Kamen Rider Zero-One Episode 39- "That Conclusion Is Unpredictable!" Discussion
 

The Ark struggles to process the new allegiance between Zero-One and Thouser to proceed with its plans.

> This show surprisingly has the best team-up fights I've ever seen in the entire Heisei-Reiwa Kamen Rider shows but Gai you just got reversed Jacked by Ark lel...

> Gai... god damn people are not buying into your s--- that easily... not even Aruto.

> whelp there goes Ikazuchi... bye bye bro

> 02 debut next week... it seems to be a Speed Focused Type form...


I finally got it that 02 is a new Rider not 01's Final Form. MCH IS 01's Final Form but Penultimate Form for Aruto himself.

it's confusing but effing hell it makes sense to look at it that way.

sees the preview for next episode are we SERIOUSLYnot done with the MC dies but get's resurrected by his newly acquired ultimate form trope yet for CRYING OUT LOUD

Thouzer imitating the henshin jingle was adorable!

It looks like Ark used the pirated animal constructs from Gai to bypass the Zero One Driver's security and interface with Zea similar to what happened with the Ganmaizers, Deep Specter and Great Eye.

Now it makes sense why Zero Two doesn't follow the binary motif. Without Zea, there's nothing Ark can't predict, except "2".

It's only happened like two or three times (Fourze, Drive, and maybe Ghost).

You say it as if we did it for a whole decade.

Also Aruto's not even dying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VCejOUZ1H8

I don't know what preview you saw but the one for episode 40 shows Aruto still recovering from the wounds he just got in this episode.

If anything it looks like Jin's dying, as he suddenly seems badly wounded alongside Aruto and they're surrounded by rubble.

ok thank god also he doesn't even look that wounded

It would be nice if this was how he payback. Kamen Rider Zero Two - presented by zaia enterprise

Okay wow, they finally used the "Let’s rise"-jingle of Metal Cluster Hopper – and would somebody have told me a robot dog would dance to it – I didn’t see that one coming :lol

It was nice though. This episode is cool, I like how Gai is truly apologetic but everyone understandably won’t care. I really liked how Aruto, the main Rider who you would expect is all like "Sure buddy, no worries!" goes right for the throat by saying the shit he pulled with the Ark is not forgiven nor forgotten just because Gai is feeling sorry about it.

I think that’s what makes the alliance with Thouser believable – he gets the chance to do better but no one actually likes him for it. He doesn’t deserve that anyways. For now, I do think he’s on his way to at least change from being an insufferable piece of crap to a semi-decent guy (Gai).

Also, I do like how the whole "Gathering the Progrise keys"-thing came up again because at the time I just thought they did that to create the Assault Wolf-key and I was like "Huh?" but that was just me being dumb. The awakening of the Ark was the important part here, not what it decided to make after waking up. I'm feeling a bit embarrassed for only getting that now.

I‘m really looking forward to next week. Zero-Two is awesome. Such a great design for the final new Rider of the season, Aruto’s strongest form and I adore that he is making it himself. Of course Zea will magically materialize his designs or something, but at least he’s working for it.

Lastly… boy, Ark-Zero is really riding it home with the whole "No one can stop me"-shtick, isn’t he? This begs for an Éowyn reference:

Ark-Zero: "No one can stop me!"
Aruto: "But a two can!"

Aruto is also wearing a toucan costume while saying this by the way :lol

Well now I'm preemptively dissapointed that this isn't exactly what their exchange next week will be!

From what I've seen on twitter videos too of Aibo Owners is that the actual robot dogs do exactly what Thouser does in the episode when you use MCH in proximity to them. Which is just adorable.

But yeah, this episode honestly put to rest my worry of Gai's "Redemption" so to speak, it's more so he finally got a reality check and is wanting to make up for it, but with very, very strained results for good reason. I was right to wait and see how the execution would go and I'm not disappointed by it.

I do like how Ark was like "It doesn't matter if he gets free will and wants to help, he's still predictable enough to walk our enemies into a trap."

But yeah, very excited for next week, 02 feels like it'll be a good debut, and I especially love how Aruto himself is working on and trying to come up with something to surpass the legacy he was given in order to make his own. So already we've got the makings for a good "Final Form" of sorts. Granted, it might be better to call this an Evolution.

I do like that the Ark Key has Ark One's face on the side of it, a bit of foreshadowing.
It's funny that Fuwa is a lot more lenient of Gai's atoning than Aruto himself. Given how much he screwed his life up, you'd think Fuwa would leave without a single word, but here, he's giving him more of a chance and actually suggests what he could do to start on his path to redemption which shows how much Fuwa has changed during the course of the series. Fuwa's still the best thing about this show.

Let's wait and see; it could happen. Not as obvious but maybe they do go for him being fixated on that no "one" can stop him. If that's even remotely what he says in Japanese :lol

No way! That's awesome! :lol

I guess they react to the rhythm and music like they would to a regular song if you play one for them?

That would be how you know it's Aruto.

This one was very, very good. Gai immediately getting s*** on by everyone ever for saying he's sorry doesn't do a thing to change how abrupt and unearned his change of heart was (in my opinion!), but they're handling the fallout of that decision with a much steadier pace. I like that Aruto is outright angry thinking about how this entire mess all goes back to Gai (again, I love Yuuya Takahashi's Rider protagonists for having more complex emotional ranges than you'd think), and Fuwa being shockingly okay with the situation is super on-point for his character. The only grudge he was ever any good at holding was the one that was a lie. Even just those AIMS guys being like "uhhhhh... is this Gai for real?" was a very fun little beat.

Admittedly, though, I kind of have it out for that robot puppy, which is something I never thought I'd say or think, but here we are. It's like, I want to laugh and find it cute, but like last week, I'm just not sure exactly what the show thinks it's doing with it? They're deriving comedy from how unlikely and strange it is to see Gai fawning over a fake dog, but I feel like that creates a dilemma, because by laughing at it for being so weird and random, it undercuts the major dramatic role it served in getting Gai to this point. I guess. I'm going to stop complaining here, because I do have a feeling that if Gai's development stays on a nice smooth track from here, I'll start seeing Dog Thouser (Bow-wowser? We really need a good nickname for this thing) as not the actual turning point for Gai, but merely the impetus for the real change that starts happening after, which would make this all click together for me a lot more in retrospect. I'm trying really hard not to be opposed to this idea, guys!

The origin of Zero-Two is thankfully proving to be everything I hoped for, right down to Aruto saying he needs to surpass his grandfather. Rolling in the "I don't work at Hiden Intelligence anymore" thing was also quite inspired. Everything about Aruto was great this episode. One other idea for Zero-Two that popped into my head after seeing how the toy works was that I really wanted to see Ark-Zero straight up break the Zero-One Driver or something to further signal the need for a change, and, hey, guess what? He rips the thing clean off and says Aruto is done being Zero-One. Beautiful.

The action is also directed as slickly as usual, which I used to describe a lot more elaborately back when the show just started, but I honestly struggle to even go into detail now, precisely because it's been so consistently excellent in terms of both choreography and framing. I feel like I've run out of ways to praise it when it isn't someone like Sugihara or Kamihoriuchi who has a notably unique style directing. Anyone watching the show probably doesn't need me to tell them how flashy and fun it always is week after week though.

See I'm of two minds with that one part of me would love if Zero-Two became Aruto's base form from thematic standpoint, but the other part of me is going "but is losing Rising Hopper and Metal Cluster worth it" and damn it Fish that is choice I just can't make.

YES ! I think it was the best route for Zero Two being 100% Aruto creation. It's the climax of his character development as humagear lover and kamen rider.

Also, surprised no joke were done about Gai.
For him, before, AIs were Dogu, now they're Dog.
Hai. Aruto ja naito !

This episode really cemented Aruto as a great lead, despite not having as much character development as Fuwa. He's an all-loving idealistic hero, but that doesn't mean he'll be so quick to let Gai off the hook for all of the suffering he's caused. I also love that Aruto didn't hesitate to take another shot at his catchphrase. Not only was it a funny moment, but when you consider that the whole "1000%" thing refers to the insane pressure Gai had on him as a kid and was the prime motivator that caused him to be such an ass in the first place, it's a great story moment that the easy-going Aruto tells him to ditch that catchphrase.

The fact that Fuwa is also the one to most quickly forgive Gai is also a great character moment, and symbolizes how much Fuwa has grown as a character and as a person. Nobody outside of Yua has suffered more from Gai's actions than Fuwa. But because of how much he's grown, he's much quicker to let go of grudges, especially when there's much bigger issues to tackle.

Zero-One is a great example of how good character-driven, multi-Rider shows can be, with constantly shifting allegiances and great character interactions.

I'm rather... Relieved that Gai didn't end up being forgiven so easily by anyone.

And even if I'll really miss the Zero One suits, I'm at least interested in how we're getting to Zero Two with Aruto growing into the role and making it himself.

I wish I had an original thought in my head, but all I can say is that Kiwami beat me to the "Hehe, no-one can stop me", that Gai's redemption is already better for having even Aruto call him out on it, and then dissing his 1000% catchphrase, and for even making me care a little about Ikazuchi. Well done, 01.

I see what the show is going for, but it is really hard to take a lot of the Gai stuff seriously with that goofy-ass robot dog in all of his scenes. And I'm saying this as someone who totally bought into the dog story last week.

Writer-san: "Hey, people are getting tired of Thouser being clowned on every week, how else do we make him pathetic?"

John Toei: "Umm, have him go crazy over a robot dog? Sony's throwing some money at us for it."

Writer-san: "Sure, works for me."

I didn't feel all that sorry for him during his sob story flashback in the previous episode, but I may just be being cynical!

I did, but the show found a very personal place to hit me right where my personal Venn diagram overlaps my love of pets and my tendency to over-empathize with inanimate objects.

Switchblade, you should take pride in your ability to feel sorry for Gai at all, because I have those same two traits and absolutely cannot be bothered to spare a thought for him.

I think a huge part of the problem is that I watched the first part of Project Thouser just before the show came back from hiatus? Nothing Gai has ever done made him feel more viscerally unforgivable to me than this:

https://i.imgur.com/b2z9wHBl.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/LbADsRYl.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/kIiRxNql.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/3SeKQYql.png
https://i.imgur.com/VRany0nl.png

Like, yeah, obviously Naki got better, but between the very deliberate murder-y imagery going on there, and Gai having a smile on his face as he pulls the trigger (and after), it suddenly made things a lot more personal than just a guy who pursues success at all costs. He stopped having the thin veil of this all being motivated by logic.

Project Thouser wasn't written by Takahashi, so maybe there's some disconnect going on there, but I can't see Gai actively taking such joy in being a huge pile of trash (and if I agree with Aruto's point of view like I'm definitely supposed to, the fact he was "only" shooting a HumaGear doesn't help anything!), and then be asked to consider the possibility he was just doing all this out of trauma and a repressed secret love for artificial intelligence. It's just not gonna happen, because I'm way too busy asking how frequently he carries that revolver around, and what else he uses it for.

It's more that I feel sorry for the little boy version of Gai. The adult version is still pretty much irredeemable, even with him hauling the ridiculous robot dog like...

Oh god, I just realized this as I was typing: Robo Puppy is the 2020 version of Doctor Maki's stupid doll. Oh man, that is not an endearing realization for me.