WEBVTT

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Kamen Rider Z's episode 18 isn't the best episode

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of the series so far, but it is the episode that

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proves that Yuu Takahashi is one of the best

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Kamen Rider writers that they've ever had. He

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keeps coming back. That's one proof that he's

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excellent. Another proof is that this show is

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doing everything that it's doing. It's simultaneously

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creating, in episodes 17 and 18, a jumping -on

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point for new viewers. A great catch -up point,

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you could say. Everything that happens before

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still matters. The context still matters. And

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it makes the experience richer for viewers like

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me who have been following along for the whole

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show. However, it still is a great place to start

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because you know what Baku's about. You know

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what Zets does. You know who his rival is and

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some of the conflict that they have. And then

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you very quickly learn about the... impurity

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of code and how code is an organization who's

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compromised you know about this change up in

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the leadership and I mean going from zero to

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three sounds weird but you know also accurate

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and you get to see all this stuff happen in such

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a short time frame and it's really impressive

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to see the richness and the depth of the storytelling

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that's being done here because you can just have

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started watching this and you get what's going

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on. You get the conflict, at least enough of

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a handle on it to be satisfied and to be intrigued

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and be drawn in. And then for people like me

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who've been watching all along, even better,

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you get this really rich experience where things

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are changing. You have this Kureha coming in

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who, uh, is, turns out, a veteran tokusatsu actress.

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She played the, uh, Papillion from, oh, King

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Oger. That's what it is. She was the butterfly

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lady from King Oger, um, which I didn't really

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recognize her, but then I just remembered right

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now that her face is almost always covered, like,

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with the hair, half of her face is covered. So,

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how would you have known what she looks like?

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But, um, anyway, you have this new lady coming

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in, and she, comes with a very strong presence.

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She has a very dynamic vibe to her. Nausicaa

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is interesting because I like her as a character,

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but the actress's portrayal of her, and I think

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just the portrayal of the character, she's like

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very subdued, very flat, very monotone almost.

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She has these little moments where she gets upset

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and she kind of panics and, you know, reacts

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violently to things, including... kicking, uh,

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Fujimi and doing other acts of, uh, violence

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like that little, you know, jokey schtick kind

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of acts of violence. Um, but she also like, Oh,

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I didn't want to do this. You know, she does

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that kind of thing. And, uh, Kureha doesn't do

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that, but she has all this intensity. And I think

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the actress brings a really great presence to

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it. And I think in King Ojo, she was like super

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subdued. This lady is not subdued at all. Like

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Kureha is like a very, uh, switched on person

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as far as, like, emoting and being angry and,

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like, you know what she's feeling, which is really

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cool to see. And... From her introduction, the

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little line that Baku gave, which is the writing

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of Takahashi, off to verify that this episode

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was, in fact, written by Takahashi and not by

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somebody else. That little line that I alluded

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to was Baku saying... Kureha's name, even though

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he shouldn't have known it. He even says something

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like, Kureha, and I shouldn't know this, but

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he knows it. And that's a little important clue

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for what happens later on and what happened in

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the past, I believe. Also, this episode was written

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by Yuya Takahashi. As far as I can tell, all

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18 episodes have been so far. While Kureha's

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presence is remarkable, I also enjoy the fact

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that her name, which sounds like Kuro, which

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means black, in Japanese, means dusk, or... Something

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like dusk. It's actually a homophone. It has

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the same sound of the word dusk, but it's spelled

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differently, which is pretty clever. Nox is night.

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She's dusk, which I find to be pretty interesting.

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Yeah, I said Nox is night. Not as in K -N -I

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-G -H -T, but like the nighttime night, like

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Nyx, the goddess of night from Greek mythology,

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I guess, or whatever. Anyway, so I find that

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to be interesting. I find that a very clever

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move. Once again, that's props to you, Takahashi,

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for being clever and doing fun stuff with the

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writing. It's little things like that. It's that

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kind of attention to detail. And it's that, I

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don't know, way of making things just like a

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little bit extra special that I really appreciate

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from him. And I think from Kamen Rider in general,

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I feel like it's pretty consistently on point

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in that way. I say Tsuburaya with Ultraman is

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classier than Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. And

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I think genuinely that's true. And I think they

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put together like a premium product for the most

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part. I have a lot of affection for Ultraman.

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It's also easier to watch an entire Ultraman

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series because they're half the length of a Super

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Sentai or Kamen Rider. But Kamen Rider also does

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a lot of really good, like, deep thematic stuff,

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at least on the surface. There's a lot of thematic

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stuff that you can bite into and enjoy. Stuff

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like that, like the Nox, the Kureha, Baku even

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being Baku Yorozu, like his name meaning like

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literally the stream meeting monster thing. And

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like this thousand fold is what Yorozu means.

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It's like a very interesting scenario going on.

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But also that's possibly all the touch of Yutaka

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Hashi, which I think he's the one who makes things

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a little bit extra special. And I'm just a fan

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of his shows so far. I think he, well, I haven't

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seen everything that he's written though. So.

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Zero one and X -Aid for sure. And now this, uh,

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I think I'm missing. Didn't he do, or was the

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ghost guy? Yeah. I don't know who did. I don't

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know what his other show was, but there's one

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other that I haven't seen yet. So I should probably

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correct that problem. Oh, Keats. I think he did

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Keats and I didn't see all of Keats only the

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first quarter or so anyway. Uh, but yeah, this

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was a really great episode. It's a great turning

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point and it's a great launching point and it's

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a great continuation point because so many great

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things are happening and it's really interesting

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to see the dynamics, how they're changing and

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what it's. going to mean for Baku because it's

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raising new questions it's raising questions

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about code about the lady and the nightmares

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and everything that's going on with them and

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I'm just waiting to see what's going to happen

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because it's so fascinating and I think Korea

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is going to make a cool permanent addition to

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the cast I would think that's what she's supposed

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to be at least she'll be there for a little while

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and do some interesting stuff give some interesting

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backstory to the organizations because she doesn't

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remember being an agent before but she was one

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and now is she going to be again or is she going

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to be something else I don't know and how many

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other people can that happen to at least Five

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others? Seven, six, yeah, five others at least.

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I mean, three, he seems to be, it seems to be

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clear what his deal is, but maybe it's not so

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clear. Anyway, tell me what you thought about

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the episode and check out the pinned comment

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for more. This is MJ with Henton Inspection and

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Writer Tears signing out.