Yuuya Gaim is a jerk :lol Seriously that dude just pounds Kouta like it's nothing and seems as if he is having fun doing it too. Kouta at least end things smoothly :lol

I thought this was overall a very well done episode if a bit slow. The torment Redue put Kouta through in the hypnotic state was awesomely painful. To see a character break down that way after experiencing such dramatic role reversals, to being the monsters he's destroyed or seen die in front of his eyes. It's powerful stuff.

Based on his own dialogue and the Mai/Sagara conversation I guess Kouta really could die. It would be dramatic, though not unheard of as the main rider of a show has died before, Ryuki. But the whole sacrifice yourself or rather your humanity to save the world angle is still straight out of Blade. Time will tell if this show can handle a plot like that better than Blade. For all the ways I faulted that show Blade did have a powerful conclusion.

Right now I'm fully expecting a Madoka ending out of this. Its certainly going that way.

Kota goes God Mode and ressurects all those who died at the hands of Helheim? Makes sense.

Eh. I found the Mai and Sagara parts to be rather dull, pointlessly restating what the audience has known.

The hypnosis part was rather nice, but it got too stilted and went on too long, since we've known Kouta long enough to know his ultimate decision and action, that having it restated again didn't accomplish much of anything.

Well Ryoma certainly pimped out his lockseed didn't he?

Anywho the episode was pretty...meh. I didn't really find anything that interesting except the fight scene with Kaito and Micchy. The episode pretty much just stated what we've known for so many episodes now and is another case of "Kouta learns of a possible consequence, doubts his path, but then gets back on it." It definitely isn't one of the better.

The revelation shocked nobody but it was good to finally see it adressed, and the illusion was really interesting, even if Kouta's choice was obvious enough.

It was good, just not spectacular.

Totally agree that this episode was good enough to wait 2 weeks for!
The best part was when Yuuya henshins into Gaim, he had those poses down!

This episode also made me think, what if Kouta was never Gaim and Yuuya was the main rider?

Sooo who wants to bet that Bandai is gonna release an S.H.Figuarts Duke Stealth mode? :lol

I wouldn't put it past them to do that. A clear plastic Duke could sell for some big bucks; moreso if it's an exclusive.

I dunno; it's hard for me to get hyped on Gaim since this was in a sense a recap episode, plus I'm bummed out over some bad news on my end.