Recap: Kamen Rider Zero-One, Episode 26 – “The strongest wings bearing the fire of hell.”

Recap: Kamen Rider Zero-One, Episode 26 – Firefighters Battling The Blaze

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 26 Recap

The next round of the competition is firefighting. Homura Takeshi, a firefighter using ZAIASpec will go up against 119 Nosuke, a firefighter Humagear to see who can save more people in a fire.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 26 Recap

Later at ZAIA HQ, Yua reports to Gai that Jin has reemerged. But he says that is well within the parameters of his plan. He hands her a Zetsumeriser and tells her to slap it onto 119 Nosuke when he reaches Singularity to force his transformation into a Magia.

The next day, they all head to the building where the competition will take place by way of a training simulation. The three-part test will start with having to save pretty, hot young idols in a collapsed basement. Then saving some male A.I.M.S. officers in a fire on the first floor. And then saving VP Jun, SVP Sanzo and Shester who are trapped on the 2nd floor in thick smoke.

119 Nosuke and Homura head into the building and they each save five young ladies.

They proceed to the first floor and put out the digital fires. But while moving on to save the men, a Raider appears. The A.I.M.S. men posing as victims jump into action, but the Raider blows up the first floor, starting a real fire.

Homura’s team suit up to help with the emergency while Aruto chases after the Raider. But he quickly loses him.

Meanwhile over in Daybreak, Jin approaches Horobi with a loaded gun. But he merely takes Horobi’s overalls off. Answering Horobi, Jin says he has something he must do first before exterminating humanity.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 26 Recap

Horobi asks what he means and why Jin is not connected to the Ark. Jin says he wants to free the Humagears in his own way. For now, he wants to help Horobi retrieve his Progrise Key.

They head outside and find Isamu has been waiting for them.

Isamu asks if Jin was the one that broke Horobi out of the holding room. Jin says to be exact, “we” broke Horobi out. Isamu assumes he is referring to the hooded figure lurking around town.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 26 Recap

Isamu asks where that hooded figure is hiding. But Jin says he is “perhaps closer than you think.”

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 26 Recap

Both Isamu and Jin henshin.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 26 Recap

They battle. But Jin delivers a Burning Rain finisher at Isamu, forcing him to dehenshin and ending the battle fast.

Isamu admits he has no idea where Horobi’s Key is since it was Yua who restored Horobi.

Back in the burning building, Homura checks on the A.I.M.S. men who are badly injured. 119 Nosuke does a quick scan assessment of the victims and finds one with cardiac arrest. 119 Nosuke proceeds to rescue the other survivors.

But Homura rushes to save that unconscious victim. He begins CPR, but 119 Nosuke says they should focus on the ones still alive.

Homura continues CPR and his ZAIASpec is able to monitor the man’s vital signs as he begins to breathe again. Homura reports the situation to Yua who relays the information to the emergency personnel.

Izu sends Shester the evacuation route for them from the second floor.

The four A.I.M.S. officers are brought out safely. Yua tries to help one of her former comrades, but Gai tells her to let the other handle it especially as she’s no longer a member of A.I.M.S.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 26 Recap

Homura grabs 119 Nosuke by the collar and reprimands him for giving up on the one victim. 119 Nosuke apologizes and says he did not detect any life in that man.

Homura tells 119 Nosuke to cram this into his head: Even if there are no life signs, that does not mean the person is dead. If he gives up on saving a life, then he is no firefighter.

119 Nosuke processes the information. But Gai takes this opportunity to dunk on Aruto. He makes the case that a Humagear could never save a human life. Gai gives Yua the sign and she slaps the Zetsumeriser onto 119 Nosuke.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 26 Recap

Gai laughs and then approaches the news camera to introduce the scene of 119 Nosuke turning into a Magia as it gets broadcast live across Japan.

Aruto henshins to help 119 Nosuke. But Gai appears and Jackrises Aruto’s power to send toward 119 Nosuke.

Aruto quickly uphenshins to Metal Cluster Hopper, blocks the attack and delivers his own to release 119 Nosuke from the Zetsumeriser.

Gai attempts to get another shot, but Aruto slashes him back. Aruto vows to show that a Humagear CAN save human lives.

Later, 119 Nosuke apologizes to Aruto. Aruto says 119 Nosuke lacked an understanding of human life. But so did he. And together they were able to learn about that from Homura.

Izu hurries over to say that VP Jun, SVP Sanzo and Shester are still trapped in the burning building. They hurry back and Gai says this will be the ultimate decider of the competition.

Kamen Rider Zero One Episode 26 Recap

Episode Thoughts

This episode needed more Jin and Horobi! lol After last week’s excellent “debut,” I feel like this episode should’ve continued the momentum. Instead, the flow kind of felt off because we got the cliffhanger last week. Then this episode opened with Aruto and Gai discussing the next round of the competition as if a day or two had passed. Yet when we check in with Jin and Horobi in the middle of the episode, they picked up where we left off last episode. Add to that Isamu having waited outside for who knows how long.

It also didn’t help that the competition portion of the episode was kinda boring until the latter half of the episode when they got into that very interesting discussion about the Humagear not understanding human life.

You’ve seen that argument before. Where someone might prioritize victims who can easily be saved instead of the one victim who might be on the brink of death. A Humagear may not necessarily have the learning that would give them the feeling and emotion to try and save that one person. Add to that the competition parameters that looked for the two to save the most people. So of course 119 Nosuke would focus on the other victims, plus, he was only programmed to find those with “life signs”.

But that was really a great way to emphasize the importance of “learning” for Humagears. A great illustration of the need for Humagears to learn aspects of humanity and not only rely on programming. I’m sure that will continue to play a big role in the plot moving forward.

Gai’s skeevyness continues in hilarious fashion. Playing around with human lives like that. Telling Yua to not help an injured person. What is wrong with him? lol What a horrible person. Yet, so interesting and engaging at the same time lol

But the most interesting parts of the episode were definitely the Daybreak scenes.

Jin’s got some mysterious plan. But I was most intrigued by his tease to Isamu regarding the hooded figure. Maybe finally we’ll get an explanation of what happened all those weeks ago when Isamu followed the hooded figure into that dark room. Could he have been possessed by it? Is the hooded figure actually Isamu himself? Does it have something to do with Assault Wolf? Is Isamu actually a Cylon, I mean Humagear? It could be anything, but I hope it’s a good reveal!

Overall, a solid episode with few really good parts.

2 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Zero-One, Episode 26 – “The strongest wings bearing the fire of hell.”

  1. Yeah the competition scene was boring until the real explosion happened. And yes, this was a great opportunity to point out the importance of humans and technology working together to save lives.

Share your thoughts!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top