Kamen Rider Zeztz 38

Watch Analysis

The video and audio above contain the full unfiltered analysis. What follows is the razor focused version of the strongest point(s) I had to make.

Kamen Rider Zeztz 38 Review: A Trip, Not a Journey

Zeztz 38 Confuses Character Movement for Character Growth

There is a difference between a trip and a journey.

A trip gets you from Point A to Point B.

A journey changes you along the way.

Unfortunately, I think Kamen Rider Zeztz 38 mistakes character movement for character growth. By the end of the episode, Odaka (Knox) has a new form, a new status quo, a new alliance, and a major victory over Three. On paper, everything changes.

The problem is that I never felt like he changed.

Odaka Reaches a New Destination

By the end of the episode, Odaka has accomplished quite a bit.

• He joins forces with Team Zeztz.
• He openly opposes Code.
• He defeats Three.
• He gains a powerful new form.
• He abandons his plan to throw his life away.

Those are major milestones.

The issue is not the destination. The issue is the road leading there.

At the start of the episode, Odaka is willing to sacrifice himself to expose Code and bring them down. By the end, he has chosen life over self-destruction.

That should be a meaningful character arc.

Instead, it feels like a conclusion that arrives before the emotional work has been done.

Baku Shows What Real Character Growth Looks Like

What makes this especially disappointing is that Zeztz has already shown us what genuine growth looks like.

Baku’s journey through Premonition changed him.

When he returned, he was physically in the same place. He woke up in the same hospital bed. His surroundings had barely changed.

But he had changed.

We saw the effects of his experiences.

We saw the maturity.

We saw the confidence.

We saw the growth carry forward into later episodes.

Baku’s development felt earned because the audience experienced the process with him.

Odaka’s development does not receive the same treatment.

The Episode Tells Us Odaka Has Changed

One of the biggest problems with Zeztz 38 is that it often feels like the audience is being told Odaka has changed rather than being shown that change happening.

Fujimi delivers an emotional plea.

Odaka confronts his fears.

He faces the darkness.

He gains a new power.

But each step arrives so quickly that there is very little room for struggle, doubt, or transformation.

The episode presents the results without fully dramatizing the process.

As a result, Odaka’s victory feels less like the culmination of a journey and more like a plot requirement.

The Darkness Never Feels Dangerous

The previews suggested that Odaka would have to descend into darkness.

The episode itself reinforces this idea.

Odaka declares that he will descend into darkness and take Code down with him.

That is a compelling setup.

The problem is that the darkness never truly challenges him.

Instead of a long, difficult confrontation with his fears, Odaka enters the darkness, overcomes it almost immediately, and emerges with a new form.

What looked like the beginning of a journey turns out to be a very short trip.

The episode promises a descent.

It delivers a shortcut.

Why the New Form Doesn’t Land

The new Midnight Shadow form looks fantastic.

Visually, it is one of the strongest designs in the series.

But power-ups are most satisfying when they represent the completion of an emotional journey.

Here, the upgrade feels disconnected from meaningful character growth.

Odaka gains a new form because the story needs him to gain a new form.

That may sound harsh, but that is how the episode feels.

The destination is predetermined, and the emotional path needed to justify that destination is rushed.

A Trip Instead of a Journey

That is why Zeztz 38 was so disappointing for me.

Odaka moves from one status quo to another.

He gains new powers.

He gains new allies.

He defeats a major enemy.

But I never felt like I traveled alongside him.

The episode changes where Odaka is.

It does not convincingly change who Odaka is.

And that is the difference between a trip and a journey.

For me, Kamen Rider Zeztz 38 delivers the former when it desperately needed the latter.

What are your thoughts?

Drop a comment and let me know where you stand on this.

Inspector’s Notes

Was Five’s Death a Waste?

Was Five’s death a waste?

It was certainly sudden. It was certainly shocking. And in one sense, that’s a good thing.

But was Five a wasted character? Was there all this wasted potential sitting there that never got used?

What makes me wonder is his connection to Zero. We learned that he was connected to Zero in such an important way, and it felt like that revelation was opening new doors for the character. It felt like there was more story to tell.

I’ve been loving Zeztz so far, and I think Yuya Takahashi is one of the best writers Kamen Rider has had. That’s part of why this feels a little off to me.

Maybe future episodes will make this death feel more meaningful in hindsight. Maybe the point is that Five’s story gets cut short before it can fully develop.

But right now, I find myself wondering whether the story got more value from killing Five than it would have gotten from keeping him around.

What do you think? Was Five’s death an effective story decision, or did the series leave some of his potential unexplored?

Did Agent Three Get Off Easy?

We finally saw the downfall of Agent Three.

That sucker is gone.

But did he get off easy?

He’s dead now. He’s been turned into the evidence that’s somehow going to be used against Code, though I’m still not entirely sure how that’s all going to work out. The guy basically got turned into paperwork, which is one of the strangest villain deaths I can remember.

Part of me expected something harsher.

Maybe that’s strange to say, because he technically gets Rider-kicked before everything happens. But it feels softer somehow than the usual Kamen Rider villain death. He doesn’t explode. He doesn’t get dramatically destroyed. He gets converted into documents.

It’s almost funny.

After everything he did, after all the manipulation, all the cruelty, and everything he put Odaka through, I find myself wondering whether death was enough. Would it have been more satisfying to see him imprisoned? Forced to live with the consequences of what he’d done?

Or was being reduced to evidence against Code the perfect irony?

I’m honestly not sure.

What do you think? Did Agent Three get the ending he deserved, or did he get off easy?

Is The Lady Doomed?

Zeztz 38 has me wondering what exactly is going on with this woman.

The Nightmare seems to be choking her. It seems to be tormenting her. It almost looks like it’s trying to kill her.

So is she doomed?

I thought she made some kind of agreement with this thing. A contract, almost. If that’s the case, shouldn’t she be getting power from it instead of being strangled by it?

Or maybe that’s exactly the point.

Maybe the power she’s receiving is also going to be her downfall.

Maybe every time she draws on that power, she gets a little closer to being consumed by it.

That’s what has me wondering whether her fate is already sealed. Is she heading toward a tragic ending? Or is this the beginning of her transformation into something much worse?

Could she end up becoming the final villain?

I’m not sure. The whole thing feels strange, and I don’t know exactly where the show is going with it.

What do you think? Is she being destroyed by the Nightmare, or is she becoming something even more dangerous?

Did Knox Earn His Redemption?

Zeztz 38 is a mixed bag for me because I really like the Midnight Shadow form.

It looks super cool.

The problem is that I’m not sure Knox earned it.

I’m also not sure Knox earned his redemption.

Or maybe he did.

That’s part of what’s making this so complicated for me.

I’ve wanted Odaka to be redeemed for a long time. Even before he went completely bad, I was hoping the story was moving him toward redemption. Then everything with the Premonition happened, and after that his actions seemed to be setting him up for a comeback.

But now that we’re here, something doesn’t sit right with me.

Part of the problem is that Premonition makes everything complicated. Some of the worst things Odaka did there didn’t actually happen. He would have done them, but he didn’t. At the same time, he was still an agent of Code. He was still involved in things like the dream learning experiments with Kareaha and Baku.

So what exactly does he need redemption for?

And if he does need redemption, has he actually earned it yet?

I don’t know.

That’s what makes this feel so strange. The story clearly wants us to celebrate his return, and part of me wants to celebrate it too. I’ve been rooting for him for a long time.

But I’m not convinced the redemption itself was handled as well as it could have been.

What do you think? Has Knox earned redemption, or does his story still have unfinished business?

Is Knox Officially Team Zeztz Now?

Zeztz 38 sees Odaka choose to live and get his big power-up.

At the beginning of the episode, it looked like he was on Team Zeztz. Then he kind of went off on his own and seemed determined to die if that’s what it took to bring down Code.

Now he’s not dying.

Now he’s got a new form.

Now he’s fighting alongside the heroes.

So what happens next?

Is he officially Team Zeztz now? Is he going to be hanging out in the Zeztz room with everybody else? Or is he going to stay an independent operator floating around and doing his own thing?

And then there’s the question of the woman.

Does he still have obligations to her? Is he going to keep helping her? Are his loyalties going to stay with her, or have they shifted completely to Team Zeztz?

Right now, I kind of feel like he’s Team Zeztz, but he’ll also feel obligated to help her whenever he can.

I’m not really sure, though.

We’ll have to see where the show takes him from here.

What do you think? Is Knox officially part of Team Zeztz now, or is he still going to walk his own path?