Monday, September 8, 2014

Kamen Rider Gaim Episode 38 Review: Casting Aside One's Doubt (Major Spoiler Alert!!!)

Again I have skipped another episode of Gaim because it was just a tie-in for the summer movie, I really can't say much about it. Anyways episode thirty-eight actually continues the story as Micchy is slowly breaking down and is going to get what he wants now.
Now I can easily say Micchy is a villain in the series, this episode shows though of how Kouta was correct in some ways. Micchy is completely twisted up from all the events that have been happening to him. Even in the beginning of the series there have been moments when he hated his brother and just had fun with his friends. Then it moved on to him starting to argue with Kouta and having him learn information on his own. Finally we get to him making his own plans and doing what he wants, but with all that has been happening to him he is still lost and is just a puppet just waiting to get picked up. Even though Micchy thinks he has control, in the end someone is just holding onto his strings. This is absolutely a great character to look into because even if Micchy still has his soft side for his friends, his insanity still peaks out. Literally in this episode he is smiling to Mai and wanting to take her and yet he still commands an Overlord to attack poor Peco. So I still do see that Micchy is going too far with things as Micchy is completely lost and is broken, it's actually more sad than I thought.
In episode thirty-six Micchy has done the unbelievable, he attacked his own brother and even killed him! Reduye is happy to see that Micchy has done this since her toy is going through some interesting things. Even with Takatora gone, Micchy still sees him. In their last fight, Takatora said that Micchy is his shadow, but by that he meant that Micchy what was everything wrong about Takatora. Micchy ends up taking the shadow metaphor into being inferior to his older brother. With that mindset, Micchy is starting to think he is better than his older brother and yet the doubt still lives within him hence why Takatora appears in his subconscious. In the end though having this imaginary Takatora taunt Micchy leads him to clearing his doubts. When fighting Gaim and Baron, he still sees Takatora at many points and he just ends up trying to shoot him down along with the two riders. Micchy has even become confident in himself as he decides to let Gaim and Baron go when he was clearly winning. So with no more doubts in his head, Micchy has gained more power and by himself he takes on Kiwami Arms and Baron with Lemon Energy Arms! This is just brilliant pacing as it does have a perfect path, it just still amazes me how far this show has gone.
Another interesting plot point in this episode is that the professor has returned. Last time he straight up ran away from danger, but for some reason he has returned. Ryouma even wants to work with Kouta and the others, again which is not like him. Yoko right off the bat doesn't believe in Ryouma or at the least knows that he is scheming something. Ryouma says there is another way into Yggdrasil Tower, his own secret path. I can say I do believe that he would have one, but why does he wants the rider to get into Yggdrasil? The audience and the characters can so tell that Ryouma is planning something as he is clearly being obvious since he knows the riders will go there regardless. So Duke is on the side of good for once and I can say it won't be for long. Personally I love his attitude, he right in your face and knows how to taunt others. When he knows of Takatora's death he is pretending to care just to taunt Kouta. Another thing to say is that he isn't as invincible as he was before since Kouta got some hits on him this time.
Kaito starts to take his stance more and more regarding Micchy and he has every right to now. Micchy has become a more serious foe for him and Kouta. Kaito is trying to get his message across for Kouta since Kouta is still in some trouble with himself. Kaito sees that Mai actually has her own strength and that is hope. Now Kouta easily has hope as well, but in the end it's not the same as Mai. Kaito sees the difference though since Mai actually sees a future. Kouta does have a strong resolve and is doing things with his own power and yet he is just helping others. Kouta doesn't really think about what could happen in the future or most importantly what could be in store for him. Again this is good pacing as this was brought up in the beginning of the series. Mai saw that Kouta was just helping others and not doing things for himself. Kouta did say he was doing what he wants and that was helping others and being the hero. Many people have been telling Kouta that he needs to take a stand and Kaito is the best one to do so since he could be his greatest rival someday.
Kouta is put in a dangerous situation since he knows that Micchy and Takatora did fight each other. He even finds Takatora's old belt and Lock Seed destroyed, but no Takatora around in sight. Takatora is gone and Kouta thinks that he could have to snap Micchy back into sanity by himself. Kouta is even asked about his future and he doesn't know what to make of it. To help him out, Mai wants to know what Kouta's future will be as the two make a promise to know of each other's future when all this chaos is over. With this being brought up at many points, I do feel that this could be Kouta's handicap. He wants to help people and one of those people is Micchy. During the big fight there were moments when Kouta held back. He ends up fighting more seriously though because of Mai being in danger, so maybe this could be the start of Kouta looking more into Kaito's side?
The Overlords got a scene in this episode as it's Reduye giving an update to Roshou about their plan on using humans to bring back Roshou's love. This is what Roshou wants and yet he still feels regret mostly because his race is heading closer to extinction. Roshou hates seeing his own people getting killed, but he's rather calm with his regret. High chance he wasn't like this when his race heavily declined in the beginning. Reduye though says that the starting of their extinction was because of Roshou. Reduye's proof is Gaim having the power of the golden fruit as he is seen as an enemy. Roshou is simply slowing down the humans' demise. Roshou doesn't even see the humans as being enemies since they are sharing the same downfall as his own race. Roshou would even want a human to bring a new future for them, so again this is exactly like Takatora. There is a set plan, but in the end there is still doubt as Takatora and Roshou show this and funny enough Kouta could be their hope. Since Roshou and his people are heading onto certain doom they can only do one thing left which is to help another race. Roshou is not a villain by any means, it's just sad that all of the others pretty much are.
The action in this episode was another impressive feat mostly thank to how Micchy improved as a fighter. I have to say this episode brings the Jinba Arms out of nowhere and I really have to wonder why. I guess it was just a funny thing to see since Kamen Rider Duke returned, but other than that there was no point. Gaim has two more forms that are more powerful than Jinba Arms and yet he goes to that first. So where the fight really got good was near the end as Micchy was fighting both Gaim and Baron with their strongest powers. When Micchy got knocked down he made sure to strike back. My favorite part though is how Micchy blocks Baron's attack and grabs the Mango Punisher while being thrown at him! Then I still did like the use of the area as Gaim was thrown around a good amount of times. Still seeing Micchy being a better fight has increased the intensity of the fights since he wasn't the best fighter before.
This episode was great which is what I need from the previous episode is. I love this new view of Micchy since even if he has become a more powerful foe he is tragic in his own way. The series works really well with their main characters as it's hard to judge which one has the best development. They all have their own different paths as Kouta is the pure hero, Kaito is an anti-hero in some ways, and Micchy is taking a villainous path, but even that is not working out for him in the grand scheme. Along with that additions from Ryouma and Roshou were delightful and the action was good overall with a nice sense of surprise. I give the episode an A-
Next Time: Time to storm the tower!

1 comment:

  1. You're definitely the next few episodes of Gaim, especially 43 and 44.

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