[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

From what I understand, Zero-One is a show that is very polarizing among the western fandom for alot of reasons, but for me? I loved almost every second of it; Even certain episodes and/or character arcs that alot of people take contention with. If there's one thing that every era of Kamen Rider has managed to do, it's start off on some extremely strong footing.

Yeah, I think it's a show with some flaws, both external (COVID) and internal (it frequently felt like the cast was split up over three parallel shows), but overall it's a strong year of Kamen Rider. It's in the upper portion of the middle tier of shows for me. (I don't have a list! This is a gut statement!)

But it's fun to see how diverse the reactions to this show have been, more than anything. Two people can like this show, but end up liking it for diametrically opposed reasons, or even end up liking completely different episodes. It's the rare show that can get multiple people to agree on its quality, but disagree on its attributes. Super fun to talk about those types of shows!

[Daikaijuman54]

Looks like Dreamsword and I were on the same page about holding off on our Final Thoughts. But I guess no time like the present!

It's clear Zero-One wanted to go all out with its dynamic action and themes, which all shined in the first quarter of the series as some of my favorites. It took it a little easier with the second quarter for the ZAIA arc, which I didn't dislike, it's only standard Rider procedure to have an episodic slow period, but they had some great moments for our characters. The third arc, where real events started to creep in, is a blur for me in a way, mostly it was the "everybody gets to beat Thouser" arc, but even that managed to have moments that really shine, moreso given the situation the show found itself in. Then there's the ARK arc, which while some things could have worked a little better, it was still a very good way to end the show.

I do apologize for my lack of contribution to this thread and trying to recount the show as we went along, but it was a... difficult time in my life at the time the show aired. I was out trying to get a job, start a life, and everything went awry, and it's not just the pandemic but a variety of other problems that are better left unsaid. I was still watching Zero-One, but through numerous occurrences in my life at the time made remembering everything I could about this series difficult. It's not anything against the show nor any shortcomings I have, I really did enjoy this show for what it was.

That said, I know it's a little difficult to gauge where Zero-One ranks among Rider Seasons, and to that I'd say, it was the best way to (Rider) Kick off a new era of the franchise. It experimented, from the style of the suits, the dynamic action sequences (the absolute highlight of this season), and just about everything they could compromise. I'd say it was worth the effort. But how does it stand right now, when we have soon to be three Seasons in Reiwa?

And that's the thing. It's still difficult for me to find where it stands to me. Partly because I think back on how this show wanted to really start things off with a bang and let Reiwa continue to flourish afterwards, had it not been struck by unfortunate events, that it feels like we never got the true Kamen Rider Zero-One, the first of a new era.

Again, I did enjoy Zero-One, despite some bumps in the road, or how I'm not that big of a fan of some of the themes this show wanted to explore, but even so, I feel like it's done better than most I've seen that do go that route. And this is just a dumb Japanese kids show about men in funny costumes fight each other and sell toys! Which honestly, it's because of that, is why I love Kamen Rider and Tokusatsu in general, no matter what it decides to do, it's done in a fun way, and more often than not, in a better way than I've seen most other things try to do.

I remember when everyone was dreading Aruto as the protagonist, and yet I enjoyed watching his journey unfold in this story. Not only did he have a great story, but he grew from a failed comedian to a responsible, ideal president, and a Hero. Fuwa is still my favorite character. Yaiba, while had some complications, I never disliked her. Gai, a jerk starting out, then had a stupid redemption arc that I loved. Metsuboujinrai, an evil cult of robots, that subverted the common trope they were introduced as (for the most part). I don't really have any grievances from this show. And that's enough for me.

And yet, I still wonder... Zero-One? Or the season that followed? Which is the best Reiwa Season for me? As weird as it sounds, I'd say the latter. But that's a discussion for another time. As I've still got to see the V-Cinemas for Zero-One, which I've heard are actually not well loved (and I have been slightly spoiled on some things...). So that'll be interesting.

(Also, I still have to watch the Zi-O vs. Decade stuff)

But to commemorate this Thread's completion of Reiwa's Debut Season, I present my Zero-One art (which some of you may remember from Dreamsword's Memory of Heroez Thread)!

[TF RyuShin]

Okay, I will save my full thoughts of Zero-One after Die watches RealXTime which is a MUST watch movie to your list. After some bitter taste from your experience with Over Quartzer last time, I think RealXTime will be much better for your taste.

Rather than giving my thoughts, I just want to say:

"お疲れ様です"

Thanks for the your hardwork, consistency and your passion for Toku, Die! I think it's a worth celebration and milestone for Die after several of your passionate threads. I didn't have the guts to say it back when you watched Zi-O so I will say it now, especially because finishing Zero-One is also great reward. I must thank you for giving such a great room for us to discuss the series that we have watched.

I must also thank you for everyone in this forum that I obviously can't mention one-by-one. You guys really did reciprocate Die's passionate feelings back and it was honestly a blast to see everyone's discussion here. It was such an enjoyable experience for every one of us in this forum.

To be frank, up until several weeks back, I was more of a passive reader because I'm not that confident if my input will be strong and influential enough for everyone, especially since English was my second language. I don't know if it's fate or not...

But with the combination of Die talking about Zero-One (a series about leaping to your future), everyone's ever growing passion in this forum, and a certain episode in a Rider series that Die WILL touch later, somehow that regained my strength and passion back to be active in this forum. I can't stress how much everyone in this forum and the Rider franchise and the community itself gave me what I had missed and lost in these past few years.

"ありがとうございます"

That's all I could say as a closing for Die's thought on Zero-One as a whole. Please don't be discouraged to keep your amazing work, Die. Your words and writing HAVE the power to not only change world but also give strength to some people like me. Keep up the good work and see you and everyone else later!

Oh yeah... Speaking of writing...

https://youtu.be/HsKl3MOFS74

I found a nice peace of media in regarding the baton pass between Zero-One and its successors, Kamen Rider Saber. I think this will serves as nice preview for Saber in the future, especially on our protagonist. I don't think it will hurt to watch it even if you want to watch RealXTime first before tackling Saber. It's also nice to see the actors be a little more open and relaxed in this instance. It's just a joy to watch Noa Tsurushima to express herself more open after acting as Izu for the whole year. It's also conversation between Aruto and his junior.

Can't wait to see you tackling Kamen Rider Saber. Until that, best of luck to you and everyone else in this forum.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daikaijuman54

Again, I did enjoy Zero-One, despite some bumps in the road, or how I'm not that big of a fan of some of the themes this show wanted to explore, but even so, I feel like it's done better than most I've seen that do go that route. And this is just a dumb Japanese kids show about men in funny costumes fight each other and sell toys! Which honestly, it's because of that, is why I love Kamen Rider and Tokusatsu in general, no matter what it decides to do, it's done in a fun way, and more often than not, in a better way than I've seen most other things try to do.

Yeah, for sure. It's easy to read this thread like I'm leaning forward in my chair, tenting my fingers as I squint and say Hmm Yes What An Incisive Observation About The Dehumanizing Effects Of Capitalism. I mean, sometimes! But I'm mostly just laughing at funny gags and marvelling at explosive action. Always fun to think about these stories in the aftermath, but it's equally fun to watch them in the moment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TF RyuShin

To be frank, up until several weeks back, I was more of a passive reader because I'm not that confident if my input will be strong and influential enough for everyone, especially since English was my second language. I don't know if it's fate or not...

But with the combination of Die talking about Zero-One (a series about leaping to your future), everyone's ever growing passion in this forum, and a certain episode in a Rider series that Die WILL touch later, somehow that regained my strength and passion back to be active in this forum. I can't stress how much everyone in this forum and the Rider franchise and the community itself gave me what I had missed and lost in these past few years.

Thanks for your contributions! And your English is great! Probably, uh, better than mine!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TF RyuShin

That's all I could say as a closing for Die's thought on Zero-One as a whole. Please don't be discouraged to keep your amazing work, Die. Your words and writing HAVE the power to not only change world but also give strength to some people like me. Keep up the good work and see you and everyone else later!

That's incredibly sweet of you to say. I have a hard time accepting praise gracefully, but I'll try and refrain from deflecting with self-deprecation.

And I'm not going anywhere, really. Some life stuff is going to make things hectic for a bit, but my current plan is to be back in the beginning of November to do the dozen or so post-show pieces of Zero-One content (movie, stage show, V-Cins, Fan Club specials, etc.). Then the holidays are going to hit, and things are going to get hectic again, but I plan to start Saber right after the New Year. I'm not nearly done talking about Kamen Rider with you folks!

[Kamen Rider Die]

PROJECT THOUSER - PART 1



And we’re back! Busy couple months for me (vacation that only briefly stranded me in another state; cross-town move that didn’t completely destroy my body or bank account), but things have finally stabilized enough for me to get back to these last few Zero-One things. I hope anyone’s still around to talk about them with me?

We’re starting off easy with Project Thouser, which I’m pretty sure is one of those Blu-ray bonus feature pieces. It’s partially a clip show of big moments from the first third of the series, and partially a chance to fill in the blanks for a mastermind villain. This is all the What He Did In The Shadows stuff for Gai, where the dots of his convoluted scheme are all connected for an audience who presumably cares about that sort of irrelevant minutiae.

Which, as the phrasing of that sentence might indicate, I definitely do not! The idea of spending half an hour trying to cross t’s for the Gathering Data phase of a villain’s scheme - by far the most perfunctory and generic version of any Kamen Rider show’s first Act - would probably make me feel like returning to Zero-One was a Giga-scale mistake. Thankfully, this episode is just as uninterested in that backstory exposition as I am. I mean, they still do it, if you need every link explicated, but it’s definitely not the story they want to tell.

They want to tell a story about Naki, and their initial rebellion against Gai and ZAIA. None of it’s revelatory (most of it gets a more nuanced look in the series itself), but seeing Naki start to understand the difference between service and subjugation is really compelling. Naki’s quest for individuality and self-determination is one of the best arcs in the middle part of Zero-One, so favoring that story over Gai Collects Data is smart.

I did like the stuff with Gai, though. It’s weird watching this after the end of the show, where so much work was done to humanize him, to add pathos to his motivations. Here, he’s fully in the Ruthless Tyrant phase of his character development, with nothing to excuse or explain his smug malevolence. But that’s okay! Gai was a very fun villain before he was a punchline before he was adorable. He makes an excellent foil for Naki’s confusion, as his egotistical certainty just invites more resistance from the frustrated Humagear. We didn’t (to my memory) get a lot of Gai Vs Naki stuff in Zero-One, due to where character arcs landed, so it’s nice to see Naki get some one-on-one time with Gai.

Not that it, uh, worked out so great for Naki… what with the whole Being Shot To Death With An Actual Revolver I Keep Forgetting Kid Shows In Japan Will Show Stuff Like That thing. But that’s more of a detail for the next installment of Project Thouser! I’ll see you all back here tomorrow for that! If anyone remembers this thread still exists!

[Androzani84]

Can’t say I have much to say about this particular instalment, but it did lead to this meme.

[Enchilada645]

The thing about these recap and fill in the blank sort of Blu-Ray specials is that while neat in concept... aren't really much to chew on.

Like you mentioned Die, the special while touting itself as Project Thouser, definitely puts a lot of focus on Naki too. I believe this was our first instance of seeing Naki too as like a character before the big reveal with Fuwa.

Anyway I've noticed that I only gleam a small bit of things from like Build Onwards of the Blu-Ray specials in terms of things that stand out.

Rogue: Karaoke
Project Thouser: Naki
Saber's Blu-Ray thing: We'll get to that

I can't list Revice because I'll be completely honest, it's the first time in a while (maybe ever) that we've broken the mold of "Here's what was happening/fill in the blank" type of specials and we just... tell an actual compelling story that I enjoyed the whole of.

Anyway those were my two cents, can't wait to get back fully into talking about Zero-One for as short as that lasts.

[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Androzani84

Fitting for Gai's maximalist aesthetic, that pistol is almost comically large. I appreciate him staying on-brand?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Rogue: Karaoke
Project Thouser: Naki
Saber's Blu-Ray thing: We'll get to that

I don't... I might be misremembering the Rogue specials through the rose-colored glasses of Gentoku's late-series brilliance, but I thought those specials helped humanize him and contextualize his motivations in the same way Naki gets here. The sort of joke of this one is that there's literally nothing else we need to know about Gai, so here's some crucial character stuff for Naki. With Rogue, it was helpful to see some of the decisions Gentoku was making before he got so broken they needed to literally slap a FRAGILE sticker on his head.

The karaoke stuff was pretty great, though.

[Kamen Rider Die]

PROJECT THOUSER - PART 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

The idea of spending half an hour trying to cross t’s for the Gathering Data phase of a villain’s scheme - by far the most perfunctory and generic version of any Kamen Rider show’s first Act - would probably make me feel like returning to Zero-One was a Giga-scale mistake.

So.

After last episode’s intriguing look at Naki’s self-actualization, this concluding chapter of Project Thouser bafflingly goes all-in on Williamson, a random endgame character who never made a ton of sense, and mostly came off as a COVID-truncated storyline that was still essential enough to try and shoehorn in. The idea of ascribing him a deeper motivation and a coherent backstory is laudable - and kind of the main thing a clip-composed Blu-ray extra should aim for - but the attempt here is all convoluted retcons and weird character decisions. It’s just ladling half of the series’ The Ark Wills It stuff onto a guy who only showed up for the final three episodes, and making Naki’s story about 18% dumber than it was before.

The Naki part bothers me the most, because it retroactively diminishes the previous episode. Naki going through all of this growth, and its basis in their faith in others… to then go Oh Also Wipe My Memory And Destroy My Newly-Won Identity To Further Some Convoluted Scheme? That sucks. It sucks, and like, I get it. The show has Naki assert their independence much later in the series, and it doesn’t work if Naki’s already been fully-actualized and plotting to take down the Ark all this time. But maybe then don’t have Naki get 1000% involved with a plot to trick Gai? Or just, like… don’t spend an episode telling a story about Naki’s newly-won identity getting destroyed to further some convoluted scheme. It makes the only character worth rooting for in this special into some dumb plot mechanism. It makes Naki’s impossible quest to achieve Singularity into something sadly minor. There’s a feint toward this being some crucial sacrifice, a key ingredient in a plan that’s worth Naki’s loss, but the episode never spends enough time on Naki’s decision-making or regret (or anything) to feel like this story understands its own consequences.

Mostly because this story is way more focused on Williamson, a vaguely-principled ZAIA executive of nebulous authority, and how roughly half of the Kamen Rider Zero-One story was due to his ridiculous machinations. It’s hilariously misguided, as a concept. Nothing in the show is improved by Williamson being a puppet master, and some of the swings in his plot are… like, he planned for Horobi to sacrifice himself? Despite the Ark specifically telling Horobi to sacrifice himself? What?! (I also love the whole The Ark Is At The Bottom Of A Lake So We Can't Get To It thing. They can make Kamen Riders and androids, but you put something under a hundred feet of water and they are just stumped. God help them if Kamen Rider Poseidon shows up!) Why spend any narrative capital on Williamson as some Good Guy Manipulator, when it makes less sense than before? So many of the show’s already-established story beats are given more perplexing Williamson Wills It retcons, and it’s exhausting. Like, just say he was a guy whose conscience bothered him! And that’s why he brought back Jin! The end!

This was… boy, it was so bad. The Naki stuff from last time takes a big hit, all of the Williamson stuff is decent in its intentions but stupid in its execution, and the end result illuminates next to nothing about Zero-One as a story. It’s not good, and I 1000% suggest skipping it.

[Enchilada645]

Yeah I've literally got nothing else to say on this.

Other than probably rebringing up the fact that it feels like a lot of his stuff was retrofitted to be more "good" in parts since again. It absolutely feels like once we lost Gai in the villain role when they decided to go for the redemption route, Williamson was supposed to be Ark-One but then well.

Covid happened, they only could guarantee up to Episode 41, and 42 to 45 ended up as a "Shit we have time uh... wholly original story!"

Cause seriously, you have the Zaia Spec part on the Ark Key when it's open, that could not have been anymore blatant that someone from ZAIA was supposed to be Ark-One.

Look at me repeating previous things that have likely been said. Yeah I have literally nothing to say about this half of the special sadly.