Kamen Rider Zero-One E32 Review: 555 Redux

Kamen Rider Zero-One, Episode 32: My Pride! Runway Dream!

So I have been kind of slipping with these Zero-One reviews. Sorry, it's just that I kind of want to get Kiva over with and I'm kind of pretty close to finishing that series up, y'know? And, well, this episode starts off feeling like just another episodic one. We get our Humagear of the week with Delmo the model (I get the joke), who, of course, like all the other Humagears is all too happy to be back doing her job. Basically everyone but the Metsubojinrai dudes are honestly just happy Humagears, huh? I wonder if these episodes with the Humagears being allowed to choose will actually show a Humagear that's actually unsatisfied with his or her job.


Anyway, Delmo's huge dream (dreams are a huge thing that's hammered home in these episodes) is to be a Humagear fashion model that will walk the runway in some huge fashion show, and Gai can't have this becaue it's a widely public affair, while Aruto and Izu are excited to do this because it's a way to appeal for greater Humagear visibility and stuff -- especially since Delmo (who achieved singularity off-screen) insists on showing off her Humagear earphones, noting that it's a matter of 'pride'. Also, as we learn, Fuwa is hired by Hiden Co Ltd as a security guard, which is pretty awesome, bringing him on the side of the 'good guys'. Mostly he stands aroud scowling and trying not to laugh at Aruto's jokes.

Gai sends Yua and the Horsehoe Crab AIMS goons (heretofore referred to as "Crab Bros") to blow up Delmo and Fuwa, leading to the pre-commercial action scene. We get Aruto fighting against the Crab bros, but Yua and the cute pair of glasses she wears for the occassion swoops in and steals Fuwa's Shotriser, and then Yua uses the Assault Wolf key she stole in the previous episode to shoot Fuwa and force him to transform. Assault Vulcan, of course, being the form that Fuwa is able to access because he's part-Naki. Yua controls Naki-Fuwa with her glasses, and I really do love the show cutting back and forth from what's happening in the real world to what's going on when Naki "wakes up", as we see the world from her point of view and it's just her moving around in the world. It's a pretty fun artistic choice that becomes extra-poignant in the final act of this episode.

Naki-Vulcan starts hunting down Izu and Delmo and it's a good thing Naki's kind of a shit shot, because the two Humagears manage to hide in crates and buy enough time before Aruto blows up the Crab bros and then faces off against Naki-Vulcan. Delmo, of course, can't take any of Yua's lack of self-respect, and begins ranting about how she really should have more pride in "bring a human", and all this talk about tools and pride ends up really hitting Yua. Poor Yua. The fight ends when Jin shows up in his awesome burning falcon mode, helps Aruto knock Naki/Fuwa out and takes him (them?) away.

Jin's conversation with Naki in Daybreak town is pretty cool, and I really do like the show of Naki as Fuwa's shadow talking to Jin, and Naki's basically everything that Jin isn't -- they are completely subservient into being a tool, programmed only to follow orders. Fuwa wakes up after the conversation, smashes Jin's homemade sci-fi helmet, and then later returns back to Aruto right when he's talking to Delmo about her dreams of walking the runway and stuff. It's at this point when Aruto keeps telling Naki about, yes, Humagears are allowed to dream, and they, too, are allowed to have dreams. The scene works well enough with the idea that Naki's just a robot person that's never even considered independence and is satisfied with their lot as Gai's murder-tool, but knowing Naki's previous personality in the Project Thouser special, this actually takes a larger degree of depth. Again, the cutaway from the Fuwa body interacting with the environment and this record-scratch-filter world with just Naki being confused is really well-done.

Zaia hows up, and Yua assaults and pursues Delmo throughout the model show building, while Fuwa gets confronted by Jin and Horobi (the Metsubojinrai.net boys basically allied with each other over a conversation in this episode). We get a cool scene where Aruto's metal cluster grasshopper buddies bully the Crab Bros around before Aruto fights off against Valkyrie, the Crab Bros, and Gai even shows up and turns into Thouser briefly into the fight. We get a pretty cool scene when Thouser unleashes this attack that summons all the CGI animals to attack Delmo, but Aruto uses his own finisher to super-speed around Izu and Delmo and summon metal walls and physically pummel some of the animals attacking them. The attack does manage to woud Delmo's leg and she can't walk the runway, though.

Naki shows up, however, observing the fight, watching as Aruto yells about how he'll never forgive those that destroy other people's dreams. Gai orders Naki to obey him, but Naki refuses. And we get an absolutely great moment that's pretty evocative of a central premise of Kamen Rider Faiz, where Naki says that while they don't know what their dream is yet, they do want to dream... so they'll protect the dreams of other Humagears. That's a badass moment, and while, again, it's pretty shamelessly copying Faiz, Takumi Inui's motto is by far the best part of Faiz so I wholeheartedly approve.

Gai, being a control freak, starts getting angry, but Naki and Fuwa, now working in tandem, emphasize that they are not tools. This bothers Yua enough that she de-henshins (and I'm smelling a huge Yua-vs-Gai confrontation soon) and we get this very cool moment of both Fuwa and Naki posing as they transform into Rampage Vulcan. And while they fight and utterly beat the shit out of Thouser with a giant CGI mammoth leg, we get a fun scene where Izu and Aruto walks the runway to make Delmo's dream of having a Humagear walk down the runway come true. Izu broadcasts the sounds of the people in the runway cheering for them to Delmo, which is a nice callback to the moment earlier in the episode when Delmo talks about the sounds that she want to hear in the runway. It's nice. And, of course, it allows Aruto a platform to talk about how he's working to restore Humagears and stop them from ever going berserk again.

Overall, a pretty cool episode. A lot of the stuff feel like it's just kind of building up to things down the line -- Yua slowly getting triggered by the word 'tool', Aruto slowly rebuilding the Humagear reputation in the public eye, Horobi and Jin formally working together again (under the Ark's will, of course) -- but the huge moment in this episode that focuses on Naki is amazing. Last episode we got a huge Fuwa focus, and this episode Naki takes center stage, and having the two inhabitants of Fuwa's body work together is pretty cool. Again, I really do wish we learn more about Naki in following episodes, for such an important character we don't really know much about Naki as a person.

Random Notes:

• The outfits worn by Aruto and Izu in the runway is the exact same ones that the actors themselves wear when they participated in a fashion show in the 2020 SPRING/SUMMER event. Obviously, Takahashi Fumiya is a lot less panicked and more reserved than Aruto is, of course. 
• This week, in the "Izu does adorable things" section is the pouty face Izu makes at Fuwa when he's being just a bit mean to Delmo, and later on when she and Delmo hide around in cardboard boxes and run around with the boxes still attached to their bodies. 
• I do really like the continuity nod to Matsuda Enji, the actor Humagear, being established to have his Humagear robo-ears digitally removed in his movies. 
• Delmo's Not-Instagram account is @Delmo_Humagear. The world of Zero-One has Not-Instagram and Not-Twitter, apparently. 
• Delmo is the first Humagear that we haven't seen before be restored back to activity by Aruto, and the episode also makes it clear that Aruto has never met Delmo before in his life, so apparently he does have data backed up of every single Humagear in existence. Okay!
• There's a bizarre bit where Yua (as Jackal) is chasing Delmo and she opens a door that leads into thin air and jumps off it, but everyone's okay because they're either robots or Kamen Riders, and I'm just utterly confused what practical purpose that part of the building has. Surely it can't be OSHA compliant?
• The Gimmick Watch:
• Did we ever hear the Crab Bros' keys make noise? Well, it is "Hard. Invading! Horse! Shoe! Crab!" The space between the horse and shoe is apparently very important. 
• I'm going to use 'they' to refer to Naki, because the actor defines themselves as agender and the showmakers also note that the character has no gender. So.