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One evening, The Meikoku Sisters excitedly watch a new Malgam begin to wreak havoc in the city when its spores cause people to break into painful, uncontrollable laughter.
Next morning, Houtarou is happily humming as he finishes making his brand-new bento creation. Mama Ichinose tells their regular customers that Houtarou is in a good mood because he’s finally found his Gotcha.
Houtarou realizes he’s late for school so he stuffs Hopper into his backpack and hurries out. Unbeknownst to him, a mysterious purple-accented man has been watching his every move.
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At the Academy, Houtarou excitedly and loudly announces arrival. The very, very soft-spoken Tsuruhara Sabimaru thinks he’ll probably be a handful. Icho Renge wants to sell him the DokkiriMajin Chemy Card. But Houtarou says no because Chemys are his friends.
Sabimaru reminds Renge that it was he who caught DokkiriMajin. Houtarou introduces himself, but Sabimaru points his tablet at him to do his introduction. Renge mentions Sabimaru kinda hates people.
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Minato-sensei comes in to tell them that the Academy has captured some of the released Chemys. But they will have to help out and take care of the rest. Houtarou shows Minato-sensei the Chemys he’s gotten so far and says he would like to befriend the ones the Academy has caught as well. Especially the moodiest one since he wants to become a big shot alchemist.
If that’s the case, Minato-sensei hands Houtarou the AppareBushido Chemy.
As for now, everyone must head out with their Chemy Risers which will help in their Chemy search. Houtarou thought he’d pair up with Rinne out in the field, but she wishes him luck and says she is not his chaperone.
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While Rinne captures Chemys, she thinks about how Houtarou can feel like a little child with his smiley energy. She flashes back to when she was a child and her father asking her about her dreams and what she’d like to be when she grows up. Rinne tells herself that she does not want to be anyone or anything. As she walks away, some masher who turns out to be a Malgam has set his sights on her.
Meanwhile, Houtarou is trying to get AppareBushido to open up to him. But Hopper suddenly drags Houtarou over to where the Poisonous Mushroom Malgam has shot out more spores with Ryo once again caught up in the rampage.
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Houtarou prepares to henshin and asks AppareBushido to join him, but the Chemy instead whips out a sword to try and strike him down instead. Houtarou decides to rely on Hopper1 and SteamLiner and henshins to take on the Malgam.
The Malgam uses its mushroom top to block Houtarou’s kick and then shoots spores at him, forcing him to dehenshin. As the mysterious purple man watches, Minato-sensei comes to bring Houtarou back to the Academy.
When Houtarou wakes up, Minato-sensei says the Malgam was birthed from Chemy VenomDake and he explains that Chemys can be used for both good and evil. Alchemists have been researching Chemys all for the greater good of humanity. And that includes producing medicine, which is what was done with the help of VanomDake. That antidote has already been administered to Houtarou and all the other affected people.
Minato-sensei adds that Kamen Riders can use the power of the Chemys, but it will also depend on how the specific Rider will use that power as well.
After Rinne and Minato-sensei head out to take care of the Malgam, Houtarou laments his not being able to save the people from the Malgam attack. And he believes it’s because of his naivety about Chemys in general.
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Houtarou heads to a dojo and has AppareBushido watch as he practices with a kendo stick, hoping the GotcharDriver will tell him what he needs to know.
However, the mysterious man, who turns out to also be an alchemist, shows up and says Houtarou was quite pathetic during the fight earlier. The man says it was a mistake for Houtarou to be given the Driver and demands he hand it over. Houtarou refuses. The man says Houtarou does not know his place so even if it’s against his virtue, he will take the Driver by force.
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Houtarou and the man spar and the man has him on the floor. But Houtarou still refuses to hand the Driver over because he wants to see a world where humans and Chemys can live together in peace. That’s why he became a Kamen Rider and will not give him anything.
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The purple man says that is absolute nonsense and Chemys must be captured so as not to disrupt the natural order. Houtarou insists that Chemys are not evil and only corrupted by human malice.
Houtarou blames himself for the Malgam beating him earlier. But purple guy says Chemys are just tools they can exert their control over. Hopper1 jumps in to help protect Houtarou. But it is Houtarou that ends up shielding Hopper1, pleading with the man to accept that Chemys are alive and have hearts.
The purple man refuses to listen and goes for another hit with the stick. But Houtarou leaps in the air and headbutts the man to the floor.
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Just then, AppareBushido wakes up and sends fans flying all over the dojo. The man thinks this is all a bad joke and leaves.
On the other side of town, Rinne and Minato-sensei are doing what they can against the Malgam. But Houtarou comes running in to help, saying he will save the Chemy trapped inside the Malgam.
Houtarou henshins using AppareBushido and Skebows and battles the Malgam. The Chemys work together to help Houtarou counter the Malgam’s attacks. He prepares and then delivers a Tornado Arrow attack to slice off a chunk of the Malgam’s head.
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Rinne and Minato-sensei watch as Houtarou delivers a Fever kick which releases the Chemy and the laughter-hating man from the Malgam. Houtarou catches the Chemy in a card and says he is happy to meet him. Minato-sensei erases the man’s memory and then commends Houtarou for a good job.
Houtarou says he is even more excited to learn about Chemys.
Just then, the masher Submarine Malgam appears, ready to take Rinne for himself. All of them get caught in the Malgam’s water floor. But the purple man, Kurogane Spanner, appears.
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Spanner says one’s virtue is what matters the most. He inserts a Chemy Card and henshins to Valvarad. Spanner is able to easily counter the Malgam’s attacks, declaring that he will strike down those without virtue.
Episode Thoughts
I like it! Another solid, enjoyable episode.
I think this episode did a good job in exploring Houtarou’s personality a bit more. They showed how he is very eager and excitable (I’m sure annoying to some people lol), but also very naïve. Especially about the world of alchemy. But he comes from a good place. He’s a good guy that means well with obviously something special about him that allows him this connection with Chemys that other alchemists might not have.
They’re not hitting us over the head with the idea that Houtarou is some kind of Chosen One or something. But him getting a sort of rude awakening that this isn’t just some fun, friendly game is a good episode to have at this point. Both to help build his character while also continuing to expand the Gotchard world as well.
I’m sure we will see much more about Houtarou having to adjust to this strange world, including potentially clashing with the others and their more traditional way of alchemy, I guess. But the sort of lighthearted vibe the series is so far going about doing that is nice. Which only makes me think even more that they’re lulling us into this false sense of security before they go heavy and dark on us later on lolol
And I’d like to see it! But we can wait for that. For now, this was a good episode to go on and introduce the rest of our main characters and new friends. A little bit more insight into Rinne. A fine intro to Renge and Sabimaru. And a cool debut for Spanner and Valvarad.
I’m enjoying Gotchard a lot so far!
I too continue to enjoy how this season’s going so far. It’s going for a slow burn at the moment and seems to be taking its time setting up all the mysteries and pieces of the plot. It even has some noticeable unique aspects rarely seen in a Kamen Rider season, like how The Meikoku Sisters, at the moment at least, have no connection to the MOTWs other than similarly being able to use the Chemys to gain more power.
I similarly think that the season will likely get darker as it goes on. Even now, we can see inklings of darker moments with how heinous the MOTWs have been so far, what with the bank robber who killed his partner by throwing him off a bridge, the lunatic in this episode who was probably about to go on a killing spree before he gained powers, and Rinne’s creepy stalker.
Overall, I’m glad to see you’re enjoying it so far too. It’s quite refreshing given that a loud portion of the fandom seems to insist on nitpicking and trashing it simply because it isn’t Geats or it’s too “light-hearted.”
Yes, I try to avoid reading too much on Twitter or elsewhere because in the past, it has negatively affected my experience of watching both Kamen Rider and Sentai. But I unfortunately stumbled upon some comments about Gotchard saying that it is too childish and immature and for 2 year olds or something like that. As if other Kamen Rider seasons did not start out goofy. I mean, at the start of Zero-One, Aruto was all about lame jokes and zoom ins on him making funny faces. And then what happened to the rest of the season lol Or Build with Sento’s goofy cowlick and yelping at the microwave at first. But the season actually being about actual country war! Or Gaim with dancing gangs and fruits turning into some religious, metaphysical apocalypse. lol
So I had to roll my eyes at that criticism and quickly swipe away because I would just annoy myself reading all that. I just know that I, myself, am having fun and enjoying it so far. That might change in the future, sure. But seeing people already quitting Gotchard after 2 or 3 episodes? And ANNOUNCING so on Twitter is very strange lol
I like the Sisters lurking about and maybe being like a different faction or whatever. Having them be present at the start instead of just popping up in the middle of the season is also good. I know many times, new villains just pop up out of nowhere. But them being there I think helps to widen the world of Gotchard and further the idea that Chemys can be used in many ways depending on the person and their intentions.
It’s a good season so far. I don’t get why people hate it already. What’s wrong with people lol Then again, it’s the western toku fandom, so I’m not surprised they’re crazy lol
🤭
Like you, I like Houtarou (even when he gets annoying) and this eps. was a harsh reality check for him but good for his character development.
It’s nice to have him be a positive, happy character. Him being a bit naive about the world of alchemy and Chemys is understandable at this point. So character development will be good for him moving forward.
Right now my biggest concern with Gotchard is that Rinnie gets ‘promoted’ to a rider quickly.
And I like that while Houtarou is kind of special, its an ordinary kind of special as opposed to the destined hero kind of special we’ve had for the past three seasons. Admittedly it has been a long while since we had a season this light and small scope in terms of threat. No world threats yet, no potential mass murders, just crazy pokemon that need to be caught before things go south.
Honestly, I thought she was already a Rider or something. But I hope when she does, it’ll somehow connect to her father for maximum emotional impact. But I doubt it hehe