Kamen Rider Zero-One episode 18
A pretty good one. I liked the resolution of the ikebana plot, with the Humagear and human arrangers finding common ground. And the ikebana school was named Tachibana, a name frequently used in
Kamen Rider. Toubee Tachibana was the mentor of the first several Kamen Riders in the '70s, so later productions often nod to the name. The family that supported Kamen Rider Hibiki was the Tachibanas (and they worked for an organization called Takeshi, after Kamen Rider One's given name), and Kamen Rider Garren in
Blade was named Tachibana.
I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that Yua/Valkyrie tends to get sidelined compared to the male Riders. Here we finally got that foreshadowed confrontation between Valkyrie and Vulcan, and she is impressive at first, but then she's beaten, and then she steps aside (literally) for the bigger marquee fight between Vulcan and Thouser. Her submissiveness to Amatsu holds her back too.
Since Hiden Intelligence lost the competition the buyout continues.
I think it was always meant to be best of five, so it'll continue until someone wins three rounds.
This is the first time Hiden Intelligence successfully backed up a Humagear. I know it's for story reasons, but it'd be really good if they explained why this was never a thing before.
Izu said they were able to restore her backup because she hadn't been hacked by MetsuboJinrai. I think it was mentioned way back in episode 2 or 3 that a corrupted Humagear couldn't be restored.
Gai is in his forties? Seems like they wanted someone who's been involved in the timeline for awhile but cast a young actor
We'll probably get flashbacks to his time with Aruto's grandfather.
Really nice character work with Kureon and his long night of the soul. I figured he'd do a face-turn eventually, but I like it that they aren't making it simple -- he's really wrestling with it. One thing I didn't expect was that he'd try to bring Wiseru with him.
Man, Bamba really rocked the Man in Black look.
Miu from Fourze is guest starring this week to guide us through the usual movie studio episode.
Nice to see her again. I'm surprised they didn't contrive to have her character say "Oops!" at some point.
Also Ui's absence was explained on the actress's blog. She is very sick and is/was hospitalized. That's too bad.
Oh, no.