Kamen Rider Zero-One Episode 44- "There Is Only 1 Person Who Can Stop You!"
 

Aruto & Horobi face off to unleash the full power of the Ark while the remaining Riders desperately search for a way to stop their battle.

Holy crap the henshin sequence for Ark Scorpion was absolutely bonkers. Summoning all the weapons from the ground and the scorpion wrapping around him like how Jin's falcon did originally was dope, and the raw chaos I felt in this episode was crazy.

(Just going off of toy ads being posted on Twitter, didn't watch the Raw yet...)

The real twist of Zero One finally revealed...

Everyone is Ark!!!

Ark-Horobi looks amazing! Tho, I wish he kept the energy scarf and didn't have the ark-eye.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgEUGQkW...g&name=900x900

Zero-Two got shafted so hard, didn't he? Rising Hopper returns in the finale as Aruto's last form.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EgEQIyHW...jpg&name=large

And who's this mysterious fellow? Kamen Rider Type-2?

I'm not feeling this series at all. Maybe I expected it to mirror most of the greatness from Ex-Aid and the anti-hate theme fails to interest me when the reality of the real world is that hate is bigger than ever and sadly I think it'll take a lot of violence to end it. Zero One will likely have some cheesy love story of izu/zea coming back (my prediction) to save aruto who will then save everyone. I gave this episode as good. For as much crap that Zi-O got for some of the stories that were hampered by which actors were willing to come back, I love Zi-O far more because of a far superior cast imho and the ending was really good to me. Zi-O had a good share of outstanding episodes and zero-one I can only count 2 episodes that I really liked. It also saved Decade's season as Decade was a really good Kamen Rider that was saddled with bad writing.

Eh not really, we got a wonderful showing where he basically no-sells 99% of Fuwa's attacks via Zero-Two casually beating his ass.

Really Zero-Two's probably had the best showing of a Final Form since well... it never lost any of its fights. Like yeah not much screen time, granted the reason for doing so is actually really amazing because this Ark-One story arc has been wonderful...

But like, Zero-Two's pretty solid to be honest, more solid than most forms tbh.

Nah, Izu's definitely gone. Zea isn't even gone too. She's in the Zero-Two driver as shown when Aruto accessed her. Soreo Hiden's back tho, idk how. Maybe it's just Zea taking his appearance.

I might like it better if Izu is gone. The return of dead characters negate the emotion felt when they died. Poppy returning didn't matter to me, but Phillip returning for the end of W felt out of place. I meant that zea's return would be to the satellite as I was guessing that zea would return to the satellite and that's how they would rebuild Izu as zea would be the secret backup at the very end of the episode and Aruto sees her and it ends with a huge smile and she says how can I help you aruto sacho so her singularity would be reset and that topic would be the theme of the after season movie.

Did zea satellite get destroyed? I don't even remember that. I just couldn't connect to zero-one. I don't like the Aruto actor at all except for the that's how you know its aruto schtick only when izu jumped in with him.

Izu is by far to me the best character on this show and I like her acting. Before the season started I saw her IG page and she looked like a weirdo with a hot body which didn't give me confidence in her acting, but its been great. Her Azu acting might even be better with those evil smirks and manipulative voice.

The finale could salvage some of the disappointment I've had for this season. Last seasons cast of actors were hard to beat. Everyone beside's Gates' actor has been on a jdrama that I've watched or is watching for the group of young actors. Actor's like Sougo's uncle is really popular in the jdrama world and can play any type of role. I have this thing that gets me extra excited whenever a show has a former KR or sentai actor in it. Sentai actors have been getting more popular. For awhile former KR actors had gotten more success.

it's going to be hard as hell to not feel like the finale to this wasn't rushed And I get that was a side effect of the Pandemic

Yes. That's how they killed the Ark. Ark took over the satelite, so Aruto has it blown to smithereens.

Scattered thoughts of mine:

There's a humagear who is a cat-earred maid? They really have one for all fields, huh.

That shot of Vulcan clashing from Zero-Two from above him before breaking off his claw and throwing that punch looked so good. I'm sure Vulcan is just lying on an elevated table or something, but the effect is wonderful.

I'd say the HIDEN Intelligence side-trio are pretty alright. They ultimately amounted to only slightly more than Sougo's uncle from the previous year did, but it's nice to see them believe in Aruto.

Booooo, I wanted Horobi to remain relevant yet last the whole show without getting a new form (also Ark Scorpion is hideous but that's neither here nor there).

That last shot of the two clashing while surrounded by weapons is overwhelmingly corny but it's exactly the kind of thing I like about tokusatsu.

And one last thought concerning the preview: It looks like we're getting that classic case of the base form being the one to carry the final conflict. I'm normally all for that, but I feel like this time it really ought to still be Zero-Two, considering what that form represents in the show. Ah well, I'm sure it'll still work fine as a reminder of where Aruto started since he gets it from his father (kinda sorta i bet it will make as much sense as shotaro getting the lost driver from skull).

I'll go into the actual episode once subs hit, so for the new suits - I like Orthoros Vulcan. I didn’t expect it to get new sounds either which is neat, and the claws are cool. Plus – they gave it a wolf head on the mask like Naki has, that's awesome!

https://i.imgur.com/kNevOw8.jpg

Ark-Scorpion… huh. Colors are fantastic - I like the black with purple and red accents. The helmet is really cool with the broken eye piece too.

Good stuff for suits pulled out at the very end. I wonder who the Rider from the preview is? I have a bad feeling "the" Ark will be back and in the end it's still going to end with one single thing they can blame for all the bad things that have happened in the last few episodes.

Also, having Zero-One back… I’m so conflicted on this. It is a really good base suit so I don’t mind seeing it back, but goddammit I wanted Zero-One to be over when the show said it wouldn’t come back. Same with Zero-Two really – yes it deserves more screen time but I didn’t want any other suit on Aruto for the rest of the show other than Ark-One.

It's better if we get this arc epsiode 42-45 as in the mid 30s and the previous metsubo resurrecting ark arc as the late 20s to early 30s. More development for gai, mets 4 members, ark, new zaia CEO, and spread out pace out the forms more.

We are getting two new forms today and another villain one next week maybe two if aruto gets another upgrade. From ryugen, chasermach, build crossz/great crossz/grease blizzard, tsukiyomi, and maybe g snipe as one shot chronos. Which rider got the best last minute form addition treatment? Who is better?
The mass produce ark key is like chronos gashat. I wonder if they always planned arc1 to be aruto and not ark upgrade or they wanted to sell more units. I mean horobi got his own 02 swappable face plate with a new ark key. I'm guessing if fuwa uses the key then he'll get a fusion between ark malice eye and his base wolf suit.

If aruto back up everyone then does one key holds everyone from that profession like male/female teachers are in the teacher key. The bodyguard security like secretary Chester/siseta clearly have more than one variety versions. The same for actor actress. Also, remember the gag how mr assassin the dancer became shisesta, so weird.

I'm not a fan if jin or izu returns. I prefer chase, baron, ankh, koyomi, etc that stayed dead. no backup points. I'm guessing the finale is horobi found is heart, but die i peace like heart roidmude and accepts it since he can't survive in modern society after the crimes he committed. He wouldn't be happy as a prek teacher.

Can we now say that the new rider at the preview is Type-2?

PS. If you saw the original post where I was talking about the belt on Zero-One, that was a brainfart.

Whoever owns those airship monitors must be really sick of them getting hacked every two days

I really hope they do a set of "lost episodes" where they just take what they had planned before COVID screwed everything up and shoot it as a miniseries

sees the Reddit sumamry oh crap we're gonna get a half-assed Izu revival aren't we

I mean - we could get a good Izu revival too but... yeah I kinda wish it wouldn't happen.

Y'know I just kinda realised.

- Fuwa and Gai's drivers are broken
- Yaiba can't henshin
- Jin is dead (for now)
- Ark is gone
- Naki gave away their key


The only character aside from Horobi and Aruto that can henshin right now is Raiden. Ikazuchi comes out on top

Nah, Dodo Valkyrie will slaughter all.

Seems like a lot to wrap up in the final episode.

I could go for 2-3 more episode of Aruto just walking to somewhere very far away as people keep trying to stop him. Think of the build-up potential!

I also really like the Ark-One suit and I think I need a figure of it to go with my Build Hazard figure. Something about corrupted good-guy suits is very appealing to me.

Why not the RaidRiser?

Didn't Yua still have Fighting Jackal?

Really liked this one! Sugihara's direction was completely spectacular as always. That shot FreshToku pointed out with Vulcan definitely just lying on a table is a perfect demonstration of the kind of results he can get with surprisingly simple methods. This is the same guy who gave us that bike chase way back in episode 2, after all. What action there is in this one more than lives up to that same standard, and it also continues to carry the standard of weighty drama from the last few weeks, even keeping some continuity with the continued no background slo-mo shots of Ark-One, and the completely original idea of Azu being the sort of devil on Aruto's shoulder, which, despite the audio fading in and out not quite giving the effect I think was intended (the transitions seem jarring in a way that wasn't entirely deliberate in spots), was a touch I appreciated.

On the writing front, it's like "where has this Writer-san been hiding the last 8 months?" You know Yuuya Takahashi is writing an episode of Kamen Rider when the script manages to line up four different yet connected dramatic speeches all happening at once. I'm sure there are going to be people watching this episode saying that's a bit much, but this sort of controlled chaos is what I learned to love about his writing on Ex-Aid. It's over-the-top drama with surprisingly delicate, refined construction. The episode does good work getting to that point, and, crucially, all four of those scenes are pretty killer in their own right.

Just about everyone is given something meaningful to do here. Yua is maybe the weak link, as ever, admittedly. It's hard to get the full sense of satisfaction from her ending up anywhere when we never got a sense of where she wanted to end up, but it's still nice to see her not getting disrespected, and it was smart to have Gai merely facilitating other people's big scenes instead of getting his own. Fukuzoe gets his big moment here, and while I hate to indirectly further damn Yua's character development, I actually think the show built up those side characters just enough for their bits here to land well. The "number one at being number two" line, I mean, come on. That's just good stuff right there. Horobi gets chewed out by Ikazuchi, which is more of a good showcase for Horobi than anything, but Ikazuchi is fully channeling that passionate discount Ryuuga Banjou energy in that conversation, so he holds his own.

Fuwa and Aruto, though, that's where it's at. It's a confrontation that really acknowledges the growth Fuwa has had over the series, and has some great meaningful callbacks to earlier episodes, like Fuwa flipping that question of "what's your dream for after this?" from episode 25 back on Aruto. It ends up being a great fight that, at a glance, seems to enforce the whole "Vulcan is the real main Rider!" theory more than ever, but under that surface, everything he's saying there is reaffirming how much Aruto and his journey have been central to the show. Both of them come out looking pretty good.

Er, well, I mean, Aruto isn't exactly looking "good" good, but you get the point. It was a bit surprising to see Zero-Two again, but my interpretation of that was that, in-universe, maybe Aruto is trying to avoid hurting Fuwa too badly or something, and, on a meta level, it reminds us he still has access to Zea to make what happens later seem less abrupt than it might've otherwise.

I think I've hit the point where I'm going to get even more rambling than I already am, so I'll just wrap this up now rather than make a huge mess trying to string together every random thought I had. It's a good episode! New Horobi looks sick! I'm looking forward to seeing how this wraps up! I'm also holding Oomori to that promise the finale will somehow be unlike anything Rider's done before!

http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1598235378

:D

Source

They've always been open, he's just flexing. Thats why his arm doesn't break anymore.

Now seems as good a time as any to post this interview with the actor for Ikazuchi. It's really cool to me seeing actors who've always wanted to be kamen riders get to be kamen riders.

Did...did they pull an Unlimited Blade Works thing there?

That aside, I'd totally buy Figuarts of Ark-Zero and Ark-Scorpion!

I absolutely adored this episode, Even with how rushed it's obviously been, how much better it would be if they hadn't lost out on five episodes, Zero-One's endgame arc is still possibly my favorite of any Rider series I've seen so far. Aruto and Horibi's clash of malice driven by each other's killings of a loved one is brilliant. Ark-One vs Ark-Scorpion is going to be an amazing final battle where in a way they're both the final villain. That Raiden is now the only Rider capable of transforming besides Aruto and Horobi is an interesting twist, and I'm curious if they'll all get their status as Rider restored by the end to make crossovers easier or if this major change in status quo will stay. That they've introduced yet another belt in the second to last episode is a bit silly, I think that puts it at 11 total, and who knows, maybe the mysterious new guy in the next episode will have his own Driver too.

I'm seriously afraid that the insistence that it'll be something 'unlike anything before' means the show is going to do something completely off the wall or insane, in favour of a conventional ending that would be perfectly satisfying. People, prepare yourselves for anything! It could be anything up to and including:

-Aruto and Horobi's drivers produce an energy that transcends time and space, and the two disappear into a nebulous vortex.
-While Aruto was talking with his father, he went 'learning complete!' and figured out how to perform sorcery in order to bring back Izu and Jin.
-The Zero-Two Driver releases a beam of light that turns all humans and humagears into one singular bio-mechanical species.
-Everything from the start of episode 42 onward was all a simulation. (Don't act like this one can't happen!!)

Here's what I'm thinking going from the images here https://www.kamen-rider-official.com/summaries/52:

Horobi and Aruto's duel rages on, then we get a flashback scene of Aruto talking with Soreo Zea. And then Soreo says something like: "You're the only one, Zero-One." Horobi and Aruto then manage to knock each other off their transformations. Horobi shouts angrily at Aruto, to which Aruto responds with something like: "We're Kamen Riders, aren't we? Protecting our people's smiles?" And then his Ark-One driver is suddenly purified back into the Zero-One driver.

Horobi grabs Aruto by the collar, rejecting his conviction and kicking him away. Aruto then grasps the Rising Hopper key and begins to transform. Horobi transformed faster and throws a punch towards Aruto before being immediately blocked by Zero-One.

The two fight once more, this time taking it back outside. They both activate their finishers and Zero-One jumps, this will also be the first time that Aruto uses Giga Rise for his finisher. Horobi prepares for his finisher as well, but he is then contacted by Jin and Jin says something that causes Horobi to drop his guard, giving Aruto the opening to kick him and then explosion. The Zero-One suit then de-stabilizes and knock Aruto out of his transformation. Horobi, (with the damaged make up) falls to his knees. Maybe Aruto goes to him and talk before Horobi dies in his arms or Aruto succumbs to his wounds.

I'm kind of scared that Izu is going to come back, judging by her screenshot in the last episode preview. If that happened then these last string of episodes would be meaningless. And I wonder what this whole ending that's "never been done before" is, because from the looks of it, it looks like we're getting the usual happy everything is great ending.

Random Baseless theory: Izu doesn't come back but Aruto's dad does as the new rider previewed at the end of the episode, he then kicks some sense into Aruto.

The only way Izu can realistically come back is by using the Secretary Key to reformat Azu.

Jin came back once before, him coming back again is not far fetched. It just doesn't make sense that it was ZAIA who brought Jin back when Hakase was hacked to rebuild Jin (who is clearly a Hiden 2nd Gen staff)

Zea has been miniaturized into the Zero Two Hopper Key. Ark lives in his own Ark Key.

The best way to end this is if Touma writes an ending for Zero One before Saber starts mwahahaha

Izu should just come back as an AI inside of whatever suit Aruto ends up with. Kind of like Iron Man's F.R.I.D.A.Y AI

Better yet, If Zero One turns out to be Touma's Rider fan fiction, I'd be one of the funniest things ever.

Huh so Aruto really did fight Fuwa as Zero Two and instead flashed to Ark One while fighting, the complete opposite of what was theorized lol. I too like to think it was because he was holding back and didn't want to kill Fuwa; his malice wasn't directed towards him, so Ark wasn't the right power to use. But it was still seeping out. At least we got to see the suit again!

This penultimate episode does feel like an "Ark wins" scenario since both sides have been corrupted by it. So still rather intrigued by how or if this will be turned around (probably gonna be deus ex Izu/Jin..).

Wish we had gotten to hear what Soreo told Aruto, but maybe that'll happen in the next episode.

Wow they sure are pumping a lot of suits out at the end though! With two new ones here and yet another in the next episode. They've kinda just been flying by.

https://over-ti.me/wp-content/upload...08/endings.png
I personally can't wait for Aruto to go to the Humagear world and open a Takoyaki shop.

I know you said this as a joke, but Aruto going to "the Humagear world" made me think. Maybe the ending will have Aruto having his mind digitized so that he only exists as a computer program? Perhaps after beating Horobi, he'll let his body be killed so that the Ark doesn't have a host anymore, but his mind will live on inside all HumaGears as basically a sentient anti-virus that protects them from being corrupted by malice.