Recap: Kamen Rider Gaim, Episode 24 – The New Formidable Enemy, The Overlords

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Kaito is struggling against the Overlord even when giving it everything he’s got. Minato has to come and whisk him away even if he wants to stay and fight.

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Dude, don’t you know when to retreat? Minato asks Kaito. He already collected more than enough battle data for them to use.
You told me to research and understand them, Kaito replies, and fighting is the easiest way for me to do that.

A green Overlord watches them.

Meanwhile, Mitchi is in absolutely bliss doing arts and crafts with Mai at the Garage. She asks about Kota. She’s worried about his bad habit of always helping others, but never asking for it himself. She’s sure he’s carrying some burden on his own now.

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You always worry about Kota-san, don’t you? Mitchi asks. Mai stutters.
It’s okay, Mitchi adds. He also worries about Kota’s reckless side too, that’s why he’s been keeping an eye on him since leaving the team. But he’ll be okay and if he tries to do anything dangerous, Mitchi vows to stop him.

“I can be useful too, you know. I also love Kota-san. I won’t let him suffer.”

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Mitchi is at school. A classmate catches up to him. He wonders why Mitchi has been either absent or late to class lately. And to think he considered Mitchi his rival before.

Mitchi turns it on. What do you think you’ll be doing in 10 years? Do you know what fate awaits you or if you’ll have the strength to handle it? Of course you don’t and that’s fine. Ignorance is bliss, after all. What’s truly important is being the one who decides who wins and who loses.

The guy has no idea what the frak he’s talking about, but Mitchi walks away, smiling.

“That’s authority. That’s the power I seek.”

Meanwhile, Kota is up on a roof exercising. He’s got all his Lockseeds on the ground and is ready to try out the Peach Lockseed for the first time. He henshins.

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He doesn’t really feel anything special until he starts hearing everything around him; conversations, the traffic… Mitchi. He looks down below and there’s Mitchi walking by talking to himself about Kota worrying about Mai.

Kota yells across the way and Mitchi joins him on the roof.

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Kota tells Mitchi about hoping to find the Overlords who could possibly help fight off Helheim in a way Yggdrasill can’t. Mitchi asks who could have told him about that and is surprised when Kota says DJ Sagara did.

Kota used to think Sagara was just an Yggdrasill dog, but considering all the times he’s helped them, he might be on their side. Mitchi warns that Sagara might be playing a trick on him. You’re probably right, Kota answers, but there must be a reason he wants to do so. And trying to find out why is also a way of moving forward.

Allowing yourself to get used is what got Yuya killed!
I know, Kota says, I can’t forgive myself, that’s why I can never let it happen again.

If Kota lets Yggdrasill have their way, he’d just be standing around letting people die.

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Mitchi is incensed. If Kota doesn’t stop and goes too far, he won’t be able to undo anything he’s done. That’s okay, Kota says, since Mitchi will always be there to let him know before that happens.

“I guess he needs to suffer more before he gets it,” Mitchi thinks to himself.

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Mitchi hurries over to Yggdrasill to report to Niisan and Ryoma-tachi about Sagara. But to Ryoma-tachi’s absolute shock, Mitchi also tells Niisan about Kota wanting to find Helheim lifeforms that Yggdrasill hasn’t discovered yet.

Hmm, what’s that supposed to mean, Takatora asks. But Mitchi sees Ryoma-tachi squirming. Aha, so that’s what’s going on.

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Somewhere in a Helheim cave, Red Overlord is training while Green Overlord is looking through the dictionary Kaito left. Green Overlord speaks a line of Japanese. Interesting language, he thinks.

Suddenly, a glowing snake comes slithering in. It’s Sagara in robes. He switches between Overlord language and Japanese as he speaks with them.

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Ryoma, Minota and Sid are huddled together trying to figure out who this outsider Sagara is and how he could be privy to such delicate information. But Ryoma says their biggest concern right now is Kota. He obtained an unknown power and now even knows about Overlords. Ryoma says he must be silenced. He tells Sid to take care of it and hands him a replacement Cherry Lockseed.

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Mai is practicing alone when Kaito walks by. He wonders why after everything that’s happened with the Beat Riders, she is still dancing away. Sure, Mai says, even Zack and Peco. Only those who truly care about dance are dancing now regardless of what team they’re on, it’s much more fun now.

Mai asks if Kaito will ever dance again. She wants to dance with him. But Kaito says he was only looking for a stage to display his power. Looking back now, he adds, that all was just a pointless game.

Innocent Mai says if Kaito stops thinking of it as pointless, he’ll enjoy dancing again. Promise!

But Kaito says he doesn’t have time to play with them now that he’s found his real goal; a power that even Yggdrasill can’t overcome. With it, he’ll never have to yield to anyone.

If you become stronger than everyone else, Mai says, then no one will understand you, you’ll be alone and miserable.

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Kaito says that definition of strength might be true for her, but soon, the weaklings will be weeded out and we’ll just see how far her definition of strength will take her.

“If you can withstand being crushed by an unimaginable force, overcome the despair and still be able to dance after that all, I will acknowledge your strength.”

“What would Kota say in a time like this?” Mai asks herself as Kaito walks away.

Kota arrives in Helheim and uses Jinba Peach to try and listen for the Overlords. He hears the strange language and is about to go to it when Sid arrives, already henshined. He fires at Kota.

We’re going to settle this today, Sid says. He summons three watermelons and uses a new Lockseed to connect them.

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The watermelons are first in Gyro Mode, but Kota goes Kachidoki Arms. He immediately takes one out. He then uses Hinawadaidaimusouzan to finish off the other two.

Kota uses the Cherry Lockseed and knocks Sid over while speeding off.

Kota goes searching in the ruins and uses Peach Lockseed again to listen. And he definitely hears. The Green Overlord walks up after a high-pitched sound pierces Kota’s ears. We’ve been waiting, he says to Kota in Japanese.

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The Red Overlord joins them and starts babbling in Overlord language before attacking. He wants a fight. Kota says he just wants to talk.

The Green Overlord watches as Red Overlord knocks Kota around. Kota tries to talk to the Green Overlord. Tell him I’m not here to fight! Kota says.

Always… always in forest. Long… long… tedium.
Green Overlord says he hates tedium, he wants toy.

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Red Overlord continues tossing Kota around. Green Overlord then asks if Kota will be a toy. The high-pitched shrieking returns and Kota quickly unlocks the Lockseeds to de-henshin. How weak, Green Overlord says.

They ask him to be a more fun toy next time. They hang him on a vine by the ankle, but drop him after they both disappear.

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Episode Thoughts
An interesting episode. I don’t know if I was wowed by it. Maybe the excitement of the Kachidoki Arms debut and last week’s ToQger fun raised my expectations too high, especially since Gaim has managed to top itself week after week.

Still, this episode had plenty of story. Kota finally meets the Overlords. And we see there’s at least two and not just the one that owned Kaito.

Mitchi was his awesomely scary schizo expressive face-self; enjoying romantic time with Mai, belittling his former school rival, getting annoyed by Kota, getting the upper hand on Ryoma-tachi.

We got some Mai-Kaito moments. Yay.

But I was a little sad there was zero aftermath of Kota destroying the Scalar System. They made such a big deal about it and here it was as if it didn’t even happen. Okay.

It was fun to see Kota back to being his originally goofy, smiley self, even if just for a scene. It was refreshing to see Kota loosen up last week with the ToQgers.

And now with the introduction of the Overlords, Gaim starts to feel more like a regular ol’ Kamen Rider series. Just seeing rubber monsters hanging out in a dark cave reminds me of the typical Toei formula. Which is fine, but Gaim has just felt so different without the clear villain group, especially without the same rubber monsters popping up each week or the human villains having rubber forms.

It was an overall solid episode, but I was definitely not as wowed as I have been. It was just fun and interesting. But not ZOMGWTFWOW! You know?

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