[Layton13]

Zeztz continues to fire on all cylinders, pushing established pieces into very fresh, new directions that wouldn't have been possible if not for the twist.

I agree that Dawn seems to be a character that represents the second half, but I think that is great.

He is the underlying darkness of CODE brought to the forefront once the dream has been fully washed away. He's the ugly reality crashing into the dream and he is delightful.

That said, while he seems one-note, I honestly doubt it will stay that way for the rest of the show. There is nothing to fully get that from, but let's just call it a hunch based on how Rider is usually structured. Especially since Takahashi is really good at building characters that seem to be one-note into far more multilayered characters like Genm, Thouser, and Glare.

And even if he is, Dawn is already forcing other characters to reveal more sides to themself, so he's already justified his presence for me.

[Mesnick]

Well, this is a very interesting episode. Lots of inventive action and no fewer revelations. Baku has abandoned the name Seven and is doing everything he can, but Dawn remains unfazed. And the bad dream may not be a never-ending, but it's clearly dragging on.
NOX becomes an ally to Baku and Nem, albeit reluctantly, since Dawn is wreaking havoc in his dream. Interestingly, NOX seems to be the best at manipulating dream space, since even Dawn can't catch him. Another significant detail: NOX seems to genuinely support Lady. Overall, NOX is quite likeable in this episode, but it ends with him being imprisoned in the nightmarish Dawn prison.
As for Dawn, we learn that he was CODE Number One. Moreover, he's a former criminal who was experimented on, ultimately granting him immense power. This leads to another revelation: all who use the power of Nightmares eventually go mad. This is very evident from Dawn, Lady, and Three's strange behavior. Overall, it turns out that out of the seven CODE agents, four have rebelled. It seems clear that CODE has made a mistake somewhere.
Speaking of CODE itself, Zero prefers to play the smart monkey, but Three is eager to fight and decides to use Five. And judging by his words, this power-up will cost the big guy a lot.
Also worth noting is the heartfelt conversation between Baku and Minami. It's clearly a setup for something. Incidentally, the announcement promises that the writers decided to poke fun at the common theory by making Minami a cat agent. Well, given the recent events in her life, this is an entirely predictable dream. The question is, will Baku be able to protect his sister, since Dawn seems invincible. Even Catastrom was no help against him. But maybe Lady can do something? It wasn't for nothing that they started out together.
I enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the continnue.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Let it be known that I hate Dawn.

Like, actively.

Easily my most hated Kamen Rider character in a long time.

And I highly, highly doubt that's going to change throughout the rest of this show.

To me, he's just Ouja in overdrive mode. Which will soon be resolved. The only question is who will beat him: Zeztz or a Somnia-enhanced Five?

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Layton13

I agree that Dawn seems to be a character that represents the second half, but I think that is great.

He is the underlying darkness of CODE brought to the forefront once the dream has been fully washed away. He's the ugly reality crashing into the dream and he is delightful.

That said, while he seems one-note, I honestly doubt it will stay that way for the rest of the show. There is nothing to fully get that from, but let's just call it a hunch based on how Rider is usually structured. Especially since Takahashi is really good at building characters that seem to be one-note into far more multilayered characters like Genm, Thouser, and Glare.

The problem here is that even before his involvement with CODE, Dawn was a psychopath, sentenced to 1,000 years. And I highly doubt it was for corruption. So unless it turns out CODE framed him to exploit his unique abilities, it's pretty hard to expect any kind of unique revelation.

Quote:

And even if he is, Dawn is already forcing other characters to reveal more sides to themself, so he's already justified his presence for me.

I agree. And the pace of the show itself has noticeably sped up.

[Layton13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

The problem here is that even before his involvement with CODE, Dawn was a psychopath, sentenced to 1,000 years. And I highly doubt it was for corruption. So unless it turns out CODE framed him to exploit his unique abilities, it's pretty hard to expect any kind of unique revelation.

Like I said, this is mostly based on vibes and how plot structure, especially in Takahashi shows, go.

Them dropping the 1000 years bit so early and without much fanfare kinda points at them doing a bit more with this and if they will invest into expanding that some more, they will definitely add to it in some way. I personaly just get the vibe that it will be a twist and not just driving home how awful Sieg is.

In general, the truly evil characters without basically any redeeming qualities usually show up close to the end of his shows, at most in the last 3rd. Aka, Cronos, Ark or Suel. All other antagonists are humanized in some way shape or form.

My current prediction on the little bit of info we got about him in these two episodes and a lot of just vibes:

He's not exactly framed by CODE, but he was part of some sort of dream experiment, perhaps one of the inciting incidents of the show to be narratively efficent, where a large number of people died. He was used as the scapegoat so CODE could pressure him into further experiments because he seems to be at least similar to Baku with the fact his main Capsem seems to work similarly to Baku's Catastrom.

His inclusion as Agent 1 feels very strange, and the fact that Zero completely ignores Agent 2's objections does indicate he is there for a reason.

I assume the original experiment emotionally broke him, letting him embrace the nightmare to hide within it and so his current personality was formed. One thing that could work for that is the fact he spins the Capsem the wrong way, so instead of breaking out of the ground, it retreats into it, aka, he's retreating into himself. Could work as a turning point for the character when he confronts that part of himself and uses it the right way round so the dragon can finally break out of his shell.

But like I said, that is all mostly vibes and guesses based on how stuff like this often goes.