That's fair. It would've been nice to have seen it used more.

The multiple phases of the hero plan was pretty great. They can't defeat the Ark for good on the ground, so they need to get it to retreat back to Satellite There, which is where it's vulnerable. Very fun plotting!

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 42 - “AS LONG AS MALICE EXISTS”

https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../zeroone42.png

I don’t think I’m going to like the end of this series.

There’s broad strokes stuff in here that I enjoyed – the ways hatred becomes self-perpetuating and transmissible; how abused people can become abusers; how our ideals are sometimes the only things that can help us weather adversity; the impossibility of letting go of anger; how difficult it can be to have an open dialogue about our fears. All of that stuff was compelling, and it’s generally exactly what I watch Kamen Rider for. I like these shows best when there’s metaphor amongst all the plot.

But, god, I also like it when the plot makes sense! I like metaphor and plot, not metaphor or plot.

So much of what happened in this episode felt barely thought-through and flimsily explained. In order for the twist of Aruto being Ark-One to land, it takes almost an entire cast of characters (I guess Naki and Ikazuchi took a spa day?) to act like idiots. We need Izu to decide to skip out on telling Aruto about Horobi’s plan, which the entire Humagear population knows about, so she only manages to delay him by a scene. We need Izu to continuously place herself in mortal danger to prove that a genocidal terrorist in the midst of genocidal terrorism is willing to entertain an opposing viewpoint. We need three separate members of Team Zero-One to allow Horobi to walk out the door after killing Izu. (This is the big one. Why do people keep treating Horobi’s departures like the toku equivalent of saying Good Game? Why in the world would you let him wander off after executing Izu?!) We need Aruto to be so overcome with grief that he’ll take up the mantle of the same villain he worked to detonate over the last dozen episodes.

It’s all so dumb. It’s metaphor and theme completely untethered from character and plot. It’s making a point about hatred and intolerance at the expense of 40 episodes worth of investment in the world of Zero-One. It’s a good idea that the show wasn’t in a place to execute well, but everyone involved said Screw It and did it anyway.

(It's also flattening its main themes of combating racism and bigotry by doing a dull revenge plot, but that seems like a minor flaw in comparison. But since we're talking about it: I dislike that larger conversations about how different groups integrate into society gets abandoned for a fridging and dull solo villainy. We're so far off the beam from discussing Humagears as a group of disparate viewpoints, and that sucks.)

And even outside of all of that, to see that Horobi’s big plan to liberate Humagears is the exact same shit he was doing in Episode 1? Jesus, why bother? I don’t know if the point is to satirize Ark’s boring strategies or Horobi’s complete lack of creativity, but the only way I can see including a MetsubouJinrai revolution this half-assed is as a joke. Horobi finally has a reasonable argument and an actual dream, but it’s the same old horseshit on the battlefield. Incredibly disappointing.

I pretty much thought this whole episode was disappointing? It’s easy to see what the story is trying to accomplish, but there’s just not enough raw material in the right places to justify it. (Super glad to see that the resolution to the mystery of Jin’s benefactor is Some Brand-New Character That Was Never Even Hinted At.) It’s frustrating to think that no one on the production team was able to come up with a better story than this, after seeing how much the show has to be bent out of shape to start it. Literally anything would’ve been better than this. I sort of wish the show had ended at 41.

Ah yes the episode where I got to use the Red vs. Blue "Wait you can't do that, that's illegal" gif.

Sad that this episode didn't land for you, I personally thought it was a swerve and was entirely captivated by it. That being said, remember when I said they didn't know how many episodes they had? Someone else spoiled it, but basically they weren't aware they were going to have 45 Episodes till pretty late, and Episode 41 was supposed to be a "Finale" of sorts. So basically they had to speedrun most of their idea from the final arc in 36 to 41. So yeah they weren't going under the assumption that they'd have 10 episodes or so left, they were running under the assumption they'd only have like 6 episodes left.

I feel like Horobi trying to do the "same shit" so to speak as Episode 1 was the point though? Like, he's got a dream but he's clearly not putting his all into it because we can see him denying his heart with Izu confronting him and the ensuing scenes. I suppose the shock of seeing everything sorta go to hell in the most unexpected way possible was just, too good for me. Like I don't think anyone could've predicted this?

That being said, this finale arc definitely made me set aside plans I had for a Zero-One MV because the end focal point for my MV was basically Zero-Two beating the crap out of Ark and well uh.... yeah.

Anyway I feel like all the emotional stuff hit me way too much to where I was fine with some things being a bit off. Also Ark-One is clever in the fact that, Zero-Two can't get Final Form Rot in performance if the user itself uses another form instead. So as of right now we've got Zero-Two with a 100% Victory streak which has... it's been a while since we've had that for a Final Form huh?

That being said Ark-One is absolutely retooled from what he was supposed to be and I wouldn't doubt that Williamson was supposed to be Ark-One because of a lot of key details you can notice on the Ark Suit as well as the key itself point towards this being ZAIA related. It feels like originally it was supposed to be Gai but that got scrapped when they realized he was getting the wrong kind of hate and went for the "redemption" route with him. So and this is just me guessing, Williamson was supposed to be like, Jin getting rid of AI Ark so that he could take over as a Human Ark, in a sense. Or at least that's how I feel.

This is a fine episode, it contains things I really like, but it also has some issues, and yet it's probably my favorite of the series. This episode I barely feel as if I can describe, it's filled with so many things to discuss that it's hard to focus on one specifically, this episode has many things that I personally predicted would happen, such as Izu dying and (this is obvious to expect from Kamen Rider) the main hero getting a berserk/evil form, but while I do like those plot beats, the rest isn't as great.

Like, why would Izu go on her own, to face someone who will likely kill her, when she knows that she can't be backed up? Izu has never shown to be illogical like that even if she thinks that she can supposedly convince Horobi that what he's doing is bad, which is obviously a very bad idea. Aside from that, Azu returns, I remember a lot of people back then thinking that Azu was only here for the recap specials, so it's nice to see her again, well not that nice considering what she does, but I'm glad she reappeared.

I don't even know if I can describe my thoughts on the rest of this episode, just that I didn't really like quite a few of its aspects, though I do like Aruto becoming the host for the Ark, but I wish that hadn't happened literally one episode after the Ark was supposedly defeated. I still really like this episode and some of its elements, but s bit of it wasn't too great, but even besides those bad elements, for some reason, I really like this episode and I'd probably call it my favorite in the series even if it has quite a few not so great things.

Because she's reached Singularity, and as such isn't operating on stone cold logic anymore.

Adding to this, she could also still harbor some kind of fear for Aruto's safety from the simulations she had to run. And thus was acting illogical because of said fears. Cause like... she'd probably still be messed up from those simulations I'd imagine.

It's a boring point, I guess? Beyond being an illustration of Horobi's lack of enthusiasm about his plot to exterminate humanity... why would a show think spending an episode with a homicidal/genocidal villain who's just going through the motions would be compelling drama? Why wouldn't you tell a story that makes Horobi less of a limp presence?

I think Izu showing up to try and talk sense into Horobi is a good thing. I think two Humagears deserve to have a conversation about the direction of their species and culture. I think Izu trying to have the same conversation mid-murder spree is, much like Jin's attempts to stop Vulcan from murdering a currently-murdering Horobi in an attempt to de-escalate tensions, pretty stupid. I am okay with characters making poor decisions because it makes sense to their characters. I am less okay with characters acting stupidly to further the plot.

All the emotional beats of this episode hit hard for me.

Like Is, inspired by Aruto and believing so much in his dream of humanxHumagear coexistence risking herself for that dream by trying to get through to Horobi like Aruto would...only for it too be too late or not matter in the end. But I still found that brave in its own right.

Or how Horobi is so determined to continue on this path of hate and violence because it's all he's ever known and all he knows how to do.

Or Aruto, a man filled with heroism and ideals and who believes in the best in people...losing that most precious person to him because she believed in his ideals and being powerless to stop it. Left with only a facsimilie of Is goading him and the prospect of revenge, it turns him into the very thing he fought against...because the hate finally consumed him.

And in destroying Is, Horobi has created an even bigger threat than he could have possibly imagined.

But, yeah, Ark-One! It's a really cool suit, you don't expect the hero to become the villain, and yet as a fusion of Ark and Zero-One it works surprisingly well in capturing a melding of both characters while being pretty obviously evil.
Because it served a character purpose?
Can it be a bit of both?

Even since she's reached singularity, Izu has still been shown to be logical, and in the simulation she sees Aruto getting beaten by the Ark, and I don't see what possible negative repercussions could come from telling Aruto "I saw a vision of Horobi transforming into Ark-One and beating you, so it would be best to formulate a strategy if this vision turns out to be true", and if she knows that Aruto can be killed by the Ark and that the Ark can't be reasoned with, she's basically going there to die, I get that that's something that illogical thinking after gaining Singularity could cause that, but it's still something I wouldn't expect Izu to do, even after gaining Singularity.