[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 30 - “I’M PRESIDENT KAMEN RIDER AFTER ALL”

It’s a campaign that’s going to require more than just him, and it looks like his support system is growing to include both Fuwa and Jin. This is, by far, the most Ex-Aid move this show could make, and I love it. Ex-Aid was a show about, amongst other things, how to work alongside people you don’t like; how to separate teamwork from friendship. So here are Fuwa and Jin, two characters that are desperate to take down ZAIA, but absolutely not for the same reasons. Jin is a freedom fighter who wants to liberate Humagears from human oppression, while Fuwa’s aimed (too soon?) his limitless rage at the company that ruined his life and views people as tools. These are two characters aligned in their targeting, but not in their intentions. That sort of team, with Aruto as angel and Horobi as devil, is incredibly fertile storytelling terrain.

To be specific, liberate Humagears from what he deems as human oppression, not that humans actually oppress them. He's closer to Drive's Heart now as someone caring for his own species but sees humans as threats, including breaking off Humagear's relationships to humans. And even someone aligned in targeting a threat also doesn't necessarily mean they're good guys, like, for greater example than Jin, there's Horobi himself, who fights off Gai, because Horobi served the Ark in its crusade against humanity while Gai wanted the Ark to serve him in advancing mankind against artificial intelligence, so the two are constantly at odds with each other, it's another example of evil vs evil in KR.

And regarding Fuwa's crusade against actually rightful target, ZAIA (instead of Humagears), there's a difference in how Fuwa and Yua are handled, shown in Fuwa immediately reaffirming his decision to change for the better by fighting the right target to Yua, while Yua before, never gave proper answer other than her not being a tool (not literally, but still following ZAIA's orders without good reason). I guess this'd be an actual writing difference, instead of Yua having different views and priorities to him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

There’s a reaffirmation here to the Izu/Aruto partnership that was as thrilling and warm as it was sort of redundant. I love these characters! I love their energy! But this story was… I don’t think it said anything new? There’s a ton of cleverness to Izu’s standard Beat The Enemy By Doing Paperwork problem-solving, but I already knew that Aruto and Izu supported each other at all times. (Honestly, I’m mostly just shocked that Aruto quit Hiden, knowing that there was a very real chance that Izu would be killed. Good thing Jin thought to rescue her! No wonder he was so skeptical about Aruto’s claims of benevolence…) Of the entire episode, this was the part that felt the most perfunctory, coasting on the electric connection of the actors to elevate an already-established dynamic. Crowd-pleasing scene-work, but sort of hollow in the aftermath.

Reiwa First Generation may soured your view of him, but Korenosuke deserved credit here for keeping Hiden (family) afloat, he had great insight regarding the upcoming events when building Hiden Intelligence. When Gai argues that all Humagear and AI technology are patented to Hiden Intelligence, Izu reveals that they are patented to Korenosuke and he passed it on to Aruto, meaning they are not Hiden Intelligence property. This not only allows Aruto to own and manage the Humagear technologies without violating the patent law, it also ensures that the technology will not fall into the wrong hands should Hiden Intelligence fall. Meaning Gai's move of buying out Hiden Intelligence izu completely moot, as not even Zea will obey him. Zea declared Gai as not a rightful Hiden Intelligence president in how Aruto can still henshin.

I'd say too that Aruto never cared about being a President, he just accepted it because it was the only way he could become Zero-One and fulfill his wants to protect all types of people. If he's no longer president, then he'd do it another way in creating Hiden Manufacturing, whose purpose is to rebuild and defend all Humagears after Hiden Intelligence recalls the robots. Though it's also Aruto's development after his experiences and the Humagears he's met, which culminates in him starting his own path. And the Humagears Keys protecting him here of course, with Mamoru still being great as a security guard even as a key! Tbh, Jin has no place to be skeptical about Aruto's claims or be praised for it, as while Aruto may be neglectful to you here for once, Jin was someone who previously controlled his "friends", much worse offense, and only changed to properly taking care of Humagears due to Aruto.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER SABER SO-DO BOOK 01: FIGHTING JACKAL RAIDER

I dislike the Fighting Jackal suit for a few reasons, but the main one is that it’s emblematic of everything I dislike about Yua’s character by this point in the show. It’s a suit that very specifically says she’s Evil now, a bad guy lieutenant in spirit and in form. But, like, why is she wearing it in Episode 30, beyond the weird narrative protection of her previous Good suits? Before, it was clear that Gai wanted to publicly demonstrate the effectiveness of the consumer-grade Raidriser. She’s back in charge of AIMS now, though; are all the Valkyrie keys busted or something? Rushing Cheetah and Lightning Hornet have proven effectiveness against both Humagears and Vulcan, while Fighting Jackal is 0 for 2 – and they were not close fights. Everything Yua does and says seems to be driven by plot demands and thematic coherence, not because there’s any recognizable psychology to her character, and this suit is the exact same thing.

Her Fighting Jackal suit is a foil to Valkyrie in how both forms give access to fast movement and both use belts made by ZAIA, her Raider form is based on a jackal, a dog, uses the RaidRiser to transform, a belt associated with the villainous Raiders, and uses a scythe as her main weapon, while her Kamen Rider form is based on a cheetah, a cat, uses the ShotRiser to transform, a belt used by AIMS and shared with Fuwa, and uses its Gun Mode as her main weapon. And it being based on jackal, unfortunately, is emblematic, in how the form name and the suit evoke a dog, which is phonetically similar to dōgu (道具), the Japanese word for "tool". Yua's been a "loyal dog/tool" to ZAIA the whole time.