[Sh Ranger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

"To be burdened with sin even before birth... That's one unfair bad dream."

"Don't falter. Don't suffer. Enjoy the bad dream. That's how you change the whole world."

That scene right before the opening here was personally the most interesting I've found Sieg so far, because it definitely seems like it's in the episode specifically to speak to as-of-yet untold deeper facets of the guy?

When he talks about Nem's circumstances, it kinda sounds like he's also speaking about his own -- like his interest in Nem, much like his interest in ZEZTZ, is a sort of twisted kinship he feels with his fellow children of bad dreams. Which could itself suggest someone who, consciously or otherwise, wants to feel a sense of connection to somebody, or to just feel understood by them. A very Rider-esque loneliness or some other such thing that would add at least another note to his personality.

I love the idea of Sieg being tragically misunderstood to the point of not caring what happens to him since as far as he knows, nobody else does. Maybe he's actually a lot like Baku in that sense. Baku only feels truly alive when he's dreaming and I can totally imagine how the vivid unpredictable sensation of a nightmare could be something that Sieg clings to as an unhealthy way of dealing with a void he feels in life. When there is nothing, the power to grasp anything, even something terrible, might look like salvation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

This reminds me: has it actually been clear to everyone that all the episodes titles are specifically verbs? Some of the English translations they choose make that less obvious, which I'd maybe be more bothered by if I knew *why* the episode titles were all verbs.

Of course! I think there's way more backing than raging in this episode, with Zeztz backing Nox to wake up, Minami backing Baku to not die and the flashback of Zero backing Sieg to Be The One. Kamen Rider Hibiki had similar titles, with a verb followed by a noun, including titles that reference both OPs with Kagayaku Shounen and Hajimaru Kimi.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

My biggest fear right now is that Zeztz becomes the next Faiz for me: A show that I was really liking, only for a specific part to hit which completely turns all that good will around. And at the rate these past few episodes have been going, it's feeling more and more like the best I can hope for is that this show pulls a Blade and the ending totally saves it for me.

My biggest hope is that Zeztz becomes the next Faiz. Regarding your fear though, I've felt the same way ever since Takahashi was announced as the writer, as that "specific part" is something I associate with every show he's previously written. It's possible that like you fear, that specific part has already hit for Zeztz, but for now I'm not noticing any significant decline in quality, only a lateral movement. So I'll reserve my opinion until I see what comes of this new chapter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

@DreamSword can I take from your posts then that you felt really strongly about the first half of this show then? Can I ask why? As everyone else said, your opinion is your opinion, and this isn't me trying to attack your opinion or tell you it is wrong, but to me the first half of this show was so overwhelmingly bland ultimately, that I just can't imagine what anyone would latch into to feel so strongly about that portion that they'd want it protected and respected.

Like maybe I'm just old and have been at this too long and disconnected from what people want from their Rider shows, but honestly I haven't seen many takes like yours out in the wild really.

I'm not Dream either, but I guess I just enjoy the formula of Zeztz being a cool agent and going on fun missions to live out that power fantasy many of us dream about. I'm totally cool with the second half focusing more on the 4-way rift between CODE, Team Zeztz, Lady and Dawn, as agent genre usually ends up going there at some point, but like Layton said, this new direction only works thanks to the effort of the first half to make those factions worth caring about. I mean, you have to see Zeztz and Zero being bros to feel the tragedy of their breakup.