KR Zero-One 19 released

[takenoko]

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Last week's rating: 4.19 / 5 (16 votes)

Alt Title: Human vs Humagear Reality Show

Oh man, when the guy starts explaining his backstory and it starts playing the melodramatic music. So cheesey

What the fuck? How far away did he drag Aruto and Smile just to toss her in the water? Was there no director around to go "This scenario is ridiculous, please put a puddle on location" or something?

I like that the pres has an umbrella to protect his beautiful skin

Is this how the format for this arc is going to be? The three-way fight at the end sucks. Aruto isn't serious because he's not using his strongest form, and he's distracted to flail-protect Smile. It extra sucks because it's exactly what happened at the end of the first part of the ikebana arc.

It's too bad because I'm liking Gai more and more as a villain. He's not wrong in his ideals and from a certain point of view, he's a hero for humanity.

Overall, I'm pretty checked out of this arc. It's a little too formulaic and it sidelines Fuwa and Yaiba. 3 / 5 stars

Detail appreciation:
If you look at the sales chart, Arayashiki mostly sells to 20-50 year olds. Smile, however, has nearly a quarter of sales to teens (how??? truly this is a fictional universe) up to people in their 70s. She doesn't have any sales to the obvious 30 year olds who'd probably be the main target for sales

[Xirix]

Oh my god Izu's growl at the beginning when he said the pun was lame. Is Izu going to go Magear in the future after being literally corrupted by Aruto's sense of humour? XD

Also man, I dunno why but I instantly loved the carpenter Humagear the second he appeared.

When is Aruto going to stop putting up with Gai's shit? Every time he turns into Thouser he attacks him, and usually steals his powers too. I mean come on.

[VerusMaya II]

I would like to think the cheesy melodrama of Arayashiki's backstory is deliberate, but if his story wasn't presented like that it actually would've tugged the heartstrings just a tad! Unfortunately, unlike Tachibana who we actually managed to sympathize with, I don't think it's going to work with Arayashiki.

The flail-fighting was awful and a waste of time. Can Thouser do anything without someone there to steal his powers from? What good does Aruto think he's going to do by constantly shouting the Humagear's name, when they're very clearly corrupted somehow? Anime tropes are boring.

Kamen Riders have always operated in that legal and moral grey area. Gai trying to get a legal and financial leg up over Hiden/Aruto suddenly puts the Riders in a legal standing. It's making it really hard for me to take any of this seriously. How is it okay for Thouser to turn his blade on Zero-One? Shouldn't that really damage ZAIA's reputation / public relations?

[takenoko]

Did people sympathize with Tachibana? He always struck me as a jerk/psychopath from the very start. Like even if his stakes are sympathetic, he's always struck me as "I have a problem? Time to turn to criminal behavior" rather than "I'm so desperate, criminal behavior is my only option". His redemption through Sakuyo in the last episode was super weird to me

[Xirix]

I'd be surprised if anyone sympathised with him, he had like 10 seconds of backstory on why he sells houses and the rest of the time he just seems like an ass.

[BreadToku]

I know I said to myself that I figured this was going to be the formula for the next few episodes, but I'm kinda already hoping something changes things up in the very next episode. Aruto and Gai are going to go at it with the Humagears and Raiders in-between and it feels like there's really only one way for this story to go every time.

Doesn't help that indeed every other character is sidelined. Horobi at least has an excuse to not be doing anything, and Jin is obviously dead at the moment, but Yaiba is just not participating in the plot for no good reason, and even though Fuwa is transforming to sell the Assault Wolf form for a little longer, his fights have felt really superfluous. You'd think the scenes where Fuwa and Horobi, two completely opposing characters in every sense, are forced to have a conversation would be more interesting, but as of right now it is just one of them asking the same questions and being met with the same cryptic nothing-answers.

I don't think anything here is bad but it's really not a good sign of an episode where all I can think about is how much I want us to hurry and move along.

[DeMatgic]

We're only three episodes into the ZAIA arc and I can see people are quickly getting tired of it. I'm in that group. I want this arc to end already. It's not that the idea of Gai trying to essentially one-up Aruto and get Hiden via TOB is bad, I'm fine with that part. It's the other half of these episodes that I have more of a problem:

How is it okay for Thouser to turn his blade on Zero-One? Shouldn't that really damage ZAIA's reputation / public relations?

I forgot to make a comment last episode but it basically could be summed up as such: What does Gai actually gain from fighting Aruto as riders?

It's the biggest thing that's been bugging me since E17, how he's been attacking Zero-One mostly unprovoked and only really dealing with the Magear if it gets in his way. Granted, it doesn't seem to be a rule seeing as we're more going back and forth between unprovoked and provoked attacks based on last episode. At the same time though, I think dealing with the rampaging monster should take more priority over beating up the rival president in suits of power armor.

Show that ZAIA is far more reliable in dealing with Magear threats than both Hiden and AIMS, and at the same time making their public relations worse because half of these Magears were Humagears made by Hiden while the other half seems to be (in the public's eye) caused from remnants of MJ.NET, who the two groups were supposed to have dealt with by now.

[Catastrophe]

I'm totally with people who are tired of this arc. They fact that this episode is similar enough to the first one of the arc and they are apparently are two parters doesn't bode well for the 10 episode stretch. It sidelines Vulcan and Valkyrie too much and we don't see the other Hiden characters that already had almost no screen time.

The big problem I have with Gai is that his whole ideal of humagears being dangerous because they can reach negative singularity on their own would normally make sense, except for the tiny fact that HE WAS THE ONE THAT CORRUPTED THE ARKS PROGRAMMING AND IS THE ONLY REASON THAT THIS IS HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE! The fact that he is explaining this to Yaiba, the only person he's actually told about his involvement in the Ark and she didn't call him out on his bullshit annoys me to no end.

[resop2]

Since Aruto already knows that Smile can be restored, good as new, from back up, why did Aruto have a problem with Gai destroying MaSmile? Aruto has no evidence that a dark sentient humageer can be reached by cognitive behavioral therapy. Aruto's only motivation is becoming more and more "Because he is a baka.".

I know this is a kids show, but real estate doesn't quite work this way. In between committing to buying a property and closing the sale there is usually a period of several weeks to verify the title, to make sure there are no liens on the property, and to have the property professionally inspected.

The fact that Izu has a strong "physical" reaction to having her pun made fun of is not a good sign.

Why doesn't Gai wear his own product, or at least pretend to? Wouldn't that be a bad PR move if he was photographed in public without wearing a pair?

You'd think the scenes where Fuwa and Horobi, two completely opposing characters in every sense, are forced to have a conversation would be more interesting, but as of right now it is just one of them asking the same questions and being met with the same cryptic nothing-answers.

That was the gimmick in Silence of the Lambs, though.

[Aeikozz]

i can't wait for Izu to have a Negative Reaction to someone not liking her puns and she just destroys them.

i'm still enjoying this show even with certain char being sidelined for no reason at all.

[Catastrophe]

Which would cause an actual issue, because she has no backup.

Unlike the normal Humagears, which Aruto freaks out about for some reason.

[Layton13]

Huh, really interesting seeing all the reactions to this new ark and how negative they are, because I'm fucking loving it. This is exactly what I have been missing in Zero-One until now, something that focuses more on the micro-scale instead of the big story macro scale. Don't get me wrong, that is still there, but more in the background and that is how I like my Rider. I feel like we have finally something to latch onto during the individual filler plots so I can actually get invested.

[Catastrophe]

I really have to disagree. This kind of padding is the exact same thing that dragged down Build.

[Layton13]

I personally disagree. What dragged down Build for me was that every episode was a big one for the plot in a way, similar to Gaim. There were no smaller problems to tackle and solve that would have given a different look at the characters. That's what dragged both these seasons down massively for me. I like smaller scale stuff, it makes one see different sides to the characters and honestly, it's more often than not more interesting than the bigger story anyway.

[takenoko]

I think the repetition and predictability is what kills it. It's a little insulting to the intelligence at a certain level.

"Oh, here's where the three idiots are going to die again, or Grease will remember them dying." "More war stuff." etc.

It's the lack of dynamism that makes it feel like a natural story. Sure, we're given small morsels of new stuff, but the fact that this episode mirrors the same episode two episodes ago, it's a two episode arc, the three main Riders are basically spinning in circles plot/character wise, it's a bit much?