like Takahashi was bitter about how 01 turned out thanks to Covid and immediately wanted to undo the endings of the series/movie)

But your talk about old and new reminds me about Tokusatsu/Toei, and just like... things in general.

Yes we need like the old guard/ways to die out and the newer fresh faces to take charge and maybe like... do new things for once? Like not saying that the old guard can't do some good things every once and a while, but it's clear that uh... I'll be blunt and this is specifically about Toei.

Toei/Bandai's run by damn old dinosaurs and we need them to get the boot soon to try and get some fresh spins on things.

Oh also Frontier's a nice song though I think I prefer S.O.S. more over it. Especially given S.O.S. got a cover version by the Metsubojinrai crew.

But they're doing a Fortnite Rider now! For the kids!!!

I still have to get around to watching these movies...

Then again, maybe I don't, since I hear these aren't as popular. But I love the new forms for Vulcan and Valkyrie. Metsuboujinrai, I like the helmet, but the body could have been better at least to me.

Aw, I always think it's worth watching these things and deciding for yourself. There's even a big part of the Vulcan/Valkyrie movie that's about ignoring consensus and making up your own mind!

Now I know we're arguing semantics here... but Geats is very much more like Fall Guys.

That being said you have a point! So my point was foiled! Curses!

Yeah, but I was talking about before that.
Yeah, but he's always going to be seen as just the Ichigo, and I think he feels more at home as Zero-One.

It adds a new light to the last conversation between Isamu and Horobi, that foreshadowed this climactic moment. Horobi was spared before, by Aruto, so despite his guilt over his past deeds, he Found A New Life, continuing as the leader of Metsuboujinrai except reformed as vigilantes with the mission to eliminate the remnants of Ark. This gave him the chance to be a better father to Jin as well.

Now though, before going on the road to hell against Arkland, he needed someone he could trust to stop their redemptive efforts from being undone. Not Aruto's kindness of mercy, but Isamu's kindness of preserving honor through death. Even though they used to be arch enemies, they've always been similar in their dedication to fighting, a source of mutual respect and the reason why Horobi was able to find peace in the path he chose, knowing that Isamu would have the strength of will to finish what he couldn't.

Regarding Isamu's honorable death scene, sure it's melancholic, but I also thought it was profoundly executed and certainly a death worthy of such a brave and heroic man who fought for his principles until the end. Not sure if he knew it was going to be his last fight, but even if he did, I imagine he would've done the same thing anyway. It's who he was. Even though he hated the word, "justice", he was ironically a powerful example of it, doing what he believed was right without letting the world define it for him. He died as he lived.

There's a lot of cool Norse symbolism here as well, with the last person Isamu interacted with being a Valkyrie, an omen of death by combat and subsequent entry to Valhalla. This is further depicted in the post-credits as him fading in to light and moving on from his past regrets.

Lastly, a brief question, what was your opinion of Daimonji? Personally, I think he's totally lacking any redeeming qualities, he's disrespectful to Yua and obsessed with slandering HumaGears and claiming they have no value or place in humanity. He's probably the most despicable person in the entire Zero One story for how far he goes with his discrimination.

I second Die's advice, go watch 01hers. While it's got a bad rep, it's really not as bad as people claim. It takes a lot of risks, doesn't play safe, so naturally, that kind of approach is going to be divisive, but I personally think that mostly works in its favor and I'd encourage everybody to check it out for sure!

With the urban city setting of Warzone!

Yeah, but like, that's another reason why I don't like it. Not only does it deprive me of the opportunity to see more of him using the cool suit I enjoy, but it's also antithetical to the show's message about the importance of identity, how people can dream to be more than what others tell them to be. Aruto fashioned himself a new Rider identity to personify his new ideals as the president of Hiden Manufacturing, but then Soreo's ghost comes along all like, "no, Son, you're going to be Zero One forever now, it is the will of Bandai."

I do plan to eventually get around to watching them (Vulcan's my favorite after all), but I also haven't gotten around to the Zi-O vs Decade specials either, so it all comes back to my horrible time management.

Anyway, whether you enjoy them or not, I hope you all have fun!

He's another guy in the Vulcan/Valkyrie movie that feels less like a character than an obstacle? I thought he was more interesting in MetsubouJinrai, where he was like Why In The World Do You Think We'd Buy Robot Soldiers, since that felt like his own intolerance, but wrapped in the deniability of ZAIA's defeat. That's such a politician thing, playing both sides until one fails and then pretending you were only ever on the winner's side. I like that.

In Vulcan/Valkyrie, he's only there for Yua to teach (slash re-learn) a lesson about tempering societal cohesion with your own morality. He's just a guy who shouts I REPRESENT SOCIETY a bunch, in case you missed it the first time.

But, yeah, he definitely does not come across as something other than a villain.

Gotta disagree with both of you on this. He?s someone show as elected to keep the public safe, and that?s exactly what he?s telling the heroes to do. Plus, almost every issue in the world of this show can be traced back to Humagears (The Ark was created to guide Humagears, Gai was motivated by his hatred of Humagears, Will and the MetsubouJinrai members believed that Humagears were superior to humans and Lyon Arkland wanted to market Humagears as weapons), including the current one (MetsubouJinrai is a meld of 4 Humagear minds).

Anyway, I went into this film pretty much expecting it to be bad? and it turned out worse than it had been made out to be (and no-one was naming any positive qualities for this movie, fairly rightfully if you ask me). Pretty much everything in the movies, and the series are rendered pointless by the end, characters die purely for shock rather than because it?s an organic progression of the story and the fights are really lacklustre.

I'm not sure how you can lay that one at the feet of the Humagears (is a victim of intolerance ever to blame for the actions of the intolerant?) and since the Ark and everything afterwards can be directly attributed to Gai's actions... yeah, I got a hard time saying that Humagears as a whole created this situation.

Beyond that, Daimonji is generally shown to be stoking society's mistrust of Humagears to feed his own ambitions, and because he firmly believes that human-form AI is a mistake. He's not just some vessel of society's will, he's steering things towards his desired outcome.

At the same time becoming Zero-One again was him renewing his ideals and finding the strength to be a hero again and break the cycle of hate that was being perpetuated. It's what saved him, ultimately, by basically reminding him of who he really was.

KAMEN RIDER GENMS - THE PRESIDENTS EPISODE 1

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zeroone/genms1a.png

ha ha ha OKAY.

I love Kuroto. Always have, probably always will. I honestly don’t know if it’s just because Genm was my first bonkers mastermind-turned-”ally” in Kamen Rider, thanks to coming in through Ex-Aid, or if the performance is really as singular and addictive as Kuroto’s 1000 post-show appearances would suggest. Like, I can’t be objective about Kuroto appearing anywhere he wants in Kamen Rider. It always makes me cackle like a lunatic.

Which is not to say that this special is just Kuroto Greatest Hits or whatever! (Him craning his head back 90 degrees instead of ducking under a barrier is pretty Greatest Hits, though; the dude’s body is as elastic as ever.) There’s a point to Kuroto showing up, in that we’re back into a story about how a president should behave, and how charisma can deceive employees, and whether Gai’s lost a step by finding some humility. Kuroto’s here to be the dark reflection of Gai's former malevolence, to remind him what’s at stake if he abandons the people who put their trust in him.

Kuroto’s also here to bring back the Kamen Rider Genm Lvl 2 suit, which is incredibly sweet. I don’t dislike any of Genm’s suits, but I love the purple-on-black of the Lvl 2 suit. The fight between Genm and Thouser (in the Oh You’re Sick So I’m Making You Use The Black ZAIA suit, for the most handwavey reason of all time) isn’t especially extravagant, but I love to see those Ex-Aid suits in (mighty) action again.

And then we even get Masamune back at the cliffhanger! To remind the viewer that Zero-One is very much a series about how parents can fail children! Also, because HOLY SHIT IT’S KAMEN RIDER CRONUS!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zeroone/genms1b.png

Mestsuboujinraia is a film I appreciate, but I'm not sure how much I like it? It's very much "Let's talk about our themes and have the plot sort of justify that" imo, and while there's some good themes, it means as a piece of media it doesn't quite pull through? And I never got round to Vulcan vs Valkyrie because uhhh it seemed really divisive and that put me off. Maybe I will some day. Yes I know I'm late, I'm just bad at this.

But you know what I'm not bad with? Kuroto content. Was there any need for a President-off? No! But does pairing redeemed-ish Gai up against Kuroto going full villain phase make for an entertaining short? Of course. And of course he's somehow survived his proper permanent final death by becoming a robot (in another universe? Zi-O please explain). He's the President, he can't die.

I'm glad we just committed to Genm's the Presidents as an April Fools joke like we did with Kamen Rider Brain.

Having Gai do like a public apology video that gets cut off as he suddenly just collapses and the Genm's logo just phases out of his back like an Alien from Alien with a dramatic sting is hilarious way to advertise this.

Anyway I thought this was a neat Part 1, I enjoy a lot of fun things like Gai being so broke he has to set up shop in Metsubojinrai's hangout of all places, and Rin! Rin's a cute addition to Gai's roster of allies, Thouser and his crew will always be great but Rin's nice.

Also RIP to the Thouser Suit, they definitely just mauled it to make ZAIA which is an absolute surprise. Guess him basically bombing toy sales made Bandai tell Plex to just axe everything? Idk, I just find it funny that clearly something happened to the OG Thouser suit that they had to use ZAIA and gave a funny reason why.

Will admit though I think the only thing I didn't like about Kuroto this time is it continues the thing I didn't like in Zi-O. And that was him getting very touchy feely with the cast he's interacting with. It gets to very uncomfortable levels at times and I don't really like this era of Kuroto in terms of those specific mannerisms.

Otherwise solid special!

That's similar to my take, where there's too much thought behind everything to have me completely disregard it, despite finding the end product sort of unpleasant to experience.

The special has him saying that he was resurrected from the internet by the Ark, which... okay, sure. I don't really remember the Lazer/Genm movie enough to know if that's total bullshit, and I don't think that's how Game Disease works, but it's close enough to a reasonable way for Kuroto to return that I don't mind.

I don't mind it in general (it adds so much flavor to every dialogue scene), and I especially don't mind it as a way of differentiating Kuroto's Evil Kamen Rider President from Gai's Formerly-Evil Kamen Rider President. Cool and serious Kuroto would just come off like a clone of Gai, so he's got to grab faces and swing on wooden beams. It's definitely weirder/grosser when he does it to Rin, but I don't think it ever plays as anything other than Kuroto viewing himself as a god.

So it seems that in this movie it showed how the MetsubouJinrai.net operated, which I thought Horobi can just commit pay evil unto evil towards anyone evil, instead of entire race, although they likely falter at the end, Horobi has learned his lesson in quite decent way that, he takes into consideration that starting a war can have innocent humans caught in the crossfire, as well as talking to Jin about not agreeing on destroying oppositions (far cry from what his name means), thus he's not changing his view on humanity in a resentful way.

Well yeah despite Lyon dying here, this is a movie where the bad guy wins in the end. Good guys winning or not isn't an inherent good writing choice, just that yeah the bad one typically is when the bad guy wins only for shock value. Though this can be a satisfying factor for those who aren't still over Gai and Horobi before. What I don't like here is honestly Azu's death being portrayed as tragic, when she's nothing but only wanting to spread malice, albeit I also don't like about how anticlimatic it was for an overarching threat.

With Gai now being 'redeemed', Arkland takes his place as the war profiteer, and the one who's not redeemed wasn't as evil as Gai previously, such as not doing needlessly evil stuff. For someone who outright won in the movie, it's a given that Arkland was a cunning and intelligent baddie like S previously, he undoes everything Aruto and companions worked for (yes, that's what the ending is), by using the Solds as a means to create the enemy for it in Kamen Rider MetsubouJinrai.net, those 4 members fell for his scheme by having Jin fighting for Sold's rights and other members backing him up. This likely also shows that evil doesn't necessarily mean intelligent as Gai's needless evil actions can be his downfall previously, Arkland's more effective by refraining from them. And so you enjoyed Arkland and yes, there are those who think Arkland is wasted here to be killed only in 1 movie. They can make him not too as many who got hit by KR finishers don't die.

Arkland's also a villain who doesn't misunderstood goodness (which many does like Kai from Den-O), that he instead points out the shortcomings of malice, of which it's not limitless and it can be overcome like Aruto, Horobi, and S did, and that... positive emotions like justice can be more reliable overall, but here being used for evil schemes. About justice being unwavering, there's a saying that "The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation", as someone that has justice but lack compassion can turn self-righteous, and it can be harder to convince them of wrongdoings as they already think they're doing the right thing. They're not as evil as the full malice ones (like Azu), but doesn't mean they're not less dangerous, and that their justifications shouldn't be taken in face value.

Yeah I get that, it's just as like... an introvert and someone who very much appreciates some kind of personal space. Especially in this kind of day and age... uh... it just really gets to me tbh.

Which is why while I do enjoy Kuroto hamming it up, I'm not exactly fond of this era's Kuroto when he does that. (This era being Zi-O to Current btw)

It's important to show MetsubouJinrai grieving someone as fundamentally evil as Azu, though, because she's still a Humagear. This is a MetsubouJinrai that's dedicated to justice for all Humagears - even the villainous ones - at any cost. There's no sense of escalation in their dedication unless we see that call for justice applied to the most aggravating of Humagears.

Understood! I, uh, I definitely would not want Kuroto getting uncomfortably close to me and screaming about his godhood. Fun to watch, though!

KAMEN RIDER GENMS - THE PRESIDENTS EPISODE 2

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zeroone/genms2a.png

Man, what?!

I can’t complain about the Dans getting all weird and out-of-character, since they’re both Bugster Viruses born out of Gai’s neuroses, so they’re going to be incredibly weird versions of their differently incredibly weird Ex-Aid characters. Being slightly off-model is sort of the point.

But, god, I can’t figure out what the point of this story was for Gai. His revelation that he didn’t love his company enough (Thouser Innovations or whatever) doesn’t really have any basis in this two-parter, aside from a general He’s Stressed thing. We never see Gai valuing anything other than his company, and he practically kills himself trying to rescue his one (1) employee. He’s as laser-focused on his company as he’s ever been, despite being menaced by two revived presidents.

To wrap this whole thing up with Gai Learns To Love Being A President… what? It’s the thing he spent forty episodes of Zero-One loving! It’s his main attribute as a character! Literally the worst lesson Gai could learn at this stage of his development is that he didn’t love being a president enough! I don’t… I cannot understand what this story was supposed to be about for him.

What an unexpected misfire. The rest of the episode is fun, sure. It’s mostly just Kuroto yelling MASAMUNE and Masamune yelling KUROTO, but both actors seem like they’re having a blast. But the Gai arc in this thing is baffling, in both its lack of motivation and its seeming ignorance of Zero-One’s story. So weird to fumble this hard!

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zeroone/genms2b.png

Sometimes I wonder if even Takahashi gets how his characters are supposed to be from time to time given the extra content in 01.

Because this was Takahashi who wrote this, this should be in his wheelhouse!

Though given the next special and Outsiders in general... I think Takahashi has a preference on who he likes writing for...

I assume his main story point he was going for was that both Bugster Dan's needed to come to a single conclusion which was toxic love of all things (Like yes, it's love but it feels almost like a parody of it at this point) and they needed someone to let them know about love. Which was basically Gai's role to fulfill even if it doesn't really fit the bill.

Anyway I really love Game Changer and I'm glad it recently got a full release this year!

I figured it was Takahashi without even looking it up, because of all the Ex-Aid stuff.

And it's... yeah, it's so weird that he had Gai so off in this one. If I squint, I can see how there's a story about Gai learning to value power less than the capability to use that power to benefit others, but, man: he was already trying to save Rin from Kuroto. He definitely didn't need to learn that lesson again! Like, in order for there to be a lesson for Gai at the end, he needs to be worse at the start, and this story just forgot to do that? I guess?

Yeah, all the Genm specials reeeaaaaaally struggle with Gai.

They wanna include him and do something for his character but have no idea what exactly, and it's blatantly obvious.

KAMEN RIDER GENMS: SMART BRAIN AND THE 1000% CRISIS

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...martbrain1.png

Tough one to talk about, honestly. It’s a special that’s half fan-service cameos (Ren, who is a footnote GENM president! Mari, as Smart Queen, for the absolute minimum amount of screen time before it’s a total bait-and-switch!) and half setup for a future special. Nothing gets resolved here, and what new information we’re given is all off-screen exposition. It’s a weird special, man.

I didn’t dislike it, though. The cameos 1000% worked on me (REN!!!), and I appreciate that there’s an attempt to build a larger narrative around assholes like Kuroto, and reformed-assholes like Gai. Having the new threat be an anti-Ark - a destructive AI designed around virtue instead of malice - is a great obstacle for humanity as a whole, and these scumbags (well, Gai’s just sort of annoying) in particular. Gai trying to bring together, like, a Justice League Of Pricks… that’s fun, and I’m eager to see where the story goes after this.

Which isn’t to say this special’s just rushing to the cliffhanger! The Ark-Thouser vs Genm Musou fight is pretty fun for a small-scale parking lot dust-up, and both suits are handsome. (Genm Musou just being Sephiroth is *chef’s kiss*.) All of Kuroboto’s antics - the staccato laugh, the jerky movements, how his clothes and hairstyle are the Good Guy versions from the beginning of Ex-Aid - are hilarious. This whole thing is basically calibrated entirely towards my sensibilities, so even as I’m like Shit Is That All, there’s a less critical part of my brain that is just lapping this all up. It’s dumb fun, but it is fun.

(Sadly, I don’t think I’m going to get to the Outsiders stuff real soon? It looks like there’s a Saber person in it, so it’s gonna have to wait until I finish that show early next year. I’ll try and swing back here to cover it then.)

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...martbrain2.png

Yeah probably for the best if you don't watch the only piece of Outsiders content since it does contain a few characters you'll be seeing later on. Your safest bet tbh is to basically just make sure you've watched every TTFC/Telasa special up to that point before jumping into Outsiders since this feels like their "It's time to tie everything together" series.

That being said, so the era of touchy-feel uncomfortable with me Dan is now over, that Era being (Zi-O to Genms the Presidents). I appreciate the more subdued act that he's doing this time, though he's still a bit unhinged.

I also appreciate that as a newly formed Humagear, he just has a picture of his dad that somehow fits in his pockets.

So onto some fun things! I love how the V-Cinema's and their bit of "Ark is old" ends up being tossed aside quickly as Ark becomes relevant. To the point where the dude we saw from 36 to 41 is just back! I just find that honestly hilarious.

Also Zein is such a neat concept and I'm really curious as to what they're going to do with it in the end. It being an antithesis of the Ark is interesting, speaking of Ark...

Ark Thouser, once again we butcher the Thouser Suit, there is no going back now is there? Oh and Genm Musou is a delight to see. Having Genm achieve his own variant of Hyper Muteki is great and I also dig how the transformation sequence is very much just a magical girl transformation.

Not much to say other than this being an enjoyable special with a very "I'm sorry what?!" ending.

Gai and the Ark (!) teaming up (!!) to resurrect Kuroto (!!!) as a strategy to defeat an AI obsessed with virtuousness (!!!!) is exactly the sort of nonsense I love about Kamen Rider, though. Like, I could strain to come up with a thematic thing here - much like the MetsubouJinrai film, we're in a story about the dangers of adhering too tightly to a creed, and how grey areas are the way to fight sometimes - but much like Kuroto in this story, I super don't give a shit. I want to see all these assholes fight dirty against some goody-two-shoes computer program!

Oh absolutely, I cannot wait to see what they have in store for us with Outsiders because this is just like, a fun premise. One which I thought would only slowly be updated every April but we're going full steam ahead with it in January.

Like, idk if this is a good comparison but it feels like Kamen Rider is trying to create it's own Suicide Squad if Outsiders is any indication.

That definitely seems like the template, yeah. It's a little funny to look back over the last couple decades and realize how spoiled for choice the producers are to cast Asshole Kamen Riders Who Can't Be Trusted. Like, that's almost the entire cast of Faiz?

I do not envy anyone trying to be a completist in the Reiwa era. There are so many of these different miniseries and spin-offs these days it feels impossible to keep track of them all.

In all honesty, I’ve gotten a whole lot more out of the Genms miniseries than the main movies that were marked as the continuation of 01.

To the point that I’m actually continuing my feature from the series proper here.

Progrise: This company is mine. President: Dan Kuroto.

Singurise: When the five horns cross, the Thousand-Ark is born. Presented by Ark!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=KQzrVNv6eEQ

The bigger problem is how much those spin-offs and mini-series begin to incorporate multiple shows. I mean, actually tracking down everything via wiki pages and Fully Authorized Enthusiast Sites is practically a part-time job nowadays, but the weird hiccups of needing to stop midway through a set of specials because carrying on with it might ruin a show I'm about to watch? That's a little more frustrating!

Hey, I've got that set on order! Very excited to play around with it!

I wasn't a huge fan of this one? I think I might have just been burned out on side-piece fluff, because this one, trying to make a wider narrative out of what are effectively 10 minute shorts, didn't really land? It's cute and all, but trying to reach too high, with the Ark being back, Huma-Gearnm (which I totally didn't spoil like 2 days ago when I mentioned Kuroto robot, whoops), and hints at Smart Brain. I guess we'll see how Outsiders goes.

It definitely feels a little overstuffed for 10 minutes, what with how all the Zein information is done in an quick info-dump... but, I don't know, I liked that? I liked how busy this thing got, and how instead of the usual Inciting Incident > Plan > Fight progression, we kick it off with Gai and the Ark working together to resurrect Kuroto, and then have to work backwards from there. Like, yeah, it's messy, but I appreciate them trying to go bigger with the concept.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SHORT ANIME: EVERYONE’S DAILY LIFE

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zeroone/anime1.png

SPECIAL GUEST POST BY DREAMSWORD

There are alot of threads in these forums. Some you can be choosy about whether you read them or not, but others can have a big impact on how you view and interact with others. Today I'd like to tell you a story about one such thread creator who certainly influenced me.

There once was a man called Kamen Rider Die. In any attempt to vent his frustrations, he joined a random Toku board known as TokuNation to shout about Kamen Rider Ghost.

"I can't believe what this show is doing to me!" he'd exclaim.

And amidst all of the excitement, his beloved SO-DO Ryuki figure popped out of his pocket and ended up falling into a nearby sewer drain.

"MY SO-DO FELL INTO THE SEWER!?" he'd exclaim.

Die quickly scurried over to the open sewer drain, and to his surprise, it was currently occupied!

"The heck? Are you a Ninja Turtle!?" he'd exclaim.

And out from the sewer drain arrived a man known as Name.

"Actually I'm an Avenger. Anyway, a few things dropped down here a second ago. Was it a SO-DO Build Genius or a SO-DO Hazard Build? Or if ya like, we do got some neat anime down here you could watch." Don't ask why Name would ask any of these questions.

Die replied with "Do you have Naruto!?" his all time favorite anime.

Name stared at Die dead in the eyed and asked "Why the heck would I have Naruto? You know what, you're not allowed down in my sewer anymore." And with that he dropped back down into the sewer drain.

But then suddenly En-chan appeared out of the same sewer!

"Do you have my SO-DO!?" Die exclaimed.

"Sorry man, I only collect DX Toys." En-chan then too sank back into the sewers.

Distraught and unsure of what to do, Die then for some reason went all the way to the UK to try and make sense of his predicament. There he came across a man known as Androzani. Die would attempt to plead with the man, only to later find himself leaving the area after having bought a ton of roleplay belts while in some sort of trance.

Die, now convinced he had gone crazy, decided to continue on with his reviews and outlook on the various Kamen Rider shows, all while building and stickering various SO-DO figures as a means to fill the void left by losing his beloved Ryuki. His own sort of punishment game, if you will.

However, this would in turn inspire others to begin writing their own reviews. Some in agreement with Die, some not, but all aimed towards the common goal of outlook and discussion. But that was not enough. He needed more. He then one day realized that some random guy called DreamSword had begun to muscle in on his turf, and, when the moment was hot, hijacked DreamSword's own thread to review the Zero-One anime shorts. It lead to many a great applause, and despite the ill fated Ryuki figure not returning, the void was filled via tons of other Ryuki-related content (drained from DreamSword).

So as you can see, the lesson here is that Die will always find a way to one-up the competition, by any means necessary. Which is why it's such an honor that he brought me in to review the Zero-One anime shorts for him as I am the Only Anime Fan on these entire boards and really, who else would be qualified, right? So without further ado, let's start with... with...

Die's right behind me, isn't he?

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zeroone/anime2.png

Man, after I so kindly pitched in on DreamSword’s anime thread, this is the thanks I get? Unbelievable.

Hi, yes, Kamen Rider Die here. I watched this anime!

Pretty excellent batch of shorts to send off this Zero-One thread, which is a very pleasant surprise. I’m not really an anime guy, so when DreamSword volunteered to cover them in detail for his Toku Anime thread, I was like They’re 1000% Yours. But then everything else got done, and I had a night, so I figured I’d give them a once over, even if it’s just to direct everyone to DreamSword’s more robust analysis from the perspective of an anime aficionado.

Except, I liked them? A lot?

It helps that they’re barely animated. The emphasis isn’t on dazzling fight scenes or emotive facial expressions or staggering set design. This is some Flash-era stuff, possibly fully animated on a Nokia N-Gage. (I have not checked the Wiki!) The charm of it - and it is SO CHARMING - is in the vocal performances, and the increasing absurdity of the episodes.

Like, first episode? I did not think this was going to work for me. It’s cute, Izu sort of torturing Aruto, but it’s only one joke. Good joke, but: one joke. The second episode’s in the same vein, where Yua tortures Fuwa at a theme park. Fuwa’s inability to match Yua’s food-and-terror routine is a good gag, but it doesn’t really change or grow as the episode progresses.

Then we get to the MetsubouJinrai episode.

Maybe the best MetsubouJinrai thing of all time, and that’s before the bonus segment where the actors actually play MetsubouJinrai Game. (OF COURSE Ikazuchi loses. And Naki wins!!!) It’s such a fantastic bit of escalating comedy, as the Humagears get more and more obsessed with this goofy party game, and the punishments get more baffling. (Naki flirting with Ikazuchi was absolutely the best one, which is why it ended up in the credits.) I wish this episode had been the plot of 01hers: Kamen Rider MetsubouJinrai instead of what we got, and I liked that movie.

The remaining two episodes are very good (Gai as just the most annoying anchor for ZAIA employees is brilliant), but this series peaks hard at Episode 3. Nothing in the world is going to measure up to MetsubouJinrai Game, which is likely why the game returns in Episode 5, giving us the hilarious image of four Humagears teaming up to force Aruto’s loss. It’s the most thrilling defeat, and I wish it were how the Ark-One story concluded.

These little barely-animated bits of humor were such a nice way to wrap up Zero-One. It’s like the gag video at the end of a season of television, where the curtain gets pulled back a little in celebration of getting to the end. It’s funny, but overwhelmingly warm and kind. This is how I want to remember these goofballs. Just like this.

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/zeroone/anime3.png

okay maybe not just like that

Excellent chance for me to build off of my previous post: I have straight-up never heard of these.

Kabedon

They're very fun! If you only have time for one (although you could watch all five in a half-hour), watch the the third one. It's outstanding.

Man, the guy who wrote that opening bit sounds really full of himself. Never have him post here again!

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...744&height=418

I agree! The third episode is SO GOOD. It contains something that I really wish Zero-One proper had: MBJR growing as a family unit, since that was a big part of the story.

But yeah I loved all of these shorts. Super charming and really funny.

There are little solvings because, well, Arkland won, and though he didn't mass produce Solds, they didn't make the situation better here. I've had some (unanswered) questions regarding the cycle of revenge message this series had in my reply for ep. 45, but if this movie goes for that message, it's just blatantly poorly executed, with a successful vengeance campaign set by Arkland as well as how potential peace can be achieved by more bloodshed; eliminating most sources of the conflict like the victims of this movie, pretty much most of the current generation. Otherwise, this movie had things going worse at the end with the public trust on Humagears turning worse, and the government likely going to repeat history. Yua and some Solds did break into the conversations, but it's vague if it's successful or not.

Yua seems to embrace justice more here to act as something unbiased that they have to take care of all lives, while Fuwa dismissed it and live by one's own rules. Seems that here Yua's a better person than Fuwa as Fuwa's belief is ?bermensch type which is often adopted by dangerous people so that they're not bound by society norms that may stop them. Fuwa protecting what he likes and destroying what he dislikes can potentially go off the rails if what counts as dislike is just petty reason like being annoying, though Fuwa's current state is unlikely to reach that conclusion.

Honestly, both Fuwa and Yua kinda screwed up by misinterpreting what's going on with MetsubouJinrai.net, as in reality the 4 members are forced into one mind with no control on their actions, yet those 2 think the MetsubouJinrai.net is trying to represent warped sense of justice deliberately for Fuwa to destroy it. I wonder what if they didn't misinterpret and likely explain on how unexpected things happen in MetsubouJinrai.net that they're turned into a hive mind, so they aren't losing hearts or something like the public assumed. They seem to only prioritize giving toku fights by having this interpretation used for Fuwa to go berserk on MetsubouJinrai.net using Lone Wolf. And here also showed that the series made Fuwa suffer worse fate than Gai.

Yeah, the Sold 9 and 20 have Fuwa and Yua preaching on them respectively to compare the development they receive compared to the initial state represented by those 2. Though the ending also kinda undone that by them being silent and motionless on the background, which turns them into emotionless soldiers again which the movie tried to break off.

Get used to these (which it doesn't sound like you'll have a hard time doing!) because it seems these anime shorts are just a thing for Reiwa Rider now! It's a bit like the second coming of net movies and I happily welcome them! As someone who doesn't like either 01 or Saber as a whole I thoroughly enjoyed both their anime shorts series and highly recommend them to anyone. Just a great laugh, and I hope someone subs Revice's set soon