Recap

Kouta leaves Yggdrasil a broken man, and must somehow rediscover his will to fight. Meanwhile, Kaito presses deeper into Helheim searching for the mysterious Invess.

Marlin’s Thoughts

We finally get some answers about Kaito’s mission this week. It was kind of funny to see he was acting as a human Voyager, carrying plates and everything. For the moment, I was wrong about the sapient Inves being a Helheim Rider, but many details surrounding their existence are still pretty fishy to me. It seems strange that these sapiens have built their own language. With only a few Sapient Inves in existence it seems unlikely that they’d independently develop one without knowing language beforehand. It still seems to imply to me that maybe he was one of the riders that survived the apocalypse and simply adapted to a permanent life as a Rider. The Professor already said that the suits could basically be used indefinitely, somehow using Lock Seed energy to power metabolism. Couldn’t that mean that this “Sapient Inves” is simply doing the same thing with the technology this civilization was able to create before total apocalypse? There’s also the idea that it can control Helheim’s plants. If I had any money, I’d bet that’s the same power the “forbidden fruit” would give one of the Armored Riders.

It’s good to see DJ Sagara and the Other Mai back in the game again. It seemed as if the show had almost forgotten about them for how long they have been out of the plot. That said, their injection was just at the right time. As a bit of a sucker for optimist philosophies, I liked the idea Sagara planted. If the world does not work to your liking, why not change the world itself? It gives a bit more weight to this fight as one that transcends normal philosophical debates into questioning the very nature of the world itself. Now the biggest mystery still remains: Just who are these two? Obviously they operate on a level above normal humans, and yet they don’t choose to ever directly intervene, instead leaving cryptic messages or giving support to help other characters through their problems. Through her talk with DJ Sagara it seems like the Other Mai is a being even above him, and yet we still haven’t even been given a clue as to her purpose. After a lot of complaining about the Energy Rider bows, Gaim really knocked it out of the park with the Triumphant Arms. It would be fitting for DJ Sagara to give our hero a gun that doubles as a sweet conch shell turntable. Watching Kouta just wreak havoc on the scrub Kurokage riders was such a great visual treat. It really made you feel that Kouta finally had the power to overcome the obstacles ahead of him. The costume itself is a masterpiece of fusion from the samurai and fruit themes the previous costumes already played with. Through the addition of some extra plate armor and regalia it makes the whole transformation look like the huge upgrade that it is even before we see it in action. I love that even the banners have a functional purpose, getting taken out as bo staffs to take out enemies in close quarters.

Random Observations

• The idea of the villain letting the hero go because they underestimate them is a very tired trope. Gaim does a good job of having that without it seeming farfetched. Knowing Takatora’s personality, it actually is pretty believable he would do that since he was so sure he had broken Kouta’s spirit, and didn’t hold any actual ill will towards him.
• The more this story goes on, the more obvious it seems that Micchy is the villainous Kureshima.
• I’m not quite sure I get what giving an alien a dictionary would do, but I suppose the same could be said of all the vocal messages that went into the Voyager.

Zigg’s Thoughts

Given that we’re taking a break from the story next week, this felt like a big, epic way to cap off the first half of the story. Not only do we get sweet powerups, but we actually get character development powerups to go with them! Pretty cool trick huh? Seriously though, just when I think Gaim can’t top itself, it gets better and better, and this saw both powerful character writing, exciting action and the birth of a potentially world-changing new plotline.

Let’s start with Kouta, because his arc through this story is a great example of how to do a simple, clean heroic comeback story that’s also well written and nicely nuanced. The fact that it nicely ties into the overarcing story is also a major bonus. It’s an interesting and brave decision to have Sagara be the one who snaps Kouta out of his funk, and in fact his involvement here may be the most intriguing aspect of the entire episode. His ‘change the rules’ speech is a relatively standard outside-the-box solution dressed up in flowery language, but Tomomitsu Yamaguchi’s excellent acting sells it convincingly and he has admirable chemistry with Gaku Sano’s Kouta. Those of you who have been reading since the beginning may recall how much I hated the goofball DJ version of Sagara, but in retrospect that was a masterstroke. The mysterious trickster version of the character is only thrown into sharper relief by that facade, and in a show full of interesting mysteries, he’s perhaps the most interesting. In fact, Sagara only deepens his mystery throughout. His ability to summon and craft new lock seeds clearly places him as something beyond human, as does his interest in who will claim Helheim’s power. My initial theory was that he’s from the same unknown future as Alternate Mai, but their meeting at the end of this episode seems to put this in doubt, as she seems unaware of him, although he clearly knows her. They appear to have opposing agendas too – whereas Alternate Mai has consistently demanded the lead characters abandon their conflict and flee Zawame City, Sagara instead wants to stoke the conflict, be that on Yggdrasil’s side or Koutas. Who’s the villain and who’s the hero? Or are they both somewhere in between? To have two mysterious, powerful figures like this casts a cloak in intrigue over the whole show, making it feel like a moving part in a much weightier, mythic battle. That’s a gratifying feeling to have in a Kamen Rider show.

The other side of the equation is of course the revelation of Kaito and the Professor’s objective…or is it just one of them? The idea that some of the inhabitants of Helheim evolved to become sapient Invess is double-edged, because it slightly reduces the threat of the Helheim Fruit as this unstoppable, virus like entity that mindlessly destroys (see also Borg Queen). The tradeoff is more than worth it though, because it finally gives a firm anchor for Kaito’s obsession with strength. By aiming to rise above all others on the planet, and save his identity as an individual, Kaito (and by extension the Professor/Yoko/Sid triumvirate) finally has a firm motive that aligns with his philosophical leanings. There’s also potential for the Invess to truly become a third (fourth? Fifth?) side in this conflict, as you’ve got a race intelligent enough to lead a deliberate conquest. The net result of all of this is a bloody awesome action scene, as Kouta jetbikes his way to the top of Yggdrasil before unleashing hell on their poor mooks. This finale is the perfect example of what makes big action sequences like this work – not only is the actual combat awesome, but we feel the emotional catharsis because our hero has finally overcome his fear and doubt and decided to kick ass. THAT’s what makes this scene great, the stunning cinematography and awesome powerup are just the icing on the cake. No Hollywood movie or big budget drama could have made me laugh and shout and punch the air like the children’s show with the rubber suits did this week. How about that huh?

Random Observations

• I haven’t even had time to praise Mahiro Takasugi’s consistently excellent Mitchy, who continues to get slimier and shadier by the episode. As Marlin notes, it seems obvious that he’s the real bad one among the two brothers.
• I love the idea that the sapient Invess are attracted to knowledge. It’s a surprisingly high-concept idea.
• The engraved plate that Kaito drops is very similar to the one carried by the Pioneer space probes. Only with Invess.
• Probably the only weakness of this episode is the extremely ugly all-CGI sequences used for the destruction of the Scalar System.
• Triumphant Arms looks legitimately awesome and is one of the most coherently designed super modes in quite some time.
• I like the fact that Gaim still can’t get a clean win over Takatora even with Triumphant Arms. It’s early enough that you need to keep your villains strong.
• Next week both Gaim and ToQger are pre-empted for a one hour crossover special that Toei are billing as the first ever Rider/Sentai teamup. Er, except for that other one.