upgraded Lance and shield for Shin Banana please. :D

It really wouldn't surprise me if the Genesis Drivers are more exhausting to use, but you also have to remember that the fights against Baron (in Lemon Energy, no less) and Gaim, then Gaim/Deemushu/Baron are pretty much his first extended bouts of intensive close-range combat; prior to gaining the Zangetsu Shin powerset he avoided hand-to-hand like the plague as Budou Arms emphasized mid- to long-range combat, and even Kiwi emphasizes rapid, get-in-get-out strikes. He's simply not an endurance fighter like Kaito or Kouta.

As for Kouta's constant usage of Orange and Jinba- he's the opposite of Kaito. He always tries to use the minimal amount of force necessary in a fight. However, there's really no excuse to use the Jinba forms when they'll get a job done better than Orange- like when Takatora had him go and pursue Deemushu while he held off Sid. Jinba Cherry would've been a MUCH better choice, unless they're implying that Cherry's speed isn't really sustainable for long-term usage and better used for short, rapid gains.

I'm not sure why, but a part of me expected Takatora's fate to not be touched upon as much as it was yet. But I'm glad it was because we're learning a lot alongside him.

Mitsuzane continues to be a rat bastard, excellent.

And.. Kikaider?? Well that crossover wasn't expected. I really, really hope it doesn't interrupt the flow of the show too much.

The blade thing just sort of strikes me as an afterthought.

"Hey, guys, youknow how the Next Generation Riders all have bows?"
"Yeah. What about it?"
"Well... Aren't most of the other Riders melee fighters?"
"... Crap. Okay, we can fix this, just slap some reflective tape on the outer edges and we can make it work as some kind of double-bladed sword thing. Man the stunt team is going to hate this..."

And a friggin' Musou Saber or something. Combine with the Shin Banalance for a halberd. Come on, even the common footsoldier carried at least a dagger as a sidearm.

I cannot look at the sides of Baron Lemon Energy Arms without thinking Princess Leia. :lol

I always thought they looked more like giant Headphones :lol

New, from Yggdrasil Corporation. Sengoku Beats, the ultimate in auditory stimulation. Listen to your music like royalty.

Kaito Kumon approved! :lol:lolol

This is golden.

I feel like I could've done more. Worked a "Warring" pun in there.

Ah well.

Okay, first of all, I loved Aesir's commentary on the next episode title card. :lol

Second, I am officially over Micchy playing both sides. I want him to get exposed and I want it now. This shit is getting way too Faiz-y.

But yeah, this was a good episode. I liked the stuff with Takatora and the three-way battle was pretty cool. I was hoping to see Sid die or Micchy get unmasked, though; something to shake up the status quo we've been settling into with the characters.

I think that's pretty unavoidable. I kind of hate that Gaim is doing well enough that Toei keeps interrupting it to promote other projects.

I'm REALLY certain we are getting an Apple Lockseed at some point. That glowing fruit looked like an Apple.

Plus, not only is it a forbidden fruit, but Lord Overlord said "Fruit of Knowledge."

And if Agito ain't above heavy use of Judeo-Christian imagery...

Well I watched the episode and it was again pretty good. I loved learning more about the Overlords, and seeing how closly we got to see how "things will repeat again".

Now seeing the fight was great and seeing Baron swap the drivers was pretty great as well, makes me wish I were a Rider in their universe.

Now I guess that I'm sort of getting tired of these crossovers, but this Kikaider one better be good, or I'm just done. With crossovers.

This episode was dman near flawless except for two things:

1. Too many God damned sonic arrows, as usual. And 2. That horrid fight music when Zangetsu and Gaim fought.

But man, some serious revelations and forshadowing.

Please no.

Half-assed, hamfisted religious parallels is like anthrax to a good TV show.

^This. This right here I like.

Look, we all knew from day one that since they're making a show about fruits, a freaking apple, one of the most recognizable fruits, hasn't been used by anyone yet, it was going to be freaking important. Considering it's a golden apple like the Nordic myths, choosing to associate with only Christianity is your choice (as well as the AEsir subbers, who oddly enough choose not to go the Nordic route despite their group name).

God I love hearing Toki no Hana again, it's nice when the ending song for a Rider season actually plays during important moments, and isn't just taking up space on my iPhone.

There was tons of revelas this week, alongside with the introduction of the fruit that will most likely end up as the final upgrade, Takatora learning abou the failure of the Overlords plan was also a great moment.

Oh yeah, Kikaider's here, I wonder if he wouldn't fit better on ToQger.

Those previews for the Kikaider Reboot were more interesting than this whole episode. I think this is one of the closest things Gaim has had to filler, a lot was happening but not a whole lot was really gained. Meh. Probably one of the worst episodes in a while, only really saved by some decent action.

That might be because the Apple of Eden is more ingrained into Western culture than any other Forbidden Fruit, so having that come to mind is quite natural. It's sort of why Crispin Freeman likes talking about why the West has Superheroes and the East has Giant Robot Suits.

Apples have several different symbolisms in Human Culture. The Norse saw them as a source of Youth, eaten by the gods to keep them forever young (like how Lord Overlord remembers the fall of his civilization despite that happening AGES ago). But the Greeks had a particular Golden Apple of Discord, whose existance created one of the greatest wars of the ancient world. Kinda like how the Fruits of Helheim are causing this big Armored Rider war.
And if you don't really like people jumping into the Biblical Symbolism boat, some scholars suggest that the only reason it's considered the Apple of Eden is because Renaissance Artists just borrowed the imagery of an Apple fucking shit up from the Greek Apple of Discord. Genesis never said what type of fruit the Forbidden Fruit was...

Also, Genesis Driver. There HAS to be some reason for that beyond just "Because Fruit Series."

Kikaider looks way, way too serious to preview on the goofy-ass ToQGer.

The stuff we got with Takatora and the white Overlord was pretty important, I'd say. The Sid and Micchy part was pretty much the same thing we've been getting with Sid and Micchy for ages now, though: "Let's kill Kouta! Boy, that didn't work out!"

Sid- You are a crazy some beach

Micchy- You are a some beach!

Kaito- I like you more now for some reason.

Kouta- I know you are the rightful justice guy, but open your eyes man!

Takatora- somethin tells me you are fixin to whoop some ass later

Kikaider- unless this actually helps the plot, Im probably not gonna pay much attention next week.

The stuff with Takatora was important, but the amount we actually took away in comparison to the quantity of time they just talked, yeah it wasn't much.

Another crossover. yay.

As much as I'm all for spinning the great wheel of Toku and getting obscure characters back in the hearts and minds of small Japanese children everywhere, Kickthebucketharder should have stayed in obscurity. There, I said it. It's not that I don't like the story, the character, etc. Far from it. It's not even that next week will be filler. It's just that reboots tend to be not as good. However, the whole 'Switch On' line makes me think more of this:

http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1400001444

And less of this:

http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1400001391

Without a doubt, so was I. But I guess the tension must mount more in order to get that reveal to Klueless Kouta.

Seriously, short of painting a 'He's gonna shank you in the back you idiot' sign in big letters on Mitsuzane's armor, Kouta is gonna stand by his man (song included).

I can understand from that point of view, but I think overall they've handled the character reactions pretty well. Seriously though....

http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1400000933

Get this kid a Xanax.

Same. And just for you:
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps35572739.gif

That makes perfect sense. I would agree that he's also not stupid. Baron's gonna keep his trump card or belt in hold until he needs it. He's a pit bull, but one with a brain.

And, can I mention how AMAZING this scene was?
http://i406.photobucket.com/albums/p...psd39f03a2.gif

http://www.tokunation.com/attachment...1&d=1400000727

Dr Dre has nothing on Lemon. Especially now that he sold it to Apple.

it actually seems like kikaider will actually fit in to gaim to a degree. reason for this is, if I remember correctly, they mentioned something about a project ark earlier in gaim inside yggdrasil. that and the kikiader reboot was mentioned early enough that this could have all been planned ahead of time. of course this is all just speculation on my part.

I wonder where Kaito stores the belts? :lol

I'm sure he's got a banana hammock for it.

i just think it's mai that gets the forbidden fruit because it's just too predictable, you know everyone that's a rider wants it but it's usually someone that's not a rider yet, has familiarity with the forest and i believe wants to fight with kouta all the way until the end of the world which is mai.

i could be wrong but it's just a possibility.

Project Ark is the 'mass produce as many Sengoku Drivers as possible, then kill all excess humans' plan. They still may have been planning the Kikaider crossover to begin with, but project Ark has nothing to do with it.

okay than, I guess I just forgot that part for a bit. at least it seems like it will fit better than go-buster/gavan.

This episode was okay. the only thing I gained from it was the fact that the extinction of Helheim's people was due to it being an internal Invess war and those get chosen by the fruit. So whoever predicted that one right, bottoms up. With the whole internal war thing, I think this might back up my theory on the Gaim-styled Overlord being head of Yggdrasil creating the Drivers to create lots of infighting amongst humans to speed up the process.

But from the looks of the flashback, it looked like everybody that fought got turned into an Invess beforehand in order to be able to fight. Or maybe they're hiding something?

Calling it, Forbidden Fruit is the Salad lockseed.

I was actually expecting the Sengoku Driver Takatora got, to play more of a role, rather then it being just for the nutrients. But maybe in the next few episodes that will be expanded on?

We haven't had much advancement on the knowledge of the civilization since the Overlords showed up, so I'm glad we got some new info here. I still think the major dump about who the civilization actually is will come in in the last 10 episodes.

The part that confuses me is that they show Kikaider at the end, however it appears from episode listings that the events with Kikaider take place "before the events in Helheim". So let's flashback a few days prior, then flash forward after the episode. Hate that.

I goddamn hate Micchy so much now! Kouta seriously needs to find out that he was betraying him already. Ugh, I really wanna see the next episode already. :mad:

We just watched this episode today and it was another excellent episode. A shame the next episode is just going to be another pointless non-canon filler crossover one.

So, it wasn't Helheim that destroyed that civilizarion. It was the infighting amongst the strong that did them in. Interesting to know that and should serve as a cautionary tale for the cast. Sid is rather smart, not only did he destroy the crack opening device and he destroyed all of Yggdrasil's Lock Vehicles too. I really wish Kouta had more time to smack down Mitchy, damn you Demushu for interupting that. And Demushu escaapes to earth and...the Kikaider cameo episode will be in canon or not? Either way should be fun.

Edit: The Energy Rider and Demushu free for all was fantastic. Probably the best fight in the series so far.

Pretty great episode building up to this weeks. Roshuo explaining the Femushinmu's downfall made a lot of sense actually, and definitely clashed with Kaito's viewpoints. Also, glad Takatora had survived.

I mean, the strength of this episode was the massive fight scene between Sigurd, Baron, Zangetsu Shin, Gaim and Demushu. That was awesome, and really reminded me of older Hesei Rider.

I mean, since I previously posted my thought on ToQger up until this point, I might as well do so for Gaim.

So far, it's been a wild ride. All (well, most) of the characters are well-developed and interesting in their own ways. Kouta and his relationships with characters like Kaito and Mitchi make the drama scenes really interesting to watch.

The action and plot of Helheim and how it is to take over Earth is honestly engrossing and I'm probably more interested in this than any other Rider series.

I think this series is a good example of making good-use of something potentially stupid. Fruits as a gimmick? What were they thinking?

But they made it work. Incorporating the fruits into the designs and story was genius. Gaim has some of the best suits in Rider history, IMO, because they had to find a way to make it work. And they succeeded with flying colours.

Yes, shows like Fourze and Wizard are easier to work with, because Space and Magic are pretty awesome themes. But the amount of effort put into Gaim to make fruits actually "cool" is exciting, and the fact that it actually pulls it off competently is extremely impressive.

From the top-notch writing, to the great artistic design and cinematography, Gaim is truly a special Rider series.