[Fish Sandwich]

I'll say this to start! I have to actively restrain myself from starting every thought I have about Den-O with this catchphrase, because Zeronos is my favorite secondary Rider ever! You'll notice in retrospect I even did so when talking about Kiriya for the first time in the Hibiki thread.

(Also: this is kinda the same deal as Asakura being "vexed" where TV-Nihon's clunky translation is something people like me are attached to because of how distinct it is. The phrase is the title of episode 20, so you can see how much the subs you're using having cleaned up that sort of thing.)

Anyways, yeah, Yuuto – love that guy! I could make an extremely long list filled with all the reasons why, because they're as numerous and complex as his weirdly thorough design motifs as Zeronos, but, as a quick sampler of some of those reasons:

- Zeronos' weirdly thorough design motifs, one of which Sunred just explained to you, the other of which will be more relevant in the next episode, and both of which hold clear thematic significance to Yuuto's character and his relationships with other members of the cast. One of the things I find most endlessly fascinating about Kamen Rider is how hard Toei and PLEX and all them always go on packing as much story and personality as they can into all these aesthetically appealing suits, and Zeronos goes even harder than most. I didn't even know about the Benkei/Ushiwakamaru thing until a few years ago.

- Zeronos would turn out to be the final secondary Rider with Makoto Itou as his suit actor, and he consistently turned in a heck of a performance. Zeronos is insanely active, selling you on those boasts of strength by casually flipping over his opponents and swinging around that ridiculously huge sword like it was just a tiny dagger or something. He's so cool.

- Naturally the sword itself – the ZeroGasher, in contrast to Ryoutarou's DenGasher – is also a huge favorite of mine. It's a big cool hero sword that turns into a sweet crossbow. What's not to love?

- Oh, and speaking of which, the way he contrasts Den-O and Ryoutarou specifically, as characters, is great. It's the typical primary/secondary Rider dynamic, but delivered in a more nuanced way that really goes to show what I love so much about Kobayashi's writing. Ryoutarou and Yuuto are natural opposites with plenty of mutual tension between them, but they aren't really at each other's throats all the time, either. It's a dynamic that brings out a lot more spine from Ryoutarou (I love him quoting the present-day Sakurai at him in 20), while also showing layers to Yuuto by framing his constant antagonism as him simply being extraordinarily bad at making friends.

- And, perhaps most importantly of all:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Yuuto showing up means Deneb showing up. I rest my case.

These episodes definitely do a great job reminding the viewer that Den-O is still the star in the end, and don't get me wrong, those guys are still great, but Zeronos being added to the mix is where the show really takes off for me, and I'll have yet more effusive things to say about him as you go along.