[Frontier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I'd say I'm still struggling to see the larger purpose of anything going on in Zeztz, but then, I found this episode extremely entertaining anyway, and I suppose that's always the largest purpose of them all.

But yeah, even this week, it's still a little hard for me to read into the material much deeper than the broad strokes? The story is a doing a ton of things I love to see, especially in how it gets more introspective with the hero and continues to challenge the preconceived notion of the current main antagonist actually being a villain, but... usually around this point, I'd be able to talk about how a Kamen Rider show is exploring some theme or portraying character growth or anything else like that which really resonates with me on some personal level, and Zeztz and I still aren't quite there yet. Not unlike Baku sorting out his repressed memories this week, it keeps feeling like I can see this sort of fuzzy mirage of *something*, but even as that something becomes more and more clear, it's not exactly in focus.

That's also sort of a paradox in my experience watching Zeztz that keeps making my opinions on it come out so weird, which this episode exemplifies? The direction, thanks to Kamihoriuchi's usual genius, is *insanely* rich throughout. There's so much evocative imagery and all these touches that make all these events I can't yet fully comprehend on a conscious level feel so grand and meaningful in a sort of primal way. Despite that, though, trying to treat the show as a sort of "feel, don't think!" situation leaves me circling right back to how much less I'm feeling than usual? Part of me definitely wants to see that striking image of Baku making the very lightning at the core of all his bad dreams into his own power and immediately grasp it as a powerful statement the show is making about something, but again, "something" ends up feeling like no matter where I look, it's always in the corner of my eye, and never properly in front of me.

I think overall the show is exploring dreams, escapism, and how they intersect with reality.

How dreams are worth protecting but they aren't always what we think they are (in Baku's case at least).

How much one can throw themselves into their dream life at expense to their own personal character.