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07-08-2022, 02:53 PM | #291 |
Kaiju or Hero?
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Even I Don't Know Anymore.
Posts: 1,397
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Vulcan has some of my favorite forms.
Anyway, this is another one of my favorite episodes, much like the previous two, the Humagear introduced being the Astronaut Brothers, are some of my favorites, especially Raiden, really fun guy, and while a minor appearance, him and his Rider form were neat. Speaking of Rider forms, Assault Wolf, it's an interesting take on making something just completely weaponized, screaming "no chance of surviving." Yeah, it's messy, the black kind of clashes with the dark blue, but strangely, I like it. It's not my favorite suit, but I like Vulcan's forms, and this one's not bad. It also has a pretty sick debut, just going ham on Metsubojinrai and just leaving Fuwa in shambles, which yes, is the old "super dangerous form that will kill you" Secondary Rider trope, but I still like it. And boy, can we appreciate the dedication the Astronauts go through for Aruto's bike. They just beam it down, then send it back, imagine if Riders used their bikes more than they do now (the traffic laws weren't the only thing that wanted them to limit bikes). So yeah, I like this episode and the Astronauts. |
07-08-2022, 03:48 PM | #292 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Quote:
I feel like Gentaro and Raiden would have gotten along pretty well.
Actually, I just imagine Gentaro's whole solution to stopping Metsuboujinrai being "let's be friends with them!" and Aruto going "Hey, that's not a bad idea!" while Fuwa realizes there's two of them now. Quote:
And then the show forgets about that plot for some MetsubouJinrai shenanigans. That's the fun twist, because normally Rider shows give the Dangerous Upgrade to the normally nice and sweet guys, to telegraph how much their decision-making is compromised by anger/guilt/etc. (Hazard Form in Build is probably the gold standard of this trope.) So to give it to the guy who already doesn't believe in half-measures against the enemy, or cares about his own survival so long as he accomplishes his mission... it's a neat way of sort of leaving the interpretation up to the audience. Again, it's a show that is way more interested in discussion than in telling you how to feel.
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07-08-2022, 05:00 PM | #293 |
The Immortal King Tasty
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Every diner you've ever been to.
Posts: 3,833
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The whole "It's gotta be mine because it's a wolf" bit from Fuwa has always been so funny to me. I know we've established that *is* a great animal motif for the guy, but I'm sure I wasn't the only one watching that scene at the time thinking "well maybe if that was an Assault Kong Key, we'd know it's for you, ya' big gorilla."
I really love Assault Wolf as a form. Especially because of the more muted color scheme compared to Shooting Wolf, it comes off almost like the gritty and grounded live-action adaptation version of Vulcan (even though he was always live-action...), and it just makes a ton of sense for Fuwa. Also the Progrise Key is a perfect example of something Bandai/PLEX excel at, in how there's that leg of the wolf on the outside that's also the jaw of the wolf on the inside. One part looks like two totally different things without actually changing shape at all. You see that kind of thing on Sentai robots often, making simple transformation schemes feel like they're still accomplishing a lot, and it always really impresses me how clever they can be. This is an episode of Zero-One I love quite a bit, especially for how much slick setup it does of future things for the show... but that obviously makes it pretty hard to talk about right here and now. Mind you, I still really enjoyed the episode even before knowing how it fit into the bigger picture too, but I feel the best things about it are in how much it's looking forward. Ikazuchi is pretty great, by the way. I always think of Raiden as being discount Ryuuga Banjou, and believe me when I say that's a compliment. I still remember how weird it was when this new Rider showed up and then immediately bit the dust, too. Like, I don't think anyone knew about him before the episode aired at all? It was a highly unusual debut.
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07-08-2022, 05:18 PM | #294 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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Quote:
Ikazuchi is pretty great, by the way. I always think of Raiden as being discount Ryuuga Banjou, and believe me when I say that's a compliment. I still remember how weird it was when this new Rider showed up and then immediately bit the dust, too. Like, I don't think anyone knew about him before the episode aired at all? It was a highly unusual debut.
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07-08-2022, 06:28 PM | #295 |
Warrior of Delusions!
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Wait, you dont know either?
Posts: 5,825
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Assault Wolf is a suit I have feelings on for other reasons, but yeah, it certainly looks dangerous! The edge-lord version of Fuwa, just in time for his teenage phase (at least as episode counts go).
As for Ikazuchi... maybe the least interesting MBJR member yet? Even his suit is a kitbash of his predecessor, poor Dodo boy.
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07-08-2022, 09:00 PM | #296 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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I like that suit a whole lot (the deep red/maroon, the flatness of the dodo in the helmet), but the first appearance was really nothing to write home about.
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07-08-2022, 11:19 PM | #297 |
Kamen Ride Or Die
Join Date: Aug 2019
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 6,159
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KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 15 - “EACH ONE’S END”
Family! It’s both a theme for this week’s episode, and a word that gets said about seven hundred times. I like Aruto’s view of Humagears as his family. In a way, it’s nothing more than the idea of a found family – a staple of Kamen Rider shows for decades – blown up to a societal degree. It’s Aruto taking his responsibilities as both a Kamen Rider and a CEO, combining them, and amplifying them with his own unique backstory. Sort of no surprise that this episode ends with him getting a hybrid upgrade form, is it? He’s always viewed Humagears as partners more than servants, so it makes sense that he’d form emotional attachments with the very concept of Humagears. It’s a two-way street, and it doesn’t end when it becomes inconvenient. While even Subaru initially scoffs at the idea of treating an appliance like a member of the family, it tracks with Aruto’s sense of reciprocity. If someone treats you with care, you treat them with care. If they need you, you help them. The validity of these connections has never depended on genetics, so why should it depend on biology? Aruto’s belief that Humagears are his family is mirrored in a way with an actual Humagear family, Jin and Horobi. The fun part of that one is, in the spirit of hybridization, it’s a form of family that’s mixed up with Fuwa’s interpretation of connection… which is to say it is inextricable from things like Revenge and Obligation. All Jin exists for is a way to pass on Horobi’s goals of the Ark’s goals. It’s nothing that builds up or improves; it’s just a way to maintain hate well past the point of any articulated grudge or crime. It’s family as a trap you can’t escape, rather than a pathway to something better. So we get this nice intersection of storytelling where Fuwa gets his revenge, Horobi sacrifices himself for duty, and Izu gets injured for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s a layered scene of seeming catharsis, that becomes one more cause for alarm. It’s an episode that, in sort of classic Zero-One fashion, is just rolling around an idea. If found families can be a way for lonely people to make connections, can they also be weaponized against lonely people? Treating friends like family has made Aruto into who he is, but the same thing has warped Jin. The best scene of the episode is Aruto’s baffled plea to Jin about the dozens of destroyed “friends” left in Jin’s wake. How can you claim to understand concepts like family when you think it’s okay to destroy friends? The anguish on Aruto’s face isn’t the raging cruelty of Fuwa’s arguments with MetsubouJinari, it’s Aruto trying to find the humanity somewhere within a machine that everyone else would destroy. It’s Aruto arguing with a machine, on behalf of other machines. I really like this show sometimes. — KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 04: KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE - SHINING ASSAULT HOPPER It’s Assault Wolf, with a Shining Hopper coat. I don’t love it? My favorite things about Zero-One suits have been cleanliness, tight color schemes, and aerodynamics, so here’s a multicolor suit with spiked shoulderpads. It’s the busiest suit on this show yet, and it’s the exact opposite of what I enjoy in Zero-One suit design. No thanks! (I do like how the Assault Wolf jingle is changed up to “No hope of surviving this shot.” There’s more of an intentionality to Aruto’s use of the form than Fuwa, a targeted effort rather than the suicide pact of Assault Wolf.) The figure is equally not my thing, with a bunch of stickers that curve over parts or need to nestle into crevices just so. It’s a recipe for a figure that basically executes the design, while looking too compromised to really feel proud of. Shining Assault Hopper is another one of those suits where I get why it looks that way – it’s literally Aruto’s hope trying to contain Fuwa’s rage, and it goes about as well as you’d expect – but I don’t love looking at it.
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07-09-2022, 03:27 AM | #298 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2,546
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This is where the show realised that Is is the one Humagear character they can conceivably threaten, given the whole “no backups” rule established two episodes back.
As for Assault Hopper… I am on record as being one of the few who prefer it to regular Shining. Honestly that form looks way too dull, doesn’t really look that cool in a fight and has a really bad jingle. Well, that’s all for today. See you next time |
07-09-2022, 09:00 AM | #299 |
Alias: ZeroEnchiladas
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 2,567
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So haven't been talking much so I'll just talk briefly about things!
Like Raiden! Raiden's cool, wish he did a bit more though but he was certainly memorable to me and definitely enough for me to differentiate him from Little Assassin as our new Dodo. Though to be honest even if they hadn't brought in Raiden I doubt Little Assassin would have continued further than he did. But yeah, Ikazuchi is a pretty neat design, though probably my least favorite of the MBJR Designs. I do find it pretty clever they retooled the Blood Stalk bodysuit for this. Assault Wolf is also cool in that... it's such a dangerous looking form? And it makes sense given that it was pretty much Ark created. You know that thing is bad news! Which brings me to Shining Assault Hopper, and while this may not change your opinion... you're absolutely right in it looking weird and off. While I like it, mostly for it's mixing of two styles, it is evoking the right emotion for you Die! Shining Hopper is a pure HIDEN Rider in terms of design and aesthetics. But then you've got the Assault Grip adding Ark made portions from Assault Wolf onto it. So it's very much not a clean HIDEN Rider anymore, it's a mix and it doesn't really feel like Zero-One's next true evolution because of the source. |
07-09-2022, 10:10 AM | #300 |
Veteran Member
Join Date: Jan 2020
Posts: 1,290
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Quote:
Well, for one thing, I'm not sure Aruto's generous sense of self-determination is going to roll over to a guy with a visible death wish. Like, Aruto's not blind? There's giving people room to make their own decisions, and then there's keeping people from rushing headlong into a fiery demise. I think Aruto knows which is which?
Quote:
KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 15 - “EACH ONE’S END”
He’s always viewed Humagears as partners more than servants, so it makes sense that he’d form emotional attachments with the very concept of Humagears. It’s a two-way street, and it doesn’t end when it becomes inconvenient. While even Subaru initially scoffs at the idea of treating an appliance like a member of the family, it tracks with Aruto’s sense of reciprocity. If someone treats you with care, you treat them with care. If they need you, you help them. The validity of these connections has never depended on genetics, so why should it depend on biology? Quote:
Aruto’s belief that Humagears are his family is mirrored in a way with an actual Humagear family, Jin and Horobi. The fun part of that one is, in the spirit of hybridization, it’s a form of family that’s mixed up with Fuwa’s interpretation of connection… which is to say it is inextricable from things like Revenge and Obligation. All Jin exists for is a way to pass on Horobi’s goals of the Ark’s goals. It’s nothing that builds up or improves; it’s just a way to maintain hate well past the point of any articulated grudge or crime. It’s family as a trap you can’t escape, rather than a pathway to something better.
Quote:
It’s an episode that, in sort of classic Zero-One fashion, is just rolling around an idea. If found families can be a way for lonely people to make connections, can they also be weaponized against lonely people? Treating friends like family has made Aruto into who he is, but the same thing has warped Jin. The best scene of the episode is Aruto’s baffled plea to Jin about the dozens of destroyed “friends” left in Jin’s wake. How can you claim to understand concepts like family when you think it’s okay to destroy friends? The anguish on Aruto’s face isn’t the raging cruelty of Fuwa’s arguments with MetsubouJinari, it’s Aruto trying to find the humanity somewhere within a machine that everyone else would destroy. It’s Aruto arguing with a machine, on behalf of other machines.
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The most complete non-wiki encyclopedias for Kamen Rider series (currently only found Ryuki and OOO's). Last edited by DreadBringer; 07-09-2022 at 10:13 AM.. |
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