[Paladin]

Baku has a new mission: Eliminate Nox.

[Frontier]

So what happened to Baku after he got sucked into the black hole? Retreating deep into his own consciousness, that's what! Complete with all the Capsem elements! And even Nem in her red dress!

"Eliminate the Enemy" - So Zero is just straight up telling him to assassinate NOX. Baku kind of rolls with it since it's stuff Bond would probably be ordered to do...but deep into his mind there seems to be some kind of resistance. At least he gets cell reception in his mind!

What is Baku's core nightmare? Walking home during a lightning strike? But what's this really suspicious cram school where he and a bunch of other kids wore headphones, closed their eyes, and saw really weird visuals on a screen!? In a class taught by Odaka/NOX!?

What does NOX fear? Some kind of shadowy Nightmare that's been dogging him and he can't escape no matter what he does.

So I see Zero's just straight up leaving the entryway open now. Imagine if Fujimi and Nasuka actually came back.

It was nice of Nem to try to comfort child Baku...less nice of Baku to just kind of toss her aside.

Well, if the Capsem's are weaponized Nightmares, then obviously Baku can just weaponize his own to create his first upgrade form. Bro even said "Arize."

It makes sense that Nem's outfit in NOX's dream would be the outfit he has her currently wearing in his NOX lair (I assume). Points for the miniskirt!

NOX thought he was done with one Nightmare but he wasn't prepared for Zeztz. Enter INAZUMA PLASMA! A form with a shocking entrance, superspeed that rivals the Flash, and a Plasma Bow that can do a lot of damage! Finally Zeztz catches up to Nox Knight!

Dang, their fight was showing in the real world!?

Well, he beat NOX but he's clearly not physically used to the form so he de-transforms too. Does that count as a tie?

Honestly Zero holding Baku's ability to wake up on the premise of him killing another person is...pretty dark, even if it's very legitimate spy-level.

What did they erase from Baku's memory? Whatever CODE did to him? Is this why he's an Agent? WHAT DID CODE DO!?

Oh, so they do the pre and post-show teasers now!

[Fish Sandwich]

I'd say I'm still struggling to see the larger purpose of anything going on in Zeztz, but then, I found this episode extremely entertaining anyway, and I suppose that's always the largest purpose of them all.

But yeah, even this week, it's still a little hard for me to read into the material much deeper than the broad strokes? The story is a doing a ton of things I love to see, especially in how it gets more introspective with the hero and continues to challenge the preconceived notion of the current main antagonist actually being a villain, but... usually around this point, I'd be able to talk about how a Kamen Rider show is exploring some theme or portraying character growth or anything else like that which really resonates with me on some personal level, and Zeztz and I still aren't quite there yet. Not unlike Baku sorting out his repressed memories this week, it keeps feeling like I can see this sort of fuzzy mirage of *something*, but even as that something becomes more and more clear, it's not exactly in focus.

That's also sort of a paradox in my experience watching Zeztz that keeps making my opinions on it come out so weird, which this episode exemplifies? The direction, thanks to Kamihoriuchi's usual genius, is *insanely* rich throughout. There's so much evocative imagery and all these touches that make all these events I can't yet fully comprehend on a conscious level feel so grand and meaningful in a sort of primal way. Despite that, though, trying to treat the show as a sort of "feel, don't think!" situation leaves me circling right back to how much less I'm feeling than usual? Part of me definitely wants to see that striking image of Baku making the very lightning at the core of all his bad dreams into his own power and immediately grasp it as a powerful statement the show is making about something, but again, "something" ends up feeling like no matter where I look, it's always in the corner of my eye, and never properly in front of me.

[Frontier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I'd say I'm still struggling to see the larger purpose of anything going on in Zeztz, but then, I found this episode extremely entertaining anyway, and I suppose that's always the largest purpose of them all.

But yeah, even this week, it's still a little hard for me to read into the material much deeper than the broad strokes? The story is a doing a ton of things I love to see, especially in how it gets more introspective with the hero and continues to challenge the preconceived notion of the current main antagonist actually being a villain, but... usually around this point, I'd be able to talk about how a Kamen Rider show is exploring some theme or portraying character growth or anything else like that which really resonates with me on some personal level, and Zeztz and I still aren't quite there yet. Not unlike Baku sorting out his repressed memories this week, it keeps feeling like I can see this sort of fuzzy mirage of *something*, but even as that something becomes more and more clear, it's not exactly in focus.

That's also sort of a paradox in my experience watching Zeztz that keeps making my opinions on it come out so weird, which this episode exemplifies? The direction, thanks to Kamihoriuchi's usual genius, is *insanely* rich throughout. There's so much evocative imagery and all these touches that make all these events I can't yet fully comprehend on a conscious level feel so grand and meaningful in a sort of primal way. Despite that, though, trying to treat the show as a sort of "feel, don't think!" situation leaves me circling right back to how much less I'm feeling than usual? Part of me definitely wants to see that striking image of Baku making the very lightning at the core of all his bad dreams into his own power and immediately grasp it as a powerful statement the show is making about something, but again, "something" ends up feeling like no matter where I look, it's always in the corner of my eye, and never properly in front of me.

I think overall the show is exploring dreams, escapism, and how they intersect with reality.

How dreams are worth protecting but they aren't always what we think they are (in Baku's case at least).

How much one can throw themselves into their dream life at expense to their own personal character.