[Locke]

This episode should have been titled "not again!"

This episode made me realise that so much in Gaim is about the breakdown of communication, like that is the main conflict of the whole series. Kouta isn't stupid, he isn't naive really, it's just the ideology that comes from his lips doesn't fit with the world those words rest in. He hasn't failed to convince people to his side, the world has failed him.

Kaito isn't really antagonistic but his quest for strength has taught him to throw his fists first. So even when his heart is in the right place, as it has been for Kouta for so long, it comes from him as aggression when that isn't the intention in his heart. He pushes people away unintentionally and his frustrations only further fuel a rage he wishes to quell. A deadly, all consuming, circle.

If Takatora had raised Miccy differently, if he had chosen his words and his messages more carefully, could things have turned out differently? We'll never know but I'm sure those thoughts will haunt Takatora as he sinks into the depths.

Hell even Micchy once started as someone who was suffering and frustrated who found he couldn't express himself or when he did he was falling on deaf ears. If his communication hadn't been broken down, and instead he got the freedom to express, we may not be where we are now. The dancing is a rebellion, the ultimate freedom of expression, it was Micchy's escape and the reason Mai has her own strength.

I know we came to see Takatora beat down Micchy in the much missed Melon Arms but I honestly got a lot out of the Kouta Redyue fight too. I really like Truimphant less the more I see it but Kouta is such a badass. I've really grown to love Zenith just because it's so much more streamlined than Kouta's other arms.