Kamen Rider Zero-One E16 Review: Hostile Takeover

Kamen Rider Zero-One, Episode 16: The Dawn of ZAIA

Okay, this episode felt... a bit oddly-paced? That's how I've been feeling the previous two episodes, where the pacing is super-duper fast without giving much breathing room, and while I certainly never believed for a second that Izu was in any mortal danger from the gut-wound that Jin gave her, I felt like the events of the previous two episodes really could've been spread out across three. Because there's a lot of stuff from the previous two episodes that I feel could've had more time to be developed over a bit more time. Jin's growing sentience and growth into a fanatical villain felt so under-utilized beyond that initial confrontation scene with AIMS in episode 15, which is a similar complaint that I had with Assassin-chan. The spaceman bros, the Assault Wolf Key being related to the Ark, Kamen Rider Ikazuchi, and even the Ark itself all ended up feeling like interesting concepts that were quickly shoved aside for the next shiny new toy. I'm not sure if it's a mandate from the toy executives forcing the show to rush through all the new toys at once to get to Thouser quickly, or something else, but I dunno. I'm not the biggest fan of the pacing.

This episode starts off with Izu waking up in a weird 0101010101 binary code purgatory-Valhalla realm, with Satellite Zea assuring her that her central memory core is intact and sort of catching her up on what's going on. Basically, Zero One's reached a fancy new form, Shining Assault Hopper, and he's wrecking some shit. We get a pretty cool sequence of Zero-One fighting Jin with the zippy-zippy multiple-moves teleportation thing that Aruto used as Shining Hopper. We get a pretty cool sequence of Zero-One straight-up chucking his grasshopper axe like a tomahawk onto Jin's shoulder, but the dialogue here felt... felt repetitive. Something something Humagear's future, something something will of the Ark. It just feels particularly bland, y'know? And I really wished we had just a bit more of personality from Jin beyond 'single minded now', which sort of robs most of what's interesting from him. A bunch of Gigers show up to help menace Zero-One, and they prove enough of a distraction for Jin to pull out Horobi's attache bow and use Horobi's scorpion ability to unleash a finisher that blasts Zero-One into the side of the building.

...and Aruto gets sent into the binary code dimension where he has a conversation with Izu, leading to the adorable little simultaneous "Aruto ja nai to" scene with him and Izu, which is cute and all, but ultimately it's just to get Aruto hyped up and activating the Shine System. Which is basically the funnels from Gundam, but as nondescript floating blue CGI shards. This blows the hell out of the Gigers, and... and it's actually kinda cool, seeing these funnels sort of zip around and block Jin's attack and overwhelm him, but it also just feels kind of underwhelming at the same time, since, again, all the conversations that Jin and Aruto have are basically a repeat of what they've been saying, and the only real change is Aruto's brief acknowledgement that Jin would've been great if his learning phase isn't so full of violence. We get both Kamen Riders unleashing their finishers, we get a rider kick clash, and Jin falls, with his final words being how "humanity will be exterminated, it's the will of the Ark." Jin blows up, and Aruto recovers the Flying Falcon key, and it seems that this is the end of Metsubojinrai.net.

I really don't think this is the last we've seen from Jin, because it's honestly a very anticlimactic end for him, yeah? Episode 15 gives us a pretty great buildup (albeit at the cost of Horobi's life) of how Jin's slowly being twisted into a fanatic thanks to his upbringing, but when he actually ends up taking center stage as a villain he's just sort of... generic. Let's hope he comes back, particularly with how Horobi himself is implied to be coming back.

Speaking of which, Amatsu Gai shows up in Mestubojinrai's base, steps on Horobi's corpse, and recovers two Progrise Keys created by the Ark's little 3D printer (which neither AIMS nor Hiden are investigating for some reason?), which are the Hercules and Arsino keys.

We then get a couple of scenes sort of resolves the plot threads that get set up in the past couple of episodes. Izu gets restarted and comes back to life. The emergency board meeting ends up with only Jun voting for Aruto's dismissal and then quickly pretending that he's scratching his back, whereas all of the others (including Yama) basically recognizing that Aruto's actions as Zero-One saved the company and stuff. Yua's going back to Zaia with AIMS' mission mostly done, Fuwa is brooding, and also they've recovered Horobi's corpse.

Gai then gives a monologue to Yua, talking about how Mestubojinrai.net will never be gone as long as the Ark is alive, and he gives us some backstory about the Ark -- he made it the way it is, and apparently Gai fed the Ark sort of news and information about human criminality and shit, basically pulling an Ultron and causing the Ark to become angsty and end up with the point of view that mankind must be destroyed because they're evil. It's kind of over-the-top edginess, but there's also sort of a comic-book-villain feel to Gai's stupid plan that I don't mind it all that much? Gai talks about how he wants to take over the world, how everything from Metsubojinrai to Hiden to AIMS are all basically his pawns, and how Yua's totally going to be his right hand. (Yua's totally having second thoughts about this maniac).

Oh yeah, it's Christmas week, so we get a random Berotha Magia and a random first-version Dodo Magia wrecking havoc and attacking civilians. We get a dual transformation between Aruto and Fuwa, and we get a neat little sequence of Fuwa basically stealing the Assault Grip back and doing another constipated "break open this children's toy" look. Assault Wolf and Shining Hopper take out the Magia very handily, and this is another pretty cool fight.

Of course, while the two random Magias aren't super-threatening, it's the fact that the Magia are still active despite the fact that Metsubojinrai's disbanded, and Aruto genuinely has no idea what to say when pressured by a press conference. And while Aruto tries to give a statement about how they're investigating and stuff, Amatsu Gai shows up in the interview, announcing that he has a solution. He has a T.O.B. -- a Take-Over Bid -- and he wants to purchase enough of Hiden's stock to usurp management and then dispose of all Humagears. The cliffhanger is actually not Kamen Rider or monster related, but something relating to the company? Colour me surprised! Also, Horobi wakes up with blue eyes, while Gai sits around his office posing with a brand-new driver.

I dunno. I feel that whether it's a permanent or temporary dispatching (Horobi's awakening implies more towards temporary) I feel like the current incarnation of Metsubojinrai really deserved a more concrete send-off. This just feels genuinely underwhelming. I'm not sure, I guess it's the speed at which the show's just going "LOOK AT THIS FANCY ASS NEW FORM LOOK AT HOW BADASS IT IS", I guess? I dunno. I'm not as enthused about this particular arc. It's eventful and has some neat action scenes, but I feel like it's pretty underwhelming. Hopefully this week and Kamen Rider Thouser's debut as a villain might change my mind!

Random Notes:

• The Authorize Buster's Axe Form has a cute little grasshopper symbol on the axe, it's adorable. 
• The Gimmick Watch:
• "Progrise Key confirmed: Ready for Buster. Buster Bomber!"
• Sting Scorpion + Attache Arrow: "Sting Kaban Shot!"
• This is the first time we've seen Jin's finisher, Flying Utopia. 
• Shining Assault Hopper's finisher is "Assault Charge: Shining Storm Impact."
• Assault Wolf's finisher is "Assault Charge: Magnetic Shine Blast", while Shining Hopper makes use of the bear key to make "Gun Rise Blizzard: Buster Dust."
• I completely forgot to mention that with Assault Wolf, Fuwa finally has a weird holographic CGI wolf buddy! None of the AIMS keys had animal buddies before. 
• There's a particularly odd cut in the Magia fight in the third act when it suddenly goes from day to night halfway through the fight. 
• I do like that Aruto's just as clueless about what a TOB is as I am, and we get Izu conveniently explaining it to him (and me).