Recap

Pluck the fruit of heaven, and dye the world in your image.

Aqua’s Thoughts

It’s not an Urobuchi show if it doesn’t end with someone becoming a physical God, but as usual, the man finds creative ways to tell the same story in new, unexpected ways. Last week saw the motives and character arcs of the final two warriors on the battlefield come full circle, giving this week’s climactic finale enough room to properly end the conflict with an epic fight scene. No unexpected twists and turns here, Kouta manages to defeat, and — in a rather brutal move for a main Rider — kill Kaito, and gains the Fruit of Knowledge from Mai, leaving him with the choice of either ruling over the Helheim-covered world, or destroying the forest at the cost of his own life. In other words, the forest’s fate has become one with his… or at least so it appears, as after Kouta and Mai decide to take a third option and bring the forest with them to an uninhabited world, Sagara simply conjures up a new Fruit of Knowledge and decides to start the whole thing over again on another world.

It adds to the theory that Sagara isn’t an incarnation of Helheim, but the other way around. The forest was, just like the Biblical ‘snake’, simply a manifestation of the trial that would push mankind to the next step of its evolution. Helheim may have been taken to an uninhabited planet, Sagara seems to be perfectly able to leave the forest to its own devices and take on another form to start the ‘game’ all over again, on another world. It’s yet another unsettling detail that further accentuates the similarities Kamen Rider Gaim‘s ending has with Puella Magi Madoka Magica‘s ending: the main character sacrifices themselves to alleviate the suffering caused by a particular cycle orchestrated by forces beyond their grasp, but is unable to completely erase it, for it is part of the immutable nature of life. Magical girls must still suffer. Species must still evolve. It’s a rather bittersweet message for a show that, up until a few weeks ago, still seemed to be about defying such an un-just system and breaking through the established rules and values of the world. In the end, Kouta manages to make good on his promise, but even with the power of a God, he cannot prevent Sagara from saddling up another species with the same fate. Fighting fate will make you happier, but you must accept that there are some things you cannot fight.

Nevertheless, in spite of featuring many of his favourite tropes, Kamen Rider Gaim is far from a clone of Urobuchi’s other works. The basic roles they fulfill may be similar, but in the end, the Gaim cast has little in common with the characters from Madoka. While Gaim may lack the refreshing directness, artistic punch and snappy pacing of the man’s masterpiece, it is more sprawling, complex and downright epic than innumerable other shows will ever hope to be, regardless of who’s writing them. The finale hits all the right notes, providing a bittersweet, but rousing and satisfying ending to a monumental story. While Kouta’s journey ends with his departure, a superbly paced epilogue gives us a look at the remaining cast members. It’s filled with heartwarming moments, from Jonouchi learning to, quite literally, ‘never give up’ in spite of his sins, to all the Beat Rider teams dancing together and Zack being alive and kicking.

The greatest scene comes at the very end, however, set aside for what is undeniably the best-written arc this show has had over its 46-episode run. Many people wished for Mitchy to suffer an agonizing death, but this eventual fate is a lot more mature, highlighting Kouta’s kindness without letting Mitchy off the hook easily or making Takatora’s resurrection feel cheap. He’s not being redeemed, he’s being forgiven, which makes the ending to his character arc a lot more poignant and satisfying than any kind of glamorizing absolution would. Sometimes not killing off a character can hit so much harder, and with Mitchy, this is definitely the case. With all three phenomenal character arcs resolved, it remains to be seen what next week’s final episode will bring to the table, yet with the sudden appearance of a new Rider and the thing not being written by Gen Urobuchi, I’m going to guess it is a non-canon crossover with Kamen Rider Drive. After all, if it ain’t broken, don’t try to fix it.

Random Observations

• For more on why Gaim isn’t a rip-off of Madoka Magica at all, check out this post.
• Minor fridge horror: If Zack still has to walk with crutches three full months after sustaining his injury, chances are he’ll never again be able to walk without them. Poor guy.
• In the scene where Kouta receives the Fruit of Knowledge from Mai, the CGI fruit is clearly too big to fit in his hand.
• Good thing the Zawame City hospital has a hairdresser available to make sure even the coma patients will look impeccable when they wake up.

Marlin’s Thoughts

I was wondering how much longer they were going to continue the fight before bringing it to a climax. To this show’s credit, cheap looking swords aside, the man to man fights in Gaim have always been a high point, and this show really did a good job of showing their convictions through their fighting. I was wondering how they were going to make Kaito’s ultimate defeat impactful, and this episode didn’t disappoint. Instead of being defeated by Zenith Arms’ many tricks, he was defeated by his own blade as it was turned against him. It really seemed to bring Kaito’s arc completely full circle. He wanted strength to overcome life’s inequalities, but in doing so became the arbiter of the very power he despised, and was ended by it. Gaim really does love its Pieta scenes, but if any death was going to get this treatment, it should definitely be Kaito. The resulting dialogue almost made me wonder if he never intended to beat Kouta in the first place, and only wished to test him until he was strong enough to beat him.

Admittedly, Urobuchi does like to abuse the idea of “take option C”, but it was done really well here. Obviously there was no way Kouta was going to let Sagara have what he wanted, so the simplest way to take the threat away from Earth would be to literally take the threat away from Earth. Sure, the idea of Kouta and Mai going alone is a corny Biblical allegory, and the Aesir dub even has Sagara say “This may be the wrong thing for me to be saying, but be fruitful and multiply!” taking a direct quote from God in Genesis. I do wish Mai had more of a voice in how this decision got made, but at least she had some good parting words. Let’s hope they found some happiness in their convictions.

Initially, I was a bit disappointed that Taketora survived. The show milked his supposed death on Micchy’s conscience for all it was worth, so having his guilt be suddenly dampened like that seemed cheap. It’s only after discussing it with Zigg and Aqua that I finally felt comfortable with Micchy being redeemed. It’s the only way that would have made sense, since everything else he truly cared about in the world was gone for good. It did allow us to get some closure with Takatora. While maybe he intended on his defeat in the fight against Micchy to shock him away from his path, he obviously failed to get that point across. Now that he has time to spend with Micchy, he can correct the mistakes both of them made in letting their situations get so out of hand.

It’s a bit of a shame that this show has to be ended on some filler nonsense, as the conclusion was really well done. I do have to wonder if there’s some kind of irony to be had in the world going back to normal after Kouta and Mai’s decision. I remember far back in the show, Kouta wished to fight back against the inequities of the world despite the seemingly impossible nature of the task. While he prevented his world from being corrupted by an even more powerful force, he still leaves Earth in the same way he came into it. The inequalities and injustices that both he and Kaito fought against still exist. While Kouta had the strength to make the right decision, it still meant choosing something that is basically the lesser of two evils. Still, for what could have been a very bleak outcome, this was the best possible ending. It’s now up to those that remain to keep the hopes of Kouta and Mai alive in the world they left behind.

Zigg’s Thoughts

It’s been a good long while since a story finale has satisfied me so completely and paid off its multiple plot threads in such conclusive ways. Really though we should have expected nothing less from Gaim, which has been so masterfully paced and structured throughout. The end result is a conclusion which perfectly balances the finality of an ending with the open-endedness and possibility of an ongoing story. In other words, it’s really, really good.

Given how well Kaito has been positioned as an anti-villain throughout his run on the show, I was very much expecting him to survive the ending no matter the outcome. Instead, it’s to Urobuchi’s credit that he does in fact decisively lose the battle, and is killed in the process (raising Kouta’s already abnormally high body count yet further). Kaito’s shift to the dark side has perhaps been a little abrupt considering the lengthy buildup and the obvious tease of him going either way, but I feel his final scenes here do do justice to the path he ultimately took. His final realisation that Kouta is the truly strong one because he fights for those other than himself is a wonderful way to conclude his arc, and as a bonus it’s also a powerful moment of vindication for Kouta. It’s because he so readily embraces the values that Kaito sees as ‘weak’ that he was ultimately able to come out on top. Just as Kaito believed the power he was given was for subjugating the weak to his will, Kouta believed his power was for protecting those who weren’t as fortunate. That’s a pretty cheesy moral, but it’s also a very good one, and it’s amazing how well the show has delivered it without falling into obviously ham-handed moralising.

That same moral fortitude we’ve seen in Kouta throughout is evident as he spurns Sagara’s choices and instead decides to take a third option. It’s an impressively high-concept twist to get out of your predetermined ending, and really rather somber when you pause to think about it. That Kouta and Mai would willingly choose to exile themselves to the other end of the universe to save this world form the curse of Helheim is an incredibly heroic act, and it’s a very sad one too. Yet there’s also an optimism to it. Rather than tear down an existing world, which the show has been all about, they’re instead going to try and use the power of Helheim to build something new. In a sense they’ve evolved beyond humanity, and taking the power of the forest away from Earth is the best thing they can do for the planet. What’s important about this from a plot standpoint is that it’s a legitimate way of breaking the rules that have been established without ever making us feel that the script has cheated us out of a honest conclusion.

Perhaps my favourite thing about this finale is how the Mitchy situation has been handled. Given his relative absence over the past few episodes I’d confidently predicted he would be butting into this finale, but instead he’s utterly absent from the final battle, and only appears as an afterthought. And really, that’s actually the perfect culmination to his arc. He’s been so obssessed with control, with manipulation and power that to be reduced to an inconsequential cog is the most ironic outcome that one could forsee. In some ways it’s far more impactful than having him die, because it shows that he has to live with the burden of having lost his friends, his family and any chance he had of being someone. As Pierre notes, he’s no bigshot, just a child who was manipulated and strung along by those smarter and more powerful than he was. All along Mitchy’s dream was to make a difference, but now he’s no hero, nor even a villain, he’s a nobody who has nothing.

With that in mind, the final part of this puzzle is the return of Takatora. I’ll fully admit I called bullshit the moment he appeared in the hospital bed, but I was completely turned around by his subsequent scene with Kouta. All along Kouta has preached the importance of forgiveness and redemption, but this final conversation really sealed that, as well as providing an important reason for Takatora to come back into this story. Both of the Kureshima brothers are in need of redemption – Takatora for his part in setting up Yggdrasil, and Mitchy for the betrayals he made over the course of this story. But Mitchy needs someone to help him move past his crimes, and Takatora, now freed of the responsibility of saving the world, has more to offer. As Kouta said, this isn’t about forgetting, but rather forgiving. Yes, the two brothers made mistakes, bad ones. Together though they can put those behind them and become different people, better people. Kouta uses his own example as an illustration – though it wasn’t easy, he changed himself from an aimless young man to a hero who could seek the strength and take the responsibility of protecting the world. Kouta clearly still cares about the two of them, so much so that he used his power to come back and ensure they would keep on living, even after he had left them behind. It’s no coincidence he tells Takatora he can transform (henshin) himself, because that’s really what all the rubber suited heroics have been about all along – how use the power that’s given to you to change into someone new. Now it’s time to make those transformations without flashy toys to help you.

In the end, this is a finale full of both sadness and hope. Yes, people have died. Yes, much has been lost. But the characters we love have made it out of the other end in one piece for the most part, and they’re looking to transform their lives once again. Whether it’s Kouta and Mai carving out a new world and a new frontier, Mitchy and Takatora attempting to rebuild their fractured relationship, or just Pierre and Jonouchi trying to make it big in the pastry business, everyone is looking forward. Even Sagara spreading the fruit of Helheim to another world carries a certain fatalistic quality to it. How many times has he seen this dance? How many thousands of civilizations have risen or fallen searching for the Golden Fruit? Perhaps the next story will end in ruin like it did for the Overlords, or maybe a hero will emerge like he did this time. Either way, every ending is also a new beginning.

Random Observations

• For what it’s worth, this ending is also an incredibly blatant Biblical allegory. Sagara is Satan and Kouta and Mai are Adam and Eve, cast out of Eden (Earth) to a barren new world after gaining power from a fruit. As Marlin notes, the Aesir sub even has Sagara directly quote a Biblical passage.
• Jonouchi posting up the ‘Missing’ notice of Hase is a heartbreaking moment and a reminder of the some of the genuine cost of the conflict. It’s a great moment for two characters who started as jokes but became so much more.
• Zack’s survival is an unexpected but nice touch. His exhortation to Mitchy to rejoin so there’ll be more people to remember their fallen friends is a lovely statement that shows he’s grown as a character.
• As Aqua has noted, next week’s actual final episode is not written by Urobuchi and appears to be very much non-canon filler. We’ll still cover it of course, and a Final Impressions piece will follow shortly after that will look back on the series as a whole