Kamen Rider Zeztz Case #24- "Break" Discussion
 

Baku sets out to find Nem.

It seems like Lady wants to catch up on all the time she lost as Nem's mom by being as INTENSE A MOM AS SHE POSSIBLY CAN BE. I'm sure this is going to be a very healthy mother/daughter relationship.

So the Lady was not only Code 02 but she dreamed of being pregnant...and next thing you know a Nightmare appeared in her dream, went after her pregnant body, and out popped Baby Nem when she woke up (and she got some Nightmare scars out of it). At least that's got to be less stressful than an actual delivery! But who was the Nightmare that fathered Nem?

Notice that initially Agent 02 referred to Nem as "it" before realizing that CODE was basically going to take away her baby, so she went rogue. Although has all this reeeeaaaallly been for Nem's sake? Then again, she hasn't slept in 20 years to avoid CODE, so she's probably not all that right in the head.

I think this is the first time Minami has called Baku "Onii-chan" in the entire show.

It's nice of Minami to be concerned about her brother and his dissociative identity episode, even if the counselor she's getting advice from is just trying to undermine and stop the only major threat left to her plans.

CODE has NOX's Driver? I wonder what they plan to do with it.

Zero, in the flesh! As none other than CODE Agent 0, in fact! He acknowledges that 7 completed his missions, but that he'll still toss him to the curb if need be.

Fujimi, I understand where you're coming from, but Odakka/NOX kind of had it coming. Nasuka's concerns about CODE are arguably more valid, but 7 has basically detached himself from everything but Nem.

Wow, he stopped both slap attempts but not the sister headbutt!

You can tell we're at the point in the series where they start reusing Kaijin suits now that Lady was able to warp a Driver to be able to let her summon past Nightmares. But hey, Zeztz finally got to beat Wolf Nightmare!

It's funny how Baku only gets to see the CODE base when it gets invaded, and he doesn't even care about CODE, he's just using Catastrom to destroy every Nightmare in his way until he finds Nem. Sucks for that woman and her husband though.

Lady did NOT just roll her eyes at Catastrom!

So using Catastrom kind of hinged on Baku having a one-track mind, knowing he might have killed Nem's mother basically throws him off and means he can't keep the form going.

CODE finally shows their true colors, sniping Lady AND Baku so they can get to Nem...because they don't need Agent 07 anymore and are ready to disavow him. Courtesy of Lord 3. Who has a shoulder cape, so you know he's a big deal.

Baku, the base form was not going to beat this guy even if you didn't have a shoulder injury that he was also capitalizing on. But then Baku gets shot like a dog just like 5 and 6 were with only a "goodbye" from Zero.

But instead of dying...Baku wakes up in the hospital!? With everyone dead alive!? And apparently we're restarting the show from square one!?

Overall I though this was an excellent episode, it had me at the edge of my seat the entire time & I'm really looking forward to how this next arc is going to play out. I felt that the twist at the end was very fitting for a show about dreams and I like that they are really going into the full weirdness that comes with the premise of dreams.

I can definitely see what the crew meant on the production blogpost about how this episode was filmed with the same energy as a first/last episode.

Also new OP next week and I find it clever how our first OP was called "VISIONS" and the new one is going to be called "PLAY BACK".

You know, I honestly did expect to not see Zero as Some Guy after all the work the show put into making him a charismatic and compelling character just as a bike. Like, even from the angle of this being a show for children, I wondered if that was maybe a big ask for kids to accept the truth midway through. Even with the warnings, I feel like there's a dream there you sort of shatter by doing this.

I also probably should've expected to see Zero as the man behind the curtain after the show repeatedly told me from the start there was in fact a man? For one thing, I gather the guy doing the voice is a well-known actor to begin with, and the fun surprise of having him eventually show up is part of the reason you'd cast him in the first place. But way more than that, part of the fun of ZEZTZ as a big mystery is that is generally doesn't outright lie to the viewer? It's part of the reason NOX always talks so evasively -- so that he doesn't have to be deceptive. Indeed, that's often the vibe of the show overall, which has sometimes proven to be frustrating.

Curious then that so many different characters also insist we're in reality then, even as we see that usual moon in the sky at the end here. Although then, I suppose there's been dialogue warning us those boundaries would break down eventually, too.

The ramifications of this episode's final moments are difficult to discuss with any real purpose right now, so I guess I won't bother, even though it will definitely be the thing everyone takes away from this week, even with everything else going on. And all that other stuff was definitely really interesting! It's sort of a tangled mess of individual elements I'm not totally seeing the cohesion in yet, but part of that comes as a natural result of how longform the story being told is, and crucially, those individual elements are all pretty neat?

Right out of the gate, Baku is actually credited as "Code number: Seven" in the opening, which is a fine detail that starts things off on the right foot, for sure. The actual episode then begins with The Lady giving probably the single most straightforward exposition dump this show has ever had, which I'm less sure I like? The fact that that a cut here subtly calls attention to her and Nem's matching butterfly accessories kinda illustrates what my issue is. It's like -- *that's* how ZEZTZ likes to talk, usually. That's why I got it in my head that it was significant we never saw the Zeroider actually being controlled. This is a show that frequently has deliberately vague dialogue, and even vague situations, but also lots of incredibly specific things it does visually that it wants you to be paying attention to. (See also: the saga of NOX's ring.) So even with a flashback to add the necessary element of showing to all the telling going on, it almost felt blasphemous to have so much crucial information delivered in such a standard fashion after all this time. The clarity is nice, yes, but I have this nagging thought in the back of my head that it still could've somehow been presented in a more ZEZTZ-y manner than it was. Probably not a huge deal, for how much I'm talking about it! But honestly, in spite of all the new details, I don't have much to say yet about how it affects my view of The Lady or Nem, and their roles in the series. Definitely something I'll be curious to see play out now, though, so my issue is absolutely not with the revelations themselves. The Lady in particular is a very strong presence here, and her having so much to do is one of the best things about the episode, even.

Baku's end of things is the most present-tense part of the story, and I'm still liking that stuff enough that I sort of refuse to dignify his delusional fantasies the way the credits do. The dialogue in this show might not always be specific when it comes to facts, but it's definitely very precise when doing things like having Baku immediately respond with concern about Minami when The Lady brings up his sister. You know, the one he insists he doesn't have anymore. Fitting for the dramatic low point of the overall narrative, this is probably the most pathetic Baku has ever been, to the point I honestly kinda get why CODE puts him down like a rabid dog in the end. He gave up everything to become stronger, but it only seemed to make him weaker in just about every way that matters. He consciously alienates his family and allies, and even turns his back on CODE, all in the name of a noble mission that he ultimately fails to carry out. Sure, he does literally Find Nem, but does he even remember what the point of finding her was by the time he gets there? What does a Seven that uncaringly walks by people in distress have left to offer her?

It's all really brutal material, once again, but I'm having a lot of fun exploring these darker avenues the show is taking Baku down, even without being able to see how it plans to get him back on the rails. Or heck, maybe because I can't see it?

I'm starting to think that Zeztz isn't for me anymore. And that makes me sad.

I've noticed that, with many of the Kamen Rider shows I've watched lately, they tend to pull the same sort of thing on me that I've come to roll my eyes at.

Wherein it gives a premise/story that I'm willing to level with it on, only for it to then pull the JP equivalent of "EVERYTHING YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS SHOW IS WRONG!!!" And just like with American comics, I proceed to roll my eyes and I'm completely removed from the experience.

The next episode preview made it very much seem like both this episode and the next one are that specific point in Rider that has let me down so often. I don't need a twist for the sake of drama; But that's what it seems we're getting.

You knew this was going to happen. You have no right to complain because this is the most obvious thing that could happen.
EDIT:
Its not a Japanese thing more than this genre and theme that the show is going for is famous for doing the thing you hate.

Boy, if this show hadn't lost me already it certainly would have at this point. This is an issue I often run into with Takahashi, where the writing starts emphasizing sensationalism over... pretty much everything else. Agh, I'm gonna go watch Gavan Infinity and hopefully actually enjoy myself.

You sound like a very miserable person. I feel bad for you.

I thought Lady might've been Agent One, so now I'm curious to know their identity. Could it be Dawn?!

And yeah, got to love the Nightmare baby delivery service. No weight gain, no 9 month delay, no labor, no problem!

Babies look androgynous and have no concept of pronouns, so people sometimes use "it" in a sarcastic way. A parent using it is a little weird, but not inherently wrong.

I wonder why he hasn't been in touch since Nox broke the communication device. It was likely more than that considering Lady wanted it, but surely Three could've replaced that function at least. Zero.... What are your true intentions?

He should've used Plasma for sure.

Somebody tell Baku to punch behind him when the gold feather appears!

Visions is my favorite Reiwa Rider OP so far, so Play Back will have to be seriously good to prevent disappointment. Then again, maybe it'll revert after only one episode. Looking at you, You Be One Winner!

I didn't notice that, so thanks for pointing out the cool detail. I usually don't like when they skip the cold open, but considering who narrates the cold opens for Zeztz, it's an immediate reminder that Baku is basically dead.

I remember how Baku had that "how to be an agent" guide on his closet door, saying that a handkerchief is for wiping a girl's tears. Really does emphasize that this Seven who would walk past a crying girl is not the Seven that Baku dreamed of becoming. And despite what I said last week, he's not CODE's Seven either, since he woke up with his personal mission of Find Nem as his primary directive. Literally nobody in the show, not even Nem, wants this mockery of what Seven is supposed to stand for.

Without you specifying the problem, I'm not sure what Zeztz has done here to disappoint you. What exactly were you wrong about?

I mean Im not the one complaining about classic genre tropes acting like its something unique to Kamen Rider.
EDIT:
In fact if anything this is the only time I've really seen a "berserk Kamen Rider form really work.

Never said it was unique to Kamen Rider, just that it's been a trend with the string of KR shows I've seen lately. Please read carefully before replying, thanks.

I suppose it's less something super specific and moreso just how the general vibe of the show hit a big shift with these recent episodes. I've far too often seen episodes like these pretty much tell the audience "All that stuff we presented before? Forget about it. New direction now." And as one who was very much liking how Zeztz was up to now, it just feels disappointing.

It doesn’t mean he has to like it though. I figured ZEZTZ is going to pull some form of BS like this and I only have seen Ex-Aid and merely heard about what goes on in Zero-One and Geats considering that Takahashi clearly can’t seem to control himself in that regard. If it weren’t for the fact that the show is available to watch on a weekly basis on TokuSHOUTsu’s YouTube channel and me following the series right from the very start, I would’ve hold off on watching ZEZTZ until sometime after the show officially completes its run.

I think there's still stuff they were deliberately leaving out of Lady's story like what her ultimate endgame with the Nightmares was and what world she sought to create by destroying it with the Nightmares she was creating.

But knowing now that the "real world" might not be what we thought it was, it might actually explain some of why the Nightmares functioned as they did.
One could argue he became a rabid dog of CODE's own making that they cut down when they didn't need any more or couldn't rely on him to follow orders.

I think he did remember Nem beneath everything, though, because knowing Lady was her mother and Nem didn't want her to hurt him was the only thing that held him back and undid Catastrom.
Speaking as someone who has watched Zero-One and Geats, I feel like their twists usually have at least some set-up and foreshadowing, and I feel with the premise of the show and how certain events have played out that this isn't all that out of left field either.

Like thinking on it, all the vague stuff NOX was always alluding to might have meant a lot more than we ever took at face-value.
I don't think they're telling everyone to forget or act like the past half didn't happen. It might not have been 100% "real" but it's still probably going to inform or effect Baku and the cast moving forward.
Is it really BS? Like this is the one show that could pull of an Inception-level twist and have it make sense. People were calling it as a possibility pretty early on too.

I saw an interesting theory online about what Baku has to do in this new route with the knowledge he has now:

1. Stop the Bomber Nightmare before it escapes into the real world. That way the massive outbreak of Nightmares never occurs (also it we wouldn't have to redo every Nightmare scenario or shotgun through them since a decent chunk of them probably wouldn't occur.)

2: Return Nox to the real world before he gets a chance to become Nox Knight again. That way Baku won't get the Nox elimination mission (or at least it will delay it) and stay in CODE's favor for a little while longer.

I've thought about it, and I have two theories I'd like to propose about what next episode might be about:

1. If it's an indirect continuation: An episode about what Baku is seeing now that he's sealed inside of Seven.

2. If it's a direct continuation: The show somehow has the balls to say that Seven is now dead and all that's left is Baku. I highly doubt this one is gonna be the case, but it's possible.

To be honest I'm just wondering about the mechanics.

Was everything in the series up to this point a dream Baku had after passing out in episode 1? Was it a prophetic dream?

How many characters were aware of it? NOX? CODE? Lady?

Is this why NOX was willing to go along with stuff like the Meteor and Disaster Nightmare destroying the world because he knew it wasn't "real?" Why he was so focused on waking 7 up?

Is CODE trying to "reboot" him back into a normal agent even if he might still have his memories from the dream?

A very dark episode, full of unexpected revelations. It turns out Lady was Agent Two. Now it's clear how they worked together with NOX. Also, although I correctly predicted that CODE was hunting Nem, the story of her birth turned out to be much darker. Unsurprisingly, Lady eventually went crazy from the experience. And the years without sleep only made things worse. It also shows that Nem is not the source of the Nightmares. Or rather, not the source of all Nightmares. I wonder if we'll see her father, Nightmare, or the one behind everything that happened?
Also, Catastrome turned out to be Seven-CODE in approach, but not in loyalty. For he has no intention of fulfilling their missions, which, combined with his immense power, makes the spies perceive him as an enemy. Baku also literally abandons people in distress, which justifies what happens next. Although the ending suggests that this could have been a test or the work of the subconscious.
I should also note how realistic and sterile the CODE base looks. And the number of extras killed brings to mind the first phase of Heisei. Although the whole effect is ruined by the realization that Lady, apparently, lived somewhere nearby, since Nem was able to run in so quickly. I know this is dream logic, but this is something I noticed right away and couldn't share.
Another noteworthy thing is how much Three's hand with the gun was shaking. I wonder if this meant something or if the actor is simply not used to such scenes. The fight scenes in this episode are simply excellent, especially in the elevator and with the Demon King. Although seeing him in this episode slightly diminished the impact of defeating him in the previous one.
We also saw Zero's human form. Possibly. And he's an asshole. Also possible.
Speaking of the ending, it's a dirty trick, but with the dream theme, it was bound to be used sooner or later. Next week, we'll find out how much of what was shown was true and how much was just a warning. Perhaps NOX was showing Baku the darkness of the CODE in this way, since explaining it with words isn't his style.
Overall, I'm confused, but intrigued.

The twist is obvious, but is the timing so opportune? I have a feeling another "dark" episode with a major revelation (or deception?) of the motives of СODЕ wouldn't be out of place. Plus, it's only halfway through the show, and I think many viewers are worried that this trope will be overused.

I think, given the extraordinary circumstances, Lady's reaction can be forgiven. It could also be just another misunderstanding by the translators.

Another interesting that I and some other people online have noticed is how Baku "dies" & wakes up after 24 episodes and there's 24 hours in a day. Also the last time Baku came eerily close to death was in episode 8 when he was poisoned, and 8 hours is the typical sleep time for someone.

I really wanna go back and rewatch this first arc of Zeztz to see if I missed anything or if certain things have different meaning now with this weeks revelation.

Honestly, good on Takahashi for managing to make the obvious twist of "this arc was a dream" still manage to be a surprise by seemingly revealing that it's all been a dream for far, far longer! The constant out of nowhere gocha's in Geats had be burnt out, but i feel like this shows way of slow dripping any info makes a truly wild twist like this have proper weight

If that's the bad dream your mind wishes for, perhaps it will come true.

I will say, judging from the way you're describing this feeling of yours, your disappointment seems to be based on the implicit assumption (as in, I know you probably aren't trying to say this) that the show's own creators somehow would care less than you about their own work up until that point being something to simply disregard in favor of a new direction? Which just seems needlessly ungenerous? I think it's a pretty basic good faith thing for criticism to at least operate on the basis that the people creating these worlds and characters also have some level of emotional investment in them, unless there's evidence that actively points to the contrary.

In other words, I don't have a problem with you thinking the show is heading in a direction you can't get behind anymore, or even necessarily with you thinking it's just a plain bad direction, but I'd strongly caution against any line of thought that leads to the conclusion the staff are making decisions maliciously. That's just not a headspace where you're going to see anything very clearly. Again, I don't actually think that's where you're at right now, to be clear! But consider this my own, much wordier NOX warning, I guess.

Don't you dare say that! Riders should always use their base forms! :lol

Seriously though, I was really happy to see Impact make a prominent appearance here. Stream showing up in 18 had me believing for a second that the lead up to Catastrom would involve at least the main four forms making at least one more appearance each, but that unfortunately turned out to not be the case at all. That was disappointing (Esprim's standby jingle even sounds like RPG music! Recovery as the party's White Mage was right there!), but the show is still ~just about~ meeting me halfway with at least having the base form. The real test is once we get into the 30's and 40's though.

I did kind of expect some emotionally deadened "I'm code number Seven" narration to really rub it in, honestly, but yeah, just not having the narration at all accomplishes the same overall goal.

It's one of the most heartbreaking moments in this episode, for sure. Like, literally the first ever thing the show tells us about Seven -- before it even gives us a clear shot of his face -- is the line "Trust those tears to me." It's really incredible just how far he's strayed from that dream of being a suave gentleman agent throughout this one.

Yeah, again, none of that stuff is probably anywhere near as big a deal as I made it sound. It was how I was feeling in the immediate moment, but the more I think about, the less it seems all that far off from business as usual for ZEZTZ.

Oh, he absolutely remembers. That's one of the things that makes this arc so interesting to me. Rider fans are inclined to process it as being in that whole genre we have now of the berserker form, and if you take him at his word, it sounds almost like some dissociative episode with Seven "taking over", but it seems pretty clear looking at a lot of his reactions to things that everything we see here IS in fact just Baku as we've always known him. He never had a split personality to begin with. It's less that there's some outside influence making him this way and more that he's desperately forcing himself to act this way, ironically thinking it will stop him from making more mistakes.

There's definitely a ton of NOX stuff people will think differently of on a rewatch, for sure. I was really excited to finally see that book again last time, for example, because we hadn't seen it since episode 5, where the camera focused on it as NOX talked about how all things would eventually break down. And you know, 20-ish episodes later, sure enough, that word choice was probably no mere coincidence!

You're right that that wasn't what I was getting at. I don't think Takahashi or whoever is actively out to attack the viewer or anything. I actually think they're doing it with the intent to improve. Heck, to give a comparison to the most recent Rider show I watched, Saber's' shift in Arc 2 did infact win people over, and as seen here, these last few episodes have been bringing more people around to Zeztz. It just sort of leaves people like me, who were all in on the original direction, out in the open.

But hey, it's not like I actively hate the way the show is as of now, and heck, maybe future developments will have me looking back on this period alot more fondly. I'm moreso just describing my feelings in the moment.

And, just to emphasize, the word I specifically used was "sad" not "angry." I just don't want to be disappointed in the end, more than anything.

To be honest I still don't understand why they introduced Inazuma Plasma Boost if he was never going to use it again.

I guess that's the part where I have trouble understanding your perspective, admittedly? I don't think you'll find many Rider fans who could more accurately be described as "all in" on the original direction of Saber than me, and with both that show and this one so far, the changes feel like a narrative organically building out its concepts in a way that was being set up from the start. Fans who only get into the series after those changes will perceive them as "corrections" in order to fix a show that was broken, but I think part of the privilege of being a fan from the start is being able to recognize that really, it's always been the one direction.

...That's probably one of my weird 4D logic opinions that won't make much sense to anyone though, so I won't push back much further than that.

Plasma Booster is honestly one of those forms where I'm kinda fine with it only showing up the one time? I think of it as like the final episode form Reiwa does sometimes, but for the final episode of the year. It leaves enough of an impression as is that I'm okay with it just being a special one-off occasion, if it stays that way.

Well, I can't agree with that. Show production is a collaborative effort, and it's common knowledge that scripts change both before and during filming. Even on Donbrothers, where Inoue wrote all but one episode and had maximum creative freedom, changes were made. How you view these changes is another matter. Personally, I prefer to think of them as for the better, as they reflect current developments.
Returning to Zeztz, I think it makes sense to see exactly where this twist leads before making any conclusions. It's entirely possible that it will simply be an illusion, like Kouta's dream in Gaim.

So Baku will go from Ethan Hunt to a totally different Tom Cruise movie.

I presume Lady is using some kind of Nightmare magic to prolong her consciousness indefinitely, as a human normally wouldn't survive a year without sleep.

Yeah, most creators surely care about their creations and any bad decisions are usually the result of flawed writing, executive meddling or behind the scenes problems. Nothing is immune to any of the above, as these people are humans like us, who live in the same world as us. Of course, there can be some exceptions of creators not caring when they don't get to do whatever they want (looks at Revice).

I mean, I think Zeztz could've at least changed from Impact to Plasma after realizing Three had the advantage.

Like how he was introduced with that "Trust those tears to me." line you mentioned, it's always been clear that Seven is a good guy who we should want to root for. He's always been cool, but he's only recently been cold after being willed in to the real world. The way I see it, the Cool Seven we know and love is the purest representation of Baku's identity, with his conscious and subconscious in alignment thanks to the power of lucid dreaming, where "kokoro" may as well mean both heart and mind as he uses them in sync. This is a person Baku could become, with enough experience and wisdom. The Cold Seven is the result of Baku forcing his "I'm on it" subconscious to the foreground after devaluing his conscious feelings, like putting the wagon before the horse except in this analogy the wagon is autonomous and a loose cannon.

This is the time of year in a Takahashi show where we get Kamen Rider Chronicle Hell or Job Competition (Ohmori's fault), so I can't deny that I'm a little apprehensive about where Zeztz goes from here. But I know that I've been enjoying it so far, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he can carry the current arc like he did with the previous one. Also, count me in the club of people who enjoyed Saber's first arc!

So Premium Bandai get new merchandise to sell.

Actually, Booster was a campaign item (similar to Tycoon's ID Core and Zangetsu's face plate) it's just without a Rider to attach it to, it pretty much got only a few real uses (Plasma Booster, Zero personally using it & Reactivating the CODE Zeroider) before it kinda just fell into obscurity since like, it's a limited addition bonus people get for buying certain things, they don't need to really sell it as hard as the other ones.

He was still nursing the bullet wound and the debilitating pain from that so I don't think he was mentally thinking ahead to what the best form should have been, just relying on pure instinct which is why he went with Impact.

He might not have even been in the physical state to use Plasma.

The recent discussion about where the line between Baku and Seven is drawn got me thinking. Because there's always been one big tell about who's who when it comes to which persona we're exactly looking at:

https://i.imgur.com/wBS0EWD.png

And that's his eyes. Baku's' eyes are brown, whereas Seven's' eyes are golden.

And when it comes to the vast majority of this episode, look what color our protagonists eyes are:

https://i.imgur.com/d6cNdnT.png

So it is Seven whom we're following all throughout. However, upon rewatching the episode, I did notice something that I found interesting. From the moment that The Lady gets shot, Seven's' eyes remain covered by his hair for the entire rest of the episode.

And sure, it's an easy way to show just how beaten down and distressed he is, but I think it also might be an intentional way to keep it ambiguous over who exactly is fighting against Three(and gets shot by him right after) in that moment. But, given that shot of the Moonscoop logo at the very end, I theorize that, were the past few episodes actually a dream, then the dream started right when Baku brofisted his inner Nightmare.

Next episode could easily prove me entirely wrong of course, but that's what I'm theorizing as of right now.

I'll also post a hypothesis. A common plot trope for this shows is for the heroine to become incredibly important and powerful at some point, only to have it later fade away and the protagonist take over. Geats is the most recent and striking example. What if something similar happens here? What if the entire show is Baku's dream, where he realizes his dream and casts his beloved Nem in the lead role? In this episode, his dream scenario has reached a dead end, so he'll have to start a new one. So Baku will ultimately end up being a deity of sorts, albeit a dream-world one. And I imagine there will be something else that poses a real threat, but it's hard to say for now.

Well then I apologize for not choosing my own words more carefully when this whole conversation began with me taking something DreamSword said too literally. The argument I'm trying to make isn't that everything is perfectly set in stone from the exact instant the series is conceived (which, as you point out, is simply not how a TV show ever comes together); I'm trying to get at the how and why of these decisions being made, even though I sort of get the feeling now it was presumptuous of me to assume anyone needs this explained to them.

But if I might attempt to qualify my phrasing a little more, I'm trying to emphasize that I don't think the creative process is something that only flows the one way. The creators try to dictate the direction of the work, but the reason I think it can still be accurate enough to say the direction hasn't changed is because I also believe that the work kinda picks its own direction, and simply drags the creators along with it, even if it leads them down paths they didn't expect when they set out.

Even in an extreme case like Hibiki, where the people originally in charge of the story were replaced by executives who wanted everything changed overnight, the new producer still felt it was important to try and respect what had already been established anyway. Even when a show like Saber suddenly becomes something totally different because a global pandemic happens in pre-production, you can still trace how a lot of the initial ideas the staff had influenced the final product. And it's like that even in the less extreme cases, too. They plan ahead as much as they can without committing too hard, because they need to be flexible to deal with unexpected setbacks, and also simply because they don't always see where they need to go next until they get there sometimes. So yeah, of course, I don't want to deny that a lot of decisions when making a Rider show -- the majority of decisions, even -- are not fully planned out in advance. I only want to argue that part of the purpose of that flexibility is to have room to stay as true as possible to the overall vision of the series, even when that vision turns out not to be the one anyone working on the series had during the planning phase.

...Which, again, I'm not actually sure was ever in question here, but just, like, for the record, you know?

Now this, I will allow and even agree with. Sometimes I wish Sakamoto could just be hovering over the action crew's shoulder on every Rider episode, yelling at them to include more than one suit per fight scene when the hero has like 14 suits they could be showing off. :lol

(ZEZTZ even did a solid example of that in 15, but again, it's just not something that turned out to be a rhythm the show got into at all?)

Huh. That's actually a really good way to put it. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if the show itself tries to make exactly this point later.

It's probably also worth mentioning the most direct comparison would be with Bushel from Gavv last year, which was another seasonal form change the hero used exactly once.

(Also, to "well actually" your "well actually", there *is* the sound version of the Booster Capsem being sold on P-Bandai right now, so that's technically not wrong to say, even if the campaign item part is the one that clearly seems to influence how the show uses it.)

Honestly, I was legit trying to figure out what Gavv did but blanked on it. So my mind just went to examples of different campaign items to give the sort of difference between them. That would explain why Gavv only used Bushel in one episode and then it was just exclusively Valen for a bit just to be nice to him since Gavv had Caking at that point.

That said, yeah the sound versions are things. Which reminds me it's interesting how they decided to switch-up how the voice-line stuff works since that used to be memorial gimmicks released at the end of the year for shows. Though Gavv decided to do it different and just pepper sound Gochizo releases throughout the year which Zeztz is following up on.