[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 17 - “I’M THE TRUE PRESIDENT KAMEN RIDER”

On that level, it’s great? Gai’s thing is that he absolutely cannot conceive of any way in which he’s less than Aruto, which makes Aruto’s digs (like noting that ZAIASPEC sales haven’t gone up 1000 percent, only 700-something) such a delight. Gai takes himself a thousand percent seriously, so he’s a natural foil to a stand-up comedian. Beyond the corporate trappings and the weird backstory with Grandad Hiden and whatever, there’s a natural friction between these two people that works so well in every scene. I could watch Gai smirk and Aruto snark pretty much all day.

At this point, perhaps the stakes is still low for Gai being a smug prick, but still a reminder that Gai is the one who caused Ark to turn this way, he's responsible of all the Magias and MetsubouJinrai.net itself. The stake here is trickier than you think y'know, I think one of the hardest villains to fight is those who have good publicity, the people on their side. It means he had more free reign to do whatever he wants, of which what can he pull after he wins the battle between Humagears and ZAIA Specs, which was only a stepping stone towards his goal (yeah still is for the ZAIA taking over HIDEN), because not much people know about his true sinister nature. Attempting to fight off against villains like this (including the one behind the Ark) can be met with dire consequences for the heroes like harassment lawsuits, breaking & entering or assault charges, or bad press, or even being the one painted as villains in the public eye.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The actual meat of the story was nicely low-key, trading in a gentleness that I love to see. The central conflict is a fun one, where Gai is pushing human augmentation, while Aruto stumps for Humagears. It’s an interesting idea, because ZAIA’s feels like the more humane approach: it’s about centering human achievement, rather than dumping humanity’s hard work off to robots. But it actually comes off colder here than the use of Humagears, because it’s all about rigid math. ZAIASPEC is a multiplier, and nothing more. The Humagears, however, are about collaborating to create something unexpected, and the wonder of that partnership. ZAIASPEC is science, but Humagears are art. Putting those two things in opposition makes for a fun story.

And at first glance, the role seems to be favorable for Gai and unfavorable for Aruto, with how Gai seems "loyal" to human to paint them as superior ones, while Aruto seems to be a "traitor" for helping machines. But Aruto specifically fights for the sake of co-existence between HumaGears and humanity, and Gai in reality only cares for nothing but himself. And as you said here, yeah the irony is that, despite how Gai looks down on machines compared to humans, his profit-driven mindset is more cold and data-focused than any Humagears, his suit is designed to already be "perfect". A blatant way to show how Gai only cares about himself and not even humanity overall (while being racist to Humagears) is that he himself had dark view of humanity, claiming that the Ark's judgment is exactly what mankind deserves. Otherwise, you gave quite good explanation of ZAIA Spec compared to Humagears there (sort of in Humagear's favor), because I'd be more conflicted to evaluate regarding technologies like Humagears replacing humans jobs (despite not being the intention).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

And then there’s Thouser! Gai finally gets his Kamen Rider debut, and it’s as gaudy and ostentatious as you might’ve expected, but turned up to 1000. His driver uses two Zetsumerise Keys. The costume is gold and silver. Every belt jingle has a little “ZAIA Enterprises” tag, which is *chef’s kiss*. His whole debut is just no-selling Zero-One’s offense, which is disappointingly pedestrian (every single Q2 Rider gets the same type of debut!), but the weird psychodrama of his take on Kamen Rider more than makes up for the standard elements. He’s nothing special, so he needs to be shouting how special he is all the time. It’s great.

The ZAIA Enterpises tag is nice touch for sure, though obviously it's done to show how egocentric he is, kinda like that sometimes, the medium is self-aware that Kamen Rider devices can be something that is so special it transcends humanity, like mostly humans are normal, but they can be super with those, that it's something worthy of commercial jingle (in his henshin sequence). I'd value the tradesnark qualities for that, not for how cool fighting as a Rider is or his finishing moves though (if the show also painted him as that), and even as you said, his debut is nothing special (except to him). Which includes someone who has no combat skills like Gai, but his sheer Thouser power at this point leads for him to tank attacks from a superhero.