[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 19 - “SHE’S THE REALTOR HUMAGEAR”



I’m currently house hunting, so this one hit a little close to home, if you don’t mind the pun. (I think Aruto would be okay with it.)

The housing market is completely screwy. Housing prices are skyrocketing as investors buy up properties, sit on them for years, and then flip them as the values reach their peak. Things are trending down right now, somewhat thankfully (I mean: interest rates, yikes), but there was a period there were homes were vanishing in days, as all-cash offers from investors priced out average folks who were working with a bank for their mortgage. It was creating an environment where people who wanted to actually live in a place were disadvantaged, and the concept of a home became just another type of investment.

So it’s nice to see this Zero-One story grappling with that, in ways that a younger audience can maybe understand.The evil Investment Realtor, selling properties to anyone who can pay, versus the good Residential Realtor, trying to find something that will help people live out their dreams. Because, man, owning a home is one of the most aspirational things there is? Beyond all of the Raising A Family stuff this episode traffics in (it’s for kids, so I’ll allow it), owning a home becomes a way to provide support and clarity for the next stage in your life. It defines the community you’ll be a part of, the direction in which you want your life to travel, and the thing that you’re working to protect. More than any other story this show has done, I feel like the buyer/realtor relationship is the one that gets at the idea of Empathetic Collaboration Versus Individual Success. Is it about working to help someone’s future, or succeeding at any cost?

Mixed in with all that is the very real fear that automation will eliminate human knowledge and experience, dooming us to an algorithmically-determined future. This story gets at that in fun ways, where the machine’s empathy and hopes are set against the rapacious, selfish, mechanically-heightened skills of a human. It muddies the waters in a neat way, where Arayashiki’s fears about his future relevance are in conflict with Sumida’s emotional dedication to helping humanity. Sumida does a really good job, and she cares about her clients in a way that Arayashiki has clearly forgotten, but her victory means he’s probably out of a job forever. That’s not a great outcome for humanity!

(That said, as much as Arayashiki paints things as impossibly bleak, there is a literal cost to automation. You can’t just switch out paid employees with high-tech robots and pocket all the payroll costs. Hiden isn’t giving these things away, I hope. Gai might have a point about Aruto’s leadership, if they are!)

It all makes for a sweet episode that lacks an easy resolution, even if it contains a very clear villain. Arayashiki has a quick little backstory that sketches in a lost dream, but he’s resolutely hateable for the entire episode. But there’s a lot of nuance to the exploration of home buying, and how it means different things to different people. Another very cool episode for this Job Battle arc!

(Oh, and there were also a couple monster fights, but I honestly don’t care about them. Feel free to post your thoughts on them if you felt differently!)