[TheRaizin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamen Rider Die

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 38 - ?I AM 1000% YOUR FRIEND?

This... IS MY (one of two) FAVOURITE EPISODE! I thought Gai was gonna die last episode, but then I see him now at his lowest point, even being destroyed by Zero-One in his (not) own office. He has nothing to turn to, well, besides the little plot device, but I will be ignoring that. That is, until the 3D printer crafted it for him, his old friend. A ROBOT DOG!!

This.... is amazing! The man who despised artificial intelligence, Hiden, and Aruto, this darkness within him was all because of his ridiculous childhood of having horrifically-realistic-asian-parents and the loss of Sony AIBOU, it's so stupid, it's dumb, it's.... brilliant! Maybe real even because even the smallest of events in one's life can of course influence one's outlook in the future. He literally named his rider form after his long lost robot dog! This is just stupendous! It is *chef's kiss* when Thouser scans him and it just tells you right away what he's feeling just to further how ridiculous but also kind of heartfelt this scene is, all thanks of Nachi Sakuragi's acting of course.

And then what does he do? He goes out with the robot dog to face the monument of his sins, the Ark. Successfully blocking the Ark's blast! This is one example I feel that Thouser is one of the most powerful suits in the show, it's just how it's handled that determines if it's strong or not. The shot of Thouser (the rider) with his back turned against Aruto is really cool. Even Aruto is dumbfounded that Thouser is working with him with newfound resolve! All he really is missing is a new form to go with it if, say, this show aired a year or so later.

This scene (and next episode) is also something I love seeing. I already said that Thouser's design doesn't quite look like a villain suit nor does it perfectly fit a hero design either, it finds a perfect middle ground. That's why it's so nice to see it in this way as well.

That said, of course this episode is not perfect. There are a few bits I would have like changed. One of course is Gai absolutely deleting every one of his crimes, completely unneeded and his development as a character afterwards would be much stronger had they left out this scene.

Next one is removing Ai, the little plot device. I think it would have been better if Gai was all to himself, recollecting his thoughts up until, I guess, Zea notices his grief and then builds Thouser for him. Having Ai cough up what Gai needed to say isn't as strong as having Gai admit it to himself.

Overall, if I didn't love Gai already, this and the succeeding episode cemented it for me!



art by: @yu_sui77 btw, massive Thouser fan

[Androzani84]

One thing I remember was that Thouser being portrayed by AIBO was part of a promotional deal with Sony (though I’m not sure whether the deal had been planned before they wrote this episode, or if they made it specifically for the episode). Though sadly, Thouser the Rider does not come with Thouser the dog as an accessory, due to Takara having the toy rights for AIBO (though they did release a tiny figurine around the time of this stretch of episodes, with their blog suggesting that you “pair it with suitable action figures”