I cannot believe how hard Zets episode 13 went.
Is it good for a hero to have so much power at
this point in the show? Isn't it too early? This
guy created a black hole and defeated a monster
the size of a planet, basically, or a moon. It
was supposed to be a meteor, but it looked like
a moon. It's crazy. Anyway, this was a really
good episode. I really love the dramatic tone
in this episode. That was really nice. Things
have been dramatic before, but this felt different
and special and even more dramatic than we've
seen things uh be recently and uh it just definitely
kicked it up to another level there's a threat
um a threat to all life on the planet with this
meteor uh because if it i i think that if the
meteor creators were, you know, they were real.
They were like small meteors. They were like
precursors. They were just little things that
were being spit off from the big meter. Had that
meter actually crashed in the earth, it would
have been an extinction level event, which is
what I was trying to say earlier. And you know,
everybody would be dead. So Zets has already
saved the entire world by episode 13, which is
pretty cool because there's no like singular
group that we know of trying to take over the
entire world. So that's pretty impressive to
see. Anyway, the great thing is too that everybody
acts like it's an extinction level event. uh
baku is furious that okada or so adaka i think
that's nox's real name right like messed him
up and got into his head and he is blaming him
for making him weak and making him unable to
stop whatever the nightmare or like find the
mind's door and do what he needs to do to prevent
this from coming to fruition and fujimi is furious
at baku for rejecting culpability and blaming
odaka and he said you don't know him And they're
both kind of saying that to each other. And it's
really intense and really cool. And Naska is
coming down pretty harsh on Fujimi to stop him
and saying, you know, he's just a civilian. He
shouldn't be doing this to him. Let him be. And
then there's an interesting turn where she totally
seems to believe in Odaka, but I'll get more
on that later. And she, like, gets on the same
page as Fujimi. It's really impressive. Really
good character work is being done there. And
it all fits the tone. It's very dramatic. It's
very grounded, you know. These people are actually
acting the way I would think they would in these
circumstances with these powers inside. So that's
pretty cool. Very intense. Let's see the next
thing for... Okay, so this suit, this wonder
suit, it feels too techie. I don't like the little
tech nodes on it or whatever. I love the color
of the... Yes, the shade of purple that they're
using is great. And I like the overall idea of
it, even though the weird... fists on wonder
are too big and too odd uh for me to really dig
a lot um it's pretty cool and i think it's nice
it's it's a nice attempt and uh seeing an action
isn't as bad although it's super clunky like
how he supposedly got out his scythe and everything
it just it doesn't work um and it's pretty silly
so uh you know it kind of takes away from the
coolness of it like the colors look really good
and in wide shots it looks decent but it's just
just kind of odd those Big ball hands are too
freaking weird for me. It brings gravity down
a ton for me. It'd be cooler if he had chains
or something. Wouldn't that be cooler? Gravity
is like an invisible chain. Anyway. I love that
Noctis did this Doctor Strange astral punch thing
on Zets and knocked all his balls off. And it's
funny. We have the toy. There's a... trend, if
you know Kamen Rider toys the way they work,
where they have all these little widgets or these
little gadgets and they have pieces of merchandise
that hold them. So like Wizard had this like
ring holder where it swooped like from the front
of his belt to the back of his belt basically
and all the rings were inserted into it. Not
all of them because there were like 20 rings
but he'd have like six rings on him at a time
and I can't remember who else had what else but
different people, different riders their toys
have these carriers in them that help hold the
toy, the collectible merchandise. And that's
obviously in this case, these like weird tubes.
So, you know, the things that when you go buy
tennis balls, the things that they come in, they
basically have those, but they're, you know,
Zets themed or whatever. And I think they're
kind of goofy, but whatever. And those things
hold them. And we've seen him loading. capsums
into that on a couple of occasions but then it
seems like whenever he needs a capsule he just
pulls it out and i guess it's like dream logic
where they're kind of in a hammer space they're
teleported to him or whatever they're there's
somehow though we see in this by this you know
uh you can call it chaos emerald punch um like
from sonic was that sonic three i think that
was sonic three um like something between that
and the doctor strains you know astral punch
thing um where the the capsums fly out of him
when he gets hit and then they're destroyed or
whatever uh that they're somehow contained within
him, which makes sense because this is the dream
world and he carries them with him in his mind,
you could say, and in his dream, dream power,
I don't know, somehow they're contained within
him. But that's a pretty cool move. I think it's
a pretty cool way to do it and a way to just
kind of hand wave away what would otherwise be
a clunky explanation. And I really enjoyed seeing
that. And it gave us this great visual and it's
cool because the visual tells the story and the
story can only be told or in the visual can only
play off like that because. the story allows
for it. And it all works together very synergistically.
The gravity control stuff is really sweet. I
love gravity control characters. I made a character
called Dark Star, which I didn't realize that
was an existing superhero when I made that character
up a long time ago. But she has gravity type
powers and she can not make black holes, but
she can fly with her gravity powers like he does
here. And she can also crush things with her
gravity powers, which is pretty cool. I don't
know that he was actually crushing anything,
but he could. I know he could. And that's really
cool. So I really enjoyed that. And then that
meteor nightmare, the visuals of it were insane.
It reminds me very much of the moon in Majora's
Mask in some ways. I love that it's got these
giant stabby things on it, like kunai or whatever.
And from the front, they just like blades that
have like a kind of serration around them or
like these grooves on them. But when you turn
them to the side, they're five -pointed stars,
which is a... phenomenal little design detail
uh at least to me um i thought it was weird and
creepy and really cool and i very much enjoyed
that design so that was super cool great great
nightmare never thought i'd say that uh and then
let's see so there's a lot going on with the
story logic with the characters uh like zero
is definitely hiding stuff he's hiding more stuff
he i believe he threatens monami that if he lets
her in on this big secret um because of what
happens at the end of the episode and she reveals
it he'll have to kill her eliminate her deal
with her camera exactly how he frames it but
like super shady um and then he shows up and
he confronts nox and he calls him agent number
four which is a cool revelation unfortunately
well uh yeah cool revelation and nox challenges
him and says like oh you're still willing to
throw the way throw away the lives of your agents
which is interesting because that implies that
there's other agents and they've died before.
So maybe Knox is dead. Maybe he's a dream ghost.
Maybe when you die in the dream, you die in real
life, but then you become like a dreamwalker,
haunter person. Maybe that's what happened to
them. Could it be? It's she. So that was super
interesting. I love Minami supporting Baku without
letting him know that she knows what he's doing.
And then her finding out or like. seeing that
something's wrong with him and then going to
to zero was really satisfying she didn't just
wait and like sit by the wayside so that was
a lot of fun um and then baku like having this
whole arc where he's um kind of pathetic and
he's given up and then he uh has the spider -man
2 uh hang out with the kid session where he gets
his morale boosted was really a lot of fun and
i really this actor i need to look up his name
um maybe i'll pause for a few seconds look up
his name and then insert it here he's doing a
phenomenal job And I really like what he's doing.
He's pouring so much into these performances.
He's being so intense and being so serious and
brings such gravitas to it. And I really like
it. He makes this impossible, you know, crazy
Henshin hero Tokusatsu stuff believable with
his conviction. And it's just, it's, it's beautiful.
It's beautiful. Like I seriously feel like he's
like a Hiroshi Fujioka level of Kamen Rider actor.
Oh, let's see. And then also the whole thing
with the detectives and Odaka with They have
conflict, but ultimately Naska is coming around
and she is believing in everything that's going
on. And she wants to help find Odaka and try
to free him and either clear his name or somehow
free him from whatever has got him trapped so
that he can stop being a bad guy and he can be
the guy that Fujimi believes in. And she's doing
it out of a tenderness and a care for Fujimi
as well as probably just being a cop who wants
to get justice done and help this victim of this
crime, whatever this crime is and whoever is
doing it. Probably Foundation X. But anyway,
so yeah, that's pretty cool. So jumping back
on theory stuff as I round out the episode and
finish up, Knox is not an agent. Oh, well, I
really thought he was going to be, or I'm sorry,
he is an agent, but he's agent number four. He's
not agent number X, number 10. That was a theory
that somebody shared with me on a short, and
I thought it was a great theory. I still think
it's a great theory. It totally makes sense.
But yeah, apparently he's number four. I do have
another theory, though, sparked by this, which
is that I think Baku was saved from death multiple
times by previous agents, maybe even Knox or
agent number four. They each died saving him
from... uh something for some greater purpose
that zero and code knew of maybe and uh i wonder
if maybe even that's uh what we're gonna the
preview for next episode looks like it was diving
debacle's past and i wonder if that could be
it and i wonder if that's how nox died and i'm
wondering if maybe when you die in the uh story
or in the story of course when you die in the
dream or in the nightmare uh maybe you end up
a ghost trapped in dreams and that's what is
going on with nox that would be fascinating That'd
be super fascinating. Like your connection to
your body is terminated. Your body dies and then
maybe you live on as a ghost inside the dreams.
I don't know, but I find that to be a fascinating
concept. That's my theory and I'm sticking with
it until it's disproven. Episode 13 of Zets was
excellent. Everything was delivered really well.
The emotions were high. The tension was high.
The crazy stuff was happening with all the powers
and everything. And I'm really interested in
the character story that's going on, but also
I'm worried that it's setting the bar too high
for itself. Like, will episode 14 be as good?
Can it be as good? Will the show feel like it
needs to keep topping it and making him more
and more and more powerful, Baku that is, in
order for the show to continue to be good? I
hope not, because it's not the power that he
expresses that makes the show good. It's the
guts and the feeling and the emotion, the conviction
behind the power that makes it matter, at least
to me. And I'm worried that the show won't know
where to go from here and it'll get messed up.
But I think Takashi might be setting up this
idea of dealing with power and what is the cost
of power. Nox keeps talking about the cost of
using the power of the capsums and the horror
of the capsums. And maybe that's what's being
set up here. But where's that going to go? What
does that mean? And how are they going to stick
the landing? Because if they don't, it'll just
kind of peter out and stink. Anyway, that's it
for this episode. Go ahead and check out my playlist
linked in the first, or pinned in the first comment,
where you can see all the rest of my Zets coverage.
And you can also, of course, in the comments,
answer my questions about what you think is going
to happen in the show and what you thought about
it in general, because I'd love to hear what
you had to say. Let's have a conversation about
it. Until next time, this is MJ with Henshin
Inspection and Writer Tears, signing out.