[Deepsea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

This episode did literally nothing for me.

I really hate how emotionally detached I've become to this story.

Hi, I'm back from the dead for a bit since I've been reading these threads from a distance.

I've wanted to ask this for a bit, if you're not enjoying Zeztz, why do you keep watching? It doesn't feel like it's bringing you any joy even on a "I'm having fun criticizing it way." I think you should stop for your own sake.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deepsea

Hi, I'm back from the dead for a bit since I've been reading these threads from a distance.

I've wanted to ask this for a bit, if you're not enjoying Zeztz, why do you keep watching? It doesn't feel like it's bringing you any joy even on a "I'm having fun criticizing it way." I think you should stop for your own sake.

It's because, for 20+ episodes, I was enjoying Zeztz quite a bit.

But then came this big turning point, and even if I'm just super not into this show like I once was, a part of me still has hope that just maybe the show can turn itself around again.

That, and I want to experience a Rider show weekly atleast once in my life, as many people have told me it's a much different experience from my usual style.

I'm sorry if my posts have become depressing or otherwise uninteresting to read, but I'm just being honest with how I feel; it's all I can be. I am by no means a person qualified to talk about "~objectivity~" in the media I consume. Never have been, really.

Should an episode come along that I think really works, I'll definitely say so. But for now, it's just been dud after dud. And trust me, I'd much rather it not be this way. I am not actively hunting for reasons to dislike the show. I've never done that with any Rider show I've watched, much less anything else.

If you guys are really digging this new direction, that's great. It's just not for me.

[GuardianAngel87]

In light of the last couple of episodes of Kamen Rider ZEZTZ:
https://x.com/Caboose_ED/status/2048561438050935155

[Deepsea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

It's because, for 20+ episodes, I was enjoying Zeztz quite a bit.

But then came this big turning point, and even if I'm just super not into this show like I once was, a part of me still has hope that just maybe the show can turn itself around again.

That, and I want to experience a Rider show weekly atleast once in my life, as many people have told me it's a much different experience from my usual style.

I'm sorry if my posts have become depressing or otherwise uninteresting to read, but I'm just being honest with how I feel; it's all I can be. I am by no means a person qualified to talk about "~objectivity~" in the media I consume. Never have been, really.

Should an episode come along that I think really works, I'll definitely say so. But for now, it's just been dud after dud. And trust me, I'd much rather it not be this way. I am not actively hunting for reasons to dislike the show. I've never done that with any Rider show I've watched, much less anything else.

If you guys are really digging this new direction, that's great. It's just not for me.

Nah man it's cool. I don't think you're bringing down the vibes or anything. I'm mostly just worried you're making yourself slog through a show you're not enjoying for the sake of "completion" or something.

[Locke]

It is funny that we're at the point of the show now where it is going to start ramping up for that final push, and it feels like it is still trying to reconcile how a show can have any real stakes when most of the events happening in it are not real.

Which is funny, cause on the flipside, it being a dream - or at least when they lean into that aspect - creates a sense of freedom for them to just do the coolest things they can think of during the action scenes, and that was on full display in that fight against Nightmare Zeztz, no matter how brief it was. I haven't loved the high tech pajama look of the Zeztz suits, but here, the lack of bulky flappy bits to restrict movement allowed for some great choreography as well.

A quick edit: I really wanna stress, for as muddled as this story has kinda gotten as it tries to give stakes and make all the internal logic make sense and iron out all the mechanics and all of that, and as negative as that may make me come across when I point this out, I am still shocked by just how good this show has been since Sieg's introduction comparatively to the overwhelming blandness of the first quarter of the show.

I feel like had I come to this a decade later as I am now doing with many shows as I've gotten back into Toku again, with all discourse long over around the show, I would have probably watched the first few episodes and bounced right off of this (which I did originally, being honest), but then I'd never have seen this show develop in the way it has, and I am pretty darn hopeful now for our final 15 or so episodes we have left that this could end up being an all time banger.

[Frontier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

It is funny that we're at the point of the show now where it is going to start ramping up for that final push, and it feels like it is still trying to reconcile how a show can have any real stakes when most of the events happening in it are not real.

Funnily enough the next episode has Nightmares appearing in the real world en masse.

[Sh Ranger]

As you guys might've imagined, I was bouncing in my seat like Fujimi with a new Black Case the moment Zeztz pressed that lever the fourth time. Man, that was totally worth the wait! A finisher so legendary the Rider System couldn't even take it, which makes me even more excited for ExDream knowing that this event is the catalyst for that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frontier

Zero never wanted to be a father, what he wanted was the decisive weapon that could make the difference in humanity's battle with Nightmares and ensure good dreams win over bad dreams. And he saw the solution in Zeztz: something that could only be born from his own son and the "bad dream" of the Catastrophe Gore Nightmare he had within him.

Honestly, I'm still trying to come to terms with the Zero father reveal. Like, I appreciate how Zeztz arrived at that conclusion through his own deduction, as a good agent should. And I appreciate how Zero being his father doesn't mean their relationship has to change. Zero rejected being a father and yet, unable to deny his attachment, became a bro instead. If Baku and Minami are still siblings, then Baku and Zero are still bros! That's what I want to believe anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frontier

What are Nightmares? Entities that date back to critical consciousness of humanity and the source behind all evil and crime. CODE was formed to stop them, but in the escalating conflict Nightmares have become even more powerful.

CODE wanted to destroy darkness so badly they ended up becoming the "darkness inside CODE", by making the Nightmares even more perilous everytime they think about Nightmares. Sure is stupid to try and eradicate "evil" as a concept, which was born from the complex duality of human consciousness.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frontier

Uh...random Agito movie tie-in?

Reminds me of Hongo showing up in Kabuto 20 years ago to promote The First. As a non-Agito fan, I'm indifferent, but I wonder if Agito fans care about a cameo of a character they haven't been properly introduced to yet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frontier

My condolences to Orderm that it only got two episodes before they introduced the Final Form which has got to be a record for anything that's not a two-tier upgrade form.

Orderm seems like the climax of Zeztz mastering Catastrom's volatile powers, like Progrise Hopper Blade was for Zero One Metal Cluster Hopper, so I guess the only reason this form exists is due to Bandai making the Dualmare Capsem work like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JusticeMagnum

It also turns out that the TV Asahi website clarified why the Zeztz Driver was destroyed. Some people thought that defeating Darkness Zeztz caused it but it turns out Over Banish just puts way too much strain on the Driver and caused it to be destroyed.

Alternatively, you could say that Zeztz Darkness Nightmare forced Zeztz to the point of breaking his Driver so he could complete his mission to make Zero's bad dream come true even in death: The ruin of Zeztz.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

(They also fought in an open container, strikingly similar to the one where Blade and Garen fought Undead Zebra 20 years ago. Could Dawn have gotten them there?)

I recall this is the same container where Geiz promised to mercy kill Sougo if he ever strayed from the path of the greatest kindest demon king.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deepsea

I'm mostly just worried you're making yourself slog through a show you're not enjoying for the sake of "completion" or something.

Feels like I'm getting called out here. Well you might be glad to know that I did quit Gavan Infinity after getting repeatedly frustrated with that. RED is too young a franchise to trigger my completion compulsion.

[Locke]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frontier

Funnily enough the next episode has Nightmares appearing in the real world en masse.

I guess that is one way to solve the problem!

[Frontier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Reminds me of Hongo showing up in Kabuto 20 years ago to promote The First. As a non-Agito fan, I'm indifferent, but I wonder if Agito fans care about a cameo of a character they haven't been properly introduced to yet.

For me it was just surreal to hear someone say "Unknown" in a Rider show after so long.