[Frontier]

I guess it's interesting to look at Aruto's handling of Is here and what he put her through for the sake of the mission, especially knowing how much they care for each other and how kind Aruto is. The fact that he saw no other option and was willing to subject her to this, knowing how much it would hurt her, because there was no other way adds, I think, a new layer to Aruto as a character and emphasizes how precious he is to Is even as she's rightfully angry with him at the end.

Zero-Two! There's a lot to unpack here now that we've finally gotten our Final Form.

But it's kind of unconventional as far as Final Forms go. Especially in recent memory they've usually gone for very busy or ostentatious designs, which I think work from a certain perspective and I've enjoyed them myself, but there's something to the base simplicity and streamlined nature of Zero-Two that makes it really stand out.

And it's also unconventional in the sense that it's technically both a Final Form and a separate Rider, since it has it's own belt. Because Zero-One has basically peaked and Aruto now has to evolve past that, into Zero-Two. Which means Metal Cluster Hopper is technically Zero-One's Final Form, but let's not get into an OOO Final Form argument...

As an individual form it captures what works for Rising Hopper and builds on that into a new form, still distinct yet also obviously channeling the base form in a way that just works.

And, of course, watching Aruto as Zero-Two beat the tar out of Ark is immensely satisfying. A great Final Form debut!