Kamen Rider Gaim, Orange Samurai are Awesome!
It’s hard to review something with a relatively niche market. Take our subject today, Kamen Rider Gaim. To those of you who have no clear idea of what I’m talking about I could show you an image, such as the one featured below of the principle cast.
And you would simply say how it reminds you of Power Rangers, which isn’t a bad thing, but it regretfully dictates if you’ll ever look at the show I’m reviewing or not. If you have a favourable memory of Power Rangers you’ll consider looking at it, if you don’t you won’t. And it certainly doesn’t help that there’s no good legal way to watch Kamen Rider shows in North America.
Power Rangers (Known as Super Sentai in Japan), Kamen Rider and even classic Godzilla movies are all part of a style of special effects known as Tokusatsu in Japan or Toku for short. This is a blanket term for shows in Japan that use a lot of live special effects such as miniatures or rubber suits. Kamen Rider itself is a franchise ranging back to 1971. If you want to compare Kamen Rider to Power Rangers it would make things simple to say that Kamen Rider is the slightly more mature of the two, often dealing with death and darker tones a lot more then Power Rangers does. Sort of in a Marvel Vs. DC kind of way.
Kamen Rider Gaim is the latest storyline in the franchise. It actually wrapped its final episode on September 28th of this year culminating in the 47th episode. And it’s really good. The story follows a young man by the name of Kazuraba Kouta. He’s (formerly) a part of a break dancing team that competes with other teams in the city for higher standing, better stages and money. If there’s ever a conflict it is decided by having monster fights.
Yes like Pokémon.
Kouta’s life changes however when he finds a mysterious belt that allows him to use one of the items that summons a monster, called a lock seed. Doing so allows him to don a set of strange armor designed like an orange.
I swear to God this is a good show.
Gaim has two major themes going for it. First is the war between the various Riders. As the show progresses more and more Rider belts appear finding their way into the hands of different people, each with their own background and motivations. Each rider is being drawn in to this bid for power as they battle. The second is the mystery of the forest from which the strange monsters, known as Inves, and what it’s true purpose actually is.
The story is penned by Gen Urobuchi, known for such works as Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero and Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet and carries all of the hallmarks of his show including snappy dialogue, ongoing death of beloved characters and overall character growth.
The series asks a very strong question to both the main characters and the audience: “What would you do to attain your ideals? Would you stand on top of everyone to do it? Would you take on that responsibility? And what are you willing to become to do it?” It’s a series I encourage you all to give a try if you really want to step out of your comfort zone and try something new. It is a series that’s almost fifty episodes long so if you don’t want to invest that kind of time it’s understandable.
But it is a hell of a ride.
A KAMEN ride… I’m just going to go.
