[Fish Sandwich]

...I kind of deliberately avoided mentioning this back in July when you started covering Dynazenon, but I actually have a partially-written big post about it I was planning to put in the show's thread right after it ended, before I ended up abandoning the whole thing when it was like half done. Or maybe a third done. Or a fourth. I have no idea how bloated it would've ended up being, because it was already nearly as long as that post I put in here after you covered Gridman, and yet I had barely started talking about the show itself.

I gave up on finishing that post because I realized all I was talking about in all those words was myself, and once it came to actually analyzing Dynazenon... I just kind of couldn't? Really, I still can't, but I think I at least figured out why that is. Again, I realized I was talking about me, and now I realize that's a sign of how deeply I connected with this show on a personal level. Of course it's hard to put into words! The feelings I have about it are just like, implicit, you know? But still, even though that big post never ended up going anywhere, I will quote a bit from it that I think would probably be most relevant to share:

Quote:

I didn't like Dynazenon at first. Maybe it was a reflex, or whatever else, but watching the first episode, I was still completely in that same mindset I was for Gridman. There was just something about the show's storytelling that refused to click with me. The pacing of the scenes and dialogue, the characterization... I could try and explain it, but there's not much point to that. What's relevant here is that it still seemed like history was on track to repeat itself. Not helping matters was that it turned out one of my big plans to make things different got shot in the foot right away. I wanted to actively discuss the show each week in this thread, since I sort of isolated myself when it came to Gridman, and I think that was one of the big reasons it went so poorly. But since I wasn't forking over that premium cash, I was watching the show a week late, meaning the best I could do was pop in here to read those week-old thoughts from everybody. It was all a bit frustrating.

Then I watched the second episode.

I'm not sure my words can do justice to just how profoundly I loved it. It was the kind emotional response I had to Gridman's finale, but Dynazenon made it happen on the second try. The character development was beautifully handled. The action was tense and engaging. The atmosphere was impeccable. All those doubts, all that negativity, all those thoughts of "I don't get this", they weren't just cleared up, they were blasted away in an instant, like a Rex Roar straight to my apprehension. It was fantastic. A week prior, this whole thing was going terribly, and all of a sudden it was now going better than I could've ever hoped. I didn't just get to not hate Dynazenon, I got to be in on it, this early. I got to eagerly anticipate each new episode. I got to listen to all those voice dramas. I got to mull over those deeply relevant theme song lyrics. I got to think about all the characters and the themes and the action and whatever else. I got a chance to care, exactly the way I wasn't able to back in 2018. In 24 minutes, my nightmare turned into a dream.

This show clicked with me to a degree that's almost absurd, and if I'm being completely honest, it made reading you having pretty much the exact opposite experience a little sad at points. If I could point to one instance that sums it up best, it'd be you calling out that bit with the churro in episode 5. Uninteresting for you, but for me... well, here's another quote from what I managed to write about Dynazenon:

Quote:

Back with Gridman, I'd go insane any time they held on a shot for an extra second, scrambling to figure out what it all means, and yet here, I can watch Yume eat a churro for what feels like several eternities and implicitly understand why the show thought that was important to take time out for.

...And I wrote that before you ever started watching this show! Dynazenon was this show I wasn't even sure I was going to watch at first, and it ended up being like one huge present to me for not running away. I remember listening to the soundtrack while I was writing that stuff up, and while it isn't 1:1 or anything, the lyrics to All This Time felt weirdly pertinent to my experience with the series. SSSS.Dynazenon is like someone saw all the complaints I had about SSSS.Gridman and decided to make a version of it built entirely around my tastes. Everything it did felt so purposeful to me, and right to the end, I thought it was exactly the masterpiece I remember everyone making its predecessor out to be.

So yeah, it's a bummer those same decisions Dynazenon made with its storytelling didn't have the same resonance for you. For what it's worth, though, despite you claiming to be a simpleton, I think you've done a good job getting at your own feelings about the show, and it certainly takes some intelligence to recognize how subjective these things can be instead of just leaving at it "SHOW AM BAD 0/10" or whatever. It was a bummer that you didn't end up liking Dynazenon all that much, but it was still fun reading your thoughts on it all the same.