[Paladin]

A recently-translated interview with Gaim head writer Gen Urobuchi has just surfaced online, and provides several new and insightful details about the production of Gaim- and some key hints at the future of our favorite Orange Armored Rider!

*How was it when you first started this job?

Producer Takebe suddenly called me. I was very surprised at the beginning, they’d been planning Gaim for half a year already. I had no idea they worked so fast on tokusatsu.

*What had been decided when you finally got the job?
The belt design and the transformation concept. At that point only Banana and Grape were finalized, I was also told that they were aiming for multiple Riders.

*What’s your personal experience with Kamen Rider?
I never watched the early Riders as they aired, until Black came out. I’d never miss an episode of Black. I still watch the newer Riders sometimes.

*What are some troubles you’ve had so far?
It has to be the motif. Just look at the two previous Riders, an astronaut and a wizard. You could easily make a hero out of these things, but an orange? From the start, I had to work with something that’s not heroic at all. That was my mistake though, I saw it as a fruit. I realized I had to see it as a toy. A human finds this strange belt and plays around with it like nothing, and then slowly build around the revealing that it’s something greater than just a toy. It’s gonna become more Rider-like, slow but steady.

*What were some troubles you had with the beginning then?
Gaim was delayed one month, and started in October. This is because the power up item would clash with the first set of toys during Christmas. This meant I couldn’t introduce new items and characters until after that point.

*How did you create the characters?
I knew how I wanted the characters to be once they’ve finally grown up, so I worked backwards from that. I had to think real hard how to show they’d grow up in the best way possible. All of this will of course be covered in the first half of Gaim.

*What is your vision of a hero?
Someone that influences goodness in other people. There’s also the sense of justice, but the whole justice thing won’t appear until episode 14. From there it will be a story about justice, finally becoming a Rider story.