Good to know! Thanks!

I mean, to Aruto and Jin? Yeah! That's exactly what human society should do! Let them go off and live on a farm somewhere!

But to Gai and the majority of the country, that'd be like asking a defective refrigerator if it'd be happy somewhere else. Who cares? Throw it away, before it burns your house down!

I assumed that the Progrise Keys on Aruto's body were the specific ones from the creation of the Metal Cluster Hopper blade, while the bulk of the backups were in another location. Otherwise... did Hiden only sell a dozen Humagears in the last six months?! No wonder the country voted against them!

I imagine hiden got a bit busy, but yeah they probably sold quite a few.

You'd hope! Look at the size of those skyscrapers!

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 31 - “LEAP TOWARD YOUR DREAM!”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/...zeroone31a.png

There’s really nothing quite so satisfying as a perfect single-episode adventure in Kamen Rider. It’s a franchise full of two-parters, and the single episodes tend to be either overstuffed, or totally inconsequential. To really nail a single-episode adventure, you’ve got to find time for an emotional arc; create and resolve a problem for the hero; check in on at least one subplot; have a good fight scene, but preferably two; and feel like you’re furthering the overall series narrative. That’s incredibly hard to do in 20-odd minutes! But this episode nails it, with almost nothing to complain about.

Well, okay, one thing. This is the second episode in a row to have Thouser show up with his goons, threaten Aruto, and then get utterly and decisively demolished. The first time’s like Yay Aruto, but this one’s… it’s sort of pathetic? It definitely makes Thouser look like a chump, and I don’t know if that’s a good look for maybe the only currently-active villain on this show? Horobi’s just the devil on Jin’s shoulder, and we haven’t gotten a rampaging Humagear or vindictive Raider in a few episodes, so I don’t love the show jobbing out Thouser repeatedly.

Other than that, though, I thought this was incredibly good? The main topic, What Do Humagears Want, is a refreshing change from the last twenty-nine episodes. I liked those episodes! Quite a bit! But there’s more to explore in this narrative beyond human reactions to things. The idea of helping Humagears self-actualize, to create the conditions for them to articulate their desires and goals… I just find that a super-compelling and unique premise for a superhero show. I love that, Ark maybe aside, everything here is about viewpoints and arguments. Aruto is arguing for the chance to see how Humagears can become something new and special. Jin is arguing for a world where Humagears don’t have to define themselves in their relation to humanity. Horobi is arguing that a world with humans in it will never have a place for Humagears, so it’s better to burn it all down. Fuwa is arguing for a future without the tyranny of corporate overlords. Gai is arguing for a world that bends to his every whim, because his every whim is correct. It’s all… it’s all just folks expressing themselves?

And on the topic of expression, this whole story is about the liberating and crucial feeling of expressing yourself through art, so: instant A+ from me. The “single-episode adventure” thing is kind of a cheat, considering that this episode is mostly an epilogue to the original G-Pen two-parter, but there’s such an evolution of the previous relationship that it feels like a different story. This one’s about the G-Pen and Ishizumi’s partnership growing into a mentor/apprentice relationship, and reiterating that while Humagears offer humans labor and companionship, what humans can offer Humagears is help in realizing their potential. The human/Humagear relationship can work best when it’s using Humagear labor to let Humagears learn what drives them, where their effort is most rewarding. After that, it’s time to let them pursue their own goals, reach for their own dreams. Humagears start off like children, needing training and direction and guidelines. But eventually, you have to let them leave the nest.

Like with Jin! As much as Horobi’s fairly convincing in his claims that a human-free world is the only world that’ll be safe for Humagears, Jin decides to officially throw his lot in with Aruto. Beyond just being a beautiful validation of Aruto’s belief that respecting Humagears will lead to them respecting humans, it’s also a very fun action climax to this episode. (I know I complained about it before, but it’s still so fun to watch multiple Riders humiliate Thouser. Maybe they were right to reuse it as a finale!) There’s an agreeable friction to Aruto and Jin’s scenes together, where Jin’s militant dismissal of humanity gets tempered against Aruto’s innate decency and guileless support, while Aruto’s naturally human-centric viewpoint gets broadened by a Humagear that has zero interest in making humanity better through partnership… despite, uh, partnering with a human and helping him improve. It’s great. Took ‘em awhile to get here, but this is a Rider pairing I can get behind.

As a proof of concept for a new status quo, I thought this episode was faultless. Absolutely nailed every element you need for a successful Zero-One story, and it’s full of new twists and takes as well. High fives, all around.

Gonna just say now, I'm always in on the Thouser gets beat up train. He had his time to shine, now it's time for him to just get his ass kicked for basically making me sit through 13 Episodes of an Arc I really didn't care for.

Anyway this was a cute episode, it was a smart move to start this new Arc with a Humagear Aruto knew before. It calls back to the prior episodes and shows that not every human wants Humagears gone, and it gives a solid foundation for what's going to happen.

Also I enjoy how like insistent people were on "Aruto can't attack Gai, he'll get publicly defamed and stuff" arguments in the past and here he is working with Jin to kick Gai's shit in. Basically this episode is saying...

http://c.tenor.com/s76mNafJyZ0AAAAC/...body-cares.gif

I mean, there were times where, yeah, Aruto's aggressive defense of Humagear rights ended up playing into Gai's hands. If Aruto starts kicking six shades of shit out of the president of ZAIA Enterprise during a press conference, that will not play too well to the shareholders! But when Gai rolls up to a privately-owned business with his paramilitary thugs, demands that Aruto turn over Aruto's legal property, and also sell all of his patents to Gai or else? I feel like Aruto's got a leg to stand on... and that leg will very quickly be doing a Rider Kick to Gai's smug face.

Also -- and this is key -- Gai would never publicize a fight where he lost. As much as it would harm Hiden's reputation to see its president pummeling another company's leader, Gai's ego would never allow other people to observe his defeat. Never. Gai could've provoked Aruto a dozen times, and he mostly didn't do it. He only did it when he could make Zero-One look berzerk, or misguided; never when it made Thouser look weak.

It feels like the show has kind of gone back-to-basics with Aruto taking care of Humagears, only now in a world that hates and fears them. They even changed the intro!

Aruto seemed so certain it was right to bring Shesta back...and she wants nothing to do with this nonsense.

It was nice to see G-Pen back. I feel like of all the first arc Humagears he probably had the most relatable plight and issue with the person using him, but we see how far he can go now.

It's nice to see Aruto and Jin coming together and finally properly teaming-up as Riders. Nothing cements a partnership or bond between two Kamen Riders like a Double Rider Kick.

Is there a single character who gets as consecutively beat up and thrashed as Thouser at this point? Like, not that I mind, it's still fairly satisfying. I guess karma has to balance out all the episodes where he was OP and unmatched with him now constantly losing. Granted, when was the last time Yua actually won a fight?

Man, I love how much seething rage Gai feels toward Aruto now. That "HIDEN ARUTO!" was full of so much hate. I love it!

It's, by far, the most interesting thing about Gai right now. He's had nothing but success until the last two episodes, and he does not take failure well. Seeing his victory drop from 1000% to somewhere in the mid 700s, it just breaks him? He can't keep up with Aruto's abilities, Satellite There is basically ghosting him, Yua's pushing back on his genocidal demands, and now even MetsubouJinrai guys are supporting Zero-One?! It's interesting to see him hit some real resistance, finally.

Don't forget the drone tv blimp thing too!

Maybe these Humagears cost 100 billion yen each, and they actually did only sell a dozen of them...