[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by DreamSword

Yeah, while it is unfortunate that life threw the crew a curve ball, it was clear they did the best they could think of given, well, everything. I don't blame them, it's just a really unfortunate circumstance.

To me, this was a real Lemonade Out Of Lemons situation. There'd've been no reason to do these specials if it weren't for COVID, and they're surprisingly entertaining.

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Then you've got this interesting Ark Rider Dude, and seemingly Ark itself voiced by Sho Hayami! Dude has a real good voice and the most I have to say is because of this casting I found out how much of polar opposite character's he plays. Dude can voice an alien car that's curious about Earth and is the nicest most justice filled robot that someone can be in Exkaiser... and then you've got on the other end of the spectrum Aizen Sosuke from Bleach! Ha ha... fun times.

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Originally Posted by Frontier

Also - if you're going to have your main villain played by a prominent seiyuu, you can't go wrong with Show Hayami. And just the fact that the first time we "hear" Ark is him directly addressing Aruto and laughing at him is...positively chilling.

I don't know him (I'm terrible with identifying Japanese VAs), but it was super fun to hear Ark directly address Aruto! Everything up to this point had obscured exactly how much sentience or individuality Ark had, choosing instead to focus on the Humagears that were its weapons. To have it openly taunt Aruto... very cool moment!

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Originally Posted by Nokination

I actually do like these Presidential Specials, though I did just skip through them to get to any actual new stuff, I like the conversation Aruto and Fake Izu have, though I don't know how Aruto couldn't tell that that who he was talking to wasn't Izu. You'd think someone who's been around Izu for awhile would notice that this Izu is snarky and nothing like normal Izu, but I digress, I do like these episodes quite a bit, and even though you can clearly see the effects Covid had on them, I still like them better than an episode like 28 (not that that's an amazing accomplishment considering that episode), and I don't feel like my time was all too wasted by watching these specials.

It is a little suspicious how Aruto doesn't catch onto "Izu"'s various affectations, or snide remarks, or excitement for Ark's plans, or deep knowledge of only MetsubouJinrai, etc. I could try and explain it as either Aruto generally not being too up on subterfuge, or him not expecting someone to copy Izu, but it's incredibly sad to see him give up every single secret to the Ark like that. I really hope no one tells the Hiden Manufacturing head of security! He will probably not love it!

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Originally Posted by TF RyuShin

I also find it funny about how they handle Aruto and Jin's relationship here. I usually dislike the way most characters in this series rarely maximize their interactions with people outside their faction. You know Aruto still bonds with Fuwa and Jin, but I doubt it was as close as between Aruto and Izu. So it's very funny to see Aruto questioned why Jin was on Horobi's side. Yeah, Jin helps Aruto here and there during this arc but that's only because they have mutual conclusion or enemy. Jin might believe in Aruto's vision but his loyalty is still with Metsubojinrai, especially Horobi.

Yeah, it's a very Aruto thing, assuming that one team-up equals a complete rejection of previous bonds and beliefs. While Jin was willing to give Aruto the benefit of the doubt, MetsubouJinrai is his family (for all intents and purposes), and that's going to win out over a well-meaning human he's shared maybe two conversations with that weren't aggressive or taunting.