Sean Akizuki's East Asian Drama and Movie Blog

Well, it's the end of Kamen Rider Zero-One as a TV series as concerned. However, like Kamen Rider Zi-O before it - it's going to have a follow-up movie. Zi-O purposely did the reset button for this purpose - they were planning a movie called Kamen Rider Zi-O Next Time - Geiz Majesty .  So, I'd like to do some thoughts first on the series. So you've noticed I haven't been doing episode reviews. Not to mention, my love for Japanese stuff has slowly dwindled (in favor of South Korean stuff) hence another reason why I'm no longer guest-writing for JEFusion and quietly left some time ago. How the series went was that some plots were rather slow (such as the five-part competition was worth ten episodes) or how Yua herself got stuck with Gai Amatsu for a long time. Then you've got some random plot twist where Isamu's parents are still alive rather than dead. Gai goes from villain to anti-hero and I really just feel it's not that developed. This is coming fr...

There's one thing we can't deny that Kamen Rider Zero-One is indeed a reboot. Yet, the title also has a big throwback to the 1971 show called Kamen Rider (which was later renamed as Kamen Rider the First ). The first Kamen Rider was later called Ichigo meaning one. Kamen Rider Zero-One can also be spelled as Kamen Rider 01 and we read 01 by the numbers like how Cyborg 009 (also a creation of Shotaro Ishinomori) is read as Cyborg Double-Nine . This would be quite a bit of a bigger tribute to the classic Big Bad villain the Great Leader (who's but now the Great Buttmonkey for the Heisei crossover movies). I don't think newer school fans of Kamen Rider would be too familiar with how the Showa era works. For starters, the Showa era had one running gag where the Big Bad always escaped one way or another. Kamen Rider the First had Ichigo and Nigo finding out that they were beaten by a decoy. Kamen Rider V3 (starring the ever-iconic Hiroshi Miyauchi) later found a plasti...

It doesn't matter how much I like a show - I'll usually love to nitpick it. You may notice that I've become such a nitpicker, right? Have to admit that I didn't really care too much about storytelling as long as I've had stupid reasons for something. Kamen Rider Zero One is really what I'd call a show that had some interesting stuff going on such as the Ark plot. I was expecting the Ark to finally show up and now it's showed up. But now, it's time to tackle on one part of the show that I thought is becoming a bad turn. Yes, I'm talking about Gai Amatsu/Kamen Rider Thouser who was originally showing signs of becoming a magnificent bastard of a villain - only for him to be suddenly shifted aside in favor of The Ark. I mean, I thought the guy was already becoming more irredeemable with a lot of stuff he did. I mean, he did mess up with Isamu and Yua, right? Then the latest development is just well, I can't decide on it. Writer Yuya Takahashi see...

After weeks of nothing but clip shows (due to the Legacy Virus) - Kamen Rider 01 is back on track! I'm thinking about the latest plot that involves the Ark. I was looking at the episode this week and there's a new focus. Yua helps some members of Metsubo Jinrai who have been dethroned by Gai. However, a new ghost from the past is about to emerge and take form inside the body of Horobi. I really am getting annoyed at how Yua's character development was dragged during the introduction of Gai era. Gai would appear as the vicious douche villain who's probably what Jun Shibaura of Kamen Rider Ryuki could've been if the actor didn't leave the set too soon. Gai's a badass smug rich guy who could manipulate events. Metsubo Jinrai's pains were most likely derived from the years of mistreatment. What's nice to know is that Isamu does get to see his family is doing okay. So, what's with the false memories again? I feel the plot twist of false memories...

Okay, I'm going to try and savor this one due to the fact that Super Hero Time is undergoing some hiatus when it comes to new episodes. So I'll just give major spoiler ahead that next week's Super Hero Time will feature a clip show reviewing all the past battles of Zero-One. Didn't Kamen Rider Kuuga also do the same thing before? Anyway, I should've just waited until the arc was over before writing another review. Naki is finally free from Isamu's body to have his very own. So what's with the false memories that were implanted into Isamu's head? It's not much really. I do hope that the writers and producers don't decide to shoot themselves at the foot with a bad plot twist. So far, most of the series is good but it doesn't mean it's perfect. I got critical about the series during the earlier episodes due to a new Bandai merchandise per week. Good thing they slowed down. For me, the revelations aren't what I expected. WTF? ...

Well, itns' not really and exactly welcome back Yua, isn't it? With AIMS still under ZAIA's control and Yua handing over her resignation to Gai in such a bad way - what's her next aim? I do think that there's some tense three-way conflict as Metsubo Jinrai still seeks to restore one of their allies (named Naki) to a new body. Naki is still stuck in Isamu's body. Meanwhile, why would Yua actually help Jin of all people? The starting episode has a new vegetable factory. They have some weird technology that creates a greenhouse to breed out-of-season vegetables all-year-round. Okay, I wonder is the technology even safe, or won't that compromise with quality eventually? Well, if not, then go on, right? A HumaGear named Midori is assigned to this place. Hatayama the agriculture manager says that there's an AI process that controls the process of growing them. Hmmm, that would be useful if something dreadful like the events of Power Rangers RPM happene...

Well, I'm really getting conflicted in the pacing of Kamen Rider Zero-One. Sometimes, I wish I could just write the episodes after one arc is finished. Instead, we're getting separate arcs. Now, it's time to go back to reviewing Kamen Rider Zero-One episodes. At this point, I do call it a Kamen Rider Moment of Badass too. The episode features a tennis coach HumaGear known as Love-Chan. Love-Chan was illegally dumped. There's also a tennis student named Keita. The episode does feature HumaGears' ability to dreams and their limits. Yup, Izu is aware of the limits HumaGears have such as not attending competitions. I think it's fair enough since HumaGears have hyper-focus and humans don't. Love-Chan wanted to become a tennis champion and Izu tells the former that it's against the rules. Love-Chan though gets his job. I think this is Yua's shining moment - at least for this episode. I'm getting tired of seeing her as Gai Amatsu's lackey of...

Just looking at this episode makes me want to throw in bad jokes. At this point, a HumaGear fashion model ousted by ZAIA Enterprise named Derumo. Derumo is reactivated which has me wanting to LOL or throw bad jokes just watching this episode. I'm supportive of HumaGears doing assist work but doing fashion model work? Lawyering work? Isn't artificial intelligence supposedly limited? I guess HumaGears have souls too. Granted, Toei Ltd. is also responsible for the Dragon Ball franchise where Cell (an artificial lifeform and bio-cyborg) also ended up in Hell. A HumaGear as a fashion model? Personally, I do want to laugh at the thought and I want to throw in jokes about Troy Burrows from Power Rangers Megaforce or the just-as-robotic Shun Daimonji from Kamen Rider Fourze . Honestly, I'd welcome a scene where actor Justin Tomimori will guest star as a HumaGear. Oh, let Andrew Gray dress up with those HumaGear headsets too. I do also have to address the possible contrast w...

Well, it's time for another Kamen Rider Zero-One r eview. This time, I'm in a mess right now on how often I should update it here. I thought about how I should even do my Rugal -related posts since I've been watching the series at my own pace while it's still an ongoing. Here's a big throwback way back with last year's fifth episode . HumaGears are now outlawed thanks to Gai himself. Now, something unique about the HumaGears is about to show up. So the Manga artist Choichiro shows up once more. The HumaGear G-Pen is now rendered back to square one. Something unique happened with the HumaGear G-Pen. At this point, I'm reminded for the nth time of the plot of Megaman X where Reploids have the capacity to develop their AI nearly as close as humans do. The HumaGear G-Pen starts to show some creativity power. Hiden Manufacturing just began its operations. Choichiro wants G-Pen back not as a HumaGear but as a robot with independent thought. There's some ...

Somehow, when a Kamen Rider series starts - the meaning of the name sticks to it, huh? The name Zero-One would have signified the start of a new Kamen Rider era because it's the first official Reiwa era Kamen Rider. Also, Aruto must start all over again with a little company known as Hiden Manufacturing so he can become Zero-One once more.  Gai Amatsu has taken over Hiden Enterprises and things don't look very good. Unlike Kuroto in Kamen Rider EX-AID who unfortunately decayed in the second half - this guy starts progressing towards utter douchery where he values his power above everything. I wonder is this guy meant to be like previous Kamen Rider villains who show how humans can be eviler than the recurring antagonists ? Banno in Kamen Rider Drive , Masato Mishima in Kamen Rider Kabuto , and Dr. Kiyoto Maki in Kamen Rider OOO are some examples of these ones. Gai may be a human being but he sure lacks humanity when he ignores HumaGears have feelings too. He shows he...

Things are really going from bad to worse, right? Well, it's the conclusion of the rather lengthy (ten episodes total) of the competition between ZAIA and Hiden. Yup, Gai Amatsu is one cunning villain. Spoilers: ZAIA doesn't make it! A new revolution against HumaGears is done by a politician wearing ZAIA Specs. Politician aspirant Masamitsu Yudo is now voicing out against HumaGears. The aim of ZAIA Specs is to allow humans to operate ten times more than normal. Yudo's concern has been that HumaGears are "stealing" human jobs rather than seeing mutual cooperation. Things don't really look good and it's too predictable how the competition ZAIA and Hiden will go. Aruto does become so reckless in this situation. However, he lost some of the competition rather than sacrifice his morals. The HumaGear MC Check It Out is now the latest flaw. What's with the five-parter dealing with HumaGears turning berserk anyway? MC Check It Out starts out as a...

Well, this is another of those combined episode reviews, right? I would like to comment the competition between Hiden and ZAIA seems to have gone "forever" IMHO. Maybe, Toei has a good reason for letting it be that way. Maybe, they want to expand on how Gai should be as a corrupt capitalist while Aruto is the good capitalist. Lives have been in danger more often than not in the competitions. Lives are really getting at stake since the HumaGear lawyer vs. ZAIA Specs lawyer arc . Now, it's a firefighting one. Granted, it's fire prevention month in the Philippines so I think the timing has NEVER been so perfect, right? Conflict of interest now builds up. Gai continues to show he's such a sleaze who'd do anything for power. The two contestants are Fireman Takeshi Homura who uses ZAIA Specs and the HumaGear fireman 119-Nosuke. How both view their employees would show itself. Gai wants to win so badly that he orders Yua to hand over the Raid Riser to her. Th...

There's a bit of an intermission episode that came in-between the challenges. It just reminds me Kamen Rider Kuuga also did a similar thing with an interesting recap episode. This time, much of the lore of Kamen Rider Zero-One has been unfolded. Please note that I'm not going to write about the firefighter arc until it's done and that I'm already pursuing other new stuff. Though, I'm enjoying new school Kamen Rider more than I'm enjoying new school Super Sentai.  There's really some weird things going on. So why is Izu a robot suddenly feeling sick and hot? I guess that's the next step of the HumaGear development. There's also a physician droid known as Dr. Bot - one who was responsible for the development of HumaGears. This would start to revela a lot of important lore from the show. What's better is that Isamu himself is really involved as was traumatized by the DayBreak Incident. We get a recap of 12 years ago. Aruto's "fathe...

Just seeing the preview of the "wedding" of Arisa Komiya and Ryuji Iwasaki (who's a HumaGear matchmaker named Matchi) made me think of the possibility of a HumaGear x human pairing. Okay, I'm getting a rather weird feeling here considering that I'm imagining that either Shun Daimoji (from Kamen Rider Fourze ) or even Troy Burrows (from Power Rangers Megaforce ) as Izu's potential admirer. Back on track - I do still feel that the continuation of episodes 21-22 with Chiharu is something. She's still looking for a potential partner though there's also a weird church "wedding" between human and android going on. Where's Immortus from Marvel Comics when you need him? He was the one who performed the marriage of Vision and the Scarlet Witch - a marriage between a robot with human emotions and a mutant human. For me, the first half wasn't much to talk about. I was actually enjoying a lot of episodes for this series but the first half do...

It's the third part of the series of tasks. I can't be certain what I feel about Zero-One right now. I was getting excited about the past few episodes but I feel like the five contests are getting draggy. Personally, I wish that the show decided to simply run five episodes focused on one task of the contest. I think ten episodes can be draggy if you ask me. However, there are some interesting developments that have gone on. What's nice to see is that we're having more fanservice from Super Sentai - notably from two shows that I like namely Go-Busters (Arisa Komiya as Chiharu Ebi) and Kyuranger (J-Drama regular Keisuke Minami as Atty. Bingo). ZAIA does have some loose screws, especially how Gai can be so callous as to put a person's life in danger. This time, we've got a marriage scam going on and Chiharu is the victim of it. Marriage scams do happen a lot, right? The case goes to court and somehow the alleged scammer Yuto Sasaki. Chiharu has ZAIA Specs lawye...

The second challenge between HumaGear sales agents and ZAIA Specs is here. This time, it's all about selling real estate. Smile Sumida is a real estate lessor HumaGear pit against Tatsuya Arayashiki a real estate agent who uses ZAIA Specs. The latest challenge is to sell real estate by 1000%. What I'm finding cliche though is seeing HumaGears getting corrupt and fixed ever since Gai appeared. Smile Sumida gets corrupted and we've got a ZAIA Specs wearer who becomes a monster-of-the-week. Tatsuya does become the Splashing Whale Raider in the quest to defeat Smile. Just who in the world is giving the ZAIA Specs wearers their monster transformation keys? Smile gets corrupted in the first half. Smile then gets repaired in the second half. The idea is to sell the house to a billionaire to get points. The second half does feature the guest appearance of 77-year old Hirohisa Nakata. Yup, I'm amazed to see the actor still appear here. For all the newbies - Nakata himsel...

Well, it looks like I do need to really plan more ahead about my Kamen Rider 01 updates. Well, I decided that I might actually be a little more careful about doing the episode/s review. I usually prefer to do it whenever an arc ends. Now, it's time to grant the conclusion of the flower arrangement arc. Right now, there are some interesting plots and maybe some really predictable plots. It's no secret (at least to the audience) that Gai Amatsu is a charmer. Yua is now confused with her loyalties. It's interesting to see how Isamu himself gets into a clash with his partner Yua. The big question is does Yua even know that Gai Amatsu is really a villain? I do find the naming of Gai Amatsu to be kind of intentional - there was the smug rich boy Kamen Rider Gai from Kamen Rider Ryuki . He also shows signs of being able to deceive his opponents and make it look like he's not doing anything. Gai is also very much good at hiding his true intentions by simply having a rematch....