[DreamSword]

Was gonna wait until after REALxTIME to give my full thoughts, but screw it, here they are.

I ended up digging Zero-One a whole lot.

Before going in, I knew the chances were high that I would, as it had alot of elements that I'm very much a sucker for: Robot characters especially.

And needless to say, I know my own tastes because right from the outset, Zero-One managed to emotionally resonate with me in so many ways. From the action, to the comedy, to the drama, to most of the characters, I was all in.

Was it perfect? No, there were certainly many things I could say didn't work out for me(and I think I even voiced all of them throughout this thread), but really, I consider all of those things relatively minor in the grand scheme of it all. This show managed to give me the same sort of feelings I had with other seasons I love.

It all just came together so well! The characters were engaging, the plot talked about surprisingly real subject matter, and to me it always felt like everyone involved in the project were giving it their all at every moment to make something special, and I'd say they succeeded. The proof, I feel, is actually in what might be the worst thing to happen during the run: COVID.

I say "might" because, well, despite the obviously awful setback of, ya know, a global pandemic, it was clear to me that staff were doing all they could to still try and deliver something strong. The recap specials had some strong comedy and half of them still tied into the overall story, and the final few episodes, despite apparently being made up on the spot, still totally worked for me in terms of not only delivering on the major themes of the story, but some of the best character moments as well.

From what I understand, Zero-One is a show that is very polarizing among the western fandom for alot of reasons, but for me? I loved almost every second of it; Even certain episodes and/or character arcs that alot of people take contention with. If there's one thing that every era of Kamen Rider has managed to do, it's start off on some extremely strong footing. Here's to hoping the upcoming tie-in comic can capture even a fraction of what made this show so good.