[GoldenXtreme]

Though I didn't find episode 2 as outrageously fun as the first episode, this was still pretty good. Also bike action!

I definitely feel like Nem is going to have actual plot relevance later, but for now the whole shtick of cropping up in people's dreams to play whatever part is needed is pretty fun. We also get to have some nice scenes in the real world too, with our normal-cop and weird-cop duo seemingly to hit off pretty well with Baku. I have a feeling the two of them will be cooperating with his Kamen Rider heroics before long. Baku and Minami's little scene was cute too. This episode was overall more focused on establishing the setting than the first one. We learn that Zeztz has to stop Nightmares from making bad dreams come true so they don't hijack their victim's bodies and that the bad dreams seem to be some kind of representation of the victim's subconscious desires. Bad impulses that people don't act on I suppose? The viewers are left with a lot of unanswered questions still though: we still don't know if Baku can transform in the real world or really how or why any of this Kamen Rider stuff is happening among other things.

I did find myself thinking that the dream setting has some disadvantages this episode though. The "anything can happen" nature of these dream fights just takes away from some of the fun physicality of tokusatsu battles for me and also having all the action take place in a dream just feels sort of lonely to me? There aren't really many people around to add spice, you know? Hoping the supporting cast takes a more active role later, or at least that the secondary Rider debut later on will resolve this.