Kamen Rider Zeztz Case #12- "Impact" Discussion
 

Baku's latest dream finds him at a Space Center with a meteor approaching Earth.

Wait, so Baku's assumption this whole time was that CODE existed because he somehow made it exist?

Like, that makes as much as sense as anything else, probably more sense, even, it's just... was that ever made explicit, or was I just not paying attention? Because I was assuming up until now it was the opposite -- that Baku believed the organization he dreamed of being part of had turned out to be real, and thus he became a real agent. This sort of thing is as simple as having an exchange early on where Baku expresses amazement that's he managed to dream Zero into reality and Zero just sorta looks off to the side or changes the subject or whatever, but I don't recall anything like that happening?

It also bugged me back early on when Baku ran outside to see if his belt works in reality only to not answer that question outside of a situation where everything was going nuts anyway, which ended up blurring the issue enough that I'm now a bit surprised this week to see him use Barrier outside of his dreams here. Again, no reason I shouldn't have assumed that he has the toys in real life too because they work there too, but... I'm just still questioning the way Zeztz has handled establishing so many things, which is a very strange thing to be saying about a Takahashi show, because I've always thought having a tight grip on that sort of plot-driven setup/payoff stuff is one of his biggest strengths.

I loved this episode, and everything it portends, but I can't shake the feeling the indecisiveness of the previous 11 episodes has let it down? There are just so many things that were never properly framed as mysteries, but were also never sneakily made out to be clear certainties, either. I can't quite be shocked ZEZTZ is possibly powered by bad dreams because I never had any preconceptions of what ZEZTZ was to begin with, beyond what Baku chooses to do with that power. This ended up coming off less like the shocking recontextualization of a story I thought I knew, and more like the story of this show has finally started after three months of waiting? I love that I'm getting to know characters like Fujimi and Baku so much better, but I love it in nearly the same way I love finally getting to know NOX better, and I thought only one of those characters was supposed to be the mysterious one?

So, uh, yeah, guess it turns out I'm not exactly ready to properly take back most of the negative things I've had to say about Zeztz so far, but, to stress the other side of that a little more -- I do love the episode in front of me this week. I like how the two sides of NOX let it flesh out both Fujimi and Baku; I like how we get to see Nasuka starting to change within that; I like that we're finally digging into that inevitable Rider trope of the hero's powers being rooted in evil; I like how *all* these elements are just starting to tie together so much more cleanly, and we even get to do that all within the framework of a classic tokusatsu plot about helping some kid and a classic shounen rival deal where the cool edgy stoic guy dons his own hero suit to take on our lead character. Zeztz at its most frustrating for me has still been entertaining, and the thing that always ends up going unsung in these posts is that for all the big-picture issues I keep having, it's generally absolutely nailing a lot of the moment-to-moment parts of its execution.

If we look at the plot of this particular episode, it's quite simple. There's no detective investigation here; a boy obsessed with space is simply overly frightened by information about a possible future meteorite impact. However, it's quite cute, and it also provides an opportunity to show off rarely used locations of the planetarium and space center. And also it`s version of the truck scene from the first episode of Gavv.
But overall, this episode could be called a revelation. The most obvious one is Nox Knight. He looks like he could be a super form for Zeztz, and with fewer abilities, he easily defeats Baku due to his better control over the dream structure.
However, his main blow isn't physical, but mental, which we'll discuss later.
Baku also tells Fujimi about Odaka becoming NOX, drawing a sharp retort from the police officer. We see a flashback showing Odaka as quite noble. There's also a dialogue between Fujimi and Nasuka, showing their growing rapprochement.Minami also learns about the secret room and Zero. It's funny that she met him before the police. Let's see how her attitude toward Baku changes now.
However, the most important thing is the revelation from NOX. While it was predictable that CODE wasn't invented by Baku, the capsems received an unexpected revelation. They contain Nightmares, which is quite in keeping with Kamen Rider's style, but it was a major blow to Baku. After all, without psychological security, he won't be able to obtain new Capsems (which is also something he shares with Gavv). What differentiates Baku from the classic Kamen Rider here is that Zeztz isn't a monster who decided to become a hero. He's a hero who suddenly discovered his monstrous side and is overly shocked by it. However, the announcement promises that Baku will be able to pull himself together and save the boy's dream.

Looks like En-chan was right about the Capsems!

In any case, I really liked this episode. It had a great balance of, well, basically everything. But I really gotta give a shout out to that brief scene of Fujimi and Not-Yuka talking about NOX. I felt it was pulled off very well all around.

I also appreciated the elaboration that the CODE base was formed within Baku's' subconscious, as it also explains that the base is on the border between the real and dream worlds, which is why we can see the Moonscoop logo past its windows.

And uh, I'm very curious on where the implication that there are multiple Zero's' running around might lead!

"I'm an agent for CODE and my mission is to eradicate evil... in my dreams anyway."

Meaning that it works.

The overall idea is that Baku has been taking alot of things for granted, and as events have been going on and reveals have been shown, it's getting him to reconsider alot. As seen with the Capsem machine not working.

It's moreso raising a point of intrigue, rather than some grand revelation. Is NOX correct in everything he says about CODE? Is he correct that the Capsems are something so awful? And what will Baku do with this information going forward?

I think this episode, alongside a certain episode of GARO we both saw way back, kinda highlights how differently you and I view backstories in these shows? Maybe I'm not understanding you quite right, but to me it seems as though you moreso see elaboration/lore/backstory/etc as a vehicle or a tool in order to reach some sort of end goal, whereas I moreso see backstory as a reward in an of itself. And Zeztz seems to be moreso going towards the latter route than the former. It's not a matter of recontextualizing or replacing, it's a matter of obtaining more.

On a bit of a side note, I'm really not getting the "three months" complaint? This is a show that's going to be around 50 episodes. That's alot of time to breathe and thus I'm not expecting every single episode to be some grand jump forward. It's not like this is a 12 episode show and that there's been alot of meandering going on(hi, Dynazenon), and thus I'm more than willing to be patient about seeing how Zeztz on the overall is going to play out.

You put it so well here. I think this was a really good episode, We are learning more about the cast and our cool rival character has transformed. But when I actually stop and think about how poor the setup for all of this was in the prior episodes I just feel disappointed. You can't really build a twist around these characters or some reveal about the setting when everything was so vague in the first place. CODE was never really presented as being anything specific and neither were the Capsems, so having them turn out to be a real organization and powered by Nightmares respectively didn't really change my perception of the plot! Still, since Zeztz definitely feels like it has been getting its footing lately, I'm hoping by the end of the show I can say I enjoyed it in spite of a rough beginning.

Anyways, some other stuff about the episode itself. First of all, I really appreciate how Baku has been trying to learn more about people in the dreams so he can try to track them down once he is awake, it's just a nice touch that he is actively getting better at this Agent stuff in real life. Fujimi and Nasuka are also both continuing to be very interesting characters. Nasuka is finally accepting the true nature of Black Cases after seeing them and Fujimi lately has been showing a somewhat concerning side to his fanatic personality with his refusal to accept the possibility that NOX and Odaka could be the same person. NOX also finally transforms! I really liked the suit when I saw it in the next episode preview last week, but after seeing it in action more extensively I am not a huge fan. The loose, shiny fabric just does not look all that good in motion.

To speculate a bit on where I think the story is going, I suspect Takahashi is aiming for some kind of twist where the "real" world is actually a dream, with the dream world being dreams within that dream. Dreamception. It would explain why the supposed real world in this show feels so bizarre sometimes.

- I like the old-fashioned Showa-style plotline with Baku helping out a kid who dreams of going to space. I guess it isn't too different from the more modern style "victim of the fortnight" formula Zeztz has been following for the past few months, but it's cute, and fun to see something with less of a mystery to solve. Especially with how much else is going on in this episode, and presumably next week's episode too.

- I think Nox would have much better luck getting Baku on his side if he stopped being so cryptic and just led with his later revelation. IDK, maybe his powers come from the Rule of Cool. /j

- Maybe I'm imagining it, but Zero's "good luck" feels more serious in tone this week? Which I guess is fitting considering what goes on later.

- Fujimi's taking the revelation of "your old BFF has turned to the darkness" as well as I expected. I have to imagine he won't quite believe it until he eventually sees Odaka as Nox right in front of him.

- So the whole "1% chance of a meteor hitting Earth in 2030" line got me curious enough to pause the episode and google if this was actually true IRL. Thankfully, it's only a 0.0000096% (1 in 10 million) chance.

- Seems I was right that Minami would find out about Baku's secret soon, after the close call last week. Honestly, this is the revelation I'm probably most invested in. Like, what I'm looking forward to most about next week's episode is seeing Minami confront Baku about his newly-discovered secret identity. Especially with how protective she can be of him, I can't imagine she'll take it very well, at least not immediately.

- This fight between Zeztz and Nox Knight is probably my favorite fight of the series thus far. Clearly visible even in darkness, mostly practical effects with surprisingly little CGI for a new (pseudo-)Rider debut, and a showdown between two characters with similar powersets at a just-about-equal power level. This is the kind of thing I love to see in Rider vs. Rider fights, even if Nox's shiny new nighty Knight form isn't technically a Rider. And even if he did ultimately kill off my favorite of Zeztz's alt forms thus far. Which leads into my next point:

- Finally we get to see how Zeztz's powers link to the Nightmares, in signature "Rider heroes getting their powers from the same source as the villains" fashion. Though I'm surprised that the collectibles are seemingly the source of the evil here; I was expecting something more like, the group that presents itself as CODE are actually/are affiliated with the ones producing the Nightmares that Zeztz fights every week. Which I guess could still technically be true.

My first thought was that Zero's explanation will be that the Capsems are sealing away the powers of Nightmares, or something like that. But then that wouldn't explain why Zero was being so secretive about it, or why Zeztz kills/"banishes" the Nightmares rather than sealing them in collectible Capsem balls. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what the actual answer is.

So I went back to Episode 2 to double check, and Zero's exact phrasing (in response to Baku's "am I really a secret agent now?") was "with enough belief, your dreams can come true." I don't think the subject of CODE being real ever comes up again, but from that brief conversation, I think it would make sense that Baku's takeaway was "my dreams came true and made CODE into a real organization" rather than "CODE was a real organization all along that slipped into my dreams." Though I guess you're right that they never really came out and said that was what Baku thought, at least not in this episode.

- I guess I sorta figured we got that answer when Baku transformed IRL in Episode 3? I could understand how one might see that and think it only worked because of the Nightmare invading reality, but it was the one time we saw Baku even trying to use his Rider powers outside of dream land, as himself rather than as Seven.

- To me, the lower-stakes stories of the past few months felt like they were necessary to establish a status quo for Baku/Zeztz, and this episode is leading to a major shift in that status quo.

Like, it hits harder for Baku to find out that the Capsems run on Nightmare power, and CODE is actually really shady and keeping secrets from him, if he's just been taking it for granted that he's a good guy, a heroic agent of CODE who uses the power of their Capsems to save people from Nightmares. Even if we haven't had a scene where they come right out and say what CODE and Zeztz are, the real important thing is Baku "knows" they're fighting for the side of good.

And personally, as an audience member, I feel like Zero's been acting suspiciously enough to make me wonder what's the deal with him and CODE, even if it wasn't explicitly framed as a mystery within the series itself.

As for pacing, I feel like the story's already been moving forward at a pretty decent pace for a Rider season, or an episodic superhero show in general. Like, we've already had Fujimi and Nasuka joining Baku, the revelation that Nem is missing IRL and trapped in dream land, we've found out about Fujimi's missing old partner who subsequently turned out to be Nox...

Maybe it isn't moving at the breakneck speed of something like Build or King-Ohger, but it's not as though the past nine episodes have been entirely filler either.

Got some real Fourze flashbacks with the astronaut scene. Wouldn’t be surprised if the spacesuits are recycled from that show.

Glad that Minami is finally in on the secret. It’s been annoying me that she was the only character still out of the loop.

I took a look at the post for this episode of Zeztz on the Kamen Rider official site earlier and they actually mentioned the space suits are recycled from Fourze. Pretty impressed that they held up so well after all these years.

I?m not surprised Baku didn?t think CODE existed before his dreams, given it was made clear he?d been dreaming of CODE even before becoming a Rider. I also don?t see why he wouldn?t assume the Capsems work in real life given he?s transformed in real life, it?s more a case of him never really having any reason to use them before now.

I get that his exact understanding of CODE was never spelled out but I also don?t feel like him believing it was spawned from his dreams to be unbelievable. After all, CODE?s headquarters is real, as is Zero and the Capsems he?s gotten from the machines. Zero even explained that they are given based on his state of mind this ep, which Baku isn?t immediately surprised by. (More embarrassed he didn?t consider it right away)

I like that Nox more or less immediately spilled the beans on Capsems now that he?s a Rider, rather than dragging it out. His warning seemed earnest, although it makes me wonder what his overall goal is now.

It seems we need a new Rider from Inoue to remind us how long characters can actually avoid the truth.

Ooh, Shout uploaded the episode early this week!

Kinda makes me wish I'd waited to watch it while eating dinner, instead of carefully scrubbing through the stream timeline (and still getting a few spoilers) so I could watch it in the morning...

I keep accidentally throwing live grenades into these threads on Saturday nights, so forgive me for not taking the time to properly address each individual point in the responses people have already had, but, in an effort to reduce the damage caused by my imprecise wording when writing directly after watching the episode, I will try to elaborate on a few points a little better, having had more time to process things. (...even if I can't guarantee the wording won't still be imprecise.)

Namely, I want to be clearer that I don't believe any of the specific plot points I'm bringing up are the actual problem? As I already said, Baku thinking the organization he dreamed of somehow became real is probably more sensible than the version that existed in my head, and it's entirely on me for jumping to that conclusion. Likewise, I also personally assumed in episode 3 that we were meant to take him transforming in reality as confirmation that he can, y'know, transform in reality... however, I recall at the time someone in that episode's thread mentioning that still coming off kind of ambiguously, which sort of planted the idea in the back of my head that maybe something intentional was going on there. The same way it currently seems maybe-intentional that this episode is scripted and/or edited in a way that could imply Zero in the dream world and Zero in the real world are two separate entities.

I guess I'm sort of just banging the same drum again, but it's an overall lack of clarity I feel that continues to keep me at a distance from Zeztz. And that's what I mean about feeling like the story is finally starting, too. I realize now how the way I phrased it makes it sound, but when those words are coming out of my mouth, I'm not talking about the pacing of plot twists or stakes or any particular arbitrary metrics for story progression like that. If I instead said this episode was like adding interesting new layers to a structure with no solid foundation, would that get at it better? (I think it definitely sounds even more mean, either way!) The revelations this week are very exciting, but a lot of them are filling in voids as much as they are adding on top of something that already existed. Like, to be as fair as I can, one of the few explicit things about Capsems we've been told is that they have the power to make dreams come true, so NOX saying what he does here is specifically flipping that on its head, so that's one thing I should definitely be giving the show credit for.

Still, there's so much in Zeztz where the show just flatly has not communicated clearly with the audience in these really basic ways that pretty much any story would, and while that's no sin, the danger I see in that ambiguity is that it also becomes ambiguous when the show is doing something on purpose or not. Maybe Baku going along with so much weirdness without questioning most of it is some galaxy-brain thematic thing where it's like someone in a dream doing much the same, for example. But without the show finding some way to sorta flag something like that ahead of time, that could also just be another mistaken assumption I'd be making.

Ordinarily, after an entire quarter of a toku series like this -- after around four hours of total runtime -- I'd have some basic grasp on what the series wants to accomplish, what its themes are, the style, the motivations of its characters, or any very core ideas like that which would help frame my understanding of all the stuff surrounding that core, thus preventing me from wasting my time being a huge buzzkill instead of my normal cheerleading. That's the "story" I'm talking about. It's obvious now Zeztz is starting to bring those things more to the surface, but up until now, I feel like in spite of all the things that have happened, only so much has really been established? I just sorta don't know this show that well, in a way that's pretty unprecedented for me and Rider? I'm confident I've proven over the years how flexible I can be in finding angles to enjoy a toku show from. Zeztz can do anything, but it needs to be doing something, and I need to focus in on that something before I can properly get behind it.

Baku’s behavior in this episode makes perfect sense once you step back and look at what his life has become.

He’s living the fantasy of being a dream-world secret agent, but it’s a fantasy with real consequences. I mean, is Baku actually getting true rest? He feels every injury from every battle, and he jumps straight into missions the moment he closes his eyes.

With everything happening so fast, cases stacking up, Nightmares growing stronger, people relying on him, he has no actual time or mental space to question what CODE is, where it came from, or whether he should be suspicious of anything. He just keeps moving because saving people is all he knows how to do. This episode shows the first cracks in that worldview, especially once Nox forces him to confront the possibility that he understands almost nothing about his own powers.

And to add, Nasuka is the one person trying to bring logic to the situation, pointing out details like the time discrepancy in dreams, but she is constantly talked over or dismissed by Fujimi, who leaps to conclusions the second he hears anything useful. He means well, but his obsession with proving Black Cases are legit and finding Odaka is pushing away the only person asking the right questions. I can see Zero hiding from Nasuka more than Fujimi because she doesn't hesitate to call out nonsense.

And for me personally, it bothered the hell out of me that Minami was snooping around. lol I don't hate the character, but her walking all over Baku's boundary bothered me on an older-sibling level.

I think this can be justified by the curse of "punishment for helping" that falls on Baku. It's quite possible she's checking to see if Baku picked up an abandoned kitten, which would cause a deorbiting satellite to fall on their house.

*random person sneezes*

Baku: *hands them a tissue* Bless you.

*Final Destination occurs*

Agent Seven is going to space! Or at least a space center so he can bond with a child who dreams of going into space! And, y'know, STOPPING A METEOR SHOWER THAT WILL DESTROY THE EARTH.

Nem's cute and colorful alien outfit is so...perfect.

I'm glad Baku didn't drag out telling Fujimi about Odakka being NOX, even if Fujimi doesn't take it well. It's surreal how Nasuka is more willing to believe everything now while Fujimi won't accept the current reality of his former partner.

Fujimi in the flashback actually looked...put together? And like he took regular showers?

That Nightmare sketch Odakka showed Fujimi had strong "Enemy General" vibes. I'd be shocked if we don't see it again as a full Nightmare.

So is the Nightmare the meteor itself? Like the Prison Nightmare?

So Baku's subconscious reflects what Capsem's he gets and his doubts about CODE or the Capsems is effecting him? But Zero already has the first upgrade form ready for him when he's ready?

Honestly they REALLY need to figure out the security of that closet office if it's so easy for someone to slip in. Zero had no idea it wasn't even Baku otherwise he probably would have gone into bike mode. Now he's got some 'splainin to do.

Bike scenes for the win!

Enter Nox Knight! Notice that he doesn't say "Henshin" to transform to denote that this isn't a Kamen Rider despite the obvious design similiarites.

I think this is the first time someone has referred to Baku's transformed state as "Zeztz" outside the driver sounds.

Nox Knight might not have the same abilities as Zeztz, but he can "erase" and he's much more battle experienced. Truly a formidable adversary/rival.

The Capsems hold Nightmare powers!? Breaking one unleashes...a Nightmare version of Zeztz!?

Man, Takahashi REALLY does not like the Espirim forms.

Baku was convinced his dreams were a reality, but CODE is truly real...and might not be what he thought it was.