[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE - “PRESIDENTS SPECIALS”



Better than I thought it was going to be?

Like, the only piece of new footage is of an upcoming Ark suit, as far as I can tell. Every bit of Aruto’s reaction footage is cribbed from other episodes, same as all of the Izu/”Izu” stuff from Satellite There. The rest of the two specials is just the main arc of Zero-One, from Aruto’s point of view. It’s a clip show.

And yet!

And yet, it’s both really amazing what they were able to accomplish just stringing together all of these segments, and kind of cool that they did it all in a way that pushes the main narrative forward. We’ve got the Ark running a con so it can get all of Aruto’s secrets and strategies. We’ve got an evil version of Izu that works for the Ark, which I feel like was a spur of the moment decision by the producers to make use of a random shot in the opening credits. We’ve got a peek at an Ark Kamen Rider, letting us know that the Ark’s plans do not begin and end with MetsubouJinrai. There’s so much clever storytelling to make these two episodes feel integral to the series, and not just the best the production team could do in These Unprecedented Times.

More than that, though, it’s just really well-written? Much like the Izu’s Lecture Room stuff, these two episodes get a ton of mileage off of how Aruto and Izu play off of each other, and that’s not even counting the fun quirk of Kinda Rude Izu. (She’s great, though. I’m very excited for her to join the cast properly, and see what that actor does with the part.) There’s just a lot of solid writing going on, giving the events of the past emotional weight and narrative context, until it feels like Aruto’s last 34 episodes have a new poignancy and energy. Nothing in these two episodes ever feels like a Wiki entry, which is incredibly difficult to pull off.

I don’t… like, I get why people would skip these specials. You’re gonna see “Izu” and the Ark Rider suit soon enough. Beyond connecting a few dots that aren’t crucial to your enjoyment of the series, there isn’t much relevant data. But the production team and cast honestly created something very fun out of an impossible set of restrictions, and that alone makes these episodes essential viewing for me. Really astonished by how fun this all turned out to be.

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KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 09: BEROTHA MAGIA



Since I just watched a recap of Zero-One’s career, let’s go all the way back to his first enemy: the Berotha Magia!

The body on this guy is just the Trilobite figure I did a few days ago, but with maybe a couple extra stickers. There’s a bunch of green added to the silver, but otherwise it’s the same figure. The second box (he’s a two-boxer, if you can believe it) has his gigantic noggin, a couple arm pieces, the pauldrons, his blades, a couple hands, and the base. Stickers for the eyes, headphone-ears, arm pieces, and weapons. It’s a super straightforward figure.

I like it, though. It’s a good, basic monster suit for Zero-One to detonate. He doesn’t distract from our hero’s first Henshin, but he’s still stylish enough to sell this show’s enemies. Kinda neat to have Zero-One’s first bad guy be a bug guy? I don’t really have any deep thoughts on the Berotha Magia; it’s just a good starter villain for our hero to take out in a very stylish way.