|
Community Links |
Members List |
Search Forums |
Advanced Search |
Go to Page... |
There he is! My favorite boy! Fuwa Isamu. My favorite Rider, character, and himbo of this season!
Yes, that's right, Vulcan is my favorite of the Zero-One Riders, easily. Zero-One's suit is great, but Vulcan just wins for me. I love the asymmetry, the colors, the design, the motif, the gun, the standby is just "Kamen Rider" over and over again, and I just adore it. That's not to say Aruto had a great moment this episode when confronting Jin, but Vulcan's debut transformation was spectacular. From forcing open the flipping Progrise Key, to that sleek transformation sequence, what more need be said? And then there's that part at the end of the fight, that's just too darn cool. I love this episode. But then again, maybe that didn't need to be said. But I'd also like to give a shoutout to ZEA for giving us some cool scenes with Zero-One's projections and summoning his bike. Zero-One really dominates in the first quarter. One could say, this series likes to JUMP! "Hai! Aru-jaaaaaaa-NAITO!" |
Quote:
|
Just notes from me watching the first Ep:
Edit: Need to add spacing and bullet points Conclusion: This episode is rad as hell, and a great opening. |
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
I think there's something to be said for the expectations of a series that's coming in after the end of an era and the beginning of a new one, especially with how dramatic a send-off Zi-O ended up being the for the Heisei era of Kamen Rider. So Zero-One being the first official Reiwa Rider show, there's quite a lot to live up to in terms of hitting the ground running.
Firstly from a suit perspective I think Zero-One really hits what you need of a Rider that really comes to define their generation...sleek, iconic, and classic. Something that you get with Ichigo, Kuuga, and even W, and bonus points for going back to grasshoppers. And to really make this feel like a fresh start we have Seiji Taikawa retiring from Main Rider duty to let Yuya Nawata take the reins, and he acclimates himself admirably to the duty that is portraying Aruto as Kamen Rider Zero-One. Also, that Rider Kick...just, that Rider Kick. Aruto probably has the most stark profession of any Rider lead. Professional Kamen Rider, journalist, cook, scientist, high school student, king-to-be...how about a failed comedian turned corporate CEO? But when you think about it, someone whose job it is to make others laugh and happy is the perfect choice for a job as a hero who protects the smiles of others, be they human or machine. And to believe in the possibilities of machines to do the same. Is (I'm going to be contrarian and call her Is) feels like the next in the line of Rider female leads who wouldn't feel out of place in an anime. I mean, that fancy outfit, that loyal and steadfast stoicism, and in general just being pretty cute...there's a lot to like. The Magia are set up in a really dark way, what with being these Humagears we've bonded with for the episode suddenly hacked and turned into rampaging killing machines based off extinct animals against their will that are protagonists have to destroy without regret...and the only saving grace is that they have backups that can restore them, more or less, so the show doesn't get too dark (and before we can really dive into the idea of a "backup" in terms of identity). Design-wise I think the Magia work as this kind of rigid, yet colorful and almost kind of frightening monstrous machines out to kill humans. Which I think is also a nice change in Rider because most kaijin are organic instead of metallic. I think robot antagonists are more of a Sentai thing. One of the most important aspects for a Rider show to get right (in my opinion) is the 2nd Rider and their dynamic with the Main Rider. Now 2nd Riders who are immediately antagonistic and disproving of the Main Rider is pretty typical at this point, but with Fuwa you really feel his personal passion and understand why he's so cynical even if we, as the audience, know that Aruto is different from what he expects. But Fuwa still has his own sense of justice even if that makes Aruto, and also Zero-One, a target. And then at the end we see him start to possibly, and slowly, come around to the idea that Aruto might be different. And we also get one major commonality between Aruto and Fuwa...Fuwa's the only one who thinks he's funny. Also you gotta love how Kamen Rider Vulcan is a literal lone wolf 2nd Rider down to the entire form, and how cool and utilitarian it looks compared to Zero-One. We get our traditional second-episode bike debut and it's actually a pretty solid bike sequence in my opinion. The Rise Hopper really fits Zero-One's aesthetic as a sleek, cool, bike that matches it's Rider design-wise. Now how often will the bike actually show up from here on in? |
Quote:
Quote:
|
I've never actually seen Zero-One something I HATE about Modern Sentai shows is the comedic leaning leads and seeing that this show would have a comedic based lead made me steer the hell away
|
So by this point, I think I should clarify that the Magia are based on extinct creatures. The one from last episode was the Kujiberotha teruyuki (an extinct mantidfly from the Cretaceous age), and the ones from this episode are a kuehnesuchus (a gliding lizard from the same period) and an Ekaltadelta, a carnivorous fanged reptile. And their henchmen are based on trilobites.
Onto this episode, some more interesting facts. Fan sub group RiderTime went through seven different translations for the shine/worker (shain) pun https://ridertimefansubs.home.blog/2...r-zero-one-02/ Fuwa beleiving that he needs Yaiba to give him permission to unlock the key (which most of the fandom believe too) is actually his own stupidity showing. In actuality, the key can only be unlocked by placing it in the belt (basically, it can only be opened when made to say ‘authorise’), meaning that him pulling it open makes authorising it pointless. And now, time for my regular feature, wherein I talk about the Progrisekeys themselves. Alongside showing some concept art of Aruto using ones he never does in the show. First up is Shooting Wolf. Progrise! Uchi Makakuri Stay! Shooting Wolf! The elevation increases as the bullet is fired. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...382E2C842C.png Unfortunately, due to my habit of only collecting secondary Rider belts in Reiwa, I can’t show you what that sounds like. I can show you this brief video involving the ShotRiser and the memorial Shooting Wolf key I made though https://youtube.com/watch?v=JtoBx0YmWFE And borrowing a time saving trick from Gaim and Ex-Aid, the legend items in his toyline remix their jingles from the base toys. Though unlike Gaim grouping Legends to each of the 5 main Riders (Kouta gets milestone Riders, Kaito gets Riders that turned into monsters, Micchy gets Riders with a connection to the number 2, Taketora gets Riders from both the darkest series and the lightest, while Oren gets the ‘weird’ ones) and Ex-Aid, which had some stealth jokes in the choices (Kuuga - Mighty Action X, Ryuki - Drago Knight Hunter Z, Hibiki - DoReFiMa Beat and so on), Zero’One’s are entirely random. Fullbottle, shake shake, BestMatching Build! A genius physicist whose mind surpasses all https://youtube.com/watch?v=D32DvVm9WRo And finally, a look at what if Fuwa used Rising Hopper ShotRise! Rising Hopper! A jump to the sky turns to a rider kick. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...E24F687E0.jpeg https://youtube.com/watch?v=P6i00rl2GCA |
Quote:
You know, it's just occurring to me there's like, WAY too much I want to say about Zero-One? I completely forgot to mention something pretty significant earlier, even, which is that I recently finished a rewatch of the whole thing I started when Shout released the show. So I've already had the show on the brain for a while now, and there's not a layer to it I don't have things to say about. Like: - The standby noise for the Shotriser! The whole "Kamen Rider. Kamen Rider." thing is cool and memorable, but beyond that, it's a really purposeful way to communicate something meaningful about the setting. Die won't have full context for this yet, but when you consider where the Shotrisers actually come from, it becomes very clear why the branding is shoved in your face so heavily. I'm sorry I'm talking about the future a little more than usual, Die, but I'm definitely going to forget to bring this up later, and it's a smart enough detail I don't want to risk that. This show did so much in its designs and everything to get across both the high-tech nature and sort of corporate feeling of all that gear. The difference in Zero-One and Vulcan's suits is just great, for example, and they even consciously highlighted that in the transformations. Zero-One is this super slick hero suit Hiden made that zaps itself onto the user to give them superpowers, but Vulcan is a lot rougher than that. Fuwa is much more of a warrior than a hero, so his suit is this clunky assemblage of armor that attaches itself to him bit by bit to enhance his combat capabilities, because AIMS is not concerned with the kinds of things Hiden is, and Fuwa himself most certainly doesn't care about the same things Aruto does. - I really love the Shooting Wolf suit, by the way. Asymmetry is always appealing to me, and Vulcan is that plus being blue, and a dog, which are two of my favorite things in general. It was kind of an easy sell, but at the same time, I still remember being impressed by how much more I liked the AIMS suits once we started seeing them in action. From the initial scans and whatnot, I wasn't too sure how those designs would really come together, but the actual suits really make every part pop to exactly the degree it needs to. That blue is real pretty! - Ooh, ooh, and then there's the guy *in* the suit, and I ain't even talking about Fuwa yet! Nawata does a great job as Zero-One and all, bringing a liveliness and spunk to that character we probably couldn't have gotten from Takaiwa, but Vulcan is played by Kousuke Asai, and there's anyone in this show with the talent to match Takaiwa's expressiveness, it might just be him. I first took note of Asai back when he had one of the lead roles in Lupinranger VS Patranger, and he really delivers here as well. Vulcan always comes off so tense and aggressive in how he carries himself, and the way Asai continues to match Fuwa's strong emotions throughout the series is always loads of fun to watch out for. - And speaking of people who made Lupinranger VS Patranger so amazing, do I even to need to tell you Sugihara's direction is still absolutely incredible here? The choice to contrast Vulcan's first transformation against an equally climactic moment for Zero-One was an insanely smart choice from Takahashi as a writer, but it only works as well as it does because of how smoothly it's cut together on top of that. There's a transition I've never forgotten since I originally watched the episode, right after those transformations finish, where a close-up of Zero-One rushing into battle towards the left of the frame cuts pefectly to a shot of Vulcan rushing into battle, towards the left of the frame, keeping the motion consistent and selling it all as one scene across two locations. It's a trick I caught Sugihara using a few times after this, as well, and I think it perfectly highlights what I love most about his style. "Kinetic" is always the word I use to describe it, and it's because of stuff exactly like this, where you can tell a ton of thought went into how the motion of the camera dictates where the viewer's attention is. - Then there's the other big reason that's one of my favorite scenes in Zero-One, which is Gou Sakabe's soundtrack. He's the guy who did Ghost, a show that had great defined musical motifs for all its main Riders, as well as just slapping in general, and that continues with this show. Zero-One's upbeat heroic sound is amazing in its own right, but that climax makes excellent use of the appropriately intense music associated with Vulcan. Like, I could immediately tell at the time that was Vulcan's music, despite it being used just as much for Aruto here. If you recall how glowingly I praised Ixa's theme for how much it fit Nago, well then this is the Reiwa version of that. Vulcan's got one of my favorite bits of music in the entire franchise. ...And uh, let's see, what else is there? I guess I haven't explicitly mentioned that Fuwa made a great first impression and I really like him, but, uh, everyone thinks that, so there's probably not much need to elaborate. But again, it's the choice to contrast that with Aruto's own character development that makes this episode such a winner, and I really loved everything they do with him in this one. Plus, it's always nice to have an elaborate action sequence involving Kamen Rider on a bike. Don't get too used to those! ...But they definitely made much more of an effort upfront than Zi-O did to make you associate Kamen Rider Zero-One with his ride. Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
You'd be surprised how many times Isamu can strain to break open a Progrise Key without it ever getting old. There's something inherently cool and manly about watching him do that while shouting words of determination through the pain. It's completely impractical, since he could just insert the Key like Yua does, which I recall a few people complained about. But who cares, right? It looks bad*ss and it totally fits his anti-technology personality. "Why the hell would I trust a goddamn machine to do my job when I can do it myself!", that sounds like something I imagine he would say. Comparing him to Nago is very apt, since they both have a prejudice against their respective shows' races. Same goes for Gou. These are all very flawed characters, but I think that's what makes it so fascinating to watch, as they learn to overcome that prejudice and see the world in a better light. However, Nago is self-righteous in general, while Isamu and Gou have more personal justifications for their hatred. There's also the endearing trait that Isamu is the only person who finds Aruto's jokes humorous, but he tries desperately to hide his reaction from others out of embarrassment, since he wants to maintain a reputation of strength and intimidation. He also probably resents that the president of the company that created the robots that ruined his middle school life can somehow make him feel an emotion other than anger. While it may not be quite as great as Sento/Ryuuga, I think Aruto/Isamu is a solid ship with a similar foundation. Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
On second thought, why is the Rise Hopper stored in Zea? Why does it need to transform from a cellphone way too big for anybody to use? It feels redundant and impractical! Quote:
RealEyez is a decent OP, but I feel like the lyrics are a little too generic and on the nose, like, "A new era", or, "Cut through fate", they're not really saying anything specific to Zero One, outside of the meta part about it being the first Reiwa Rider show. |
Quote:
Quote:
Amazing. Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
That's one of the hidden joys of Fuwa, after only a couple episodes. He's arguably less of a functional human being than the human-shaped robots? Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
He certainly didn't die, but Okada - Fuwa's actor - definitely put a huge amount of work into his role! I won't get into it - partly because spoilers, partly because I don't remember all the details of every specific example - but there's a lot of stuff he gave specific input on like small changes to certain lines, adlibbed motions, all the works that he later went into on his Youtube channel (which, by the way, he's a let's player!). Gave me a lot of respect for the guy and it factors in a lot to what makes me like the character so much
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
I am 1000% in on the Fuwa love train. Very fun character who often goes into everything he does way harder than he has to. One of my all-time favorite henshin sequences, too, with that defiant bullet-punch as its climax.
|
KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 3 - “THAT MAN IS A SUSHI MASTER”
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../zeroone3a.png Yua! Yua’s so great. My favorite character on the show, and I already love a half-dozen of these dorks. A lot of it was her barely-restrained aggravation at existing next to Fuwa’s whole Automatic Fire As A Personal Philosophy thing for what’s probably way too much of her career, sure. The foil to that dude is always going to look like a superhero, even before she gets a tokusatsu suit. What this episode manages to do, though, is expand her character in a whole bunch of really interesting ways. As the counterpoint to Fuwa’s relentless pursuit of expended ammunition, Yua’s emphasis – in all things – is precision. You can see it in her clothes: a sharp pantsuit, instead of Fuwa’s casual wear of a bulletproof vest (or loose tie that he probably keeps balled up on his bedroom floor). Her tactics are analysis, observation, and patience. She waits for things to line up in her favor, and then she strikes. She’s not someone to start a fight, but she’ll finish it before it's barely begun. Fuwa’s a hammer, she’s a scalpel. The other major difference with Fuwa is her view on Humagears. I thought this was going to be a standard Empathy Vs Cynicism riff, where Fuwa’s bloodlust would be contrasted with Yua’s maternal instincts, because these shows are sometimes not great with the writing for action ladies. (We’re only a few weeks out from Time Mom, you guys.) But the show smartly swerves towards a different outlook, where Fuwa’s intense anger at machines is contrasted with Yua’s detached logic. To her, getting mad at a Humagear for a rampage is like getting mad at your modem for breaking. Why waste your time getting mad at a piece of technology, or try to ascribe it a motivation? It’s a thing. It can be disposed of, fixed, replaced, discontinued, etc. Do one of those things. But, like, swearing vengeance on it? God, why? That’s idiotic. It’s a neat turn in the story, because it ends up painting both of the AIMS characters as zero help in Aruto’s mission to create empathy for Humagears, which is what most of this episode is dedicated to. Fuwa’s obsessed with destroying them, and Yua’s obsessed with dehumanizing them. Aruto’s seemingly alone in his bid to show how human the Humagears really are, but then the sushi chef he’s spent the episode with points out that the AIMS crew isn’t doing all this because they don’t think the Humagear are real people; they’re doing this because they do think of them as real people. Fuwa and Yua can’t admit it, even to themselves, but they both see a humanity in the Humagears, or they wouldn’t care about making the arguments they make. Fuwa’s anger and Yua’s detachment are both a result of their need to keep Humagears at arms length, and they only need to do that when they start seeing greater possibilities than a machine that follows its program. Which was a nice little runner for this episode, a story about how Humagear act as teammates to the people they work alongside. There’s a complementary nature to the Humagear, which is different than subservience. Aruto sees the Humagear as a way to help people, but also a way for people to imbue value and purpose to Humagear. It’s like a comedian and their audience: symbiotic, not separated. — KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 02: KAMEN RIDER VALKYRIE - RUSHING CHEETAH https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../zeroone3b.jpg Briefly thought of doing Biting Shark this episode, but come on. That action sequence! Biting Shark gets the We’re Never Making A Figuart Of This treatment, while Valkyrie gets a fight scene worthy of a summer movie. We can only talk about Valkyrie - Rushing Cheetah this episode. (Incidentally, since we’re going to probably have more episodes where multiple suits debut, there’ll probably be a point in the 20s or 30s where we’ll come back to some of these early form changes. Not gonna make Yua wait just because Aruto got a new collectible!) Another Shotriser suit, and pretty much the best one so far. I think Valkyrie - Rushing Cheetah was the first Zero-One suit that I really loved when I saw the photos. Shooting Wolf’s good, and Rising Hopper’s iconic, but everything about Rushing Cheetah works for me. Going with orange as the color is fantastic, since it misses the easy Third Primary Color thing of a red suit for something more unique. Not a lot of orange suits in Rider, you know? The asymmetry of the coloring carries over from Shooting Wolf, but the proportions are more uniform now; there’s no giant spikes or whatever. It’s a leaner suit, and one that feels more intentional than Fuwa’s pile of childhood trauma. My favorite thing from Rushing Cheetah is how the cheetah spots come in as these black triangles. It’s a mechanical version of something organic, which is this show’s aesthetic to a T. The silver balances everything out, tying together the design rather than pushing against it. Just a really great suit. I built this one a couple years ago, I think, and I remember it being a fun build? There’s really not a lot to it. Anything with a triangle is a sticker, as well as some of the black on the ribcage. After that, it’s just the two Shotrisers, and you’re done. Pretty straightforward! I really adore this suit. I like speedy suits, and this one has that to death. It’s everything Shooting Wolf does, but, like, fixed. Which is pretty much on-point for Yua! |
Yua has a lot of style when it comes to her fights if I'm being honest. Actually, everyone has a cool style to their fights.
I suppose that's what happens when you get a new action director for the new era and give even the main Rider a recasting in terms of suit actors given we're no longer seeing Takaiwa as Mr. Kamen Rider. There's a lot of fun energy to the fights and I can't wait to talk about certain ones the further we get in. Anyway Valkyrie, out of the base Shotriser Duo I definitely prefer her more in terms of aesthetics. There's just a nice good look to Rushing Cheetah in general. Also hey we're back to singular episode plots! Like it's hard to really talk about the other two Episodes in regards to this since while technically separate plots they really feel like two big setup episodes of trying to ease you into the world instead of standalone plots. Meanwhile you've got some nice world building here with the Sushi Plot and just seeing what jobs Humagears are able to do and provide. I do want to talk about Zero-One in particular though even though I adored Valkyrie's stuff in this more. And that's mostly in how his form changes work. We saw a tiny bit of it in Over Quartzer but this is where we like fully see the mechanics of... the Hopper Parts don't really go away, they just fold and compress themselves while sliding around the suit, and I think that's a really cool way to implement the forms. |
Quote:
|
Episode 3!
-Even tho we've been hearing this track since Episode 1, we finally got the proper opening sequence! I love Realxeyez, it's so damn addictive. The echoes of one's culture, familal traditions, and personal habits: you can learn so much about a person by watching someone cook or cooking alongside another person. In a way, cooking is almost like a glimpse into a person's heart, a taste of humanity if you will! Which is why I love that 01 did a cooking theme so early on for a "Do Humagears have hearts?" episode. It's honestly one of my favorite "Humagear of the Week" stories. It's so simple how Nigiro wins the Boss over: he begins to use Boss's technique, not because it's more efficent(it's actually quite overcomplicated). It's like, the intention of wanting to understand the Boss by trying to imitate his special technique, it's so sweet? I love the bit about Boss's students not being able to keep up and become "heartbroken", to which Nigiro repiles he has no heart to break? That's golden. I love robots in fiction and how they're used to reflect upon the human heart, and unearthing the unique humanity hiding in even the most mundane of actions, so this story hit all the right buttons for me. -Yua. She's not violently anti-Humagear like Fuwa, but she's got a far more...grounded stance on their roles in soicety than Aruto: they're tools. Use them when they're convivent, discard them and start over when they become an issue. In a way she's right: they are specially comissioned machines to do tasks, and (presumably) nothing more. But also like, it's really cool that she of all people was the person to say "It's up to us to decide how we want to interact with Humagears"? It adds a layer of nuance that doesn't make her stance feel purely "coldhearted", if that makes sense. (Saying that they can simply start over with a new Nigiro, it might sound harsh, but it could be her trying to aknowledge Nigiro's importance to the boss in her own way, perhaps....) |
Quote:
Over Quartzer (the song) took me a minute to come around on, 'cause it's a little more dance-y than I prefer. But REALxEYEZ is a goddamn force, from the ZERO ONE ZERO ONE ZERO ONE opening through its action-movie-climax chorus. I really dig this song! Quote:
|
Yeah, Iw as sold on Yaiba at first. Only at first thought, later on… yeah, don’t get your hopes up.
And for some casting trivia, the guy playing Ikkan Nigiro is both the guy Kintaros was originally contracted to in Den-O and the journalist’s friend in Drive. He’s better known as Teppei from Ultraman Mebius. As for RealXEyes… I was never really sold on this song. It sounded a bit too generic rock for my liking. And as Sh Ranger pointed out, the lyrics don’t really have much going for them beyond (IYAM) 404 not found. Anyway, now for miscellaneous trivia. The long haired Is seen in the opening wasn’t in the script for said opening. The director threw her in there to challenge Takahashi to do something with her. And he did. Boy he did. The Magia this week, in addition to being created from a barber Humagear named Scissormenz (yeah, all the Humagear have some bad pun in the names, like Mamoru = protect) is based on a Neohibolites, an extinct genus of cephalopod. And now for the form showcase. Progrise: Speedy Nanda! Rushing Cheetah! Try to outrun this demon to be left in the dust. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...R_IMG_2189.png And now to make you watch the least watched video on my YouTube channel (tied with chapters 3-4 of Sailor Rainbow, a Sailor Moon OC fic that eventually transplants its character to Harry Potter. https://youtube.com/watch?v=er1dwluzvvc And both keys introduced here were remixed for Legend Riders. Hawk Tiger Hooper, TaToBaSinging OOO! The king who controls desire. 3 2 1, switch on! SpaceComing Fourze! Friendship so powerful it shines into space. https://youtube.com/watch?v=gW0_ag05cXo |
Yaiba absolutely killed it (literally) in her debut as Valkyrie, and for female Riders in general, where even after a certain other female Rider's debut, I'm still thinking on which one I like better.
Now, I'll talk more about the theme going with the Humagears in a later episode (there's one in particular I really like), but it's pretty clever how they set up the weekly dynamic of Metsubojinrai.Net hacking them into the monsters of the week (look at those transformations, pure robot horror), and just how the designs somewhat blend a streamlined, linear robotic look, with a warped bestial form consuming them. RealXEyes, I'll admit, out of the three Reiwa openings, I feel like they got better onwards (even though I'm still at odds with myself on which one I like better). Nothing against RealXEyes, the lyrics are clever (I'm not going to go nuts thinking there's references to past Riders, but I did put together some connections), Zero-One's name is part of the opening, something we haven't gotten since Drive, and the visuals are excellent. I'm just not too into the song, but it's not bad, it is good, but not my favorite from Reiwa. |
I love how the Opening has such and action-packed energy to it. We've got all the protagonists going about their daily lives, teasing the villains (and their Rider forms), and the heroes fighting off a robot apocalypse. Is with long-hair. Also dramatic posing at the end. Why is Valkyrie doing that? Why the jump and twist? We may never know.
It's a tale as old as time...fresh young cook trying to learn from the master and inherit their secret technique, now only with robots! I'm glad Nigiro getting turned forcibly into a killing machine didn't sour him on the whole deal. Biting Shark! We're finally at the part of the show where we're introducing form changes, but it's interesting how the show is introducing new Riders while also letting it's protagonist get to show off their latest cool form. Like usually either the form or the new Rider would take precedence, but their balancing things out here. Speaking about the form itself, I like how Zero-One's form changes are so distinct yet simple like Rising Hopper and how they carry such a strong silhouette. Biting Shark is kid of your typical "Speedy with an Edge" form and it just looks cool. Yua probably has one of the better female Rider debuts (how much of a strong competition is there)? I mean, just from the name alone..."Valkyrie." That is like one of the most awesome names you could give a female Rider, especially one who is so efficient and effective. And it makes for a nice contrast/compliment to Vulcan. It's like they both use guns and have similar looks yet are so different and distinct. |
Valkyrie's pretty great! It doesn't surprise me that they went for orange as the suit's trademark color, considering Yua and Fuwa are very much meant to be a pair. Vulcan contrasts Zero-One's design well enough, but it's not really a Ryuki thing where we're dealing with some main triangle here. Aruto's got his whole completely different fluorescent yellow thing going on (to the point his alternate forms keep the Rising Hopper armor just to keep the color), and the AIMS Riders get this movie-poster blue/orange dynamic going on with their shinier metallic colors. It's all about contrast -- hence the whole cat/dog thing -- and that extends to the characters as well. Like, you'd definitely have to try way harder to find something they do have in common, beyond their occupation? Even the direct honesty that comes as an upside of Fuwa's constant emotional intensity is contrasted by the shady actions that come as a downside of Yua's much more calculated approach to life.
So yeah, I definitely remember really liking this episode at the time. It does a great job building up the principle characters in exactly the way I expect from Writer-san, but I distinctly recall being surprised how much I enjoyed the guest-character plot here, because I remember the patients of the week in Ex-Aid rarely managing to grip me all that much. And also Valkyrie is really cool, so who even cares about that! Genuinely my favorite debut fight out of the three Riders so far. Going back to the whole "contrast" point, they do *such* a great job getting across that Yua is the only Rider right now who really thinks about how to approach a fight, as opposed to the heroic bumbling and vengeful fury of our other heroes. REALxEYEZ is pretty great too, if that needs saying. And even though she isn't the sole lyricist for it, this was also the first Rider opening since Drive to have Shouko Fujibayashi write for it, so just on that level alone, I would already like it. |
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
This was a super good episode, and one of the ones I remember most from 01. I think the show's early and middle stages did a good job of highlighting just how advanced AI robots would effect the workplace and the sheer personhood of Humagears through many, many different fields, just about all of them honestly quite memorable. But the chef episode here is one of the ones that comes to mind the most both due to Yaiba's outlook and because - to my mind - it's the first one that really interrogated the idea of the line between Humagear and Human being very blurry. It's a great show at... setting up those ideas.
|
RealXEyez good song, Fuwa good Rider, Aruto also good Rider but in a much sillier way, if I find a unique opinion rattling round my brain somewhere I'll let you know.
|
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
Quote:
(Be The One excepted, obviously. That song is an ear-worm, and now you've got the chorus in your brain, too.) Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE EPISODE 4 - “THE TRUTH THAT BUS GUIDE SAW”
https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../zeroone4a.png Hmm. Unsuccessful episode, I’d say. It’s incredibly concerned with dry plot stuff, but it doesn’t compensate with interesting character pairings or clever morals or relatable guests. Worse, it lands its central premise in the weirdest, most Uh Hold On way possible. The premise here is that you need to have faith in the people you care about, even if everyone’s against you. Additionally, we’re in a story about how finding out the truth can be difficult to handle, but it’s better than settling for an easy lie. Both solid lessons. The problem is, both of those lessons are filtered through the prism of Fuwa’s experiences, and it takes them to such an insane level that they start to become cautionary tales. The whole idea of Fuwa telling this kid to not believe his dad caused a tragedy – this is Fuwa telling a child to hold onto his rage and never stop blaming someone else for what might just be a tragic accident. Fuwa is telling this kid that, no matter what anyone else says, the Humagears are responsible for his dad’s death. The fact that Fuwa turns out to be right in this one instance (sort of, but we’ll get to that) doesn’t alter the fact that we’re watching a story where Fuwa teaches a child that there’s always someone to blame when anything hurts you. That’s… I don’t love that message! And the other one, about searching for the truth… it’s noble, and I like Aruto’s version of it okay. It’s more about corporate responsibility, and respecting your customers more than your shareholders. Protecting The Company should never take precedence over Protecting Your Customers. But the Fuwa side of this works as a reckless insistence that the truth is always being hidden, if it’s not what you wanted to hear. That’s, y’know, fine if you want to tell a story that exposes Fuwa’s worldview as one that’ll never offer him any solace, but here it’s all just him being dead-on right that Hiden was covering up what happened in Daybreak Town. The lesson, in all cases, is that Fuwa’s worldview is right. (To be fair, Fuwa does learn a lesson about Aruto’s trustworthiness, and the fact that MetsubouJinrai was behind the destruction of the town. It’s not some huge change in his attitude, but it’s a nice button on an episode that sees Fuwa acknowledge Aruto’s good intentions as Kamen Rider Zero-One.) Even without the upsetting inability to really interrogate how inappropriate it is for a vengeance-crazed gun-nut to be imparting wisdom in a disaster zone to a bullied child, this episode exposition-dense structure didn’t leave enough else to really enjoy. Izu’s barely in it. Yua shows up to deliver a collectible and say, basically, This Thing I’m Helping You Do Is Enormously Unsafe. The Flying Falcon fight does not have my favorite effects. Anna the Bus Guide is a neat idea, but she doesn’t really have an arc to speak of. (No time!) It’s… this whole episode is trying to deliver relevant background, which is fine, but it’s dressed up in nothing but a vaguely repellant Fuwa story. (I genuinely don’t understand how the only lesson that you can have Fuwa learn in this story is I Was Not Lied To In The Exact Manner I Was Expecting. There are… there are a lot of things Fuwa needs to learn! That is not one of them!) I didn’t like this episode? Sort of at all? — KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SO-DO AI 01: KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE - FLYING FALCON https://kamenriderdie.com/images/kr/.../zeroone4b.jpg I don’t like the Zero-One form changes, either? The contrasting red and COLOR are unpleasant, visually. I can appreciate how the Rising Hopper mask splits and spins around to give some height to the back of Zero-One’s helmet, but it also gives him two faces on each side of his head, like the Another Double suit got stripped for parts. I just… I do not like the whole folding-back part to the form changes. Seeing bits of Rising Hopper hanging around, fluorescent and unmissable? It just doesn’t work for me, aesthetically. Built this one a while back, and it definitely tripped me up. I didn’t understand the folding-back thing, so I couldn’t figure out why so many pieces and stickers were around the edges. One of the main figures that got me putting a pin in Zero-One SO-DO. Now that I get it, though, I’m still not a fan. Very fun resolution to that wait! |
Quote:
https://i.imgur.com/EDF6syv.gif |
I'll be honest... I forgot this was an episode.
I thought our next episode was Episode 4. The most I remember from this episode is Punching Kong (A Legendary Form for multiple reasons) and the fact that Flying Falcon doesn't really get a proper debut to speak of. It doesn't finish the Humagear it's technically designed to defeat... Fuwa does. But I suppose that's what the early pack in form/movie debut form gets. |
えぇぇぇ~ Man, you're dissing episode 4 AND Zero-One's form changes in one post? I happen to be a huge fan of both of those things, so this is something of a bummer. But you know, I guess seeing you still can't decide what color Zero-One is just reminds me how subjective things can be. I really love how this episode manages to flesh out Fuwa so well while doing so much else at the same time. It's an episode of the show that's always stood out to me, the same way Zero-One's neon yellow coloring always stands out! :D
(I always thought it was odd how swiftly the show introduced and dropped the whole secret identity shtick for Zero-One though. It doesn't actually end up feeling particularly unnatural in terms of pacing -- somehow -- and looking back I definitely feel like they made a good call, but it just seems like the sort of thing that would've lasted until some dramatic end-of-story-arc climax or something, you know?) |
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:50 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
TokuNation News & Rumors |
Ultraman X Avengers |
Memorial Edition GoPhone Announced |
Kakuranger: 30 Years After |
ToyRise RyuKenDo |
Alternative Cut of "Day Of The Dumpster" Released |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:50 AM.
|