[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 2 - ?ARE A.I.S ENEMIES? ALLIES??

Fuwa?s great. He?s great. He?s all rage, and nothing else. He had a formative trauma, and he let it envelope him in unquenchable fury. The rules are irrelevant, if they stand in the way of his mission. The entire world exists to bear witness to his vengeance. He?s an investigator that asks no questions, and shoots every suspect. His Henshin sequence is him breaking open a collectible and shooting himself with a violence that protects him from the world.

He reminds me a bit of Nago from Kiva, in how hilariously psychotic he is. The actor plays it entirely straight, which (if anything) makes it even funnier to me. He?s the latest in a line of absolutely bonkers secondaries, the newest lunatic with a grudge that Isn?t Here To Make Friends and considers the title character to be a potential Finisher recipient, and nothing more.

To virtually nobody's surprise, my favorite character from Kamen Rider Zero One is the wolf-themed Tokusatsu hero called Isamu (no, I'm not referring to Wolzard, but he's cool as well). He has the best development, an explosive personality, he often feels like more of a protagonist than Aruto, he gives a lot of epic speeches and his actor, Okada Ryoutarou, does a great job portraying his extremeness.

You'd be surprised how many times Isamu can strain to break open a Progrise Key without it ever getting old. There's something inherently cool and manly about watching him do that while shouting words of determination through the pain. It's completely impractical, since he could just insert the Key like Yua does, which I recall a few people complained about. But who cares, right? It looks bad*ss and it totally fits his anti-technology personality.

"Why the hell would I trust a goddamn machine to do my job when I can do it myself!", that sounds like something I imagine he would say.

Comparing him to Nago is very apt, since they both have a prejudice against their respective shows' races. Same goes for Gou. These are all very flawed characters, but I think that's what makes it so fascinating to watch, as they learn to overcome that prejudice and see the world in a better light. However, Nago is self-righteous in general, while Isamu and Gou have more personal justifications for their hatred.

There's also the endearing trait that Isamu is the only person who finds Aruto's jokes humorous, but he tries desperately to hide his reaction from others out of embarrassment, since he wants to maintain a reputation of strength and intimidation. He also probably resents that the president of the company that created the robots that ruined his middle school life can somehow make him feel an emotion other than anger. While it may not be quite as great as Sento/Ryuuga, I think Aruto/Isamu is a solid ship with a similar foundation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Great episode, across the board. I liked how the story tried (maybe a little too bluntly) to contrast Aruto?s sense of protection with Fuwa?s sense of righteous fury, especially through the by now standard eye-catching fight sequence. The fight through the shipyard used so many cool techniques ? some POV shots, some multi-level moves, some slo-mo, and a beautifully staged finisher from Vulcan.

My favorite scene is after Vulcan performs his finisher, where he and Zero One meet each other's gaze. There are no lines, but I can feel the emotions in that gaze and their subtle body language. Great work from both suit actors who have succeeded Takaiwa in the Reiwa Era.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 01: KAMEN RIDER VULCAN - SHOOTING WOLF

It?s a great color scheme. I?m not gonna be like All Secondaries Should Be Blue, but I think it?s generally a smart move. It?s got the same red piping, to tie in with Zero-One?s suit, but we?ve got blue over a white undersuit, rather than COLOR over a black undersuit. It nicely casts Vulcan as cool, imposing. Something about that blue and white just says that this dude is not going to save anyone.

I think the AIMS Riders' default forms are deliberately designed to have an incomplete look. While Aruto trusts in technology and dreams of a future where humans and HumaGears can co-exist peacefully, the AIMS duo believe technology is merely a means to an end, a tool for humans to use. Aesthetically, I think the asymmetry makes it look a little off, in contrast to Build which is more fashionable to me. But I do like the general design of Shooting Wolf. Like you said, it really captures Isamu's perpetual anger.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The funniest recurring feature in the first two episodes is how much property Hiden destroys, totally unnecessarily. Did they need to create a Henshin that lets a giant metallic grasshopper stomp around first? Did they need to fire the Rise Hopper from space into the goddamn basement, instead of letting Aruto take an elevator up to it? (And then he drives it along a bunch of windows!!!) For a company that's all about how technology can benefit mankind, I feel like the killer robots are the least of their problems.

On first thought, storing the Rise Hopper in Zea (the satellite) is a great excuse for the staff to feature it as little as they want. It makes more sense than Sougo riding a bicycle while carrying the Ride Striker in his pocket.

On second thought, why is the Rise Hopper stored in Zea? Why does it need to transform from a cellphone way too big for anybody to use? It feels redundant and impractical!

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Originally Posted by Frontier

Speaking of music, every time "Find a New Life" plays it's so epic.

I totally agree! Zero One has a great soundtrack for insert themes. Find A New Life perfectly captures the show's theme of moving towards the future, while being extremely catchy, upbeat and full of wonderful Engrish goodness. It makes any fight scene 1000% cooler!

RealEyez is a decent OP, but I feel like the lyrics are a little too generic and on the nose, like, "A new era", or, "Cut through fate", they're not really saying anything specific to Zero One, outside of the meta part about it being the first Reiwa Rider show.