[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE 01HERS: KAMEN RIDER METSUBOUJINRAI

I liked it. I didn?t love the movie, but I liked it, and I liked the ending a bunch.

Your Opinion Has Been: Approved.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

It?s a pretty classic Kamen Rider thing, immolating your hopes of a simple life in the pursuit of justice and freedom for others. It?s not? like, it?s not always supposed to be a good thing when a character chooses that path, and I think this movie?s melancholy ending is a good rebuke of the typical Kamen Rider story beats. We?re definitely in If Fighting Is A Sin Then Let Me Be Damned territory here. MetsubouJinrai is devoting the remainder of their existence to protecting Humagear futures, and they?ve left themselves nothing outside that vow. All they have is each other, forever. That?s pretty bleak!

Yeah, the reformed Metsuboujinrai are very Showa in their dedication to fighting. Their resolution to protect the Solds' freedom and Jin's family, even if means making a martyr out of Arkland and becoming dreaded terrorists once more. Humanity won't know the truth, they won't thank them for committing this crime. Even worse, that a**hole Daimonji will surely use this information to further his evil campaign of discrimination against HumaGears. I think a recurring theme in 01hers is that hatred isn't the only thing that can divide a society, but also zeal, immoral psychopaths like Arkland and Daimonji who claim to be on the side of justice and abuse their good publicity to turn the world against those who oppose them, or simply those they hate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Not the best follow-up for REALxTIME, but I found some entertainment in this movie. The new suits are nothing to rave about (ZAIA?s just Black Thouser, and MetsubouJinrai uglies up the basically-perfect Horobi suit), the action is rarely more than perfunctory, Naki and Ikazuchi still don?t get a ton to do: yes to all of it. But I liked Arkland?s theatricality, and I like how ambivalent the movie is about dedicating your life to the pursuit of justice. It?s very in keeping with the show about corporations to land a spin-off film on the dangers of work/life imbalance!

I'm not going to pretend this movie was revolutionary or anything like that, although I certainly prefer it to RealTime. I do have a few complaints for sure. Azu's death was anticlimactic, considering she doesn't really accomplish anything here or behind the scenes. Ikazuchi and Naki still don't get a lot of development or focus, the main characters are basically Horobi and Jin. The kind of heavy-handed preachy way that Takahashi's script delivers the themes. It has a dark and edgy tone that I don't usually associate with the show.

Despite all that, I definitely appreciate the message this movie was going for and how it's not afraid to pull the hard punches. A moral about the sin of conformity and the sense of justice in fighting for the principles you believe in, even if they're unpopular and it makes you the "villain" of the story. The way that justice may be absolute, but it's also something that can be terribly misunderstood and perverted to evil, which is why justice isn't an ideal that everybody should unite around without critical thinking.