[Fish Sandwich]

Riku Sanjou only ended up writing for this show because Takahashi took longer than expected to write Reiwa The First Generation, apparently. I'm EXTREMELY glad he took long enough for us to get these episodes. I've told you several times over how I don't think there's a big difference between Takahashi and Kakehi's writing on this show, and that's a good thing, but when Sanjou is writing it, it's just Double, and that's a *great* thing.

I'm not sure if I've given this spiel specifically to you before, Die, but... wait, no, I just remembered I brought this up back when we were talking about Kamen Rider Brain, so, once again...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Ever since watching Kyoryuger I've had a massive level of respect for Riku Sanjo because of how insanely evident it is whenever you see something he writes how much fun he was having. Not to mention how much he clearly wants the viewer to be having that same level of fun.

...so "fun" is always my key word with this writer, and at the risk of making the show sound all downhill from here, this is probably THE most raw fun you'll have watching Zero-One. This story stands out so much from the rest, and in such a good way. It's just completely grin-inducing and funny the whole way through, which helps (I adore Aruto having some YouTube page full of countless sub-100 view videos of all his lame standup gags; not to mention "these are my work clothes!"), but again, just like Double, the script is also genuinely well-constructed beyond that. It's no surprise seeing you praise the episode for swinging away from a heavy atmosphere while still advancing the story and characters meaningfully, because like, that's Double! That's why that show is a beloved classic, and it makes me so happy that Zero-One got to tap into that same magic for a few weeks. And like you mentioned, basically everyone gets a bit in here, which I've always felt is something that happened because we had a new writer? You gave Sanjou all these toys, and he's gonna play with 'em, dang it!

Oh, and speaking of toys, I do rather like Shining Hopper. It'd sort of be easier to talk about once you've actually seen the form in action, but they took an unusual approach to the design by having it do that whole subtractive upgrade thing. It's Zero-One after shedding most of his armor, (which, again, will seem more relevant in a bit for you!) and the undersuit itself bulking up nicely suggests how this is an overall upgrade instead of just any random new animal.

They also used up like all of their best ideas at once for this form, and between:

-"WHEN I SHINE! Darkness fades..."
- Turning the Key like an actual key
- The bug-catching net

...it's really no surprise I can't help but love it? I'm amazed they didn't hold off on at least one of those for some bigger upgrade down the line. I'm not sure if I really have a favorite Zero-One upgrade, per se, but Shining Hopper in particular gives me a lot of warm feelings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Arutos' granddad certainly had a funny way of naming things. Is, Was, Satellite THERE... The Hiden's' most certainly have a sense of humor across generations.

I'm not sure anyone's explicitly addressed this yet, but yes, weird names are very much the Hiden tradition. Not only does it apply to pretty much all the Humagears, and their satellites too, but you've got Korenosuke and Soreo ("this" and "that"), and Aruto himself is literally "a person", which also apparently came from the staff's desire to portray him as a regular guy first and foremost, rather than as some paragon of justice who's always in the right.

It's a sort of broader theme with the show I can't really define that well off the top of my head, but the episode titles kinda fall in line with the same idea, as they're generally very straightforward phrases, with the consistent format of a pronoun or demonstrative word written in katakana for emphasis. And it's like, why is a boring regular word the part you're calling attention to? I still only sort of understand, even a couple years later, but I've definitely come to love how understated and sort of poetic those titles can be. I may not be able to describe it well on its own, but if you contrast it against how Takahashi's previous Rider show about garishly-colored video game doctors loudly mixed Japanese and English together for its episode titles, the deliberately subdued flavor of Zero-One's shtick might seem a bit clearer.