Kamen Rider Gaim Episode 32 Review: Fruit Basket! (Major Spoiler Alert!!!)

With the Red Overlord, Demushu still on the run and Yggdrasil have finally become more open with their plans as they protect the city. Things seem to be at an end for Yggdrasil though as the Beat Riders will have to step up now. Can Kouta even stand up to what is happening?

The first thing I want to talk about is Kouta as he made a big step in progression in this episode. Sagara returns to Kouta and there things do not go well. Kouta starts realizing that Sagara has been toying with him as he had Kouta believe in him just so he can continue fighting. The thing is that Kouta did take Sagara's word too lightly as he did tell Kouta that the Overlords were only the rulers of the forest and nothing else. With what has been said, high chance Kouta doesn't see any hope for the Overlords anymore as they are just Inves to him. What's odd is that Sagara speaks about Demushu so casually just like how he talked with Roshou in the previous episode. Again I think I may have discovered what Sagara is with what he has been saying. Now the reason why Sagara told Kouta about the Overlords is that, yes they do have the power to save the world, but with how they are there isn't any hope of that. Sagara directly tells Kouta that only an Overlord has the power to save the world, but Kouta has to take that step. Yes, Sagara tells Kouta he needs to become an Overlord to save the world and the only way of doing that is to defeat the trails of the forest and obtain the golden fruit. Sagara even mentions that only one can obtain the power to rule which reminds me of what he told Kouta before about destroying the old rules and making new ones. Basically Sagara is back to tell Kouta the same thing, but to be more blatant about it. Sagara even tests Kouta by putting the new Lock Seed away from him and seeing if he would go for it. This makes me believe that Sagara could be some sort of hybrid being of both human and Overlord since he has powers unlike a human, but still retains his original form which is something that changed for the Overlords. Also this would explain how he knows so much about the forest and the Overlords. The question now is how he became the being he is now or if I'm even correct (please don't tell me!).

Hearing all of this news and seeing the new Lock Seed, Kouta has no choice as he starts to head for the Lock Seed. For some reason Sagara held him down with some force like magic which reminds me of Roshou a bit. Sagara even tells Kouta on how to obtain the fruit and it's pretty much a fight for the fruit as there are many other takers. Now Mai did bring up a good point, Sagara is clearly keeping somethings a secret and again we don't know what those are or why he is even hiding anything. Sagara is simply giving Kouta a fighting chance for his best interests. Now Sagara does clear a little bit up of why he is using Kouta and it's simply because he's a wild card in the whole situation. By what the other Mai has said before things seem to be following some sort of path like fate controls the events, but Kouta could not be a part of that. Kouta changes things up and Sagara realizes that so he wants him to be the most powerful one. Then Kouta's reasoning for wanting the new power is simply because he knows what he has now won't change anything. Again Kouta does have a desire for power, but is using it for a good thing and not like what some of the Overlords want. Kouta is taking a dangerous path of taking Sagara's gifts and he has gotten a power stronger than Kachidoki Arms.

Now some other interesting developments were with the Overlords. There was a quick scene with Reduye the green Overlord and Roshou as I bet they were talking about Demushu entering the human world. Reduye even notices that Takatora is holding onto a certain hat and takes it. Now the scene with the two Overlords seemed interesting, I bet Roshou knows how what Reduye is trying to do and is keeping a close watch on him mostly by the final look he gave to her. Then she reacts to Sid's death as like it was nothing as she just passes the hat along to Micchy. All Sid was to Reduye was a tool and sadly Sid is now a broken tool. So continuing on Micchy starts to ask Reduye why she wants the fruit. Reduye simply wants to take control and be king of a world. Sadly her own world is nothing now so she wants to try to see how Earth is. There was even some discussion about how the Overlords prepared for the forest compared to how the humans did it. It also seems the Overlords has an interest in the humans now because of how they prepared for the forest. Reduye now has a plan though and thanks to her servant being in the human world she can prepare a connection and make her own rift. She makes the rift where the one for Yggdrasil tower was and sends an invasion to Earth! Yggdrasil tower has been taken over by the Inves and even Ryouma retreats leaving everyone in the tower to be killed. Well that sure escalated fast!

So with Yggdrasil pretty much being destroyed the only people left to protect the city are the Beat Riders! I really loved this change of pace as Jonouchi and Oren do appear randomly, but it's done so correctly that I really didn't mind. The Beat Riders have taken a bigger stance on the situation and thanks to Kaito they can already act like a fully fledged team. What was also cool was how much stronger they seem now as Zack literally fought alongside with Kaito against Demushu! Then Jonocuhi easily became a better fighter as he can take out more evolved Inves and Oren is still strong like before. Again even those moments like these are random they give the character some new light and just make watching the show a bit more surprising and fun. I mean even Oren's reason for fighting is nothing much of a common hero, but it's just more fun to actually be enjoying this character now for a better reason compared to how he was before. Even Marika takes a step up as she gives up on Ryouma and sees that Kaito and the other riders have more potential than Ryouma, also there is the fact he completely abandoned everybody! So I am liking this huge change of pace for the show as we are getting more heroes in the series some are just simple characters, but having them along with everyone else just gives more to enjoy, it's like having a side dish with the main meal.

Before the invasion there was an interesting little scene with how Yggdrasil has been more out in the open now. The civilians are all inside just pondering about what exactly is happening and then without any way of communicating there is pretty much this barrier around the city. Then seeing how the Kurokage troops were dealing with Inves attacks was interesting. Now if the invasion didn't happen so soon there would have been an interesting change of pace with the city itself. Yggdrasil has taken a more direct measure of protecting the city and it would have been interesting to see more done with that idea, but the invasion was more of a surprising touch so I'm glad they went with that earlier than expected. So the question now is how living in the city will change with a complete invasion of Inves! Also could this mean that the forest could now start to expand more into the Earth?

Another question would be what will Ryouma do next?

The action in this episode was awesome as it was more action packed compared to other episodes. The beginning was sweet with Baron and Knuckle fighting Demushu and even getting him a couple of times. I'm more surprised by Knuckle since he is a Armored Rider with a prototype belt and yet he still got some good hits on Demushu. I even love how the two fought together, Knuckle has to go for close combat and during that Baron was using his Sonic Arrow from afar. The two then perfectly moved together and got some great hits on Demushu. The second fight was nice with the sudden appearance of Jonouchi and Oren as these two helped out the three other riders. For once Gridon can finally hit Inves with his hammer and actually do damage as well! Kaito even unites them quickly as they just tore those Inves up! What's nice to see are some little quirks from Jonouchi and Oren as the boy still has some training to go, but at least he has learned to still keep going at it. At the end there was even a nice united attack from the five riders as they take down the five Inves. Again things like this are just fun, seeing heroes team up and defeating monsters is simple and yet good television.

Then there was Demushu who came back with more power since he ate some fruit that grew on Earth. Kaito was even worried about this as he knows the Overlords are still Inves so they can easily power themselves up. Sure enough Demushu shows up with a new look and more power. The changes on Demushu are pretty simple, but they are nice touches. Mostly his horns just grew longer and that alone gives him this more menacing look. There is even the fact of how he shown off his new strength. First of all he can just take hits and bounce them back! The five riders all try a finisher as Demushu just takes them, absorb them, and use those attacks against the five riders. Demushu's fire attacks even improved as he can spread them out unlike before. This was a really nice way of showing a change of power and it's too bad this was Demushu's last appearance, but he does go out on a big reveal!

Kouta returns to the battlefield as he quickly shouts out that he has no time for any regrets as he has to fight and protect the city. Kouta enters the fight with Kachidoki arms as he quickly slashes Demushu and gets ready for his new power. As he activates the Lock Seed, all of the past fruit appear out of the sky and attack Demushu. I will have to say this reveal reminded me a whole lot of Blade's King Form. There was even a similar way of how the riders got their powers. Both Kouta and Kenzaki were giving warnings about their new powers and yet they had to proceed on with those powers. Even how the fruit were summoned reminded me of when the cards appeared around Blade. So Kiwami Arms have been revealed and it's a nice final form. I will say I do like the Shogun look along with the complete change of color for Gaim. Every color gets replaced by the bright silver armor as that really screams out final form right there. I will say I do not like how the form is activated with it connecting to the Kachidoki Lock Seed since it looks a little too big for the standard belt he has. I will say the chest plate has a nice design with all the fruits being shown off showing what fruits Gaim can access now.

As for how Kiwami fought, I did like how he kept a great presentation while fighting. His stances and movements reminded me of a Shogun at many times. Then with how he summoned the many weapons that belonged to other riders was great as well. The weapons can even just float around and attack when they are summoned just giving Gaim a whole new way of fighting. Gaim uses his Orange sword, the Durian Saws, Melon Defender, Grape Gun, and Banana Spear while at the same time using them his own way not like the other riders. Then Gaim can even do special attacks for all the weapons as he does this with Banana and keeps a hold on Demushu. Then here comes the big finale as he summons the DJ Gun and equips it to his sword as he goes for an Au Lait special. Holy crap the effects around the big sword look glorious as there are many colors that blend well together while looking like some sort of flame. It was a pretty good reveal fight as with it resembling to Kamen Rider Blade gives it some more positives for me.

The show easily just had another surprise to it as things have changed once more. Yggdrasil is no longer a concern as I feel the major fear will be the Overlords and Micchy. Along with that we got some more heroes in the mix and seeing them team up is just simply awesome. Then there was Kouta getting another offer from Sagara as these two have a much different conversation than before. Kouta though takes the risk once more and will take his power to use for his heroic deeds. I will say the only flaw I would say would be Marika as her character got a sudden change in this arc overall, it just didn't feel right to me. Other than that this episode gets an A.

Next Time: Micchy and a new Overlord?