Kamen Rider Zero-One E45 Review: You Wanna Real Eyes, You're the Only One

Kamen Rider Zero-One, Episode 45: Everyone's Future

Final episode here we go. And for the most part... I feel like they managed to wrap up most of the plot threads that they're clearly focusing on in these final batch of episodes. I really wished that they had one or two extra episodes to wrap things up more properly, and I've ranted about the poor pacing and rapid-fire storytelling throughout my review of the past couple of episodes... but, y'know, pandemic.

So, well, for the most part, it's just the Aruto and Horobi story. Yua, Fuwa and Gai are reduced to a cheerleading squad witnessing things from the background. Jin and Azu get a bit to talk about here and there, but are also more or less just kind of there. Naki, Raiden and the VP squad are basically completely absent until the epilogue segment. And it really blows. A lot of the characters are honestly kind of under-utilized in the show. Yua did jack-all after her quitting Gai and joining the good guys. Gai's redemption also feels absolutely hollow considering he barely did anything afterwards. Naki doesn't do much after their huge Inui Takumi moment either. Raiden does even less. And... well, again, I know the priority of the show is to wrap up the huge Aruto/Horobi conflict. And that's sure neat, but... I'm going to still acknowledge just how rushed and rapid-fire this ends up being.

The actual fight, though? The actual fight is pretty awesome, and features some of the best wire-fu we've seen in the show for a long while. The Fate Zero style swords-stabbed onto the battlefield and Ark-Scorpion and Ark-One just ripping them from the ground and clashing onto them while tossing weapons away, dual wielding the goofy-looking suitcase swords and summoning them from off-screen and stuff... it's pretty cool. Some of it are tricks we've seen from Ark-Zero before (particularly Horobi's 'summon multiple kaban bows' trick) but it's still pretty cool! We've got the shotgun, the thousand-jacker, the Metal Cluster Hopper metal shield, the spinning purple funnels Gai used... The ominous music, and eventually the slightly modified opening credits with everyone's faces flashing past the title screen is pretty neat.

Anyway, Azu gives a whole speech about malice taking over the world while we get more Fate Stay Night fighting on top of the building. And at this point, Aruto still looks like he's overcome by malice, agreeing with Horobi's assessment about how humans suck. Yua, Fuwa and Gai, none of them being able to transform, hang out in Gai's dinky-ass basement office and does a running commentary, watching the live recording of Aruto and Horobi's fight while Yua restores Jin. Part of me is kind of bummed out that these guys are reduced to doing basically nothing in the fight, but on the other hand Aruto disabling their transformation ability is kind of a sensible in-universe reason for them to, I guess, de-crowd the final episode.

Eventually the fight goes from the top of the building to a parking lot, at which point Aruto tosses away his weapon and allows Horobi to beat him up. Azu is happy, Fuwa is confused... and Jin, resurrected as a computer program, shows up in the swirling Ark-dimension and mocks Azu. He tells her how she doesn't have a heart so she couldn't predict it, and how this whole fight is Hiden Aruto's conclusion as opposed to the Ark's. Jin tells us that Aruto's heart is filled with malice, and Horobi is, to use Aruto's catchphrase, 'the only one that can stop him'.

It's actually kind of an interesting little twist, and just like many other things in the Zero-One final arc, is kind of a shame that it's not something the show really dwells on for too long. The idea that Aruto himself knows that he's wrong but he's simply unable to restrain and keep his emotions in check, and has to still act out on the overwhelming emotions within him? That's a very, very interesting exploration of vulnerability in heroes and stuff. Again, bit of a shame that it's glossed over so quickly.

Anyway, after a pretty cool punch where Horobi's scorpion tentacle wraps around his fists, Aruto's Ark-One driver gets shattered and he de-henshins, and he says "this is fine". The audience gets to see Aruto banish his mental image of Azu hugging him and reverting back to all grass and sunshine, and Jin and Fuwa talk about how Aruto is risking his life to teach Horobi about heart because Aruto loves Humagears and he has faith in Horobi more than anyone else. Okay? It honestly feels like something that swerves a lot from the "Aruto realizes he's wrong but he also can't control his emotions" bit from a scene before, but sure. Also maybe Aruto could've confronted Horobi without starting robot riots? Just saying.

We get a flashback to Aruto's meeting with the digital ghost of Hiden Soreo that we briefly glimpse last episode. It's a nice way to bring Soreo back. I've watched the movie so I know the impact this had since Soreo's actually an actual character and mentor for Aruto in that movie (but... Aruto doesn't have any memory of that movie, right? Damn movies and their weird place in continuity) and Soreo gives this whole speech about how Aruto now has a fury inside him, how he's grown stronger after becoming a Kamen Rider... but then tells Aruto that true strength isn't power, it comes from the heart. Then Soreo 3D-prints a new Zero-One driver for Aruto.

This leads to the present day, where Aruto yells at Horobi how anyone would feel hurt from the loss of their family... and Horobi goes absolutely ballistic, and it's great to see the actor finally breaking down and finally allowing to convey emotions. After Horobi has been so emotionally stunted over the series, it's nice to see him finally acknowledging his anger and rage, yelling at Aruto how 'JIN IS MY SON!' Aruto clenches Izu's ribbon, and in that moment, Horobi realizes that Aruto's also lost family. Not just Izu, but also the fact that Aruto's dad Soreo was indirectly taken away from Horobi. And Horobi just falls to his knees in despair, realizing that Jin is gone indirectly because of his own doing.

And... again, the progression is kind of messy, but I am a huge fan of Horobi's big-picture character arc, and he finally admits and realizes that not only is he angry and grieving over his son's death, but he's also completely scared of the 'intangible thing that kept interfering with his actions', and how his hatred of the humans is because they've awakened the feeling within him and forced him to confront truths he wants to ignore. The robot now has emotions!

Aruto has a cool line about how "we're Kamen Riders, aren't we?" which I don't think fits the scene well. But somehow, the Rising Hopper key becomes blue. (Got to sell that limited-edition variant key!) We now get a final clash as the angry Horobi charges and turns back into Ark-Scorpion, while Aruto catches the punch with his bare hands and we get easily the coolest transformation as Aruto's Realizing Hopper (it's basically Rising Hopper with a different jingle) form materializes digitally around his body. That is an awesome transformation sequence. It's an interesting 'final form', I guess? The Realizing Hopper is honestly identical to Rising Hopper, and I personally love it that Aruto's final form is basically his original one. And I guess the showmakers just want Aruto's final, strongest form to not be the bad guy suit or something? Sure.

Realizing Hopper just zips around and fights against Horobi, and this time it's Horobi that kind of wants to be defeated, yelling about how he hates Aruto from the bottom of his heart but he also simultaneously knows that it's not humanity's fault (it kinda is, it's that mofo Gai's, but shhh that'll ruin the Aruto-Horobi dynamic of this episode). Meanwhile, Jin is confident that the two of them can overcome their malice, we get a brief cameo by Izu's specter smiling at Aruto... and we get a pretty cool action scene of Horobi unleashing some Doctor Octopus tentacle swarm while Aruto zipping through it with his flash-speed and yelling about 'the only one that can stop you is me!" We get a Realizing/Extinction Impact clash, and we get a cool bit where Aruto twists around and punches Horobi from the bottom and sends him flying into the sky before doing an elaborate flash-blitz and slamming down with a gigantic rider kick.

Aruto, of course, doesn't kill Horobi, blowing him up and defeating him, but also acknowledging that he doesn't need to destroy Horobi anymore as he clutches Izu's ribbon. And... I guess it's neat that it's completely Aruto's doing, and it's not a "hey guys stop fighting Jin is alive, your angst can disappear now". I really do appreciate them not pussying out in that way. Jin is still back, but Aruto and Horobi do actually work through their simultaneous hatred on their own.

And then we smash to the epilogue. The Aruto/Horobi fight takes 17 minutes of the episode, and we have around 5-6 minutes for the epilogue... and one thing that the finale absolutely glosses over is the fact that there are Magia/Humagear riots going all over the city. Which last episode built up towards, but other than the brief shots of the Humagears rioting and a short scene of Fukuzoe telling them that he believes in Aruto, it's genuinely just forgotten until the epilogue.

For all the series have been talking about Humagear co-existing with humanity, we get the buildup that it might shatter permanently in this final battle... but it's just utterly glossed over by the news proclaiming how Hiden is launching more satellites to support Humagears, how Humagears are prospering under Aruto's presidency... and we don't even get to see a token montage of the Humagears working or anything. I felt that was weird.

Some of the other characters are kinda just there. Ikazuchi is helping out with the satellites (and there's an obvious bit of them not being able to get Subaru's actor for the scene). Yua is training a bunch of new AIMS recruits and Naki shows up as the new technical advisor in a suit. Thouser has his driver back, and he has an entire Thouser division... meaning the dog Thousers, which is kind of a funny gag.

Fuwa, meanwhile, for some reason is not with AIMS, but is going around as his own vigilante superhero, ripping car doors out and rescuing people from accidents, calling himself the 'defender of peace, Kamen Rider', which is pretty cool. Horobi ditches the headband and is reunited with Jin, and they have turned themselves into vigilantes protecting the world from any sort of malice or the Ark returning. And Jin is now happy to tease Horobi about being his 'oto-san', which is adorable.

Oh, and we have a new rider suit! Which I suppose would lead to some plot threads here being wrapped up in the solo Zero-One movie. We've got Izu turning into a black-hooded outfit, giving something called the Eden Driver to some random dude with a tablet, and the dude transforms into CROCODILE IN ROGUE OOOORAH a very Kamen Rider Rogue looking design called Kamen Rider Eden. Wait for the movie to see Not-Rogue!

Of course, the show has to end in Aruto and Izu. And, to the absolutely surprise of me, Izu is not restored. I would've thought that they would've used Zero-Two's whole 'human and A.I.' thing to bring Izu back, but even her personal Progrise Key keeps going 'Cannot Read'. So surrounded by the VP squad, Aruto just creates a brand-new Izu, and while she looks and sounds the same and is restored back to factory settings, Aruto resolves to teach Izu II all their dreams, hearts and jokes, and Aruto is positive that this will bring Izu back. And, of course, the show ends with this new Izu absolutely bungling the timing of the Aruto-ja-nai-to pose, initially being too fast and later being too slow. And... finito, tune in next with for Saber.

And... it's an all right finale. It's far from being the best, and considering the pandemic and them losing around four or five episodes, it really can't be helped, can it? Ultimately I still think that they did lose a lot of things rushing the ending and keeping the focus on the whole malice theme. I am kind of impressed that the Ark doesn't even make any sort of return after its initial destruction; and I'm genuinely surprised Izu isn't 'properly' restored (though I'm sure she'll be back to her usual antics come the movie). I won't deny that this isn't a messy ending and final arc, but at the very least it's done because of events that are out of control.

I dunno. A lot of the secondary characters absolutely suffered. Fuwa, Izu, Horobi and (surprisingly) the vice president squad got a lot of great scenes, but Yua, Naki, Raiden and especially Gai feel like their stories are utterly incomplete -- Gai's redemption arc is still absolutely bizarre and probably the huge 'jump the shark' moment of the show; while it's kind of obvious that whatever plans they had with Naki and Raiden got kicked to the side as the two of them were reduced to background characters. Aruto's comedian angle gets honestly kind of dropped in the final arc, and I'm kind of sad Aruto never figures out that Fuwa likes his jokes all along. A lot of the 'Humagear rights' stuff also basically got more or less dropped by the show.

Still, all things considered, it's an... all right finale? I am very much willing to give Zero-One a bit of a leeway thanks to real-life events. The cast did their best and if nothing else, the action scenes and the very likable actors and characters did make my journey through Zero-One a huge blast. And besides, it's not like Zero-One is anywhere close to the first tokusatsu show that had a very strong first and middle parts only to fizzle out near the end, right? I honestly really find this show to ultimately be likable even if they didn't manage to deliver the full story that they had wanted to tell. Not a bad ending, all things considered.

Random Notes:

• Is it Realizing Hopper or REALxEYEZing Hopper? 
• Things I'm personally not a big fan of: the random huge barrage of random new forms in these final episodes. Zero-Two! Ark-One! Ark-Scorpion! Orthus Vulcan! Realizing Hopper!
• No, seriously, though, Kamen Rider Eden really looks like someone painted over Kamen Rider Rogue's white and blue cracks in purples and pinks.
• At one point during Aruto's final takedown of Horobi he knees Horobi in the dick and I chuckled at that.
• The Gimmick Watch:
• Ark-Scorpion's first finisher is "Hatred Impact!" and his final rider kick finisher is "Extinction Impact!".
• "JUMP! (Jump! Jump!) Authorize. Prog-rise. Initialize. REALIZING HOPPER! A rider kick to the sky turns to take off toward a dream."
• Realizing Hopper's finisher is "Realizing Impact!"
• Eden's transformation is "Eden Driver! Imagine the ideal illusion. Eden the! Kamen Rider!"
• See you guys next week for Saber. I won't be doing episodic reviews for Saber, I don't think (I kind of need a break) but I will cover the first episode and after that maybe we'll do once-a-month reviews?