[Fish Sandwich]

This'll be real basic because I'm writing it right before catching some actual Zeztz of my own, but my first impressions of this show are pretty positive. A belt worn on the chest is like two decades too late to feel like the cRaZy!! gimmick they want to make it sound like, but in this genre where intangible feelings and concepts are so often given literal form to explore as stories, a Rider who exists in dreams is maybe one of the best premises for a tokusatsu show you can ever have? The sort of punchy, exaggerated comic book quality Yuuya Takahashi's writing often has seems pretty suited to that concept, and Kazuya Kamihoriuchi is 100% the guy to call to direct it.

The visuals in this premiere especially definitely take advantage of that dreamlike quality that film can do where editing lends a flow to things to that otherwise have no logical connection. I find the idea of a series where Toei Geography is actively justified by the basic premise pretty hilarious. That being said, I didn't think the actual Kamen Rider fighting part was especially impressive, and in general, I'd really like to the see the show push some of the ideas established here further in episodes to come. Which is maybe my general opinion too. A promising start, and an enjoyable episode, but one I hope ends up feeling like the weakest episode of the series in retrospect.