Kamen Rider Gaim Ep 47 - "Transform! And to the Future" *FINALE*

Other than that, I only really had one problem with this episode, as well as the one before it.
They make it sound like Micchy did the things he did because he was manipulated by the Overlords.
But they seem to forget that he was being a psycho even before he even knew that the Overlords existed.

He wanted to kill Kouta simply because he didn't do what he said.
And now they expect us to be believe that he was a victim?
Hmm I don't think they were trying to paint Micchy as a victim. One of the central messages of the show is that no matter what mistakes you make, there can still be a better future so long as you can keep moving forward. Kouta embraced that attitude all the way through the show (for example, after he learned what happened to Yuuta). He asked Takatora to help Micchy see that (and Takatora agreed in part because he also wants to find a way to move beyond all the mistakes he made during the series). The show made it seem like Zack was willing to do the same, more because barely anyone knew what had really happaned in Zawame and he wanted the memory of Kouta, Kaito and Mai to be preserved for as long as possible, rather than because he thought Micchy was innocent.
 
The bigger problem for me really is that it sucked, both as redemption for Micchy and as Jonouchi's remembrance to Hase, because up until the final episode, Ryugen and Kurokage sucked.

Micchi is supposed to be atoning for his sins by protecting the city but what we see is him doing a really bad job at it until Kouta gifted him with something, while Jonouchi basically accomplished nothing. That's why I said it's better if Kouta was just a shadow and not actually there, as it's the traditional anime trope of carrying the spirit of the other, but that trope doesn't translate well into live action.

Overall, like most things in the show, I understand that the creators were trying to do something poignant and beautiful but failed miserably at it.
 
Too bad they don't have the budget to frankenstein a Ryugen Orange Arms! That would have cool for that last fight.
 
Too bad they don't have the budget to frankenstein a Ryugen Orange Arms! That would have cool for that last fight.

Exactly. I think that was what they were going for with Ryugen wielding the Daidaimaru, but it just fell short to me, especially considering that wielding the sword didn't really improve Ryugen by much.
 
Hmmm... Ok, I did enjoy what they were trying to do with the finale, but I also realize that, with what they managed to do with the rest of the show, they could've done much better if they had, at the very least, skipped out on either the Kikaider episode, or the Kaito/ daydream/ soccer episode- or, for that matter, both, or any other of the handful of pointless or tie-in episodes that they did.

Still, I'm not taking back what I said, just yet. This honestly was the best Kamen Rider series I've seen thus far, without the rambling of Faiz or the non-ending of Kabuto & much more dramatic that Kiva. Actually looking forward to Drive & hope it can, at the very least, break even in it's own way, let alone compete.

EDIT: If anyone was wondering, what they were going for is showing that there was hope for Micci, not trying to make him Kouta 2.0 or the hero. Just showing that he could come back. As for Jounichi... well, him actually fighting as hard as he did to get into the fight at all, and having something to fight for and protect was a major step up for that character from what he'd been before anyway. Before, he was terrified to fight at all unless someone else went first or stood by him.
 
In a sense, Micchy WAS a victim ... like most people in the show... victim of Hellheim, and of the tragedy that happened in Zawame and Earth. While Micchy had certainly issues, it's also obvious that it's that apocalyptic situation that made him lose some of its sanity. That, and the fact he's been forced to betray his best friend for the greater good even before he went completely psycho, his brother who made him feel he was better than the others, and a situation when sacrificing a majority of humanity is seen as a necessary evil to save what can be saved of humanity, and not without reason.
It's not surprising that a young boy like Micchy, who's been confronted with all of that, would start thinking killing someone could be for the greater good, even if he's his former best friend, especially if he's angry with him and sees him as a danger. Of course, the most it went on, the most Micchy lost his sanity, but at the end, the mere fact he was able to realize how much he was mistaken in his action made him redeemable.
In episode 47, Micchy, when he was losing to Jam and Inago, was thinking "were all my actions really pointless and useless", Kouta answered "you're wrong Micchy...you've fought so much after all... " ; Kouta could have said that about all Micchy has done during the show.
Besides, let's be honest : the only reason Kouta was able to save humanity was because he was Sagara's pet, who gave him an incredible amount of power, with the Kachodoki and Kiwami lock seeds. Of course, Kouta had the qualities which were required, (his bravery, and readiness to sacrifice himself), but he didn't have any strategy to save humanity before episode 40 and learning the secret of the forbidden fruit : while Micchy was pretty an asshole during episodes 26-43, one can admit that he was the only one who had a plan to save most of humanity, using his interactions with the main Overlorrds, Roshuo and Redyue: while his plans were flawed, at least, they were there.
Of course, after episode 40, everything changed, and Kouta was aware of the importance of getting the forbidden fruit, and hence his final fight with Kaito, when Micchy became pretty much irrelevant. But when you look at Gaim, you'll notice that Kouta, Kaito and Micchy, all three try to fight to get a better world: Micchy tries to keep things as they were, Kaito tries to create a new world by destroying the former one : but it's Kouta who finally finds the true answer : creating a new world without destroying the old one, even if he has to leave his old world : and as such, as a true selfless one, he's the hero.
Unlike Ryouma or Sid, who were megalomaniacs who wanted power because of greed, and as such, had no room for redemption, Micchy (and in a way Kaito too) had noble intentions but which ended up destructive and misguided.
The surviving heroic Riders (Zack, Jounochi and Oren) were just fighters who protected civilians and Riders, but they didn't have any large scale strategy, so of course, they made less mistakes.

At the end, the reason Zack wanted to forgive Micchy was also because they all tried to fight during the Hellheim crisis, and were the ones to share the hard experiences of the invasion, as fighters. Hence the desire to ne together to keep those memories, and those of the ones who weren't there anymore alive. Besides by showing his regrets and a true and sincere guilt of the bad deeds he's done, instead of being arrogant, Micchy made himself more forgivable by those who had a good heart.
 
Dear God. I know Jam is a last minute tacked-on addition to the show as dictated by corporate suits, but to have an "actress" who simply cannot act absolutely deflates what little threat Kougane had here to begin with. Don't get me started on the where, how, and why of his existence in this TV show universe.

Furthermore, to have Kouta and Mai able to travel back to Earth seemingly at will undermines the gravity of their decision to exile themselves, surely? That Adam and Eve being cast out of paradise allegory? And for goodness's sake, Kouta, at least say hi to your sister before you vanish in a puff of magical sparkles!
 
Dear God. I know Jam is a last minute tacked-on addition to the show as dictated by corporate suits, but to have an "actress" who simply cannot act absolutely deflates what little threat Kougane had here to begin with. Don't get me started on the where, how, and why of his existence in this TV show universe.

Furthermore, to have Kouta and Mai able to travel back to Earth seemingly at will undermines the gravity of their decision to exile themselves, surely? That Adam and Eve being cast out of paradise allegory? And for goodness's sake, Kouta, at least say hi to your sister before you vanish in a puff of magical sparkles!

And now you know why Urobuchi wanted his "secondary writer" to write the finale episode INSTEAD of writing the finale episode himself
 
Gaim 47:

- Kouta sounds like an old man with a pencil in his mouth.

- You know, I wish the dancing thing had been relegated only to Mai or Team Gaim. The rest of the Teams could have done other things as part of their "youthful delinquency" outside of the Invess Games.

- Someone is going to ship Takatora and Akira.

- More buffoonery with Bravo and Gridon? Can't they let it go and give them some dignity? Or at least a comedic scene that's not obnoxious.

- Did I hear the "Ichigo Rider" whistle sound for Kogane's reveal?

- Finally! A Henshin routine in this show that's fluid and makes sense!

The Lock doesn't talk when opened.
She says 'Henshin' after all the inserting and knife flipping.

- Well how can he remember you, Kogane, if you're appearing to him as someone whom he's never seen?

- I don't get why people are complaining about Jam's actress's performance. She seems passable enough. I'll grant though that her laugh is flaccid.

- I'm glad Jounochi gets at least one redeeming moment by seeing through Takatora's bluff. Something learned from Oren?

- The Hase stuff really ought to have been resolved earlier, but at least it was given some sort of closure now. This scene could have instead used Hase as a motivation for Jounochi instead of a last-minute revelation of his fate.

- You really couldn't have rode on that bike of yours to meet the enemy, could you? Not even for the last episode? And you end up failing anyway. For shame, Gridon. :shakefist

- Another rushed fight and loss.

- Why is Kouta back? First it takes away from last episode's ending. Plus it kind of diminishes Micchi's "resurrection". Maybe if he saw Kouta in a vision, and/or used the orange Lock to symbolize Kouta's presence, that could work. Kouta actually coming back though makes this episode feel more tacked on that it arguably is. Save it for the movies if you really want to do it.

It would've been cool to see a Ryugen-Gridon tag team instead.

- The final scene with Kaito and Mai, by comparison, is a better way of bringing Mai and Kouta back one last time.
 
I really don't see how Kouta coming back takes away from the resolution. No one ever said he couldn't. Him coming back did help move things forward, for Micchy in particular. As "god," he obviously can't stay, and if something is threatening his old world (one he's clearly capable of keeping an eye on), of course he'll probably step up.

Also, I thought Oren and Jou weren't obnoxious at all this episode. :redface2: They really only were during that brief period in the 20s-30s, honestly. Likewise, I think this was actually a really cool way to end the Hase story, because this episode really was essentially all about closure. Jou in particular has come a long way from the snooty jerk he was early on. I don't think it would have worked too early, and later in, it would have just been a drop in the ocean given Gridon's irrelevance to the story at the time.

To that end, I really disagree with all the "tacked on" complaints. I feel this episode was a fantastic epilogue to the show overall, and even the villain works well enough - presumably some things will get cleared up in the movie, but even without it, we got the soccer episode to leave some bread crumbs (dare I say foreshadowing) for it to happen, and we know there's a movie out there that adds more. Plus, epilogues in general are kind of a thing - are all of them "tacked on" too? Seriously.
 

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