Kamen Rider 01 Episode 1: Start Your September 2019 With The First True Reiwa Rider

It's the first of September 2019 and the first episode of the first Reiwa Rider has begun! I just found the fansubbers Rider Time Fansubs working on it so I may no longer be using Over-Time for my Kamen Rider Zero-One reviews. So, before anything, I decided to get inspiration from Sentai Bandicoot Rambles (formerly Fantasy Leader) with his Gingaman posts. Maybe not but I was partly inspired by him in writing down my Secretary Kim reviews and perhaps my future Vagabond reviews (where I may lump two episodes into one post due to the twice-a-week broadcast). Now going on to my initial impressions on the series.

The hero Aruto Hiden dreams of becoming a comedian and making people smile. Wait, making people smile? Didn't we get that last 2000 wth Kamen Rider Kuuga? Is the show making a nod that Kuuga was the first successful Kamen Rider reboot for the Heisei era?

Aruto is a failed comedian and he's hesitant to accept his paternal grandfather's mantle as the president of the company. He did lose his father at such a young age and he's just recently lost his grandfather. His father was killed during an initial attack of Metsubo-Jinrai.NET. So, talk about him trying to help others smile in the midst of his tragedy. He gets the will and reveals that he would be the president of Hiden Intelligence even when the company isn't solely owned by the Hiden family. It raises objections and Aruto is the hesitant hero.

I love how he decides to do anything to protect others. If he can't protect their smiles as a comedian then he can protect them as a superhero. He takes the mantle to protect the dream of an amusement park owner. He ends up using the Zero-One system which gives him the power to protect. However, he ends up becoming the President in the process. He is too young to handle such major events which may be the highlight of next week's episode.

Then there's Izu the cute robot girl or female HumaGear. I kinda remembered a bit of jokes where there was a fan shipping of Troy Burrows with Robo Knight in Megafail. Also, I'm tempted to throw in Nobuo Akagi jokes because of that really stupid episode where he fell for a robot girl in Season Tsuu. I even imagine in my own head both Troy and Nobuo trying to win Izu's affections even if they both know she's not human. I hope that Izu doesn't end up as a bland robot girl as the show progresses.

Now, there's also the new team called Artificial Intelligence Military Service (AIMS) which may clash with Kamen Rider Zero-One with their ideals. Their purpose is to take down rogue HumaGears. Doesn't that remind you of the Megaman X series where the Maverick Hunters hunt down Reploids that have gone Maverick?

The field leader Yua Yaiba nearly serves the same role as Yoko in Jiban. Remember when Jiban's hero Naoto was under the authority of Yoko in the said show? There's also the impulsive hero Isamu Fuwa who's directly under her authority. Both of them can become Kamen Riders. Yua herself is very tactical in contrast to her partner Isamu. I don't know how these two ideals (namely Aruto and AIMS) will eventually get involved for the rest of the series. But the preview next week suggests that there's a clash of ideals. I hope that writer Yuya Takahashi will be able to get better in what could be yet another reboot for the Kamen Rider franchise.

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What are your first thoughts on the launch of the first Reiwa Rider?

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Comments

Mask Rider RoySeptember 2, 2019 at 10:34 AM
So far so good. Although Zero One's suit might take me some time to get used to as I prefer a bit of some armor but I'm willing to adjust.

This episode has some throwback from past series.
Kuuga - protecting one's smile
Ryuki - a similar advent belt and deck on the humagear
OOO - the magear resembling the mantis yummy
Looks like this series would have some dark tones as shown by Jin as he pinned a rampaging humagear and shoots him point blank on the head, which is somewhat controversial given that it's a children's show.

Overall looks promising and will be on the lookout.

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