Recap: Kamen Rider Gaim, Episode 30 – The Red and Blue Kikaider

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Back it up two weeks. Akira shows Kota a picture she found of him and a little dog both wrapped in blue and red blankets.. He had found the abandoned dog and wanted to keep him, but they couldn’t. Kota remembers his name was Jiro.

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Kota and Mai are walking downtown when they see people have gathered around a strange frozen man. Mai thinks he’s a street performer pretending to be a robot. It starts to rain and concerned, Kota and Mai go to check on him only to find he’s apparently made of metal.

A lightning strike hits a clock which then charges up the guy and he starts moving.

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Kota and Mai bring him back to the Garage. They go to dry him off, but he’s already completely dry. The guy wakes up and they find a “Reboot” button on his neck.

I’m a machine, the guy says. Kota introduces himself, Mai and Mitchi. Kota asks for his name. “Jiro,” he says.

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Jiro doesn’t remember anything else so Kota says he’ll take care of him until he does. He gives Jiro some books to help maybe jog is memory, but he quickly absorbs all the information and ends up cleaning the entire apartment and is now cooking dinner.

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Kota wants to keep him, but Akira says this isn’t like picking up a little puppy. But okay, just for a little while. Finding out his name is Jiro, Akira smiles at the twist of fate. She hands Kota the picture of him and Jiro the puppy again and he tells Jiro the robot what it’s about.

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Jiro hurries out and returns with a puppy that looks just like Kota’s did. Kota explains it was a puppy from when he was a kid. Next day, Kota and Jiro are out for a walk. Jiro apologizes and says he thought it would make Kota happy and just wanted to thank Kota for saving him. Kota appreciates his concern and thanks him too.

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Suddenly, an Inves begins attacking nearby. Kota tells Jiro to wait here and he gets ready to henshin. A surprised Jiro asks what the Lock Seed and the strange big orange in the sky are for and Kota explains that he uses it to henshin.

“Henshin for what?”
“To protect the people.”

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Kota henshins and fights the Inves who knocks him into the wall. The Inves turns its attention to a few bystanders nearby and Jiro saves them, fighting off the Inves with his bare hands.

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The Inves runs away. Kota asks Jiro if he might be a combat robot. Jiro doesn’t know, his body moved instinctively when he thought he needed to protect people.

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Meanwhile at Yggdrasill, Ryoma’s scientist friend has allowed him to test out his android. He shows Minato data from the android’s memories of another robot that possesses two polar opposite emotions, a legendary hero.

“Kikaider.”

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Back at home, Jiro has just finished the laundry and Akira asks him to help clean out the air conditioner. Kota doesn’t want Akira to overwork him, but Jiro says it’s fine. Anyway, Akira has three movie tickets and she wants the three of them to go once the movie is out. Jiro would like that.

Later in Kota’s room, he asks if Jiro remembers anything. Jiro says he does remember there is someone he had to protect, but he doesn’t remember who it is.

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That’s a good first step in remembering, Kota says. But Jiro doesn’t want to remember anything. “Protecting means I will have to fight. I do not like fighting,” he says.

Before Kota can respond, Zack calls about an attack. Kota hurries over just as Zack gets hurled across the warehouse and de-henshins.

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It’s not an Inves, but another android who introduces himself as… Sengoku Ryoma. Ryoma has implanted his brain into the android called Hakaider.

Kota quickly henshins and fights HakaiRyoma. Kota tries shooting at him, but the bullets don’t even leave a scratch. Damn, this guy is almost as if not stronger than Jiro!

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HakaiRyoma knows of Jiro. He is a combat robot created by the scientist Komyoji Nobuhiko. Kota up-henshins to Jinba Lemon.

Zack henshins again and helps Kota fight HakaiRyoma who still manages to have his way with them. That’s enough data, he says and leaves.

Kota is researching the scientist Ryoma mentioned when Jiro comes looking for him. He was worried.

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Kota proceeds to explain the information he’s found. Komyoji Nobuhiko mysteriously died while taking part in a special project, likely getting caught up in some conspiracy.

What good is that information to Jiro? Kota says he must remember who he needed to protect. What if they try the Reboot button? Jiro might remember something if he’s rebooted.

Jiro doesn’t want to. If his memories are restored, he might become a robot like that Hakaider Kota just fought. Kota says he’s sure Jiro will be fine, but Jiro says he’s fine as he is now. He wants to be with Kota and Akira-san.

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“Are you sure?” Kota asks, Jiro has the power to protect people. Is he sure he won’t regret not using it to help people?

Jiro walks away.

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Back at Yggdrasill, HakaiRyoma is fighting off Kurokages to collect more data and is about to kill one when Minato jumps in to ask him to stop. She thinks it’s time Ryoma return to his original body. But HakaiRyoma says Don’t be silly. He hasn’t destroyed enough yet.

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Jiro is downtown, grocery shopping. He thinks about what Kota said, him having the power to protect people. Suddenly, the Inves from earlier is back and rampaging.

Kota arrives and tries to fight him off. He henshins as Jiro watches. But he hears someone approaching. He turns to see HakaiRyoma walking towards him.

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“I will destroy you.”

HakaiRyoma sends Jiro into the parking garage and appears to be consumed with the thirst of destruction. Jiro takes HakaiRyoma’s bullets, but remains standing. They battle as Kota and the Inves take their own fight into the garage too.

Kota goes over to help Jiro just as HakaiRyoma sends him flying. But Jiro gets up, now resolved to fight.

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HakaiRyoma sends Kota tumbling toward Jiro who asks him to press the Reboot button. Jiro says he’s sure he won’t turn into another Hakaider.

“You’ll be fine, I’m sure,” Kota says. Jiro turns his back and Kota presses the button.

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Jiro restarts and a big wave of energy pulses through the garage.

“Switch on.”

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Jiro transforms into Kikaider and he and Kota face off against both the Inves and HakaiRyoma.

Once the pair get the upper hand on HakaiRyoma, he decides to run away. Kota and Jiro turn their attention to the Inves. With Jiro’s help, Kota up-henshins to Kachidoki Arms and sends a Kachidoki Charge to finish off the Inves.

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But Jiro is gone. Kota hears guitar music playing. He hurries to the waterfront where he finds Jiro strumming an electric guitar. He calls to him, but Jiro doesn’t know who he is.

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Kota realizes it must be because of the Reboot. “You remember your past, don’t you?”

Jiro says he has an important mission that will start soon. A powerful enemy will make their move and he has someone he has to protect. He also has somewhere to go where someone dear to him is waiting.

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Jiro turns, starts strumming his guitar and walks away.

Kota calls after him. “I see, take care then!”

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Ryoma has his brain plopped back into his human body. He can’t believe he could’ve been possessed with such an impulse for destruction. This Hakaider android is truly dangerous. For the organization DARK to need something like it, how scary.

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Kota returns home and tells Akira about Jiro leaving. They both get very emotional about losing their new friend.

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Episode Thoughts
Well, setting aside how awkward it is to have Gaim‘s story screech to a halt, let’s just look at the episode on its own.

As a 30-minute commercial for Kikaider Reboot, it definitely worked on me. I definitely want to see the movie now and I know nothing about Kikaider at all.

The story in the episode itself was pretty forced at times, which is not surprising. Ryoma’s brain swap, getting hit over the head with the red and blue or the Jiro the puppy-Jiro the robot connection, there were a few things that could’ve been handled a little better.

Still, Jiro was a very likeable guy. I get the sense he is one of those robots with a heart who has strong emotional connections to a few humans he will end up saving and protecting. Kinda like he did for Kota and Akira in this episode. And I’m a sucker for that emotional stuff, so I liked the quick friendship Kota, Jiro and Akira formed.

Speaking of, great to see more Akira. And a pleasant surprise seeing Zack too since Gaim‘s been saving some money not using a lot of the cast as often as they used to. And since this was a special episode, I definitely wouldn’t have expected anyone other than Kota and a few other characters pop up like in the ToQger special.

Anyway, overall it was a nice, fluffy little episode that got me interested in Kikaider. It sucks that it had to be inserted in the middle of a cliffhanger, but what can you do. Toei wants to promote its movie. And that’s fine.

But let’s get back to the action next week.

2 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Gaim, Episode 30 – The Red and Blue Kikaider

  1. I really enjoyed this little team-up side story. Though it derailed the main storyline, at least it added some nice character touches to Kouta, as well as giving us a little more time with his sister Akira. But I do have a bit of a bias towards Kikaider, as I enjoyed previous incarnations of the character, from the 70’s toku series, the darker animated series & OVA, as well as the mid-90’s Hakaider movie. So I was already looking forward to the Reboot movie, and with this small taste of Jiro, my anticipation has grown. That being said, I so cannot wait to get back to the main storyline again!

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