FIRST IMPRESSIONS -- Kamen Rider Zeztz - Cases 1-8

Kamen Rider Zeztz (often stylized as Kamen Rider ZEZTZ) is a Japanese Tokusatsu drama in Toei Company's Kamen Rider Series. It is the seventh series to debut in the Reiwa Era and the fortieth overall. The series premiered on September 7, 2025, joining No.1 Sentai Gozyuger in the Super Hero Time lineup after the finale of Kamen Rider Gavv.

The series' catchphrase is "His dream is a mission to save the world."

Premise

"Tradition. History. Pride. Struggle. Reflection. Courage. Beyond that, there is innovation. Don't lose your dream. Wake up."

―Narrator from the 1st trailer of Kamen Rider Zeztz

Baku Yorozu. He is a (self-proclaimed) ordinary young man living a boring, dull life, but, when he falls asleep, he turns into an invincible agent with his lucid dreaming skills that let him control his dreams! Within those dreams, he battles to rescue the captive heroine, Nem.

However, in the dream world, monsters called Nightmares appear, trying to make nightmares a reality! With the belt he obtained in his dream, Baku transforms into Kamen Rider Zeztz!

Make your dream come true. Good luck!

Stop the invasion of the Nightmares that threatens to invade reality! With the fate of the world resting on Baku, Kamen Rider Zeztz's dream mission starts!

Characters

Baku Yorozu is the main protagonist of Kamen Rider Zeztz. He is a young man who lucid dreams of being a special agent working for CODE and transforms into Kamen Rider Zeztz. The series' first episode opens with Baku rescuing a hostage from a gang of kidnappers with uncanny marksmanship and style, only for this sequence to be a dream of himself as a secret agent named "Code Number: Seven." He is a fan of spy films with the posters and novels decorating the walls and shelves of his bedroom. In reality, Baku means to do good deeds to help others, but his actions always seem to result in some sort of catastrophic accident that does more harm to him than good. 

Baku gains the ability to transform into Kamen Rider Zeztz in a similar manner as Yusuke Urameshi in the YuYu Hakusho anime/manga, in which he "dies" trying to save a child. During his recovery, he's presented with the opportunity to make his dreams come true after being gifted with the Zeztz Driver and Impact Capsem by Zero. 

The Verdict
(After the first eight Episodes)

** Spoiler Discussion Below **

Confession: This is only my SECOND formal viewing of anything Kamen Rider-related that wasn't adapted stateside, such as Masked Rider or Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. Those are both series that I have never seen to completion. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I discovered Kamen Rider Zero-One on a whim in-between my binges of Mirai Sentai Timeranger and Chōjin Sentai Jetman over on TokuSHOUTsu's channel when it was doing 24/7 marathons over on Twitch and PlutoTV. Ironically enough, TokuSHOUTsu is the home for the worldwide simulcast of KAMEN RIDER ZEZTZ. 

Kamen Rider Zeztz premiered on September 7, 2025 and over the last two months, released a total of eight episodes to date with the ninth episode premiering this upcoming weekend by the time you read this article. There wasn't a new episode released on November 1, 2025 - possibly due to the Daylight Savings Time affecting the usual scheduled time slot of 10:30 PM EST on TokuSHOUTsu's livestream on Saturday evenings. The episodes are going to resume on November 8, 2025 (internationally)/ November 9, 2025 to hopefully resolve the cliffhanger that Case 8 ended on two weekends ago. 

When I first saw the trailers and teases from the marketing for this, the first thing that drew me to it was how the costume looked. It was the same sense of awe and mystery that drew me to Zero-One, even though the whole theme surrounding embracing A.I. (artifical intelligence) was intriguing enough for me to check it out. Sue me, I'm a sucker for those stories where sentient machines learn human compassion and emotion, such as Android Kikaider, Casshern/Casshaun: Robot Hunter, Cyborg 009 (even though this deals with humans struggling to hang onto their humanity when they are transformed into machines against their will), Megaman, etc. When this series started and it was revealed to be a theme exploring the depth surrounding dreams and nightmares, I was even more intrigued to stick with it. The theme of exploring the subconscious meanings behind both dreams and nightmares is definitely an interesting one as there seems to be a symbolic lesson to be learned from every Nightmare that Baku has faced so far. Nothing is never as straight forward as it seems on the surface and keeps the show fresh since viewers are always guessing who is the dreamer and what is the subconscious desire behind the creation of that particular Nightmare. 

I will admit to confusing Nem and Baku's younger sister, Minami, early on as they were both presented in supporting roles to him from the start. By the time of the prison two-parter in Case 6 and 7, I could distinctly distinguish between the two at that point, especially after the revelation of Nem's backstory and her connection to the Nightmares and Nox. A part of me feels like both of them are going to end up being additional Riders in this season, even though I'm a little biased towards Fujimi and Nagumo becoming Riders too, much like Isamu Fuwa and Yua Yaiba in Kamen Rider Zero-One. Let's not forget that Minami is the last one out of Baku's supporting cast that isn't privy to the fact that he is a CODE agent and she was one of the only people that Zero/Code Zeroider didn't feel the need to hide himself from other than Nem. 

Zero's duality with his English and Japanese dialogue was a treat along with the jokes about keeping himself concealed from Fujimi and Nagumo once they discovered Baku's base of operations in his closet. I still find it rather sketchy that he doesn't reveal himself to anyone but Baku and Rem (while being willing to reveal himself to Minami despite Baku's objections). Zero definitely has some skeletons in his closet if he doesn't want the officers of the Public Security Bureau to be aware of his presence. He may mean well as the commander of CODE, but that doesn't mean that his mission could be entirely beneficial for the safety of humanity. 

Speaking of Zero, I wouldn't be surprised if it is revealed that either him or Nox end up being the missing partner of Fujimi that was referenced in Case 8 by Todo mentioned to Nagumo in passing. Fujimi's missing former partner is the reason that fueled his obsession with "Black Cases", so I wouldn't be surprised if he's revealed to be either one of them. I'm leaning more on Nox being that person in question since he was there at the hospital after Baku's fatal car crash, but who says he was there to visit him? He could have been there to see Fujimi instead. On top of that, Nox's actions don't feel truly malovent, despite him being the caretaker/kidnapper of Nem's physical body following her accident while he uses her to control the Nightmares. He has had multiple occasions to stop Baku from destroying the Nightmares, but he is always watching his movements and offering advice of how to successfully complete his missions or how to see more beyond the surface. We saw in Case 8 how he excited he was at the sight of the "Recovery" Capsem. Could Nox possibly have some plans in order to aid Nem in waking up from her comatose state in the real world after he takes that Capsem from Baku? There's no doubt in my mind that he doesn't end up becoming a Rider down the road. He's far too knowledgeable about both Nightmares, dreams, and how that power in general works to not be one. I wouldn't be surprised if he isn't a former CODE agent. 

Sidenote: Rina Onuki, the actress who currently plays Nasaka Nagumo in Zeztz, previously played Sae Ganaha / Kamen Rider Lopo in Kamen Rider Geats. I'm not holding my breath for her to play another Rider for the sake of confusion though. 

I want to add that some eagle-eyed viewers were able to catch some plot details in the opening (such as Baku's various mission objectives and alternative Capsem transformations), hence why I think that was why the series waited until the fourth episode to even show the opening. 

Stylistically, I think the fight choreography is solid, especially as someone who is coming straight from Zero-One looking for something similar from modern tokusatsu. I don't know how to put it into words properly, but it doesn't come off as lackluster as Power Rangers' fights have come off over the years to casual viewers. Even Super Sentai has fights that have blown me away in modern years despite what I may think about their costume design choices, so to see similar efforts applied to this franchise is a welcome treat. I can suspect that extra effort was put there when this series is being simulcast worldwide for the first time without the need for piracy or obvious "unofficial" 3rd party resources to watch along with the Japanese original episode releases. I enjoy the references and nods to gaming and anime with the various Capsem power-ups. I totally understand the polarizing effect and response from fans for the usage of A.I. in the trailers promoting the show, but the series itself doesn't seem to use generative A.I. to my knowledge. Visually, the show looks great on multiple fronts - another effort I feel that was done to appeal to Western audiences with the extra polish. 

I cannot stress enough how much I enjoy being able to watch along with fans in the TokuSHOUTsu stream chat during the premiere stream and can chat, ask questions, and be apart of the fandom without feeling alienated since this is the first Kamen Rider series for a lot of newcomers. Given the positive response to the series at the recent NYCC panel, I think the creators are pleased with the reactions thus far too.