Watch Analysis

Kamen Rider Zeztz Episode 14 Review – Is Baku Going Bad?

Are they quietly turning Nox into the sympathetic figure and Baku into the danger?

Because if you look at how Episode 14 is framed, Nox feels like the one being hunted, and Baku feels like the one imposing his will.

I liked this episode. The spectacle was great. But thematically, something big shifted here, and I want to unpack it.

Framing and Perspective Matter More Than Plot This Week

A lot of Episode 14’s power comes from camera perspective and shot composition. There are long stretches where it feels like we are following Nox, almost as if he is the protagonist for part of the episode. Whether that makes him a heroic protagonist or a villainous one does not really matter. He is the emotional center of those scenes.

We leave Baku behind for a while and sit with Nox. We watch him deal with a recurring, ghostly nightmare that keeps pursuing him. I found myself rooting for him to overcome it. That surprised me.

Nox is framed as someone facing a fear.

Baku, on the other hand, is framed as someone eliminating a problem.

That difference matters.

Baku’s Role Feels Colder Than Before

Baku is given a mission. Eliminate the threat. That threat is Nox.

But Baku himself is not operating from a place of clarity or strength. He is vulnerable, trapped in his own memories, looping through a traumatic moment from his childhood. Instead of confronting that trauma, he seizes power from it.

Specifically, he captures the lightning nightmare that struck him as a kid and turns it into fuel.

When he does this, something visually strange happens. Baku begins to take on the visual language of the figure that had been haunting Nox. Baku looks more villainous. Nox, by contrast, looks smaller and more human, pushed onto the back foot.

Visually, the roles invert.

Dream Logic and Why It Matters

The dream mechanics in this episode are intentionally slippery. We are not always sure whose dream we are in, or how the rules work. That slipperiness is not a flaw. It directly affects how we read the characters.

Whoever the dream belongs to, Baku moves through it without reflection.

He does not process. He advances.

He loops through the same section of the dream, gains power, and then immediately reasserts his mission. He even directs Nem to play her assigned role while he goes to play his own. Eliminate the threat.

This is especially striking because Baku had previously been questioning whether eliminating enemies indiscriminately was the right thing to do. Here, that hesitation disappears. He seems focused on killing Nox, and I do not fully understand why.

That lack of internal processing is unsettling.

The Lightning and the Cost of Power

Instead of confronting the nightmare, Baku captures it.

The show has been deliberately unclear about whether capsums create nightmares or whether nightmares power capsums. Depending on perspective, it can be read either way. What matters is what we see happen on screen.

Baku gains an extreme increase in power.

The fight only deescalates when that power becomes too much for him. His form darkens. His transformation destabilizes. It breaks apart. He cannot sustain it.

That feels important.

Power without reflection comes with a cost, and Baku may not be prepared to pay it.

The Past With Nox and CODE

The episode drops some heavy implications about Baku’s past. We see Nox, or Odaka, in a hospital bed. We learn that he was Baku’s teacher at the cram school Baku attended before being struck by lightning as a child. He appears to be wearing an Agent 4 ring, suggesting involvement with CODE even back then.

Nox implies that memories were erased.

That raises disturbing questions. Were the other children in that classroom being manipulated by CODE as well? Was Nox responsible? If so, why? What was CODE’s goal?

The timeline is murky, but the implications are not.

A Shift I Did Not Expect

It is only after Baku can no longer fight, after he is physically unable to kill Nox, that he stops and starts asking questions.

I did not expect to be rooting for Nox at this point.

The fact that I am tells me the show is doing something intentional.

I am intrigued. I am unsettled. And I do not think Episode 14 is confused. I think it is deliberately uncomfortable.

Final Thoughts

This episode raised more questions than it answered, and I think that is the point.

Did Episode 14 change how you see Baku?
Did it change how you see Nox or even CODE itself?
Is this the start of corruption, or something more complicated?

Let me know your thoughts and theories in the comments.
You can find the rest of my Kamen Rider Zeztz coverage in the playlist linked in the pinned comment.

Drop a comment below or tag me @MJ_Scribe on Twitter. Let’s have some fun talking about this.

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Bonus Reflections

Bonus Reflection – A Sympathetic Villain That Works

I am usually not in favor of sympathetic villains. It happens too often. At this point, it is borderline cliché.

But Nox is working for me.

Even before the spoilery back half of the episode, I felt drawn to him. Part of that is absolutely the way the scenes are filmed. He feels like a protagonist. He feels like the victim in a horror story.

There is a moment where Nox says “I’m not afraid.” Behind him, a shadow forms. When he turns around, instead of the nightmare figure, it is Baku walking toward him. Baku is framed like the villain coming to claim his victim.

That image stuck with me.

I do not usually root for villains, but I am rooting for Nox. I find him sympathetic. Possibly redeemable.

What about you? Do you feel the same way? Or do you think the mission is still clear and unavoidable? Baku saved the entire world. Why would he hesitate to eliminate one man?

Bonus Reflection – The Shocker Rider Visual Echo

On a pure visual level, Baku’s lightning or thunder form strongly resembles a Shocker Rider.

The yellow accents. The minty green tones. The way the colors clash. It feels extremely deliberate, especially given how much Zeztz pulls from classic Rider iconography.

I cannot help but think this is intentional. It feels like Baku has temporarily turned himself into a Shocker Rider by embracing darker power.

I do not know where this is going. Is this hinting at an evil Rider form in the future? Is this power temporary? Will it become a permanent part of his arsenal?

I do not know. But I am fascinated that the show is playing with this idea so early. Zeztz is moving fast, and these developments feel impactful rather than rushed.

Do you see the Shocker Rider connection too, or am I missing another visual reference?