Recap

Kouta and Kaito are bought face to face with the mysterious Professor Sengoku. Afterwards, Kouta meets DJ Sagara in person for the first time.

Zigg’s Thoughts

After what was a big, emotion packed episode last week, it’s for the best that Gaim scales back a little, trading big battles and emotional torque for smaller, quieter drama. That’s not to say it’s become less compelling though – far from it. In it’s own way, this episode is just as impressive as last week’s one, despite (or maybe because) it’s mostly talking. Though there’s some compulsory fighting, the good stuff here lies in the two confrontations that anchor the episode – Kouta and Kaito facing down the Professor, and then Kouta’s chat with the enigmatic DJ Sagara.

The Professor is definitely the more plot relevant of the two, and introduces another favoured trope of ol’ Urobuchi – the amoral baddie who cares nothing for the ends, but simply desires a proving ground for his experiments. He desires power, not to do anything with it, but simply because it’s there. That’s an interesting motivation, and potentially makes his allegiance somewhat flexible, but as it stands he’s still being mostly positioned as a baddie, albeit a cool, calm and detached one. That’s fine at this point, but it’s interesting to see how strongly each character is pushing a philosophical theme. In some ways he’s the opposite of both Kouta and Kaito. While those two desire strength to accomplish their ends, the Professor desires strength not to do anything with it, but merely because it’s there to be taken. That’s a pretty cool ideological conflict to set up in a kid’s show, and let’s hope we get a payoff. This segment is compelling viewing, not just because of the writing but also because of some fine performances from Sano, Kobayashi and Aoki. Credit to Minami Tsukui too, who in her first appearance as Sengoku’s enforcer Yoko Minato radiates competence, menace and badassery. She’s dangerous in a way few female toku characters are, and I look forward to seeing more of her.

The other big centrepiece for the episode, and perhaps the more important one for the future, is Kouta’s one on one with the increasingly mysterious DJ Sagara. Sagara has been something of an enigma ever since he was revealed to be an inside man for Yggdrasil, and the confusion surrounding him only deepens here. He too chooses to talk to Kouta about the nature of power, but unlike the others, who seem obsessed with the future, Sagara’s focus is on legacy and mortality. He also draws out Kouta’s reason for fighting, and new objectives. Throughout the conversation Sagara shifts from quirky and jokey to profound, but he’s never what you’d call serious; instead, he seems intrigued by a new plaything or piece on the table. Though I normally reserve crackpot theories for the Randomd Observations section, I’m going to throw this one out here – I think Sagara may actually be the head of Yggdrasil, or at least the highest up on the ladder we’ve yet seen. In his brief appearances since his cover was lifted, we’ve often seen him disagree with Takatora while showing a certain fondness for the Game teams. He gleefully commits treason against the organisation here with seemingly no fear of reprisal, and his more detached, even handed viewpoint suggests a greater knowledge of the bigger picture, along with his desire to keep the ‘rebel’ rider faction alive. Whatever his purpose may be, Sagara has become another interesting cog in a machine full of them.

While the episode is frontloaded, that’s not to say there isn’t anything in the back half to appreciate either. The fight with Sid is cool but mostly perfunctory, with the biggest development being Yoko stepping into stop him, establishing that there’s tension within the various Yggdrasil factions. There’s also the not insignificant matter of Takatora finally uncovering the fact his brother is in deep with his opposition. You’d have expected this to be a big, grandstanding moment, but I actually liked that it was done in a semi-throwaway fashion. This gives us a week to wonder what’s going to happen, and in-story gives Takatora to plan a more reasoned response than his knee-jerk reaction. Judging from the preview, it looks as if he’s going to show Mitchy a devastating truth. Is this the moment our young gun switches sides? I can barely wait to find out.

Random Observations

• Even if everything else had been bad this week, come on, freakin’ JETBIKES!
• Having Kouta say nothing when asked about Hase is way more effective than any dialogue could be.
• Sengoku’s office is very cool loking. I think the implication is meant to be it’s right underneath the main tower.
• Even if the segment is ultimately inconsequential, I like that they’re showing Mai is still actively trying to help out. Also Jounouchi’s angry matching flunkies are pretty funny.
• I liked that Kouta and Kaito could work silently together to try and escape, and I like even more that Yoko took them down quickly and in utterly awesome fashion.
• Another reason for having Mitchy jump sides now is that Kaito is mostly on the side of the angels by this point, so the main characters need a new feud.
• Second straight episode without Pierre. I hope he gets a big, flashy return when he does come back in.

Marlin’s Thoughts

It’s been long overdue, but I’ve finally caught up with Gaim, and boy do I regret not doing it sooner. Gaim has been a great rollercoaster of emotions and this episode is no different. My favorite scene had to be the talk with DJ Sagara. I love that he has to talk to Kouta with his DJ affectations even when they’re completely alone. It just speaks to how little he takes him seriously as a threat. The new female rider is another good addition to the cast, proving with Sid that the villains still have the advantage over our heroes in every way. I’m still very disappointed that all of the Energy Riders have the same weapon, but at least they are still able to make a good melee fight out of using them like swords. It’d be cool if they could break apart à la Archer from Fate/Stay Night, but that may be asking for a bit much. I wonder if the powers will be different with a different belt. It seems to be hinting at that with next week’s previews, and I can’t wait to see more.

Random Observations

• It seems a little silly that our unpowered heroes are able to go toe to toe with a bunch of Armored Riders, even if they all use the weakest one.
• When will we see the resolution of Jonouchi and Pierre’s little sidestory? I hope we aren’t kept in the dark about that for too long.
• The whole “soda” soundbite  that happens whenever an Energy Rider powers up will always be the best kind of stupid.