Forgot Bima-X Magnetic debuted this long, dunno if I spoiled you then in said preview picture, which yes, already revealed all Bima-X's 4 main forms. Also, "purple" is the English for "ungu", the name of the band that performs the show's theme songs.

My general thought is that, it's always more important to keep and recycle stuff rather than throwing it away. The remains of a once menacing final threat should be useful for anything they can cook up.

Ungu isn't exclusively a toku singer, they're Indonesian regular band (as usual, most of band's songs are love songs).

This recap's not as interesting as a comedic plot about ghosts and cake or a revision of a character's tragic past, but I totally remember that great Karax moment. He wanted the recap to end as much as the audience did.

Noir is still a cool and wise mentor in his own right, but for sure, a big part of his appeal is Gackt's portrayal, the biggest surprise appearance for anybody watching Bima. Nevertheless, I think this episode does a good job showing his importance, both as the original target of Topeng Besi's ancient revenge and the legacy of his strong spirit of heroism to the modern Satrias.

Yeah, I figured they were too awesome to just be a band made for Tokusatsu.

Yeah, the bit with Ricca looking at her Dimas' thirst traps was pretty great.

Thankfully you didn't.

The episode, and a few other bits of BIMA-X, definitely give you all the context that's necessary. But a big part of Noir's' appeal is not only Gackt, but his whole stint he spends just bullying Ray in BIMA. Stuff like that is why I will never recommend anyone skip BIMA to get to X.

Another episode that's primarily focused on action, but not entirely.

Iron Mask causes the Dark Power Spot to go out of control, and it proves troublesome for our heroes to fight around.

And it definitely makes for some very cool effects work during the entirety of this boss fight. But even more importantly, it allows for some nice character moments between all of the fighting.

The big takeaway is of course the part where Ray and Dimas go Super Saiyan and are willing to sacrifice themselves to save some kids who wandered onto the battlefield, but credit also needs to go to how Reza was still able to help despite still wandering Parallel World.

But actually, I think my personal favorite scene has to be when Ray and Dimas retreat to regroup and think things over, because it means that the rest of the family gets some time to shine, which has been missing for a bit. Randy is the one to put together the connection between the Power Stones and the Spots, and from that give an angle for the Satrias to act.

It really is the little things when it comes to stuff like this, ya know? Solidly fun episode, this one.

Admittedly not much to say on this one, but I did enjoy it.

I do appreciate that it's always a challenge to figure out how to beat Iron Mask/Evil Torga. Like just because they do manage to beat him, doesn't mean the next fight's going to be easy for them.

I do also like the expansion on the cast learning about the Power Spots relation to the Power Stones and them trying to use that for the climax. I also appreciate Reza pitching in once he manages to catch wind of what's going on, even if he's worlds apart.

Maybe this is the determination stuff that if you will something strong enough, you'd be able to do it. The shonen solution for problems...

I do like that the Mikhail identity isn't forgotten here that Reza uses his experience as the antagonistic Azazel (still keeping his dark theme after turning away from VUDO) to explore Dunia Paralel. Reza was only brainwashed, but this'd be the perks of getting a redeemed villain to your side, that they have their experience in a hostile environment that can be useful for info or further developments. Reza exploring Dunia Paralel shouldn't make him gone, or that'd be what I wish, for worldbuilding and likely to also give villains screentime in their home world, while featuring Reza as well.

It is neat to see that as our heroes evolve, so too do our villains.

This was a big piece of what I was hoping for as well. And while they have yet to immediately deliver, there is still time.

Randy and Rena's' parents return, but unfortunately, VUDO never left.

As it turns out, the mom and dad have been doing their best to spy on the Vudo Empire all this time, while also trying to find a way to save Ray's' folks.

And it's when they try to deliver important information to their children that Vudo strikes, preventing some top secret information from getting out and in the end taking Rena hostage.

While the plot of this one is very straight-forward, there is still some decent takeaways here. The bit at the start with Randy was good for a giggle, the drama of Rena not knowing how to handle seeing her parents again was nice, and it's only now that Mossa's' secret identity is revealed to our heroes.

Thinking about it, this is the only tokusatsu that I can immediately remember where the villains are alot better at keeping their secret identities than the heroes are. Well, except Draconer I suppose. Still, it's impressive for just how long they've been holding out on those. Perhaps it helps that they very rarely get directly involved.

Anyway, yeah, that about covers all the big highlights on this one. It's overall just decent, and I suppose it's mainly here to signal how we're officially in the endgame of the show if it weren't obvious already. Which, you know, fair enough.

Dayum, look at them go Kaioken x10. :lolol

We hit Episode 40 and things immediately start going to hell. Ngl I do like it since we are raising the stakes just a bit as we reach the end of Bima-X.

I do like our villains maintaining their secrecy for the most part, and them getting a very clear victory over our heroes this time helps up the drama.

I think my favorite bit though was Bima-X using Atlas to track Rena via scent. I though that was a clever way to use one of the Satria's animal partners ngl.

I wonder if Rasputin being reduced to a soul makes him easier to be defeated by a lone Azazel, where Rasputin took both Bima and Azazel (and I feel, plot, in Rasputin stop fighting back), with all their best moves, to defeat. I know many people'd talk about how gaining more experience vastly improves one's power/fighting, but I don't really elevate experience as much as others do, which is probably a hot take, just that there's a peak in one's ability/powers I feel.

Reza was only brainwashed though. He didn't commit those out of their own volition. Though likely it's why Azazel retrains his dark theme, despite being a secondary to Bima now. I always like how Azazel doesn't turn into light-based because he's good now.

It's so good!

Yeah that was pretty nice. Especially since it was the first time we got to see a Satria use a different animal partner.

Yeah, and while logically speaking he shouldn't be held responsible(Rasputin of all people trying to chastise Reza kinda makes it clear that the audience isn't meant to hold anything against Reza), people's' feelings typically aren't 1000% logical. Regardless of details, Reza still does feel guilt over what happened, and the love of his family helps him to move forward.

Switchblade is now legally obligated to watch the BIMA franchise.

Why? Because incase you're bad with faces like I am, that's Tetsuo Kurata. Also known as Minami Kotaro AKA Kamen Riders Black and RX!

And if you think I'm not about to utterly geek out over that fact, then you clearly didn't read my posts on the Gackt episodes of the original BIMA. Because this franchise continues to floor me with the guest stars they manage to get!

Here, Kurata is credited as "Naga Legend" and is revealed to be a different type of Satria than our usual fare, and given how similar both Kurata and Gackt operate, the MO for "Legend" Satria must be as follows:

1. Show up
2. Bully the current Satria
3. Refuse to elaborate
4. Leave

And yet, it works? Like, this episode was so awesome! And Kurata is so cool in this! He's absolutely the main star and I'm here for it!

The setup for this episode is that Reza ends up getting himself caught in a trap while raiding a Vudo outpost, and it's here that he meets Kurata and his thief apprentice. One thing leads to another, and soon enough things escalate into an all out war between the Satrias and a miniature army of Vudo's' soldiers. And man of man is the action spectacular in this one.

Once the war sequence breaks out, all bets are off. You got Kurata taking on legions of Gladion soldiers. Azazel and Karax in a duel to the death. Kurata transforming into a giant dragon out of nowhere! Yeah, turns out that Naga was also the dragon that we saw at the start of "The Beginning" all that time ago. You know, the dragon that helped Ray become Bima-X to begin with? And he also imparts an interesting gift onto Reza as well...

This episode is a wild ride from start to end, and with all the budget on screen, almost comes across more as a short film rather than a just another episode of the show that it's a part of. Which is also owed to how this one is about five minutes longer than your standard BIMA-X episode. They really did go all out with this episode, probably due in part to just how excited they were to have the guest star that they did. And you know what? It certainly paid off, because I had a ton of fun with this one.

Funny how the Legend characters do have the same MO lol

Yeah this was a really fun one. I had a slight feeling of who I was looking at when we got the end of the last episode, but I wasn't sure. Upon starting 41 though and being treated with "Hello everyone, I'm Tetsuo Kurata" and I realized "Holy shit they got him?!"

Really fun episode focused on Reza with a fun guest actor and a pretty cool single episode plot of breaking out of a Vudo Outpost. Overall I enjoyed this one and it was crazy how we called back to 'The Beginning' with this episode since I wasn't expecting an actual explanation for the dragon we saw.

Finally Indonesia manages to create a good CGI in their country work (some of Indonesian people work outside of the country in producing CGI effects, due to lack of appreciation for the country's talented folks), after how generally their TV shows have horrible CGI effects. I still have doubts when first watching Bima regarding the CGI effects, like Topeng Besi breaking the fence.

Mikhail did have powers as human form too like him blocking an attack from Spider-Manster and saving Bima.

Dimas' problem is the usual him being 'privileged' that he doesn't suffer as much as the Bramasakti family, which I wonder if this'd be used to encourage creating suffering in others, like even enabling villains' heinous actions to others so that they'd 'grow'. People have justified villains for this too.

Nice to see how Randy continues to be useful for solving problems of this kind that even Dimas and Ricca can't figure out.

How unfortunate that the Iskandars were torn apart once more not long after their anticipated reunion. With this time being Rena, just like in Bima Episode 14-15, Ray and the others will surely be desperate to get her back.

Reza was also aware of everything he was doing while brainwashed, compared to the type where the victim forgets. Even though it's not his fault, he's still tormented by his memories of beating up Ray and making people suffer. But yeah, dark turning to light is such a trite cliche. I like how dark is treated fairly as an element of the original 7 Power Stones and just happens to get misused for evil, similar to Ankokuken Kurayami. Hitam probably chose Reza as he understood darkness the most.

Seriously, I do gotta wonder how the heck they manage to get the stars that they do. It's certainly impressive, that's for sure.

I'd say it's less that he's privileged and more that he's ignorant of Ray specifically. Dimas was chosen to be a Satria during time where there were other heroes, meaning he could stay back and prepare. Ray however was not afforded that luxury, and it's in learning that that Dimas begins to have a greater appreciation of both Ray and their duties as Satria.

Yeah! Despite him being a bit more of a comedic relief in BIMA-X, it's nice to see he still has the smarts that he displayed in BIMA. Remember, he's the one who deduced that Mikhail was Reza.

This two-parter is brought to us by Daisuke Ishibashi.

No idea who that is? I don't blame you, as the amount of stuff he's written in the toku sphere is pretty limited. As in, like 10 episodes total limited.

And while I'm not familiar with most of his work(really only knowing the four episodes he wrote for Kamen Rider Wizard), then he certainly has his strengths and weaknesses, yeah.

Let's get the main weakness out of the way: The dialogue. Like, it's not the worst character dialogue I've ever heard/read, but episode 43 especially is filled with very unnatural sounding and stilted conversations that kinda took me out of things alot.

The premise of these episodes is that Lady Mossa has brainwashed Rena, and is using her to both attack our heroes as well as steal the Power Stones. Funnily enough, Dimas is the only one who really puts things together as events unfold, and in kind of an odd way? He claims it's due to him sensing the emotions behind Rena, but a much easier angle, and the one I thought they were going for based on how the scene was shot, was Rena's' obvious lie about her ring. But no, that's never really brought up, weirdly enough.

And if it sounds like I'm about to tear these episodes a new one, I'm really not. Sure, they have flaws, but in the end, Ishibashi had to've done something right, because the emotional climax of it all really did work for me. From Rena's' nearly fatal injuries, to Randy rushing Lady Mossa, I was super into the soap opera aspect of it all(in Mossa's' own words). It helped that the musical score was really good too.

It's just that I feel like another pass through editing would've really helped these episodes out. They do still work; especially if you like these characters like I do, but they could've been elevated that much more, I think.

Other than Nico enduring hits from the cloned Karax later, seems that the toku monsters don't have super speed beyond human level, at least (how toku fights tend to be), so if they're skilled enough to fight and avoid attacks, they should do fine against monsters.

You know with this most recent two-parter I definitely did feel the dialogue was a bit off now that you mention it.

Honestly I legit thought Dimas was going to go on the Rena somehow buying a ring despite being kidnapped and not "she has an aura of bloodlust" which I mean, he does mention the ring discrepancy briefly when he actively confronts her about it in the first part. But it's weird that it's not the first thing he makes note of in telling the others.

That said, the emotional climax hit oh so good like holy shit. Rena's sacrificial play leading into Randy rushing down Lady Mosa while Bima-X and Torga play support? Legit had my mouth agape the entire time because holy shit, dialogue was slightly wonky, but it hit hard given we're this late into the series and we've had so much more time to spend with all these characters.

Whatever the reason might be, it's cool to see sometimes.

Yeah, I just kept on waiting for literally anyone to ask "When did she even have the opportunity to buy the ring?" but it never came.

This episode is written and directed by newcomer Shinji Tomita.

And if you have no idea who that is, don't worry, because I barely do myself. The most info I could find is that he's also been a director for BIMA-X.

Given past trends, you might figure that this episode will serve as our fourth and final recap episode, but actually, Tomita ends up delivering one of the darkest and most unique episodes I've seen in tokusatsu, let alone in BIMA-X.

The angle in itself is great: A Rexor hands over Mossa's' battleship to a legion of Gladions and lets them loose on Jakarta; resulting in an all out siege of the city, wherein and unsuspecting Ray is caught in the crossfire and thus is knocked for a majority of the episode.

As such, he, Rena, and a little girl named Cinta end up trapped in an elevator that's due to come crashing into the ground at any moment. Dimas is busy fighting off the horde of mooks, and with the city in widespread panic, no one is coming to save the three who are trapped anytime soon. As such, it's all up to Rena to figure a way out of this mess.

This is so cool for so many reasons. The fact that the mooks get to be a legitimate threat for once is great to see. Their danger not being in their might like most monster of week, but rather their out of nowhere attack ontop of just how frikken many of them there are. By extension of that, we get a look into something that not many other toku talk about: That the heroes can't save everyone at once, and that off screen, people are suffering and possibly dying.

It's also great to see Rena take the lead for once. The result was not a only a highlight in Rena's' own unique way of handling things, but some rather unexpected callbacks. There's a brief callback to the crush she had in the original BIMA, and as it turns out, Cinta is actually tied directly to episode 12 and 13 of BIMA too! You know, the two-parter that featured the Gills Monster as well as Bima pulling a Batman on the CEO of a gas company? Yeah, Cinta is the sister of the kid from those episodes.

The episode is capped off with just how important Bima has become to the people of Indonesia thanks to his heroics, with accompanying montage set to the opening song to boot! And as cool as it was to see, I'll admit that, had I been watching this show as it aired, I would've straight up assumed that BIMA-X had been cancelled or something, given how Rena's' lines at the end very much lend themselves to a "And the adventure continues!" sort of vibe. Thankfully though, this is a decade later, and we all know better as a result. Perhaps the montage was done just to fill in run time?

Anyway, I was super into this episode from start to finish, to the point that I think it's gonna go down as my favorite of the season. If this was any indication at all of the type of stuff that Shinji Tomita is capable of, then I really hope he returns to the world of tokusatsu production someday.

What happens when you give a bunch of Kranions the orders of "Go wild"? Well all out chaos, that's what.

It's an interesting situation we find ourselves in, with Dimas having to step up as the main fighter throughout the entirety of the episode while Ray's unconscious and trapped in a precarious situation. This episode is also just really good Rena focus for her, in which she ends up keeping a fairly calm head as best she can throughout the whole episode.

I was honestly worried about this being another recap episode, but surprisingly it ended up not being the case. There's like a couple of flashbacks and callbacks, and the montage at the end, but it's such a different style from the other three. Now was it made to fill time? Absolutely. But what we ended up with was a surprising hit of an episode I think.

Like honestly, the chills I got when the theme started playing as Bima-X Magnetic began to rise with the power stones circling behind him. Him stopping the elevator and reaching out to Rena and Cinta with Torga coming in shortly after? That's real good superhero imagery right there.

I recall Switchblade is a fan of Black, so yeah, he'd probably enjoy this cameo more than, uh, somebody who mostly knows about Black from Decade and SHWGP.

It's pretty cool that we get a whole episode checking up on Reza's spooky adventure in Parallel World. The staff get to go crazy with the CGI for stuff like big army fights and a dragon. It's exactly the kind of setting and action you'd expect to see in a movie, like, Azazel V-Cinema or something and yet it's just another week for Bima-X.

I guess I don't recall too much about the specific dialogue, but I was also impressed with the overall result and I think this is proof of the actors' talents. Stella Cornelia got some great fight scenes here as brainwashed Rena and the climax with the family coming together to bring her back was memorable. Even Lady Mossa seemed kind of sympathetic at the end.

Poor Rena getting thrown in more danger pretty much immediately after they got her back. She handles the dilemma with courage though and Cinta's backstory is an important reminder that even though a lot of people might be dying outside as Torga fails to reach them, just like Ricca's family during the Grand Gator incident, there are still a lot of people who are grateful to the Satrias for saving them and their loved ones. So Rena will continue to believe strongly in Ray to save people and this is a good source of hope for Cinta.

For sure, this is what heroes look like! I guess you could say this scene really elevated the episode, haha.

Next, the technicals of these particular episodes are surprisingly good. The score for episode 34 especially is rather memorable all around and great to listen to. And the action across both episodes is superb, with big highlights being stuff like Torga rebounding between iron pillars, and Bima-X Storm's' arrows being wielded as swords, which is one of the most badass things I've seen in a long time. Combine those with a moody and dramatic atmosphere and I'm locked in.

By this, it can feel that said human who was experimented wouldn't be saved, or even have any of the Satrias learn about him or make an effort to free him. Guess there's a KR show that had this feature too, like the homeless people used as Odin's puppet in Ryuki.

Ep. 17 of OG Bima when Topeng Besi was killed (before his revival) had him being revealed as simply an animated armor, when he uses his duplication ability.

I do think that Evil Torga makes Topeng Besi really a big threat, which I never felt for Topeng Besi's previous forms. I always feel the OG Topeng Besi isn't really threatening especially for a second-in-command excpet a bit in ep. 17, but he got more intimidating in his new form after his revival, but this one he's really scary.

He rose up to be the exact hero that Cinta saw him as. Very cool.

Oh yeah, the actors have certainly come a long way from the start of the franchise. And all of their hard work certainly pays off.

For sure. As dark as this episode got, there was always the light of hope at the end of it. Both figuratively and literally.

Oh you~

So, here's the thing. You are technically correct. Although the line you're referring to comes from episode 16 specifically.

While you can take Iron Mask's' boasts that he's "living armor" literally, given the context of both that episode as well as the next, it's more likely he's just being theatrical. Because his duplication ability very clearly comes from the Power Stone; Hence why Bima is able to do the same to counter him.

Alternatively, given how he really didn't have any sort of backstory in BIMA, his backstory as explained in BIMA-X offers a different take: That he honestly thought he was a full on machine due to his missing memories.

So like, is it a retcon? Yeah, technically. But it's not a major one in my eyes.

I didn't like this episode at all. Infact, I dare say it's my most disliked in BIMA-X.

The premise is that the hook at the end of episode 43, where Mossa absorbed Draconer's' Power Stone goes absolutely nowhere.

Instead, she's immediately captured by Black Lord and gets ten Synthetic Power Stones shoved into her, causing her body to slowly degrade. And despite being the one to declare that she should never be forgiven, Ray wants to save her.

Sure, the episode can talk about how revenge is bad or whatever, and if you, the viewer, want to say that Ray is doing the right thing for taking pity on Mossa's' suffering despite everything that she's done, then you know, sure, fine. That's your prerogative.

Here's my hang up though: What makes Lady Mossa, or even her situation, at all special? All throughout this show both the audience and our heroes alike have seen how Black Lord treats his soldiers like trash and willingly experiments on them. So why should Mossa get any pity where no one else got any? I sure as heck never saw any attempts to save Zombie Draconer, for example.

If I hadn't stopped to look it up, I would've blamed this episode on Riku Sanjo, given how Kamen Rider Drive pulled a similar stunt and it's a big reason I ended up not liking that show. But no, this is all firmly on Daisuke Ishibashi with help from Junko Konmura, apparently? Given how this episode directly connects to episodes 42 and 43(to the point that episode 44 is outright ignored), why not just put this episode before 44 and thus create a three-parter?

What an absolute fumble of a follow up to the great emotional rides we've had over the past few episodes. You could've said that Rexor killed Mossa off screen and even that would've been preferable to this.

Yeah this one was really mixed in its messaging.

Cause like, this episode could've worked if they just had to work to deal with a berserk Lady Mossa since the power stone extractor idea still works without the need for "saving" the enemy.

That would've worked alot better for me. And would've tied in with the title alot better too.

An extended action sequence that sets us up for the final stage of BIMA-X.

It's the sort of episode that can be summed up pretty quick: Reza raids the prison where his parents are being held, and gets into a fight to the death with Zacros.

And yeah, it's very simple in that regard, but there's alot of nice character bits to help keep things afloat. Like Zacros referring to Reza as "Commander Azazel" which calls back to when Azazel was the leader of Shadow Crisis.

Speaking of Shadow Crisis, it was cool to see that Iron Mask didn't just blindly go with what Rexor said. Iron Mask knew that something was obviously up and reacted accordingly. It's refreshing, given the trends of of some other shows I've seen recently with their villains.

So in the end, what is Vudo's' grand plan? To smash the two worlds together using the energies generated by the Power Spots, and to have their own "Vudo Power Stones" gain full power as a result. And you might think "Wow, that'd probably result in a ton of casualties" and, yeah, it probably would. The Vudo Empire are the bad guys, afterall.

Anyway, the episode in itself is overall fine. It's the first stage of the final battle, and it does what it does well enough.

Very much our lead-in to the endgame of Bima-X as we finish off one of the last minor Generals Vudo has in Zacros.

I will say a neat touch aside from how Zacros addresses Reza is how both him and Karax ended up being defeated by Reza this time around.

That said I did enjoy the dialogue in this one a lot, especially Iron Mask's exchange with Reza which boils down to "This is clearly baiting a trap" , "Even if it is a trap you'd go and spring it regardless".

Feels that I see this in many shows where they insist that one's victory or loss is about their mindset, rather than the technical part (e.g. power, talent), thus the ones with biggest resolve (e.g. shonen MCs) would prevail in the end, and their loss isn't treated as their power level being weak but their mindset. Maybe this is done to prevent the privilege implication or such. Guess some shows should be just frank that it's due to technical part one can win or lose and that the technical part can be improved too.

And then, funnily enough, it only half qualified as a trap in the traditional sense.

Mindset does actually have a place in real life martial arts. The more motivated you are, the more effort you put into your actions which typically results in you doing better than you would've otherwise.

It's the siege leading up to final battle. Earth has 12 hours remaining.

Both episodes are almost entirely action sequences, and in many other shows, the two combined would straight up be the final battle.

You've got every monster of the week coming back for one final bout(complete with Sentai intro!), Iron Mask getting his revenge on Rexor, and the return of God Helios(though purely as a vehicle this time).

And I gotta say, they went all out on these episodes. Every fight scene is really well done with well coordinated and over the top fight choreography, and the musical score across both episodes is perfectly in tune with what what's going on on screen while also being great to listen to.

The emotions run high all throughout these two episodes, and I was absolutely drawn into it all the way. Dimas especially impressed here. His badass boast when taking on four monsters by himself, his being willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good, and that fake out with him at the end really did manage to fool me, which stuff like that normally doesn't!

These were a great time, and it makes me really wonder how in the heck they could possibly top it for the finale.

Yeah these were pretty incredible.

It's great to see the motw all have one last hurrah plus the hectic and fast paced fight at the start really showed how Vudo wasn't playing around with their plan.

I also love how Rexor's death was handled here. The dude thought that cutting down his forces in order to power up would work in the end, yet again tossing aside minions and allies to suit Vudo's mission. Only for that to not matter at all once Iron Mask comes in to immediately deal with him. It was honestly beautiful to witness.

The Pain Chain fight between the two Torgas was also incredible and honestly brutal to witness. I actively started wincing once Evil Torga got the chain around Torga's neck and started dragging him, sheesh!

Finally, I was getting Heisei Generations Final vibes from how Project Re-Vudo started, only for Black Lord to entirely flip that on its head once it started entering the final phases at the end of 48. Like goddamn.

Probably since Lady Mossa is clearly suffering from the influx of Power Stones and it sucks to see such a proud fighter end up like that. I agree with Ray wanting to save her, as even though she did some terrible things, especially to Rena, she was a loyal soldier and didn't deserve to be abused by Black Lord. I think it shows Ray's heroism that he's able to put aside his personal feelings to try and sympathize with her and do what he believes is right. So yeah, I have to disagree with you on this one, as I actually thought this episode was an emotional finale for Lady Mossa, with again, some great acting to sell it all.

Zombie Draconer.... Is a zombie though.

Topeng Besi can always be relied upon to do his own thing, so expecting him to actually take the bait is Rexor's critical error in his tactical scheme.

I preferred God Helios becoming armor for Bima than a vehicle for Bima-X. It just doesn't have the same awesome feeling for me that it did before.

It's a great way to show how far Dimas has come thanks to the wisdom of his sempai Satrias, entrusting him with the indispensable job of taking care of their oldest arch enemy and predecessor to the mantle of Torga. While Topeng Besi lost his heroic spirit, Dimas' has been gradually growing since his debut and now we can see them fight to the death to determine whose emotion is stronger: Topeng Besi's undying hatred or Dimas' desire to protect.

Oh, they will.

Oh yeah. I outright cheered when Iron Mask showed up to (almost) literally backstab Rexor. And then proclaiming he'll take out Black Lord himself later? So good.

He was still a victim of Black Lord the same that Mossa was, and the last time the Satrias saw him he'd shown signs of getting his memories back. And yet, no pity. Heck, they don't even realize he's gone later.

I agree. Especially since, surprisingly, Bima-X doesn't seem to have a final form like how Bima did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K5cvkOW4NU

This is like if you took the finale of Power Rangers Super Mega Force and combined it with the the finale of the Goku Black Saga of Dragon Ball Super. And in all of the best ways!

It's the sort of high energy, high emotional finale that I was all in on.

With the way it overall flows, I don't know how exactly I could even properly talk about it without just giving a play by play.

And really? I kinda don't wanna do that. These last two episodes are filled with surprises so big that I really, really don't want to spoil them for anyone who's been even remotely enjoying the show up to now. To emphasize, I actively screamed in excitement when Bima-X achieved his final form.

One thing I will note though is that the journey up to this point, while not perfect, has been one that I've thoroughly enjoyed. And if you're someone who has been enjoying everything that BIMA-X has to offer, then these episodes serves as a shining example of how endings are every bit as important as the journey is. The two don't exist in a vacuum; As much as Kamen Rider Decade would like to insist otherwise.

I won't say it's a perfect ending, as it does leave some lingering questions, but it's one that I'm very satisfied with.

Oh, but we're not quite done yet. A few years later, BIMA-X would get an epilogue movie, afterall...

Black Lord's kind of up there as a Toku villain now, ngl. Dude straight up got Eldritch at points near the end with what he pulls off.

Also when that moment happened and the opening bit to the full version of Kembali Bertahan started playing? Legitimate chills. I also was not expecting them to just actually stick by a certain decision that happens in the final episode too, honestly surprised me since they could've walked it back potentially.

I'll probably save any criticisms for when we do wrap-up (though I'll also be gushing of course) but for now I'll say I really enjoyed Bima-X.

Yeah, these episodes were full of stuff I wasn't expecting. And none of it felt forced either, surprisingly.