Especially because of that turn at the end! I mean damn I just did not see that coming with Kaitou. Dude is cold. Never thought I'd see him included in Sid's crowd.

Plus it's so scarily complex as well. Kouta and Kaitou are almost complete opposites, but you just know it's not as simple as that. It's amazing to have so many players in this game, and yet the show still finds time to fully realise their own personal motivations. Everyone in this show feels like a fully fleshed human and it's just incredible to see it all play out. To see people clash, to see people lock in place, to get led down goose chases as characters play cards close to their chest. It makes every scene worthwhile and every episode so exciting.

I know I've not been Gaim's most vocal supporter - but in terms of writing at least, it's probably been so far, the best toku show ever written. I don't mean it's the best toku show ever made, but just purely in terms of the words on the page, nothing has beaten Gaim yet.

At first, I thought this episode raised a lot of glaring plot holes. But, no, it managed to resolve those logically, too. The only potential problems I could see would involve how Kamen Rider Gaim fits in with the entirety of the Kamen Rider universe in general.

I really like how they exemplified Takatora's heroism in this episode. But... am I the only one who thinks that Kaito is a genocidal maniac after this episode? I mean, I thought that, at the very least, he would have a scrap of compassion for the weak within him, especially given his youth, but... dang.

I have no idea where this story is going to go from here, but that future is beginning to seem a lot more probable.

100% agreed. I love the action as well. But the writing is the most top notch stuff I've ever seen. Everyone has so many layers, so much depth to them. 5 episodes ago I could have given a shit about Takatora. He seemed irredeemable to me. But now? I'm rooting for Kouta to outright join him! I'm almost certain now the other 3 Energy Riders will attempt to take down Zangetsu, he will need Kouta's help.

I guess the good thing about a show like Gaim which hints at everything from alien worlds, time travel and other dimensions is the wider Kamen Rider continuity are pretty much free to do with it as they like.

Personally I hope it doesn't get shafted to a 'it didn't happen on this earth' explanation if ever brought up, but at least it's there if things get a little too convoluted for whatever comes after this show - and whatever comes next, I feel so sorry for it, following a show of this quality and popularity.

It's also entertaining as well, because we have no single reliable narrator so nothing can be taken on face value. Like just imagine if everything Takatora said was a lie, and he ends up convincing Kouta to kill Inves who could actually be saved. I mean WHO KNOWS right now all of the explaining so far came out of the mouths of the people who were, up until this point, the villains.

Anything can happen, and we can only trust what we see with our own eyes.

I in all honesty am still not convinced Kaitou is bad.For all we know he could have said that to find out their plans.I do know the next few episodes will be interesting.

That was fucking GOOD.

This show is so well paced, and we're not even halfway through. Kaito was SERIOUSLY a surprise, yet it makes sense. His vlaues have always been warped at best, and ever since he got that belt he now has TRUE power, power he now judges the world against. It's funny how Takatora talks about a single evil doer can sabotage the efforts of a hundred noble souls, and literally everyone in Yggdrasil besides him cares nothing for stopping the Helheim threat. He has no idea how fucked he is.

This episode was amazing.

It was almost an after thought, but did any one else see how casually Shin Zangetsu ripped off numerous powered kill shots from the bow? Before it was an event, now he's just doing them like nothing, which only underscored how much he was trying to get through to Kouta

Not sure why but I'm getting a real '4 horsemen of the apocalypse' from Kaito and the Energy riders.

Never considered that the forest was an entire invasive species. That's a great way to look at it.

Now it makes sense why Kaitou is getting an energy rider form.