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Nightmare Fuel / Kamen Rider Gaim

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Just because this season has fruit as the main theme, doesn't mean it's Lighter and Softer than the others. Indeed, true to the head writer's writing style, and just like his previous track record, this series definitely deserves its own Nightmare Fuel section.

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.


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    In general 
  • Kamen Rider Gaim's fanfare music. Don't let the triumphant sound fool you. Once you realize that most of the Inves that our hero fights are human beings, it becomes less of an upbeat fighting song and more of an unsettling murder song.
  • The thought of whatever happened to Yuya after presumably going into Helheim Forest.
    • Helheim Forest itself is rather creepy. Everything comes in inverted colors, there are Inves monsters roaming around at every turn and people even get a sinister temptation to eat the fruits off the trees and plants.
  • The Unknown Girl who appears to give cryptic warnings to the Riders saying that You Can't Fight Fate, they'll have to fight to the bitter end and there's no turning back. Mitsuzane's particular response saying that he'll suffer and bear the burden as long as Mai notices him doesn't mean good things down the road for the kid.
    • The most she can tell Mai about the fate awaiting her is to boldly encourage her to leave town.
      • Had she left town, it would've created a paradox. She did actually leave, on the Rainbow Line, but Wagon revealed Kouta's intentions so Mai returned to Zawame.
  • Any time Mitsuzane reveals his ruthless side. It's quite jarring to see how quickly he can go from a sweet kid to a manipulative cutthroat who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. It's even more jarring to see him and Sid actually getting along because of it.
  • The amount of people that die in this series, especially the Riders. This series has a lot of them but only a handful of them survive and not one of them comes out of this war the same, mentally and/or physically.

TV Series

    Episode 1: Transform! The Orange From The Sky!? 
    Episode 4: Birth! The Third Rider Is Grapes! 
  • Zangetsu's ruthless Curb-Stomp Battle against Gaim. The fact that a powerful Armored Rider comes at Kouta with the intent to kill him is enough to break our hero. It gets worst when you consider that Kouta could've been killed in Helheim Forest and no one would know about it.
    Zangetsu: This world is filled with evil. Evil beyond purpose or reason.
    Episode 6: Durian Rider, Go To War! 
  • Oren. Just Oren. In his debut episode, we learn that he's a flamboyant baker. Then we learn the fact that he's a retired solider meaning that he's killed people on the battlefield before. And let's not forget that he has sadistic and homicidal tendencies as well. While he provides a certain amount of comedy and fights for the thrills and entertainment, we can't forget that he nearly attacked the defenseless dance members of Team Gaim just because he was annoyed with them. It's scary to think how much damage he could cause if he got serious and actually went out to kill people.
    • And to make matters worst, this guy has gotten a hold of a Sengoku Driver, he has no problems with beating Armored Riders (who are teenagers) into violent submission and the Yggdrasil Corporation is perfectly okay with that.
      • Granted, Takatora is violently against letting Oren keep the Driver and immediately recognizes the danger he poses.
    Episode 8: Baron's New Power, Mango! 
  • Near the ending of the episode when a man is suddenly dropped in an allyway and the camera pans up to reveal a strange Komori Inves hanging off a wall. Then it's followed by Mitsuzane's Wham Line.
    Mitsuzane: Mai got stranded in the forest, right? What if an Inves came from there and got stuck in our world the same way?
    Episode 9: The Monster Inves Capture Battle! 
  • The first minute of the episode. A worker is walking around a factory and spots the fruits of Helheim growing. Picking one of the fruits off, he goes into a hypnotized trance and says "It looks... so... delicious...". Later in the episode, Kouta finds the hard hat of the worker covered in leaves. Considering recent events, it's highly likely that the worker became the Komori Inves that terrorized the town.
    • Seeing Zangetsu stand in front of a fire that he did have a small role in making.
    • Also, when one of the Yggdrasil workers fires his flamethrower at Kouta and Mitsuzane. You see the flames coming right at you in first person.
    Episode 11: The Truth Behind The Christmas Game 
  • Kouta's speech at the end of the episode.
    Kouta: Looking back on it, that was when the gears were starting to turn. But... we really didn't realize anything at all. We didn't know that our fates were already written in stone. We just wanted the power to reach our dreams, we thought that would help us grow up. That's what we all believed, at least. But... you can't wish yourself into growing up. You grow up when you can't be a child anymore... In the endless war that has yet to come... we would discover that for ourselves...
    Episode 12: New Generation Of Riders Appear! 
  • The debut of the Energy Lockseed for Zangetsu. And he looks like he's ready to kill!
  • Iyo seems to listen in on Kouta and Micchyā€™s conversation, suddenly appears behind them and keeps throwing them eerie looks.
  • Mitsuzane channeling his Kureshima side again, but this time his unsettling behavior seems to last through the entire episode. Not only does he try to pressure Kouta into giving up his belt, his whole character seems to head backwards when he twice chooses to just watch innocent people get attacked by Inves rather than use his own Sengoku Driver, and even tries to force Kouta to not help.
    Episode 13: Gaim & Baron, Tag Of Friendship 
  • People injured by Inves are getting sick due to some sort of bacteria leaking off of the monsters...
    • Yggdrasill fully anticipated this. And while the members of the inner circle casually discuss their plans, people in the hospitals are screaming and suffering. The contrast is rather off-putting.
  • Hase holding a Helheim Fruit and looking like he's gonna eat it in the preview caused some frights considering the at the time theory that the fruits turn people into Inves, something the episode confirmed.
    • Hase's half Inves form. Imagine an Inves with a human face.
    • Also, as it turns out, the Komori Inves from #9 is most likely the construction worker who found the premature Lockseed at the beginning of the episode.
    Episode 14: The Secret Of Helheim's Fruits 
  • Hase in his half-transformed state. His complete lack of sentience other than the desire to consume more Lockseeds is rather chilling. And that's not even going into the claw that he retained from his full Inves form.
  • Rewatching Gaim's first fight was disturbing. The video had no sound, without the sound effects, Kouta's voice or even the BGM, it felt less like a KR show and more of a snuff film, not helped by the fact we know Kouta just happily killed his friend without knowing.
    Episode 16: The New Arms! Jimber Lemon Is Born! 
  • Takatora decides to show Micchy something in the Helheim Forest that causes him to collapse onto his knees in shock and horror. Just what the hell did Micchy see?!
    • Take a look at the tree behind and to the right of Micchy. The small ... things on the tree looks disturbingly like human mouths.
    • During the zoom in on Micchy's eye, you can just see what he's seeing. It appears to be ruins of some kind.
    Episode 17: The Peach Rider, Marika, Descends! 
  • Part of the episode has Kouta's sister get kidnapped, though there's the fact she DOES work for Yggdrasil, so it might simply BE some type of set-up.
    Episode 20: The Invasion Begins With The End Of The World 
  • Just the episode title itself gives off a very scary vibe.
  • Kaito shows a very disturbing side to him. He declines the offer to join Yggdrasill despite them showing him, they really were saving the world. He doesn't decline for moral reasons, or even revenge. He declines as he refuses to save the world. He thinks a world that needs lies to survive should be destroyed. He even calls the invasion a good thing, thinking that only those that can fight should survive.
    • And this is followed by Sid, Ryoma, and Yoko laughing and revealing that they think exactly the same way. Not only does this confirm that these three are completely insane, but then you realize that these are the people Takatora is relying on...
  • In a previous scene, we see an Inves victim growing vines from his wound. While we've already seen other infected before, this is the first time we're actually treated to a shot of seeing the disease grow.
  • What about the story behind Helheim itself? As Takatora puts it best: "Evil without reason or purpose".
    • And that story is the seeds came from a different dimension and completely took over the dimension that is now Helhelm. Every animal is now an Inves, that includes the humans. Takatora states Earth has ten years before the same thing occurs.
  • The living room that Takatora shows Kouta. It's not made of stone, it's FOSSILIZED. How long ago was the end of Helheim's civilization? Even worse, can Inves reproduce, Or have they been unable to die for possibly millions of years?
    Episode 21: Yggdrasill's Secret 
  • Bonefide human criminals used Inves to steal from an armored truck. Then again, they might have been part of Sid's plan to break Kouta and get him alone, but still!
  • The ring around Yggdrasill's tower? At Takatora's command, it can completely destroy Zawame in an instant.
  • Sid's smile when Ryoma lets him attempt to kill Kouta.
    Episode 22: The Truth Of One-Seventh 
  • We learn that Project Ark is the mass production of the Sengoku Drivers so humans can survive in the Forest. That's nice and all, but we learn Ryoma can at most make 1 billion. So 6/7 of the human race will die, and that's not the disturbing part. Ryoma tells Kouta, as the remaining humans will become Inves, the plan is to kill off the humans that can't get belts, all the while being completely calm when telling Kouta.
    • Similarly Kaito knows about the plan to nuke the town and doesn't care at all. Meaning he is fine with Team Baron dying just so he can get unrivaled power.
    Episode 24: The New Formidable Enemy: Over Lord 
  • Mitchy's mindset has become very unsettling to see. He, like Kaito, is obsessed with power, but instead of brute force like Kaito he instead just desires the power to influence. And his reaction to anyone that doesn't listen to him is a Death Glare. He has thought the best idea to get Kouta to listen to him is for, "The idiot to get hurt some more".
    • Kaito somehow gives Mai a creepy turn, telling her that, if after facing an unstoppable force that cause her to despair and she can still dance, then he'll respect her.
    Episode 26: Baron's Genesis Transformation! 
  • This episode just shows how far Micchy and Kaito have fallen. Micchy is now willing to summon Inves on innocent people and the Beat Riders (including Mai) just so everything works in his favor, and his Death Glare is more or less his new normal face. As for Kaito, he basically tells Zack, "Yes, I am working with the people that are trying to kill everyone. I don't care, good luck trying to survive," to his face without any trace of remorse.
    Episode 27: When You Know The Truth... 
  • Micchy is now willing to shoot Kouta. While the latter is unmorphed and unconscious.
    Episode 28: The Betrayal Of Zangetsu 
  • Micchy just stood there, watching Takatora fight against and get killed by Marika, Sigurd and Duke! Micchy just watched his older brother be picked apart!
    • Honestly a lot of what Micchy does this episode is pure Nightmare Fuel but this is what really takes the cake: Him essentially stealing his brothers name and identity and use it in what is basically a first degree attempted murder done solely to spite both his brother and Kouta for ridiculously petty reasons and the way the murder attempt plays out is what really sells it. Micchy uses none of Gaim's campy fruit powers to mitigate the shock factor. He was going to beat Kouta to death with his bare hands exactly like something out of a slasher movie...Ladies and gentleman, after over ten years of bad knock offs and bad popularity cash-ins Ouja has finally found a worthy successor in the form of Mitsuzane Kureshima as Zangetsu Shin II.
      • The reason that Micchy turned on his brother? Because Takatora praised Kouta. You could literally see the venom oozing off of him. Even his thought processes show signs of outright hatred of Kouta. "Kouta ruins everyone he comes into contact with."
  • It was hinted at before, but this episode shows just how dark Kouta's rage can be. When Zangetsu Shin II summoned a bunch of Inves to run away, Kouta proceed to beat the Kamikiri Inves with his bare hands. No styles, no one liner, no poses, just straight up beatdown.
    Episode 31: Whereabouts Of The Forbidden Fruit 
  • Rosyuo pulls off what is perhaps one of the most, if not the most, gruesome kills of the previous Heisei Rider shows. How? How does crushing Sid to paste between two cliffs sound? Yeah the guy had it coming, but that still doesn't discount it for being this moment.
    Episode 32: The Strongest Power! Kiwami Arms 
  • Redyue proceeds to push things into an absolute worst case scenario. She reopens the crack in Yggdrasil's base, sends an entire army of Inves through, and covers the entire tower in Helheim vines. This, on top of the city-wide communications blackout, leaves our heroes in quite a pickle.
    • What makes this more unnerving is that she's walking with Micchy and casually talking to him while hordes of Inves follow them. It's like something out of a zombie movie.
    Episode 33: Beat Riders' Great Gathering 
    Episode 34: The King's Power & The Queen's Resurrection 
  • Kouta sees Akira taken away by an Inves, due to a Sadistic Choice between saving her or a little boy. That's only small compared to the ending. Between the multiple missiles headed towards the city, Rosyuo FREEZING them before impact and making them vanish as it was nothing, and Micchy laughing again, this one is truly a Wham Episode and a grim view of what to come.
    Episode 35: Micchy's Ark 
  • Remember last episode, when all those missiles were about to destroy Zawame City, but Rosyuo stepped in and stopped them? Thing is, he didn't disintegrate them, as it had appeared; he simply moved them, and it turns out they devastated America instead.
  • It's subtle but, when Takatora saw Kouta, Yoko and Kaito on their way to save the kidnapped people from the Overlords, he thought that Ryoma sent Yoko to spy on and betray Kouta's group.
  • Micchy's reaction when Mai tells him that she's chosen to stand by Kouta since he refuses to give up hope:
  • Micchy takes delight in kicking and punching the crap out of Kouta unmorphed, and thereafter attempt to shoot his former best friend down as Zangetsu Shin.
    • Speaking of that attack, if you pay close attention, this would've been when Micchy killed Kouta if he didn't turn into Gaim. He was mere SECONDS away from doing Kouta in.
    • The entire revelation becomes all the more horrifying when you realize that Micchy's Faceā€“Heel Turn comes completely out of nowhere for both Kouta and Takatora. From Kouta's POV, he was just talking to his best friend when said friend suddenly attacked him and revealed that he's the one who's been trying to murder Kouta for the last several episodes. Takatora suddenly finds out that his younger brother, who he genuinely loves and wants to protect, has become a murderous supervillain. Both men see someone that they love become a monster out of hatred and jealousy; imagine how utterly terrifying that would be.
    Episode 36: Brothers' End! Zangetsu VS Zangetsu Shin! 
  • Redyue, unsurprisingly. She admits to having killed her family in the past and that she found the feeling of betraying and toying with people who trusted her so much was exhilarating.
    • Even worse is the fact that it's hinted that Mitsuzane might be starting to feel like that as well.
      • What's more scary is that Redyue is saying this in front of someone who could very well trust her from time to time. She's practically saying to him that at some point, she will backstab him when he least expects it.
  • Kaito ends up getting a cut from Redyue, and it glew green... meaning he's got that Helheim virus that the Inves were sending around.
  • A more subtle example is that there is Helheim fruits growing everywhere in every scene! The invasion is almost complete.
    • This time, we got explicit views of famous monument - Statue of Liberty, Forbidden City - being covered in Helhelm vines, with numerous Inves dropping out from cracks.
  • Takatora's body sinking into the dark depths of the lake after being defeated by Mitsuzane.
    Episode 37: Baron's Soccer Showdown Summer Camp! 
  • Despite taking a break from the major storyline, we get yet another shot of Kaito's left arm with the Helheim Infection.
    Episode 38: The Return Of The Professor 
  • Now that Micchy has finally defeated Takatora, he is no longer holding back, which means unless Kouta or anyone else for that matter can find the resolve to stand up and defeat Mitsuzane, Mitsuzane will become the harbinger of humanity's demise while working towards his After the End utopia where no one can stop him.
    • When Micchy sees hallucinations of his brother he flips his shit screeching and rampaging like a freaking lunatic as he is shown to be attacking nothing. Seriously, Mahiro Takasugi deserves an Oscar for his acting skills.
    • Every time Mitsuzane laughs. There's no joy there.
    • Micchy sets an Overlord on Peko and while Mai is literally begging him to make the Overlord stop, Micchy just stands there completely unconcerned until she agrees to go with him. You get the impression he'd have been happy to let Peko get beaten to death without a second thought. What makes it worse is the cheerful tone he adopts while he's doing it, he's clearly gone completely insane and no longer sees anything wrong about what he's doing.
    • Due to Power Born of Madness, Micchy is able to fight both Kiwami Arms and Baron Lemon Energy Arms on even footing. After Kaito gets Kouta to fall back, Micchy stands amidst the flames left by the battle in an eerie callback to his brother as Zangetsu, and just laughs.
    Episode 39: The Do-Or-Die Tower Break-In Strategy 
  • Might just be me, but Micchy's hallucinations seem to be getting worse.
  • Ryoma's talk with Kouta about Ryoma's world view. Just from how he talks and what he says, it becomes very clear just how much of a Sociopath Ryoma really is. He delivers the following monologue with the same casualness one would give friendly advice:
    Ryoma: Abandon your captured family. Give up on the friend who betrayed you. Feel no guilt for the murder of your friend. If you could find the will to be ruthless, then you'd be freed from all your stress in an instant.
    Episode 40: Awakening The Over Lord 
  • The entire episode. Try to put yourself in Kouta's shoes. Good luck regaining your sanity by the time you're done.
    • To wit, we have Kouta being informed by Redue that he's already on his way to becoming an Overlord, as well as being shown an alternate dimension where he becomes the Byakko Inves and Yuya becomes Gaim for the sole purpose of murdering him
    • When Yuya and Kouta are talking, with Yuya starting to threaten Kouta, Kouta tells him to stop, and then we see his hand turn into an Inves hand. Sure, it showed up in the trailer, but the way it just appears out of nowhere...
    • It slowly gets WORSE! Kouta ends up dreaming he was in the spot Hase was, back in #14, and he ends up giving Rat the Helheim Infection. But then, it gets better. Where Kouta showed mercy and tried to get Hase out of it, Yuya does not stop trying to murder him. Kouta is just barely able to hide, but he gets attacked by his two newest allies in this battle, Zack and Minato.
    • Hell, you thought Kouta being angry was scary? Just hearing Kouta screaming throughout the entire episode is frightening enough!
    Episode 41: Clash! The Over Lord King 
  • A lot more subdued in comparison to last episode. Seeing Kouta and Mai's eyes glow red is rather creepy.
  • Even then, it's unnerving seeing Redyue stabbing Rosyuo to death, then seeing his corpse sitting there after all the fighting is done.
  • Kouta's Unstoppable Rage at Redyue. The way he growls her name and downright snarls the word "henshin" is just nightmarish.
    Episode 42: Mitsuzane! The Final Transformation! 
  • The way the Yomotsuheguri Lockseed calls forth its Armor Parts; every Lockseed shown prior to Yomotsuheguri summons an artificial crack before the Armor Parts fall through the space from Helheim (or from over their head when they are in Helheim). In comparison, Yomotsuheguri calls forth a storm of black clouds and red lightning before summoning its Armor Parts, and immediately after manifesting itself onto Mitsuzane, it starts draining his life energy.
    • Further increased by how it's an unstable prototype Lockseed that Ryoma locked away because it was too dangerous.
    Episode 43: Baron's Ultimate Transformation 
  • Kaito's face in the preview, when he grabs a Helheim Fruit, and his Inves Form, can be pretty jarring.
    • You know what else is jarring? Seeing both the hero and heroine die (though the former gets better later in recent scans), with the latter becoming more bone-chilling, since she's already dead when Micchy gets to her.
    • Gets even worse when you find out what Ryoma took out of Mai to get the forbidden fruit: HER HEART!
    • The things Ryoma says to Micchy as he is beating him up and choking him to death. He sounds like an absolute lunatic.
      • It's made even worse because Ryoma doesn't transform, so the sillier aspects of his character aren't on display. He's just a violent, sociopathic lunatic delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown while telling Micchy how much of an arrogant fool he's been and enjoying every moment of it. It's an incredibly dark and real moment devoid of any of the series' sillier aspects like the fruit powers.
    Episode 44: Two People Aiming At The Future 
  • The looks on Kaito's face right before he starts Round 2 with his fight against Kouta.
    Episode 45: The Fated Two's Final Battle! 
  • Akira watches Kouta eat one of the Helheim fruits, which is scary by itself, but what happens next may be one of the scariest moments in the entire series: absolutely nothing. Kouta has given up so much of his humanity, that eating the fruits doesn't even change him at all.
    Episode 46: Fate's Victor 
  • You know how we said that Kouta screaming in fear is much scarier than Kouta being angry? Well, this episode confirms that it's even scarier when the two are combined, with Kouta screaming in anger as he lands the final blow on Kaito.
    • The fact that Sagara, who is Helheim's manifestation itself, starts a new war for the Golden Fruit almost immediately and on an alien race which has just discovered fire! Barring that he's simply set his sights on them.
    Episode 47: Transform! And To The Future 

Others

    Kamen Rider Gaim Gaiden: Kamen Rider Baron 
    Kamen Rider Gaim Gaiden: Kamen Rider Zangetsu 
  • Gaim Gaiden revealing that Takatora's father did experiments on children. Takatora's reaction is completely justified. The fact the Big Bad is one of those children and how consumed with revenge she is all the more terrifying. Add to it, Idun's attacks on various people are just plain terrifying.
    Kamen Rider Gaim Gaiden: Kamen Rider Duke 
  • The fact that Black Bodhi has operatives being suicide bombers.

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