Recap

The Riders grudgingly accept Ryouma’s plan and attempt to infiltrate Yggdrasil Tower via secret underground passage

Aqua’s thoughts

It’s the calm before the storm, making a rather insubstantial episode such as this one, and yet another two-week-long wait (seriously, what does TV Asahi against us Gaim fans?) more than a bit miffing. For a story playing a traditional finale trope so straight, very little actually happened in this episode, as most of the scenes we got in between the Riders’ mad dash through Ryouma’s secret tunnel only served to remind us what this show was even about to begin with. We get Roshuou once again confirming that he already has the Fruit of Knowledge, but can’t fulfil his goal with it, we get reminded once again that Redyue is still draining random civilians of their life power, and we get Takatora’s ghost once again popping up just to show that Mitchy’s still slipping even when he’s sitting behind his desk sipping tea and staring at Mai like the slimy little creepshow he is when the world’s ending outside his window. Call it a clever way of recapping the show without having to resort to a clip show, or call it shameless padding, but the fact remains that this episode didn’t really teach us anything noteworthy.

In stead, we get tons of fighting and Tsunenoiri Aoki gleefully gobbling up every piece of scenery he can get his grubby hands on, all the while reminding us how much of a scumbag Ryouma really is. While his motives — as per the episode’s set-up — remain a mystery, his antics are entertaining as ever, though I’m not sure if having him completely apathetic towards Yoko is such a good idea. These two have been in cahoots for longer than almost any other couple in this show’s history, and a longer scene between the two of them could have made Yoko’s transformation from psycho to cool big sis a bit more apparent, giving her some very welcome character development. On the other hand, Kaito getting to sock the bastard in the face was an absolute delight, and a bit or hilarious irony. According to Kaito, Kouta may be too good a guy to punch his enemies when they’re being douches, but he himself sure isn’t.

Speaking of punching enemies, this was one of the most action-packed episodes of Kamen Rider Gaim to date, which contributed to it feeling so uneventful. Kouta’s creative use of Zenith Arms’ weapon catalogue is a riot as usual, though aside from the novelty of getting to see Ornac in action again, there is very little to remember in the various ‘save yourself, we will hold them back’ fight sequences this episode is rife with. It’s all a bit tame, and as usual, the abundance of cheap CGI might do the show more harm than good. The sheer number of Riders in Gaim severely limits the combat options each of them has to their disposal, resulting in fight scenes not involving Kouta growing stale rather quickly. It’s mostly just slashing and shooting with various flashy effects attached, yet the excessive use of lull destruction wouldn’t be such a problem in this episode if it weren’t directly responsible for its entire lack of purpose. The Riders make so much noise, they get spotted almost entirely, rendering their entire reason for sneaking in through the secret tunnel entirely moot. I was even a bit confused when the next episode preview showed the action moving back to Zawame City, implying that the crew will be getting out of Yggdrasil Tower as soon as they’re in. In spite of some great moments, it puts the entire episode in a rather questionable light, though I’m glad to see we’ll be moving on soon.

Random observations

• Next week’s preview seems to hint at Kouta becoming an Overlord. I’m not sure how I feel about that, though, as I always thought Mitchy, in his insatiable lust for power, or Kaito, in some sort of dramatic irony, would become Overlords. For them, it would make sense, but for Kouta, it’d just feel too similar to what happened to Eiji from Kamen Rider OOO, whom Kouta already is very similar to. In case you hadn’t noticed that yet, just listen to Kaito’s speech when confronting him last episode.
• Then again, he did gain the power of the Fruit of Knowledge, which turned the current Overlords into the monsters they are now…
• “She is the only human I deem worthy” might be the most reprehensible thing to have ever come out of Mitchy’s mouth, and that’s saying a lot. Besides, Mai still trying to understand him, while not exactly grating given how little she actually knows about his gradual transformation, may hint at the damn brat getting his redemption after all, which is something not even Mahiro Takasugi would like to see happen.

Zigg’s thoughts

If ever an episode screamed ‘holding pattern’ then this is the one. That’s not to say that it isn’t entertaining, or that there aren’t good bits, but it’s pretty clear that the entire series of events covered here could easily have been squeezed into a five minute segment, at least as far as important or relevant stuff goes. Gaim has never been an action powerhouse and I’d generally describe its fight direction and choreography as no better than average, so to suddenly be thrown into an entire episode of basically nothing but fighting is a bit of a letdown. Of course, the writers do their best to sprinkle personality bits into the battles, so we get cool little touches like Pierre and Jonouchi reaffirming their bromance and Kaito punching out Ryouma. Still, as soon as the characters start peeling away ‘to hold them back’ you can basically see the course of the episode in front of you.

It’s Gaim though, and that means that there’s always going to be something worth seeing. In this case it’s definitely Mitchy, who continues to simply be one of the most hateful people to appear on a screen in quite some time. We find out here that all pretense of his pragmatism has gone. Instead, he’s simply out to destroy humanity altogether. Even his former Team Gaim comrades, who he specifically selected to be ‘saved’, are now fodder to him and abandoned to Redyue’s life-sucking machine. In fact, the only person left he cares about is…Mai. It’s a brilliant example of infatuation taken to its logical conclusion. Yet at the same time, he cares so little about her that he’s content to leave her with Roshuou (who, no matter what he says, is a dangerous and unstable individual) like some sort of tossed aside trophy. And that cuts right to the core of the Mitchy/Mai relation ship – to him she’s an object. He cares so much about possessing her but now he has her he doesn’t really know what to do with her, so he shoves her aside until his business is taken care of. What an asshole.

All in all, this episode was sort of ‘steady as she goes’ but solid performances from the cast and just enough story intrigue meant that it was still worth watching. Next episode looks to be the kickoff for our final run though, so I’m eagerly awaiting that.

Random Observations

• Mai looks great in a dress, but bear in mind that Mitchy must have both picked out the dress and then ‘asked’ her to wear it. Ugh.
• On the other hand, the man has impeccable taste in teacups.
• As Aqua has noted, Gaim will not be airing next week, so we’ll pick up the story in a fortnight.