KR Zero-One 19 released

[Catastrophe]

Which is the same problem.

Any show works best when one episode dovetails into to next and you get continuous story. If you prefer to consume you television in easily digestible two episode blocks, then that's cool. I just look at something like Wizard where it's pretty much self contained two parters until the last stretch and just isn't fun to watch.

The main issue with this, is that Aruto knows that he can restore Smiles backup because he did it with the Humagear from the last arc, and he just doesn't destroy her. Smile goes berserk again because the ZAIA spec user is a jerk, and Thouser comes in to beat up both the Magia and 01. It's pretty much the same episode beat for beat and it is squandering the momentum that the first arc built on, which is my opinion of Build as well.

[Layton13]

I get what you mean, however, I would say that is very much your mileage may vary. I personally just don't find that kind of show all that appealing most of the time for me and when a season really delves into that heavily, chances are I will probably get relatively board like in Gaim and Build. My five favorite Rider seasons are W, OOO, Fourze, Drive and Wizard and all of those are more episodic shows where something plot-relevant might happen, but mostly the filler is the star. Sure you can go too far with that, looking at you Boukenger, but I generally think, if you aren't enjoying the moment to moment stuff, no matter how good the whole story is, why would I want to watch more? That's why I enjoyed ZI-O so much. while the bigger whole definitely had holes in it, the moment to moment stuff was very much entertaining and I loved the characters.

And on the Aruto thing, sure he knows that, but the thing is, Aruto doesn't see Humagears as replaceable objects, even if he can restore them. He is trying to reason with her since he still thinks he can appeal to her heart for lack of a better word. Yes, it's very similar to last time, but it feels like it's driving home the sides of Aruto and Gai in this fight. As long as they now try to build on this I have no problem with it.

[DeMatgic]

Others made their point better than I could and while I agree with them, I'll say it again: I don't mind the idea of the arc at all. It's just that the way that the writers chose to execute it feels lackluster.

[resop2]

I wonder if Aruto and Izu are going to get the idea to make a progrise key where the power of the key is self-destructive so that if Gai jacks the power and does a jacking break then he will have a Team Rocket moment? Or have Izu have the idea and not tell Aruto what the new Progrise key does since she knows that Aruto is not likely to use it against Gai or a magear.

Too bad that Aruto cannot call up Kamen Rider Ghost to hug one of the magears and turn them back to normal.

I am still convinced that the key to Yaiba's behavior is on her right ear, the one that we haven't seen so far.

[takenoko]

I am still convinced that the key to Yaiba's behavior is on her right ear, the one that we haven't seen so far.

Maybe her ZAIAspec is directly connect to her brain!

[DeMatgic]

Didn't we see her ear last episode?

[resop2]

Didn't we see her ear last episode?

Do you know the time stamp?

[DeMatgic]

Didn't we see her ear last episode?

Do you know the time stamp?

Hm, just barely visible around 08:45 and 20:25. But I guess since it's only the ear tip we don't know for sure still.

[Kogashi]

I am still convinced that the key to Yaiba's behavior is on her right ear, the one that we haven't seen so far.

Maybe her ZAIAspec is directly connect to her brain!

I'd be willing to accept that over my much more likely theory of 'everyone is secretly a humagear or similar'. honestly other people have been able to bring up issues I would have brought up here already... So instead I'll focus on this creepy aspect.

So, Real Estate agent man, backed into a corner, evil 'this is how a twisted mind works' music playing to let us know that what he is about to say shows how far gone he is... argues that it's dangerous if a humagear does better than a human, because if they don't have to pay a humagear wages then the whole economy will collapse. Just... Think about that, man argues that android slave class is wrong, because of the economic impact of having a whole class of people who do work for no pay and without cost for training them... And the music tells us that the people talking here are dangerous for the thoughts they are having... ... *cough*

[Ashki]

On the surface, I would agree that this arc is repetitive and thus a little boring, but there are a LOT of details everyone's missing that keep it somewhat interesting.

1. Why are all of the champions for the ZAIA Specs assholes?

If anyone remembers the Neo Cybermen from Doctor Who (10th Doctor era), their origins in the alternate universe began because everyone's Bluetooth headsets were programmed to convert them. Everything I've seen so far regarding the ZAIA Specs and how they affect humans (and their almost addictive power that makes those humans dependent upon them to perform the very tasks they once excelled at) makes it a great way for Gai to take over humanity and eliminate the "human threat" he briefly complained about. The Specs are likely even plugged into the Ark, which he'd personally corrupted 12 years ago. The fact that the GAIA Specs resemble the very thing that sets Humagear apart visually as machines only enforces this foreshadowing.

2. Why is Gai making his champions show their ugliest side hen he knows it'll corrupt the Humagear and taint his company's image?

This one's quite obvious if you pay attention to his boring speeches. People are still recovering from the Magear terrorist attacks and Hiden is still suffering the consequences. By corrupting the Humagear in these contests, he can make it look like they're still dangerous. At the same time, it disrupts the contests and gives him an advantage. And if his champions get caught as Tachibana was? Simply feign innocence and disgust to make him look more like a model CEO who's weeding out some unworthy employees.

3. Why does Gai keep attacking Aruto?

Here we actually have a trope, but it also requires some attention to the previous arc to catch onto. Thouser's weapon is designed to hack into the progrise keys and steal data. We already know that the keys record data when used (this was a major point in the Dodo key subplot). Thus, even if Gai had gained one of the keys back when working on Thouser, the data he has is outdated. He's literally getting Aruto to fight just so he can update his own data and keep improving Thouser so Zero-One will never catch up. This sort of trope has been seen a lot in recent Kamen Rider, with one of the most blatent examples being Ex-Aid.

4. Why do Fuwa and Yaiba take a back seat in this arc?

Actually... they're not. Fuwa's chats with Horobi may seem dull, but they're quite important. Horobi is cut off from the .Net, and likely is unable to connect to the Ark as well (he stated this himself). Thus, there's a good chance Fuwa will get him to turn before this arc is through by showing Horobi the difference between Aruto and Gai and thus the redeeming side of humans. At the same time, Horobi is teaching Fuwa a LOT about human nature and the fact that it's the humans that are the real threat to humanity. Fuwa is starting to catch on to a lot of how the Ark thinks and is working in the background to find the source of the Raider threat while Aruto is basically functioning as the decoy so Gai and the Ark don't spot him until it's too late.

And Yaiba... Honestly, I'm almost certain something's seriously wrong with Yaiba. This isn't the same case I argued in Ghost about the shoddy writing rendering Akari as little more than a generic "might as well have been a guy" character. No, Yaiba's obviously a professional woman, and she does have a conscience, but Gai either has something over her to force loyalty or he's done something to her (I DO like the theory of her having a prototype ZAIA Spec that's controlling her, as this seems to fit everything we've seen so far). She obviously feels a certain way about fighting Fuwa but still does it and also shows some internal conflict every time she does something ethically wrong. She even warned Fuwa she would betray him one day, possibly in an attempt to tell him she wasn't actually in control of himself (just like how she seemed momentarily shocked to see the footage of herself recording the red-eyed Magear as if she had no memory of it). And if she IS under the control of a smaller version of the ZAIA Spec, then showing her too often this arc before the true nature of this tech is revealed to Aruto would increase the risk of an undecorated ear showing or some other production flub that damages the big reveal. Better to keep her in the background until around challenge 4 or so, then have Fuwa free her from the device so she can turn on Gai and they can finally defeat Thouser for the first time in the arc climax.

5. How can teens afford houses?

Think about it. We're in a world where people can easily afford to buy ultra-realistic androids. I mean, besides the obvious hentai waiting to happen, you have to think how having an entire race of workers who require no pay and minimal upkeep (they don't sleep or eat... just charge them up occasionally like the Grandmother Electric). This means companies have to spend far less money, which means the price of goods goes down. Their economy probably more closely resembles that of the US back in the '50s. Education is free because Humagear professors need no pay and won't go on strike for benefits, so college tuition is free, allowing kids to buy a house for what modern US kids in our reality pay for just one year of schooling (if they're lucky).


I'm not saying the arc isn't without its flaws, nor will I beat the dead horse about this being a kid's show and how it's up to adults to read between the lines using hints the writers leave so parents can enjoy the show. But there are a lot of things about this arc that draw on existing material and make a lot of sense when you it back and look at the bigger picture.

[resop2]

I wonder why Aruto thinks that he is "corrupting" Izu with his oyaji gyagu's (middle aged man jokes)? Jin was "corrupting" the other humageers by forcibly overwriting their programming and Aruto was supplying normal experiences to Izu that Izu was interpreting with her native programming. Or, are they using two different words in Japanese?