⭐Kamen Rider Gaim Episodes 15-18: Watch Along & Analysis

Wow thanks for the 4 back to back reactions Kat and Tat. Also please don't become addicted to sleep depraved reacting otherwise Matt, Sean, and I will have to row to Hawaii to make sure yall go to bed on time lol. But yeah a lot happened plot reveals new forms and games of betrayl. Good thing we have Bravo to lighten the mood. But as to where things will go? Who will win and who will fall and most importantly how on earth people keep overlooking Michi? To learn all of this and more keep watching Ciao ;)

Dhampir

Wow you were really backed up there on info huh?

Dhampir

WOOHOO~! We got 4 episodes (also midnight recording, which I'd prefer not happen again so you can get some sleep, but hey, you do you), and you got some of my favorite Gridon and Bravo antics. Yeah, the two of them are the meme boys and are unironically my favorite Riders from Gaim. Gaim also holds a special place in my heart for having a Rider that has my name that also shares my fighting style or at least a fighting style I'm able to mimic lol. Well, that and also being just really good in general, but we'll get to that later. ANYWAYS! We've got some catching up to do, so let's get into it! WE'VE GOT RIDER TRIVIA TIME!! (MIX!) Alright, I'm gonna get off a couple in a row to make up for the fact that I've been slacking on these! So let's talk about Kamen Rider Malika, or more specifically, her actress Minami Tsukui (ME-nah-me TSOO-koo-ee). Minami Tsukui is also a stunt performer, so she is the one doing all of her own stunts both in and out of suit. That means that when you see Malika, she is the most accurate representation of what it looks like when that person transforms. The only other Rider actor to perform all of his own in suit stunts is the very first Kamen Rider, Hiroshi Fujioka (HE-row-she FOO-jee-OH-kah). However, the actor for Kouta, Gaku Sano (GAH-koo SAH-no) actually does all of his own out of suit stunts. So whenever you see Kouta jumping off the walls and doing flips and dips, that's the actual actor doing it. The staff for Gaim have praised him as the most physically fit of all of the main Rider actors. While we're here, let's also talk about the names of the New Generation Riders that have shown up thus far. Melon boy, as you so affectionately call him, is named Kamen Rider Zangetsu Shin. His name is Japanese for "True Slaying Moon" or "True Slashing Moon", a fitting name for a proud Tiger like him (I should also mention that his name, Takatora, translates to Proud Tiger, so that's the joke there lol). Sid's Rider form is called Kamen Rider Sigurd, named after the hero of Nordic legend. His suit takes design inspiration from Norse warriors. Minato's Rider form is called Kamen Rider Malika. Her name comes from the Arabic word for "Queen", which she certainly is (doing all of those stunts in heels must be respected, because I sure as hell would not be able to do any of that, even without heels lmao). Her transformation jingle sounds Arabian in reference to that. We'll save the last one for next time since he only appears towards the end of Episode 18. He'll get his proper intro then. You also picked up on the show focusing on growing up. Gen Urobuchi (GEN Oo-row-BUTCH-ee, also known as the Urobutcher by his fans) is known for writing stories that focus on the themes of growing up and what it really means to grow. One of things that marks the beginning of the second part of the show is the appearance of the New Generation Riders using the Genesis Drivers. Notably, the Genesis Driver is Soda-based, which is a subtle design nod to the fact that as kids grow up, they start drinking sodas instead of juice and eating fruits. There are many, many more deeper themes of growing up thrown into the mix, but we'll keep it at that for now and talk more about it as these new themes pop up in the show. As a last bit of trivia, let's talk about one of the teams to pop up during the big dance off that Episode 18 is all about. The all-girl dance group in all white is actually portrayed by the Kamen Rider Girls idol group. At the time, they had 7 members as part of it, with each of them repping a different Rider. Currently, they only have 3 members, with each now being assigned a specific color rather than a specific Rider. Though my favorite still wears her old Rider's belt every now and then, so it's good lol. Now, for a personal story about Gaim. When Gaim was coming out in 2013-2014 (my God, that was 7-8 years ago...) I was watching it alongside my friends from high school. At the time, when we were getting into different martial arts and fighting styles and we'd have friendly little sparring sessions. Naturally, I was the boxer of the group and focused primarily on punches since I wasn't as athletic as my friends at the time (I'm still not as athletic, but they haven't been keeping up either, so we're on even ground now lmao). Anyways, imagine our surprise when the character named Zack in the show transformed into a boxing Rider named Knuckle. As you can imagine, we got super amped about it lol. They would occasionally call me Knuckle when we hung out lol. It might have been 7 years ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. (Also remember the swelling and pain from then too lol). Ok, that's enough of my long-winded rambling, I love that you're enjoying Gaim, and I sincerely hope you look forward to the story that has yet to unfold. Because trust me, we're not at the good part yet. CIAO~