[Daikaijuman54]

Burning Falcon's here! And it's a great suit (love how he was the prelude to the next Rider Season in a way), but also how it's a parallel to A.I.M.S.'s ShotRiders, both doubling as weapons and having "Kamen Rider" as their standby. Jin also gets a new look, which is kind of neat, I especially like how the Burning Falcon Progrise Key is shackled to his wrist, as though he's bound to his duty.

It may have been half a recap episode, but it was still a pretty good episode.

Now the Firefighter Arc, oh boy, do I love this one.

Almost the same reason as Die, it's just so much fun. From 119's (the Japanese 911) little jogs, to him just staring at the human firefighters' reactions to everyone they can save in the building. The cheering at the pretty girls on floor one, then stopping on the guys on floor two, THEN absolutely no reaction to floor three, with Fukuzue, once again, being the dead guy, and his partner just chanting "save me," while the secretary just stands there. That whole scene had me laughing.

I don't know if anyone else mentioned it here, but the panicking reporter is none other than Akiko from W (I don't remember her actress, sorry), even using her catchphrase.

I do like how Homura isn't just going out against the Humagears, more like judging the performance and giving them a chance unlike some of the others, though to be fair, some of them were being told by Gai in order to rattle them up, while Homura has to focus on saving lives, meaning even corporate greed can't sway him from his duty. It is understandable to him, as a human, to not abandon even someone on the brink of death, to have beef with 119's actions, and it's also commendable that he didn't go Magia right then and there like the others. But as Die mentioned, this episode was just so much fun, that it almost doesn't matter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

I suppose then that, among my many other titles, it's time for me to become The Only Yua Fan as well.

You, sir. Are a man of integrity. I like that!

Not to knock on Yua, as she still has some great moments, so it's not as though she was completely wasted, I can understand the disappointment, but I don't despise her. I'll have more thoughts after we're finished on that subject.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daikaijuman54

I don't know if anyone else mentioned it here, but the panicking reporter is none other than Akiko from W (I don't remember her actress, sorry), even using her catchphrase.

...

...

NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT THAT!

Man, I totally did not get that that was my fifth or sixth-favorite character from W! (It mostly depends on if we count Fang Memory as a character or not.) Thank you for catching that!

[Kurona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Whereas Fuwa and Aruto prioritize freedom, unity, and righteousness from the outset, Yua is focused more on self-preservation and security; She's literally a slave to her job. Which, given the increased focus on the work force the show takes, is something really important to highlight, I think.

No, like, I understand that; it's just very badly done and very dramatically inert. At absolute best it's just repeating the same points over and over without any real twist to it or meaningful escalation. There's no more depth to it and nothing new to it since the first episode she was working for Gai

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

No, like, I understand that; it's just very badly done and very dramatically inert. At absolute best it's just repeating the same points over and over without any real twist to it or meaningful escalation. There's no more depth to it and nothing new to it since the first episode she was working for Gai

Does it really need some big extra oomph though? It is what it is and I feel that it serves itself well. Even disregarding some later episodes.

[Kurona]

Yeah, actually, I would preferably have a character motivation to it. I'd like anything to it. Otherwise it just feels like a waste of time and a waste of a character

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

Yeah, actually, I would preferably have a character motivation to it. I'd like anything to it. Otherwise it just feels like a waste of time and a waste of a character

I myself take sustaining one's' livelihood as its own qualifying motivation but hey, to each their own.

[Kurona]

I would take that! A bit... boring without any more depth or exploration of her life or personality, sure, but it'd be something -- but there's not enough to her to even infer that as being her reason.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

but there's not enough to her to even infer that as being her reason.

Why isn't there? Maybe I'm reading too much into it here(which would be ironic given my usual way of consuming stories), but given her whole set up is her contrast with Aruto and Fuwa, it basically speaks for itself. She's choosing self-preservation, and as such, is preserving herself, her livelihood, her well being. A job is major part of that at the end of the day, whether it's someone's' dream/passion or not.

Is it the most super exciting thing in terms of storytelling? For many, I'd imagine not. But for me it worked, and Yua always had my attention whenever she was on screen.

[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 27 - “I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON LIFE”



My favorite thing about this series is how it demonstrates the heroism of re-examining biases.

It’s an all the time thing in TV shows, really. Folks are against Topic A, they go through a series of adventures/difficulties, and then they begin to understand the value of Topic A. Societal harmony is only a few commercial breaks away, usually. But: real life, you know? Admitting mistakes or walking back from stated beliefs… you’d have an easier time doing a real-life Rider Kick. Most people don’t want to change, and don’t care to do the hard work of understanding other people.

What’s nice about this show is that, even with the fortnightly happy ending of humans and Humagears finding common ground, it never feels obligatory. When you get a scene like Homura declaring that 119 was a real firefighter, and that the credit for the victory should go to Hiden, there’s a genuine feeling of catharsis to that. This show somehow manages to make these lessons in judging people by their actions into something almost profound, and a pleasant surprise. The recurring character beats of folks slowly realizing that they’ve misjudged an entire species, or failed to see the ways in which their desires overlap, I never get bored of them. I love them more than a hundred finishing moves. Shit, someone going I Was A Bigot And I Can See That Now is my favorite finishing move in all of Kamen Rider.

So, yeah, I liked how this firefighter thing ended! It’s all deeply affecting hero moments, for about eight minutes straight. And, like, firefighter story! That’s a genre that can ladle out hero moments from sunrise to sunset without it ever feeling forced. All of the 119 stuff was beautiful, and I don’t mind saying it. It’s nothing too revelatory – we’ve seen any number of heroic and dedicated Humagears by now – but the execution is a goddamn bullseye. That shot of 119’s burning face as he yells at Homura to go save the Hiden employees! Aruto carrying out 119’s body on his back, because his employee did a good job today! (I am tearing up just typing that out; goddamn bullseye.) Homura saluting Aruto to honor 119’s dedication to saving lives! Just… man, what a thrilling first half of this episode.

(I can’t decide if Fuwa and Yua charging into the burning building is hilarious, or stupid, or both. When Fuwa douses himself with a bucket of water, grabs Yua by the hand, and races into the building to possibly literally fight a fire, I was like HELL YES. They’re both Kamen Riders! They can use their superpowers to safely rescue the trapped civilians! But then they… don’t do that? They just go into a burning building in winter coats and work clothes? At which point even the formerly terrified firefighter is calling Fuwa a dumbass? It starts off as such a great idea, until it looks like Yua forgetting she can Henshin becomes a disease that’s transmitted through contact to Fuwa. Weird subplot!)

The second half, though? It was okay.

I mean, it’s another A+ Jin fight scene, and that’s always welcome, but a lot of the rest of it was just some plot reveals. Things that’re necessary to know (finally established that ZAIA has been manufacturing the Raidrisers), while still sort of being unceremoniously dumped on the audience. Like, the Raidriser thing just happens in an alleyway? It’s fun to hear Gai’s defense of arming humans to start a Humagear genocide, which is a neat inversion of MetsubouJinrai’s M.O., but it feels less like a hard-fought discovery and more like a timer went off and everyone was allowed to talk about it.

(On that topic, I wish the show would just say Yua was Gai’s daughter or whatever they’ve got up their sleeve. I wish they’d’ve done it ten episodes ago.)

That first half was so good, though!

—

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 08: HUMAGEAR



In honor of 119’s excellent effort at work today, let’s take a look at the Humagear SO-DO!

It’s a one-box figure, because of course it is. Beyond just being a troop-builder, what in the hell would a second box add to a Humagear? What you get here is a figure, an extra set of hands, and a ton of stickers. You actually get the option of stickering up the head as Docile or Deranged, and I went with Docile. (There’s a Trilobite figure we’ll be talking about in a little bit, as well as a Fuwa’s Nightmare model of Humagear, and I thought they both covered the Evil side of things well enough.) The rest of the stickers are needed to fill out the incredibly blank figure, and they do a solid job. The ones for the eyes are infuriating, because they’ve got to curve around the side of the head and cover a sliver of the eye… but pressing down on them causes the stickers to move out of position. You need to use two points of pressure on these stickers to keep them from sliding around, and it sucks.

I like the general Humagear design. AkibaSilver already traced the genealogy of Hiden’s various human-looking robots, so we’ve got the basics of the suits well covered. I honestly don’t have any points to make about the Humagear suit; I think it looks neat? It’s a mook suit, and those are designed to be sort of nondescript and unobtrusive, so I’m not sure there’s much to be said about what they communicate or how they push forward on the themes of Zero-One. If you’ve got a read, I’d love to hear it!

[Nokination]

This two-parter is my favorite of all the competition ones, it has a topic I like and the characters are great. I will admit that I don't like Yua at all, it's not that I hate her, just that I really don't care about anything she does, at least Gai is a good villain, Yua just feels like she follows Gai without really doing many things that make her, her own character besides following Gai. I just don't like her right now. But, the rest of the episode is rather good, I like Takeshi and 119, and 119 sacrificing himself was a good moment. I can't think of much to say about this episode or the next two, but I like this one.