Kamen Rider Zero-One E40 Review: To Make A Final Form

Kamen Rider Zero-One, Episode 40: Leaping Towards Our Dream

So, uh... this sure is a bit of a strange episode. Basically half of the episode is kind of a fake-out, and for a moment the whole epsode feels like its basically this huge Groundhog Day/time travel loop, something that doesn't quite make sense considering the fact that Zero-One hasn't quite featured physics-breaking superpowers like time travel before. And I get it, they want to have Zero-One's final form have a huge, huge oomph, so they had to make a full origin story behind the Zero-Two form. I'm just not sure this is the best way to go about it.

Again, though, a bunch of this seems to be thrown together in a bit of a haphazard manner. Aruto turns out to just be making a whole bunch of random doodles and mind-maps, sure, but the fact that he's really determined that he can surpass all the other AI in terms of designing his upgraded Kamen Rider form? I dunno, it just feels somewhat off. The fact that ultimately the Zero-Two driver sort of just shows up created by the power of dreams or whatevre is also a slight cop-out. Also, for all the hyper raised around Izu being super-involved and Zero-Two being a fusion between human and A.I.... it really felt like it was building up to Aruto having a fusion with Izu in a Kamen Rider Double style thing, huh? Or at least Aruto and Zea? Turns out that Zero-Two is just... yet another form.

Don't get me wrong, the actual episode itself is pretty solid, even if the speeches about leaping and reaching your own dream does admittedly start to run thin at this point. But after the shock value of the first nightmare simulation sequence, things start of run a bit thin. I do really lik that neither Aruto, Yua nor Fuwa are ready to forget that for Gai's nominal siding with them, the Ark becoming evil is Gai's fault in the first place and they keep reminding Gai (and by proxy, the audience) about that.

Aruto's first death was also honestly kind of stupid. Jin is fighting Ark-Zero and they fight so much that the Hiden Ltd building gets blown up and Jin jumps in the way of an attack, and Aruto just refuses to escape despite being unable to transform for... no real reason? He then gets finger-gunned to death, and, in quick succession, we get a sequence of Ark-Zero killing Gai, Yua and Fuwa. We also get some great acting from Tsurishima Noa when the good guys first recover Aruto's body, too. Izu is just robotically asking Aruto's corpse for directions and asking why hes not responding, all the while we cut away to the other humans getting killed by Ark-Zero... and then she cries. A very well-done scene, despite my reservations about the episode.

And, of course... I expected Aruto's death to be temporary and that he's either secretly a Humagear or he'll be combined with a Humagear. The latter actually sounds very cool and would fit the 'Zero-Two is the combination of human and A.I.' theme a lot better... but eh. Turns out that everything is just a simulation for Izu, and Izu... isn't actually aware? And turns out that the whole thing is to distill Izu's singularity and her feeling of wanting to make the dream a reality (and her tears) which... somehow causes Zea to manifest and create the Zero-Two Driver out of Izu's ear-piece? I... I'm not sure. This just feels kind of random, and just an excuse for the directors to make a huge fake-out. It's not terribly done and all the actors and action scene directors make the first half of the episode pretty fun to watch, but ultimately I do feel that they picked the most boring and the most 'why though' way to tell this story.

And... and don't get me wrong, the transformation to Kamen Rider Zero-Two is hype. It's awesome, it's energetic, all the flashy effects are awesome (two grasshoppers!) and the obligatory new-toy-overpowers-old-toy scene is awesome particularly after an episode where Ark has been beating and murdering everyone. There was a sequence where the Ark basically does a Sherlock Holmes style scan of seeing all of the potential outcomes of Zero-Two's movements and creates his own mental projections to counter them. And while it's definitely recycled from Shining Hopper, the speed-blitz effects for Zero-Two is also very cool.

And yet... the combination of a rather bizarre way of obtaining this final form and the fact that it does feel like a rehash of Shining Hopper (and to some extent, Zi-O II's future-sight ability), the whole sequence does lose its luster after you finished watching the episode the first time. We get Zero-Two absolutely overpowering Ark, kicks away his All Extinction genki-dama attack, kicks the Ark itself out of Ikazuchi and then does a zippy speed blitz before blowing him up with a Rider Kick. And... and we still have around a month's worth of episodes to go through, so the Ark's consciousness is still alive inside Satellite Zea, while Horobi shows up to drag away the unconscious Ikazuchi.

Overall... yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of this form's origin story. The literal deus ex machina way that it appears because of something-something-dreams has nowhere near the same amount of impact as Shining Hopper (it features a sacrificial death) or the true unlocking of Metal Cluster Hopper (with all the Humagears coming together to help Aruto). I dunno. Again, the episode itself is extremely enjoyable for being an actio scene fiesta, but narratively it's a bit of a weak link and the fake-out doesn't quite work as well as the writers intended it to.


Random Notes:

• The Gimmick Watch: "Zero Two Driver. Zero Two Jump! Let's give you power. Let's give you power. ZERO TWO RISE! The road to glory has to lead to a growing path to change. One-to-Two, Kamen Rider Zero-Two! It's never over!" 
• Instead of a single giant CGI robo grasshopper buddy, Zero-Two... has two of them. One of them is red. 
• There's also a CGI aura shaped like Satellite Zea at one point, and the 02 symbol appearing... and the 02 symbol makes up the red pieces on Zero-Twos chest and the little pointy thing that juts out of his scapula. 
• In a very Agito/Kiva way, when Zero-Two does his finisher, the digital logo for 02 also shows up, although it doesn't quite create collateral damage in the shape of the logo. 
• Zero-Two's finisher is "Zero-Two Big Bang!"
• The little red pokey-thing on Zero-Two's sholder can apparently create a giant, scarf-like aura very similar to Kamen Rider Ichigata from the crossover movie, which, in turn, is of course a homage to the scarves of Kamen Rider #1. 
• I'm pretty sure the pandemic has something to do with it, but compared to a lot of the more recent shows, this is pretty much the latest in a show's run that we've seen one of these final forms, yeah? Usually they debut somewhere in the 30's. 
• Aruto's death is a defiant stand, Yua dies protecting Fuwa, and Fuwa dies in midst of trying to transform and fight the Ark. Out of the four human Kamen Riders, the only one to die a shitty death is Thouser, shot in the back and having his speech interrupted. Fitting. 
• Kamen Rider Saber, the next show that's set to premiere in a couple of months, has finally revealed its designs and stuff! I believe that with Saber, unless I really like the show, will be a show that I cover with multi-episode reviews. I don't think I quite have the energy to go in an almost-always episodic fashion the way I did with Zero-One. 
• Izu has a funny 'I do not forgive you' moment at the end of the episode in response to Aruto telling Izu to run herself through countless simulations. 
• Aruto's notebook consists of several easter eggs as he tries to brainstorm for the name for Zero-Two. Among them are Super Zero-One; Zero-Zero-One; Hyper-One; New-Zero-One and Strong-One, all referencing older riders or super forms of older riders.