That's hardly particular to Ex-Aid. Purple just generally has a strong association with evil characters in Japanese media. Just off the top of my head, we had Ohja way back in Ryuki, who set the gold standard for all evil Riders... or uh, the purple standard, I guess. It's a very sinister color, apparently!

Anyways, I love this episode for how perfectly it emphasizes itself as the THE first multi-part story in Zero-One. It'd be one thing after half a dozen episodes for things to not wrap up more-or-less cleanly by the end, but they straight up end this one on Fuwa getting exploded by the main bad guy after he finally steps into the spotlight.

Just, immediately, Kamen Rider Horobi feels like a huge deal. I straight up love this guy, by the way? I don't know how much I'll end up gushing about him in this thread, but for now, just focusing on him as a Rider, it was so dang cool knowing Takaiwa was still playing a big role even after stepping down from the protagonist spot after Zi-O. I'd imagine I'm not the only one who sort of felt like it just wouldn't be Kamen Rider without the guy, so this made that transition a lot smoother, while also giving him a chance to demonstrate his talent with a very different kind of character. I've always felt Kabuto was actually one of the roles that most demonstrated Takaiwa's skill as a suit actor? Most people probably jump to Den-O, but I think its the subtlety of a character like Tendou that lets him shine most. I praise guys like Eitoku and Kousuke Asai for being hugely expressive in their own right, but if I had to think of something about Takaiwa that I geuninely can't imagine any other suit actor will ever match, it'd be the minimalism of Kabuto. How with the least possible amount of movement, he could still excellently convey a properly defined personality just in how carried himself. Kamen Rider Horobi gave him a chance to really showcase that aspect of his style again, and that made it a total delight to watch that character in any scene he was in. (Also I very specifically love the shape of those eyes on the suit. They're so weirdly elongated and creepy and utterly unique and I was fascinated by them before the show even started.)

...Not that any of this talk about Horobi helps to refute the idea the climax of this episode is all that's worth discussing, which is ordinarily the kind of thing I would try to refute, given the chance. Uh... let's see here... well, the start of this one *does* reveal that Aruto was born on May 1st, which is the same day the Reiwa era started, naturally. It's a bit on the nose, but considering they also called the show Zero-One, that's only fitting. It's really cute how committed they were to this guy heralding the new era.

(Also some more weirdly noncommittal To Sell Toys stuff this week, with the sudden focus on Izu having the obligatory Progrise Key holder thing that came out around that time. Just look at *all* those Keys it holds! That was kind of the same "genre" of merch of the big Ride Watch tower you always saw in Zi-O, and the Pandora Panels that were rather prominent in Build, so that should give you a good idea of how much of a downgrade this is. To be fair, you also see that design worked into other places like the MetsubouJinrai hideout, but I believe this is the one and only time they did this odd showcase with Izu. Horobi using the Amazing Hercules Key is a much more a natural result of this, as that Key came bundled with the holder. Don't expect that to become any sort of signature piece of gear for the guy either, but, you know, he uses it more than Fuwa uses the Attache Calibur at least.)

I really love Kamen Rider Horobi! I don't-- I don't think I love the character of Horobi, though?

Or, the actor, is maybe what I mean. I find the MetsubouJinrai leader to be a distractingly uncharismatic presence, honestly. Most of his scenes have - not to keep comparing him to Genm, but - missed either the beneficent charm of early Kuroto, or the unhinged lunacy of late Kuroto. This guy's just there, and I don't find him nearly as appealing as either one of his weirdo underlings. There's more to him this time (I was pretty dialed in when he theatrically declared war on all of humanity to Fuwa's sputtering face), but I don't feel like the actor has figured out a way in to this guy yet in-person. Does an okay job on VO, though!

Ha ha, it's pretty dopey! Not exactly leaping to the top of my To Buy list, despite Izu's showmanship and the very fun Use Three Suits tactics.

Ep 8!


- It's the obligatory "Buy that damn mech!" 2 parter! I guess the Time Mazines sold pretty well? Absolutely giggled when the Gigars's function to mass-calm down raging Humagears showed up when I first watched this episode, and said "I give 5 minutes before theyre used for evil."

-Mashiro-chan suggesting a brain scan for Fuwa is so funny. When are we getting an episode where we drag Fuwa to a Humagear-led therapy session.

-Hmmm, is Singularity really such a bad thing? Is thinking like a human really such a mark of being " dangerous and incomprehensible" to humanity? Take Mashiro-chan for example. There a multitude of biases in the medicial field that prevent people from getting their proper diagnosises for their ailments, and those people get ill and potenially die as a result for lack of care. AI and other tech, from what they learn, will retain that sense of bias from their developers, but if they could surpass that and make their own calls....Doesn't it have an equal chance of being helpful than it does being scary? If "surpassing humanity's comprehension" is such a issue, is destruction really the only way? Wouldn't be more helpful to observe Humagears who approach/obtain Singularity to better understand them and determine what they can contribute than hitting the "turn to scrap metal" button at the slightest hint of an awakening?

-.....It seemed like one of those "spoilers" that you naturally come across as you pass within fandom (like Fruit Jesus/bench jokes or a suspiciously high amount of fanart drawing Takkun as a wolf), so I gotta ask the folks who were watching the show live: was MJBR being Humagears a shock to anyone? It seems like more for the characters to know/ info mentioned a press conference or something...


-Sting Dystopia is such a goregous finisher, love how it looks in this episode! Even if you're not sold on Horobi as a character just yet, his debut fight is so well-executed to establish him as a powerful threat! (Love the exchange that more or less went like "Fuwa: You took everything from me!! Horobi: I dont even know who you are...")


-Aruto and Fuwa's argument about Humagears going in circles due to how emotionally fueled their arguments are....I think this episode could be seen as the first proper "push" aganist Aruto's idealogy? Aruto's been operating on the idea that the Humagears aren't really to blame for going berserk, since it's all due MJBR's hacking to blame, but it turns out they're Humagears as well?! Why would a Humagear, created to do their work with excellence to support the humans in their field, now look upon humanity with scorn and digust? (Of course, we can't Aruto's thoughts on the matter bc the characters are too busy, but it's so pleasant that Horobi represents a proper challenge to Aruto's current ideals.)

I mean, if my iPhone suddenly had an agenda of its own, I don't think I'd be very generous and sympathetic to its sentience and individuality. One, I paid a big chunk of change for that phone, and I'd be a little miffed if that investment was like Let's Talk Salary or whatever. Second, I need a phone! I don't care if that phone would rather be a math teacher or a pilot or something else! I need it to be a phone. And that's not even getting into the larger problem of a terrorist group reprogramming my newly-sentient phone to murder people. Feels like terror is the natural reaction to all of that?

But, yeah, this show is definitely trying to talk about... I was going to get into this later, but let's do it now. This show is trying to talk about parenthood, and how scary it can be, but also how beautiful it can be. You bring life into this world (or adopt life), and you become responsible for what it might turn into. You can guide it, steer it, punish it, reward it, but it's going to turn into something you can't really control. All you can do is hope that you've created something good, instead of something that's going to hurt people. The discussion about that, raising someone and hoping they'll surpass you -- even if by surpassing you, they become something you don't understand -- is pretty much what this show's being talking about since Episode 1.

It's strange to me that this was a twist yeah. Like, "robot revolution led by robots" is the obvious set-up; and "robot revolution led by humans" is... much more specific and a curveball especially for this demographic, so you'd think this kind of twist would be for the opposite! I think at the time my reaction was something like "oh, that's it?"

Not necessarily bad or anything, just always found it a little odd

Humagears in the medical field seems like such an obviously beneficial thing but of course Fuwa is all "how dare you let these robots try to give me a health check up!"

Mecha sure do make a habit of showing up in Rider shows.

Kamen Rider Horobi! Like, as far as evil Rider debuts go, this one definitely leaves an impact (and I'm not just talking about Sting Dystopia). Like the suit is so sinister and Horobi fights with such finesse and pure, raw, power that he really raises the bar that the heroes have to match. And he utterly wrecks Fuwa which has a lasting effect/consequences which is cool for a Rider fight.

And it's also just really neat to have "Mr. Kamen Rider" himself playing a major villain Rider opposing the hero of a new generation. Like just so much going into that on a Meta level. I also find it funny that Eitoku had such a history of playing the secondary or supporting Rider to Taikawa's Main Rider and that dynamic is actually revisited here with Horobi and Jin.

Well, that was a pretty horrifying robot laugh.
Maybe a little too much to address in the climax of an episode, though I feel like the spirit of it is carried over in them attempting to reeducate and build up the new Kobe.
I guess because they're acting so out of sorts from what Humagears are supposed to or were designed to be with actual autonomy.

On the other hand, Humagears being able to shoot X-rays out of their eyes lends more credence to Fuwa's theories re: They're All Going To Kill Us.

Oh, sure. There's alway some little epilogue that lets us know how everyone made out. Seiji and his Humalexa, or Kobe and his reboot; it's always at least addressed. My main thing is that the harder question of the episode is usually abandoned because MetsubouJinrai creates a circumstance where the problem is detonated.

I wouldn't compare Horobi to Kuroto. Without going too deeply into spoilers, trust me when I say that the show will tell you when to start comparing a character to Kuroto.

Not much to say about this episode. But I can say stuff about the things in the episode.

First off, I’ll begin my secondary feature of sharing contemporary Facebook memes (one page in particular, started out in this period and was heavily prominent in making them). This one not only got someone to note that it’s probably good Aruto didn’t find success as a comedian, and sparked an argument over how to spell “Magia”, despite it being written on the Zetsumerisekeys in the Latin alphabet.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...2/IMG_2581.JPG

And now for the hypothetical forms using this episodes key debuts.

Progrise: Dangerous Warning! Sting Scorpion! Stung with fear by the power claws.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...g_Scorpion.jpg

And now I can show off the Forceriser, despite it not coming out until two weeks after this episode aired (Reiwa set a standard for ‘evil’ transformation items either being released 7 weeks after their debut, or via P-Bandai.)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=EWYY3ITVBe8

Progrise: Arai, Tsuyoi, Katai! (Rough, Strong, Hard!) Amazing Hercules! With mighty horn-like pincers that flip the opponent helpless.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...4B866B033.jpeg

And this key got reused as YOUR boi,

Gashat, Gachon, Gachan! LevelUpping Ex-Aid! Saving patients on the first try.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RK_F5VSbL7Y

And finally, I’m going to show off my favourite weapon from this show (mainly due to the voice acting and sounds being a lot more refined than the previous two Attache weapons and later ones just not being that interesting)

https://youtube.com/watch?v=OFhYIPqS3qw

And before COPPA arbitrarily declared this video for kids, it had this gem of a comment.

Attach? case opens to release the never missing bow and arrow.
Kuuga: Am I a joke to you?
Imperial stormtrooper: We’ll take 8 million.

Oh, yeah, I'm aware of that guy. I was mostly just using Kuroto because he was close at hand due to the discussion about Purple Evil Riders. I'm not trying to compare Horobi to Kuroto, so much as I'm using Kuroto as an example of villain who had multiple compelling character modes, compared to Horobi's maybe one-half of a compelling character mode. There's room for improvement!

My subs have it as "Magear", which I always liked as a literally dehumanized Humagear. Happy to start using Magia if that's the official term.

Suitchubradu ja naito.

Humagears being turned into Magia would have their personality re-written into a wholly new monstrous one, and Mashiro-chan previously was called The Angel in White (her name also means "pure white"), and later she'd display the opposite in ironic way, has demonic reaction of anyone. And Mashiro-chan displayed again some humane trait by offering to brain scan Isamu out of her own volition, and neurology isn't her expertise. Now the term is dropped here by Izu of how Humagears would be fully human if they reach Singularity, of which of course is twisted negatively by Fuwa as something wrong, but Singularity isn't being hacked by MetsubouJinrai.net that overwrites their personality like that.

Kinda ironic that, Aruto/Fuwa's arguments here would actually show about how... Humagears are really human-like. Just for what it sounds like regarding this, it sounds similar to how someone can get varying and different experience to various humans. There are humans who are good to you like giving affection or support to you, there are those who are neutral, who would leave you alone for your business, there are humans who antagonize you like putting you down or hurting you in some way. And from what they're arguing, it sounds like something similar for Humagear experiences. Being misantrophic and blaming all humans for their entirety for some who are bad to them would be an unhealthy response, but so does if one that has good experience would be blind to their shortcomings. Of which humanity should be acknowledged humanity for what it is truly like, with all of their beauty and ugliness, which'd mean, Humagears seems to be should treated not that differently, outside of MetsubouJinrai.net. And even Fuwa had some opposing stance to Yua, who due to viewing Humagears as tools, it'd mean she'd make use of it if she can.

And in the battle, Izu displays her special capabilities that she can assist Aruto in battle to give him patterns. As you said, Horobi's the one that is icy and sinister, he's the Ark fanatic that would unquestionably do everything for it, but not in mindless/brainwashed way, while his underlings are more zany.... but.... don't know why you'd assume that this'd turn into superheroes beating genocidal supervillains, as, those previous stories about how humane Humagears are, actually all also apply to those villains, like Jin learning about him being Horobi's son as well as reacting to it; freezing and later almost being redeemed of learning about a real parent's love, in Seiji, albeit misguided. It doesn't know if you'd change your mind on Horobi, but he won't be something similar to Time Jackers actually. The Humagears being human aspect is applied on most MetsubouJinrai.net members too.

Probably Horobi would be my favorite design among the base form of the Riders (Jin'd get something later, but probably it'd not be a base). About his power being Scorpion Sting, there's some relation of it to his personality, that he has toxic relationship with his "son" Jin, is uncaring who he hurts to reach his goals, and operates as a cyber-terrorist who poisons HumaGear society, and that means he'd get poison as his powerset from Sting Scorpion Progrisekey. And in fighting, Horobi's at least a villain who relies on his skills and wits, not someone who throws power around like some previous CEOs.

It'd be shuicchibureedo, actually.

スイッチブレイド Suitchibureido

Haven't commented much, mostly cause I'm not sure what to comment on. Will say though I still enjoy the forms we've been getting.

But uh... Horobi, Horobi's really cool! And I'm glad we've gotten Seiji Takaiwa in like a sort of non-lead role to where he can just do whatever he wants really? And by whatever he wants I mean he doesn't have to act all spry and young and flip all over. Horobi's fighting style is very much akin to a tank with heavy countering, kinda like Kabuto from what I recall briefly with those fights.

Also we finally get to see a Forceriser finisher and I love just how different the Finisher Splashes are for each type of Rider. Makes it really cool.

Yeah, that's basically their story. Everyone processes the world through the lens of their own experiences, so Aruto can't help but be optimistic, while Fuwa can't help but be pessimistic. The slight problem in the episode is that an argument like that, one so grounded in childhood trauma, can't really do more than be two people shouting past each other in a Uh Huh/Nuh Uh way.

He's a very imposing fighter! Definitely helps fill out Horobi's character.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 9 - “PUT THAT LIFE IN THEIR HANDS”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../zeroone9a.png

So many smart ideas in this episode!

The big question at the center of this episode – are the self-aware Humagears inherently good or inherently evil – gets the best possible answer: Neither. No one’s inherently anything, and if we’re going to treat AIs with the same level of respect as people, we have to concede that their choices are their own. Some are going to go bad, like Jin and Horobi. Some are going to go good, like the surgeon in this episode. Humanity just has to have faith that the overall choice is going to be good, and that we can try and create a framework of mutual respect to foster that outcome.

That idea of multiple conflicting inputs creating options to alter destinies, we even get that in the resolution to Fuwa’s front-to-back, top-to-bottom ass-whupping from last episode. Fuwa was nearly killed by Humagears twelve years ago, but he was saved by a Humagear today. He can’t lean on the All Humagears Are Evil thing anymore, because he’s proof that they aren’t. He gets to choose which input – Evil or Good – he gives the most weight to. And, yeah, he might still pick Evil! One good robot doesn’t outweigh an army of killer ones, and that’s his choice to make. But now he’ll have to reckon with the possibility of Humagears being worth protecting, and that’s a step in the right direction.

Too bad Yua’s brief change-of-heart blew up in her face, however. She has a neat little scene with Izu about how Humagears will treat humanity if/when they become self-aware, and when she returns to Izu with some Not All Robots epiphany, Izu’s there to ask why Yua faked a Humagear rampage and (maybe?) leaked it to the press. There’s some shame to Yua in this scene, but it mostly seems to set up A.I.M.S.’ Mysterious Benefactor from ZAIA Enterprises as a potential new rival for Aruto and Hiden Intelligence. It’s left open-ended, and I don’t really want to waste a thousand words trying to guess what happens next. Suffice to say that Yua’s dirty work in the background is now very clearly in the foreground, much to her dismay.

The whole episode’s great for exploring morality as not some ingrained thing, but a choice that both people and Humagears can make for themselves. The surgeon can choose to save Fuwa, or kill him. Fuwa can choose to forgive the Humagears, or destroy them. Yua can lie about her culpability, or atone for it. Just like Izu and Aruto, the only thing we can do is have faith that the people we believe in will make the right choice.

–

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 02: KAMEN RIDER VULCAN - PUNCHING KONG

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../zeroone9b.jpg

And the right choice for me was not buying the Breaking Mammoth SO-DO!

I don’t like the mechs or Zords or whatever for tokusatsu. Just zero percent my interest. (This episode’s action-packed finale was, probably, my least favorite finale to date. I don’t care about two CGI robots punching each other! And I probably never will!) I didn’t feel like ordering the Breaking Mammoth and Rise Hopper set back when I was ordering every Zero-One SO-DO set, and I sure don’t regret it now. Very okay not having that thing on my shelf.

But what I do have on my shelf is a Punching Kong figure, and it cracks me up to talk about this suit/figure in the Fuwa Is Dying episode, so let’s finally take a look at this guy.

I built this one way back, because I love suits with big ol’ mitts on them. (So psyched about yesterday’s Kangaroo Genome SO-DO figure! Build? Big ol’ mitts?? A tiny Vice in the pouch??? Sign me up!) Any suit design improves as the size of its fists expands, and that’s just science. The fact that they’re big ol’ mitts that become rocket punches is just… it’s genius, and I’m sorry I waited this long to gush about this suit.

It’s Fuwa’s first form change, and I like how it denotes its power. It’s bulky and dark on top, slim and white on the bottom. It’s not the slight vertical asymmetry of Shooting Wolf, it’s a massively powerful upper-half and nothing else. The red lines help break up the blocks of black, and reinforce the raw power of the design. It looks like it’s going to hurt you, even more than Shooting Wolf’s barely-restrained fury.

Like I said, I built this one way back (couple years, at least), so I don’t really remember how the build went. Looking at it now, I’d say the only stickers are the bits of red, the silver of the belt, and the Shotriser. Everything else is molded or painted. Seems like it’d’ve been an easy one to do? Easy or not, I think the figure nails every aspect of Punching Kong. Simple and effective design, with a simple but effective toy. Sorry I didn’t talk about it sooner!

Yeah, I can’t say much about this episode. I do prefer the Time Mazine to Breaking Mammoth (I don’t know why) and I took notice of the poses that Horobi and Jin’s Rider Models do with them, but the people I shared it with didn’t see much point to pointing it out, since they’re not really sentient.

But we did get the Progrisekey I was waiting for a video of since the Zetsumeriser came out. You know why.

Thirteen Dragon Knights! FinalVenting Ryuki! One who can’t survive without fighting.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5LUF3V1r0LU

I can't really go into why without going into spoilers, so I'll just say that episode 9 is currently in the running for my favorite Zero-One episode.

(Kinda spoiled for choice when it comes to that though.)

Nothing more validating than a doctor Humagear fighting the Metsuboujinrai hacking to be what he was meant to be, a doctor, and saving a human who hates Humagears. And while you knew on some level it was going to happen, the episode did a great job ratcheting up the tension so it would genuinely feel touch-and-go there.

It's nice seeing beneath all their bickering how much Yua cares about Fuwa.

I like seeing some of the prototype "naked" Humagears in Aruto's Zero-One headquarters. I never really thought of it before but a secret place in his office gives me kind of Batman vibes.

Breaking Mammoth! I guess your feelings on it probably depend on your feelings of Mecha in Rider, especially when obviously CG entity is obvious, but I thought this was a pretty cool sequence and to be honest I find mecha Zero-One kind of cute.

"Zero-One...you do seem to defy our calculations" Man I love it when the bad guys start recognizing the hero wrecking their plans. I mean, that whole scene of Aruto showing up and making a one-man stand with the Opening is such an epic climax.

Yua thought she and Is were building a good rapport and relationship and then Is is like "I know you screwed us over." Kind of a shame, although Yua brought it on herself.

That was a nice Aruto and Fuwa moment to close this arc up.

Ah, production details I know enough to talk about! As I'm sure some of you know, the prototype Humagears in Aruto's office are pretty familiar. First, Hiden presumably bought out Nanba Inc at some point, because one model is based off the Guardians from Build. Incidentally, following Kikai, this makes the 3rd series in a row where the Guardian suit is around and available in SO-DO form.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EM0Td1TX...g&name=900x900

Second brings us a touch of delusion, as it's based on Deluknight, from Akibaranger's Season 1.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EM0TeZ9W...pg&name=medium

And third, the one I actually forgot the origins of, may be proof of how AI and robotics got so advanced in such a short time scale. As the History Channel would say - Aliens. Anyway, it's a reworking of the Megahex suit from the Gaim/Drive Movie Wars.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EM0TdDTW...pg&name=medium

But yeah, this first arc is a good turning point for the show, moving out of the initial rush of merch which is a staple now, and making signs of the Arcs beyond that. Fuwa gets his near death experience to start prodding him into a slightly less irrationally-angry gorilla-man-hybrid, Aruto gets his giant robot and some respect from the villains, and Yua begins her journey into plot hook. I joke, but early Zero-One is pretty good in how it uses the episodic format to flesh out the world, and setting the stage better for MBJR's big push against it, while giving Aruto an ideal of something to fight for.

Also also, Punching Kong is one of my favourite 01 suits and it dosn't deserve to be a forgotten upgrade form, it's tragic.

Episode 9!!

-I really enjoy Izu in this! I can't believe I forgot her monologue in this ep, it's real good! (Also the bit near the end, how she targets Yua by asking her a question but not giving her time to answer. It really gives an air of.....disappoinment? Like a parent asking "who got into the brownies?" to a kid with chocolate smeared all over their mouth)

-Horobi and Jin are a fun pair to watch fight together, real "take your child to work day" energy, except said work is enacting terroist schemes.

-The bit with Aruto and Fuwa on the rooftop, it's a cute gag. Aruto worrying his jokes cause physical pain....


-Horobi's whole thing is about "liberating" Humagears and rising aganist humans. There's not really any kind of point given concerning why humans should get the boot, other than it being the Ark's will. Does this make his villianous decress feel flimsy....Yeah, just a bit. (Of course, we can make assumptions based on the past 9 episodes abt how Humagear existence/autonomy is seen and treated by humans to bulid a case for him, but I'd rather not put words in the terrorist-cultist's mouth, yknow?)

-There's a small detail I'm slightly fond of. Izu reports in this episode that MJBR are not connected to Zea/in their records. This is kind of teased upon earlier, on how Jin was forced to use a computer to look up the word "son", while Izu can merely access the internet through Zea directly to look up the word "passion". I'm sure not being connected to Zea has its uses, but it probably also might be tedious in some areas as well....

I realize I've been silent for too long now. Especially in the first quarter of Zero-One.

So Horobi and Jin, the ForceRiders, have a neat aesthetic to their designs. Its full of hazard lines, strewn together haphazardly, and evokes the look of something dangerous, and I love that look. Even the sounds sound like a bomb waiting to go off, where even the peppy voice of the Progrise Keys gets distorted somewhat in the transformation, and the point of forcing them open to create their suits is just plain cool.

This show explores things a lot of other A.I./technology shows don't usually touch on, and that's that there is no clear answer to whether their evil or not. It's not saying "technology evil" or "technology is good future" but looks at both and leaves the cast to figure that out, and that's a good thing.

And good gosh did the action scenes impress. The ForceRiders in action just scream destruction, watching Horobi destroy Vulcan being one of those instances, and just the whole aesthetic with Zero-One's Finishers. Good stuff.

Yeah, boy, this and the Time Mazine both are really Not My Thing. I actually might prefer the weirdo stuff like Captain Ghost to these big huge robots?

It's a very confident episode! The directing is excellent, I didn't really talk about it at all. There's a great use of longer takes, silences, and bizarrely-composed close-ups to take us out of the wacky world of the first half-dozen episodes, and move us into something more dangerous for Aruto. There's less safety net for him in this one, and the ways we get long takes of him in empty rooms really sells it.

I am incredibly glad the show immediately had Izu figure out that Yua was behind the negative footage, AND figured it out right in front of Yua. If they'd try to hide Yua's involvement for a few episodes, I'd've been a lot more sour on this development. Instead, the rushed if forward. Much appreciated!

It's a very cool suit! Any suit built around Brawling gets my attention, and Punching Kong more than delivers on that archetype.

It's a missing part in the MestubouJinrai story, for sure. Horobi doesn't seem to be too aggrieved or anything, and all we get is that humanity is destined to be destroyed. There's no real argument, or rationalization, or case being made. It's just We're Killing You Now, as an entire platform.

There's some fun in that, in them treating human extinction as a weirdly bloody checklist and nothing more. That's an unusual way to launch a war against a species. But it would probably help the story some if we got a clearer idea of why Ark made this decision, and I assume that'll be along in due course.

I got my Forceriser today! (Despite being the third Driver I ordered, it was the first to arrive. Crazy!) It's an exceptionally cool device, with the mix of Fun Progrise Key Jingles balanced against Terrifying Villain Belt Menace. It, in every way, feels coopted and wrestled towards evil. But for kids!

It's a clever dynamic between the main 5, how Isamu and Yua are on the side of humanity, Horobi and Jin are on the side of HumaGears and Aruto is stuck in the middle of the conflict, trying to preach the good in both sides. This episode really tackles the disease of prejudice and how unhealthy and unfair it is to judge an entire race over unfortunate past experiences. Isamu takes a big step towards becoming a wiser person here, acknowledging to Aruto that there might be some good in HumaGears, even if he still sees the evil in them with much more lucidity. Defeating prejudice takes time, it's something we've all had at some point, it's difficult cause we often don't know it's even there. But with an open mind, people can get there eventually.

I like the concept more than the execution here. I understand the reason why it's so top-heavy, to emphasis the raw gorilla power. But visually, it kind of looks like he dressed up for winter but forgot to put on pants and boots. It's also weird that this form has the distinction of being Vulcan's only non-wolf form.

It's been almost 3 years and I never noticed these details before. Thanks for bringing this up.

I'd been wondering about these suits the whole time! Thank you!

Oh right, this case is me forgetting.... english itself. Blade is pronounced /bleɪd/, not /blaed/ (can't use that combined letter).

The main thing is, this is a war between 2 satellites, Zea and Ark. Zea is the one operating normal Humagears used by HIDEN, while Ark is the one who has misantrophy toward humans and is gearing the Humagears to exterminate them, like Horobi and Jin. Actually, as long as Humagears aren't in Ark's grasp, they'd do good. Even the Humagears who are corrupted and turned into Magia can be traced into Ark too. Regarding this episode, Horobi at this point still talked about freeing Humagears from, but presented quite difficult damned if you do/don't situation, of shutting down Humagears in huge number in hospital to prevent them being turned into Magias and putting patients at risk, or letting Humagears active for MetsubouJinrai.net to hack.... and the former choice would have you being forced to re-activate Humagears if you care about the patients.

While Fuwa'd have psychotic traits previously, actually Fuwa's conflict with Aruto is not that intense compared to some others, like at the end of this episode where, though Fuwa would still mostly holding his belief, he's now more on good terms with Aruto in shorter time. Yeah, Fuwa's terrible sense of humor was an indicator that he'd become Aruto's ally. But it seems that, there's inherent bias to prove something on someone, especially the ones with prejudice. It seems that Fuwa can be only slightly convinced by having himself directly experience something good, in this case from Humagears, while others' experience Aruto talking about him being raised by Humagear dead falls on deaf ears. And there are many more like Fuwa in this case, only wants to view with the lens of their own experiences, and while this is rather natural, this can be troubling, like in reverse example, someone (not said friend's partner in crime or underling) who refuses to acknowledge that their friend is a bad guy, and condones them, because of how being their friend thus they won't harm theirs, but would for others.

Yua's change of heart? Too early for that, her real arc (regardless of its quality) doesn't even begin yet, she's still ambiguous now. That part is a neat scene, but Izu fully shows her worth in this episode, in every aspect. There's a part of her usefulness as Humagear like her knowledge of various data such as the hospital being understaffed, controlling the Humagear system to shut down them or turning them on, analyzing Mammoth Zetsumerise to create Breaking Mammoth key, as well as some of her character development, with her again learning more about human traits, OTW to Singularity, this time, jumping on ambiguity conflict about Humagears being good or not (something that usually the older ones grasp better), still not knowing that, but following what she wanted currently of serving Aruto. There's also an iconic scene of her delivering Breaking Mammoth to Aruto by drifting on the asphalt.... worried what'd happen to her boot sole after that tho.

Regarding mechs, yeah the special effects on toku are actually quite subpar and it'd hurt those mechs fight, or that if not using CGI, the fight would be slow and clunky, another hurt. That being said, there's some mechs (dunno what'd you think about other CGIs) that I'd find delighting though, like Zolda's Magnugiga in Ryuki for its Final Vent. And for its raw power, it's used in more unusual way to manage the huge recoil of Attache Shotgun instead of hurting you with its raw power, making Fuwa still the shooter to Yua's melee.

I was going to say that you're both seriously overthinking the joke, but instead I'm wondering whether or not to rename my account to Shoichi Burrito.

To add my two cents to this discussion, I once left a comment in the discussion for a YouTube livestream on Mika Kikuchi’s YouTube (that guest starred Ayumi Beppu) and they actually read it out and said my username. Turns out that with a Japanese accent, it’s not that different. (They even figured out it was “eighty four” rather than “eight four”)

It's nice to have the resolution be something other than a binary Aruto Has His Faith Betrayed or Fuwa Learns To Love Humagears. Aruto finds strength and conviction in his hopes for Humagears, but he has to grapple with the danger he might be putting people in if he's wrong. (I really like that he takes his time to make his decision? There's a growing thoughtfulness to his role as Hiden CEO that I like seeing.) Similarly, Fuwa is saved by a self-aware Humagear, proving that they can be trusted, but then he's also like There Was That Apocalyptic Red-Skies Rampage Tho. Both guys to got see some alternate viewpoints, and that's great.

I mean, that's the plot of the series, but that's not the point of this story. The point of this story is that Humagears are more than their programming, so their ultimate evolution is going to be up to them to decide. Horobi is evil, but it's not as though (at this point in the series) he's been Programmed For Evil; he's a villain by choice. On the other hand, we've seen a half-dozen self-aware Humagears who've opted for helping humanity. This might be a proxy war between two satellites (which... I don't think that's been directly attributed in the series so far? I feel like we're talking a lot about things that haven't been established in the series yet with this post?), but the message in this story is that you can't predict how people will behave, so how do you deal with that.

Die, considering all the discussion we've had in this thread about how your toku merch spending habits have evolved well beyond what you expected, you'll have to forgive me if I find it somewhat incredulous anytime you suggest it's unlikely you'll ever be into something toku-related. You didn't care for Inoue until you did; you didn't care for Sentai until it had Inoue; and for all any of us know, you don't care about the robots until you end up buying a Don Onitaijin whenever you get around to catching up on Donbrothers.

But then, maybe I'm just getting defensive about this because I happen to like mecha stuff in tokusatsu. Granted, I'm hardly the biggest fan of these CG robot throwdowns in Rider either (although I recall liking this one better than most of the Time Mazine stuff at least?), but you know, that's no reason to go and diss Breaking Mammoth as a concept! It's clearly just too awesome for the show to do justice to!

I'm genuinely fond of that design though. I like how even though its whole thing is being a mammoth (it's whole torso is just a mammoth's face, even), it's also mostly just Big Zero-One? Plenty of neon yellow, it's got Rising Hopper's antennae, it's literally wearing an oversized Zero-One Driver... It's a charming design all around, and there's something fun about it technically just being a form, specifically, rather than a machine counted separately from the rest.

And while the actual fight scene with it isn't particularly impressive, it leaves a good enough impression anyway thanks to how well this two-parter builds up to that climax. I'm kind of struggling to think of what to really say about these episodes beyond that I like them a whole lot. They have a sort of mid-season-finale feel going on, with a (sometimes quite literal!) big scale, and a lot of different characters all taking steps forward in their development. The show also did take a week off after episode 9, so I think it might've genuinely been written with that intent. Which is a really polite way to do that? Waiting two weeks after a cliffhanger like Fuwa blowing up for example, that's fun, but it's also agonizing, right? Knowing you're going to have to take time off and deliberately parking the show is this really satisfying place for a bit, that's a nice gesture on Yuuya Takahashi's part. (And these episodes were by him again. Again, not that it makes a huge difference from Kakehi, but you know, for the record and all.)

I said "probably"! There's always a chance that I'll catch the absolute perfect use of a giant robot in Rider (eh) or Sentai (hmm) and it'll spark something that grows into the same raging fire that has me checking tracking information daily for multiple shipments of DX toys. I don't know! This isn't Zi-O anymore! I can't see the future!

DonBros though... god, no idea when I'm gonna catch up on that. Zero-One's sort of a race against the clock until I go on holiday in mid-September (I'd like to at least get the series done, if anything), but then I'll have like 30-odd episodes to binge. Added to the complications is the start of house-hunting this week, and the potential for a massive move to reprogram my plans like so many Zetsumerise Keys. We'll see!

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 10 - “I AM THE ACTOR OOWADA SHINYA”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone10a.gif

Ha ha, what?! A two-parter for the story about the making of a TV show?

I don’t know if this is the series going all-in on two-parters going forward, or just some supreme confidence in this story, but I was a little shocked when I got to the end of this episode and there was a cliffhanger waiting for me. I don’t… why? Why is there more of this cute-but-insubstantial story?

What’s here is sort of interesting, but I can’t say it’s really sticking in my memory. It’s one that pushes Aruto and Izu to, if not Extra status, then definitely to a background role. (I would not be even a little surprised if I found out this story was constructed to give the actors for Aruto and Izu more time to film parts of the winter movie.) He’s here to witness events, but he doesn’t spend much time getting involved with either Oowada, the human actor; or Enji,the Humagear actor. Hell, the first fight of the episode he is (hilariously) barred from participating in! Aruto’s in this episode, but he’s not really in this story.

It’s a story that splits its time between the growing dysfunction of the AIMS Squad, and – weirdly – a short story about Assassin-chan (that’s what my subs call him, anyway) and Oowada forming a close bond over a couple scenes. Both plots have their strengths, but neither one really develops into anything that makes up for Aruto’s lack of involvement.

(The most perplexing thing is that everything about both stories are 100% up Aruto’s alley! He loves getting people to see the value in Humagears, and he loves fighting MetsubouJinrai with AIMS! If you’re going to build an Aruto-light Zero-One story, maybe don’t make it full of the things that define Aruto stories?)

Of the two, I think the Oowada/Assassin-chan story comes off the best. From Oowada’s side, it’s him needing the challenge of acting against an engaged performer; acting, instead of just running lines. Enji’s great at conveying what’s on the page, but he can’t really be in a scene with another actor. Assassin-chan’s aching to change and grow, so he’s the perfect student for Oowada, with the irony of that pairing probably forming our story in the second part. They get a couple cute scenes, but that’s about it for this time.

The AIMS stuff… man, I want to like it! I like Fuwa and Yua! I love seeing Rushing Cheetah! The action in their scenes is very very fun! But this was a sort of bland storyline where Fuwa’s upset that Yua is covertly working for ZAIA, but not so upset that he extracts an apology, or her reasoning, or a vow to change. Instead, he’s just like You Do Yua after she thanks him for his help and warns him she’ll probably betray him again. There’s a vague thing in there about making decisions on gut instinct and hope rather than an inflexible code, showing that Fuwa learned something from last episode, but it’s too weirdly applied to a woman who is clearly working against the public good. (She's at least terrifying the public, if not actually getting people hurt.) Fuwa’s real equanimous here, to a degree that had me wishing for his previous terrifyingly righteous anger.

This would all be totally fine as some Aruto-light one-off, a chance to share the spotlight with underserved characters. But a two-parter? That spends the first half shrugging its shoulders at Yua’s recent transgressions and doing The Main Zero-One Plot without Zero-One? Can’t say I’m a big fan of that approach.

—

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 10: DODO MAGIA

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone10b.jpg

Since he’s one of the main characters this week and we will never ever ever (maybe) have another form of his to talk about, let’s take a look at the Dodo Magia SO-DO!

It’s a one-box figure, which means two things, generally. The first is that you’re getting not much in the way of armor pieces or accessories. This guy comes with an extra pair of hands, the attached pauldrons, and that’s it. No stand, even! The other thing about a one-box figure is that you are probably going to be applying a ton of stickers. Which you definitely are here!!!

There’re twenty-six stickers for the Dodo Magia (not counting the nameplate for the unincluded base), which is around double what was included for the two-box Jin and Horobi figures. Combined. Every bit of red below the helmet is a sticker, and even the helmet has a few stickers for the eyes and headphones. You are more or less wrapping the entire bottom half of the figure in foil, like he’s a Burrito Magia. It’s not a terrible build, though. The stickers are mostly large enough to manipulate easily, and the finished product is nice looking for a 400 yen figure.

And it’s cool that they even eventually made this figure? He snuck out in the last retail wave for Zero-One SO-DO, which is a testament to how cute this villain (?) design is. The Dodo head is a comedy design, with nothing particularly menacing about it. It’s a suit to clown on, to pity, and maybe to find some humanity within. For an assassin that’s working to render humanity extinct, I think it’s an adorable suit?

Ansatsu-Chan or as I lovingly refer to him as, Little Assassin, is a really cool and cute character in Zero-One.

I don't have much more to say than, I wasn't expecting a recurring part of the Metsubojinrai Duo being a Dodo Magia that just keeps coming back... somehow? We never really see him come back, he just does. But he's surprisingly really memorable tbh.

He's really interesting, especially in this episode. This is the one where he's grown enough to do more than just parrot words or run around after Jin. He's questioning now, looking for guidance on how to be his best self. There's a slightly rougher edge to him, an emotional investment in what's happening around him that can swing from joy to anger in the blink of an eye.

I think I prefer him to Jin? Jin's got that Parado thing (and a lot of Ryutaros), but Assassin-chan comes off a lot more unique.

Episode 10......

- Aruto not being able to get out of his extra role, real fun gag. Izu playing charades was especially cute.

-Our assassin friend had a fun little bit with Oowada this episode! He's so excited to be his pupil, and it was good fun to see Oowada dismiss Humagear acting before complimenting him, also a Humagear. Hmm....maybe Oowada's gripe with Enji isn't a "Humagear" problem, but more of a "Enji" problem? Enji seemed a bit frusturated (and maybe even a bit....embarassed?) at not being able to follow up on Oowada's adlib, maybe he just never learned how to do it properly...?

-Uh, yeah, I'd also say the Yua/Fuwa stuff didn't really do anything for me. It's a real "I understand that this is how these two characters would do X but as a viewer it isn't terribly interesting to me" kinda situation, yknow? Ngl I was honestly bit surprised Fuwa drew a line at taking down Hiden, you'd think the guy who hates Humagears vehemently would be all for the downfall of the company that makes them....Perhaps he's grown a bit, or it's simply more about the pride he has as AIMS' captain in what they do, something like that. (I did get a good chuckle about Yua worriedly suggesting about the day she'll betray him, for Fuwa to just go "Oh I'll just beat your ass and win when that happens." It's such a Fuwa-like response, yknow?)

-Before anyone else mentions it, Shinya Oowada is played by.....himself, Shinya Oowada! He's most well-known for his role as Mufasa in the Japanese dub of The Lion King.

I can sort of see Fuwa's specific disappointment at Yua's role in smearing Hiden. Beyond the fact that Aruto most recently saved his life by switching on the Humagears again, Zero-One's been a constant help in the battle against MetsubouJinrai. Taking down Hiden would negatively impact their chances of Fuwa getting sweet, violent revenge on Horobi.

There's also... like, I think it would bother Fuwa more if only one manufacturer of AIs were taken down, than if none of them were taken down. He's got a weirdly nihilistic sense of fair play, where someone choosing to ruin one thing is worse than all things being ruined, if that makes any sense. He doesn't want a robot culling, he wants a robot genocide.

I’ll start by mentioning that Shinya Oowada isn’t a character created for this episode. He’s an actual person in real life. And he’s been in Tokusatsu before (as the villain of Shinkenger’s summer movie, who I remember more for having a prehensile dick more than anything else. Godammnit Kobayashi)

But a guy who they did make up for the episode is the actor Humagear Enji. (Which is a subtle pun. In Japan, “NG” is a derogatory nickname for a bad actor) He’s played by Hiromi Sakamoto, who most Rider fans probably know best as Kouta’s ill fated mentor Yuya from Gaim. Sentai/Metal Heroes fans know him as the bad guy Mad Gallant from Gavan vs Dekaranger.

And Fuwa gets a new Progrisekey purely to show it exists (Behind the scenes, it was a promotional item for people who preordered tickets to Reiwa: The First Generation). But that didn’t stop Bandai from applying its usual flourishes.

Progrise: Unstoppable Rapid Shots! Gatling Hedgehog! Infinite spines shoot towards the enemy.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...F280D9716.jpeg

And there’s the usual Legend Rider remix.

My Special Move, Part 2! OreVisiting Den-O! Riding on a train that transcends space and time.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wXkxmE2Mv2w

Skipping Reiwa First Gen?

No, that just came out around episode 15.

To be fair, in terms of continuity, it does take place between 9 and 10 so I assume that's why Dreamsword was asking.

Especially given there is no real break in terms of fitting it in (Aside from like, maybe one spot) from 10 onwards for the rest of the first quarter.