KR Zero-One 15 released

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Total votes: 21
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KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by takenoko »

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Last week's rating: 4.68 / 5 (19 votes)

Alt Title: Second quarter shake up?

A.I.M.S. nobody: "Hey, after that Giga incident, maybe we should, I dunno, learn something from this..."

Yaiba: "Hmmmmmmmmm. No, I think we'll do nothing at all instead."

While I enjoyed the ep, it had big setup episode energy. Horobi dies. Izu stands conveniently by to get stabbed in the abdomen. Zero-One powers up.

But it feels really thrown together. Like Horobi dying and Izu getting stabbed happening right next to each other in a way that it feels a bit unbelievable. You don't really get any time to process either events before we move on to the next thing. Did Aruto get a drink before he tried to fix Izu? What is going on in this scene?

Could we have a little bit less one Rider falls so the next one can save the day? The hierarchy of Valkyrie falling so that Vulcan be the big damn hero. Then Vulcan falling and Zero-One stepping in formula is a bit baldly transparent? If we could tweak the AIMs Riders to be a bit more competent on their own...

Subaru, what are you doing down here still? I get that you have story bits to do still, but can't we at least think of an excuse for you to accompany the president around? Go home, Subaru!

It's a pity that this episode is so rushed, since we see like a visual representation of two AIs gaining sentience. It's cool, but it's barely touched upon.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by takenoko »

http://wiki.tvnihon.com/wiki/Kamen_Ride ... _15#Trivia
At the Hiden family grave, a list of members entombed there are listed. From left to right they are:
Hiden Korenosuke - Passed away August 30, 2019
Hiden Soreo - Humagear, passed away December 2, 2007 (Official date of Daybreak confirmed?)
Hiden Yoshino - Passed away July 25, 1997 (Probably Aruto's mother)
Hiden Soreo - Aruto's human father, passed away July 25, 1997
Hiden ??Ichiko - Passed away August 8, 1993 (Korenosuke's wife?)
According to his profile, Aruto was born May 1, 1997, so he was only a few months old when he lost both his parents.

http://wiki.tvnihon.com/wiki/Kamen_Ride ... _15#Trivia

That's a lot of good detail to hide on screen!
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by Xirix »

Man I'm sad Horobi's dead, I liked his smug little face, I'm not sure how I feel about the "AI comes to conclusion that Humans = Bad, so kill all humans" thing, cause that's lame and has been done to death. Maybe it'll be a bit more interesting when we find out who built/programmed the Ark or something.

It did go a little fast, but I'm still hyped for what's going to happen, how long until someone punches Gai in his face? That'll be a good episode.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by Slowking »

This was excellent.

The information we got about the Hiden family, what this means for Aruto and Izu (and Subaru) and the parallel with Horobi and Jin were fantastic. This only serves to make the losses of Izu and Horobi later on more dramatic. Izu and probably Subaru have reached singularity, and Jin has awakened too.

It was great seeing Yaiba trying to protect Fuwa and even willing to face Horobi and Jin by herself at the beginning. She continues to be conflicted and it probably won't be long until she betrays Gai.

I wonder what Gai wants the ark awakening for - he clearly needed MetsubouJinrai active to awaken the ark, which raises another point regarding how morally corrupt he is.

The most pleasing was having all six of the main characters, Aruto, Izu, Fuwa, Yaiba, Horobi and Jin developing and taking part in this early climactic battle. I personally thought their stories all blended nicely together. Interesting to note, out of each "pair" one of the two is pretty much incapacitated.

I wonder if Fuwa will be able to use the assault wolf key without the attachment in the future.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by VerusMaya II »

The pacing of this episode was, quite frankly, atrocious. Allowing the raid on Daybreak Town, and the parallels they hastily drew between Horobi and Izu, to breathe would have helped a bunch. Instead we rushed from plot point to plot point!

There was some interesting setup here, but I find myself struggling to care because it all happened so fast!
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by takenoko »

Mr. Toei: Writes down "Zero-One Assault Hopper form". Circles the words. Turns to writer-san "I don't care how you do it, but you have to reach this point because toy sales."
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by BreadToku »

I've only really got one big issue with the episode that I'll get out of the way, and that was the really sloppy writing around Izu being hurt. It would already be contrived for her to just go up to Jin like that, but the fact that she was there when we saw Jin and Horobi go across this huge river makes it several times more egregiously contrived. Feels like something in the editing process got messed up.

That aside, I liked just about every beat of this story so far. With Horobi 'dying', Jin is stepping up to have his big moment. That scene of him carrying Horobi into the water was artsy in a overblown but also kinda charming way. It almost feels like Jin is going to bite the dust next episode, but I hope that isn't the case because I feel like we're only just scratching the surface of his character. Him being confronted by Aruto in the end just feels like there's a long-standing clash of ideals to be had.

If the Ark's goal really is to just kill all humans to preserve the planet, I'll accept that, but I also want to believe that's just what Jin thinks it wants and the reasoning behind it is a possibly a bit deeper than that. It also probably doesn't need to be said, but I'm certain we're a long way from seeing the last of Horobi.

Okay, so new form in the end debuting in a really dramatic scene. The sun rising just as it appears is a wonderful touch, and I'm honestly hyped by the cliffhanger instead of just being frustrated. Shining Assault Hopper itself is... I'm not sure about that design. Obviously it's just Shining Hopper with some of Assault Wolf's parts on it, but as of right now, I don't know if it comes together that great. Though I guess I better get used to it because it looks like this is the real upgrade form, and Shining Hopper was equivalent to Ex-Aid's chibi Level X suit before it split into the real upgrade which was the two Mighty Bros.
Last edited by BreadToku on Fri Dec 20, 2019 9:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by Aeikozz »

Izu T_T...

i knew it was going to happen sooner or later from episode one, but still. waifu Izu... get well soon babe.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by Kogashi »

To paraphrase Emperor's New Groove, A.I.M.S.: "Why do we even HAVE those giant robots?"

I would go into my usual detailed rant bout why this episode annoys me, but so much of it failed to stick in my mind that I honestly cannot.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by Catastrophe »

I don't actually think Horobi is dead. I'm sure he'll make a comeback at some point.

Arutos 'Learning Complete' things has some implications. If he can use the power of the Arc, is he some super special HumaGear? I hope not, that'd be lame.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by envedges »

Has anyone played and finished Nier Automata? Am I the only one that noticed how similar Jin is to Eve in terms of story and character.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by DeMatgic »

Oh yay, another power-up form to cliffhanger.

The side plot of the vice president constantly asking Aruto how he's going to fix things to try and usurp his position has run dry by this point. I don't know how these kinds of things are done in Japan, but at this point it just seems as though they're actively sabotaging him by doing jack and letting this man who clearly has little to no experience running a company this big run it into the ground.

Honestly, I feel like they kind of put Horobi's death and Izu's stabbing too early in the episode. Like it would have left us breathing room had they happened near the end and at the halfway point of the episode, respectively, not in the first third. Even the preview from last episode seemed to imply they were happening at the end. As for how you'd do that, have the battle at the start be drawn out or have it start later than right away.

Maybe Fuwa isn't able to pull off his finisher or have it not be enough to kill Horobi (he did stop Breaking Impact without so much as a scratch using his Scorpion before), Jin in an attempt to get away attacks the troops and also hits Izu since she's there anyways. Then the whole bit of Yaiba talking with the ZAIA CEO guy (forgot his name), Aruto and Subaru trying to fix Izu, preferably drop the bit of the VP walking in and saying they'll have a meeting about dismissing Aruto. Then in the end battle, have Fuwa kill Horobi on the spot, Jin achieving Singularity and going to kill Fuwa in revenge, and Aruto pulling a Big Damn Heroes and stealing the trigger out of Jin's hand.

As for the form itself, it's... okay. It's not particularly great, though it's to be expected considering it's a hybrid(rise) of Shining Hopper's sleakness and Assault Wolf's heavily armored look. It's just that because the Assault armor parts aren't neon colored, it kind of doesn't mesh well with the rest of Shining Hopper.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by Ashki »

This was one of those episodes where cause and effect had a lot of symbology that was lost in translation. Izu's comprehension of family didn't translate well when she came up to Jin and Horobi. The intent was obviously to show her satisfaction at her brother's death being avenged. She wanted to see the other side hurt the way she's starting to understand she was. It would have been so much better had the dialogue been more than "Horobi has been successfully subjugated." Jin's comment about her smiling was supposed to reveal the intent of this scene, but Izu's comment was too vague to really drive the point home. So Jin attacks her in what ended up looking like a pointless scene. It's like BreadToku said: this scene was really messed up in the editing.

The use of the Giga was supposed to hint that there's something hidden in their programming. I'm almost certain ZAIA was actually in control of the Giga, which would explain why Yaiba never found anything wrong with them before either rampage incident. Of course, this is also completely lost on the audience due to the fact that Yaiba never asked Gai on-screen about it and Gai never made a "this is ### percent according to plan" comment to clarify. There could have even been a single line about having run full diagnostics thrown in when it's revealed they're rampaging again to make this connection. Instead, it's left to the audience to piece together the link between ZAIA, their creation of technology for AIMS, and Gai's obvious manipulation of MJN this whole time to awaken the Ark. I didn't like the fact that only two Giga show up and are cut down almost instantly by Aruto. That was far too quick after the major fight he had prior, and without being more clear about the ZAIA/AIMS/MJN connection, the whole point of having the Giga are lost to the audience anyway.

I feel like Izu isn't truly awakened yet, nor is Subaru. They're both approaching Singularity (with Izu's growth now influencing Subaru's as her own development was the past couple episodes). As with growing up from an infant to a self-aware child, Humagear need to develop their self-awareness in steps. They have a more sophisticated understanding than an infant, but the ability to say "I" is little more than programming until they can understand and emote "I hurt" or "I love", just like how a baby knows that limbs can move but doesn't understand it's doing the moving or that mommy and baby are two different beings until it reaches a certain point in development.

I really did love this episode overall, and while the writer in me was annoyed that there was too much implied and in too vague a way, I'm really glad for all of the revelations this episode. Just like how the tombstone revealed a whole mess of important backstory in so few words, there was actually a lot of development crammed into this episode but done in such a subtle way most people are adly doomed to miss it.

If they do this climax right, we SHOULD be looking at a three-parter. This was the buildup, next the execution, and the following episode should be the aftermath. Good storytelling requires a resolution phase after each climax, and seeing how the battle between Jin and Aruto play out shouldn't be the end, even if Jin's killed. We need one full episode after the showdown to process the fall of MJN and rise of ZAIA as the main antagonist. Things can happen during the episode, but the focus should be on tying together loose threads and exposing questions meant to remain unanswered at this time. As much as I dislike them, it would be appropriate if episode 17 were a flashback ep. I'm pretty ure the emergency board meeting will be a major focus of #17, though, as it's a perfect way to resolve a lot of the ongoing Hiden plotline and ease us into the next story arc. It also gives a chance for Fuwa to defend Aruto and show us how he'll develop now that his primary character arc is over. I don't think Yaiba will defect just yet, but perhaps we'll get to see more of her moral dilemma as well.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by takenoko »

Nier Automata is great. If you play games and were even remotedly interested in it, I highly recommend pulling the trigger on that. It's a good companion piece to the AI theming in Zero-One.
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Re: KR Zero-One 15 released

Post by TypicalStandUser »

OK. This is too fast.

I would've expected the terrorists last until episodes 25-30 then let Amatsu take over as the main villain.

Please get better ocular scanners, Izu. You don't have to be in the field.

Nice episode, but yes, too fast.
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