I think Aruto finding out about Gai's culpability in Ark's inclination towards destruction makes their rivalry more personal and interesting than two presidents fighting over a company. Now Aruto knows that the tragedy he experienced in Daybreak, losing his father and his home, was caused by Gai. I also like Gai's delivery of the reveal to Aruto, trivializing his own part in what happened and blaming everything on humanity's evil that spurred Ark's decision to eradicate them. This episode gives some good insight in to the insane way that Gai rationalizes his actions, where he depicts himself as being 1000% innocent and good, by making everybody else look wrong.

Zero One's Final Form (emphasis on One), Metal Cluster Hopper, is a perfect example of this and damn, I remember its debut very vividly, it made my jaw drop for the whole scene! Like a shift to the horror genre. The way that this Ark-possessed uncanny CGI form just stands there intimidatingly and destroys anything that gets too close with his grasshopper constructs. The way that Thouzer laughs while he gladly takes a serious beating at the hands of something he created, even though he almost got himself killed. It's hard to recall seeing a debut more terrifying and unnerving than this!

Yeah, the cause-and-effect of Metal Cluster Hopper is very confusing to me, in regards to Gai's strategy. He definitely got completely beaten up? And accomplished... Aruto being extra mad at him? Like, this episode ends with a big ol' Gotta Have Aruto gag, so I'm not sure it even plays as particularly psychologically devastating. I don't know what Gai wanted to happen?

I'm not a huge fan of CGI fight scenes, but I think this episode handled it really well. The fight at the finale was epic because it was all CGI on the Zero-One side, which I think makes the choice more palatable.

That's a shame! I liked that a lot.

This was good, yes! I'd've liked to see a bit more from this scene (some further insight into exactly which part was most offensive to Horobi, some response from the heroes), but it was cool to have a Horobi scene where he's not just the cool, confident criminal. I like seeing him lose his shit!

I think it's also... Gai doesn't value something like morality, so Aruto accusing his actions as being immoral is like accusing them of being too tall: It's irrelevant to the topic. Gai fed human history to the Ark, which is overwhelmingly violent and cruel, and the Ark drew its own conclusions. Everything afterward helped ZAIA succeed at the expense of Hiden, so it's inherently justified. Gai's worldview doesn't account for things outside his own success.

He wanted to make Zero One go berserk, as an ultimatum to Aruto. Even though Metal Cluster Hopper is super OP, it's under Ark's control. It could hurt people the way it hurt Dynamiting Lion Raider, or worse, which would be bad publicity for Aruto's pro-HumaGear campaign and give Gai more opportunity to play the hero and victim. The alternative is for Aruto to abstain from henshining, at the cost of his ability to protect HumaGears.

I think Gai cares about morality to the extent that people see him as moral, which he needs to feel validated. His massive inferiority complex towards Korenosuke and now Aruto drives that desire to prove to everybody including himself that he's the only one worthy of being president of Hiden Intelligence, by provoking others in to making the wrong choices. He's an opportunist.

It's small thing, but I appreciated that Shining Assault Hopper going all out was actually able to tie with Thouser. Emphasis on tie, because Aruto still needed the mid-season upgrade to finally make up the difference. But it was a good scene for Aruto's pure rage and for Shining Assault Hopper.

Fuwa has really been leaning into being a cop lately, I guess because without Metsuboujinrai and the fact that they're actually fighting humans that's all his job is at this point. But it's nice to see him working with Aruto and working with a Humagear.

"Bingo" that is a surprisingly effective line for a turnabout (ha!) in a court case.

Well, she may have sold him out to the police and actually believed he was guilty, but at least she can pay respects to him being innocent.

Metal Cluster Hopper! Berserk forms aren't uncommon in Rider, but I think MCH is fairly effective. Just purely from a design standpoint it's so clear and pristine, yet there's a cold edge to it that permeates from the suit and the suit acting. And the raw power on display is very effective, especially against Thouser.

"I've come up with a brilliant plan of giving my Archrival a new Progrise Key that will connect him with the Ark and make him rampage! He may be more powerful than me, but I've totally figured out how to make that work to my advantage and there is no way this will come back to bite me in the future!" - Gai, probably.

It's High Quality!

As someone who values Ace Attorney as one of his all time favorite franchises, it was almost guaranteed that I would love this set of episodes.

Heck, not only did that the Ace Attorney flavor, but it's also the debut of my favorite suit in Zero-One; Metal Cluster Hopper! Pair those aspects up with more action and character drama that I absolutely adore and bam, loved every second!

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

One thing that really stood out to me immediately is just how Ark's' heart looks, as well as how all Aruto can hear upon interfacing with Ark is the sound of the Ark crying out in anguish. I felt that, given the whole focus on "lashing out" that this Act has been doing, it was very poignant.

Speaking of that though, I also loved how Aruto is shown to not be so above it all, what with his attacking Gai(justified or not), and that's even before the new Key is forced into his Driver. The payoff of which is nothing short of great either, as I love the suit is literally made up of a swarm of metal locusts; You can actually see bits of the suit tearing away and reforming as the Hoppers swarm around to attack Gai, which is a great detail!

And of course with Gai, he's loving every second of this, which I felt was very true to his character. MCH not only makes Aruto look bad, not only does it mean that Gai has effectively hijacked Hiden's' Rider Tech in its entirety, but most importantly, the Key itself is a ZAIA product. Of course he's loving every second of this!

Lastly, even if some might find it obvious(my dumb dumb brain sure didn't), I did like the twist in that the Prosecutor wasn't the Raider in the end. It helps to avoid the idea that anyone who works for a specific company is a bad person by default. As someone who works for what many consider one of, if not the most vile company in the world, I really appreciated that. (By extension, Yua being a slave to the system makes for a great tie-in.)

So yeah, a great debut for a great suit. Loved these episodes.

Boy, am I behind...

The Job Battle Arc continues with Real Estate, not too much for me to say, but I do like how it approached it, in how Zaia's representative got basically drunk on power and his position, losing the warmth and care he had about improving lives from what he had to go through, and making good points about how both sides aren't perfect, since in reality, it's not.

There's a lot of ways I think Zero-One handles these themes well, not perfect, but better than others. Horobi and Metsuboujinrai sparked the conflict, which Gai takes advantage of, while Aruto continues to learn from both sides, because even he knows the solution can't be reached the way he sees it. It pulls off these without becoming too overbearing and even adds some fun and heart into what would normally be a bleak, almost dystopian background.

Then we got the Ace Attorney: Turnabout- I mean Court Battle! Yes, that's definitely what I was going to say. Gai pulls a Swartz, giving Aruto a brand-new toy, with uncontrollable power that under normal circumstances work in his favor, smearing Hiden's reputation and pitting him against everyone (including his own Humagears, potentially), but ultimately leads him into giving him the power to beat him.

Now, the Raiders... I like them. They're neat in design, yet distinguishable from the Magia, giving them less of a mechanical design, and more of an armored look. Heck, even they're actors gave the Magia machine-esque movements (for the most part), while the Raiders don't, which is a pretty neat detail. Also makes them into Pseudo-Riders in a way.

Thouser's weapon is pretty neat. Once again working a way that's kind of gaudy (an elegant golden sword) and threatening (the tension before the jack retracts and his finisher occurs), a perfect weapon for Mr. 1000.

And then there's Metal Cluster Hopper. They knew that as soon as Hazard Build took everyone by storm in Build, Berserker forms became a new fad for Toei. This one works in a way that makes it stand out from Hazard Build. Hazard was a through-and-through Berserker form, while Metal Cluster is more of a sabotage while also trying to actually break Aruto. Then there's the flair, in which a cluster of grasshoppers form his armor and function like nanomachines (son!). How cool is that? Then there's way it calmly rampages, while Aruto is suffering inside, knowing that he's (body at least) is causing destruction, a true torture machine. And the design is great, and the silver (it's high quality!) works for Metal Cluster being an unauthorized Progrise Key, lacking any color to give it a "mass produced look."

Anyway, I babbled too much here, but long story short, the Job Battle Arc is one arc I don't really have problems with (unless I forgot them, which is entirely possible), so overall, I'd say it's not bad.

Sure, but Gai's whole thing has always been making something 1000% inescapable; plans within schemes within machinations within traps. Metal Cluster Hopper, by comparison, is a real "Step 3: Profit" kinda strategy. It's going to be bad for Aruto, but it's also by definition uncontrollable and unpredictable. It just seems like more of a Jin plan than a Gai plan, if that makes sense.

I sort of liked how Yuuto being found innocent didn't coincide with Yellow Buster restarting their relationship. I'm sure they had fun for a month, but man, who want to be reminded of all that broken trust?

Now, like, cut to Episode 38, and they're inviting Aruto to their wedding...

It's another one of those endings where humans are shown to be capable of change and growth, and I appreciated that. The prosecutor's dismissive and uncaring for most of the story, but then he's ashamed that he fought that hard to convict an innocent man (even though, uh, that's his job, prosecuting cases that are brought to him by the police). Like, he's sort of an asshole, but he's not a villain. He's a victim of bad information, just like most of the people in this story!

Yeah, the Raiders are much cooler for how there's more intelligence to their antics. The Magia are rampaging monsters, only slightly more interesting than mooks. But the Raiders get to attack more strategically, and operate with some planning. It makes for a more dynamic set of opponents, I think.

I am very much on the record as not liking the recent trend of Kamen Rider fight scenes to consist primarily of suit actors throwing CGI at each other. Metal Cluster Hopper is one of the few exceptions to that. I love the concept of the nanobot drones and how Aruto uses them in fights. I was sure that it would end up being one of those large budget first appearances before getting scaled back, but I'm really happy to say that the suit keeps this identity throughout most of its uses.

That's good to hear! The immobility of the Metal Cluster Hopper suit is such an interesting choice, since it's antithetical to Zero-One's whole Jump To The Sky motif. Making the quick, agile Zero-One into a metal bunker is such a fun idea.

It wasn't only about that unintentional spoiling though. It's also about how there's not only 1, but 2 violations at once, others (anyone on this site, not only you) can perceive that. of which if not sugarcoated it can be probably not pretty (but deserved), for the evaluation of me. And that I seem to be the only one that can commit violation in these talks (not limited to that spoiling), while others seem to almost never do that.

Yeah, another irony in these 2 parters about how a machine can display more empathy and understanding than a human, who is just all ambitious and cruel. It's also technically a lesson about how a person's happiness comes in many form, not just all the riches and luxuries Arayashiki has, in how due to how generally people want a big house, it must extend to Oshiirou (the billionaire) too. Better knowing someone better rather than just project the "fixed" brand of happiness to them. I have to say though, unlike the match in ep. 17-18, to me Arayashiki's redemption is kinda forced, just suddenly appreciating his old small slum after spending all his time degrading it without any conflicted feelings and being the main drive of himself and also his clients, and thus apologizing on that.

But, for the talk between these 2 episodes, are there some contradicting there? The first part talked about how Sumida's competency (which also involves empathy and understanding for the client) can potentially make Arayashiki lose his job, and then, the talk is about Aruto is unfit for ruthless capitalism? Other than how it can be a bad idea for automation to replace humans (again Reiwa First Generation Korenosuke, where do humans get their income if they won't work?), doesn't it show that between Sumida and Arayashiki, the good one gets ahead in this case? While Arayashiki can hope for getting huge profit for his client, he still didn't get it, as Oshiirou chose Sumida. Though technically Gai won here (more like Gai possibly rigging the game as he started it), Sumire's good methods is enough for Gai to put a pressure on Arayashiki that it can gain actual sales.

And speaking about business, while there are many real cases of corruption, and Gai displaying the worst form of it, it seems that subtlety is overlooked in this kind of talk (and many stuff too not only this), about businesses. like it seems that some view running a business (or specifically gaining profit) as inherently evil and wrong or that someone is bad if they have a business. There are plain business (including if the result isn't fully satisfying), and there are corrupt business practices. Perhaps not all business should be lumped with the corrupt one nor that all corrupt business can be justified as "just business". But CMIIW.