Battle Hopper... ;_;
In this episode, a man with a strong sense of justice who hates gangs was recruited by Gorgom to... defeat evil? But since this is Gorgom we are talking about, this is just some sweet promise just for them to work for Gorgom's evil plots.
This is easily, one of my favorite episodes of Kamen Rider BLACK, aside that it featured humans joining Gorgom for the wrong causes; this episode also showed us more of Battle Hopper's abilities that made me ignore its overall appearance after this episode. The way Gorgom enticed humans to join Gorgom is something that I really liked. It reminded me of the people in stories that made a deal with the devil only to earn something what they did not want. What's more, the special grasshopper wine that they drank when they joined Gorgom made them delusional that Gorgom are the good guys and not the bad guys. What made it creepier is that the human members of Gorgom are the ones that enticed them to join!
Gorgom's plot in this episode is something that I really like. They used the three men that they recruited to kill evil humans. Since this is Gorgom we are talking about, I am pretty sure that it will start with killing regular evil humans and slowly, Gorgom will order them to kill specific humans that will harm the organization. It's wise and I love that Gorgom is training humans to become assassins that will cause the extinction of humans. But what stole the show is the appearance of the Rhinoceros Mutant.
The Rhinoceros Mutant is one of those mutants that gave Kamen Rider BLACK quite a challenge. I mean, if he got hit with its horns, it can cause the death of Kamen Rider BLACK if he got hit in the vital areas. This is when Battle Hopper comes in. His body protected BLACK from the attack, which damaged its casing in a brutal manner thanks to the Rhinoceros Mutant. One thing that I like about this scene is that we learned that the Battle Hopper is a sentient machine, it has its own mind and knows if Black Sun, no, Kamen Rider BLACK is in danger.
What made it sweeter is that we also learned that Battle Hopper has the ability to regenerate, a unique feature that I wish other Rider Machines have. The regeneration scene showed us that Battle Hopper is part organic and part machine. Organic in a sense that it feels like he is regenerating dead muscles and dead skin cells thanks to the beautiful use of special effects to make it look that. But the best part about the regeneration scene? Kotaro's reaction after discovering that Battle Hopper can regenerate itself; it is like seeing a master happy that his favorite dog is alive and doing well. That is why my friends, is the reason why love Battle Hopper.
Meanwhile, one of the men recruited by Gorgom is starting to think that Gorgom are the bad guys after all and decides to escape, only to be followed by the Rhinoceros Mutant. Thankfully, Kotaro is in the scene and will bring him to the nearest hospital. But before that happens, he received a message that he should meet the Rhinoceros Mutant on a nearby port if he wants to save the other two men who were recruited by Gorgom. The next day, Kotaro faces the Rhinoceros Mutant and saves the two humans.
The fight between BLACK and the Rhinoceros Mutant is really amazing. Fighting him in an abandoned warehouse first just to measure his abilities is really smart as it made him figure out his major offensive tactic. What's more, after he figured it out, he dispatched it to weaken it. Even though he dispatched the mutant's strongest weapon, its raw power is enough to destroy steel towers. But BLACK is strong enough to get out of the ruble and also, he has some help from Battle Hopper! Thanks to Battle Hopper, he was able to disable the mutant before finishing it off with a Rider Kick. At the end, the guy that Kotaro saved is now out of the hospital and learned the error of his ways. What a great way to end the episode!
