[Kamen Rider Die]

PROJECT THOUSER - PART 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The idea of spending half an hour trying to cross t’s for the Gathering Data phase of a villain’s scheme - by far the most perfunctory and generic version of any Kamen Rider show’s first Act - would probably make me feel like returning to Zero-One was a Giga-scale mistake.

So.

After last episode’s intriguing look at Naki’s self-actualization, this concluding chapter of Project Thouser bafflingly goes all-in on Williamson, a random endgame character who never made a ton of sense, and mostly came off as a COVID-truncated storyline that was still essential enough to try and shoehorn in. The idea of ascribing him a deeper motivation and a coherent backstory is laudable - and kind of the main thing a clip-composed Blu-ray extra should aim for - but the attempt here is all convoluted retcons and weird character decisions. It’s just ladling half of the series’ The Ark Wills It stuff onto a guy who only showed up for the final three episodes, and making Naki’s story about 18% dumber than it was before.

The Naki part bothers me the most, because it retroactively diminishes the previous episode. Naki going through all of this growth, and its basis in their faith in others… to then go Oh Also Wipe My Memory And Destroy My Newly-Won Identity To Further Some Convoluted Scheme? That sucks. It sucks, and like, I get it. The show has Naki assert their independence much later in the series, and it doesn’t work if Naki’s already been fully-actualized and plotting to take down the Ark all this time. But maybe then don’t have Naki get 1000% involved with a plot to trick Gai? Or just, like… don’t spend an episode telling a story about Naki’s newly-won identity getting destroyed to further some convoluted scheme. It makes the only character worth rooting for in this special into some dumb plot mechanism. It makes Naki’s impossible quest to achieve Singularity into something sadly minor. There’s a feint toward this being some crucial sacrifice, a key ingredient in a plan that’s worth Naki’s loss, but the episode never spends enough time on Naki’s decision-making or regret (or anything) to feel like this story understands its own consequences.

Mostly because this story is way more focused on Williamson, a vaguely-principled ZAIA executive of nebulous authority, and how roughly half of the Kamen Rider Zero-One story was due to his ridiculous machinations. It’s hilariously misguided, as a concept. Nothing in the show is improved by Williamson being a puppet master, and some of the swings in his plot are… like, he planned for Horobi to sacrifice himself? Despite the Ark specifically telling Horobi to sacrifice himself? What?! (I also love the whole The Ark Is At The Bottom Of A Lake So We Can't Get To It thing. They can make Kamen Riders and androids, but you put something under a hundred feet of water and they are just stumped. God help them if Kamen Rider Poseidon shows up!) Why spend any narrative capital on Williamson as some Good Guy Manipulator, when it makes less sense than before? So many of the show’s already-established story beats are given more perplexing Williamson Wills It retcons, and it’s exhausting. Like, just say he was a guy whose conscience bothered him! And that’s why he brought back Jin! The end!

This was… boy, it was so bad. The Naki stuff from last time takes a big hit, all of the Williamson stuff is decent in its intentions but stupid in its execution, and the end result illuminates next to nothing about Zero-One as a story. It’s not good, and I 1000% suggest skipping it.