Oh I just noticed, you didn't build a SO-DO this time! Run out of suits that have happened before now? I don't know how much of the line you got, but later waves include a lot of earlier stuff including some monster suits

It's definitely not something he did with the Magia in the first arc but now it's like the Humagears are willingly transforming instead of being hacked so he feels like he actually has a shot at reaching them.

That IS a fun fact! Thanks!

So, yeah, there've been instances in the past where a human intersects with an AI investigation. The voice actor Humagear's "dad", or the guys stealing and reselling Humagears. But Arayashiki is, at best, someone who is believed to be in contact with a person of interest in an AIMS investigation. (Which, at this point, is all MASSIVELY circumstantial, even for Fuwa's usual disregard of things like Evidence or Confessions.) Fuwa being all I'm Gonna Take This Guy Down feels like the sort of overreach that has me wondering if AIMS has literally any oversight whatsoever. Is there no grizzled captain who has had it up to here with Fuwa's renegade ways, despite the fact that he gets results?!

I'm never going to complain about a Rider trying to hug a rampaging monster back into normalcy. Never!!!

I do have those later sets! I was planning on saving stuff like Final Form Assassin-Chan or the various Humagears/Trilobites for the COVID-era episodes, since those seem like they're way less likely to have any new suits. But they might pop out before then, it depends on how much time I've got.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 21 - “OBJECTION! THE TRIAL”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone21a.png

Aw, this was cute, and also sad. A Kamen Rider Zero-One hallmark!

The cute part was, obviously, the Zero-One Does A Phoenix Wright of it all. Switching the show up to a legal thriller for a couple episodes is a great use of the Job Battle format, playing with genre and tone a bit. It’s still a superhero show that’s interrogating the intersection of humanity and technology, but now it’s also a courtroom drama with investigative elements! And those elements are so corny in their conception that it adds some much needed levity to this eventually-dark story: Bingo, the heroic Humagear defense attorney, convinced of his client’s innocence; Ishinori, the smug and shifty prosecutor; and the possible culprit outside it all, working to destroy the accused’s only chance of freedom. It’s quaint, the whole thing.

But all of that quaintness is in service of a deeper question about Guilt and Culpability. Aruto finally learns that the Humagear rampage of the last few episodes wasn’t some new scheme by MetsubouJinrai, it’s a conscious choice by the afflicted Humagears. (I honestly thought he’d already figured this out?) With all this on the table, it paints the Humagears in a different light. Sure, they’re being mistreated by humans – maligned, insulted, even assaulted – but they’re meeting that mistreatment with murderous rage. Is that justified? Or are the Humagears escalating situations unnecessarily?

It’s a fun concept to explore in a legal setting. Aruto sees the Humagears’ rampages as down to human intolerance, but the Humagears are still opting to rampage. If you got called names by someone on the street, I’m not sure it’d be considered justifiable if you tried to murder that person? There’s an ongoing story in here about how hate begets hate, to the detriment of all involved, and this is the point where Aruto has to confront his own blindspots. Fuwa tells him flat-out that the only fix for Humagears trained to hate is to re-train them to not hate. If they’ve only seen the worst of humanity, show ‘em the best. But it’s always going to be their decision which input to value more, just like Fuwa had to decide for himself. In the meantime, you’ve got Humagears meeting hate with more hate, and it’s not making either side look good.

What did look good, however, was this week’s action! In so much as I remembered it! Fondly! The mid-episode team-up between Vulcan and Zero-One was a real highlight, and maybe my favorite action sequence of this arc. From Assault Wolf jumping in from out of frame to grab Zero-One’s ax in mid-air, to the Raider pulling a stick of dynamite from its head (!!!) to create a distraction, the whole fight was enormously clever and constantly exciting. The late-stage fight with/around Thouser was solid, but it was great to see Aruto and Fuwa team up once again. I miss the AIMS crew feeling even vaguely relevant to these stories!

I did like this whole episode, though. It’s goofy to start, but it never loses the seriousness of the stakes (I really appreciated Aruto saying right after the opening credits that it’s callous to treat someone’s legal defense as a game, because it 1000% is) or the darkness of its central dilemma. We’re in a story about the toxicity of hate, even if it’s dressed up like an Ace Attorney spoof. That’s pretty interesting stuff?

I dislike this episode more than any other so far, as I myself am experiencing this show for the first time, I don't know if this is the lowest it gets, but it's certainly my least favorite so far. This episode's beats are almost exactly the same as the last two competition episodes, though in this case, I suppose the HumaGear didn't go berserk, though it looked like it was about to until Gai put the Zetsumeriser on it, which was the only important thing I took away from this episode. This episode didn't really feel like anything happened, none of the court stuff ever advanced past the opening scenes, and while I do like the choreography at the end, this episode bored me, and could've been cut down a bit. The episode isn't the worst thing I've ever seen, it's just a shame after what I considered to be, at the very least, fine episodes all the way up to now. Needless to say I dislike this episode, though I might've gone a bit too hard on it.

Whenever it isn't a fight that results in a Jacking Break or Thouser Finisher, the action really shines tbh. This is one of the fights I remember specifically from the Job Arc purely because of how cool it was. The way Aruto and Fuwa are just coordinating with each other and the Dynamiting Lion Raider just going for the classic stick of dynamite is hilarious!

Speaking of, Dynamiting Lion, second favorite Raider. I dig his giant cannon arm, but he's not my favorite because he isn't my spirit animal!!!

Anyway, I really loved the bits of interaction, Izu calling Fuwa a Gorilla (Complete with distorted Punching Kong sounds) and Fuwa's talk with Aruto are really some good highlights in this episode for me.

While I still didn't care much about this competition arc three sets of episodes in... there were some nice moments in this one. Though I dislike how Gai decided to just skip around the usual Humagear goes berserk and force it. Really made the mandatory Jacking Break fight this time feel even more of a chore to watch through.

Overall, I prefer court drama to selling houses.

I do appreciate that Aruto felt that a trial with a man's livelihood at stake was maybe a little inappropriate to make into a competition.

It actually seems pretty handy to have a lawyer who can determine with absolute certainty whether their client is innocent or guilty. I wonder if Bingo would still represent a purely guilty client...well, Japan has a 99% conviction rate, so I guess it's an uphill battle even for innocent clients, but at least you have a lawyer who is absolutely certain of your innocence.

Lawyers and Kamen Rider has an interesting relationship ever since we had Kitaoka and his brand of pragmatic yet effective lawyerism. I've actually wondered if you could make a proper Main Rider out of a Defense Attorney and make that the premise of a series.

Proposing after dating for barely 30 days...honestly I'm not surprised it didn't take long for her to believe the worst and sell him out to the cops. Also, Yellow Buster!

I appreciate that there's a little more mystery as to the identity of this Raider. Like, you can probably still figure out who it is easily enough, but for this kind of story it's nice to add an element of intrigue and whodunnit to it all.

I love seeing a Main Rider and Secondary Rider fighting together! And that Aruto and Fuwa are able to do it so effectively shows how far they've come.

Uh oh. Zero-One has those angry eyes...not that I blame him.

I feel like the main difference in this story, beyond the courtroom stuff (which I feel like has more going on than you're giving it credit for?), is that we're dealing with Humagears that are getting enraged, instead of just defensive or disappointed. Like, Bingo goes insane in this episode, and the most he has to deal with (outside a monster attack) is his opponent belittling him. Robots going insane because people are mean to them is, as this episode wants to point out, sort of disproportionate?

It's really weird and surprisingly great to see Fuwa give a pep talk that a) chides the other person for not trying to find a solution instead of wallowing in their negative feelings, and b) acknowledges that you can't force personal growth. So mature! That is some real Do As I Say Not As I Do stuff from Fuwa!

It's even better, because them falsely accusing Ishinori (when it's clearly not him, the Raider never speaks, dead giveaway) plays into both the court narrative of frame-ups and mistaken identities, and the larger theme of misinformation creating conflicts between humans and Humagears. Solid twist!

Fun Fact: More important guest actors. Bingo is portrayed by Minami Keisuke, who was Ohtori Tsurugi/Phoenix Soldier in Kyuranger. The defendant's fiancee is portrayed by Komiya Arisa, who was Usami Yoko/Yellowbuster in Gobusters.

Surprisingly, I actually agree with you this time! Gai's decision to use a courtroom trial as the stage for the third round was a pretty clever way to increase the stakes beyond the competition. While ikebana and houses are serious business in their own right, a man's freedom is at stake here. If Gai wins, he'll take Hiden Intelligence, but that's the least of problems now. This gives an immediate threat and therefore, a reason to support Aruto, since it's supporting the good name of justice as well. Easily the best two episodes of this terrible arc!

We're back in agreement, albeit briefly! I'll take it!