[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I think it's also, like, Williamson just got here. He doesn't really know any of these guys, or have an emotional connection to them. He's trying to stop a global catastrophe, and all he knows is that it comes down to Horobi and Aruto. Their actions are dangerous in and of themselves, but they're also inciting Humagear revolts. He doesn't care about Horobi or Aruto, he's just trying to prevent disaster. I don't think he's a bad guy, or bad at his job, he's just making decisions on bad data. Which is a theme of this show!

Williamson was already the chief of ZAIA's Research and Development department while Gai was the President... so he gotta know ZAIA's members right? He's already a major member there since long. And of course he's not a bad guy, no one says he is, he's the good foil to Gai as the holders of ZAIA's President position. These kind of leaders are often used in good guy factions in stories actually, but are also instilling ruthlessness to people around them so they're "effective". Errors don't immediately make someone bad at their job (it'd be unfair to immediately assume them so), but still yeah leaders shouldn't be seen as completely infallible, he was making a decision on bad data, but to try shutting up Yua only because she didn't have authority (and only listening when turns out she had one)... it's still being controlling and close-minded.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

However, writers usually intend to depict characters in a certain way and expect how viewers will react to that. Ultimately, it's each viewer's opinion that counts, not the writer's intention.

Oh, actually not like that too.... audience shouldn't be put above the writers at all times too. For example, there are audiences viewing war as awesome and exciting to happen instead in a work about depicting war as horrific, or romanticizing mental illness that the work portrays as something that needs to be taken care of, etc. It's a complex situation too, while fans are entitled to their own interpretation, that does not mean they are always right. The writer's original intention might not be the only valid interpretation, but it probably shouldn't be dismissed out of hand, either.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 45 - “EACH ONE’S FUTURE”

The thing I liked the best was the idea that, when it comes to breaking a cycle of violence, it doesn’t matter who breaks it. Looking for who’s most at fault was dooming Aruto and Horobi to horrible futures for them, and probably the rest of the world as well. Aruto killed Jin, but Horobi killed Izu, but humans created the Ark, but MetsubouJinrai blew up Aruto’s dad. It’s blame all the way down the list, but that can also be their liberation. Everyone’s at fault, and everyone’s angry, and everyone feels sorrow, and everyone feels regret. If we can see ourselves in the people who wronged us, or that we’ve wronged, maybe there can be an escape from things like vengeance and hatred. The heroic thing is to be the one to make the first move.

This is a better redemption than Gai's because, there's at least some buildup for Horobi before, in his grieving heart out of Jin's death, and back then, turning out to care about Jin in ep. 36, and then actually declaring war on humanity partly due to Jin's well-being. Overall, Jin being Horobi's anchor is the build up to his redemption. I actually think, it'd be not satisfying to not have Aruto pointing out that he killed Izu in response to Horobi being mad that Aruto accidentally killed Jin, but yeah playing blame game like that is a part of the root of revenge, and Horobi does realize that he not only killed Izu, but Soreo as well, when Aruto reached out for Izu's ribbon. Though like any moral teachings, it can be risky and can be misinterpreted. Seems that Horobi (and many other people in Zero-One like Fuwa and Yua) can only realize their mistakes when they directly experience something related on that topic, positive (e.g. Humagear saving Fuwa) or negative.

This seems to reinforce that, people learn from biased data (which was Izu's argument to Horobi's prejudice), how it affects them only (or extending their loved ones only), like how there are people who only deem something as bad if it directly affects them or their circle (but find entertainment at someone being horrible to others, etc.). What should be practiced is unbiased judgment to acknowledge something as good/bad even if it doesn't affect you directly... and if that can be taught by making them experience if themselves thus now they know something is good/bad in general... then it means that killing Jin is the very event that redeemed Horobi. And that can be interpreted as, to make someone see the error of their ways, revenge is needed so they can directly feel what's wrong in their actions, or even worse, practicing revenge by proxy; targeting those who are dear to them instead (can be innocents), so they too can know how it feels to lose a loved one thus know it's wrong.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Other than that… I mean, it’s an ALL ACTION FINALE, which was a blast to watch, but I’m sort of at a loss to talk about. It’s just Aruto and Horobi, and their reconciliation. That’s it. That’s the plot of the episode. There’re little data points around the edges – Jin’s two-stage regeneration, which mostly works as a Greek chorus for the fight – but this isn’t a story that anyone else can participate in. It’s up to Aruto and Horobi to fix their/society’s core issue, or die trying.

Though Horobi got upgrades too, yeah he won't be the biggest threat surpassing Ark (though closer) even with his newfond conviction or such.... and thus it'd be the easy way for Aruto if he just finish off Horobi (with the power to do so). And for the series to make it more challenging, of course it got Aruto trying to redeem him instead, which'd be the hard path. Who says the title heroes in KR have easier path on heroism? Idealism (as Aruto re-gained here) can be more difficult and costly. Like how Aruto here, despite his superior equipment, he gotta risk himself by holding back, dropping his Attache Calibur, Rider form, and risk interacting heart-to-heart directly in human form, and Horobi specifically won because Aruto let him to destroy Ark-One Driver (symbolism of shaking off Ark's influence). That certainly can got him killed just like Izu before. Though still why Zero-Two itself isn't used here, but instead another unnecessary stuff by remaking base Zero-One (with boosted stats) that is actually randomly created by said Zero-Two Driver.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

Once that’s done, it’s just epilogue stuff for the cast, including teases for what look to be 800 pieces of post-show content. (Like, I think everyone in the credits sequence gets a dedicated post-show movie or special?) It's little snapshots that form grace notes for a group of weirdos, and I'm sure I'll want to dig into them more when I hit those other projects. Well, except one thing.

Honestly, I still think that Horobi is a bit suspicious to go completely free and doing what he wants. Sure, Horobi is a lot better now than him previously and goes on the right path more, with him not holding prejudiced view now, only malice, but, Horobi's solution is always violence and he doesn't know any other method to deal with a problem, and probably still that way now. With him no longer being prejudiced, he can still, murder anyone who is bad as his solution. That'd be anti-heroic... but it still won't be something that is tolerated by the force of good (such as most lead Riders) like their conflicts with secondary Riders who are like that. Perhaps Jin can continue to be his living anchor (if he had sense of that, he no longer hated humanity but still...)? Other than that, Fuwa shows off his inhuman strength again here, if not for in-universe merchandise like Progrise Keys, then him ripping a car door's off which reaffirms that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of Izu’s journey/resurrection in REALxTIME, but I thought the scene she has with Aruto here was very sweet, for a couple reasons.

Bittersweet. It's no longer the same Izu Aruto (or everyone, both in and out of universe) knew before, all the quirks she picked up, the memories she shared, etc. are gone forever. The only thing she shared right now are her looks and sound. Aruto had to start over from Zero. But perhaps this is a reminder that even if Izu can be rebuilt like this, luckily unlike some other Humagears like her older brother, doesn't mean that a death of Humagear isn't tragic loss for humans just like a death of a human loved one, especially if the Humagears reach Singularity (though permanent loss of data like Soreo's also help), and this also shows why Humagears shouldn't be viewed as tools like Yua did early on.
A̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶a̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶m̶a̶n̶e̶n̶t̶ ̶d̶a̶t̶a̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶s̶,̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶l̶ ̶h̶u̶m̶a̶n̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶b̶a̶b̶l̶y̶ ̶o̶t̶h̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶f̶e̶e̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶a̶y̶ ̶t̶o̶o̶,̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶a̶r̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶(̶i̶n̶a̶n̶i̶m̶a̶t̶e̶)̶ ̶t̶e̶c̶h̶n̶o̶l̶o̶g̶y̶,̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶w̶e̶'̶v̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶e̶v̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶r̶r̶u̶p̶t̶e̶d̶/̶l̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶d̶a̶t̶a̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶g̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶v̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶d̶o̶c̶u̶m̶e̶n̶t̶s̶,̶ ̶c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶,̶ ̶e̶t̶c̶.̶

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Originally Posted by TheRaizin

We don't even know if Aruto's dad was present at all in his life, I only ever recall him talking about his Humagear dad. And he never brought him back, it'd be tarnishing the sacrifice he's done for Aruto.

They don't bring back Soreo not because it'd tarnish his sacrifice, it's because Soreo's data was linked into Ark (as it was the Humagear's main satellite before being hacked), thus Soreo's data was lost forever and cannot be restored.