[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

One thing that sticks with me about Zeronos is the cow nosies his belt makes. Ever since I first heard the belt in D-Video Special: Kamen Rider Yongou, I’ve wondered why his belt had such a bizarre sound effect (it’s certainly doesn’t seem obvious just looking at him).

Well, the bull motif is pretty constant for Zeronos. The ZeroLiner, for sure, but the way the two bull heads swing over the front of the helmet to form the eyes for Altair Form as well.

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Originally Posted by Androzani84

In terms of the episode plot, this is another one that displays how little the Imagin actually care for being decent in granting their wishes, given how JellyFrieza essentially bullies the guy into saying he’s found the right capsule after little work. Not really sure if I have opinions on that.

Yeah, the longer the series goes, the more the MOTW Imagin are shown to be impatient in their desire to stop running errands and start ruining lives. They are as excited to get to the second part of these stories as the viewers probably are!

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Originally Posted by Sunred

So Zeronos and Deneb. There are two sets of motifs behind these two, one of them which I will share way later when you get through 20 more so episodes. The other one that I can share right now is that Yuuto/Zeronos and Deneb are based off of the Japanese lore of Ushiwakamaru(pronounced ooh-shi-wakamaru) vs Benkei. It is about how the hulking Benkei tried to take down Ushiwakamaru so that he can be the 1000th opponent he defeated and take his weapon to add to his collection, but Ushiwakamaru nimbly dodged his attacks to the point where Benkei gave up in the end. There is also a children's song about it but seems like the actual incident is still pending on whether it actually went down like that. Think of it as Kraven vs Spidey but Kraven eventually went on to be his humble servant after admitting defeat.
Now this song has historical ties in that it is based off specifically on Yoshitsune and Benkei, two historic figures from the 12th century. Yoshitsune was a commander and Benkei was a warrior monk who went on to serve Yoshitsune, and Yoshitsune had another name he went by when he was younger and that was Ushiwakamaru. In relations to that the reason Zeronos is based off a bull is because the ushi in Ushiwakamaru means bovine.
Respectufully Deneb is Benkei, and as Androzani84 pointed out previously he is also based off Karasu Tengu as well. The reason these two are Deneb's motif is because in fictional folklore Benkei is known to have ties with Karasu Tengu in fictional lore such as folklore and myths, etc.

Neat! Thanks! What did you think of this episode!

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Oh, and speaking of which, the way he contrasts Den-O and Ryoutarou specifically, as characters, is great. It's the typical primary/secondary Rider dynamic, but delivered in a more nuanced way that really goes to show what I love so much about Kobayashi's writing. Ryoutarou and Yuuto are natural opposites with plenty of mutual tension between them, but they aren't really at each other's throats all the time, either. It's a dynamic that brings out a lot more spine from Ryoutarou (I love him quoting the present-day Sakurai at him in 20), while also showing layers to Yuuto by framing his constant antagonism as him simply being extraordinarily bad at making friends.

One of my favorite things about this story, and the way it comes at the Primary/Secondary rivalry, is that Yuuto is a dick, but Zeronos isn't. All of the weirdly antagonistic and insulting stuff Yuuto does and says to Ryotaro, that stops when it's time for Zeronos to go to work. Yuuto's issue with Ryotaro is that he doesn't take his job as Den-O seriously enough, which means Yuuto's not going to waste time showing up Ryotaro or risk a loss by belittling him. That distinction... I like it. I like that division between Hard-Working Hero and Annoying Brat.