Yua's trying new things.
I guess it all comes down to programming, but maybe not having a body is freer in some sense...
Granted we could say that about a lot of Kamen Riders.

Sure, or their specific role. A tennis coach is going to be a lot more effective with the ability to swing a racket, for instance. But, like, how does the Humagear feel about having a body? Do they care? Is it irrelevant to their self-actualization? This is the sort of stuff I'd like to see the show address if it's going to bring in a character like Ai.

Being completely honest... probably a step up from a lot of Kamen Riders. Aruto might be the smartest Rider in terms of like, mental needs so far. In that, you've got him trying to help a fellow Rider get therapy before the series ends. I feel like Fuwa's got it good compared to the many Riders both before AND after him!

Oh, absolutely, I'm just goofing around. Aruto's at least thinking about ways for Fuwa to process difficult emotions through actively confronting them via a healthy dialogue with another person; I think that's a step up over the previous therapeutic methods of Fighting Relentlessly and Shouting About Ideals.

Fuwa has been established as someone with a boring average life, but perhaps that's also required to give him a real closure, even if he didn't really care about his past before. Fuwa's rampage against Humagears came iirc because of his killed family in his false memories. With Fuwa finding out that his past is fake, he still got an inherent concern about his family, which can be different from that false memories, even if he'd not care about the past. Now, here, seeing his family live in peace, sharing his terrible sense of humor that can still brought them happiness, which makes him feel easy and lifted his burdens on his shoulders to worry about them less with them being safe and keep fighting. He no longer hated Humagears since ep. 29, but this strengthened his belief in Humagears too. And as Enchilada645 said, it's good for a series to try giving a proper solution to broken individuals (both Fuwa and Yua), by giving them a therapy, which obviously the emotionless Naki can't do the job.

I can't talk about this due to spoilers for much later part of series ofc, but it really is who Yua is, she's a failure. She had good intentions for joining AIMS (actually ZAIA), but she ended up becoming Gai's tool for quite some time, not in literal sense, but as a pawn that is used and discarded. Then to make it up for what she had done at ZAIA, it backfired as she and Jin gave it a physical body to rampage instead.

Perhaps by this, someone shouldn't be judged by their outer demeanor/impression? Sure, Yua from the outside (especially at debut), would feel like the typical competent person that they're usually portrayed as cold, aloof, stoic, ruthless, etc. portrayed as professionalism which Yua had, but yeah she's not the hypercompetent everyone-carrier (like to Fuwa, even if him playing by his own rules can cause problems, but not for him breaking open Progrise Keys, if he can, just let him) expected from her demeanor. Competency isn't about having cold demeanor, and for the opposite, coldness isn't inherent competency too.

It's a sudden idiotic moment for Jin though to think Ark-Zero can be destroyed with physical body. And as said before yeah, Jin had turned good now to foil Ark and ZAIA's palns, and getting Yua (another human) to hospital. Jin was still anti-villainous in his revival to take care of Humagears, but invade humanity, while having soft spot for Aruto. It's unknown when he had planned to be a double-agent against Ark, but the time he began that was the part he became good (probably the part he suddenly supported MetsubouJinrai.net again after ep. 35). Unfortunately though, Jin becomes the primary target for Ark to possess with, due to him being immune to Azu taking his Singularity (good explanation from you btw about why Jin may've been immune unlike others).

Good that despite your previous grievances with Ark, you'd still appreciate the suit, because I do too. I do like Ark's fight debut here that though obviously Yua and Jin wouldn't be killed off, Ark is devastating enough. The power is battle-based (seems like evil version of Metal Cluster) and Ark makes good use of his powers at debut instead of merely knocking people down with fists while forgetting the power. Like telekinesis, laser beams, and spheres of dark energy. You have the impression that Ark's only about being unbeatable here...

Therapy seems to be, often ignored concept in fiction, due to keep the drama and conflict going or perpetuate character's quirks for entertainment, keeping the characters broken for the story. And even if they're working to put the character on better state, the team's probably primarily about inserting fighting and special effects (+ ideal screaming) as tokusatsu show... which can dillute that.

I really liked the conclusion of Fuwa finding his family - the bit about his dad is ESPECIALLY cute - but everything about AI makes me groan and hold my head in my hands even though I'm very certain it's an artefact of covid requiring them to speedrun some things. I still don't get though why they thought this was the superior narrative choice than having Fuwa, like... talk to an actual person, or why in-universe Aruto thought it was a better idea to cook up an Alexa instead of talking to Fuwa himself. Just... fascinating decisions all across the board, here

Probably because Aruto isn't exactly a therapist. Not to mention it's alot easier for many people to open up to new faces that they aren't personally attached to and/or feel anonymity towards.

Also, maybe I'm misremembering, but I don't believe that Ai was created for Fuwa specifically? Aruto made her as a way to help people have someone to talk to in general.

I'll be real when I say that when it comes to talking to like disembodied voices across the web in Voice Calls... uh... it's very helpful in like wanting to open up? Compared to say like doing it via video call or talking to someone in person.

As a very introverted person who doesn't really like interacting with people, it helps a lot. Just having a friendly voice to talk to and chat about stuff with, I can probably let out stuff a lot more than I would talking to someone through normal means.

So I can see the thought process behind Aruto's decision here.

I already know why people aren't exactly keen on AI-chan though, so it'll be fun to get there when we get there.

Also it's the fact that Fuwa is being helped by what is, effectively, a Humagear.
I think most Humagears wouldn't really think about it since their programming and personality is so oriented by what they were designed to do, so they don't think as much beyond their function until they reach Singularity.

I don't know if that's correct? I remember it just being Fuwa chased by killer robots at his school. I don't recall the show ever bringing up Fuwa's family (fake memories or real ones) until this episode.

All the behind-the-scenes factors aside, it works for me because Aruto's usual method of helping people is almost always going to be making them an AI buddy to help navigate their inner turmoil. Like, Aruto will toss out words of encouragement in the heat of battle, or try and defuse the tension with a dumb joke, but his dream is that Humagears can help people be better versions of themselves; Fuwa's problem is literally what Aruto builds Humagears for.

Sort of? Aruto's looking to build a Humagear that can be a statement piece for Hiden Manufacturing, and Fuwa (conveniently) needs a kind of help for which there isn't an existing Humagear solution. So while there's hope that Ai could be of use to other people, it's really Fuwa's current problem that she's designed towards.

Yeah, I mean... Fuwa's plot here is just the kids version of Her, you know? Fuwa can't confide in a professional or his friends, but there's this disembodied lady voice that he can open himself up to. There's dramatic precedent, if nothing else.