[DreadBringer]

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Originally Posted by Enchilada645

Also I was originally worried about Baku being potentially Ace 2 given the vibes when we first saw him. But this episode definitely sold me on him since he is way more than that. Real nice guy and I love the Spy Otaku aspect of him, just the quick shots we see of all his memorabilia really gives us a lot.

When Takahashi did more of nice guy MC than someone like Ace (who is a rarity for KR that there's only two other outwardly similar type), in Emu and Aruto. By looks, even Ikki seem to be the cool type in Revice previews.

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Originally Posted by Switchblade

This was a lot of fun. It looks to be going for a serious vibe again this season but without the massive dissonance between the plot and visual aesthetic that always bugged me with Gavv.

What about Gaim?

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Originally Posted by GoldenXtreme

Anyways, like a lot of people I had some apprehensions about Yuuya Takahashi, but honestly this premier was a lot of fun!

While you have one season of him that is your least favorite of all, dunno if people's hate for him is too strong or irrational and bordering on irrational to not even think that the premier would be good? Also, the credit may go to Kazuya Kamihoriuchi as the main director.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I think Baku is one of the most relatable protagonists from the start, alongside Touma. He dreams of being an agent, basically a superhero, the same way us fans look up to such characters and wish our own lives were more exciting like theirs.

Heisei protagonists that are as relatable as this?

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I mean, the criminals are totally imaginary, so I won't hold it against Baku if he does necessarily have to kill some imaginary criminals at some point, as agents are expected to do anyway. Of course, the non-lethal approach here shows off Baku's professional conduct and skill as the invincible agent, completing his mission with the least amount of death.

Often the cool and aura farming characters in media (not talking about toku, but talking about other media like anime or such) are those that are portrayed as the ones that would have no qualms to sacrifice some to accomplish missions or pull off intelligent gambits (seems to be partly the reason they're praised for being pragmatic, professional, and not sentimental/soft), but this seems to be important to be taken into account where high level of skill should be utilized for control and accuracy as well, as additional power/capability, to live up to one's moral compass more in minimizing killing (like how if you're super powerful, they can minimize force against like, armed human opponents to not kill them because you're not in danger).

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

I mean, the criticism for Takahashi shows usually comes later. The first halves of EX-Aid and Geats and first quarter of Zero One are generally considered high quality, so I'm not surprised at all that I ended up enjoying this premiere. I hope to continue enjoying Zeztz for as long as it can maintain this level of quality.

Though not in your case, Ex-Aid is considered high quality all the way around, at worst it'd be occassionally seeing Masamune (main antagonist at that time) as not living up to Kuroto (who almost no one can, I'd think he's the most successful and favorite character in all the KR franchise). Revice also qualifies for first halves being generally considered high quality (even if you disagree, GoldenXtreme is never sold on Geats since start).

Otherwise yeah, my point about explaining something like Zitt's case in Zeztz rumor thread was that the belief that the writer does everything, and every single little grievance or merit the show has is either the merit or the fault of the main writer, is common but not completely right. Zeztz has Kazuya Kamihoriuchi as the main director who is consistent in his work's quality, for the credit in this episode.

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Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Considering the Nightmares' power to affect reality, I suspect that Baku isn't actually cosmic-level unlucky at all, but rather the Nightmares fear his lucid dreaming power and are trying to deter him from the path of a hero through negative reinforcement.

Guess if this happens, this'd be another time if the bad luck to the boy scout (that Takahashi is also infamous about) is deliberate, like Kekera also highlighting negative consequences of 'misery builds character' in Keiwa.

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Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I kind of took the non-lethal bullets as a sort of play on how cleanly the violence in the stereotypical glamorous spy movie can be? Like, Baku dreams of being a cool secret agent, and all the cool tropes that come with that, but he absolutely does not dream about watching dudes bleed out from gory wounds or anything gruesome like that.

Obviously on an outside level, it's that way because this is a show for children, but I thought it made logical sense on a character level too, which is nice.

I don't know if characters' righteous morality also qualifies for outside level of accomplishing the task of making the show being accessible to children (or for other reason, outside level of keep selling the medias for those with 'no kill rule', either heroes or villains), as some people'd think and dismiss morality as a childish concept, and that this can be more scarce in more 'mature' shows that has no obligation of catering to children. I think many more stuff are logical on character level, where more morally righteous heroes shouldn't be heartless to bad guys too, like only using necessary force.

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Originally Posted by Frontier

I think it's also worth noting that pretty much every Takahashi show has had the Secondary as the co-protagonist early on and how often they tend to dominate or take over focus on the plot. Like I remember people talking about Fuwa feeling like the real main character during certain points of Zero-One and how Keiwa initially seemed like the main POV or relatable protagonist compared to Ace in Geats.

Interview with Takahashi on the TTFC app, where he discusses his return to writing a Rider series.

"Some people might be thinking, 'He's writing again?' but this is also a first for me. This time, I get the challenge of writing a story with only one main Rider. I hope everyone who watches and has seen my previous work will enjoy it."

But honestly, for Fuwa being the real main character part, people like to dismiss the 'cookie-cutter and generic' boy scout protagonists and view the ones that are undergoing character development as 'the real main character'. It's just about them being biased to their personal favorite (and people also can have a tendency to think characters have to get development or change). This happens too for like Den-O (who has another bad luck MC), thinking that Yuuto is more actual MC, or that Ryuki previously have Ren being the one seen as real MC due to not being sold with Shinji.