Karen Miyama portrays both Seine Kanazawa and the human she is based on, Sumire Tazawa.
A unique case where Ryunosuke Matsumura portrays the uncaptured Unit 5 of the Zetto Matsurida line of HumaGears, while also voicing the Dodo Magia who is after him. Another scene, using a different actor to portray the Matsurida "brothers" before their physical alterations, had 5 copies dancing in perfect unison.
Delmo, the fashion model type HumaGear in episode 32, is played by an actual model.
The Ikebana Humagear in Episode 30 is played by an actual ikebana expert.
Cast the Runner-Up: Nachi Sakuragi originally auditioned for Aruto Hiden and Isamu Fuwa before getting cast as Gai Amatsu.
Creator Backlash: In the producer roundtable discussion on TTFC, Producer Omori expressed his worries that Gai’s workplace harassment may have been written too realistically to be appropriate for the target demographic.
They have also started releasing a number of Zero-One and HumaGear related products under the collaboration name Premium Bandai × Hiden Intelligence, as if Hiden Intelligence was a legitimate real-life company.
Dyeing for Your Art: Nachi Sakuragi had purposely put on a bit of weight for Gai's Comedic Underwear Exposure in episode 37 to replicate the slightly out-of-shape body a 45-year-old would have.
Executive Meddling: The Workplace Competition arc was added at the insistence of Producer Omori, who wanted to have more of Aruto as president of Hiden Intelligence.
Late Export for You: The show would make its US debut in 2022 two years after its finale.
Magnum Opus Dissonance: In the producer roundtable discussion on the TTFC app, Producer Omori admitted that the Workplace Competition arc was critically divisive, but he still enjoyed it and noted that the viewership ratings actually improved with it.
Meaningful Release Date: The show aired on September 1st, 2019, coinciding with and punning to the show/rider's name (Zero-One/01).
Meme Acknowledgement: Vulcan’s actor, Ryutaro Okada, includes a plush of Fuwa from Star★Twinkle Pretty Cure in some of his Youtube videos, likely a nod to his character sharing the same name as the fairy. He also did a reaction video to the memes people have made of Fuwa forcing open the Progrise Keys and changing the Keys to difficult things to open, like bags of chips and bottles.
Method Acting: Invoked by Noa Tsurushima (Is) during production of Episode 40, where she tried to get into the proper mindset for the scene where Is cries over Aruto's body. It worked a little too well, resulting in the entire crew needing to take a break as she couldn't stop crying.
Initial trailers present Aruto as a figure already acknowledged by Hiden Intelligence's employees, striding into the company building with Is already by his side, and giving a comedic Big "WHAT?!" reaction when he learns he's the next in line for the President position. This was changed in the series proper, which presents him as an unknown grandson of Korenosuke the company didn't know existed, who was forced into a board meeting after his death where the announcement of him being the next President was met with more serious reactions.
Promotional spoiler material for the Ark-One, er, arc shows Aruto as Kamen Rider Zero-Two battling Ark-One and even restraining them with a chokehold. What makes this scene particularly odd is that such a battle is impossible, as Aruto and Ark-One are the same entity. However, given how the storyline was forced to be rewritten, it's possible this was meant to occur before being scrapped.
No Stunt Double: Unlike most other characters, the Battle Raiders are all played by their suit actors.
Nachi Sakuragi’s favorite Rider is Faiz, and he also enjoyed Kuuga, Hibiki, and Ghost. He has cited Kusaka from Faiz as one of his inspirations for portraying Gai Amatsu.
Satsuki Nakayama wanted to be GaoBlue when he was little, and lists Den-O and Kiva among his favorite shows.
Hideaki Itō, who plays S/Kamen Rider Eden in REAL×TIME, grew up watching Kamen Rider: Skyrider and Kamen Rider Super-1 in his childhood, and he joined his son in watching Zero-One itself during its broadcast run. He wanted to be a Kamen Rider, so his character was decided to become a Kamen Rider even before the script was finished.
Show Hayamiexpressed on Twitter back in 2014 his desire to portray a tokusatsu villain, particularly as a Big Bad and worried he would get cast as just a one-off villain. Six years later, he would get his wish when he was chosen to be the voice of The Ark itself.
All Magia use the same base suit and armor, with only varying "wire" colors, extra armor, weapons, and headgear.
The 3D printer booth used to create the Zero-One Driver and Progrise Keys was previously Misora's Fullbottle-purifying chamber from Kamen Rider Build.
One of the earlier-model Humagears across the room is a repainted Guardian.
Two other earlier Humagears are repaints of Megahex and Delu Knight respectively.
Kamen Rider Ikazuchi's suit reuses the undersuit from Blood Stalk and Night Rogue's gauntlets, fins and shoulder pads, with the Chain Blockers from Horobi and Jin.
Zero-One Flaming Tiger and Freezing Bear share the same glove design.
ZAIA Enterprise specializes in this bit of trivia: the Giger reuses most of the CGI model of Breaking Mammoth, the Raiders use a repainted version of Vulcan's undersuit, and even Thouser himself recycles almost all of his costume from Zero-One.
On the note of the Raiders, their transformation CGI is recycled and modified from Mad Rogue's transformation. Given they're humans pushed to a breaking point until they snap it handily doubles as a Mythology Gag.
The Raid Risers and Slash Riser are all remodeled from the A.I.M.S. Shot Riser, which foreshadows that all of them had been developed by Zaia including the Raid Riser.
Kamen Rider 001's suit is retooled from Nebula Hell Bro's suit with Horobi and Jin's Chain Blockers.
Kamen Rider Naki’s suit is retooled from 001 with a new chest design.
Orthoros Vulcan is a repaint of Vulcan Assault Wolf.
The Zero-Two Driver, Zetsumetsu Driver, Eden Driver and Metsubojinrai Driver are modified from the Zero-One Driver.
The Ark-Scorpion Progrise Key is also a recolored Zero-Two Progrise Key.
The Eden Zetsumerisekey is a recolored Amazing Caucasus Progrisekey.
The Mass Brain Zetsumerisekey is a remold of the Ark-One and Ark-Zero-One keys.
Horobi Ark-Scorpion recycles and repaints Kamen Rider Ichi-Gata’s suit, and adds a new helmet with an Ark eye, in similar design to Ark-Zero and Ark-One.
Kamen Rider Eden uses parts from Zero-One and Thouser, with the thigh armor from Flying Falcon.
Lucifer is a white recolor of Eden with the shoulder and the thigh armor from Hopping Kangaroo, forearm armor from MetalCluster Hopper, and Biting Shark shin armor.
Kamen Rider Abaddon share the same leg and arm design from the Raiders.
The Abaddorisers are remodeled from the Shotriser and Slashriser.
Kamen Rider Zero-One Hellrising Hopper is a recolor of Shining Assault Hopper with remolded trapezoid parts.
The Hellrise Hopper key is modeled after the Shining Assault Hopper and Assault Wolf keys, but the handle is molded onto the key itself.
Kamen Rider Zaia is a recolor of Thouser’s chest armor and head, with Ark-Zero’s bodysuit. Thouser would use this suit as his Bugster Virus-infected form in Kamen Rider Genms - The Presidents- special.
The Triceratops and Carnosaurus Zetsumerisekeys are red versions of the Caucasus Progrisekey and Arsino Zetsumerisekey, but based on dinosaurs.
Kamen Rider Metsubojinrai is a retool of Horobi’s suit, buts adds a new head and recolored arm and shin armor and a new chestpiece.
The Dire Wolf Sold Magia is a kitbash of the Dynamiting Lion Raider body and Fighting Jackal Raiders head with a new mouth plate painted blue.
The Serval Tiger Sold Magia is a kitbash of the Fighting Jackal Raiders body and the Dynamiting Lion Raiders head without the mane and colored orange.
The Sold Magia are the Raiders suits without the Raidriser belts.
Vulcan Lone Wolf is a repainted Ichi-Gata suit with a newly-created helmet and shoulder armor pieces.
The Dire Wolf key is remolded from the Assault Wolf key.
Valkyrie Justice Serval is a repainted Lightning Hornet suit with claws from Orthoros Vulcan and a new helmet.
During the Kamen Rider Genms - Smart Brain and the 1000% Crisis- special, Gai gains a new rider form called Kamen Rider Thousand Ark, which is the Ark-One upper body with the head of Thouser/Zaia, with two horns painted white, and the lower part of the Thouser/Zaia suit. It reuses the Ark Driver, and a new Ark key with the eye painted red, and new sounds.
During the events of Kamen Rider Genms Outsiders, Ark returns as Ark-Zero, but there are changes to the suit:
The undersuit is retooled from Lucifer, and the arms are from Zaia. This is due to Zaia and Thousand Ark using the original suit for their forms.
Queer Character, Queer Actor: Transmasculine actor Satsuki Nakayama plays the non-binary Naki in the series, having identified as non-binary during the show’s production and airing.
Schedule Slip: Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the plot of the show had been put on a hiatus for over a month, but toy sales were unaffected, resulting in merchandise for Zero-One's Super Mode Kamen Rider Zero-Two having been released more than a month prior to its actual appearance in-show.
Serendipity Writes the Plot: Kamen Rider Abaddon uses the undersuit of the Raiders (which is itself retooled from the A.I.M.S. Riders), which is rather appropriate seeing as how they are a mass-produced Evil Knockoff of the hypothetical Vulcan Rising Hopper. However, this wasn't even the original intent of the suit designers - according to the production crew, they misheard Abaddon's Working Title of "Locust Riders" as "Locust Raiders," causing them to be designed accordingly until being clarified on the matter.
Throw It In!: According to an interview with head writer Yuya Takahashi, the long-haired Is from the opening was an ad-lib creation from director Teruaki Sugihara, who wanted Takahashi to somehow write her into the story. This was finally done in the 2-part Presidential Special produced due to the series hiatus brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, which introduces her as As, a messenger of the Ark.
Troubled Production: Along with its sister show Mashin Sentai Kiramager, production was halted due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. As a result, the series entered a hiatus in early May. In its place aired a series of recap specials from the viewpoints of different characters, starting from Aruto. The show resumed production on June 1st, and the show officially returned on June 28th, a week later than Kiramager. note While the show returned with new content on the 21st with Episode 35.5, it didn't start airing brand new episodes (meaning episodes with purely original content and not just new footage spliced with recaps) until a week later. Reportedly, the next four episodes had already been penned by the time the pandemic happened, and they lost four out of the ten episodes following it, with the remaining six episodes needing to be rewritten from scratch.
It was shown in the first episode that Aruto's official age is 22 years old (being born in 1997), however his actor Fumiya Takahashi in real life was born in 2001.
Similarly, Yua’s medical profile lists her date of birth as 1995, when her actress was born two years after that.
Downplayed with Isamu's case, as Ryutaro Okuda is only a year younger than his character.
Nachi Sakuragi's character Gai is supposed to be 45 years old, yet he looks like his actor's age of 23, and slightly younger than Hiroe Igeta (Yua) by a few months. Fitting though, considering Gai is Older Than He Looks.
Bandai's toy blog posted a hypothetical design for Zero-One using Vulcan's Shooting Wolf Progrise Key, remarking that older fans appreciate these kinds of "what if"s and explaining the thought process behind them.note Since Zero-One has multiple transformation devices and unique aesthetics for each Rider, this design was fairly easy to create, but conversely something like Ex-Aid Quest Gamer would be more difficult; since Ex-Aid and Brave use the same "hardware and software", it raises the question "Wouldn't he just look the same as Brave?"
The very positive fan response to Zero-One using Shooting Wolf has led to Bandai making this into a reoccurring feature, with designs for Zero-One using all the other Progrise Keys in the series so far, as well as what Rising Hopper would look like when used in the ShotRiser.
Early toy catalog scans of Thouser reveal that he was originally designed with his horns and face being mostly silver with blue eyes and accent on his suit. The color change of the actual suit's face to mostly black (with only two horns retaining the silver color) as well as purple eyes and accent instead of blue was still well received by fans as it gave him a fittingly more "menacing" vibe. Thouser's initial design does appear in other media like in the arcade game Kamen Rider Buttobasoul.
Understandably, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused the season to end shorter than usual, cutting out a maximum of six episodesnote Reportedly a total of four and the traditional summer movie is scheduled to be released on December 18th, 2020 after the show’s end.
The producer roundtable discussion on the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club app revealed some details:
Episodes 5 and 6 were planned to have some animation, but as the episodes were filmed barely two months prior to airing, they did not have enough time to make it happen.
The veteran actor in episodes 10 and 11 was written as a different character, but after Shinya Owada was cast, they rewrote the role so he could play it As Himself.
Mitsukuni Netsu, the park owner who fires Aruto, only appeared in the first episode, but his actor Akio Kaneda asked the staff to let him reappear whenever he bumped into them.
Gai’s takeover of Hiden Intelligence was postponed so that the show could spend more time depicting Aruto as a CEO, the initial premise of the show.
At one point, Yaiba was supposed to become the Ark’s body, with her unemotional disposition being Foreshadowing for this.
The Ark was introduced in the second President Special because the hiatus forced them to bring him in sooner than intended.
Due to the REAL×TIME movie’s release being postponed to after the series ended, it had to be rewritten to take place after the final episode rather than during the show. Some of the details include:
Zero-Two and Ark-One were intended to debut in the movie before their appearances in the show proper. The role Ark-One would have played in the movie’s plot was ultimately substituted with As.
The roles of Is and Horobi were slightly modified to account for their status at the end of the series, namely the death and subsequent Replacement Goldfish recreation of Is and Horobi’s Heel–Face Turn.
The original villain of the movie was intended to be an alien force, a la the Alien franchise, with the original tagline even describing the villain as being neither human nor Huma Gear. This ended up getting scrapped after the pandemic happened.
In an interview with Finis’s actress for Reiwa: The First Generation, she states that the director told her that Finis has no gender, despite being played by a woman and initially using a masculine first-person pronoun.
The producer roundtable discussion on the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club app revealed some details:
Fukkinhoukai Taro becoming a Breakout Character was unexpected but affirmed to the staff that centering the story around AI was a good idea.
The Troubled Production caused by the pandemic affected the show to such a point that it almost ended at 41 episodes. The first two episodes of Kamen Rider Saber had already finished filming by the time Zero-One’s episode 45 was done.
Gai turning into a Butt-Monkey after the Workplace Competition arc was an intentional Take That, Scrappy! intended to appease viewers who hated his actions in the arc.
The last four episodes were basically written from a near blank slate after the hiatus. Ark-One and Williamson Yotagaki were the only surviving aspects of the original plan for the show (along with the final fight being Zero-One vs. Horobi). It was around this time that they decided on Aruto being driven to become Ark-One after Horobi kills Is.
During the show’s airing, Satsuki Nakayama stated in an interview that he preferred to think of Naki as non-binary (which he identified as at the time), though he added that the character’s gender is technically up to viewer interpretation. Producer Takahito Omori later confirmed that Naki has no gender.
Nachi Sakuragi cites Masato Kusaka, Gendou Ikari and Freeza as his inspirations for his portrayal of Gai Amatsu. He's also said that he doesn't mind people hating Gai, since it means that he's doing his job as an actor properly.
According to Ikazuchi's actor Daichi Yamaguchi, it was Ikazuchi's idea for Naki to shred Gai's clothes.
The Workplace Competition wasn't originally planned and was only added because Producer Omori wanted to have more of Aruto as the CEO of Hiden Intelligence.
Aruto becoming Ark-One wasn't planned at all from the beginning, and was only squeezed in after the number of episodes changed.
Likewise Is was never supposed to be destroyed since as the Heroine of the show she'd be expected to recur in later installments, and that only happened as a way to accelerate the Ark-One plot in the number of episodes they had left and because the staff knew the movie, now moved to post series allowed for a chance to bring her back.
Passing the Torch: Starting from this series, Yuya Nawata, who was previously the primary suit actor for Kamen Rider Geiz and Kamen Rider Genm, will be taking over as the lead suit actor, replacing Seiji Takaiwa who was the suit actor for all the lead Heisei Kamen Riders, barring Kuuga and Hibiki who were portrayed by Kenji Tominaga and Makoto Ito respectively.NoteHe portrayed Time Red and Magi Red at the time of both their airings. Despite this, his role as Decade did allow him to wear their suits whenever the character changed his form to Kuuga or Hibiki. This doesn't mean retirement yet for Takaiwa though, as he is the suit actor for Kamen Rider Horobi.
, where she tried to get into the proper mindset for the scene where Is cries over Aruto's body. It worked a little too well, resulting in the entire crew needing to take a break as she couldn't stop crying.