2019-2020: Kamen Rider Zero-One

[Toku Prime]

OK, the press conference has brought us a lot more info.

Behind the scenes staff first? OK!

The producers will be Chihiro Inoue from TV Asahi (previously worked on Kyuranger and Zi-O) and Takahito Omori from Toei (Drive, Ex-Aid, Build).

The head director is Teruaki Sugihara. He has previously worked as an episode director on Super Sentai but I believe this is his first time as the head director. The head writer is Yuya Takahashi, who was previously the head writer on Ex-Aid. The music will be composed by Go Sakabe, who previously created the music for Ghost.

We have a brand new action director, Jun Watanabe. Jun is a long-serving suit actor who had seemed to specialize in secondary Riders such as Beast, Zangetsu, Mach, Specter, and Brave. More recently he's served as action director for a few of the specials, but this will be his first full series.

SETTING

The series takes place in a world where advanced robots called HumaGear are commonplace. They typically look exactly like people except for headset-style additions to their heads. One of the leading AI companies is "Hiden Intelligence".

A terrorist group called "Metsubo Jinrai.net" has appeared. They hack the AI of the HumaGear, causing them to become violent. The government responds by creating the Artificial Intelligence Military Service, or A.I.M.S. Squad for short, to protect the people.

CAST

Aruto Hiden a.k.a. Kamen Rider Zero-One
Portrayed by Fumiya Takahashi

Aruto is the grandson of the president of Hiden Intelligence. He wishes to become a comedian despite not having a sense of humor.
When his grandfather passes away it is discovered that he had nominated Aruto as his successor in his will, and so Aruto is named as the new president. He discovers that the company developed the Zero Driver in order to battle the rogue HumaGear and uses it to become Zero-One.

Isamu Fuwa a.k.a. Kamen Rider Vulcan
Portrayed by Ryutarou Okada

One of the A.I.M.S. operatives. An excellent fighter who becomes Vulcan to protect the people and battle Metsubo Jinrai.net.

Yua Yaiba a.k.a. Kamen Rider Valkyrie
Portrayed by Hiroe Igeta

A technical advisor for A.I.M.S. with great fighting strength.

Horobi and Jin
Portrayed by Shuya Sunagawa and Daisuke Nakagawa

The leader and field commander respectively of the terrorist group Metsubo Jinrai.net.

Iz and Shun Fukuzoe
Portrayed by Noa Tsurushima and Kazuya Kojima

Iz is a HumaGear who acts as the secretary to Hiden Intelligence's president.

Shun is the vice-president of Hiden Intelligence. He had ambitions of becoming the company president himself some day and was shocked to be usurped by Aruto.
Shun's actor is a member of the comedy act UN-JASH, so presumably this will be the show's comedic relief character.​

 

[Black Fang]

If Yuya Takahashi is writing this, then I hope he draws inspiration from the good stuff in Ex-Aid and not the dreck that made up the majority of the show. I also hope this setting and plot are treated with the seriousness they deserve, and this new Reiwa era isn't just Phase 2 Heisei rehashed in terms of style.

The tagline for the show was "Learning completed. Initiating Progrise." Does this mean that Aruto is really an android and not a biological grandson?

 

[Black Fang]

The trailer is out. My hopes for early Heisei-style are somewhat dashed. Aruto is cartoony and the belt sounds like a 90s/00s toy ad instead of something cool. (Was Amazons the only time Toei will do a call back to pre-Decade belts?)

http://www.jefusion.com/2019/07/kamen-rider-zero-one-official-trailer.html


I can imagine a good portion of the fandom getting SJW-giddy over a long-term female Rider (people complained about Malika in Gaim), while not considering the chance that Toei is just making Rider more like Sentai, just as the last few Metal Hero shows in the 90s became Metal Sentais.

 

[Dr Kain]

To be fair, I wasn't expecting it to just change in tone overnight. Even Sentai took 2 years tinto the Heisei era before it started to get better.

My only issue is that it looks to be just more of the same. They're not even trying to do anything original.

 

[raden238]

I had somewhat expectations for the Zero-One driver to have cool sounds. Nothing special just simple sounds or a normal voice. The past couple of years have not been kind to Rider belts. They have been so gimmicky packed that its not even representable anymore and the sound effect (or lack thereof) have been crap. Just a bunch of screaming and yelling. So after watching the trailer and press conference, its almost back to the old days but still the belt sounds off. Is it just too much to have a belt like the Heisei phase 1 era? Less talky and just cool sounds?

I'm almost not too thrilled about the Zero-One's henshin. You have to scan the progrise key then flip it open and finally slide into the belt, Zeronos style to activate it. What's up with all the recent henshins being so long? It's like they can't make belts simple anymore. At least its not as bad as Build's henshin, that takes an hour to complete.

Now onto the other riders. We are confirmed to be getting at least 4 other riders for quarter 1. Vulcan, Valkyrie, Jin and Horobi. It's nice to finally have a female rider right out of the gate and maybe she will stick around as a main character. I'm not one of those crazy fans always harping for female riders or any riders for that matter. I just want the show to be good.

Which brings me to the plot, doesn't sound like anything new. I already expect the twist to be Aruto to be Humagear. It's an homage to Ichigo and Kikaider. I want the Reiwa era to be different and so far it doesn't seem like there is a drastic change incoming. At least they brought back some of their classic roots of the franchise.

 

[Japaneseseriesfan]

Okay... so seeing it in action kinda makes it look a bit... bad? I don't know, the arms section really makes it look like he's just wearing some cheap fabric. Like, the tone of black they have and the yellow just clashed so badly, he just looks like a walking toy. And I'm no longer a fan of the belt. Seeing it in the trailer, you can clearly see it's made out of plastic.

That aside, I like Vulcan and the way he moves. I'm not one of those who's been "dying" for a female Rider, as far as I know, most females I know don't even watch action movies, so I feel less of a need to hear the whimpering and crying for one. I've lived long enough to know that good looking woman don't really care about these types of things, they care about the money the guy they're dating has more (call me sexist if you want, the things that happen in Twitch proves my point).

Anyways, from the scans, you can see Valkyrie isn't getting an upgrade like Zero-One and Vulcan is. I bet you 100% there's gonna be people screaming that Valkyrie get some kind of super form too. And, Toei might do that if she sells well.

I can't help but feel it's very Sentai-like somehow. 5 Riders. 1 female. Yup, it's a team of Sentai in Rider suits and Rider format storytelling.

The only two most interesting characters in this is Horobi and Jin, although once I find out their backstories and motivation, the story's not gonna have much to offer me now. I have gripes about Vulcan's hairstyle, like, the dude's an officer, does he really have the time to make some K-Pop-like hairstyle all day or something? Pretty sure if he put on a helmet of some kind, it's gonna mess up that hair.

I'm disliking Zero-One's actor, but at least he looks more competent than Sougo.

But goddamn, that bike is sick. I'd like that bike actually. Somehow, when Zero-One gets on it, he looks less like a toy and more like a Rider. Hey, guess they're doing something right, right? A Rider that looks like he belongs on his bike for once?

 

[Shogun_Master]

Can't really understand the trailer, but between that & what was said concerning the plot, I don't really have anything in particular against it yet. And, I wouldn't really expect the show to go out of it's way to change, just because of the new era. They've kind of settled right in where they want to be & found a good flow that's been turning out mostly decent shows since, at least, Gaim. So, nothing in that trailer in terms of style or direction is surprising to me in any way. Just about a month & a half to go, then.

 

[Hangyakuno]

I am more worried about Aruto background. Comedian with lack of humor sense. They already prepared this show for full of slapstick comedy.
But he look cool in trailer aside one scene where he make funny face when he appointed as CEO.

His henshin sequence was full of opening, need two stage of activation and there is slow pose before he insert his key. Okay, that is meant to be cool henshin pose, but it also confirmed there will be scene where villain easily knock him in the middle of his transformation sequence. End quote was actually good sound, but i have feeling that sound will be ignored quickly later. It is slow and lack of energy didn't fit in with battle theme, iit should switched place with RisingHopper in the middle.

 

[Shogun_Master]

Ok, so we've got this:

Someone also said that there's a subbed version of the trailer somewhere, but I haven't found it yet.

 

[Hangyakuno]

Ok, so we've got this:

Someone also said that there's a subbed version of the trailer somewhere, but I haven't found it yet.

This is what I talking about. See, long sequence between scanning and flip open his key. And after that it takes time before recite his catchphrase. Maybe they make it slower to show clear sound in press conference, still it is too long for henshin sequence. Well there will be barrier appear to shield him, maybe like Build pipe fence style which protect him before he insert that key.