Derailing things a little bit: I'm sure I missed this but what exactly was Mai crying about after they were saved by Peco and Zack?

Also, am I the only one who find Malika creepy as hell?

Basically the Beat Riders have assumed, that as people have labelled them as scum before they've even actually done anything, they may as well just do what their rumours say any way.

I've kinda warmed up to Jinba Lemon now, though it seems kind of lame that Kouta figures out he can slap that bit of the Genesis Driver on by having a monster just up and knock off his faceplate. Like, that's some Faiz level belt durability there.

Also, I didn't really think Gaim was the kind of show that would prolong a reveal unnecessarily like that, but I'll be damned if I'm not excited to find out what Michhy saw anyway.

I saw smoke and a rounded-looking cliff, so I'm gonna guess it's some kind of big crater. The question is what made the crater. Aliens? Decade? Something even more unexpected? No clue, but man does Gaim know how to make me wish every day was Sunday/Monday-ish.

I like to think he saw the live action version of Smurf Village. It's the only thing I can think of that would warrant that reaction :p

Man, I just about lost it when I saw Kouta using the detaching orange during form change in an actual strategic attack to take out the Kurokage :lol

Mai was crying because the other beat riders are 'jailbreaking' their locks,allowing them to summon full Inves and commit crimes for them."They see us as monster summoners,so why not?"

I did enjoy how Kouta figured out the transformation.Still shows he doesn't know everything about his powers.

Okay that bike battle was freaking awesome. Very Return of the Jediish.

:lol at Kouta trying to get the lemon seed to work.

Another great episode. Mai is still annoying, Sid is getting more snakeish, and Jinba Lemon is freaking bad ass. I'm curious as hell though to know what Micchy saw.

Man, this show is so great. So many elements blended together and well done:

Big picture advancement - More questions about Lockseeds, Helheim, inner workings of Yggdrasil (DJ Sagara/Sid/Ryouma)

Small picture advancement - Invess being used as tools for crime, changing dynamics between Beat Rider teams

Character advancement - Kouta a couple episodes ago saw a Hase change, literally, into a physical monster. Now he's watching other humans choose to act like monsters. Plus, the struggle over using newfound power

Action - Dandeliner chase + Jimba Lemon Arms. Will we see Strawberry/Watermelon/Pineapple + Lemon mix? What would those look like? Also, using Orange Sparking as an anti-air device, brilliant.


Aesthetic touch I liked: In earlier episodes, each henshin was treated as an EVENT - bigass fruit flies out of an unzipped portal, drops onto a Rider's head, and with a flash, we get Armored Riders. Music, Roll call, the whole schebang. Big deal. I don't think it was a coincidence that all of those Henshins took place outdoors. Now, with the action picking up, we've gotten two weeks of indoor henshins that seem more subdued. Whereas before, the Henshin was an event onto an event (Look! Armored Rider!), now it's Kouta or Kaito transforming to fight, and the focus on the context of each fight, rather than the flashy transformation sequence. I think they also sped up the actual fruit drop and lowered the volume of the roll call, not by much but it made a huge difference in the tone of those moments. Truly, masterful directing.

observation:

Kouta straightup refused to kill Hase, and would definitely have refused to kill Yuuya if he knew.

But he had no problems blasting all of those Kuroukage Dandelion Riders. I mean, those bikes straight up EXPLODED, those guys were all human soldiers that are dead!

Did he just not realize it, or is he gonna go all Punisher on anyone not his friend?

Maybe his logic is that unless he knows them and sees them turn into a monster they're fair game?

"I WON'T KILL A HUMAN BEING!"

2 episodes later:
"Hehe, Dandeliner go boom"

:lol

Well, unlike Micchy who's seen all the evidence, Kouta doesn't know that they could all potentially be humans. Obviously that realization hasn't hit him yet or he'd have put 2 & 2 together about what he did to Yuya. He only knows what happened to Hasse, and for all he knows that was a freak event.

Yeah, he didn't see them transform. For all he knows, the Kurokage troopers can just be robots made by Ryoma in the form of Kurokage, since he obtained Hase's data. Kouta also tends to act in the moment instead of analyze, he just goes along. Like when the Lion Inves knocked off his plate, he didn't immediately think the Genesis core could attach there, he found it out.

Just posted this in the funny images thread.

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/...pscfc0eeef.png

The Kurokage on the Dandeliner that Ryugen rammed into was shown being ejected from the explosion, not before. The one that gets hit by Orange Arms does the same, though it's harder to see from all the effects on screen. This suggest the Kurokages can survive the Dandeliners exploding. They just cut away to soon on the last two.

Let's assume those guys actually died. I doubt he had the intent of killing them and merely wanted to get them off his tail. Though because they work for Yggdrasil he may be less forgiving and see them as more or less evil. And therefore won't have a moral dilemma over it.

I suddenly want a disclaimer at the end of this episode saying "No Kurokages were killed during the making of this episode." :lol

Either that or a ASPCA like video talking about how bad Kurokage abuse is :lol

*Wishes to see Kurokages Vs. Riotroopers*

Can it be a Hank Hill PSA? :lol

Yes, yes it can :lol

"Hi, I'm Hank Hill. We've had a lot of laughs tonight, but I'll tell you what's not funny: Pinecone abuse. If you are a Pinecone and being abused or know a Pinecone being abused, please call 1-800-YGG-DRIL."

The kurokage troopers are fine:lol

They are wearing armoured rider suits after all…Kouta must be perfectly aware of how much punishment those suits can take, thus he doesn't have to worry about holding back or anythin.

Although I do have to wonder how much Yggdrasail pays it's troopers.

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make is that the Kurokages don't died, but are in fact just fine and dandeliner. :cool:

Man, this show just keeps knocking it out of the park. At some point I really need to stop worrying that it's all going to fall apart and just have faith in the show to maintain this level of quality for the whole season. :lol

I quit worrying about the show when the toys started becoming hard to find. The biggest problem these shows have is when Toei and/or Bandai buts in. As long as the toys are selling, they're likely not going to bother the show.

Also, I've been watching a few Urobuchi anime lately and only one made no sense by the end and he didn't directly write that one (though a lot of his tropes are present in it).

I don't think the show's going to get Hibikied, but I've seen enough Rider shows go south - and Gaim is so damn good - that part of me can't help but fret that we'll get a bum ending like Faiz or an actor will abruptly quit like in Den-O or the plot will fall apart like Fourze (I think that last one is a long-shot st this point, thankfully). I just really don't want to see Gsim not live up to the standard it's set so far.

True. Week in an week out Gaim delivers and can be argued that it outdoes itself every episode. So it would definitely be sad to see it decline. Then again it's hard to say if it can stay going up on the track without falling down at some point.

The show is great in the here and now. Enjoy it.

Even if Gaim does the most spectacular nose dive, it has still already secured a spot in my top 5 just for being so good in a time when current toku is getting so boring to watch (especially Kamen Rider).

Same. It easily is my third favorite series right now.

Funny, I'd say Gaim is third as well, moving Kabuto to fourth, which does bring me back to my point. The second half of Kabuto is not good. In fact, it gets pretty awful. But I still consider that first half to be the ideal Kamen Rider and nothing will change that so I count it amount my favorites.

Crazy theory.
Hear me out folks.
What if... Helheim is the real world and the current habitat that is Zawame City is nothing but a processed psuedo world?

And the thing that Sour Grapes saw?
The end of the world.

*Head explodes

Saw this theory on tumblr too. It would be cool but I'm not sure I can wrap my head around it.

I still like my theory of the Forest of Helheim being an alternate dimension/future and the cracks being rips in Space/Time.

I dunno, with the way people are with this show, I don't think they'd even see it go south, they'll only notice when it's already sank. I think the show has already been riddled with little issues, nothing major enough to hamper the overall enjoyment, but nonetheless stuff people seem glad to glaze over.

So yeah that bike chase scene was pretty awesome. Glad to see that Team Baron's finally coming around or is more or less amicable with team Gaim now that Kaito's knows the turh about Yggdrassil. Maybe if the other Beat Riders have gotten as bad as Team Red Hot, they'll form some kind of alliance.

Glad we finally got a new Invess design and Jinba arms did look kinda clunky to me, but the fight looked cool still. I like Bandou's speech near the end. Definitely gave me Spider-Man vibes, which I like.

And here we go. Finally we get Micchy turning over to his brother's side after.whatever the hell he sees in Yggdrassil. Takatora probably needs his help, since he's probably the only non-completely amoral member of Yggdrassil's top executives, untily Micchy joined up.

Glazing over stuff increases enjoyment. That, I can live with, as I watch them to enjoy myself.

Then I guess going south wont even matter then.

Not unless, like you said, it actually sank. But considering my low standards for Toku (or pretty much anything) in general, it'll have to be really terrible for me to define it as having sunk. :lol I won't say it there isn't the slightest fear of that happening, but I trust it will do fine. At the very least, it will be an above average Toku, I think.