[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE 01HERS: KAMEN RIDER METSUBOUJINRAI



Contentious!

I can see why this film isn’t for everyone. There’s about 75% of it that’s building towards a newfound heroism for our former-terrorist family - one built around Jin’s fiery empathy and Horobi’s cautious repentance - that then sort of abruptly swings towards a nihilistic embrace of Justice At Any Cost in the final quarter. It’s an ending that’s probably as disappointing to some segment of the audience as it is to Fuwa.

I liked it. I didn’t love the movie, but I liked it, and I liked the ending a bunch.

It’s a pretty classic Kamen Rider thing, immolating your hopes of a simple life in the pursuit of justice and freedom for others. It’s not… like, it’s not always supposed to be a good thing when a character chooses that path, and I think this movie’s melancholy ending is a good rebuke of the typical Kamen Rider story beats. We’re definitely in If Fighting Is A Sin Then Let Me Be Damned territory here. MetsubouJinrai is devoting the remainder of their existence to protecting Humagear futures, and they’ve left themselves nothing outside that vow. All they have is each other, forever. That’s pretty bleak!

The path to get there is… a little bumpy. Arkland’s a fun villain (he’s Gai meets Evolt, which is super entertaining to watch), but Kamen Rider ZAIA just never threatens as an adversary, and the Sword drones are barely a step above mooks. The stakes in this movie feel endlessly hypothetical; a theme in search of a threat. So much of the film feels like only half an argument, with very little to motivate an extension beyond Rescue Jin, let alone the sort of zero-sum conflict that precludes a ceasefire. Arkland’s like I Made Weapons So You’d Start A War, and that kind of philosophical trap… I don’t know, it doesn’t make for an especially thrilling story, even more so when the ending is MetsubouJinrai murdering him and destroying their hard-fought individuality and potential. It’s a kind of bummer ending that never feels like it’s in line with the established stakes, even if I’m okay with a bummer ending in this case.

(I laughed pretty hard at the eventual reveal that the Japanese government was never in a million years going to buy ZAIA’s Humagear soldiers. Not only does it show a modicum of intelligence - these sorts of weapon systems always backfire, always - but it also makes the darkness of the ending more intentional by showcasing its irrelevance. MetsubouJinrai lost everything to stop a dude who was never going to make a sale, and that’s some dark humor.)

Not the best follow-up for REALxTIME, but I found some entertainment in this movie. The new suits are nothing to rave about (ZAIA’s just Black Thouser, and MetsubouJinrai uglies up the basically-perfect Horobi suit), the action is rarely more than perfunctory, Naki and Ikazuchi still don’t get a ton to do: yes to all of it. But I liked Arkland’s theatricality, and I like how ambivalent the movie is about dedicating your life to the pursuit of justice. It’s very in keeping with the show about corporations to land a spin-off film on the dangers of work/life imbalance!