Kamen Rider Zero-One: REAL×TIME
 

The movie is now subtitled via Over-Time, IzuSubs and maybe more. Let's discuss!

@Topic: I think the movie was pretty good. No unnecessary down-time, very fast paced with great action scenes and a decent plot to tie it all together.

I like how we're thrown straight into the action, how they stuck to the concept that the entire thing happens within one hour and how they explained the reasons for the attack as it was happening.

Plus, while the main villain’s motivation was very standard, the execution of his plan was kind of cool. He deliberately gathered the worst scum on the planet as his followers so he could be sure those very people would die and not be allowed into his "paradise".

Seeing all of the characters from the show again was very nice too, especially how they build up on the finale of the show. Like how Hororbi tries to give the words Izu told him back to her not knowing it was a different Humeagear.

Speaking of Izu, I knew they would restore her memories somehow and they didn’t do it all too shabby. The resulting “Double Rider” battle was certainly worth it.

As far as Kamen Rider movies go I would say this was one of the better ones, I enjoyed it.

One day has passed since my immediate opinion post of 'really liked it' in the other thread, and I can say that I do in fact still really like it :v Every Rider movie has the standard format of being a higher-budget one-off action-fest, and it feels like this movie totally embraces that, and in a weird way, that kinda helped me appreciate what few slow, character moments there were in-between, if that makes any sense. Es is not that much more compelling than the average movie villain, but I thought they did a really good job fleshing him out in the limited time they had. They then switched him out near the end for antagonists that are literally defined as the worst people he could find, which I thought was a neat little twist, since it allowed for a big climatic fight even after Aruto had appealed to the villain's emotions. I will assume the ending is him and Akane passing away together after making peace because it'd be kinda messed up to think that they are still just in that digital world.

No point in going into detail how every little fight scene (I thought they were literally all great, from Valkyrie's Kuuga stunt show to even the wonky CGI plane fight), but I just feel like mentioning how I was particularly fond the middle fight when Aruto confronted Es for the second time. The deeply-ingrained expectations I have of these kind of shows had me immediately assuming Metal Cluster Hopper was just going to job some more to Eden since Zero-Two already lost earlier, but then it actually got the upper hand using its unique ability to counter Eden's, and I was like 'wooooah!!?!'. Between this and its great showing against Ark Zero that one time, maybe it was right to hog all the screentime it did in the show?! (Actually still not true)

Gosh there's like so much to go through with how much this movie did amazingly?

But can we just talk about the fact that one of the props for the Abaddon Rider Army is a grenade that is just a painted rubix cube with the middle tilted? That caught me off guard, lol

Everyone got their moment to shine and I really liked how they basically made use of all available forms for the Riders that did show up. One last hurrah for Lightning Hornet too before it gets repainted to Justice Serval.

My friend said it was kind of lame how we sort of get this no name character with no real build up other than he's a scumbag taking up a new variant of the Eden suit, Lucifer (did we ever get the Abaddon Riders names in film? I don't think so) but I love it on a thematic level.

Because those guys who just crave pure destruction... that's what the Ark wants. That's exactly what Ark-Zero was, a sort of boring monster of pure destruction. All of Azu's picks have been people who have been emotionally vulnerable with feelings of negativity welling up within them. And I feel like that's partially on purpose, because they do address that method in MBJR. But it works well and fits into the theme of the Ark Candidates post Ark-Zero.

One thing I will focus on in this post and I do like is how they treated Aruto's fight scenes, at first you wonder why exactly Eden can keep up with Zero-Two given our Main Rider's ability is "I break the game" when it comes to movement, predictions, etc. But then you slowly start delving more into the mystery of everything and realize yeah of course Eden could just barely edge out Zero-Two. AI controlled Nanomachine's alongside a human in the pilot seat, they'd be able to counter just about anything, not to mention the regeneration ability and Eden's finisher seems like an absolute direct counter to Zero-Two.

So we get round two, and we have Aruto playing to this knowledge by utilizing Metal Cluster Hopper's swarm ability in a fantastic way. So much so that when I first saw it via the raw I'm like "Oh Metal Cluster fans are going to be so happy with this". It's such an ingenious utilization of what I considered a fairly boring form. And I have to admit I loved it's utilization. Aruto should have won and only lost because Eden decided to immediately use Hell Rising Hopper to nuke the field instead of waiting.

Round 3 ends up being such an interesting twist on the usual movie exclusive form. Hell Rising Hopper isn't something that was meant to edge out Eden in the slightest. It was very much a "I need this key destroyed, so I'll transform and kill myself to destroy it if I have to!" situation and I honestly loved that. Also just... just that tail end of the fight, with Izu, and Aruto's just painful closed mouth yells as he tries to get something out... absolutely powerful.

And then versus Lucifer with Aruto having gotten a reality check between his prior fight and this, he's able to fight alongside his partner and after working on their opponents separately, work together to completely overwhelm Lucifer in an outstanding display of team work.

Also I know a lot of people joked about Aruto and Izu marrying when they created Zero-Two. But like... it's totally official now right? Cause I mean, Double Rider transformation. In a church of all things, flower petals dropping. They're basically married at this point! lol

This was okay. Like its double-billed partner there’s absolutely no substance going on here and it’s just an extended showcase of special effects and a bunch of riders, which is fine for what it is. Nice soundtrack

I also think was well done. I didn’t even realize what was happening to Eden when he was tumbling, the little hoppers eating him from the inside and crawling out was fantastic.

Hm... I don’t think this is true. Like, little substance? Not a whole lot? Maybe.

Absolutely none? I disagree. The story behind Es, which I think was rather well intertwined with what was happening in the show, Izu's little quest for her true self - it isn't much but combined with the gorgeous scenery shots this movie pulled off it got me good sometimes. Like, Aruto stepping out of the train with all the bodies lying outside for example.

Also, the Thinknet goons. I didn’t know what to make of these guys except that I thought they looked comically out of place in the trailers, turns out that’s exactly their deal and makes perfect sense. The shot of that messy mother neglecting her crying baby while playing world destroyer was almost a bit too much.

I'm not trying to overrate what was essentially very much a Kamen Rider movie, but I wouldn't say it lacked substance to a point that it didn't have any.

If anything, what I really liked about this movie was how it took the cookie cutout formula (evil villain makes grand announcement, everyone journeys towards him to fight) and mixed that up completely: We already start with the fight, we are not made aware how this came to be until later, and the backstory behind the villain is puzzled together over the course of its runtime. I kind of enjoyed how I had no idea what was going on and it took some steps to get the whole picture, layer by layer. I find that unusual for a Rider movie because all the ones I’ve seen are very straight forward with where it starts and where it needs to end.

I think it pretended to have some for sure, but it's a very stock plot with no passion and no real characterisation behind it. Doesn't really matter though; it's a very pretty popcorn flick and that's all it needs to be

I loved this! The movie didn't waste any second and I think we got a good mix of action and comedy. The part where the Humagears are torturing that guy or when Shesta starts making a wrestling move, all of them without changing their expressions, priceless! Also, the part where they practice to laugh at Aruto's jokes was so wholesome.

I wasn't expecting the structure of how the story was presented, at first I thought it was gonna be like Saber's movie, only fight scenes, but the way they presented the beginning of the attack and the motives behind it was quite clever if you ask me. Plot-wise, is basically True Ending, but better.

As a MCH fan I can tell you that's what happened. I'm glad my favorite form got some love and I was jumping of happiness when Eden realized (Aruto ja naito) that he screwed up.

Finally a wedding concept that is better than the one from Akibaranger!

Another highlights from the movie:
-Valkyrie on a bike!
-Ikazuchi delivering the bike because ZEA ordered it ten minutes earlier, haven't they considered compete against Uber?
-Double Rider action

The only thing that I didn't like was when they pretended that Izu was gonna die, again. Why do they have to toy with my emotions like this?! But seriously, every time Aruto gets a major upgrade Izu has to suffer in one way or another, it's getting old. Aside from that, I might watch it again because I enjoyed every single second of it.

I love the exchange between Izu and Aruto at the end. Aruto said something very similar to Soreo, and he was so certain that it wouldn't be possible for Aruto to make him laugh, that he instead devoted his life to giving Aruto the ability to make others laugh.

Compare that to Izu being absolutely certain that Aruto will indeed, make her genuinely laugh, someday. Loved it.

Okay, so what do you get when you resurrect a Rider summer movie that never was, made by a production team now filled with vigor and determination brought on by the very setbacks that forced them to shelve the script in the first place? What would happen if you gave those guys one last big chance to have Zero-One leave its mark on the new era?

And the answer is – you get something more than a little divine.

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You know, I remember the last time a Rider show produced by Takahito Oomori and written by Yuuya Takahashi got a big movie coda, I was pretty hyped for it too. True Ending somewhat inexplicably managed to live up to that hype for me, so you might think I was really pressing my luck hoping to go two for two here, and with a much bigger wait in which grow those expectations to boot. I mean, Zero-One even already has a track record when it comes to being disappointing, right?

But no, sure enough, I adored Real×Time from start to finish, and having seen it twice already, I'd like to sit down for a second and just dig into reason after reason why until I'm satisfied I'm getting my passion for this one across.

Cutting right to the chase, reason 01 is that it's directed by Teruaki Sugihara. It would be impossible to overstate the importance of this simple fact. This is a dude who brings a level of flashy style to Rider and Sentai that nobody else is matching right now, and that's as evident here as its ever been. Sugihara's big inspirations are apparently anime and video games, like a proper nerd, and those influences are strongly reflected in the way he loves to use animation-esque exaggeration in his live-action fight scenes. The big sweeping motions, the dynamic angles, and the brief little moments where time almost stands still to let the viewer focus in on what's happening – it's exactly 0% realistic, and 100— no, 1000% believable and engrossing. Sugihara's action pulls you right into the world, and it always looks so beautiful while it's doing it. Like, do I even need to explain why this stuff looks good? Just look at it!

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It's a total feast for the eyes, right!? This is only scratching the surface, too. The whole movie seriously does look this amazing. It's not even only a matter of the loud action parts being good. More subtle and quiet moments can also be hugely elevated by Sugihara.

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He also knows to pay attention to things as simple as how a change in the color palette can give a scene a totally unique look.

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Basically everything Sugihara has done to this point is in here somewhere, like the Jin VS Jet sequence that's straight out of the start of Lupinranger VS Patranger's second episode; or the shot that ends the final battle, which is sure to look familiar to anyone who's seen Zi-O or Reiwa The First Generation.

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What these stills obviously can't communicate is the way the motion of each scene factors into everything coming together so well, my favorite part about Sugihara's direction to watch, and maybe my least favorite to describe, because I never feel like I'm doing it justice. I guess I can't speak for everyone, but my eyes just always know where they need to be in the frame when I'm watching something by him. That's what makes all those trademark techniques of his as fun to see as they are – how they're flashy AND functional. There's a beautiful rhythm to his scenes I can only hope to ever truly put my finger on. The direction in this movie is phenomenal. If you want a huge epic toku movie that balances pure adrenaline with purposeful stillness, Sugihara is the man.

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Oh, and speaking of beautiful rhythms, reason 02 is that Gou Sakabe did the music, and his work on Zero-One impresses me every bit as much. The detail I'd immediately throw out there to sum up what I'm about to talk about is the noise of the timer on Eden's Thousand Jacker heard throughout the movie. It's clearly designed specifically to blend into the soundtrack where needed, to the point where you might not even realize it's diegetic, but it is! And that effort is really appreciated, because on top of the benefits to the score, it's just plain cooler, more ominous, and more distinctive as a sound than a typical digital stopwatch kinda noise would've been. The movie's music perfectly complements the visuals to add further clarity to everything that's going on, and in the process, Sakabe mixes together tons of the existing motifs from the TV series in fun ways. I think this is actually the first time we've heard the action version of the MetsubouJinrai BGM, and like, you get to hear it together with Vulcan's. The music in this movie isn't just good, it's glorious.

With the audio and the visuals locked down that insanely tight, it's really on the script at that point not to let that go to waste, and I don't think Takahashi did here. One thing I've always praised him for since Ex-Aid, what I feel is his most distinguishing thing as a writer, is that I feel he cares deeply about structure, and that means this movie's premise probably had him exceptionally fired up.

The timer is only broadly accurate to the film's runtime, if anyone was wondering. Between things like scenes in a digital world that might not necessarily follow the rules, and the simple demands of telling the story in a natural way, the clock only lines up properly for stretches at a time. That single hour takes ends up taking over 70 minutes. This isn't an issue of course, and I'm surprised it's as close as it is, but it's worth mentioning.

How exactly the idea translated on-screen isn't the point though; the point is that this concept is made for Takahashi, and he makes the most of it. Everything about the way the movie paces itself is impeccable. The film starts with events already in progress, and gradually fills in the details as it goes along. There's an instant sense of momentum and tension, but it's broken up very naturally by the scenes where the plot reveals its next layer, giving the audience spots to breathe while also feeding that new information right back into the drama to make sure the momentum isn't reduced by taking time to slow down. The way the story progresses is remarkably smooth because of all this.

The story itself also centers around an antagonist who benefits immensely from the way the story is laid out. Eden isn't spectacularly deep as a character, nor is he unlike anything you've ever seen before, but his role is very well fleshed out, and that makes him a compelling presence. Going back to the clever way exposition is handled here, I love how he's presented as this imposing cult leader seemingly driven by vague, grand ideals, only for it to be revealed how his motivations are entirely personal by the end. It's the kind of thing where Es is even more interesting on a rewatch, as you can go back with the knowledge of what "paradise" actually means to him, and what his fixation on sixty minutes was really about, and realize the significance of things like the visual of his transformation into Eden, or why Azu is dressed how she is. Es is not a deep character, but there's enough meat on him, delivered in an interesting enough way, that he can still hold your attention. A very well executed version of a fairly stock villain archetype. It helps that Eden himself is just plain cool, with the creepy blood vein aesthetic and the disturbing abilities.

On the other side of the moral fence is everybody from the show, who mostly get their moments to shine. Ikazuchi and especially Naki get the worst luck there, but I also know for a fact their inclusion in the film is a result of the (apparently relatively minor) rewrites the script received to be set after the series instead of during it, so at least there's an explanation for that. When it comes to just about everybody else, though, I mean, even Shesta gets to do something cool.

In contrast to his MBJR comrades, Horobi actually benefits from the change in the movie's timeframe, as he gets plenty of tiny moments that nicely reflect the character growth he had by the end of the show. This is also the case for Fuwa, although I don't think this was intentional, but he spends a huge amount of his screentime teaming up with Horobi and Jin, which kinda highlights how far he came from his "scrap all HumaGears" days. Valkyrie gets to be awesome, which is all I want from poor Yua, and Gai sure is having fun as usual. The show's main Riders outside of Aruto are distinctly in side roles, largely moving the plot along with no greater emotional investment, which contributes to the film's strong focus, but they're given enough neat moments to keep from feeling left out because of that. The strangely Sakamoto-esque scene with them all brandishing their weapons untransformed was also quite cute. (Yua and Horobi obviously pull it off, but Gai just looks silly.)

Aruto's role in the film is another thing that goes to show how neat and cleanly the plot structure is. We get a handful of Zero-One/Two fight scenes, all showdowns against the main bad guy Rider, all very unique in execution, and all spaced out enough so that it's an event each time one happens. He's the star of the show, so he's too good to go around fighting mooks throughout the city. Instead, he creates room for the other Riders to shine doing that in the first half hour by spending a huge amount of time in a virtual world learning about the plot, before ultimately leaping back into action with a greater understanding of what's at stake. His arc with Izu is fairly straightforward, but it's an arc nonetheless, and adds some emotion to the movie. Probably could've been something more with a more significant retool to the script, but the upside of it not being the core of the movie is that it isn't the core of the movie, so it's not exactly dragging everything down.

What's most impressive throughout all of this, as always, is the performances Noa Tsurushima and Fumiya Takahashi bring to these characters. For most of the runtime, Tsurushima has to deliberately play Izu like she was at the start of the show, which means I had to actively think to realize how impressive that kinda is, because it's rather subtle, but Takahashi, man. I honestly believe he's one of the most talented leads Rider has ever had. Whether he's making dumb jokes or screaming in horrible agony, he does it all with such conviction, and this story gives him plenty of room to display that. I'm sure a lot of people just find it all to be obnoxious mugging or whatever, but I'm telling you, he knows exactly what he's doing, and he's extremely good at doing it all.

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As I touched on talking about Aruto's character arc, though, there are obviously some elements of the story that aren't particularly fleshed out, but I think it's kind of to the movie's credit how little any of that bothers me. Like, yeah, Lucifer's a big ol' ball of nothing much, but I'm kind of having so much fun watching the dream team-up between Zero-One and Zero-Two at that point it's hard to care too much. There's way too much this movie did right for that. I've gone this far and haven't even mentioned how solid it is about connecting to the series thematically, with all the concepts like the misappropriation of cutting-edge technology, and the cult of personality stuff, and the way that all reflects the often dark nature of the human heart and—

Well, that's probably worth a whole separate rant, actually, but you know, I have to stop somewhere. Again, probably to the movie's credit that I can go this long and feel like there are entire angles to it I've yet to cover at all. I REALLY liked this one. I won't make any premature declarations about where it might end up standing on my list of favorite Rider movies in the long run, but I can definitely see myself coming back to Real×Time pretty frequently. I wasn't surprised that it was good; I was surprised by how good it was.

I’m gonna go with Kurona and agree this film did nothing for me. It’s basically a slightly weaker version of Ex-Aid’s movie, only being better where it doesn’t really matter. I actually found the Abbadon users more sympathetic than S (I’d like to know where that name came from, as well, since it’s not an initial and I can’t think of any bible references it could be), mostly because of how selfish his motives are. When they declared their intent to kill his wife, I was less “oh no, somebody stop them”, and more “yes, do it. She’s literally the causes of everything bad in this movie”.

And I also think the whole merger of the two Is’s shouldn’t have been a thing, since it basically robs the new one of anything meaningful by making her into a backup for the original.

Somehow this feels like a momentous occasion :lol

But yeah, a lot of this rings true to me. It feels VERY much like True Ending where it's a little pointless to make this post-series and it doesn't really change anything while just repeating a lot of what happened in-series (this really is Aruto's third berserker form screamfest, huh...). The Izu thing also bothered me a lot -- I get what they were going for, but this completely erases any possible positive of Izu 2 before she's allowed to grow (I don't think she had a single scene with Aruto before saving him?) and downgrades her in-series death to... a more explodey version of amnesia.

I think S's plan to basically raise a cult of ark-lovers and then kill them all is... really impressive, actually, perhaps the one interesting thing about him; but 1. I was so done with this Ark rubbish by its second episode, and 2. It's maybe a little screwed up to paint them with that brush instead of trying to help them??? Maybe the idea is that if they were going to do this then they were always full of malice and couldn't be helped or something... but that's 100 Million people! I don't really know about this!

Watched this last night and only now did I manage to put together my thoughts. After I was done doing a lot of things. So..

The "WOW!"

Let's get the action out of the way. It was a spectacle under Sugihara! The return of the bike fight, the brutality of some attacks, the stunt action, and great use of each rider's abilities. Zero-One and Zero-Two's final fight was the highlight of the film of course! Izu's mannerisms in the 02 suit was stupid in a good way! All very cool!

As stated by Fish, Fumiya and Noa were amazing here. Aruto was great as per usual, whether he was being a dork or the hero known as Zero-One, he puts forth as to why he is THE #1 Reiwa Rider! Noa is great as Izu running around doing errands as usual, but she shines the most during the end where she stops Aruto as Zero-Two and teams up with him. You can tell the two cared for each other as they fought on Lucifer and that kind of long stare at each other at the end. The part where Izu tells Aruto that she doesn't want to lose him, pulled my heartstrings a bit. I liked rider couples a lot. This one is going into my list along with Shinnosuke and Kiriko.

Speaking of rider couples, Esu/Rihito and Akane! I know Hideaki Ito definitely had lots of fun playing as Esu! His charisma and presence in the movie is very good! Esu and Akane's backstory is another byproduct of Gai's meddling with the Ark, only this time in a way that doesn't concern Humagears but also, somehow, the lives of people as well! Esu's plan was odd (I'll explain that later), but I guess being clouded with anger it would have holes in it.

Now, there isn't much of Akane, but whatever little screentime she had would already make me understand why she was Esu's fiance. They were great together. Especially the wedding scene! This is more of a personal thing, but I've seen ppl say they've had tears during Aruto and Izu's heart-to-heart after HRH's debut, but I had felt my tears during the wedding scene, because I'm a sucker for wedding scenes with emotion. The church brightening, Esu's clothes turning white, coinciding with the Reiwa double riders' rose petal covered fight, all screaming with LOVE! And that's what theme is the movie, I feel.

Everyone else, Fuwa, Yaiba, Gai, Horobi, and Jin, they all had some fun interactions. I also especially like the part with Fukuzoe and his partner, really shows his growth from the show and respect for his President. But I do have some very minor nitpicks. Gai, as per usual, was a blast for me to watch. I love the guy, goddamn.

The "Okay, fine."

Naki and Raiden. I can't knock on them on this one, they pretty much last minute additions and removing them from the movie entirely doesn't change much of the plot anyway and from what I've read in the production notes, they didn't have much time getting some scenes done since they were pressed for time with the restrictions and all, but also they were doing it while the show was running so they probably don't know how it all still ends. In a perfect world, I would have wanted the two to transform at least once. Have an additional 5 minutes for the movie to have Ikazuchi help out Aruto make his way to Esu and Naki to maybe defend the van from some Abaddons who found it. They're fine with what little they had. Raiden's truck scene got me smiling at least since I like Raiden.

Now, the interactions between the cast sans Aruto and Izu. There's a lot that happened between the show and the movie with each other in this one that we didn't see. Especially given the context of the ending of the show and the Final Stage.

Horobi and Fuwa are weirdly buddy-buddy considering the two have barely interact in the show (probably a case of the covid break or and the job arc), Fuwa and Jin too. Basically, Fuwa's interactions with MBJR are odd considering there's probably something that happened between the show ending and the movie where there's a big reconciliation for the multiple factions. There's also Gai (omg Reiei's is talking about Thouser again ughhh), I'll just simplify it and say I'm petty and I wish the four other riders should have at least thanked him a bit for basically putting in the leg work to get the info for Esu and the ThinkNet/2ch Abaddon weirdos but still declined him anyway. Especially given the context of the Final Stage (if that's even canon) where Fuwa expressed his gratitude to Gai for restoring the chip. But in any case, it's just a minor petty nitpick for me because of my liking towards Gai lol.

The "Ehh...?"

While a good movie nonetheless, I had some few issues with it.

Lucifer is an afterthought. I get it, yes, they needed a villain for Aruto and Izu to fight without having it be Esu, and also for Bandai to shill one more gimmick for the Eden driver, but he did feel hollow. Probably still a case of them being in a sort of rush with this movie, but I felt like I needed a bit more time to pretend I care about this guy, rather than just having him be here and make le villain speech. Just something I feel, there's not really weight to this issue of mine.

Izu's restoration. Ah, here we go. This was my biggest concern with the movie when I saw the trailers. Were they going to make Izu-2 (that's what we'll call new Izu) have all the memories of Izu-1 and basically say "Nope!" to the whole ordeal that Aruto went through as Ark-One? Hmm.... No? Maybe?

From what I understood from the movie, Izu-2 did NOT get a full restore. It was more of a highlight-reel, the bare essentials, for Izu-2 to correctly react to the situation and aid Aruto. There was the part Izu-2 tells Aruto that she hasn't learned what a heart is, how to laugh, and that's what convinced me that this isn't Izu-1 resurrected. After all, how can Izu-1 wish for all humagears to someday have heart when she, herself, don't even know it yet? At least that's how I understand it. This isn't Izu-1, Izu-2 is her own person and nothing will convince me otherwise.

HOWEVER, the issue lies with Izu-2's.. uhh... Individualism? That the correct word? Basically, I wish they'd have sprinkled in a bit more Izu in the scenes succeeding her stopping Hell Rising to signify that this isn't the previous Izu. Maybe have her speak out as well during when Aruto convinces Esu, take the lead sometimes during the fight Lucifer, show an extra bit more emotion towards Aruto's joke at the end. Something to say "No, this is an entirely different person, carrying the legacy of the first Izu." Tho, I guess Izu transforming into Zero-Two by her own accord rather than to just deliver the belt to Aruto was more or less that difference? I guess?

As for Aruto, I've prety much thought that Aruto accepted Izu-2 as her own person. That's how I'll want it to be.

Noa Tsurushima is placed third in terms of importance (Ryutarou Okada and Hiroe Igeta being 1st and 2nd respectively.) in the casting list, so unless that's Azu, I hope Izu-2 gets to transform to Zero Two once more or showcase some more scenes of her being, well, not Izu-1. It is the final story in Zero-One, and as with the case with Geiz Majesty and Grease Perfect Kingdom with having most, if not all, of the riders transforming again, I hope that's the case here too.

Overall, REAL×TIME gets a 8.5/10 for me. I think this is one of the best solo rider movies I've watched since Surprise Future. Sincerely hope Saber gets a shot at his own full-length post-show solo movie. Doubt it tho.

It's funny because yeah this is basically a variation of True Ending.

But also, for me it's definitely a better version of True Ending for me tbh. Es just works a lot better than uh... I forget his name so let's call him Ninja Dude. But given the circumstances, it makes sense why this got shifted from mid-series to post-series.

Also for anyone curious I've seen a tumblr post floating around, this user usually translates a lot of production notes and interviews for Rider. It's a good tumblr blog to just follow cause you get more of an idea of what goes on I feel.

A lot of it being stuff I saw from two particular posts about RealXTime is how this movie shifted entirely, stuff like Horobi needing certain nuances due to this being post series, Naki and Raiden being non factors due to their character arcs not being decided at the time but placed in afterwards due to it being post series.

Twitter Production Bits

Audio Commentary Bits

Given a lot of elements of this movie, I think ZAIA and two certain individuals were meant to be a lot more involved in the endgame than it just being Ark itself. This sort of lends to stuff like how Ark-One's key has the Zaia Spec on it. Plus the idea that Ark-One would be active during this movie too...

Oh we've already got a confirmation and a poster for summer movies of Saber and Zenkaiger, don't worry about that

Wouldn't it be really funny if against all expectations, Zenkaiger gets the sixty-minute run out of this double billing and Saber has to again make due with half an hour.

That's the thing bugging me tho. It's called a "Super Hero Senki" and there's a plus sign. Dunno if I haven't gotten all the info yet, but chances are it could also be Saber + Zenkaiger movie team up.

Not as impressive as others make this out to be,(in my o)and I LOVES some Zero-1.
Actually expected a bit more from the story, which seemed hella rushed, Izu getting herself backed up DID NOT SIT WELL WITH ME, the bad guy was ok at best, no time for a deep dissertation, barely awake right now. GOOD Rider movie, but it felt..... Hollow? Anyways, love you guys, this site is fun for my old ass....

Saber is worst. It’s not cohesive. Too much cgi action and its all touma preaching without prior build up. Despite press con , Phoenix or falcon rider actor is barely in it. It’s like a extended video game cutscene. People said recent sentai movies are short and bad, but saber is worst without trying to tell a story. It’s just go buy the new movie form and villain rider merchandise. The rest of the riders are there to shoot for movie trailer kind of like Deadpool 2. Make sure there was epic pose of the 6. We get the typical world is ending, a supporting character narrated exposition about the heroes, as well as big bad being sick of human conflict so he decided to destroy everything. A lot of generic one liner. A waste of kamen rider anazon alpha actor at lent .

Heard the first part of the 01 spinoff ended in cliffhanger and it isn’t good along with saber stuff. Post build , zio to saber is a drought of content minus early 01 and last few episodes of 01. The decade anniversary was a whole lot of wtf as well. It’s worst when it’s serious instead of jokes like gaim and recent dan vs thouser streaming sp.

Saber gets a pass, since hey had a limited time frame to write it in and the film itself is visually stunning. This movie has no excuses.

Not that it needs "excuses", but aren't you forgetting that this was initially a summer movie that had to be postponed and reworked?

Also, how is this movie not visually stunning? The opening sequence alone is amazing looking.

What I learned from RealXTime is that online Gamers are one step away from trying to blow up the world. The most believable thing Kamen Rider ever did.

But yeah, I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking of the Ex-Aid summer movie, because this is just that, but like, a lot better? Esu doesn't have much too him, but it's still more meat (both in characterisation *and* plan) that he's probably still among top 5 movie villains in that regard. The Sentai team of non-Hiden Riders all get good stuff, whether it be solo action scenes, cute little character moments (Jin calling Fuwa "Gorilla" was worth the runtime alone), or literally everything Horobi does. He 100% benefits from this being post-series, meaning we're freed from any "Oh we're just working with you humans because we also don't wanna die" that might have otherwise have to be invoked, and we get to see him in his new role as defender of life.

As for Aruto and Izu, it sure is funny how often one of the friendliest, most openly compassionate main Riders constantly gets himself evil forms, huh? I don't mean that as a criticism - it's almost a point of Aruto's character by now that his primary tactic is to let himself get whaled on while trying to redeem somone, and using a beserker form means he can let his driver punish him while he fights, it's genius! But yeah, he doesn't have much of an arc hee, but he puts the plot together, and he saves the day by opening his heart to someone. That's how you know it's Aruto. As for Izu, I see people's problems, but I think that middle scene is open to interpretation? I think the final scene makes clear that Izu2 might have a little more of Izu1's memories, but not the understanding, the depth behind them. She's not quite the old Izu we knew, but the soul is still there. Idk, maybe I'm being charitable because that final 01/02 fight was amazing.

As others have said, the film looks amazing, and while it's not exactly pefect (Lucifer is exactly the mindless villain we could have got with Esu, I had to check on the wiki who he was because I'd forgotten which general was which by the end), and the in-media-res aspect probably lends the film better to a second watch than a first, so you spend less time trying to piece it together and can appreciate the art putting it together, I think I've talked myself into rating it pretty well.

Something small I like by the way? The 02 key in the Thousandjacker. For a toyline that has a huge amount of henshin devices, 01 has been very hesitant to actually mix and match keys and have them shared between Riders beyond Flying Falcon; with pretty much all of the upgrade keys having been designed for a specific one. So it's nice to see them do something like this which feels almost as kitbashy and "you're-not-supposed-to-do-that" as Kamen Rider Blood.

You know speaking about how this is basically just Gamers using V-Tuber technology to spray the world with internet gas...

Did anyone else feel like that one grenade the Abaddon tried to use was super weird? You know the one I'm talking about, the one that's basically a Rubix Cube that's painted green but with the middle tilted. Was like... that our hint? That we'd be dealing with Gamers? Or was it just a real odd prop decision on Toei's part?

Okay, first of all, whoever's idea it was to put Zero-One suits under a blacklight is a genius. Really dynamic opening. The rest of this was pretty decent. The action was really good but the plot was kinda weak and definitely felt rushed by the end. The whole thing was worth it for the Zero-One/Zero-Two team up. If we get more Zero-One content I would love to see that happen again.

I'm not usually one to pay attention to rider stats (because, well, they're complete nonsense), but I found this one kinda funny.

Here's 02's stats:-

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

And here's Realizing's stats:-

https://i.imgur.com/qeN73Kk.png

02 is actually a little stronger than Realizing (and fun fact is more powerful than any 01 form in all stats, including Ark-One and Hell Rising). This means that when they're double ridering in this movie, Izu is canonically stronger than Aruto

Ensuring this was the case was actually a specific motivation for making Hell Rising a "negative" power up, even. They were very committed to the idea that Zero-Two's whole point is being better than Zero-One.

You know what I forgot to do, I gotta give a shout out to the men and women of AIM's because they jobbed so hard during the series because that's what they were meant to do.

Either make the Riders look cooler by default until they became the grunt squad of Battle Raiders.

But here we actually see them handling their own quite well and it honestly made me smile to see them actually beating back the Abaddon forces. Granted they were facing Gamers, but still.

This hits the nail on the head.

Loved the action. Loved the budget. Did not love that Aruto spent 75% of his screentime just, like, screaming painfully. And when he wasn't screaming painfully, Es was. It was just like... a lot of painful screaming. Too much for my taste (and eardrums).

I tend to skip the modern Sentai and Rider tie-in movies because, well, they're not really movies so much as they are a few episodes smooshed together. I was compelled to give this one a shot because of how startlingly Es and Azu were introduced in the last episode of Zero-One. I just... I wish Toei would get writers who understood the difference between the mediums to work on these, but that's never gonna happen, so I will continue to pass on these.

I'll second this. Good to see the Hard Squad and associated hangers-on manage to get an honest win for once.

Did we watch the same movie? In what world did Aruto just "scream" for 75% of his screen time? Same with Es? Neither of them did that. The only time Aruto was extendedly screaming and yelling was the Hellrising Hopper battle. The movie was probably one of the better "summer films." Even if it's relatively simple in premise, it follows up on themes from Zero-One and retaining the feel of the show.

The only thing that could have been better handled, imo, was ThinkNet. Es is the only villain given any real character, so when Lucifer shows up it feels pretty pointless as to why he specifically is the next one in line for the Ark.

I was exaggerating for comedic effect when I said 75%, but Aruto definitely screamed… a lot… and loudly… and so did Es. Too much for my taste.

I do actually agree that this is one of the better Summer Movies that I’ve seen, but like I said, I tend to avoid them. Because even though the action is usual plentiful and excellent, they tend to have terrible pacing. At best, they feel like tacked on fun (as it is here); at worst, they retroactively sabotage the show itself.

I didn’t dislike watching this movie. I don’t regret it. The action was so great. But it was, overall, a pretty hollow and uninspiring experience… for me.

I enjoyed this quite a lot, even though I didn't really watch all of Zero-One. I didn't think it quite succeeded in exploring the ramifications of all of its themes, but I am also aware that such was not the mandate of the story, being as kurona called it, "a popcorn flick." Certainly, I liked it enough to write fic about some of the way its themes could be addressed, but, you know, for the most part, I really enjoyed it; I have a weak spot for mass-produced armour like Abaddon—the Zaku II of the Reiwa Rider era—and I've been quietly optimistic about this movie for quite a while.

I did think it was quite telling that the principle character was all but incidental to the unfolding of the story, and I felt that whilst it did a very good job of giving each member of its cast a moment in which to shine, gosh there a lot of them, lol.

Also, I don't know if any of you noticed, but I regret to inform you that a lot of you are backing the wrong horse in your dedication to a certain ship.

https://i.imgur.com/LwIRk5b.png

I'll perish before I let this board become a hotbed of selfcest. you just watch.

*whispers* we're already amongst you.