Recap

The remaining Riders pull together to try and save Zawame from the Helheim invasion. Except for Mitchy, who tries to kill Kouta AGAIN.

Aqua’s Thoughts

If there’s any criticism that I should give to Gaim, it’s the fact that in spite of the excellent buildup it has been given, Mitchy’s arc might have been going on for just a bit too long. The show’s breakneck pace makes the wait for Kouta to find out the white Armoured Rider is — in fact — his best friend rather agonizing. Mostly taking away the tension is Mitchy’s general incompetence in being any sort of threat to our hero, who outmatched him even in his previous form. Obviously, no show would bother with a backstabbing this prominent if there isn’t anything it’s building up to, so I expect mister Sour Grapes to come up with desperate measures very soon. Mahiro Takasugi’s chilling performance hints at Mitchy trying his hands at Helheim’s fruits in the near future, though I look forward to see how they’ll keep this twist fresh. For one, how will he skip the mook stage and go straight to a level on par with the other Overlords? Even more importantly, however, how will he regain credibility as a legitimate villain who can challenge Kouta, rather than coming up with convoluted plots that crumble before his very eyes?

Of course, Mitchy being completely pathetic as a villain is sort of the point: Out of all the villains, Mitchy is by far the most despicable, with no relatable motives or reason to root for him. The resolution of this entire arc might just serve to show how Kouta and Mitchy have grown up differently: the latter has grown so irrational and bitter he doesn’t recognize his former friend anymore, leading to frequent humiliation a man of such insufferably smugness only deserves. Up until now, Gaim has adhered to the idea that true evil doesn’t exist, and that even the most relentless nihilists operate on some form of logic, or at least have the charisma to make up for how completely reprehensible they are. Mitchy, on the other hand, has become simply evil in the most classic sense. He operates solely on selfishness and envy — motivations which, in Urobuchi’s world — don’t even merit a sympathetic portrayal like Rosyuo’s or even Ryouma’s do. If anything, Mitchy’s character arc only ever acts as an indication that evil — true, selfish evil, not the necessary variety our writer loves to death — is completely and utterly petty. The antagonism of his former friend mostly gives Kouta an opportunity to flaunt his heroism in an entirely satisfying way: in a world of moral ambiguity, Kouta and Mitchy are the absolute ends of the spectrum: The suffering, Messianic hero and the unapologetically vile Lucifer-like villain. I won’t be surprised if these two will be the last ones standing, especially if you consider Urobuchi’s earlier work.

This enormous rant does prove how great Mitchy’s character arc is, however, making good use of the show’s long episode count to show that even the nicest little cherub can grow into a bad guy straight out of a Disney movie — which I mean in the best way possible, natch. While the other Riders — even Pierre and Yoko — get their priorities straight, Mitchy gladly uses a global apocalypse as a means to an incomprehensibly petty end just to show how twisted of a little twit he’s become. Remains the question if he’ll just go out as a villain or somehow find a way to redeem himself. I get the striking feeling his villainous routine is so self-indulgent the poor boy might just be fooling himself, and will eventually see the error of his way. Whether it’s the world’s worst case of chunibyo or an honest-to-goodness tumble off the deep end, Kamen Rider Gaim has convinced me more than enough to know that either option will result in some very interesting episodes to come.

Random Observations

• Why did the English Yggdrasil executive answer the phone with “Oui”?
• Similarly, why are all international news anchors Japanese?
• Fun fact of the week: The map of Zawame City Mai uses to plan the Rider’s patrol bears a striking resemblance to Gotham City. Thanks, Tumblr!

Zigg’s Thoughts

I’m actually going to disagree with Aqua here, in that I don’t think Mitchy is particularly unrelatable. Rather, I think he’s actually a rather human villain, albeit one taken to a (deliberately) ludicrous extreme. Across the entire show his arc has been about corruption, and how the best of intentions can actually lead to the worst of consequences. It’s difficult to remember now but Mitchy was actually a very sympathetic character when he first appeared – lonely and trapped by virtue of his lifestyle, eager to help the team and bust out of the stifling expectations placed. In many other stories, those are the building blocks of a hero.

Instead, Mitchy has become the arch-example of what might be Gaim’s most prominent theme – the fact that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. First he was a hero, then a hero with a dark secret, then a villain with good intentions and now he’s just become an out and out bastard. The evolution is startling, but I don’t yet think the character is beyond redemption. This is definitely his darket phase though, and the entire situation is designed to make him as deliciously hateable as possible.

That villainy is thrown into even sharper relief by the co-operation the other riders display in this episode. Most notable is the shifting role of Kaito, who is gravitating back towards a more firm role as a hero, while still remaining a fascinatingly ambiguous figure. What Yoko says here is pretty much true for me as well – the character has a certain magnetism about him which just makes you intrigued to see what he does next. In some ways he’s the anti-Mitchy. Whereas Mitchy buckled under the pressure of the power and knowledge he was given and surrendered to petty jealousy, Kaito was an asshole to begin with but has borne the burden of his increased strength very well, not allowing it to change who he is. Food for thought.

Otherwise, this was something of a transitional episode, establishing an important plot thread (Kouta’s realisation that ‘Takatora’ is an imposter) and sowing the seeds for future stories. But even in a stopgap like this, there’s enough to chew on that Gaim is never less than fascinating.