[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE 01HERS: KAMEN RIDER METSUBOUJINRAI

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.

So it seems that in this movie it showed how the MetsubouJinrai.net operated, which I thought Horobi can just commit pay evil unto evil towards anyone evil, instead of entire race, although they likely falter at the end, Horobi has learned his lesson in quite decent way that, he takes into consideration that starting a war can have innocent humans caught in the crossfire, as well as talking to Jin about not agreeing on destroying oppositions (far cry from what his name means), thus he's not changing his view on humanity in a resentful way.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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!

Well yeah despite Lyon dying here, this is a movie where the bad guy wins in the end. Good guys winning or not isn't an inherent good writing choice, just that yeah the bad one typically is when the bad guy wins only for shock value. Though this can be a satisfying factor for those who aren't still over Gai and Horobi before. What I don't like here is honestly Azu's death being portrayed as tragic, when she's nothing but only wanting to spread malice, albeit I also don't like about how anticlimatic it was for an overarching threat.

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Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

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.

With Gai now being 'redeemed', Arkland takes his place as the war profiteer, and the one who's not redeemed wasn't as evil as Gai previously, such as not doing needlessly evil stuff. For someone who outright won in the movie, it's a given that Arkland was a cunning and intelligent baddie like S previously, he undoes everything Aruto and companions worked for (yes, that's what the ending is), by using the Solds as a means to create the enemy for it in Kamen Rider MetsubouJinrai.net, those 4 members fell for his scheme by having Jin fighting for Sold's rights and other members backing him up. This likely also shows that evil doesn't necessarily mean intelligent as Gai's needless evil actions can be his downfall previously, Arkland's more effective by refraining from them. And so you enjoyed Arkland and yes, there are those who think Arkland is wasted here to be killed only in 1 movie. They can make him not too as many who got hit by KR finishers don't die.

Arkland's also a villain who doesn't misunderstood goodness (which many does like Kai from Den-O), that he instead points out the shortcomings of malice, of which it's not limitless and it can be overcome like Aruto, Horobi, and S did, and that... positive emotions like justice can be more reliable overall, but here being used for evil schemes. About justice being unwavering, there's a saying that "The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation", as someone that has justice but lack compassion can turn self-righteous, and it can be harder to convince them of wrongdoings as they already think they're doing the right thing. They're not as evil as the full malice ones (like Azu), but doesn't mean they're not less dangerous, and that their justifications shouldn't be taken in face value.