Call the basic structure and the fights repetitive all you want(even if we're barely into Act 2 as it is, so calling them out now feels pretty pre-emptive?), but not only are the fights themselves still cool to watch and choreographed well, but the exact circumstances as to why these events are happening in the first place really sell them for me. It's how I feel about most of Act 2 as a whole, really. The abuse Smile takes is not only sad in its own right, but helped in engaging me to her arc as well as reinforced what I took away as the biggest theme that the show has to offer.

It's a very fun character trait. He doesn't just want to win, he wants his victory to be 1000%. Cheating on any level would diminish the purity of his inevitable victory, so it's not just insulting, it's unnecessary.

There's a lot of how cyclical and spiraling anger can be in this story. There's a quote that I can't remember (ten minutes on Google was zero help) about how damage to another becomes damage to the world becomes damage to ourselves, or something like that. (Searching those vague keywords turned up a lot of information on car insurance!) That sort of rage gets out in the world, and comes back in ways you can't predict. This arc's been real interesting in how it talks about anger as a transmissible enemy, and that's way smarter than some weird MetsubouJinrai climax.

I actually think it's a cool design. Like this pompous water mage, which I think is a good fit.

The Whale Raider has to be one of my favorite designs. I love the helmet, I love the silhouette, the whole water guardian look of it. Best I can describe it lol.

Ah, yeah, the fight, it's going to be like this for a while and I think it probably holds up better as on a binge than going weekly on it. Aruto hugs the Humagear in one of his weaker forms which allows Thouser to come in and jack it off him, never mind the fact that Aruto has had no problem taking down a rogue Humagear previously and bring them back.

But, hey, Thouser continues to look cool and I just remembered Assault Wolf had gatling guns on his hands and missile launchers on his shoulders.

I think there's so much going on in the fight, physically and emotionally, that Aruto can't really fight effectively. Between his anger at Sumida being abused by Arayashiki, Thouser muscling his way into the fight, and Aruto trying to get Sumida to turn back to normal, it's easy for me to see how Zero-One could be overwhelmed in a fairly basic fight.

I will admit that the Whale Raider is a cool design, he actually ends up in the middle for me.

However he is not my spirit animal and thus he is not my favorite!

Sorry... and I can't do anything to undo this. I've been a menace to these talks.

Though there are clear motives for most characters, actually Tekken does waste a number of it, in the execution. Like relegating characters into comical levels like Paul and Law (or those associated with them), or Asuka to a catfight with Lili, or 7 had most characters getting the shaft in favor of the Mishimas and Akuma. So to be specific you're talking about how the tournament is separate from the main conflict (of which actually this episode had parts like Fuwa or Horobi taking a backseat, for MetsubouJinrai stuff, or parts like that are the ones should be more focused on or relevant to the competition...). Or perhaps the literal fighting actually matters less than the competition arc where Aruto's belief in Humagears and his goal for the co-existence between them and humans is put on a test against a company who tries to discredit him?

Episode 19!

-Kinda love that we've sorta just, handed off the rest of the MJBR plot off to Fuwa? That way Aruto can do what he do what he does best as a character, but people who find these plots "dull"(i think these main plots are good and representive of 01's heart!! but like, i do understand ppl's issues with it) can always look forward to whatever strides Fuwa is making with his investigation. (In any case, you cannot convince me Fuwa doesn't have a sleeping bag *slightly* off-screen in Horobi's basement. He seems like the type of guy who refuses to take his eyes off Horobi once he re-activated unless absolutely necessary...)

-Izu taking offense at Arayashiki calling stuff tacky....

-Smile!! One of my favorite Humagears, love her lots! Something that always pulls at the heart is that her as a Magia doesn't even sound full of rage, it's more....sad, like she's wailing out of frusturation.

-Hmmm, we're tapping into this kind of plotline, huh. The fear of automaton eventually taking certain careers completely, it's something people worry abt today, isnt it. (Nevermind that it isn't necessarily true, human workers will often be more cheaper/benefical in many fields no mattter how many leaps in technology are made, but the seeds of fear can grow just fine in spite of the truth) For people like Arayashiki, who's impiled had to crawl his way up from poverty to the position he has today, the idea of a Humagear butting him out a job, essentially making all his hard work null and void? It's frustrating and scary.....Though I still think he deserves a Rising Impact to the face for what he's done to Smile.

-An idea brought at the end of the episode, that Aruto is kinda.... incompitable with the things needed to be done to operate as a CEO of a company of that size. I like that, honestly. Yeah sure Hiden's been through hell as a company ever since Aruto took the reins, but would they really better off with someone like Gai, who's good as making profits but has ideals/methods that makes rotting trash look pleasant?

Yeah, 7 is just a weird installment in general, for how the original Arcade Mode doesn't even factor in the story at all and most characters only get one fight (like, Paul VS Panda, that's not even the right bear!). I'd consider this to be another example of tournament arcs done poorly, in contrast to the previous installments where we actually get to see all the usual non-canon journeys of each character. Regarding the ongoing rivalry between Lili and Asuka though, I'm actually invested in that, since it makes me want to see the underdog Lili win someday.

The Job Competition arc is pretty much like you summarized. I feel like it's a mistake to have this setup of a big tournament between Aruto and Gai, where they're only spiritually present, since it's completely separate from their actual plot-relevant battles. The people competing on their behalf, we're probably never going to see most of them again, so there's little reason for me to care who wins beyond the minimum detail of Nice One VS Mean One. It's not even adding anything new to the lore, like singularity or corrupt AIMS laws, only repeating the same stuff we've already heard. As the ultimate result of the competition is limited to the main conflict between two presidents, it naturally means others can't have equal stake in it or attempt to take Hiden Intelligence for themselves. Others can only use it as a stage for business promotion and sponsorship, which is much less interesting.

I've kind of fallen behind on actually posting in here (rest assured I'm still reading along even if you can't see me!), but seeing as you've gotten to episode 19, Die, I must not shirk my sacred duty to point out that 19 and 20 are directed by none other than Hidenori Ishida.

And that was actually sort of a big deal even beyond my particular fondness for his work on Rider! This was actually the first set of TV episodes the guy had handled since Drive, around half an entire decade earlier. He kept busy with stuff like Hyper Battle Videos and Amazons, so he never really left, but like, the dude who ushered in Heisei Rider as we know it didn't even touch Zi-O! That's sort of wild to think about, and it was definitely nice to have him back.

It's no doubt that his direction is part of the reason this is actually one of my favorite episode sets of the whole series. There are a lot of particular touches in the execution that really breathe life into the script. Fuwa and Horobi's chat is like, extra moody, with the room having much more extreme lighting than I think it has in other episodes; you've got the super exaggerated title cards and everything flashing up on the screen; and Arayashiki's whole performance comes off to me like Ishida just kept telling the actor to push it as much as possible, and then push it even more, a choice I think ended up suiting the episode's overall style super well. I'm sure if I were to go back and watch the episode again, I'd find even more fun things to call out, too.