Kamen Rider Gaim Ep 40 - "The Overlords Awaken"

[NateRiver]

Just a question. Is what Kouta was experiencing in Redue's dream world really what Yuuya and Hase went through? Analyzing the Byakko Invess scene from Episode 1 and Hase scenes in Episode 14, it seems pretty different. Yuuya basically just started shooting lasers, kicking over stuff, and going into full on battle poses before Kouta even did anything. He didn't even try to do any physical communication like Kouta tried to do in this episode, so naturally, Kouta hit him with a rod. Then, he goes completely apeshit and just starts kicking and kneeing Kouta without stopping. After that, you have Hase, who right away begins to breathe fireballs, try to slash and wrestle Kouta rapidly, all while Kouta's pleading for him to stop and go ask the hospital for help with him without even fighting back.

 

[Undrave]

Not the same, but it's CLEARLY meant to evoke it.

 

[Photon]

I think the scene is supposed to show that Yuuya and Hase might be screaming from inside, but their Inves body just won't listen to them, hence why Kouta keeps hurting others with his claw.






As for Micchy's Genesis Driver, it has to broke eventually. We know he's going back to Sengoku Driver for his Yomi Lockseed, so something must have happened to his Genesis Driver. Otherwise the Yomi Lockseed would have been created as an ELS instead of a normal LS.

And while Kaito is the one that inflict the hit, since we know Oren and Jounouchi is fighting Zangetsu Shin in the next episode, I think Oren and Jounouchi will be the one that deals the finishing blow.

 

[Toku Prime]

What a fantastic episode. Gaim's rolling on all cylinders and I hope the last several episodes are as great as OOO's last few episodes, which was really the last series with a great third act.

You say great third act, I say dive-bombed straight into the ground. I don't really like the whole "hero becomes a monster" storyline, but if they're going to do it I'd rather it be more like Blade where you felt the tragedy of it and who he was doing it for, which thankfully is where Gaim seems to be going IMO.

You know during the end after Kouta de-transforms, I was surprised of the background music being so, uplifting instead of a sad one. Also, since we seen with Demusha power up when eating the fruits does Kouta method of using his belt to get nourishment help him to keep his human body after showing symptoms of becoming an Overlord?

He's validating Mai's faith in him and defying Redyue's attempt to convert him. I think it justified making it feel like a victory for him.

Anybody else notice that when he goes back to the real world, the blade on the DJ gun looked really scraped up and battered? New prop please!

As for Micchy's Genesis Driver, it has to broke eventually. We know he's going back to Sengoku Driver for his Yomi Lockseed, so something must have happened to his Genesis Driver. Otherwise the Yomi Lockseed would have been created as an ELS instead of a normal LS.

Or it's like Baron where he can swap back and forth - Yomi is just a repaint form so execs might have insisted it be on the better selling Sengoku Driver. Or, who knows, maybe his big bro comes back to reclaim Shin Zangetsu? :anime:

 

[HurricaneDragon]

I actually... did not like this episode, at least as far as the hypnosis portion was concerned.

Yes, they'd been hinting that Kouta was becoming an Overlord for a while now, pretty blatantly even, but this episode just makes me feel like there was a huge gap in-between this and the last episode. They hadn't dropped enough hints to pull off a big info/emotion/development episode like this one. Between how Kouta had shown no noticeable physical changes up until this point, how he got a generic Inves suit despite supposedly becoming an Overlord (I get it was meant more to give the "he's a monster!" feeling, but they could have done that while still highlighting the Overlord storyline too), and the fact that this was all hypnosis, it feels less like an episode that has any major impact on anything and more like a stock plot where a villain tried and failed at using mind control. The fact that there was so much foreshadowing going on really didn't mean nearly as much given how rushed this came off, at least to me anyway.

Hopefully they'll still do something really cool with this storyline, and all the others out there left unfinished, but I just don't know at this point - it seems like we're heading at top speed towards the ending and I feel like there's not nearly enough time left to cover all of the bases that need covering if there's less than four episodes left at this point.

The other scenes were pretty great though. Anyone else wondering if Ryouma's maybe going to pull a Gremlin?

 

[NeonZ]

Hopefully they'll still do something really cool with this storyline, and all the others out there left unfinished, but I just don't know at this point - it seems like we're heading at top speed towards the ending and I feel like there's not nearly enough time left to cover all of the bases that need covering if there's less than four episodes left at this point.

Gaim isn't ending this month. Drive is only starting in October, so Gaim will have September too.

 

[Toku Prime]

how he got a generic Inves suit despite supposedly becoming an Overlord (I get it was meant more to give the "he's a monster!" feeling, but they could have done that while still highlighting the Overlord storyline too)

It's not just a random monster suit though. It's the monster that Yuuya became back in the first episode, to complete the role reversal of Yuuya appearing as Gaim. The same suit was used with a different head to protray Hase's monster form, so it's essentially the form of a converted human and probably the monster form that's caused Kouta the most mental anguish throughout the series. I think Redyue's idea was that if Kouta could strike down Yuuya and accept being that particular monster, it would completely sever his emotional attachment to humanity. But he pushed it too far and Yuuya just reminded Kouta of what he was fighting for.

If I had a complaint it's that Kouta was the guy who gave that big speech about how he'd remake the world into one where sacrifices were no longer required, and yet now he seems quite accepting that he is a sacrifice himself.

it seems like we're heading at top speed towards the ending and I feel like there's not nearly enough time left to cover all of the bases that need covering if there's less than four episodes left at this point.

As NeonZ said, it looks like Gaim's going to get about 47 episodes. It's always around episode 40/41 that Rider suddenly kicks the plot into high gear. A lot of Rider shows seem to suffer a bit for this timing - some (like Kabuto) have to pull a last second extra enemy out to stretch to their required length, while some (like Faiz) have too much left to do and have to rush through it all at such a breakneck speed that you feel like half the planned events were truncated or dropped altogether. Gaim's got a lot to do in seven episodes - defeat Rosyuo, Redyue, Micchi and Ryoma, see Sagara play his game, have Kouta and Kaito become Over Lords, and hopefully bring that orange-haired girl into it somehow. Hopefully it gets the pacing right and pulls it all off.

The other scenes were pretty great though. Anyone else wondering if Ryouma's maybe going to pull a Gremlin?

Ryoma's actor is far too good to do a gremlin :laugh:

 

[Undrave]

It's not just a random monster suit though. It's the monster that Yuuya became back in the first episode, to complete the role reversal of Yuuya appearing as Gaim.

Plus they're not going to reveal his actual Overlord form in a dream sequence!

If I had a complaint it's that Kouta was the guy who gave that big speech about how he'd remake the world into one where sacrifices were no longer required, and yet now he seems quite accepting that he is a sacrifice himself.

No, he said it himself: "I'm not sacrificing anything!". Kouta doesn't see what he's doing as sacrificing himself, he's just doing what he wants. Others might see it as a sacrifice but he doesn't care.

 

[NateRiver]

I think the scene is supposed to show that Yuuya and Hase might be screaming from inside, but their Inves body just won't listen to them, hence why Kouta keeps hurting others with his claw.

Kouta forgot for a second that he had a claw and accidentally slashed Rat while trying to reach out for him. When he accidentally slashed Yuuya when he was trying to regain his balance, he looked back at his hand and started running away when Yuuya and Hase Invess would've started beating him up. Body language shows that Kouta was just a fumbling confused monster while Hase and Yuuya were full on going at it in battle like they were aiming to kill.

 

[Murphy]

It's probably truer to say that Kouta's hallucination is how he imagines it was for Hase and Yuya. We can see that they'd basically lost their minds (it might've been a slower process for Hase, but it still happened), but it wouldn't surprise me if Kouta had twisted it in his head so that they were just bewildered, distressed, and unable to communicate, and he was a bloodthirsty monster who didn't try hard enough to communicate with them.