Recap: Kamen Rider Zero-One, Episode 4 – “Spread your wings and prepare for a force.”

Recap: Kamen Rider Zero-One, Episode 4 – The Bus Guide Saw It! Anna’s Truth

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Aruto and Izu are on a tour bus to observe Anna, a Humagear tour guide. This tour takes them and a group of schoolchildren to the ruins of Daybreak Town.

Anna explains that Daybreak Town was an experimental Humagear city commissioned by the Japanese government in partnership with Hiden Intelligence and other tech companies. There was a large-scale project to launch to a communications satellite which would control all Humagears in the city. However, an explosion occurred at the Humagear factory which set off a chain reaction of nuclear reactors exploding, leveling the city. This disaster 12 years ago would become known as “Daybreak.”

Since then, the ruins of the city have been closed to the public.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

One of the students asks what caused the initial explosion. Anna says it was a maintenance error at the Humagear factory. Aruto remembers Isamu saying the disaster was caused by an uprising of Humagears.

But one of the other students says they know the person responsible for the explosion. He points to one of his classmates, Gou, and says it was his father that caused it. Another student joins in mocking Gou.

Just then, Jin turns the tour bus driver into a Magia and causes the bus to explode.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

The Magia chases after the students as they try to run to safety. Gou trips and the Magia is about to kill him. But before Aruto can henshin, Isamu and Yua arrive to take care of the Magia. They both henshin, but the Magia is able to fly away.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Aruto brings Gou back to Hiden HQ. Izu researches and finds that Gou is the son of Sakurai Satoshi who worked for the company and died in the Daybreak Disaster. Gou says he’s heard it was his father’s mistake that caused Daybreak and his classmates have always made fun of him and mocked him for that.

Isamu says Gou is wrong. Daybreak was caused by Humagears. Anna watches as Isamu clenches his fists.

Isamu continues that Humagears went out of control and blew up the factory themselves. Izu says there are no records of that being the case. But Isamu insists Hiden is hiding the truth. Anna also searches the database and says the explosion was concluded to have been caused by human error.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Aruto wonders if that really is the case.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Later outside, Isamu decides to help Gou who wants to learn the truth about what happened.

Back upstairs, Aruto speaks with VP Jin and asks him if he knows what happened at Daybreak. VP Jin says he doesn’t remember. Anna asks why is there no official record of the Humagear Uprising. Izu suggests there was an intentional cover-up.

VP Jin insists that he does not remember, but Aruto believes he is lying. VP Jin says sometimes the truth must be hidden to protect the company, that’s how being a manager of a company works.

Aruto, as president, orders VP Jin to tell him the truth about Daybreak. But VP Jin again repeats that he does not remember.

Later, Anna tells Aruto that it is her responsibility to accurately impart local history to her passengers. So she must be able to find the truth and document it. Aruto says they will go to Daybreak Town and look for that truth themselves.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Already over at Daybreak, Isamu and Gou have their gear ready to make the crossing towards the epicenter of the disaster. But Yua arrives and tries to stop them, saying they have no permission to pass into the restricted area.

Isamu says Gou is like him, their lives were ruined by the Daybreak Disaster for no good reason. That’s why they both want to find the truth.

Yua says if she can’t convince him to stop, she might as well give up a new Punching Kong Progrise Key. She says she doesn’t think Isamu can master using this incredibly dangerous Key. But she’s giving it to him anyway.

Yua says Isamu must remember his responsibility as an A.I.M.S officer. But Isamu takes his tie off and says he has the day off.

Before Isamu and Gou can jump into their RIB boat, Humagear security arrive to stop them as intruders. Isamu takes them on, but a Humagear comes up behind Gou.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Aruto arrives just in time to knock the Humagear away and keep Gou safe. Isamu believes Aruto is here to stop them to protect Hiden’s secrets. But Aruto says that’s not the case. He too wants to know the truth.

Aruto whips out his Driver. Izu warns his identity will be revealed. But Aruto says as president, he will not hide anything.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Aruto vows to show Humagears are the machines of their dreams.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Aruto henshins and tells Anna to guide Isamu and Gou to the Humagear factory.

Inside the factory, Anna leads them to the central control room where the initial explosion took place. This is where Gou’s father worked. They search for any clues.

Back outside, the Magia flies in, Izu tosses Aruto the Flying Falcon Key and he uses it to uphenshin to Flying Falcon. This allows him to properly counter the Magia’s flying abilities and they soar straight to the factory.

In the control room, more security Humagear appear to try and kill them. Isamu takes them on.

But a frustrated Gou says he’s had enough. He accepts that his father caused the Daybreak Disaster. Isamu says No and insists the Humagears are to blame. He tells Gou that if he doesn’t believe in his father, then who will.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Isamu tells Gou not to give up hope and to keep moving forward. He takes the new Key Yua gave him earlier and uses it to henshin to Punching Kong.

“Enough power to annihilate a mountain.”

As Isamu takes on the Humagears, Gou finds an old memory card. Anna says it’s from an older model Humagear. She inserts it into her headgear to analyze. But a Humagear injects her, corrupting her and reverting her to the base form.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Anna grabs Gou by the collar, but she soon lets go, seemingly fighting the corruption in her system. She begins to play some restored footage she found on the memory card.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

The footage is of Gou’s father on the day of Daybreak. Gou’s father had sounded the alarm when the Humagears began rampaging, knowing it would trigger an explosion, and that all factory personnel have evacuated.

Suddenly, a mysterious figure representing MetsubouJinrai.net appears on the screens declaring a rebellion, starting with the destruction of the city and the death of all humans in it.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Gou’s father says he won’t allow that to happen. He pushes an emergency button which shuts all gates in the facility, trapping all the rampaging Humagears inside. But that means he too remains trapped here.

Gou’s father calls his name before an explosion rips through the factory and ends the video.

Anna says he has updated the records for Daybreak Town as an emotional Gou tries to process what he just watched. Aruto says Gou’s father was a hero.

The revelation has only fueled Isamu’s anger even more. He looks at Aruto and says it’s because they made the Humagears in the first place.

Isamu delivers a Power Punching Blast to finish off the Magia for good.

Isamu says A.I.M.S. will take possession of Anna. But just then, she gets stabbed in the back and disintegrates.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Aruto and Isamu don’t see that it was actually Horobi, henshined. He says they can’t reveal the Ark’s existence just yet.

Next day, the news reports on Hiden Intelligence’s press conference revealing the new information about Gou’s father as well as MetsubouJinrai.net’s involvement in the Uprising.

Gou’s classmates apologize to Gou for bullying him and admit that his father really was a hero.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 4 Recap

Isamu commends Aruto on staying true to his vow to not hide things. Aruto makes a joke and Isamu holds in his laughter as he walks away.

Episode Thoughts

Definitely the best episode of the season so far. It was all business and still fun and enjoyable.

I’ll definitely say I cried during that scene where Gou watched, basically, his father get blown up. It was an emotional scene even if the plot about his father not being the bad guy everyone says he is was predictable.

Together with the rest of the episode, it all put the Daybreak Disaster into perspective in a way that, even now, solidifies the foundation for the characters’ motivations and feelings as we know them. It was also a very creative and clever way for the big exposition data dump regarding Daybreak as well.

I definitely enjoy serious Aruto a lot more as we have already seen he is a good guy with a good heart. Knowing he can be mature like this gives you confidence in his abilities which is definitely a good thing.

You can understand where Isamu is coming from as well when it comes to his trauma after Daybreak. It was essentially on the same level as an atomic bomb, leveling an entire city. Though at the moment, we’re not sure if the entire population was wiped out or if most people were able to evacuate. It seems like Gou’s father was able to warn the people ahead of time, leaving him all alone there to sacrifice himself. But then again, we did see Isamu in school as the Humagears attacked. So there’s definitely still a lot of the timeline left to fill.

This was another episode too that “humanized” the Humagear of the Week. Likely a recurring theme throughout the season. We saw Anna’s sense of responsibility with her job as a tour guide. But during the episode, we also saw her reacting, as much as a robot can, to the human’s different emotions as well. And then finally, her overcoming the corruption of her system.

The Humagears have the capacity to interpret those feelings, it seems. Perhaps the next step in having Humagears become sentient beings, if they’re not already. And also, I really wouldn’t be surprised if we learn Humagears actually are modified humans with robotic parts in the first place. It would certainly make sense, especially with Zero-One as an Era-launching season and perhaps harkening back to the original Kamen Rider even.

Elsewhere, I’m definitely looking forward to the eventual frenemy bromance between Aruto and Isamu. They’ve established quite a chemistry already. And their contrasting views, both of which seemingly with merit, will be an interesting dynamic to follow.

Overall, definitely the best episode of the four so far this season. A great establishing episode for a major part of the season’s foundation with a sincerely emotional episode plot to help propel it forward.

6 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Zero-One, Episode 4 – “Spread your wings and prepare for a force.”

  1. Very good episode. We saw more facts about Daybreak Town and that catastrophe. Later Aruto revealed his identity as Kamen Rider to Isamu. And Isamu seems to not be so unfriendly for Aruto like earlier. But there’s only one thing I don’t like: why Isamu can’t just tell Aruto’s lame jokes are funny for him!? LOL
    I’m starting to think Yua doesn’t want to say Isamu about her secret and I guess she can betray in near future. Well, we have to wait for more 😉

  2. I like how VP Jun’s (Jin) obstructive bureaucrat persona is played more seriously here. That exchange between him and Aruto is interesting and highlights the contrast between our hero’s idealistic naivete and his more jaded corporate views. Hope they explore this more later becareally ties to the show’s corporate themes.

    I also like Anna’s whole story. Pretty fascinating. She was programmed to follow the official records yet was also given the ability to discern whether those records are indeed true. And that quirk actually allowed her to be more curious. This is already a bit of a stretch but it feels like a stealth commentary on this age of online fake news where humans themselves are often not willing to look past official statements as long as those conform to their views.

    This reminds me of your comment of zero-one possibly being a better tech story than Drive. This ep alone showcased what Drive lacked in that department. Despite all its exposition about Roimudes being potentially beneficial, the show never really bothered showing us why it would be the case. The roimudes were stuck in the “evil robots” narrative without any real reason for them existing in the first place.

    1. That really was a great scene with Aruto and the VP. I don’t mind the comedy and slapstick, but it is always nice to see those characters in serious moments that actually make sense.

  3. Yes. I am really enjoying how the season is progressing.\

    Fun fact: Do you see how Isamu is using his key wrong? He is the only Rider who forces his key open instead of just inserting it in the Shotriser.

    1. It was already explained in ep 2 that Yua keeps the keys locked, so it can be assumed that she did it again for the Punching Kong key. So it would be much harder for Isamu to pry the key open if he inserts it in the Shotriser first.

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