The first Kamen Rider series to debut during the Reiwa period and the thirtieth overall. It aired under TV Asahi with Takahito Omori as producer and Yuya Takahashi, Masaya Kakehi, Riku Sanjo, Minato Takano as writers under Toei and Bandai. Kamen Rider Zero One revolves around the theme of humanoid robots called Humagear living with humanity as tool. And pioneering this robot advancement is Hiden Technology and its newly appointed street comedian turned company president Aruto Hiden who is the typical fish out of water in the robot business world. Along with his stoic yet charming Humagear secretary Izu they fight off rogue Humagear group that wants to wipe out humanity.
With the help of Artificial Intelligence Military Service or A.I.M.S. (I kid you not) his company keeps the world safe(well mostly japan) from dangerous Humagear. Along with being president and to help him fight these evil Humagear he also inherits the a belt that turns him into a Kamen Rider.
The plot of Kamen Rider Zero is basically part Terminator and part Ironman Armor Wars or Detroit: Become Human. But unlike Terminator and the likes the evil robot organization Humagear that can transform into Riders. Then you mix that up with “other” Robot and technology centered groups wanting to benefit from said human and robot conflict for profit. The theme is very generic, cliché and yet for kamen Rider Zero One it surprisingly works thanks to excellent story pacing and sufficient world building on a 12 year long back story detailing of Humagear history as its backbone.
The show has at least 5 other main characters outside of the Zero One Rider user Aruto but the show gives each of these so called “other” characters layers on their personality and enough back story to make you actually care for them…or the very least know why they do what they do in a somewhat basic sense. Sure the show dips into a Humagear monster of the episode cliché but uses that as a springboard to move the main plot story and the characters development along. This makes even the villain in Kamen Rider Zero One in a way real as they are flesh out with each new passing episode you watch.
Kamen Rider Zero One despite its supposed theme of wiping out humanity is a lot lighter compared to some past Rider series. Unlike kamen Rider Agito where folks really die in almost every other episode Zero One casualties are mostly robots so it’s a lot less dark in a sense. Good music score, action scenes Kamen Rider Zero One balances these aspects really well making for a fun and entertaining experience. I also really like the suit designs in this series although I can’t deny that kamen Rider Zero One suit looks with its overuse of yellows and blacks makes it look like a Traffic Sign…or a certain Transforming car.
The bad sides are probably the CGI specially the flying aspect scenes. It feels badly made and really pulls you out of the experience. There is also the lack of armor parts in the lower half part of some suits making you feel that either they ran out of ideas or materials in making them. Some of the suits are also way overused like that mammoth and bat suit just to name two. The Humagear plot also feels a lot like filler episodes until you get pass the 10+ episode mark so much that you feel the urge to fast forward the episode just to get to the action parts.
Kamen Rider is clearly far
from being perfect but it has enough plot and great characters to keep you
entertained. The series is a surprisingly good series to jump into if you are going to be watching
Kamen Rider for the first time as it enough world building lore for anyone not
familiar on what the show is. If you like robot theme series and is a new or
long time kamen Rider fan you should definitely give kamen Rider Zero One a try.
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