[Zolda]

Yep. The rumor is confirmed to be true:
The (main) writer is indeed Yuuya Takahashi. It seems like he's having quite a hard time finding jobs outside of this franchise.

I see a 99,999% probability that KR Zeztz's story is gonna be super-duper-hyper-mega-ultra-uber absurd and convoluted with a gazillion of asspull and convenient stupidity. Like I've hypothesized since post my very 1st post way back in late March 2025 here, the absurdity would mainly come from the characters' ability to change (or even manipulate) reality by changing things in the dream realms, which means that at some point reality and dreams would blur into one mess of absurdity. As usual, by combining make-a-wish and reality-altering/-bending/-manipulation premises, Yuuya Takahashi is basically giving himself a gazillion of blank cheques.
KR Zeztz = KR (God forbid) Geats v2.0.0build2025.09.07 x 1 trillion???

I have several new hypotheses:
- That Nox guy who is said to be a mysterious man wandering aimlessly in the dream realms could be a combination of Alain/KR Necrom, Chase/KR Chaser, and Spanner Kurogane/KR Valvarad. He could be the rumored 2nd Rider (KR Yezz) or the 3rd Rider. Although he's said to be the one who is commanding the Nightmares, could he also be the rogue agent I hypothesized in my post here? Or he could be a former agent who is trapped in the limbo due to his recklessness and or an accident in one of his past missions, similar to the characters in Inception who had a serious possibility of being trapped in the limbo (a formless, boundless world of pure dreams/ideas) if they penetrate the dream world(s) too deep and or stay there for too long, making it hard for him to be able to tell the difference between dreams and reality. His character arc could involve him trying to wake up, which means that he's not actually wandering in the dream realms, but trapped there. Perhaps he made a pact with the true leader of the Nightmares where his goal is to finally escape the dream realms back into reality, or he just went totally insane and decided to collude with the Nightmares. His actual body could be somewhere sleeping inside his nice apartment/house, albeit in a vegetative state, haha. I've also liked the actor (Yuuki Furukawa) since he co-starred with Honoka Yahagi (who played Mezool's human form in KR OOO) in Itazura na Kiss: Love in Tokyo in 2013, so it's really nice to see him in the KR franchise. I'm stoked about his character.
- My hypothesis about the heroine in my post here was quite correct. The heroine's name does have something to do with sleep or dream. Her name's Nemu aka sleepy. Although she's said to work as a tarento, she could likely be a non-human, very likely the same species as the enemies (Nightmares), and she's some kind of a (secret) liaison between the protagonist/agents and the organization (CODE) (or even the enemies!), hinted by her name which is a state between wakefulness and sleep. Oh, and it seems like she's changing costumes to suit the dream realms that she and Baku are entering, similar to Tsukasa Kadoya/KR Decade who always changed costumes every time he entered a new alternate world. This could be a hint that my hypotheses here, here, and here about the dream realms (and the ones stored inside Capsems) being alternate/parallel universes could be correct.
- Unlike the uber-dumb police in KR (God forbid) Gavv, it's nice to see 2(!) police detectives (Tetsuya Fujimi and Nasuka Nagumo) among the main characters. They look like the slightly more serious, more competent version of Mikio Jinno and Shun Makura/Makki. Nasuka is giving me the Rinko Daimon vibe from KR Wizard. Heck, even their attires and hairstyles are very similar, haha. At least the Tokyo police department is doing their job properly in this story. Also, at least one of them, or one of their close friends or immediate family members would likely be a victim of the Nightmares in earlier episodes.
- Minami (Baku's younger sister) is said to work as a talent manager. Perhaps Baku would get acquainted to Nemu through her job as a talent manager.
- The robot-bike (Zero) is likely used for traversing between reality and dream realms, similar to the Lock Vehicles (Sakura Hurricane, Rose Attacker, etc) in KR Gaim that allowed the Riders to enter and exit the Helheim forest.
- The plot twist that could later appear is:
The supposed top-level reality that the protagonists are said to be living in is actually just also another layer of dream, and Nemu has been looking for Baku there. It means that the one who is trapped inside the dream realms is not only Nox, but also Baku.
- All the other people (Minami, Tetsuya, Nasuka, etc) inside the supposed top-level reality could actually be just projections created by Baku's mind, and their names/personalities/connections to Baku/jobs/etc may or may not match the real ones, similar to Inception on how the dreams of human minds can create projections of real people, including dead ones, and even recreated places from the distant past. Minami is said to be Baku's younger sister, but in reality, she could be his neighbor. Tetsuya is said to be a police detective, but in reality, he could be Baku's uncle. Nemu is said to be a national tarento who Baku is a fan of, but in reality, she could be his girlfriend. Heck, the name "Baku Yorozu" itself could be just a nickname he gave to himself, not his real name, as many people have mentioned that "baku" is the name of a mythological chimerical beast that devours nightmares. "Baku Yorozu" could be a pseudonym, a nickname, a palindrome, or even the acronym of a group of people, which means that "Baku Yorozu" could be a composite character.
- This kind of existential plot twist is also similar to the ones during the last several minutes of eXistenZ (1999), where a group of virtual-reality video game beta testers who were supposed to have exited from the game couldn't tell the difference between reality and simulation; The Thirteenth Floor (1999), where the top-level reality that the female protagonist was supposed to come from could also be just another layer of computer simulation; SSSS.Gridman (2018), where it was revealed during the last 2 episodes that the protagonists were actually saving the villainess from her own dream world; or Inception itself, where it was hinted at during the ending that the protagonist himself (Dom Cobb) could be dreaming during the entire story.
- This "the real world is actually just another layer of dream realms" trope could potentially explain the hypothesis I mentioned in the 2nd paragraph above. The characters (especially Baku and Nox/the Nightmares) could manipulate the real world by changing the dream realms, because, well, the real world is just another layer of dream realms, not the actual real world. How many layers of dream realms are there? Is it turtles all the way down (aka the infinite regress)? Don't know!

Mmmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyybbbbbbbbbbeeeeeeeeee...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Meh.

Yeah, I feel that way too. Very very very mediocre Rider designs paired with the most atrocious writer in toku/anime right now. The only thing that makes me interested in this series is because Yuuki Furukawa is starring as Nox.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GuardianAngel87

And Toei once again showcases blatant favoritism towards a very certain writer.

I've read some fans in several Japanese KR fandom forums rumoring that the reason why Takahashi is the most often preferred one by Toei/Bandai is because he's a yes man who will do pretty much anything to appease Bandai's whim, at the expense of his own scripts (and career).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Byg42

I'm not going to lie, Takahashi being the main writer was a bit of a make or break factor for my interest in Zeztz. I don't entirely dislike most of Takahashi's work, but I've come to realize that his writing style and quirks just doesn't really appeal to what I'm personally looking for in a toku show nowadays. Similarly, this is partly why I never managed to stick with Kingohger, since Takano was Takahashi's understudy and thus Kingohger had a lot of the same writing quirks.

Yes, Takano was Takahashi's padawan. The atrocities in King-Ohger were basically the Diet Coke version of the ones in KR (God forbid) Geats. Narrative chaos and absurdity (and shock factor, especially in Takahashi's works) is the name of their game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

Well, while Geats is definitely my least favorite Kamen Rider, I seem to be more sympathetic to Takahashi's nomination. Partially because at least a third of my complaints about Geats are definitely not Takahashi's fault, so I'm sure even if he uses the same script with the names changed, it will be better. Hopefully.

Takahashi will be better? Seriously, bruh? He's getting worse and worse and worse and worse and worse with each of his series/films. KR Ex-Aid was ironically his least atrocious work, despite being his first try in this franchise and written during his 5th or 6th year as a writer. KR (God forbid) Geats was the ultimate evidence that that guy is a talentless hack. The atrocity that was KR (God forbid) Geats' script was 100% Takahashi's fault and 100% Naomi Takebe's fault.

At this point, I better hope that my dogs will suddenly grow wings tomorrow morning and fly to the sun than hope that Takahashi will write stories that are not convoluted, not absurd, and not atrocious.