Recap: Kamen Rider Gaim, Episode 15 – The Man Who Developed the Belts

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Mitch watches as the Kurokages take handcuffed Kota and Kaito into room to meet with Sengoku Ryoma who introduces himself as the man who created the Sengoku Drivers.

Kota confronts him and Kaito boils over realizing they were being played with, but before they can get any closer to Ryoma, his bodyguard, Minato Yoko steps in. He roundhouses Kaito (with her heels!) and kicks Kota to his knees, but Ryoma asks her to cool down.

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It’s because of you that Hase was killed, Kota says. But Ryoma says he’s only in charge of developing the belts, it is the chief who decides how data is collected. As for Hase Ryoji, it was merely an accident. As soon as he ate the fruit, his humanity died and the fruit takes over, creating a monster.

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Kota is ready to pounce, but Kaito says they should hear him out and learn just how they can use this power to defeat their enemies. Good idea, Ryoma says and he proceeds to explain.

The Lockseeds are a result of his research and the first step in finding a safe way to use the fruits’ still immeasurable power. Once they’ve found a safe way to harness that power, it could bring humanity to the next stage of evolution. That’s what the Sengoku Drivers are for, to allow humans to control the fruits’ power.

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Kaito nudges Kota and flashes his cards. Ryoma turns his back to them while Yoko takes a pen out from her pocket. Kota understands. Kaito tosses a card at Ryoma’s neck, likely hoping to lodge it like he lodge a card into the TV at Braon HQ. But Yoko tosses her pen, spearing the card and sending it in another direction.

She again knocks Kota and Kaito down to the floor. Neither she nor Ryoma skip a beat.

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Kaito asks why he’s telling them all this. Ryoma says he hopes for their continued cooperation.

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Elsewhere at Yggdrasill, Sid asks Takatora what they’ll be doing to the guinea pigs. Since they’ve been using the Drivers for a long time now, they should get checked out. This surprises Sid. Takatora explains they put the kids in danger out of necessity. And after they collect their Drivers, they’ll put them in protective care.

How kind of him, Sid says. But DJ Sagara pops up on the screen and says the kids might not think so highly of his kindness, nor are they going to be willing to give up such a power as the Drivers.

Ryoma continues explaining the mass-produced Drivers can be used by anyone. And once they are finished, the goal of his project will be complete. But he wants to aim higher, the power to be omnipotent.

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He shows them some of his sketches and says these goals have not yet been approved by TPTB. Still, he would like Kota and Kaito to continue to be guinea pigs. He tries to sell them on the idea by saying they can use these souped up powers however they want. Neither Kota or Kaito are immediately receptive to the idea, so Ryoma has the Kurokages take them to a nice little cell to think about the offer.

Mitch follows.

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Across town, Mai, accompanied by Chucky, try to convince members of Baron, Raid Wild and Invitto that they should stop playing the Inves game so they can show the citizens of Zawame that they have nothing to do with the Inves attacks and illness.

The others don’t care of the idea and think it is merely Team Gaim being selfish, wanting to end the Inves game while they are on top. Besides, none of their leaders are even here at this impromptu meeting, who is Mai to make these decisions.

Baron shoves Mai aside and the others walk off, uninterested. Mai and Chucky are helpless.

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Kota lies on a bed in his homey cell when suddenly DJ Sagara pops up in the hallway. He thanks Kota for helping make his web show a big hit. Kota is upset that he too is part of this vast Yggdrasill conspiracy. But Sagara says Kota should be the one thankful to him for helping to make street dancing so popular in the city and in turn, the dancers popular themselves.

Kota slinks onto the couch and Sagara swipes his security card to unlock the door. He walks in and pops a squat on the bed, getting a little philosophical on Kota before asking if he will be accepting Ryoma’s offer for a grand new power.

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Kota says the power isn’t important so much as the way it is used. While Yggdrasill is only concerned about its research, he is concerned with protecting the citizens of Zawame. He wants the power to be able to do that, not just for the sake of having it.

Sagara laughs. Very interesting. He leaves a security card, a Lockseed and a component device of the Genesis Driver and walks out of the cell, closing the door behind him.

If you amuse me, I’ll continue to watch over you, Sagara says. After all, no one has been chosen by Helheim Forest yet.

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Mitch continues making his way through Yggdrasill until he finds Kota’s cell. Kota hands Mitch the security card to unlock the door and they hurry over to Kaito’s to do the same. They agree they aren’t leaving here empty handed.

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They head back to Ryoma’s big round room where they retrieve their Drivers and Lockseeds.

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Mitch says they need to hurry, but Kota sees the TV screens by Ryoma’s table and sees Yuya. It is the same case file video Mitch had seen earlier. He hurries over to keep Kota from seeing the rest of it when the alarms suddenly go off.

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Takatora heads to the security room. They tell him the kids have escaped. He glances at the security cams and is shocked to see Mitsuzane running along with the guinea pigs.

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Mitch suggests they go to the Crack room and escape through the forest using their Lock vehicles. But they end up surrounded by Kurokages.

They fight. Mitch says he’ll try to look for another way out. Kota manages to clear a path for them, but Kaito says he’s not one to run from a fight and tells Kota to go ahead.

Don’t do anything reckless, Kota says as he runs off and Kaito henshins.

Kota ends up in the Crack room, but before he can jump down from the mezzanine, Sid stops him. If they go back to their rooms nicely, things won’t have to get rough.

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Kota pulls out his Lockseed. Sid asks him not to interfere with the adults’ plans.

But Kota replies that if their intentions were truly noble, innocent people wouldn’t have to die. Not able to take Sid’s pontificating any more, Kota henshins and jumps down to run to the Crack.

Sid stops him and henshins himself. Armored Rider Sigurd.

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They jump into the Crack together and fight through the Yggdrasill base camp. Sid says if Kota had just eliminated Hase when he had the chance, then they could’ve avoided any casualties.

But Kota still knows Sid and Yggdrasill are the ones to blame. Sid sends a soda arrow Kota’s way, but Kaito speeds in to help. Kota summons his Lock Vehicle and they tag team against Sid.

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They manage to knock him down a little to allow them to drive off. Sid gets up to deliver a soda finisher, but the pink Armored Rider appears and stops him. They both de-henshin. The pink Armored Rider is Yoko.

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Why did you stop me, Sid asks. Yoko says Professor Ryoma has ordered to let them go for now.

At the security room, Takatora continues watching his little brother. The security team sends Kurokages to capture Mitch, but he quickly henshins.

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Takatora gets his second shock of the day. His Mitsuzane is an Armored Rider.

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Episode Thoughts
So I will say that this episode might not have had as many “feels” as episode 14, but damn did we still get plenty of action and even more details about what the heck is going on.

The big cast has definitely helped contribute to the season being so unpredictable as well as full. There is plenty of story to tell and lots of mysteries still left to unfold.

It was great seeing the different teams still oblivious to what’s happening even while Mai was trying to get them to grow up and grow some balls. (Plus, hello Raid Wild, your captain is dead.)

Mitch continued his awesomely stealthy ways and damn how awesome was Takatora getting not one, but TWO big shocks. I thought those scenes were very well done.

We know Yggdrasill is a large, possibly evil company. But to see the different personalities under that Yggdrasill banner and realizing they all have their own agendas throws everything into a perpetual loop. In a good way.

It was great seeing Kota and Kaito continue to team up. I would love to see him not turn his back on Kota and Mitch in the future instead have to weigh his hatred for Yggdrasill (a common enemy of theirs) with the petty childishness of his team and the dance groups. Should be interesting.

And yay for Kota not knowing he’s killed his good friend yet. I thought they were going to spill the beans immediately.

Overall, another excellent episode. The show doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon.

2 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Gaim, Episode 15 – The Man Who Developed the Belts

  1. hey, you forgot to talk about that hilarious part of the kaito-kouta-ryoma encountered, where ryouma actually acknowledge that it was his idea to put in those cheesy transformation calls on the belts and it was his guilty pleasure. that was definitely one brilliant wink at the audience.

    on the serious side, i think what makes Yggdrasil different from other KR evil organization (such as Faizs smart brain) is that they aren’t interested (yet?) in taking over the world. they are more interested in economical benefits for the company. they also seem to be a veiled critique of real world corporations and their use of media manipulation of the public (as symbolized by DJ Sagara).

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