TV-Nihon

Wiki: http://wiki.tvnihon.com/wiki/Kamen_Rider_Gaim_02

Have to admit that this episode did a pretty good job at reeling me in. Something about Kouta's reaction to getting a new power, and just misusing it seemed very realistic.

Kaito from Team Baron is pretty cool, I like characters like him.

I'm surprised we didn't find out what happened to Yuuya. I wonder when this thread will get resolved.

Kouta fighting on behalf of Gaim to win back their land was pretty good. Nice clear motives and a few surprising outcomes. Like Kaito scolding his teammate for cheating and him joining into the battle.

I have to admit that the CGI monster felt a bit fake at the end for me.

I kind of wonder if each fruit is going to get its own arms form. And if they'll be interchangeable between Riders. That could end up being very confusing.

Kouta trying to use Gaim at his places of work was pretty funny especially when he was doing it for the Indian place. Just looking weird, Kouta. Kaito is definitely one of those guys who acts like a douche but has some honor about him. It was nice seeing the scene at the beginning of Yggdrasill mining the Lock Seed which I notice that some of the workers had the Drivers on them.

So, I noticed the opening narration calls Gaim "Armored Rider Gaim". We're gonna get a bunch of people claiming this means the guys in this show aren't "real Riders" like with the Oni in Hibiki, aren't we?

Nah, I think people said that about Hibiki because they felt the show itself didn't feel Ridery enough. It's kind of nice to have the brand name Kamen Rider take a break for a couple of years.

I actually enjoy this episode. Unlike the last episode which is information overload, this is actually simple and easily to follow, the stakes and motives are clear, and it's shaping up the characters very well. Kaito is not just an heedless ass like they showed us last week, and he's actually an interesting character. Now I'm interested in his back story on why he wanted to be strong and not rely on others. What happened in the past?

And LOL ORANGE HEAD, ITS A SHIELD AND IT SPINS. It actually looks a Halloween pumpkin head when it stops...

I'm guessing this is the OOO's formula of gaining and losing Lock Seed every other week, since they show the Lock Seeds like they did with the OOO medals at the end

Interesting to note that Melon was a subordinate of Grapes in the pre-opening last week, here is seems he's some big shot that's in control of the city. Speaking of that, Baron also had a brown-ish Rider following him, but Gaim didn't have anyone other than his army

The Seeds catalog in the iPad, they say "LOCHSEED fruit name"

To be fair, that's probably just the font they chose, since a stylized K can look like an H.

Yaiba wrote:
Interesting to note that Melon was a subordinate of Grapes in the pre-opening last week, here is seems he's some big shot that's in control of the city.

What gave you that idea? Grape, or, well, Ryugen, is clearly the subordinate to Zangetsu (Melon). Not only is Ryugen the one kneeling at Zangetsu's side (not the other way around), but when the camera pulled out to show the armies in fruit-shaped formations, the third (aside from the orange segments and the banana) is the melon shape.

butyoumight wrote:What gave you that idea? Grape, or, well, Ryugen, is clearly the subordinate to Zangetsu (Melon). Not only is Ryugen the one kneeling at Zangetsu's side (not the other way around), but when the camera pulled out to show the armies in fruit-shaped formations, the third (aside from the orange segments and the banana) is the melon shape.

Yeah well, wrong memory when you're really tired. It just shows how confused I was last episode

Well that was better than the first episode. I liked how Mercury didn't really have any reaction to Kouta transforming. Baron was a bit of a dick but it looks like he's at least against cheating.

Still want to know why dancing is such a rigorously controlled sport here with special rules pertaining to who can use what stage and for how long. Seems a bit silly to me.

I wonder if random kids in trouble will end up being a running gag.

I was a little creeped out by how Kaitou said a few words to the kid before setting him down on the ground.

The people in this city are so weird. People could've been hurt from the Inves but they are more concerned with the Beat Rider team rankings.

The two random Lock Seeds on the dealer's tablet reminded me of the random Gaia Memories being shown early on in W.

I know it's tempting, but Kaito doesn't have a u in his name XD

One way of remembering this is that it's the same "to" as Yuuto from Den-O:

Kaito 戒斗
Yuuto 侑斗

I was satisfied with the episode. Still world building, but the whole “monster battles to determine dance gang territory” thing didn’t feel as bizarre now that I was expecting it.

I’m warming up to Kouta. I didn’t dislike his intro last week, but my only impression was that he felt very young. (Well, also a little crazy since he walked into a zipper dimension filled with monsters and oddly colored plant life, but that’s par for the course in toku.) This week, between practicing his poses in his bedroom and using the armor at work, the character felt more real to me. It’s very natural for someone to want to use a new toy or gadget they’re excited about, even if it winds up annoying the people you live with or over-complicates tasks you normally do.

Kaito, on the other hand, seems like a pretty interesting character right off the bat. (Although I wish that they had given him a name that didn’t look so much like the lead Rider's in English.) I like that he looks to have his own code of honor. Hopefully it means that the inevitable conflict between Gaim and Baron will have more depth to it other than the writers need to make Riders fight each other.

And I know we had a flashback-esque scene to kick the series off, but I like that our Melon Rider is hinting that the conflict is inevitable. Gives that same foreboding feeling as the lady-in-white’s speech did last episode.

I love the opening sequence. It’s the first theme song I’ve liked from day one since W-B-X, and the visuals are the most stunning for me since Decade.

One last random thought - the Inves “eating” its lock seed caused it to become a bigger, CGI-Inves. I wonder if there would have been some kind of effect on Kouta is he had bitten those lock seeds in the first episode. Could be something revisited in later episodes.

Just to fling out theories, I figured that eating lock would have turned him into an Inves (And I'm assuming the first monster that Kouta kills is Yuuya's horrible mutated form). Hopefully it's not that transparent, but it'd be oddly fitting.

Also, Christian allegory, eating forbidden fruit, Mai is Eve, blah blah blah.

Pinapple Rider Flail Flying Side Kick Gaim masterrace. Holy crap that was awesome.

"Forget the Kamen Rider Manual, let's just fool around with the belt for a while, have fun with it!!"

It's how I felt the first 5 minuets of this episode because it was hilarious seeing Kouta going nuts with transforming all over the place and trying to use it while working.

This episode was more appealing (no, im not even TRYING to throw in a pun on this lol). Kaito seemed like a jerk at first, then boom he wins my respect when he finds out a couple of his compatriots were trying to cheat for the team. The music was very good! Both in Team Baron's dance and throughout the episode

Hmmm, the mysteries begin, with Yuuta dissapearing. I'm liking it already in that.

I don't care what anyone says, I was digging Pinapple Arms. It was functional for how it's armor and weapon is set up.^^