#dancebattles

Dancing fruit samurai. That’s one of the best ways to describe what Kamen Rider Gaim is all about for at least the first chunk of the show. Kamen Rider as a whole is broken up into four different eras: Showa, Heisei, Neo Heisei and the current era Reiwa. Gaim falls in the Neo Heisei era where it is regarded as not only the best of that era, but also one of the best shows in the franchise as a whole. What makes Gaim so interesting is the complete tonal shift it takes at a certain point.

Kamen Rider Gaim follows Kazuraba Kouta, a former dancer who goes around doing various odd jobs. He occasionally hangs out with his former dance group and even helps them on occasion to help them in turf wars against rival dance groups through games called Inves battle, something similar to Pokemon battles played with devices called lockseeds. One day, these Inves manage to find a way into reality and attack Kouta and his friend. Not wanting to die he uses a belt he managed to find with a lockseed in order to transform into the titular hero Kamen Rider Gaim. He then uses this new power to fight in Inves battles for his friends and stop any rampaging ones from causing harm. As more and more Kamen Riders appear however, the battles become less of a game between kids and more of a war for control like the Sengoku era.

One of the reasons that Gaim is loved so much is because of its surprisingly compelling story which I unfortunately can’t get into due to spoilers. The tonal shift is something that the show's main writer is known for doing with many of his works that came before it. He does a great job of building up the characters and the world as he shows how they react to the changing status quo. We see what characters are willing to do in order to obtain power.

Another thing that is amazing about Gaim is its suit design. The concept of fruit samurai sounds stupid on paper. However as you can see, Gaim does a great job of blending fruit with the samurai aesthetic to create amazing suits that are reminiscent of the ones you’d see in the Sengoku era. These suits help to further the Sengoku era style that the world has.

Kamen Rider Gaim is a great show to start off with if you want to get into Kamen Rider or just want to have fun watching. While some might be off put by its initial start, I can guarantee that if you stick with it you will find a show that you can’t put down. So find your fruit of choice and prepare to fight for your ideals.