[Kamen Rider Die]

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Originally Posted by Layton13

Because that's how the show felt as a whole. It doesn't really seem to fit together. Every arc of the show feels... detached from each other in some way. The first is fast and frantic with plots mostly wrapped up in one episode, the second is slower, more structured, and to some repetitive with two-parters, the third feels like a weird middle child that once more relies on one-offs, and the last part of the show is a continues story that hard focuses on interpersonal drama.

Yeah, the first half of this show... it sort of has that Ghost thing, where it does a very quick run of a dozen episodes that land okay, but frequently punt on an ending in lieu of Now There's A Fight, and then follow that up with a slower batch of two-parters that do a much better job of excavating the deeper emotions of the world that's been built.

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Originally Posted by Layton13

We waste a lot of time on things that really don't matter in the long run, prime example, Antsu-Chan. He's a character you could replace with Ikazuchi, and you'd probably improve the show since Raiden was severely underdeveloped in the show.

I don't know, I think Assassin-chan works as an early exploration of both the life-cycle of Humagear Singularity, and also a deeper dive on MetsubouJinrai's lack of concern for Humagears. You can really only do that with a character you're not going to see again.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I intend to post my Reiwa Rider Ranking next week in the thread for Revice's finale, but to compare Zero One with pre-Reiwa, I did enjoy it more than Zi-O and EX-Aid. Now I'm excited to see how Takebe will bring out the untapped potential in Takahashi's talent, as Reiwa enters its fourth season.

THis definitely doesn't touch Ex-Aid for me - I can't imagine anything ever will - but this versus Zi-O? Man, I don't know. Probably Zi-O for me, I think. The plot of Zero-One makes a ton more sense, the villains are equally lame, but the cast of Zi-O is just so much more fun to think about. There's a warmth to that show, and all of the Sougo/Geiz stuff, that this show never comes close to matching, nor does it try to. This show's cast is more Wartime Allies, instead of Zi-O's thing of Brothers Forged In Battle. Not an absolute blowout, but I think I like Zi-O a little better.

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Originally Posted by DreadBringer

For all the talk about Fish having unpopular opinion, you too can have fair share of it... including right here about the competition arc. At least in most of the fanbase it's divisive to the point that producer Omori in a producer roundtable discussion on the TTFC admits it's critically divisive. Though you do finally tolerate the final a̶r̶k̶ arc due to its good middle execution despite idiotic start, perhaps you'd like this more due to being even deeper in the themes it explored here? As here too, there are idiotic parts that kickstarted this arc, such as how Gai could've bought out Hiden and held the contest entirely on his own terms, not giving Aruto slightest chance to stop him, Aruto going along with the contest without making an effort to expose him despite Gai's cheating ways, and Fuwa gloats about the evidence about ZAIA's wrongdoings in front of Gai.

The Fuwa thing's incredibly stupid, but I honestly think the impetus for the Job War arc is perfectly acceptable. Gai's all about publicly embarrassing Aruto. He doesn't just want to buy Hiden and fire Aruto, he wants to beat Aruto so badly that Aruto surrenders rather than continue fighting for Hiden Intelligence. Which he does! It's a good plan.

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Originally Posted by Frontier

I think Zero-One was a strong way to kick off the Reiwa era of Kamen Rider.

Agreed!

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Originally Posted by AkibaSilver

Yeah, Zero-One, if nothing else, felt like it always wanted to make a stamenent on something big. It sometimes wasn't quite sure what that statement was, or how best to convey it through the medium of "Man in suit beats up other man in suit", but it tried. And I think, on the whole, it did a pretty good job. The action side was stylish, the plot side mostly holds up, and for our big first-food forwards after the look back that was Zi-O, it holds its own.

Yeah, it was a show that rarely missed the opportunity to derail a deep philosophical point about technology/intolerance/capitalism with a fight scene, and vice versa.