Wow.

Wow.

More later.

I just love how DJ Sagara appeared and loved how he was "in-character" even off the air in person.

During the conversation the "DJ" part gradually faded and he started being more serious.

Good acting

ZOMG BANANA ARMS in-door henshin?! With a muted "Knight of Spear" in the background. ZOMG!

Orange arms - WTF MID-AIR HENSHIN?!

I love how this show keeps moving forward. Interesting to see Ryoma's perspective on what Yggdrasil is doing. He (and the others) seem to genuinely think what they're doing will be for the best, even if they have to do some morally ambiguous stuff to get there. DJ Sagara is still a bit of a mystery though, seems like everything he does is just for his own kicks. Really looking forward to next week's episode with that preview.

Good episode, good advancement and hey, Dandeliner!

But I have to wonder- what is Yggdrasil's endgame here? Why do they want the Drivers & why wander into Helheim?

God dammit, Aesir. Now you're translating the dude's actual name?

Who thought I'd be wanting annoying little TV-Nihon style popups?

Well I'm glad Sid became a Rider…he's giving me major Shotaro vibes in just how fabulous he handles himself.

That was even better than I thought it'd be. Also, major spoiler theory:

The DJ is not human. He appeared only in hologram that one time, and refers to humans like he's not bound by the rules he describes them by. I think he's some kind of super-sophisticated AI that runs multiple functions, but adopts the DJ persona out of preference for the show.

Probably wrong, though.

Shotaro was not fabulous.

He was suave.

Rumor has it DJ worked on the original driver project with Ryoma Sengoku before being kicked to the curb. And he was only included in the scheme because he could monitor the Beat Riders. Chances are he has several aces up his sleeve after being used and tossed like this.

Eh, why repeat praise again? Amazement seems to be my default reaction to every episode. :D I love all the various motivations of the characters. Takatora seems to have a noble side to him, trying to protect the kids even when it would be easier to kill them, and even when he hates them so much. I am convinced Takatora believes that everything he does is for the good of the city.

Sid on the other hand, is a monstrous jerk who fights with a kind of bloodlust. He's evil and manipulative.

Ryouma seems obsessed with his research and he's not so much evil as he is amoral.

DJ Sagara is a wild card. There's something strange about him, I expect we'll see a lot more in the future.

We don't know much about Marika yet, though.

You know, this is probably the first episode of Kamen Rider I've ever seen (and I've seen like half of them by now) where the scenes with people talking were more exciting to me than the action. That's not a knock against the fights, it just amazes me how interesting Gaim's plot is, especially this early.

Also expected Micchy's secret identity bit to last longer, if only so as to prevent any sort of "I'm totally a bad guy now!" antics, but that's starting to seem kind of inevitable. Of course, as far as evil Riders go, Melon Bro isn't actually that bad a guy, so who knows.

Super excited to see Kouta bust out that shiny new Lemon Lockseed next week, too bad next week means 7 whole days from now. I swear, this show is like a drug addiction, sometimes.