[Fish Sandwich]

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Originally Posted by Mesnick

the Mexican duel

By the way, I really appreciated how that situation happens because Seven goes out of his way to change his target from Six from Five, putting himself at greater risk seemingly specifically to protect NOX, and maybe to sort of balance out the fight in general, if he's thinking that far ahead? It's even implicit in his use of Plasma instead of designated newest-toy Catastrom that he's clearly not looking to break any of these people. The show doesn't spell any of it out that much with dialogue, but it's neat how much just the actions in that action scene speak all by themselves.

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Originally Posted by Locke

Also interesting seeing the show face head on an issue I have had throughout in how there can be stakes when everything is a dream. It doesn't really resolve this conflict, but the first step is at least acknowledging it.

I recall seeing similar complaints to this a few times early on, and I'm still not sure what exactly would make anyone still worry about that after actually seeing the show? A lot of stuff in ZEZTZ is nebulously defined, for sure, but Baku needing to stop bad dreams because they'll come true in reality if he doesn't has always seemed extremely clear? In a way, his new mission to change the future he saw is just sort of a bigger-scale version of the thing he's been doing the entire show.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

The dreamers are always dreaming as themselves and never as other people, which makes it easy for Baku to identify them. Like, for example, what if one of those Blockreate kids had dreamed they were a tiefling? Good luck finding that guy in the real world.

I suppose in a version of this series that placed greater emphasis on episodic plots, where the big twists are more about how the individual stories mix things up, that might very well have been a hook they decided to use at some point. Heck, I guess it's not impossible for them to still do it in this version, but it does seem right now like the show just isn't interested in doing those sorts of Dreamer stories anymore.

I guess we'll see! I always get bummed out when Rider shows in the last third or so become focused on heroes fighting boss characters at the expense of episodes where you see them saving people from monsters in a more direct way. Plasma's transformations are always cool, but I don't think any of them have been as cool as the one in 21 where he's also cradling a child. Would *love* to continue getting imagery like that even late into this show.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

While Visions better emphasizes the feeling of Seven's coolness, I agree that Play Back does seem fitting for where the story goes from here

I think this was a YouTube comment I saw somewhere I already can't remember, but I saw someone say something about how the sort of rougher, less "stylish" kind of cool vibe Play Back has actually really fits Baku's whole situation where he's now determined to confront all this stuff for real without losing himself in the fun of his agent fantasies. I thought that was a really good point to make. I think Visions was definitely a little more unique as a Rider opening, but honestly, I'm literally incapable of not being happy about this show finally having a song with lyrics by Fujibayashi, so even if Play Back didn't work as well as it does, I'd probably still be okay with it.

The visuals of the new opening impress me even more than the song itself, though. I already mentioned that I like the way it literally uses the previous opening, but I didn't elaborate that the big reason I think it's so cool is because it actively sells this as an evolution of the show we've already been watching in a way something like Blade or Hibiki was not particularly concerned with. The creativity of the imagery in general is off the charts throughout, but that touch specifically shows a degree of just, like, care, I guess, that I thought was great. Again, it's not like the show is trying to toss what it's been up until now into a bin.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Best scene of the OP!

(Also, I can't even begin to imagine how long it took to film that one shot over and over again with all those different outfits. Totally worth it though.)