[Fredbob392]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Kinda working backwards here, but I thought the cliffhanger this time was extremely well done. Seven's RPG adventure and NOX being hunted down by CODE mostly play out separately, but the way they overlap right at the end to emphasize how bad whatever's going down is makes it much more effective than if it were only ZEZTZ realizing there's actually a bunch of monsters or only NOX giving yet more cryptic answers that always seem to be several questions ahead of the one he's actually being asked. (It's just his shtick at this point; he'd be nowhere near as cute as if he talked normally.)

The fact that the A plot and the B plot are kept separate isn't necessarily a negative, either. There's an argument to be made that the RPG stuff doesn't get to be in-depth enough to make the most of the premise, but it's still effective in how it sets the tone as a seemingly laid-back mission for Seven. Something which is then furthered by busting out one of my favorite toku tropes, the misfit monster, meaning the fight scene ZEZTZ gets is even more silly than usual.

It's all fun and games, but as NOX points out, it's clearly too good to last, and I like how the episode keeps that thought nagging at you in the back of your mind with everything else going on. The growing complexities of this show and its new characters are kept where Baku doesn't have to see them for a while, which lets the show do something really out there and weird with its dream premise while still doing all the spy conspiracy stuff elsewhere and keeping that big picture Plot momentum up.

This was only the setup half of the two-parter, but I thought this one was really engaging just on its own, which I guess comes down to how it manages to do those two different tones at the same time. Doesn't hurt that one of those tones was a cute pastiche of a genre I'm fond of, either.

A building sense of dread seems to be something this season has a real knack for, which fits the bad dream theme perfectly.