"Not 1000%, though?" is maybe one of the funniest scenes in the entire franchise? It's SO good

What makes the ZAIA SPEC sales percentage thing even better is that it's a product that just literally came out, meaning that it's only sold like 700-something units so far. That and who exactly ends up being able to buy said product are important details to my interpretation of Zero-One, I think.

Speaking of things of interest...

https://i.imgur.com/OwHC1Fz.png

I'm just gonna leave this here. Don't mind me.

It's Episode 17!

-It's the long-awaited job competition arc!

-As its core, I like the concept of this arc: In a world where the usefulness of their AI technology can soon be accessed in sleeker, more efficent ways for humanity, why continue to rely on the Humagears? What is it about them that truly enriches our soicety, and how will both sides react in the possiblity of one outgrowing the other? Can't really speak on my overall opinions on this arc,(mostly because it's the 2nd longest one in the show), but I will say I did enjoy a lot of the ideas it brings up....

-Izu's joke? 5 stars, I can see a wonderful career in comedy for her.

Round 1: Flower arrangement, start! I think it's really interesting to start off the "Do we really need Humagears?" debate with a challenge in the arts, where a "human" touch is almost naturally preferred? I think it's been impiled before but the idea of Humagears only being bulit for a set amount of service jobs, but can expand their roles by picking a type closest to it (in this case, a gardener) and have them engage in a heavy learning process, it's a fun idea that adds to their complexity. (I can easily imagine something like G-Pen initally being a Humagear specializing in graphic design and then being heavily trained on manga.)

-Sakuyo...... Not particularly a favorite or anything, but she's real neat. The idea that witnessing/experiencing human malice firsthand might be the catalyst for the Ark's new method of creating Magia, is solid, and I honestly prefer a lot more than just sticking a Zetsumeriser onto a Humagear/suddenly hacking into them. "Our ideology will continue to spread", indeed.

-Oh right, Thouser time. Love how his finisher has the little (c) ZAIA Enterprise thing, that's such a fun touch. The jack-off sword is such a dumb idea, I love it. As mentioned, Gai and Aruto have this wonderful contrast, and it's even present within how they fight. Zero One's movement is real bouncy, rough, and sponteanous (even with Shining Hopper's projected attacks), while Thouser this kinda "calculated, no unecessary movement" fighting style? Not as much as say, Kabuto, but it's certainly enough to draw a clear gap between the two. As fun as their dynamic was without needing to make things "personal", Gai having a bone to pick with how his idol's genius was ultimately was "wasted" on tinkering with Humagears when he could be advancing the quality of life for humans in other ways is a neat added layer to their conflict.

-......Forgot Mystery Person showed up this early.

-Fuwa and Yua seem to be put on the backburner for now, and I kinda get it. MJBR is down for the count, so there's no need for our trio to necessarily follow each other around anymore.... Gai is such a "I was made to contrast with Aruto" kinda villian that it'd be weird to interject like, Fuwa into the main A plot. At least he had something to do this episode tho....

-Ultimately, I think this is a real fun opener for this second arc? Sets up everything quite nicely save for a few little things.

I think it works pretty much the same as the first act's routine of exploring how Humagears interact with society? Maybe better? Previously, it was Aruto defending Hiden against vague market forces, and the whims of AIMS. Now, we're in a more contentious battle against ZAIA, and it's one with more explicit and immediate stakes. I liked it?

Thanks for posting! I... yeah, garish suits like Thouser aren't usually my favorite (Ex-Aid Muteki is my least favorite suit on that show by a mile), but I love it for how well it communicates Gai's ego and absence of humility. That suit can only be worn by a guy who considers himself the king of the corporate world, you know?

That's neat!

I mean, yeah, he's a guy who engineered several major disasters for his own benefit, but that's not this episode's story. This is just Gai being a self-involved asshole who needs to humiliate his former mentor's grandson. The stakes are just NOTICE ME GHOST SENPAI, and that's way more interesting to me.

Yeah, it does a great job of feeling like a corrupted hero design, rather than the obvious menace of Horobi, or even Jin. Thouser reads as a Rich Asshole, but still one who's likely to destroy monsters.

It's definitely the funniest Aruto scene so far. He clearly relishes puncturing Gai's bubble of self-importance, and the ENORMOUS pause of Gai realizing he just got dunked on and having no response is perfect editing. They just let Aruto lay that comment down gently, and then refuse to overplay the punchline. Delicious.

Ha ha, yeah, it's a weirdly deployed statistic? I guess I'd assume that ZAIASPEC was maybe at the end of a long rollout, so there's at least one quarter to compare against.

It's so bad! And her delivery is so unfunny! But it's such a great moment.

I like it a lot better because it's a choice the affected Humagear is making, rather than them being the victim of Horobi's malevolence or whatever. There's more weight behind Aruto reaching out to a deranged Humagear now, when there's a hope that they can be redeemed.

It's a great premise.... But the execution on the other hand, not so much.

So you've made it to the start of the dreaded Job Competition arc. I'll totally have a lot to complain about as you progress, but I'll start by mentioning that this wasn't actually Takahashi's choice. No, instead, it was producer Ohmori Takahito who decided this would be a good idea. Based on ratings, he might've been right, as more kids tuned in every week to watch Aruto and Gai wage this proxy tournament between HumaGears and AR-enhanced humans. Critically though, it's often considered to be the worst part of Zero One and a chore to get through. And this is all before you-know-what screwed with the production.

I think the main problem with it is how the competition is a lazy framing device as an excuse for lots and lots of filler. It could've been a best out of 3, since all you need is each side to show their qualities and a decider. Like, I get it, Gai doesn't merely want to defeat Aruto, he wants to crush him. But Gai is clearly underestimating Aruto's competence, which means this competition is going to be a little tighter than he'd like, which means having to tolerate more weeks of this tedious charade.

It's not all bad though. Of course, the world doesn't just stop while this is happening. Isamu totally doesn't give a damn about any of this, which I guess makes a lot of people relate to him even more! He's much more interested in solving the mysteries of Metsuboujinrai. Everything about Isamu in this arc is worthwhile for sure. Actually, there's even one round of the competition I liked for focusing on something less trivial, but I'll save that for later.

Thouzer is an acquired taste. I think it helps to have insight in to Gai's mind, to understand why he designed the suit to look so tacky with all the gold and silver and pretense of perfection. When I first saw the suit in magazine pictures without knowing who the user was, I didn't like it. But now when I think of Gai in that suit, yeah, it makes sense. It's perfect for him and I think it's clever how it made me like it for how much I didn't like it. Similar to your reaction to Assault Wolf, I guess. Does that make sense?

:thumb:

I agree with the change, but for different reasons. An all-silver mask would've looked like some kind of five-horned beetle, whereas the black helps to distinguish the caucasus from the arsinotherium, emphasizing his use of two types of Key. Blue eyes would've been counterproductive to Gai's public image, considering how HumaGears have blue eyes by default. Furthermore, purple is a darker shade of magenta, the sum of red and blue, symbolizing how Gai plans to rule both ZAIA and Hiden Intelligence in his game of manipulation.

Gosh, I don't know that I found this one tedious? I thought the battle of ideologies was actually a big step up from the more nebulous Act 1 stuff of Aruto learning a bit about Humagears, and then MetsubouJinrai makes a monster that needs to be defeated. This one... there's more of a goal to this, instead of the sweet but frequently inconsequential Aruto Goes On A Work Trip stuff. We're still getting insight into Humagear integration, but it's mixed with an immediate problem.

I don't know, I thought this first part worked pretty well?

Well, the definition of tedious implies that something occurs more than once, so it's basically impossible for this one episode on its own to have that effect. I think it's more the decline in stakes that's the problem, going from, "The Fall of Metsuboujinrai!", to, "Suddenly, Ikebana". This is just a preview of the frivolity to come. I mean no disrespect to the ikebana business, but it's hard for me to really care who wins in the short-term. There's the threat of Aruto losing his company, but that's not an immediate threat in a best out of 5 competition.

"but not a 1000%..." has got to be one of the best burns in Kamen Rider history. Aruto may be a failed comedian but that single line really nailed Gai where it hurts. And in turn it was then that Gai knew that he wanted to eradicate everything Aruto holds dear to him.

I like how this arc sets up Human - Humagear relations while also putting Aruto's position as a CEO and advocate for Humagears right front and center. It's the potential of Humagears and their value (and possession) of humanity versus humans using their own ingenuity and invention. Who will win?

Kamen Rider Thouser! I just love how excessive this whole debut is. Like, Gai has to advertise his company and dole out some hype worthy chant about the "Golden Soldier" every time he transforms and all that gold...and the suit itself kind of toes that line between excess and pure, refined, power that really sets Thouser apart from the other Riders. It's a good combination in a new antagonistic Kamen Rider and a nice contrast with Zero-One.

Poor Flying Falcon. Aruto finally has it back but not only does it still not get to use its finisher in the actual series but it's there. to get out shined by the new Rider. Granted, Shining Hopper doesn't do much better (sorry Was).

I like the lowered stakes, though? Or, not "lowered" so much as "personalized"? I always like these shows best when there's a smile in the balance, and this little story about a Humagear trying her best to prove her worth as an artist in a world that would rather ignore her... man, I like that a lot.

Gai's very fun! He's a smug braggart set up against a self-effacing jester, and that dynamic is so addictive to watch.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 18 - “THESE ARE MY ARRANGED FLOWERS”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone18a.png

I don’t know, I thought this was really cute?

I liked how it supported the main Zero-One themes: looking at interpersonal relationships as partnerships instead of rivalries; the necessity of being supportive, even if it doesn’t gain you anything; how one generation can best care for the next generation; how societal gains are more important than individual victories. Pretty basic stuff for this show, but I honestly never get tired of seeing these topics explored.

It’s a little hard to make this sound like a fun episode? Describing it in detail makes it sound both minor (it’s just about some guy learning to treat technology as another point of view, rather than an adversary) and sort of formulaic (Thouser continues to no-sell everything and be an unbeatable bad-ass 24/7). The beauty of this episode is in the delicateness of the struggle, not the bombastic tokusatsu shenanigans. It succeeds because the fear of losing our humanity due to the increasingly inescapable technology of the near-future is a relatable one: what’s the point of humanity if technology can replace even our artists? Having a message where the teaching of art to computers gets us seeing art in new, better ways, or in finding our new aspects of our humanity within that process… I don’t know, I thought that was a compelling idea to dig into.

And, like, it doesn’t even matter if the Humagear lost the contest, because Aruto won the argument. I like that resolution so, so much. I like a story with a moral victory, even at the cost of the actual victory. I’m going to remember that handshake between the human and the Humagear way more than I’m going to remember almost anything else from this episode. It’s a sweet resolution to a sweet story.

Really, the only bum note for me was the big superhero battle in the middle of the episode? As fun as it was to see Valkyrie and Vulcan have a little duel, the placement of it in the story felt utterly arbitrary. Fuwa thinks that Yua and ZAIA have reactivated Horobi, based on literally no evidence I can recall, and Yua gets unnecessarily shifty and combative. They start fighting, and then Gai shows up to illustrate that even Vulcan’s most powerful form is no match for the narrative power of no-selling, so Thouser wipes the floor with yet another character. Nothing in this fight furthers any particular plotline (Fuwa just goes back to Horobi Lecter with information from a different climax he was not even present for), and it feels so blatantly Thouser-centric that I’m wondering if this show is actually sponsored by ZAIA Enterprise. Thouser’s cool! I get it! I don’t need individual fights of him demolishing every single member of the cast!

So, yeah, this was one of those episodes where I was incredibly dialed-in on the human interest stuff, and found the superhero action to be alternately forgettable or a distraction. The rest of it, though! Very cute episode.