Zero One 01hers: Kamen Rider MetsubouJinrai
 

The movie has been subbed. Discuss it here.

I kind of felt the movie was a little too dark.

Real quick since I have no idea where to fit this in, but I do like how we have a week long mission in space to keep Aruto out of the picture.

Anyway I'm not sure what qualifies as dark aside from maybe like two scenes, both at the tail end of it. So I wouldn't say it's all dark, but it definitely ends in a more surprising way than before. Especially since this is one of the few V-Cinema's to actually continue to the next.

But I do like what they were going for here. And really watching RealXTime before this sort of helps strengthen the sort of thing I was talking about with Ark.

The reason the original Ark was mostly unstoppable was because it was just a boring killing machine that lacked any true personality aside from 'kill'. And I mentioned that Lucifer alongside the Abaddon's really represent that side of the Ark. Just the unwavering appetite for destruction and chaos. Meanwhile you have Azu who thinks that negative emotions such as anger, sorrow, etc, are key to bearing a new Ark. But time and time again, Aruto, Horobi, S... all of them end up wavering because of there's more to sentience than just those negative emotions.

So we bring in Lyon Arkland who is actually one of my favorite V-Cinema villains honestly. He's charismatic, has a fun little gimmick to make him entertaining (his English and the noises he makes are amazing). And he makes an absolute good point that Azu's method isn't going to work. So he goes to a simpler way to drive constant conflict, Justice vs Justice and I think it works well. Because he's dealing with Metsubojinrai, all individuals who feel strongly about certain things and he knows exactly how to push their buttons.

So that's why his plan ends up working for the most part, but as is the case with Thousandriver Riders, his hubris is what causes this to collapse. He was so concerned with making a new enemy, he wasn't concerned with how powerful that entity might become, especially when it comes to a being made of four unified and frankly strong wills.

If there's one scene I absolutely loved though, it was the scene of Fuwa and Horobi. Horobi asking if Fuwa would be willing to put them down if it came down to it. I think he realized that this might go pear shaped and he wanted to at least ensure one person would see through to ending what they start. It was just a really nice scene.

And it all culminates in surprisingly the only real blood fest we get this movie of Lyon dying while spouting "Zaia Forever!" and just smacking into the ground. And then Metsubojinrai standing in the wreckage of Zaia Japan as all four members just scream out in anguish.

Also I find it kind of hilarious how Metsubojinrai itself is voiced by the Monkey Majik members who provided the voices for the Zero-One equipment. I suppose that's one way to sort of push the "Humagears are just weapons and tools" thing that Arkland was going for. Oddly enough the way they work the speech into Metsubojinrai makes it rather unique as it's own entity. Also I guess we know why the credits song is named SOS now, and it is very, very literal.

I'm just gonna quickly put out there as someone who's seen just about all of them except the Showa stuff and the reboots... this is one of my top 10 Rider Movies. Ever. I'm shocked at how this was not only solid, not only did it really bring Zero-One back to its roots of what it was really about, but done so in an extremely compelling way that perfectly balanced characterisation with its themes, something I found sorely lacking in 01 as a whole lately.

There's weak points, naturally -- stop me if you've heard this one before; but Naki and Raiden really get the shaft with no real scenes for they themselves and at worst they can feel like tagalongs to MBJR than their own characters. I'm mostly fine with this; aside from it just being the one flaw I'm happy to overlook at a fantastic whole, both of them already had enough development in-series and enough personal connections to make their motivations in this movie make sense. And frankly I'm always up for seeing one of my favourite characters with their funny jock friend no matter how little attention they get.

Aside from that? Thrilling. Lyon Arkland is a bit like early-game Thouser but in so much hyperdrive he's straight up become a Metal Gear Solid villain with how insane, over-the-top and knee-deep in war profiteering he is and it's a joy to watch; especially with some thrown-in Kamen Rider English lines. God, his henshin device even uses DINOSAURS and says "I Am The President", I cannot get over how funny yet perfect this guy is; it's exactly what I wanted and even more beyond that for a 01 villain!

I remember when we first saw ZAIA and MBJR's suits I was pretty displeased with the latter's design -- ZAIA I was fine with, black repaint with red eyes is always a winner; but MBJR I did not like at all. It didn't truly combine any of the team's traits, it looked like a generic robot warrior kind of thing, I didn't get any sense of characterisation off of it and it was a shame for me as someone who adores fusion forms in Kamen Rider. Turns out that's the point! Turns out that's thematically relevant, so take that, dumb fool Kurona from three months ago or whatever! The entire concept of MBJR consigning themselves to becoming a killing machine to take down ZAIA and sacrificing themselves for the common good, the sheer tragedy of that, the sheer fatalistic outlook they have... it's hard convey just how good it is. MBJR is a scary good performance.

And then as Enchy above notes (can I call you that? Tell me if I can't), Fuwa walks in to do what the guy does best; practically force character development and interactions out of you in a way you simply have to love, and the subtle connections forged between he and Horobi here is compelling in a way I just did not expect. He doesn't get to do much in this movie but damn if his few scenes don't show why he's the MVP of this show.

Like... this is just everything I wanted and didn't expect. Actual characterisation and development for Horobi and Jin (with an explanation, FINALLY, for how and why he was rebuilt; only took about a year since Slashriser pre-orders went up), actual dynamics and interactions between characters which lead them to the places they go and the people they become; a corporate enemy who's as wonderfully entertaining as he is threatening; and theming so strong it's impossible to miss.

This is definitely part 1 of part 2, and I'm pointing desperately at Vulcan/Valkyrie going don't you dare mess this up, but as-is I'll be happy to take this movie as one that exceeded all my expectations. Zero-One is back




Also has anyone ever done that SOLD pun before? Where it's a double meaning of SOLD being short for Soldier but also that they're literally being sold as products? This CAN'T be the first time that has happened right, that's surely so obvious, but I've never seen anyone do it before. This feels like when I saw the Dynaman bad guys were called Evilution

I'll be real I've had no one ever call me that before so I just busted out laughing at that. I usually go by Zero in most circles, but if you wanna call me Enchy I honestly don't mind because of how much I laughed at that sudden nickname.

I will agree on your point that Naki and Raiden did feel a bit more like third wheels here. Since this was mostly a story about Jin, with Horobi, and then the two were sort of just there. Like even the opening title screen makes it clear that really the only two focus characters are Jin and Horobi, with Vulcan and Valkyrie showing up to sort of tease the second half of this set of V-Cinema's.

I'm admittedly curious to see if Azu will rise from the dead or if she's gone now forever. Given Noa Tsurushima has I think third to the top billing in Vulcan and Valkyrie? (If not third then pretty high for people to notice). So it'll be interesting to see if Azu shows up again or if we'll end up getting some Zero-Two with Izu since our president up in the stars.

Going by recent v-cins (Grease and Geiz), they seem to like having the last v-cin have all the riders gathered in their final forms after an absence of the main rider in the first one; even including special one-off things like Tsukuyomi and Prime Rogue. Would definitely expect to see Realizing and 02 teaming up again!

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

I watched this earlier today and immediately knew I wanted to open a post about it with this screencap, but this is also a movie that deliberately leaves a bitter aftertaste, so everything I tried to write after that was coming out weirdly sour. Thankfully, Toei was kind enough to wash that taste right the heck out in my time of need, so I can now come in here and say...

Yeah, it's pretty good, innit?

I guess my other problem was just that I might not have much to say about it? I can't hope to match Kurona's level of enthusiasm here, but this was just a really gripping film with some strong characterization and solid themes. (As a huge Horobi fan, it was especially satisfying.) I went in having heard ~just~ enough vague discussion beforehand to have an idea where things were going, and it was still exciting watching those twists and turns play out, even.

It maybe goes far enough with its dour tone that it won't be for everyone (Lyon's flawless English is the closest the film comes to having comedy), but even there, there's this meta notion that Aruto's unyielding kindness and optimism are just THAT crucial to this world that him being gone for a week causes everything to immediately descend into chaos, and I kind of love that? My favorite Zero-One things still definitely feature Zero-One, and this probably won't crack a list of my favorite V-Cinemas, but it was certainly something unique that was well worth the time. Looking forward to seeing how the second part of this duology puts this momentum to use.

I think my favorite part was Horobi's small interaction with Fuwa. It's something I needed in the show proper, actual interaction between riders that are outside of their own faction.

At first I didn't get what Horobi meant when he said "Would you forgive me if I killed your loved ones like Aruto did?" and Fuwa replies with "Nah bro, I'll destroy you!" to which Horobi laughs and admits that he himself is a fool.

There's a lot of meanings to it. Horobi doesn't believe he should be able to get away with what he and his organization is about to do, and Fuwa's reply means that family is important first and foremost and also a double meaning that he basically gives Fuwa permission to strike him down when they do something drastic. A small interaction, but a very meaningful one.

I loved that, too.

I feel like you don't really see stuff like that in v-cinemas, since they're basically extra material and you can live without them. It feels like such a real moment that we should have gotten in the show, though.

I feel like because it is something that would have been in the show proper, just reconstructed to fit Zero-One's post-show situation. Arkland's role feels like something could've been Williamson's and also might have been Ark-One's original role. They're both english-speakers as well and the ZAIA Spec logo of Ark-One would make sense more as well.

There's also the part with Yaiba having contact with the prime minister of defense, which is something that feels like should have been in the show.

Given how Ark-One was supposed to be in Azu's place in RealXTime, and the very ZAIA assisted nature of Thinknet...

And also just the fact that they seemed to be reworking Gai's role before Covid hit so they had to rush his redemption. Yeah it definitely seems like Williamson was supposed to have a bit of a different role aside from what we got.

I watched it earlier this week but didn’t like it very much. It featured the worst aspects of Rider V-Cinema, a redundant story, pointless new characters that try way too hard to integrate themselves into the established history of the show, and a super anticlimactic way of trying to tie up loose ends.

As much as I didn’t like it the story was actually the strongest part of it all, we finally get an explanation to Jin's resurrection, and the setup of the Solds calling Metsubojinrai back into action was nice. It still all felt a bit superfluous though.

The worst part was definitely Lyon Arkland though. What a terrible, annoying character. I don’t know if they told the actor to play the role like a bootleg Tony Stark with the emotional range of a toddler or if that was his decision but it was awful either way. And trying to tell me they named the Ark after him - hell no, I hate it. Now I can never look at any Ark-related Rider without having to think of this clown.

Another terrible idea - having them kill Azu. Now, Azu was never really that important, it was always very much apparent that they just tried to somehow involve a long-haired Izu into the story that was featured in the opening on a whim, but the way they disposed of her was terrible. Like, this is how it ends? It was so sudden that I almost feel like they did in on purpose to have her show up again in the next movie as the actual villain and try to make it a surprise.

Metsubojinrai as a Rider was rather meh. Suit design is bad, I did like the computer voice and cliché robot walk, but the form does nothing special except punch and kick real hard. Sometimes with weird computer effects that really don’t add anything. The action as a whole was quite boring to watch as well.

My favorite part in the entire thing was Horobi, because he was treated perfectly as his character very much reflects the ending of the show and him trying to fit into this new world.

So all in all a rater bad attempt at a Zero-One V-Cinema IMO. I will watch the next one just to see how the story continues but I'm not particularly looking forward to it.

A bit like Genm becoming a villain again in the Ex-Aid V-cinemas, a lot of this movie feels like Takahashi doing things he for some reason wasn't able to follow through on in the series proper -- and I imagine we'll see that continue in Vulcan/Valkyrie. Arkland in particular feels like Amatsu's earlygame role ramped up to 11 and is a very natural replacement for him; you've got Jin's whole mystery actually being revealed and explored here; SOLD is at last Zero-One going back to its themes of Humagear freedom and autonomy; and MBJR is given a sensible, interesting way for them to be opposing society and humanity that ties in with the overall themes of the show. Like, the movie is basically them sacrificing themselves to break the Humagears' chains - with visual symbolism that is so literal it doesn't want you to miss that point - and make sure it doesn't happen again.

Everything here from the plotting to the mystery revelations to the characterisation to the theming feels like something that would actually have been the show's endgame instead of just some extra post-series adventures, with Kamen Rider MBJR being the 'Ark-One' that Zero-One has to take care of instead of Vulcan and Valkyrie. I can absolutely imagine this being the general plan and thrust of the show at around the episode 40 mark if production hadn't been interrupted. That's all just speculation, though, and very much based on how I felt watching!

Isn't it great that "Escape" and "Enter" got their own special? :p

Being forever a step behind everyone else, I watched this earlier—mostly because I was interested in what would happen to Azu after the last movie—and I was really impressed in how different the tone was from what I remember of the episodes I did watch of the show. I'm not going to lie, I feel that the absence of Hiden Aruto really helped with the shift of tone, and I don't really feel bad about that as, well, regardless of Takahashi's ability as an actor, the character was one of the main reasons I stopped watching the show.

Having said that, I don't necessarily think the special was perfect; like everything over the past year or so, it's very noticeable how the plague must have impacted on development—everything seems so sparsely populated, all the scenes filmed in small, quiet areas. Despite this though, I really enjoyed the more brawling sort of fight scenes, especially where the collective MetsubouJinrai was involved, and I thought Arkland was a suitable villain and the actor was clearly having a great time hamming it up in his portrayal of the character.

I guess what really appealed was the suggestion of a different direction that this special offers. I'm not really too invested in Zero-One as a series, so I can't say as to how that must feel to people who really enjoyed the series, but I personally was pleasantly surprised.

I don't know. Look you guys, I'm slightly tipsy when writing this so I don't really know what I'm saying. I did really like Azu's wardrobe though. Those Chelsea boots with the clear heels were really nice, I'd really like a pair like that.

You wanna check out the P-Bandai section, see if they got anything?

As someone who enjoyed Zero-One, I did like the general direction and the way this went. Even if it was a lot of suffering for MBJR... and I love them a lot. But regardless, it felt like they were trying to do something with the ideas the series probably wanted to do, had Covid not hit.

That being said a lot of people I've seen who don't like the way the series went in it's direction, absolutely enjoyed this one with how it went back to a few things the series sorta skipped past. So it's definitely a more common opinion I've seen.

Comparing her various looks, yeah this one honestly comes on top. I think it's the leather jacket and dress combo that really got me. But also when the competition is the standard Izu Outfit, and a Goth Bride... yeah I think that's probably why I enjoy her wardrobe in this one a lot.

I’ll admit, while I don’t hate Aruto per se, he can be kind of a dealbreaker for the show, especially with being a wannabe comedian in a show full of military, corporate or terrorist characters, which kind of makes him stick out like a sore thumb. And as I’m currently rewatching the show, I’m finding his support for AI as the key to humanity’s future both annoying in light of the massive flaws the show displays them as having and hilarious since I’m watching another show where the main bad guy for season 1 not only has the exact opposite opinion (that the key to mankind’s future is to destroy all AI) and he is absolutely right (every one we see is a self-centred slob at best and a racist jerk at worst).

I mean... I think that is the entire point of his character? It's a fairly common trope in Toku, especially Sentai -- most of the other transforming heroes being people who are in far too deep to their roles, while the main character is a fresh face who brings either their down-to-earth or uniquely cheery attitude to the team as the key they've been missing all along. It's especially not difficult to see this with Aruto, a comedian who wants to protect everyone's smiles thrust into a stuffy boardroom of executives and later faced off against the megalomaniac experienced CEO Thouser.

Don't tell me that because then I see things like this, which I would legitimately wear in the office—although, needless to say, I hope never to set foot in an office again.

Sidenote: If Izu and Azu are meant to be is and as, wouldn't the new satellite in this make more sense as were?

I am sure that one day I will watch the whole series and really enjoy it and kick myself for not getting into it—but I think part of what put me off, and I do hate to bring it up again, is that I just never warmed to Aruto. I'm sure he grows as a character, and certainly I thought his presence was quite strong in the preceding movie, but in those first episodes he comes across as such a Genki! Genki! Red Ranger sort of character, and there's only so much of that I can put up with each week alas.

Hahah, I was quite fond of the Goth Bride look, I have to admit, I would happily wear that—which is probably all the warning anyone needs that such a look is a bad idea.

I really had to struggle to keep this show at arms length at time. I feel that if I had started trying to support Tsurushima Noa as well, i would have gone bankrupt, lol.

Roko's Basilisk. Hahah. Got you all!

No really, the wanting to give AI a chance to grow is possibly the thing that I feel I could warm to the most about his character; I like the idea of him wanting to champion life, even if it is unfamiliar. I mean, I am aware that perhaps I look at that through a very specific lens, but this is the one thing I find kind of endearing, I guess.

I don't know guys – are you really sure the neon yellow grasshopper was deliberately made to stand out? Seems like a pretty big leap of logic to me! :p

Way to to jump to conclusions there, Fish. Are you really sure you're authorized to make such claims?

Watched it earlier today back to back with REALxTIME.

I enjoyed it a lot, especially watching it "in order". Did we need more explanation over Jin's rebuilding by ZAIA outside of what the Thouser two-parter told us? No. Did they make it interesting? I'd say so. Using Jin as a basis for created Humagear created solely for military use and profiting off of it makes total sense for this world as it's not an angle we've seen until now despite how obvious it should have been.

Azu's sudden merc-ing was out of nowhere but also understandable. At the rate her character was going, she'd just keep trying to find new people to bestow Ark's will upon. Subverting it by having her latest choice suddenly come to the conclusion that Ark isn't relevant anymore and that a new threat is needed and thus having her killed fits. Plus I mean...she's a Humagear. It's easy to bring her back if need be.

I also really like the angle with MetsubouJinrai itself. Its creation came from a unified desire to ensure Humagear are treated with respect and aren't used in malicious ways like Arkland was planning to (Also loved him and his sass. Part Tony Stark, part Anti-Aruto) or that no Humagear act maliciously in order to preserve peace and order between them and humanity, but at the same time that unified mindset backfired on them because of their hatred of Arkland's end goal. They willingly killed a human without any outside influence. Thus they're a threat, so MetsubouJinrai destroyed their bodies. It's such a wild bait and switch that it makes me really look forward to how the next V-Cinema plays out.

So with all the recent Metsubojinrai Merch news showing up (Driver Parts and Key being out and the SHF) we've gotten our announcement via Monkey Majik and that's the full version of S.O.S is now available. Which is good because the movie version was very much a bop and it's now even more so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAkFYjCyT3I

Part 2 finale is out subbed.
Not as entertaining as the part 1. They legit kill off 5 character/riders and aruto is okay with their first plan and resolution. They try put way different spin on metsu. They never really regain consciousness or they’re monotone is just a facade for public to see. The final battle was underwhelming. You get the writer is going for mirror realistic world problem we live in with technology, war, and human misuse of weapons will come back haunt them. It might be more impactful if this was a stand alone and not a continuation half a year later. From saber x ghost to yodonna part 1 to 2 hinting part 3 for each respectable, but never come to fruition. It leave a sour note to end of 01 with random soul character to succeed representing and protecting the will of human gears from now on that. Hardly know and rarely develop like the core 4 members.