KR Zero-One 42 released

[takenoko]

< Previous
Wiki
Next >

Last week's rating: 4.71 / 5 stars (17 votes)

Alt Title: Wow

I feel like seriously impressed by the second half of this episode. The first half is pretty heavy handed, I still think Takahashi has a ways to go as writer, but when he brings his A game, he's on fire.

So first half, they promote it so heavily that I feel like it has to be misdirection. "Oh no, Is is going to die" distracts you from going "Hey, why does Ark-One look kinda like Zero-One?". And I do feel like this is the weakest part of the episode. To get Izu to die, a lot of characters go out of their way to behave out of character, so it does feel a little sloppy.

But man, when Ark-One comes slamming into the ground, and you see that it's not Horobi who's Ark, everything from that point is gold. The best toku stories aren't ones where you have ambiguous goals of saving the Earth or whatever, it's the ones that are about people and their interactions. Horobi killed someone Aruto loves, so he wants revenge, and he's become a monster to do it. It's simple, poetic, and the best way to balance out a protagonist who is stronger than everyone else.

And yeah, that scene where Aruto is weeping over Is' ribbon and you see As come out of the darkness, looking like Is, but steps out of the shadow to reveal herself to be As is pretty good too. It really sucks that Is is dead, since I was looking forward to seeing her character growth and where she ultimately wound up, but this story has gotten me to straight up in my chair and pay attention to the final chapter in Zero-One

Edit: Also, appreciation for the contacts that Is' actress wears. I'm sure it's happened before, but this episode gives a lot of nice close up of her eyes

[Aeikozz]

like i knew this day was comming because of the tropes that will it into existance but still. Still hurts.

[Xirix]

Well I was afraid this was gonna happen considering last week's preview, but fuck... not only does Izu die, but than As takes advantage of that to corrupt Aruto, bloody hell this was a good episode.

So hmm, ZAIA higher-up guy was speaking to Jin, I guess maybe they're the ones who ressurected him then? I still have no idea about As though, who created her and why does she look like Izu? Does she look like that solely for this long-term plan of making Aruto Ark, or is it something else?

I'm a little sad there's only 3 eps left, but I'm looking forward to them. :3

[decade368990]

Was the data of Satellite There infused into Izu before Ark took control? If Izu dies like this, what's gonna happen to There?

[BreadToku]

I like the slow steps the show is taking with peeling at Horobi's character, which makes it all the more nonsensical that this is the same show that gave us Thouser's turn via robot dog. Actually, one thing that struck out to me is that this featured all our initial main characters in one episode and gave them all a decent chunk of stuff to do. Yeah most of it is fight scenes, but it feels almost nostalgic seeing AIMs and Metsubojinrai go at it, and with Jin in the middle because he doesn't want any harm to come to his 'father'. This was kinda what I wanted the show to be oh so long ago, so I enjoyed it for that.

The big emotional kicker of the episode is of course the death of our reliable secretary. Now, I don't generally like characters dying just to give motivation to other characters, and I wouldn't call this an exception. It's at least nice that in this episode, she got to do a lot and put out her most human performance yet as she tries her hardest to convince Horobi. That aside, and also putting aside however inevitable that her coming back will be, I think the scene itself was really excellently done. I got actual chills when all sound cut out in favour of the music, just as the big explosion happens. Aruto's actor is giving his own 200% to portray that grief afterwards, and it's really a compelling performance.

I don't think this direction for the endgame necessarily has much to do with the overall idea of harmony between human and machine anymore, but I can accept if the show has wrapped up that message as of episode 40. I'm excited to if/how Aruto is saved from his own darkest moment.

I assume the new ZAIA guy is going to be relevant to the eventual movie, he just strongly gives me that kind of vibe.

[PHurricane]

Text wall ahead!

I was initially mixed on this episode, which is pretty par for the course when it comes to how I feel about Zero One as a series. Starting the episode off with another Aruto fake-out death/simulation had me really leery about the series relying too much on empty emotional drama, but I think they used it effectively to set up one of the best moments in the series.

I’m not glad to see Izu die (she’s by far my favorite character in the show), but I’m glad they followed through with Horobi’s attack damaging her to the point that she blew up. (That scramble to stand up in her “resting pose” and smile before the explosion was perfect.) I was expecting Jin to step in front of the arrow or even knock it off course enough that Izu was injured instead of killed, especially since he thought Ark was preparing to use Horobi as his vessel again and seemed desperate to pull him off his path of vengeance.

As pulling the strings behind the scenes to take out Izu made sense. Not only was the only one capable of running counter-simulations destroyed, but she eliminated Ark’s biggest threat by emotionally crippling Zero Two so she could co-opt him. I appreciate her multi-tasking skills.

I didn’t realize it was As coming to Aruto in the warehouse while he was mourning Izu until the flashback - based on the reverb on the voice, I assumed it was a memory/hallucination. Maybe it would have clicked if As had a bigger presence before now. I like what we’ve seen of her, but she’s only appeared in that one recap episode before this. I guess the Covid clip shows might count too, but we got no explanation on where she came from and where she’s been this whole time. Judging from the OP which has always featured the long-haired Izu, As was probably always intended to have a role in the endgame. I just wish it had more setup.

Oh, Horobi. As much as I want to throttle the character for being so blind to the consequence of his actions, I love the irony that a Humagear’s inability to let go of his malice towards humans caused him to cross a line and inspire malice in the biggest supporter of Humagears. Given how Aruto doesn’t seem to care who gets hurt as he lashed out at Horobi, the battle is set to continue to escalate with each side believing the worst in the other. Cycle of malice, indeed.

(Except something will inevitably interrupt them and knock Aruto back to his senses because there’s not that many episodes left and I highly doubt that Kamen Rider intends to end its first Reiwa series with the apocalypse, but then again this has been a crazy year…That would be a unique way to hammer home the danger of confirmation bias and the virtues of trust, compassion and forgiveness.)

Aruto’s actor sold the heck out of those last scenes. I was a little iffy on how quickly he accepted the Ark key, but he nailed the cold fury and devastating grief once the armor melted away. (Good thing this isn’t Wizard, because that would have easily been phantom-creating levels of despair.) Kudos also to Izu’s actress for making Izu and As feel so different despite being almost visually identical. It made her promise to stay by Ark/Aruto’s side that much creepier.

Fuwa and Yua weren’t the focus this episode, but their presence struck the right balance. I liked the touch that Yua wanted to approach the grieving Aruto but Fuwa held her back. I can see both of them regretting that next episode.

Criticisms:
-Ark was clearly Aruto. Maybe I need to remember that I’m not the target audience and kids might have found the brief mystery of who was using the Ark driver intriguing, but I thought it was painfully obvious. (Although I did like that the reveal initially focused on his shoes - they’re so distinctive to the character it might as well have been his face.) Who could Ark possibly be when all of our main characters are assembled except for one conspicuous absence?
-(I do not count Thouser. The less I think about him, the happier I am with Zero One as a series.)
-Then again, we did get a random ZAIA executive capable of ousting Thouser and evidently secretly working with Jin for half the series show up with no warning. There’s only so much that can be blamed on schedule juggling and script rewriting (if there was any) due to Covid.
-Most of the action this episode was pretty good, but the one thing that painfully broke the fourth wall for me was Izu pushing Aruto away before she blew up. She barely has any strength, but somehow he ends up so far on the other side of the warehouse that he could sprint back to her for several seconds and still not get caught up in the massive explosion.

Some speculation based on potential spoilers:

Spoiler

Not sure the source (mabe a translation of the website?) but I read that the Ark driver manipulates the emotions of its user (dampening the grief/creating a peaceful euphoria), which fits with those cuts to the empty/black background during the fight scene, while at the same time making them more aggressive. If so, that is horrifying and makes Aruto’s breakdown in the last scene that much more tragic. It’s not unlike how Gaia Memories or the Zodiarts Switches worked - the driver is making its user addicted to it by offering a facade of peace while the driver is in use, then ramping up the turmoil once it’s disengaged which is sure to entice him to use the driver more. Another painful cycle.

Thanks as always for the subs!

[takenoko]

I'm glad we were able to get this episode out relatively quickly because I was looking forward to the discussion that would a-rise from this. Let's crack in!

>I like the slow steps the show is taking with peeling at Horobi's character, which makes it all the more nonsensical that this is the same show that gave us Thouser's turn via robot dog.

I do enjoy Horobi and Jin, especially since Horobi spends most of this series kind of being an empty vessel for Ark. It's good to see he's getting some character growth/conflict of his own

>Actually, one thing that struck out to me is that this featured all our initial main characters in one episode and gave them all a decent chunk of stuff to do.

Yeah! More of this please whenever Saber comes around and less job competition nonsense

>Now, I don't generally like characters dying just to give motivation to other characters, and I wouldn't call this an exception.

Absolutely. We could do an entire thread on the problematic trope of fridging women, especially in Japanese stories/media. But while clumsily done (imo), at least it wasn't done in a tacky or cheap feeling fashion. Is' death has the gravitas it deserves for such a beloved character, and for the time being, there's no obvious way to restore her

>I was initially mixed on this episode, which is pretty par for the course when it comes to how I feel about Zero One as a series.

It certainly is a series with some good highs and some lows

>I didn’t realize it was As coming to Aruto in the warehouse while he was mourning Izu until the flashback - based on the reverb on the voice, I assumed it was a memory/hallucination.

Oh, reading this, I'm not sure what I thought on my initial viewing. Looking now, it's super obvious that it's As since she smiles. But the framing and color desaturation is clearly an attempt to make it seem like Is, especially with the framing cutting off the view of her long hair. Is it my imagination or does As have reddish contacts while Is has slightly blue ones?

>Maybe it would have clicked if As had a bigger presence before now.

Hopefully her backstory will be explained in the end game, but I do appreciate a mystery character that has enough setup to make you intrigued, but not enough information to make extrapolations without jumping to conclusions

>I love the irony that a Humagear’s inability to let go of his malice towards humans caused him to cross a line and inspire malice in the biggest supporter of Humagears.

Well phrased

>Kudos also to Izu’s actress for making Izu and As feel so different despite being almost visually identical.

It's weird because she does look different as each character. I know people said some dumb things like she looked pregnant when she first appeared as As, but her face does look rounder with the longer hair and the slightly puckered smile?

>I liked the touch that Yua wanted to approach the grieving Aruto but Fuwa held her back. I can see both of them regretting that next episode.

Huh, when you phrase it that way, it does seem like it should be the other way around. Yua being the cold, logical half of the pair with Fuwa being the one more in tune with his raw emotions

>Criticisms: -Ark was clearly Aruto.

For me, I think that Ark's first appearance and obviously being Aruto is a big plus. Because it gives you that "Wait, did they just...? No way. But is it?" feeling. It's a difficult balance to set up a reveal, but I think it's masterful done here since everyone is probably playing the catchup game at the same time

Also, doing the translation I'm impressed with the obviousness of the details in hind-sight. Obviously the guy named Zero-One is going to be Ark-One. Again, clever misdirection by naming the first Ark, Ark-Zero, to lead the audience to an incorrect path of thinking. Love these clever details

>Thanks as always for the subs!

You're welcome as always!

[CaptainTalon449]

I can’t help but feel like this is what we should’ve gotten when Sougo first turned into Ouma Zi-O

[Catastrophe]

I have this strange feeling of that wile the pacing of the episodes feels fucked, I think the reduced episode count actually helps the overall flow of the show. I'm glad this happened now as opposed to Ark having his ass kicked for 8 episodes.

I didn't see the Ark 01 twist happening until he showed up after Is died. It's interesting to say the least. But as others have said, everyone kind of had to act like an idiot for it to happen.

Also, as for Jins mystery benefactor/ZAIAs new president, is he a Johnny Maxim, type movie character or someone who got cut for time?

[msf232]

>Kudos also to Izu’s actress for making Izu and As feel so different despite being almost visually identical.

It's weird because she does look different as each character. I know people said some dumb things like she looked pregnant when she first appeared as As, but her face does look rounder with the longer hair and the slightly puckered smile?

Plot twist: it isn't Noa Tsurushima playing As; it's some other actress having shapeshifted into her

[TypicalStandUser]

Hey, Tomomi Maruyama/Hagiri Shousetsu/that shitty monk from the Rurouni Kenshin movies... How's it going?

Initially, I was like "WTF, Takahashi.". Then I grabbed a box of tissue.

Strongly mixed feelings but I'm alright with the episode.

[PDA]

kamen riders are the made from same power that they swore fight

-someone on one of earlier movies

this fits perfectly how devastated aruto its now, this episode was awesome to me, but agree, writting for izu go after horobi and finally be killed was forced.

really hope that takahashi dont step back and revive izu using 02 key that was made with izu brains(sort of) with some explanation like "02 or kamen riders arent need to fight humagears anymore"

edit:grammar

[takenoko]

I still don't understand how Is is walking around with her brain as the Zero-Two key

[Catastrophe]

Shhhh. Don't think.

Maybe that's how she gets revived?

[satoman]

Best ep so far. The start was kinda rushed (I kinda felt like something happened off-screen between last ep and there), but the last third got me on the edge of my chair. Awesome job from cast, actors and suit actors. It's a pity we have only more 3 eps ahead.

From the last preview, I thought Is was going to become Ark-One and be destroyed or something. Speaking of preview,

Spoiler

next week... Jin?