[Paladin]

Baku must learn the truth before facing the dream master within prison.

[Frontier]

I found it interesting that Nox called Baku by his dream name "Seven." Also what does he mean about Baku having to face his "bad dream?" Is he referring to the other Zeztz in the OP?

So the Capsems linked to each form can actually shift directly into that form when used. Mechanical and Projection immediately transform him into Technolom.

Capsems also effect finishers? I'm assuming Mechanical is the reason the Breakam Bullet got so big.

It's nice that Baku is willing to protect even dream people...then again, the mission was "Escape with all the Prisoners" so he can't very well let them die. Actually, would real Reiko have died if Dream Reiko died?

Poor Zero can't even enjoy his oil tea in peace with the frequency these detectives pop out. I do love how he can emote with the bike head even while in bike form.

I see not even Kamen Rider protagonists are immune to Truck-kun. Does it count as Isekai if you're now living in peoples' dreams, basically? I feel like I watched a similar anime.

Honestly my first instinct wouldn't be Nem is dead but more questioning how a woman in a coma could vanish...because that would imply something way more complex than just her being dead.

Ah, so Reiko did care about Nem. She immediately wanted to let the police know she was gone, but Bijogi could not let the reality of what happened to her hit the public. To him Nem was an ideal, more than a person, even if he still cared about her as a daughter.

Minami probably getting a lot of shock in one episode and more confusion in regards to what her brother is doing.

So basically it's 50/50 whether the Dreamer is actually going to remember Baku outside the dream.

Nox is basically coaxing people into giving up their lives and their bodies to the Nightmare...but maybe that would be better than facing reality?

Poor Nem has had no idea what's been happening to her for four years, just popping into peoples' dreams constantly.

So now Baku has the goal of stopping the Nightmares and finding Nem, being the one most convinced she's still alive.

The Projection Capsem! With the ability to control hard light and pop out anything you could want like your weapon or clones!

Feels rare for another form to have a Rider Kick outside Upgrade Forms...but seeing Zeztz and all his clones do their Rider Kicks nearly at the same time was pretty awesome. Goodbye Prison Nightmare!

Bijogi until the bitter end really did consign dream Reiko to death versus being with Nem. Is it any wonder they divorced? Though I guess it's some solace that at least dream Reiko understood why he did what he did. But she's just a dream projection of his mind.

Well, the idea that there's a price for Baku to pay to use the Zeztz powers doesn't sound ominous at all.

I had a feeling Nox had Nem...but I didn't expect he was apparently using her to find his targets to harvest dreams from.

Next week Baku takes on cooking and Espirim Form!

[Fish Sandwich]

Yeah, pretty much no complaints with this one! It lands this two-parter pretty well by doing basically every last thing I wanted from the previous story, including things I don't think I even complained about out loud, like how they didn't do the slot machine thing for the finishing move last time.

That's a bit of formula for the show that I really feel shouldn't ever be absent. And part of the reason I can be can of nagging about that sort of thing is because, on top of just helping establish an identity for a series, you create the opportunity to riff on those things as you go along in ways that can be really interesting. This episode even demonstrates what I mean when Baku decides on what his own mission is going to be, in English, just like all the other times, which gives that promise much more dramatic heft specifically because of all the expectations the show has established about how seriously Seven takes getting the job done. Just a real nice moment in a real nice episode.

Oh, and on the subjects of action and formulas, I'm definitely starting to get the sense fights in this series are aiming to wow more with the creativity of the setpieces rather than the actual fight choreography itself? Not something I'm actually unhappy about, considering that seems like the right thing for the dream Kamen Rider and all, but it really is curious to imagine how much they'll be able to keep this sense of scale going for a whole show, if that's the goal they're aiming for.

[Switchblade]

Okay, first of all, Shout needs to get a better handle on the live stream. A couple weeks ago the show started late, this week it was already halfway over when it was supposed to just be starting.

So I guess we're just going to skip over the part where Minami asks Baku what the hell is going on, why is calling himself Agent 7 and appearing in the old guy's dreams, and why Bijogi is willing to let them into his office and give the full story of how they've been Weekend at Bernies-ing Nem. Cool. Like, I understand this show has a limited run time, but this feels like a conversation that really, really should have happened either before or after the Nem's accident exposition.

"We didn't want to tell the world that Nem was in a car accident because it would destroy everyone's hopes and dreams" is some deeply insane parasocial logic. I get that idol culture is really, really intense in Japan but this is profoundly fucked up.

Bijogi staring at a sleeping teen Nem is not less creepy than him staring at an awake child Nem. Please do not return her to this man; he may not be keeping her locked up in a CGI room, but I promise you it is not going to be a better life for her.

I do not care for the little half cape on the new form.

[Frontier]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

So I guess we're just going to skip over the part where Minami asks Baku what the hell is going on, why is calling himself Agent 7 and appearing in the old guy's dreams, and why Bijogi is willing to let them into his office and give the full story of how they've been Weekend at Bernies-ing Nem. Cool. Like, I understand this show has a limited run time, but this feels like a conversation that really, really should have happened either before or after the Nem's accident exposition.

I think Minami might've been thrown off by the revelation about Nem that she didn't dwell on the revelations about her brother.

Bijogi recognized Baku from his dream which is why he opened up to him.

[DreamSword]

This episode reminded me alot of .hack//SIGN. If you know, you know.

Overall, this two-parter was alright. It gives me a very sneaking suspicion about a plot twist that Takahashi might try to pull later on which, if he does, will be very ballsy of him if nothing else. I'll bring this up again when the time is right.

[StardustWhip]

- I was surprised to see Baku so openly talking about his role as an agent in the dream realm, right in front of his sister. Hoping this means she'll be properly let in on the secret soon? I've never been too fond of secret identities... and if this is supposed to still be a secret, Baku's doing a pretty poor job of keeping it.

- Speaking of secrets, Zero's still keeping his sapience and bipedal form a secret from Fujimi and Nagumo, even after they've been let in on the whole "secret agent" thing for a few episodes now. Honestly makes me kinda suspicious of him; I can't help wondering what his motivation could be for keeping this hidden, even to Baku's other allies.

- I did predict that Nem would be in a coma, but her abduction was a definite surprise. And then I was shocked again to see it already revealed that Nox is the one behind it, and using her to "guide" the bad dreams.

Besides my curiosity about how Nem plays into Nox's schemes, I'm also wondering if Nox is also keeping her alive somehow? Like, maybe she would've died from the crash, but Nox saw some way to use her for his plans and is using his magic mumbo jumbo dream powers to keep her still (barely) alive, at least for as long as she's useful.