Every week I go into this show expecting to get some type of lull, but they just keep piling it on. Good to see Micchy finally use his belt again. Sid is clearly letting the power get to him, and was a great contrast for the talk that Kouta had with the DJ. Speaking of the DJ, I was starting to get a vibe from him like he is sort of like not-Mai. The way he was talking about how short a human life is made me think he has been around for a little while. It also seemed like he had dealt with people using the power of the forest before, and he was shocked Kouta had a nobler goal for his power.

Also, that scene with Ryugen vs. the Kurokages on Dandeliners made me wonder if originally it was Gridon who was supposed to become the foot soldier, not Kurokage. I only speculate this because of the Dandeliner toy coming with Gridon and not a Kurokage. I would think Bandai would want to package the Lock Vehicle with the character riding it. I guess we have to wait and see if there is a Gridon riding a Tulip Hopper in the future.

The rest? It's ruined the stuff that came before it too :lol

The show is just damn well written and executed. I never expected such a high quality series from someone as new to tokusatsu as Gen Urobutchi. But his wealth of anime experience has obviously carried over in a very meaningful way.

As someone who enjoyed Wizard it was like a heavy slap in he face when this show started. Just an excellent out the gate first episode and it never turned back. It's basically right at the top of my favorite riders.

Do we need any more Kamen Rider after this?

The franchise is done. it's over. This is the best series ever, its unbeatable.

It totally makes up for Ryuki's crappy acting and CGI and wasted suit designs, makes me forget about W's terrible filler, and gives us the action packed pace that Wizard should have had.

Whaaaaat? Ryuki is an absolutely excellent series, only hampered by it's ending. If given enough breathing room to fully build that world with some more episodes it could have easily been my favorite series before Gaim & Den-O.

Have we ever had such a large cast of characters that were all so likable? The closest I can think of is Fourze with the Kamen Rider Club and all the high schoolers they save(d) that stick around on the show from time to time.

I mean, we have Kouta ... who started off as everyone's favorite because of Episode 02 where he was using the power in everyday life (like any of us would if we got a belt :lol), then Micchy because he was a slick badass, then Kaito because he was so strong and "move over I got this", and then Bravo because he was fabulous, then Hase and Jonouchi because of their comedy schtick, then Zangetsu because he's the ultimate badass, and now we have Murika who is beautiful and deadly, Sid who has become the new Bravo, and even Ryouma who has this likable debonair to him.

Ahhh!

Give it time, we still have plenty of episodes to find a bad character that we all hate. My money is on Duke though, he seems like he'd have a real sour personality.

I'm just gonna let myself out after that one..

Micchy is becoming SOUR GRAPES soon I think!

He's about to go Grapple on Kouta.

You all need to go home. Take a cab, because I do not trust your current driving ability.

Lots of plot holes, I thought the acting was lifeless, hated the main character for being a pussy. It tried to be dark and brooding but just came off as forced I watched it in 2013, which really, really meant the CGI was garbage compared to modern series. I loved the suits and have almost all the SHF's. The garbage ending didn't help. Take the suits and let Urobuchi re-write it and wait . . . Gaim exists.


Anyways, anyone else think that the Pinecone lockseed must be really freakin' weak? Kaito, Michi, and Kouta were able to fight off six of them before activating any lockseeds.

How did I miss this!??!!?!?

Kaito grabbed his belt, and took a second belt, which is why he says "Well, he did say anyone could use this new model."

Looks like those rumors of another Armored Rider in the future might be true!

You should trust my powers of prediction by now;)

I'm like naturally tuned to this shows wavelength.

I've been avoiding the speculation thread, so no dice. :p

Aha, I'm glad they haven't forgotten Baron's inhuman card throwing ability. Looks like Marika has just as inhuman pen throwing though. It's no wonder she was picked to be an energy Rider alongside the others when she's that skilled. Marika in general is awesome. If she's Sengoku's bodyguard though...it make s me wonder why he became a Rider. Maybe it's like he said a while back, he wants to try it out for himself.

Takatora continued to show he's not as amoral as his colleagues with his idea of detaining Kouta and Kaito and depriving them of their belts, like he feels it's what's best for them. And hey, he finds out about Micchy being Ryugen finally as well! DJ Sagara...I dunno. Maybe he's genuine about helping Kota, but I dunno something about it feels off. Still, nice to see him interact with someone in person. I really wonder what they all mean about not knowing who Helheim wold choose.

Sid has a bit of psychotic streak it seems. He might've has an excuse when he killed Hase, but he was about to go nuts and try to kill Gaim and Baron as well. I really like his fighting style though, baiting his opponent to come after him. I wonder how he even came to work for Yggsrassil in the first place.

I wonder what Baron's gonna do with that extra Sengoku Driver. Give himself a spare one in case he suffers Hase's fate or give it to one of his team mates...? I like how he cooperated with Kouta and Micchy though. I suspect now that he knows what the true nature of the Invess game is, he'll be more of an ally to Kouta and tell his team to knock it off and stop playing the games.

And from what I can gather from the next episode preview...Team Red Hot is using invess to steal jewelry. I wonder if their leader becomes that winged red wolf looking invess that Gaim Jinba Arms fights?

Ruin Kamen Rider? Shit, I sometimes have trouble wrapping my head around the fact that a Japanese show for kids about dancing teens who transform using fruit locks is better than a majority of the shows airing on American prime time.

I noticed that as well. Gives me an idea that maybe his lieutenant guy will become Knuckle.

I'm pretty sure that, if the show introduces another Rider, it'll just be a Kurokage with a different Arms.

Oh man, this episode was sooooooo good.

All of the stuff with both Ryouma and Sagara was fantastic. We're really starting to get some backstory here and his chat with Sagara is the moment that completely solidifies Kouta as a Kamen Rider - the man who uses his power to protect. That whole exchange was just great.

The breakout was fantastic, too. I loved the bit with Kaito and Kouta fighting the Riotro- er, Kurokages. You could really feel the tension in their breakout, especially when Takatora realized that Micchy was with them. And then we had the fight with Sid and... damn, there was so much great stuff in this episode.

But that said, shut the hell up, Mai. Nobody cares about dance team drama anymore. I know you're contractually obligated to appear in every episode, but just... just shut up.

You know, I have really been doing my best not to get too hyped over this show. We aren't even a third of the way in, after all, and it's way too early to call this the "best Rider show ever" or the one that "ruins Kamen Rider forever" by setting the bar too high. But I'll be damned if I'm not starting to feel it now.

See, the first Rider shows I really watched were the early Heisei ones: Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, a little bit of Kuuga... the shows that had more serialized pacing and ongoing stories that frequently got very dark. Somewhere around Kabuto and Den-O Rider lost that and we got the pattern that dominated the late '00s and early '10s shows. Gaim is bringing it all back, though, all of the stuff that I loved about those first shows (even Faiz); stuff I didn't know how much I missed until now. I'm not quite ready to fully immerse myself in the Gaim super hype, but I'm pouring myself some of the Kool-Aid.

According to the rumors a new rider will appear in episode 17. Armored Rider Knuckle, based on the Walnut Lock Seed. Lending validity to it, the actual Walnut lock doesn't have a weapon on the inside of it when split like the others. That's based on the only known image of it, the Sunflower seed likewise has no weapon on it's bottom halve. Implying that Knuckle would be a completely brawler type character. AND the only Walnut thus far seen in show is in Kaitou's possession.

Again rumors. But easily substantiated ones right now.

I'm thinking this will be the case with him giving it to the guy who had his arm broken as a sort of, here you can have this as an apology since Team Baron's health coverage is crap.

Would be kind of ironic wouldn't it, Armed Rider Knuckle is the guy who's arm and knuckles were broken.

I have a feeling we'll go back to the Beat Riders setting soon ... that Baron will make a deal with the devil to obtain power like Kouta's and they will fight each other again.

I think the whole reason they even keep bringing up the Beat Rider stuff is so we don't forget it, so they can have it take center stage (ha) again in the near future.

I hope not, it's so much less interesting than what's going on with Yggdrasil.

Oh my God Ms. Minato is amazing.

Another awesome episode that gave a lot of information. I really like Sagara more after this.

It's actually quite a weak Lock Seed, hence their mass numbers. It is a class C Lock Seed, the weakest of the original 6 Rider Lock Seeds. Orange, Banana, Budoh (Grape), Melon and Durian are all class A Seeds. Gridon's Acorn is a class B.

I guess that makes it very appropriate as a mook Seed.

Source: http://fruitridernews.tumblr.com/pos...4819/lockseeds

Or a bunch of them could eat Helheim fruit and get turned into Invess . . .


I think a future plot point could be humans turning into Invess and retaining more of their humanity. Hase actually reverted (mostly) into his human for for a time, and was able to go to a place he "remembered" - the fruit dessert shop (Dropers). He even seemed to recognize the other beat riders and Kouta to some degree.

What if we got a strong willed character who was able to eat fruit, gain the form of Invess, but remain clear headed enough to think tactically, with his human motivations, without needing lockseeds and drivers?

Isn't that the "power" of Helheim that Ryouma Sengoku was hinting at?

Or, we could do a double turn - human eats fruit, turns Invess, stays in control, steals a mass produced driver and a lockseed, and becomes . . . an .Armored Invess Rider!

I absolutely loved this episode. Micchy must have like over 100 in stealth to stay in Yggdrasil unnoticed to he was with Kouta and Kaito. I loved the 3 of them fighting together. Sagara is actually really intriguing now with what he said. Marika is a very interesting character, and she has some awesome moves, I can't wait to learn more about her. Intrigued to see what happens when Kouta finds out about Yuuya. Also I liked Mai and the others of Gaim trying to stop them from using Invess and get the blame off of them. Sid wasn't exactly wrong with what he said about Hase he wasn't right either but I love all the shades of gray in this series.

Another fantastic episode. Not much of anything I can say that hasn't already been said, and likely better than I could put it.

Really liking the development we're getting with the staff of Yggdrasil, the earlier episodes worked on growing and developing our main riders, and it looks like this is a chance to learn more about our "villains" (I mean we can't REALLY call them villains just because that is what they are being painted as, there's a ton of morally gray areas being treaded on and we really don't know what they're real motivations or intentions are) and see some fantastic interaction between the two groups. Loved DJ Sagara's conversation with Kouta, some nice foreshadowing there.

And Takatora learning the truth about Micchy, oh damn. Next week looks to be yet another awesome episode too.

The thing with Kamen Rider is that it's always changing. Gaim is a great show and we got some good plot this episode, but you never know when a new challenger will come by and take Gaim's title away.

Though it's going to have to be really gosh darn good for THAT to happen.

Oh God I hope not.

That'd be horrendously dumb. Everything so far has been developing AWAY from that. Driving home the idea that this isn't silly kids games anymore, that there's actual serious danger. To go back to the goofy dancing as the main focus when it was a glorified red herring would probably make me drop the show.

Regressing like that would be, well it'd be regressing.

That was another great episode. DJ Sagara is definitely proving to be one of the more interesting mysteries of this show, as there's clearly a hell of a lot more to him than the DJ persona. I'm thinking he's perhaps higher up in Yggdrasil than he's letting on to Takatora and co, the question is just how high up. Whatever the answer I've definitely got him near the top of my list as far as "potential big bass" go.

Hopefully we're going to begin to see Mitchy recruited over to Yggdrasil's side next week, prompting the inevitable conflict between him and Kouta.

So anyone want to bet that one of the 2 belt designs Ryoma drew up might end up actually being made later down the line? Probably after Kota gains the Kachidoki lockseed.

They'll probably show up sooner or later.

It's amazing just how out of the loop the dance teams are. I mean, Raid Wild didn't even know something was going on with their own leader, much less that he died in a fiery explosion.

Well, they kinda disowned him, I doubt they would care about his whereabouts.

*Sigh*...teenagers.


:p

Seems likely.

Another great episode this week.

Strange, wasn't Hase depicted as being equal to the other riders?

I don't know if he was that equal in power. Kurokage and Gridon were always the weakest two, and Gridon is more pathetic only because Jonouchi is a terrible fighter. Hase holds his own because he has some fighting skill, but not enough to make a dent in anyone. They have never won any battles except when they bested Baron through a sneak attack, and Hase was mercilessly wiped out by Zangetsu.

Actually yeah. He even put up an excellent fight against Zangetsu. I don't think think the Lock Seed levels really correspond to power, so much as rarity. But that's my personal theory. Otherwise how could Gridon & Kurokage have made it as far as they did in their fights? I know that Suika is obviously a much higher level Lock, but I don't think the level necessarily has a solid connection to power level.

True dat. I only think Suika Arms is effective is because it's a giant effing robot.