[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 36 - “I’M THE ARK KAMEN RIDER”



Interesting energy to this first full post-lockdown pandemic episode. There’s an A-plot where we’ve got the debut of Ark-Zero, its absolute thrashing of the heroes in multiple fight scenes, Jin’s defection from MetsubouJinrai… and then there’s a B-plot where Fuwa makes a friend with a Humalexa, and finds out his family is a bunch of corny randos with no particular bearing on the series. They’re both good in their own way, but they don’t– I don’t know, they don't connect.

Fuwa’s interest in his own normalcy isn’t hugely relevant to the battle against Ark, beyond his new-found appreciation for AIs, but even that’s both weird and sort of irrelevant. Weird in that, like, shouldn’t Naki’s journey have been more convincing to Fuwa than some $60 hunk of plastic that doesn’t even know him? Why does Fuwa spending an afternoon with a chatbot engender a fighting belief in Humagear destiny? (Which… this episode treats An AI Without A Body as some sort of breakthrough that Bot comes up with, but isn’t it exactly what Aruto did for the dad of the voice actor back in Episode 6?) And it’s irrelevant in that he was already going to kick Ark’s newly-constituted ass for multiple previously-established reasons, starting with Attempted Genocide and ending with Just Hospitalized Yua. Having him shoe-horn in some high-minded empathy is kind of distracting, and not totally earned.

(That said, the stuff with his family is very cute. Some Dads Are Alive, and they are the source of Fuwa’s dopey sense of humor.)

The Ark stuff is a little dull to start, but I like where it ends up. The beginning fights, where the Big Boss has to show off its unstoppablosity – fine, whatever, I get it. Not my favorite mode of storytelling, but it’s how these shows have always worked. (I like it better when the villain has a strategy to negate the hero's abilities, or creates a trap that keeps the hero unsteady and ineffective. I don’t like the basic He’s Just Unbeatable approach.) And, gosh, I do not love that Jin and Yua’s strategy is the Metal Cluster Hopper -slash- Swartz strategy of empowering your adversary to ludicrous levels, and then just assuming you can stop them. Why in the world did the two of them think this plan would work?! I thought Yua was the smart one!!! But Yua immediately and correctly castigates herself for this boneheaded scheme, so I’m not super angry about it. Characters and plans can be dumb, so long as it’s acknowledged very quickly that they’re dumb.

I liked how the Ark stuff ended, though, for real. The idea of Ark-Zero being a roving, malevolent force is exactly right for this show’s discussions about the pervasiveness of intolerance. Intolerance isn’t a thing that you detonate, it’s an idea that anyone can fall prey to if they’re getting bad information. Having the monster be anyone, anywhere, at any time? That’s a smart concept for this show to explore over the next few episodes.

Real weird episode to come back with, this one. I can sort of squint and see how you could say the two plots were talking about one thing – Family? The past? Facing fear? – but it never feels like one cohesive story. They’re two good plots, but I’m used to this show crafting tighter episodes. Hopefully that’s not a victim of the pandemic!

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KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 09: KAMEN RIDER ARK-ZERO



Pretty great suit? Beyond the kind of Body Horror feel to its unfinished state, there’s a ton of fun details to this physical manifestation of hatred towards humanity. The one red eye, to signal that this is The Ark who’s addressing you; the wires snaking out, like the cables in the MetsubouJinrai hideout/clubhouse; the creepy half-grin; and all the Zero-One But Painted Black notes under the surface, to show you what the Ark is trying to combat. Smart suit, creepy as hell, definitely like looking at it.

Figure’s not bad, either. Surprisingly few stickers on this guy – maybe a dozen, across two boxes? Lots of painted detail on the torso, head, and left pauldron, and a few white and red stickers to finish it out. Very quick build, with a solid figure to show for it.