[Fish Sandwich]

This one was very, very good. Gai immediately getting s*** on by everyone ever for saying he's sorry doesn't do a thing to change how abrupt and unearned his change of heart was (in my opinion!), but they're handling the fallout of that decision with a much steadier pace. I like that Aruto is outright angry thinking about how this entire mess all goes back to Gai (again, I love Yuuya Takahashi's Rider protagonists for having more complex emotional ranges than you'd think), and Fuwa being shockingly okay with the situation is super on-point for his character. The only grudge he was ever any good at holding was the one that was a lie. Even just those AIMS guys being like "uhhhhh... is this Gai for real?" was a very fun little beat.

Admittedly, though, I kind of have it out for that robot puppy, which is something I never thought I'd say or think, but here we are. It's like, I want to laugh and find it cute, but like last week, I'm just not sure exactly what the show thinks it's doing with it? They're deriving comedy from how unlikely and strange it is to see Gai fawning over a fake dog, but I feel like that creates a dilemma, because by laughing at it for being so weird and random, it undercuts the major dramatic role it served in getting Gai to this point. I guess. I'm going to stop complaining here, because I do have a feeling that if Gai's development stays on a nice smooth track from here, I'll start seeing Dog Thouser (Bow-wowser? We really need a good nickname for this thing) as not the actual turning point for Gai, but merely the impetus for the real change that starts happening after, which would make this all click together for me a lot more in retrospect. I'm trying really hard not to be opposed to this idea, guys!

The origin of Zero-Two is thankfully proving to be everything I hoped for, right down to Aruto saying he needs to surpass his grandfather. Rolling in the "I don't work at Hiden Intelligence anymore" thing was also quite inspired. Everything about Aruto was great this episode. One other idea for Zero-Two that popped into my head after seeing how the toy works was that I really wanted to see Ark-Zero straight up break the Zero-One Driver or something to further signal the need for a change, and, hey, guess what? He rips the thing clean off and says Aruto is done being Zero-One. Beautiful.

The action is also directed as slickly as usual, which I used to describe a lot more elaborately back when the show just started, but I honestly struggle to even go into detail now, precisely because it's been so consistently excellent in terms of both choreography and framing. I feel like I've run out of ways to praise it when it isn't someone like Sugihara or Kamihoriuchi who has a notably unique style directing. Anyone watching the show probably doesn't need me to tell them how flashy and fun it always is week after week though.