[Frontier]

We don't often get villain episodes in Rider, so it was interesting seeing an episode about Metsuboujinrai and catching us up with them at this point. I guess it probably helps that they're Riders, because could you imagine the Greeed or Lucky Clover getting their own episode? Though a part of me misses when villains were just Kaijin.

It's interesting that a version of Is working for a human-hating, coldly analytical, AI would be more...peppy and outwardly emoitonal than the normal Is, but I guess that heightens the irony and the contrast between Is and As, especially since As probably isn't near as "human" as our Is is.

I'm glad Ikazuchi is back. It's nice that the show can finally explore him as a character and the dichotomy of his two identities.

Jin continues to be best boi.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Meanwhile buckle up because we're entering a part of the show where even the crew wasn't sure how many episodes they'd have and had various interesting restrictions that kind of enhanced certain parts.

I'm actually very excited to see how they try to cram fifteen episodes worth of plot into ten episodes. Sometimes you get real clever modifications, or weaker material gets jettisoned for expediency. Could be a positive!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nokination

I like this episode (though that might just be because of the reprieve from the recap specials), and I'm glad that we're getting back to actual plot relevant episodes.

35.5 is absolutely trying to set up a new status quo, and that's what elevates it above the Shooting Special or whatever.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Obviously, it was a completely unavoidable situation, but the hiatus really killed the show's momentum for me when I was watching it weekly.

Yeah, I feel like I got a microdose of that this week, where it's almost difficult to remember how it is to watch a regular Zero-One adventure. After five days of recaps and redubs, is it going to be weird to watch an all-new episode? I guess I'll find out tonight!

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmicrescend0

It's actually really interesting in general that none of the things that triggered their Singularity aren't necessarily evil/malicious, wonder what's the point of even delivering that data to Ark....? (In any case, the data retrieval also seemed to override everyone to "renew" their dedication to Ark, so good on Jin for lying !)

This is one of my flaws as a viewer, maybe, where I don't have any theories about what the Ark needs from its soldiers via the Malice Learning (!!!) key. I mostly don't care about vague plot pieces like that, where it's all part of some epic strategy designed to etc etc. Like, tell me or don't, you know? I don't have a ton of patience to theorize when there's so little to go on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Also, due to COVID shooting the shows merch release/debut episode synchronisation out of whack, we got an action figure of Kamen Rider Ark-Zero a month before the former debuted and two months before the latter debuted.

Oof. I feel bad for the production team!

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Originally Posted by Frontier

Jin continues to be best boi.

He really does! The Azu stuff was more immediately my speed/interest/crush, but Jin's by far the most fascinating MetsubouJinrai member right now. (I mean, Ikazuchi and Naki are great, too! Just not as great.) The actor keeps finding a weird mixture of melancholy and focus to build out Jin's internal conflicts, and how he's trying to navigate the larger battle for the future of Humagear civilization.

[DreadBringer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 35.5 - “WHAT CREATED METSUBOUJINRAI?”

But, y’know, I like these actors! Azu alone makes this thing delightful to watch, with her cutie-pie delivery on existential threats an endlessly watchable approach to fleshing out (literally!) the Ark’s presence. Jin finds some fun shades on his I Totally Love Ark You Guys Seriously gray area, with a tease towards his still-unforeseen benefactor (Satellite There, I’d assume) and Jin potentially acting as a double-agent against The Ark. (Plus, I just love how the episode has him saying that Horobi’s lessons changed his life, when you know he means Aruto.) Ikazuchi and Naki get some good drama out of their inability to see how far they’ve come, with a nice application of swaggering braggadocio and humble inquisitiveness, respectively. And Horobi… is also present for this episode.

Perhaps this just happened to bring up previous character's arks, uh, arcs, but this is about Azu's setup and plot. So perhaps you got it by enjoying Azu here. Azu does have a good debut here, and she's made As (sorry not sorry) the opposite of Izu. Other than how Azu is long-haired to Izu's short-haired, Izu is professional, obedient, serious, stoic, and dutiful, can be blunt on occassion, while Azu is playful, sassy, cheeky, condescending, smiley, and invasive towards what she interacted with. Both are dedicated to work under their "boss" though, Izu to Zea and Azu to Ark.

This also displays Azu's cruelty that she had no qualms enslaving the members of MetsubouJinrai.net, removing their individuality by taking away their Singularity. Though she'd retain their regular personalities while remaining shackled slaves of The Ark this way. Jin is the only exception, presumably due to his evolved constitution. Azu did impersonate Aruto's looks perfectly, but she didn't put good enough effort to impersonate his personality, she still revealed her true personality as "Aruto", which exposed herself. Outside of Azu failing to make a dent on Jin here, perhaps this is also the official reveal of Jin's turn to the good side that he's a double agent against Ark.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreadBringer

This also displays Azu's cruelty that she had no qualms enslaving the members of MetsubouJinrai.net, removing their individuality by taking away their Singularity. Though she'd retain their regular personalities while remaining shackled slaves of The Ark this way. Jin is the only exception, presumably due to his evolved constitution. Azu did impersonate Aruto's looks perfectly, but she didn't put good enough effort to impersonate his personality, she still revealed her true personality as "Aruto", which exposed herself. Outside of Azu failing to make a dent on Jin here, perhaps this is also the official reveal of Jin's turn to the good side that he's a double agent against Ark.

I think Jin's ability to retain his Singularity Point is that he lies to Azu over what it is. She thinks he's being honest when he says it was Horobi's influence, but I think it was really Aruto's fiery defense of the Humagears that Jin had been destroying. It's Aruto's lead that Jin's following after his Singularity, not Horobi's. Azu was able to take something from Jin, but it wasn't his real Singularity Point.