KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 30 - “I’M PRESIDENT KAMEN RIDER AFTER ALL”

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Oh, this was a cute little epilogue to the Job Battle arc.

I don’t know that it felt like it was saying anything new or shocking. The Jin stuff had the most interesting facets to it, but everything else was just folks establishing their roles and boundaries and goals. It’s more of an episode about reminding you of the show’s core values, than it is some bold new direction.

But that’s nice? I thought it was a nice episode. Aruto only became Zero-One to protect people, and now he’s becoming Zero-One again to protect all types of people: human and Humagear alike. ZAIA’s a clear threat, with their plan to scrub the Earth of Humagears, so Zero-One’s protection has to expand beyond emotional support and advocacy, and into the Armed Resistance phase of societal change. Aruto’s always going to want to reach hearts and minds, but his current campaign is a lot more superheroic than it used to be.

It’s a campaign that’s going to require more than just him, and it looks like his support system is growing to include both Fuwa and Jin. This is, by far, the most Ex-Aid move this show could make, and I love it. Ex-Aid was a show about, amongst other things, how to work alongside people you don’t like; how to separate teamwork from friendship. So here are Fuwa and Jin, two characters that are desperate to take down ZAIA, but absolutely not for the same reasons. Jin is a freedom fighter who wants to liberate Humagears from human oppression, while Fuwa’s aimed (too soon?) his limitless rage at the company that ruined his life and views people as tools. These are two characters aligned in their targeting, but not in their intentions. That sort of team, with Aruto as angel and Horobi as devil, is incredibly fertile storytelling terrain.

And then there’s Izu, naturally.

There’s a reaffirmation here to the Izu/Aruto partnership that was as thrilling and warm as it was sort of redundant. I love these characters! I love their energy! But this story was… I don’t think it said anything new? There’s a ton of cleverness to Izu’s standard Beat The Enemy By Doing Paperwork problem-solving, but I already knew that Aruto and Izu supported each other at all times. (Honestly, I’m mostly just shocked that Aruto quit Hiden, knowing that there was a very real chance that Izu would be killed. Good thing Jin thought to rescue her! No wonder he was so skeptical about Aruto’s claims of benevolence…) Of the entire episode, this was the part that felt the most perfunctory, coasting on the electric connection of the actors to elevate an already-established dynamic. Crowd-pleasing scene-work, but sort of hollow in the aftermath.

Still, it’s a terrific epilogue to the last arc. The weird corporate rivalry has evolved into open conflict, Fuwa’s committed to taking down his old teammate, Jin’s working alongside Aruto (however briefly), and Aruto’s starting from the ground floor (in Snipe’s old clinic?!) to create a future for Humagears and humanity alike. No big surprises, but a very enjoyable episode nonetheless.

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KAMEN RIDER SABER SO-DO BOOK 01: FIGHTING JACKAL RAIDER

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I dislike the Fighting Jackal suit for a few reasons, but the main one is that it’s emblematic of everything I dislike about Yua’s character by this point in the show. It’s a suit that very specifically says she’s Evil now, a bad guy lieutenant in spirit and in form. But, like, why is she wearing it in Episode 30, beyond the weird narrative protection of her previous Good suits? Before, it was clear that Gai wanted to publicly demonstrate the effectiveness of the consumer-grade Raidriser. She’s back in charge of AIMS now, though; are all the Valkyrie keys busted or something? Rushing Cheetah and Lightning Hornet have proven effectiveness against both Humagears and Vulcan, while Fighting Jackal is 0 for 2 – and they were not close fights. Everything Yua does and says seems to be driven by plot demands and thematic coherence, not because there’s any recognizable psychology to her character, and this suit is the exact same thing.

Not really a great toy, either? The head extends so far that it clips against her torso armor, limiting posability. The only two black hands she comes with are these gigantic oven mitts to grip her sickle, so it’s either two monstrous gripping hands, two off-model white hands that can’t hold anything, or a mixture of the two. (Because of the reuse of previous Valkyrie hand runners, she also comes with the blank Shotriser holster, despite this suit’s Driver not being detachable!) The stickers are decent, and the weapon’s cool, but it’s a little too kitbashed to be worth praising as a complete item.

So, yeah, a suit I sort of resent is also a toy I shake my head at. YUA! Why do you always disappoint me?!

Overall yeah, I'd agree that this is a nice epilogue, but it's also a good restart point and intro to our new Arc. It's very much showing where our characters are in terms of their allegiances and goals, sorta reorient the audience after just sticking to a formula for a good several months.

Nothing too incredibly groundbreaking but I love the clever usage of past events. Like I didn't even think the Humagear Keys were going to be brought up again, but nope! They have it be a backup that Aruto clearly thought about, both backing up the Humagear Data to preserve it from ZAIA and protecting himself from being shot! That was definitely a standout scene for me in the episode.

Also this fight, really enjoyed seeing Rising Hopper just bounce around his opponents again. And then the finish with Metal Cluster was nice, it was creative that Thouser disrupts it but it just turns into a drill that Zero-One enters before drilling into Gai and sending him smack against a wall with a satisfying explosion to boot. Overall fairly nice episode.

Also to answer your question on Yua choosing Fighting Jackal though. It's because Gai's clearly trying to push the Raider Pseudo-Rider tech and having Fighting Jackal lead the Horseshoe Crab Squad, is 1000% aesthetically fitting than Valkyrie doing it. It's also the shows way of just clearly saying, "This is Yua on the wrong side in many different ways".

Also I really like Fighting Jackal as a design and it's concept art might be the best I've seen yet. Though I'm not sure if I should talk about the particulars of that concept art... or even when I should talk about it come to think about it... eh I'll figure something out, after all there are major changes coming soon whether the show likes it or not.


*stares at the impending pandemic from back in 2020*

That was neat, yeah. And, now that I think about it, it also explains why Aruto wasn't so busted up about Gai potentially scrapping Izu: Aruto already had her backup, along with every other Humagear's. I guess all Jin was doing was speeding up their reunion?

But like I said, that all made more sense when Yua was on TV promoting ZAIA's Humagear-killing protection gear. Here, she's leading AIMS on a strike team on a bridge, with zero witnesses. There's no one to show off to, and even if there was, ZAIA owns AIMS and built the Shotrisers. Why not utilize the most effective, proven technology that you'd previously designed and field-tested?

(The answer, of course, is that Yua Needs To Look Evil, but that's a writer's decision, not a character's decision.)

To argue a tad, and while this isn't the strongest argument so excuse me but I did feel like responding. But reminder that Yua basically relinquished her Key to Gai so that he could get the final data needed for Rampage. I sorta saw that as like, Yua metaphorically giving up her title as Valkyrie and becoming the Fighting Jackal Raider. And while I'm sure Gai probably let her keep/gave back her equipment, she sort of see's being a Raider as the next step, that she doesn't need to be a Kamen Rider anymore, that she just needs to keep following ZAIA no questions asked, etc.

Also want to mention how I suppose this is wordplay at least from how I hear it. How we've got Wolf and Jackal, and how Gai see's them as tools, and I think the word he uses is like "Dogu" so like... ha ha word play! Just felt like mentioning it. She is a Dogu through and through while working under Gai. IDK, I thought that was kind of amusing.

I really like how their developing Aruto and Jin's relationship. Like with Aruto and Fuwa to a certain extent you've got two characters who've butted heads (well, more like trying to kill each other) and clashed in their ideals but are now (at least on Aruto's side) trying to come together and work with each other for a better future. And despite Jin's distrust of humans his growing fondness and slow willingness to believe in Aruto shines through even if he says otherwise to Horobi.

I just like the idea of Aruto starting his own, small scale, company from the ground up and picking up any scrapped Humagears he sees in the trash or just laying there uselessly. Which is also kind of sad, in a way. But at least it's clear things aren't over.

Mamoru does it again!

It's just really nice to see Rising Hopper again after, like, a bunch of episodes. I know we're at the point where the Main Rider (for understandable in-universe reasons) keeps spamming the mid-season upgrade, but it's appreciated when they get to bust out their Base Form again.

Is' season long character development has finally culminated in her Singularity! Now she is truly a person and dedicated herself to Aruto's ideals and helping him see them through.

Even though Thouser's been getting beaten up practically every episode at this point, it's still satisfying seeing him get trounced by Zero-One in his base form and Metal Cluster Hopper. And seeing Gai all tattered and bruised. That Finisher must have hurt.
Well, the AIMS team is kind of witnesses, and Gai is probably monitoring her, so...

Yeah, okay, that makes sense. I'd forgotten that she handed over that key to make Rampage! It's probably Jackal or nothing.

(And, yeah, I would never for a second argue against the thematic or metaphorical reasoning of Yua's actions. My problem is that that's frequently the ONLY way to explain her actions, as opposed to anything in the text.)

It's a fun way of recontextualizing the hardships of the first arc -- running a company, when he'd never wanted to do that -- as an effort he's making, a conscious choice. Nothing's accidental or incidental anymore.

Sure, but I'm not saying she'd be doing anything underhanded or forbidden. I saw the Fighting Jackal debut as theater, something for the uninformed masses to be impressed by. That showmanship is over, and now anything goes in pursuit of 1000% success.

Oh yeah no I absolutely get that. It's very frustrating and while I get what they're going for with Yua and while I consider her not as bad as everyone says she is, I can understand why people are frustrated with her. Especially at this point in the story.

Also, Aruto riding a peddle bike to find Humagears is probably the most bike action we've gotten in a dozen episodes.

I would give anything for a scene of an apoplectic Gai going over the Hiden spreadsheets and screaming about the enormous budget for satellite-fired dirt bikes.

Another great episode, and an end to an arc that I don't exactly have fond memories of, this is one of the best episodes in Zero-One to me. I really like the characters in this one, with Aruto reaffirming that he sees HumaGears as equal to humans, and Jin, who isn't really an enemy anymore as he and Aruto share pretty similar beliefs at this point and him even getting Izu back, even if it was for his own reasons. Gai also tries to delete the data on HumaGears from Zea, but Aruto already has it, which I guess shows that the Taro special was actually a bit plot important if you look at it that way.

Aruto sorta sacrifices himself for Izu but is saved by the data of Mamoru, which is a nice fit, though it does make you wonder how strong those data packs are, since apparently they can stop bullets without breaking. Aruto tries to become Zero-One but is unable to, but at the last second he manages to do it, and at first you think it's from some convoluted reason, but apparently Izu just set up a new business with Aruto as president, which I guess is good enough for Zea. I do like this episode, along with this next arc, and I think this episode is one of the best in the series, though there's still one I like more, but we'll get to that.