Your favorite episode(s) of Zero-One?
 

Zero-One's finale is just around the corner, and even though it's not the best Rider show ever made I enjoyed it immensely and I’m a bit sad to see it go.

I wanted to do a small rewatch before I see the final episode next week, and I thought maybe you guys could help me select which episodes I should watch again by stating:

Which episode(s) of Zero-One is/are your favorite(s)?

Either the best you’ve seen, the ones that entertained you most, the ones including moments that you still remember now, whatever comes to your mind.

I feel like there will be enough divisive answers to make for a good selection of episodes to watch again before the show ends.

I liked it when Yua punched Gai's lights out, Rampage Vulcan's debut will stand out to me forever due to the Yakuza style fighting shown in that fight and the showmodel Humagear episode stands out to me out of the episodic nature. Oh, and Flaming Tiger had an awfully stylish debut too

If you asked me to pick three of my personal favourites:

- Rampage Gatling's Debut
- The Episode with the actor and Little Assassin Magia
- Blue Buster the marriage Humagear

There's no real theme to these, I just like them.

My favorite would have to be episode 24 the one where Aruto gains control of Metal Cluster Hopper and Progrise Hopper Blade. I mean who doesn't love it when the people who were saved by hero comeback to save hero.

Rampage Gatling's debut episode is another strong contender

Fourth time's the charm; Rampage Gatling's debut was wonderful and remains by far the high point of the show to me. Secondary riders don't get much better than this!

Also loved the model episode where Naki laid down their goals and who they are, and there's some great stuff in the first third of the show too. Not much else comes to mind...

Naki episode is also good, I got that confused with Rampage Gatling's debut, because I'm an idiot.
And just to give some support to post-COVID airing, Zero-Two's debut is worth the time.

Episode 22 for Metal Cluster Hopper's terrifying debut.
Episode 29 for Isamu's most memorable and bad*ss epic speech and Rampage Gatling's debut.
Episode 33 for Yua's "this is my resignation" punch and Vulcan and Valkyrie teaming up to beat Rider Thouzer.
Episode 38 for the surprisingly effective redemption of Gai and the debut of adorable Thouzer.

My top five are probably the debut of Shining Hopper, the second half of the firefighter job battle, the episode with the fashion model, the one where Zaia and mbjr.net go to war, and the debut of Zero-Two.

All the debut episodes were nice. But my favorite fight was Vulcan & Valkyrie vs Metal Cluster Hopper.

Glad to see other people loved the debut of Rampage Vulcan and Yua's resignation episodes, I was going to recommend those as well. I want to add:
Ep 24 - Aruto gains full control of MCH, but more so that epic scene of all the Humagears transfering their data
Ep 30 - Aruto regains the 01 Driver after registering as the president of Hiden Manufacturing, capped up with that amazing Not-Crimson-Smash Rider Kick

Kiwami, you mirror universe scoundrel, it's going to sound like I'm making this up, but I was, totally honestly, just thinking this very day that I'd like to maybe do some kind of celebratory thread or something about Zero-One moments I like and ask everyone to remember all the good times they had with the show too. It was little more than an idle thought, unlikely to turn into anything, but leave it to you to go and make the exact kind of thing I was thinking of for me.

Where this becomes directly relevant is that I'm kind of feeling passionate about this show right now, so forgive me for going a bit crazy with this idea. I'm basically doing a Top 10 without the Top, because I don't like ranking things. This is just 10 episodes of the show that spring to mind as strong ones, arranged by episode number for simplicity's sake.

Episode (0)1

No better place to start than the beginning, right? Zero-One's premiere is one of the strongest ones out there for Rider, in my opinion. It simultaneously does a solid job building the world, gives the main character a satisfying arc just within those 20-ish minutes, and gives us the kind of spectacular action only Teruaki Sugihara can bring to the table. Put simply, it has plot, emotion, and thrills.First episodes can have a lot of trouble not sacrificing one of those three things for the other two, but this show nailed it. That climax especially turned a lot of heads, and for good reason.

https://i.imgur.com/UWjFdl5l.png

Episode 4

Again, an episode that hits all the notes perfectly. A shining example of how to balance overarching plot with an episodic adventure, this one gives us the first major revelations about the backstory of the setting, and our first tease of Horobi, by way of following Zero-One and Vulcan on a journey to Daybreak Town, in large part to help out a small child, wrapping the story in a layer of pure, classic hero tokusatsu, down to Fuwa giving inspiring advice that also provides insight into his way of thinking, further showing how adept this one is at killing multiple birds with a single stone.

https://i.imgur.com/pk294UBl.png

Episode 12

The second part is good too, but the initial half of Riku Sanjou's guest writer outing on this show was a real bang up job of an episode that, true to his style, is heavy on the fun. Lots of Riders, lots of action, and some utterly inspired gags. Throw in a robot detective for good measure, and you've got yourself a real winner.

https://i.imgur.com/S8YuFrXl.png

Episode 16

Anchored by an insanely strong fight between Zero-One and Jin that takes up just under half the episode, this one did an excellent job at bridging the gap between story arcs, ending the first one in a memorable fashion, and then leaving itself plenty of time to wind down and establish a new direction, culminating in Gai dropping the bombshell he's looking to buy out Hiden Intelligence. A good episode made great by an ability to both move things forward, while also cementing the themes the show had been building to by that point. In a word, it's foundational.

https://i.imgur.com/o83foW9l.png

Episode 22

The back half of a very strong episodic plot about trial where a HumaGear lawyer has to win a case the way only a machine can. It's interesting in its own right, and makes excellent use of that to explore the characters... to the point where I somehow forgot until I went to grab screenshots this was also Metal Cluster Hopper's debut episode, because it has so much going on even beyond that. So, uh... yeah. Probably the high point of the competition arc?

https://i.imgur.com/cfZHAcgl.png
https://i.imgur.com/jz6gpi0l.png
https://i.imgur.com/akJg6FJl.png

Episode 24

A real showcase of Aruto's inspirational nature as a hero, with Izu getting proactive and working with the other HumaGears he's helped in his adventures to finally give the upper hand against Thouser's machinations with the help of the Progrise Hopper Blade. It's hard to beat the sense of uplifting satisfaction you get here, and it also has one of my favorite gags in the whole series.

https://i.imgur.com/g0wC59zl.png
https://i.imgur.com/87pvip9l.png

Episode 29

Popular for good reason! I probably don't even need to say anything about it. It's a bit weird the final fight of the competition arc is Vulcan against Thouser and Yua (while the theme song keeps repeating "Zero-One", no less!), but man, Fuwa is just so great here it's hard to mind it too much.

https://i.imgur.com/3DsHVFWl.png

Episode 31

Balancing out all that Fuwa love with an episode that features Aruto reexamining his purpose in light of a new status quo, and in the process showing why he's as true a Kamen Rider as they come, standing up for the freedom of HumaGears to follow the hearts he believes without question they have, all summed up perfectly by the motto he chooses for his new company. A stellar outing all around for the show's real star.

https://i.imgur.com/IQmGTvvl.png

Episode 40

Again, a great showing for Aruto, but an even better one for Izu, who once again proves critical in getting Zero-One an upgrade to turn the tables on a seemingly unstoppable foe. An emotional roller coaster, and a real culmination of everything the show had built up to that point.

https://i.imgur.com/MzLUhuAl.png

Episode 42

Conversely, this one is spectacular for how willing it is to tear things down. This one is naturally going to be real fresh in most people's heads, but Ark-One's debut is so good, there's just no way I'm not going to mention it. It's an episode that goes out of its way to make you think it'll be something more trite than it is, and then flips the script to give us a direction for the final arc that has proven to wildly different from what I think a lot of us expected. Or at least, I didn't see it coming, but when it did, it turned out to be something I was way into.

https://i.imgur.com/8yWfS63l.png

Every episode in which there is a suit debut.

That's like over half the show! :lol

You know I'd say something but everyone kind of beat me to the punch and I'd honestly be repeating mostly every pick that people have given.

Though some that people haven't mentioned yet, 43 and 44, those two just continuing off of the twist and flipping that 42 gave us with the debut of Ark-One in a very great fashion, very much leaning on the emotional side of things to bring out a really strong ending arc leading right to our finale this Saturday.

I'm so happy so many people answered, I was honestly a bit afraid no one would write down anything.

And while it turns out some episodes were also on my radar - I kind of forgot most about Rampage Vulcan’s debut aside from the excellent action sequence so I definitely need to add that one to the list.

But now I want to go completely off-topic because damn...

This quote sure aged like fine wine, didn’t it? In fact, Metal Cluster Hopper itself is so much richer now going back. When it first came out no one really had an understanding about the "Ark", but now that we have met it in person - going back to watching it take control over Aruto as Metal Cluster Hopper, it's a bit crazy how much it's like its later appearance as Ark-Zero. How it acts, how it fights - that’s really cool how much of it all makes sense now.

Rampage Vulcan and 02's debuts are definitely top tier for me, as well as the effort to destroy Ark completely. And any episode where Thouser gets his butt kicked before he mellows out.

this thread makes me bummed I got how 42 ends spoiled or at least the twist ending

It was pretty much impossible to avoid if you're active within the fandom I'm afraid.

That being said - knowing what happens is one thing. Actually experiencing it within the context of the show is an amazing thing and I'm sure it cannot be dampened by knowing Ark-One's identity beforehand.

I mean, the reveal happens within a very short timeframe anyways.

The episode where Zero-One and Vulcan travel to Daybreak Town and discover the truth behind the incident (I think it was episode 4?) was one of my favorites considering that early in the series we got some strong writing.

Also any episode where Ai-chan appears, it's my favorite. I'm a biased simp (T_T)

Don't know which one is my favorite, but I can definitely say that the episode with Thouser's debut had me rolling on the ground when I saw that he trademarked his finishing attacks.

https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media...vmtle0uapo.png

This and the one before it, purely because I love Thouser and it's a treat to see him team up with Zero-One.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BJ6Z2orbfb8/maxresdefault.jpg

This, because loved seeing Horobi stack up to Thouser and also showcase how good a fighter Thouser could be.

https://scontent.fmnl4-5.fna.fbcdn.n...0a&oe=5F70A04A

This, because, again, showcases Thouser's prowess despite his loss and also seeing Ikazuchi back.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T50OIuFWU...19583744_o.jpg

Oh, Shining Hopper's debut was amazing. Seeing how the form worked was visually amazing.

https://usercontent2.hubstatic.com/14838355.png

But my all-time favorite is Team Zero-One and MJBR.net's "Final battle". It really felt so final to see Jin finally use his finisher, hold his own relatively well against a form that's outclassed him by a large margin, Assault Hopper looking like a gundam, and the end scene where Jin falls and explodes and Aruto turns his head slowly. Honestly what originally sold me on Flying Falcon's SHF. If Zero-One was a short series, this ending, with a few changes, would be perfect.