Okay, we’re putting my planned Showcase on hold again, but this time it’s because I get to show you Kamen Rider ZEZTZ!
I previously reviewed the pilot episode when it was simulcast on the TokuSHOUTsu YouTube channel, but that was an unsaved livestream. Now they’ve started putting the episodes up properly like they’re doing for other Kamen Rider shows they have permission to. I don’t know for how long, but as of this writing the first four episodes, the ones that have already streamed in the US, are available to watch. I’m only going to drop the first episode. While the revelations all start with the next episode, the usual two-ep arcs start with episodes 2 and 3. Episode 4, which aired last week, is also there, and episode 5 will stream on Saturday at 7:30 Pacific Time per usual. Or so I imagine. Then again, by the time some of you read this more episodes will be out or they took it down or something. It’s the internet. As for the plot, I’m going to copy/paste from my review:
He is the invincible agent Code Seven, who rescues the famed Japanese idol Nem with rubber bullets (because it’s a kids show in Japan), cool moves, and a cowlick that doesn’t want to go away. He’s amazing…in his dreams. When he wakes up, Baku Yorozu is a loser. Not by choice. He tries to help people all the time, but for whatever reason he keeps getting hurt when he tries, to the dismay of his sister, Minami. This latest attempt, stopping a kidnapping at the job center he’s hoping will find him work, leads to him getting hit by a car…without a driver, and ending up in the hospital. In the hospital, Baku is attacked by a monster formed from a gun…the gun nightmare!
Something strange is happening in this city, not that the police’s paranormal division veteran detective Kenta Mishima can convince the new girl, Rina Onuki. Kenta calls them “nightmares”, monsters formed from dreams with the goal of killing those dreams in the real world by destroying them in his sleeping dreams. Unfortunately for the bad guys, Baku is really good at lucid dreaming, and is given a device by his spy boss in the dream, Zero, gives him a device that transforms Seven/Baku into Kamen Rider Zetez, with the mission to stop the nightmare. What does this all have to do with Nem, and the mysterious Nox that sent the car and the monster after Baku in the first place?
Slight error on my part. The nightmares fulfill the dreams by making them affect the real world, and then take over the host. We learn that in the second episode. Also Zero isn’t just his boss but his motorcycle. There’s a joke there I’m not going to try to figure out. Enjoy the first episode!
As of this writing there is a full Kamen Rider ZEZTZ playlist on YouTube so you can catch up…though when this goes live you won’t have much time. New episodes come out on Saturday nights a few hours after Saturday Night Showcase posts. (I usually go live at 7PM ET and the stream starts at 7:30PM PT, so about 10:30 ET.) Then again, the stream repeats all weekend so you should have time. Just scroll to the nearest countdown clock and watch from there unless you’re lucky. By the way, episode four finally gave us an intro, with the theme song “Visions” performed by NAQT VANE. The theme is actually subtitled in the episode. Not enough official subs do that anymore and none of the official dubs redo the song in English now. I miss those days. I did find a fan made dub of the song if you’re curious.
I hope at some point the full song is released, preferably with subtitles. If you look closely when Kabu is walking across the screen as Agent 7 at the text in the background, they’re missions that 7/ZEZTZ will be going on. Some of the missions already done or started are on that list, so spoilers for future episodes.
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