Kamen Rider Zero-One (2019)

A Rider Kick to the sky turns to take off toward a dream.

Overall
I believe that this series was good overall. It wasn't the best but it did do a lot that was interesting and the characters are likable enough to keep watching even through the lows.

Story
I have mixed feelings for the story overall due to the story arcs having different qualities. The first arc, called MetsubouJinrai.net Saga by some fans, is, in my opinion, the best part of the show. Episode 1-16 has the heroes battling the terrorist and it keeps me wanting to watch the show as fast as I could to know about MetsubouJinrai. As soon as that was over, the ZAIA Workplace Competition Saga started and that was the lowest point of the show. It became very repetitive and was just boring to watch the same plot 5 times. The only thing good in that arc was the introduction of the power-ups for both Zero One and Vulcan. HIDEN Manufacturing Saga was a step up to that the last arc and it slowly improved the show. After these arcs, the show was affected by the COVID pandemic, stopping production completely. Once this was over, the show picked up with Ark Saga, and this is the second-best arc. Although this arc felt rushed, they picked up with MetsubouJinrai and the Ark being the main villain. This with the hype of reaching the endgame made this felt great.

Characters
Most characters were okay to good in Zero-One. The biggest thing going against most of them was the lack of character backstory/ development. Aruto never changed throughout the story until the end. But I did love how Aruto and Izu played off each other. I really like Fuwa and his backstory and Yaiba was fun to watch on screen. She did lack major backstory, in my opinion, but her presence was good. Jin and Horobi were good, but Jin lacked any explanation on himself and his connections to Zaia.

Acting/Casting
I really liked the cast. I have to mention Tsurushima Noa and how she did a good job to portray two characters that felt completely different.

Rewatch Value
Personally, I tend to not rewatch a series but knowing how the story was, I think others can enjoy rewatching this and enjoying it again.

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[ It's never over ]

Iwae!~

so as of may 2019, we have entered the Reiwa Era and with that, we go pay homage to the roots of the franchise by starting from Zero-One (insert theme music)

What I really loved from this series is in actually made the franchise interesting again ever since the fun died in Ghost (pun intended)

The acting was good, I almost feel like Yua Yaiba will be the very first female Tertiary Rider (as we all know women don't really get good roles in Kamen Rider asides from allies and love interests, so this was really new)

Many things have changed ever since it returned from the COVID-19 hiatus and I really feel like it was rushed. But the plot twists weren't that bad. I do feel bad for what has happened to Thouser being demoted to a plain dog lover.

But I'm very happy they were able to recover and still come up with a decent ending. As the Zero Two Driver says: "It's never over."

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