[Sh Ranger]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 43 - ?THAT IS A HEART?

It?s fine, as a concept to explore with these characters. It?s just the Dig Two Graves lesson, but that?s got a ton of inherent drama. Doing a story where Horobi denies his own emotional needs to the detriment of his support system, while Aruto demolishes a year of goodwill to try and stave off despair, that?s a story you can tell in this world.

Even digging two graves probably wouldn't be enough. Have you heard about Gandhi's famous quote, "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"? A revenge seeker risks invoking the vengeance of their target's loved ones. A ripple in the water can create tidal waves of destruction. Horobi was wrong for killing Izu, but Ark-uto accidentally killing Jin only reinforced Horobi's resolve, as he saw his biggest fear come true, the death of his son at the hands of humanity. It may have started as a conflict between two people, much like the Job Competition, but it never ends with two people. The world doesn't revolve around only two people. Aruto's actions bring shame to his people and Horobi's bring shame to his people. Their conflict will snowball in to society.

My favorite scene from this episode is close to the start, where Jin interrogates Horobi's belief, as they stand with the clotheslines between them. It's pretty rare for KR to have the final villain murder the female lead and then depict the villain as someone to pity rather than hate. While I mourn Izu's loss with everybody else, I can't bring myself to hate Horobi for killing her, cause deep down, he's already hating himself enough. He's refusing to listen to his heart (like Onari always advised) cause he doesn't want to feel even more suffering and he'd rather keep going with his misguided genocide than admit to himself the painful truth that he did something terrible he can never take back. It's a different spin on Gai's arc and just as tragic and it makes Horobi one of the most complex villains in KR.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 10: KAMEN RIDER ARK-ONE

The thing I like best about this suit is how the breastplate looks like a screaming Humagear face. The red eyes, and the open mouth? it?s a million miles away from a happy grasshopper, you know? There?s an anger to so much of this suit, and I love that. The harsh black/white coloring is a worldview without compromise or empathy: us vs them, victors vs victims. The red cuts through blocks of color to indicate that while the facade may be cold and unfeeling, underneath it?s all rage and fear. Gorgeous villain suit design.

Please hear me out! Maybe you thought that I don't like Ark One for usurping screentime from Zero Two, but actually, I think that's fitting. Zero Two represents the friendship between Aruto and Izu, so Ark One represents the "friendship" between Aruto and Azu. The loss of Izu left a void in Aruto's heart and Ark One is the form that void takes. As DreadBringer pointed out though, Zero Two is still the stronger form so I think this development would've worked better if there was an in-universe reason why he could no longer use it.

An obsolete magazine also revealed a look at a scrapped fight between Zero Two and Ark One, which means they were originally supposed to be different characters, but the development made it more natural for Aruto to be both and you can't exactly have Aruto fight himself literally. I am curious how that alternate reality without you-know-what would have turned out though.

While Ark Zero could possess HumaGears, Ark One doesn't discriminate, showing that there's capacity for malice on both sides. Even though the AI itself is destroyed, Azu continues to spread its evil influence like a virus, in the form of Ark-branded Rider Systems to those who desire destruction.

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Originally Posted by TF RyuShin

Sorry if my words to Fuwa was a bit harsh, I do like Fuwa as a character. I just wish there was more deep and intimate between Aruto and Fuwa as close as Aruto and Izu. Maybe if Fuwa actually approached to Aruto and say "Hey, President... I'm sorry for what you have to deal with" or something like that. If Aruto was unresponsive, that would be a good reason to leave him alone. This was the part that I felt more of a plot machination because Takahashi deliberately didn't let Fuwa or anyone else to approach Aruto so Azu could take the place. Fuwa's character might be so IN character for him but I wish there was more layer for Fuwa. Even Banjo, who was all muscle, still had his times to shine to keep Sento in check and brought him back from some funks.

No need to apologize, I can kind of understand your frustration to an extent. But for sure, I'm never going to say no to more Aruto/Isamu scenes, totally with you on that. Their development is so deeply connected to each other's contrasting philosophies, making Aruto more independent to seize his dream and making Isamu more open-minded to decide what his dream should be. I'd love for them to have more interactions, but even without that, I think they've both come a long way just by observing each other's ways. People can have mutual respect, but might not always know the best way to show it and Isamu doesn't have much experience with the touchy-feely stuff, so yeah, his inaction was in-character at least, even if it wasn't necessarily the best for Aruto. It's a bump in the road, but I think they can bounce back.