[GoldenXtreme]

I consider myself a big Zero-One fan, but the job arc is just too dang long. I appreciate what it is trying to do: it wants to show the tensions between Humagears and humans in the workforce, really make you hate Gai, and also have Aruto ultimately choose to undermine his chances at winning so he can uphold his principles. All of this is great on paper, but in implementation I it absolutely would have benefited from being like... 4 episode long instead of 14. Cut it down to 3 competitions and give two of them a single episode and one of them a two parter!


Anyways, in spite of its flaws I think Zero-One is a show that really has something to say, you can tell the staff was passionate about handling the AI theme. It's nice to see so much love for the final battle too! The final fight between Aruto and Horobi is honestly my favorite final battle in the entire Kamen Rider franchise. Just two people overwhelmed by grief and anger who have to find it in themselves to move on. In some ways, I feel like the pandemic happening lead to the story having a level of emotional rawness in the later episodes that it might have otherwise lacked, which might have actually been an improvement over the initial plans for the story. Just my thoughts on the matter.