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Kamen Rider Die watches Kamen Rider Zero-One (and builds SO-DO)
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07-01-2022, 10:56 PM
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249
Kamen Rider Die
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,080
KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 13 - “BEING THE PRESIDENT’S SECRETARY IS MY JOB”
An overall solid finish to this mystery story, with some terrific action to complement some nice character growth, even if some of the story beats feel a little rushed.
And, let’s start with those rushed story beats: I feel like the Was sacrifice, along with the potential Izu sacrifice, sort of comes out of nowhere? The idea of the Shining Hopper Key being incomplete because the satellite doesn’t know what Aruto’s capable of in the same way Izu does, that tracks. This is a show about seeing past faces and descriptions and origins to get at the limitless potential within everyone, so we need there to be an obstacle that can only be cleared through the bond between a human and a Humagear. I could quibble about Izu deciding to sacrifice herself
now
, when the threat of MetsubouJinrai is far more terrifying than an errant Dodo, but, like,
she’s had a rough day.
Folks make bad decisions sometimes in the immediate aftermath of failure. Sure.
But then the solution to You Can’t Murder Izu In Episode 13 is Was taking her place, and that just doesn’t work for me? He’s got Zero-One combat data, sure, but he doesn’t know
Aruto
, not really. He just showed up that day! He’s seen Zero-One fight for maybe fifteen seconds! It not only ends up robbing the Shining Hopper Key of the specific bond that Was spends his dying breaths explaining to Izu, but it rushes the Was/Izu story into a quick resolution that it didn’t really need. They save the actor from 11, but they drop Was? Why couldn’t he have survived this brand-new process?
Besides that, though, I thought this was a pretty fun take on the First Upgrade Form story. I like that Shining Hopper is about Aruto’s ability to constantly (Prog)rise to meet any challenge, and his view of technology as a way to unlock power. Seeing him surpass a machine that
was built to surpass him
was an exceptionally smart way of illustrating not just Zero-One’s cool new overpowered ability that will be utterly negated within six episodes, but a great distillation of Aruto’s sense of his own untapped potential. I don’t love the suit a whole lot, but this episode certainly sold the concept of Shining Hopper to me.
There’re a few other things that felt like they’d be discussion topics, but ended up not being utilized enough to bother. I was as excited as Aruto about him teaming up, officially, with Vulcan and Valkyrie, but then the whole fight is decided by Zero-One’s new form that everyone marvels at. Similarly, I thought the last Assassin-chan Humagear was going to get some screentime in the finale, but he’s just casually mentioned as being in custody, so I guess everything’s okay now? The pressure on Hiden Intelligence was what was motivating this entire story, and it’s sort of handwaved in a line of dialogue over the final scene. Not great follow-through?
I complain about some of these points, but I still had fun with this episode. It’s a little more action-focused than last time, which means a bit less comedy, but there’s still plenty of joy to be had. (I especially liked Yua wondering what two Hiden Humagears were doing inside an AIMS van, since Fuwa split without leaving a note or anything. Funny gag!) It’s a little sloppy in its wrap-up, but I liked what it was talking about. Very fun two-parter.
—
KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 03: KAMEN RIDER VALKYRIE - LIGHTNING HORNET
Lightning Hornet! I legitimately would’ve felt bad if we’d waited much longer to talk about Valkyrie’s first form change. It would’ve felt… I don’t know, disrespectful? Luckily, we a) talked about Shining Hopper last time, and b) actually got to see Yua use this form in this episode, so we’re good to go!
It’s an interesting suit design. It gives up some of the aggression of Rushing Cheetah for a
nimbleness
, which is a nice tactical option. Rushing Cheetah’s all about maneuvering around the battlefield until Yua can move in for the kill, while Lightning Hornet spams attacks from the air until the opponent is ready for the finisher. Both styles benefit from Yua’s strategic mindset, but Lightning Hornet feels a bit more self-sufficient in its ranged attacks.
The design’s… I like it, but I don’t love it. I think it’s the antennae on the helmet? It looks a little too
dainty
, and I want Yua’s suits to have the same sense of power as Fuwa’s or Aruto’s. (The little blue booties do not help in this regard.) Still, I enjoy the crispness of the blue and gold and white. It sells Lightning as the main thing for this suit, and the honeycombed hexagons fill in the Hornet part.
This figure, though!
Yikes!
The one box is about 60% of the body and four stickers, while the other box was all the armor, a bunch of replacement body parts, and twenty-odd stickers. The second box was
bulging
. Most of the stickers were annoying, but not time-consuming: everything needed to fold around in some way, which made centering things tricky. A bit of a bummer that the wings show up in a later accessory pack, especially when the first box was so light, but I’ve got that accessory pack in a pile somewhere.
Anyway, yeah, decent suit and a decent figure. Sorry it took so long to get to!
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