This is a teaching that in order to prove that
you've changed, you need to find yourself in
the same situation, making the same choice, and
choose differently. That's not exactly what's
going on in Zets right now, but the way that
Baku and Nox, Odaka, whatever, are contrasting
each other is kind of similar to that, because
they are both people who have worked for code,
who work for code. They both have issues with
code. They both fight and destroy nightmares,
and they're both... harnessing the power of nightmares
as well. Both in just, that's the way the rider
system works in Zezits, that they, you know,
the capsums are, you know, fueled by nightmares,
which I love that idea. It takes the idea of
nightmare fuel and turns it into a literal concept.
But also, each of them is now in a more powerful
form, pretty consistently, well, pretty consistently
for Baku. He's using Inazuma. Plasma, rather.
And Nox is using his new form that he has because
he's got the different belt and whatever. I mean,
he's... I don't know if he's considered Comrader
Nox at this point or Nox Shadow or what he is
called. But whatever. They're in these different
forms. And these are their, like, I don't know,
mid -peak forms, whatever you could say. I don't
know if there's going to be something beyond
either of these forms for them. But that's...
less important. What's more important is that,
like, from a story perspective, they're mirrors,
they're shadows, they're copies of each other,
they're ideological opposites. They have a weird
friendship or rivalry where the two of them are
operating in this world with these rules. And
each of them has their own mission, but we don't
really know what Nox's agenda is. What is Odaka
really after? And it's intriguing because, again,
another parallel, another mirroring. He's in
a similar relationship with the superior, being
the lady that Baku's in. And seeing them so evenly
matched against each other in fighting, in attitude,
and in, I don't know, worldview, perspective,
whatever, is really fascinating to me. Because
it makes it feel like there's something deeper
going on here. There's something more mythic.
And it feels like a really clever way for this
story to be explored. And honestly, I don't even
know what the story is. I don't know what the
topic, the subject matter, the theme really is
here. But I don't care because the execution
and the exploration is so fun to watch unfold.
It's really enjoyable. even just the way they
fight each other and the kinds of moves that
they're doing. It's all so dynamic. It's so interesting.
And it has such great visual flourish that even
not really fully understanding what's going on,
it's really enjoyable to watch. And the important
thing is that it works on a thematic level with
the invisible theme. I don't need to know what
the theme is necessarily to get that they're
coming at each other. coming at these things
from different sides. And somehow it all blends
together and works well. And I find that really
impressive. In fact, the sleight of hand is so
effective that I barely noticed that the whole
Little Red Riding Hood thing didn't really make
that much sense or matter that much. All that
mattered was that Nim was a victim, that she
was taken away. I think the idea is, based on
what Nox said to the lady, is that she... put
the she planted the dream of nem being eaten
by the big bad wolf whatever destroyed killed
in the mind of the nurse so that zero could be
drawn out and killed or eliminated captured whatever
she i think she wanted him captured but he went
a step further whatever um and like that didn't
really get wrapped up and we have this weird
thing where the lady appears to baku at the end
of the episode and then She also has Nem in her
possession, which I don't know if that's a new
set. Obviously, like, realistically, in the real
world, they had to get the actress in there in
that bed and whatever. But I don't remember if,
like, the way that things have been blocked or
filmed in that set, if they had to rearrange
things to make that happen or if she's always
been there or, you know, could have always been
there and they accommodated for her. But, like,
the whole thing about her telling Nem that she'll
make her bad dream come true as well. like what
is all that about does is nem some sort of weird
dream figure does she have a bad dream that is
that the lady is like trying to pursue i mean
obviously that's what it sounds like she's saying
but that's also just what they say in general
uh to the night to the nightmare victims uh to
the dreamers whatever so i don't know and that
also opens back up questions of nox or odaka
saying that he's like nem because he couldn't
wake up for a time in that way He's like her
because she also can't wake up for a time. How
long? We don't know. But it's funny because like
those things, these like giant open loops, open
circles, open threads almost didn't even occur
to me because I'm just enjoying what they're
doing. And it's funny. I, you know, I called
it a sleight of hand. It's like, yeah, I'm going
to distract you with all this cool action, all
this cool thematic stuff going on. That's like
really intriguing you and drawing you in and,
you know, capturing you. And it's making a mystery
for you to enjoy. And meanwhile, you're totally
ignoring the fact that I'm not addressing all
these other issues, which is interesting. And
my big takeaway, my big, I guess, praise for
the show is that it feels like it's perfectly
balanced because we have a lot of moving parts.
We have a lot of factors going on that aren't
100 % clear to us. And yet, it's all humming
along like a well -oiled machine. And nothing
seems to be out of place. And nothing seems to
be really causing any issues because it's just
working. And I find that impressive. I guess
this is my praise of you, Takahashi, for doing
such a good job with this. And, of course, the
rest of the team who's making it come to life.
They're making his dream a reality. And I want
to know if you feel similar or if you feel different.
Do you think it's perfectly balanced or are there
things that are off that you... or bothered by
or notice or waiting to be fully explained or
made better, made to make more sense of the show.
Anyway, that's it. That's all I have for you.
This is MJ with Writer Tears signing out.