Recap: Kamen Rider Gotchard, Episode 10 – Kyoto on Fire! ~ Sad Love: Chemy Thunder Incident ~

GoldDash arrives and Mechanichani joins them, making Houtarou realize they are the Best Match! He uphenshins to GoldMechanichor and delivers a Fever finisher to take care of the Malgam, releasing the JungleJan Chemy Card.

Nearby, Clotho picks up the resulting strip from the defeated Malgam.

Just then, Ryo comes running up to Houtarou to tell him and the others about seeing Hijiri with her “boyfriend”. Renge and Sabimaru try to comfort Ryo as Minato-sensei calls Houtarou and Rinne over to tell them about the other escapee.

When Minato-sensei shows them the escapee bio, they realize this serial arsonist Himeno Tsurugi is Hijiri’s older brother. Rinne says she’ll take care of Ryo while Houtarou goes with Minato-sensei to look for the likely Malgam.

Rinne brings Ryo, Renge and Sabimaru to the haunted house, partly to get Ryo’s mind off of Hijiri. But also just to enjoy seeing them scared out of their minds.

Unfortunately, Ryo ends up looking worse afterwards. And when he overhears the news reports and puts the pieces together, he is even more worried knowing Hijiri is in danger with her brother.

Meanwhile, Hijiri excitedly catches up with her brother Tsurugi in a nearby refinery. She brings up when they saw the hitodama floating above their parents’ graves before and Tsurugi told her they were their parents watching over them. That moment is what led her to her current job.

Hijiri says she always believed her brother was innocent as he could never do such horrible things. That’s why she went to the shrine to pray every day for his safe release.

Tsurugi, however, admits that he really is an arsonist. Ever since he was a kid, people would praise him for raising his little sister. So he has had to play the good brother all the time, building up stress inside him. But seeing beautiful flames made his heart feel free.

Tsurugi mocks her and says maybe the hitodama she saw were just more things he set fire to. Hijiri refuses to believe it. Tsurugi whips out the Raidenji Chemy Card and says he has been reborn and now wants her gone.

Tsurugi transforms into a Malgam and sets fire to a ring of fire around her. Houtarou and Minato-sensei come running in, having tracked the Chemy signal.

Houtarou henshins and is able to whisk Hijiri out of the fire. The others hear the alarms and see the smoke and come running in.

Ryo is shocked to see the Kamen Rider in the online rumors is real. The Malgam shoots fire all over the place. Minato-sensei says alchemy won’t be enough and Renge remembers there is a firetruck Chemy who might be able to help. She quickly searches her Cards.

Houtarou is struggling against the Malgam. But Ryo’s words of encourage seem to reenergize him. Houtarou is able to break free of the Malgam and Renge is able to find the Hiikescue Card. Just then, the Flayrose Card comes flying in as its Perfect Partner. Renge and Sabimaru toss the Cards to Houtarou who uses them to uphenshin to HiikesuRose. That allows him to shoot water to put out the fire and eventually force the Malgam outside.

Houtarou delivers a HiikesuRose Fever finisher to take care of the Malgam, releasing the Raidenji Card. However, instead of zooming into Houtarou’s hands, it gets drawn in by Hijiri’s negative energy. Clotho is excited to watch Hijiri’s rage toward her brother turn her into a Malgam.

Hijiri is hellbent on killing her brother for breaking her trust. Rinne, Minato-sensei, Renge and Sabimaru do what they can with their alchemy to try and shield Tsurugi from his sister’s attacks. Hijiri sends the four of them flying. Minato-sensei sees his and Rinne’s rings acting up.

Houtarou steps up to shield Tsurugi as well and says he is still Hijiri’s family. GoldDash speeds in to help protect Houtarou. And with Mechanichani joining them, Houtarou is able to uphenshin once more.

Houtarou is able to use the armor as a lightning rod, while insulating resin protects him from electricity-based attacks. Renge is impressed that Houtarou was able to learn about these capabilities in such a short time. But Sabimaru via Isaac says he doubts Houtarou would do that and probably is just able to feel such things. Rinne says Houtarou is able to understand the hearts of Chemys.

Houtarou can only take so much, however. Renge urges him to separate the Chemy with a finisher. But Houtarou says he cannot do that. Minato-sensei points out Houtarou not only understands the hearts of Chemys, but also the hearts of people.

Houtarou pleads with GoldDash and Mechanichani to hold on a bit longer. He turns to Ryo and encourages him not to give up, especially on his fateful encounter. Those words remind Ryo of exactly what Houtarou told him earlier.

Ryo does not hesitate and pulls out his Chojo Wakusei magazine. He knows Hijiri is still inside this monster and makes his way toward her in the middle of her lightning attacks.

Minato-sensei finishes fixing his and Rinne’s rings and tosses hers back. Rinne draws upon Kiku-ichimonji for power. And with the help of Minato-sensei, Renge and Sabimaru, all the swords from Toei Kyoto Studio Park come flying over to draw all of the Malgam’s lightning away from the ground.

Ryo speaks directly to Hijiri and reminds her of the hitodama and haunted houses. He begs her not to throw away these wonderful memories. He shows her the magazine and asks her to remember the first time she read it. Ryo reads her article back to her and she remembers her sincere feelings when she first wrote it.

With the Malgam’s guard down, Houtarou is able to deliver a Tornado Arrow finisher which releases Hijiri from the Malgam. Houtarou catches the Raidenji Card.

Clotho is annoyed, but she believes this is perfect timing.

Later, Tsurugi is being taken away by the police. Hijiri comes running to him, but he turns to say that he also remembers seeing the hitodama. Hijiri stops in her tracks as she watches her brother being driven back to prison.

Houtarou asks Minato-sensei if he really has to erase Ryo and Hijiri’s memories. Minato-sensei understands the situation and says he will give them 30 minutes.

Tsurugi and Hijiri have a chat at the temple. But they suddenly see UFOs hovering in the evening sky. They are excited by this confirmation. But Minato-sensei’s memory erasing wave pulses over them and Ryo and Hijiri go their separate ways.

Turns out the UFOs are UFO-X Chemy which Clotho has just caught in a Level 10 Card. She declares her mission complete.

Next day, it’s time for Houtarou, Rinne and Ryo to return to Tokyo. Ryo says he feels like he’s forgetting something important again. Houtarou tells him to cheer up.

Just then, Hijiri comes walking toward them, but she and Ryo ignore each other. However, Hijiri turns, having noticed Ryo holding the Chojo Wakusei magazine. In a repeat of their first meeting, Ryo and Hijiri bond over the magazine and their articles.

Houtarou and Rinne are excited to see Ryo and Hijiri have a second fateful encounter. Hopper-1 is excited as well, but Houtarou asks it to calm down a bit.

Episode Thoughts

Wow! Another emotional episode of Gotchard with a wonderful ending! I think these two episodes were again a great way to show the effects of Chemys on humans. Being able to see those kinds of things by way of a legitimately good Story of the Week really helps to bring you closer to the overall story. And in understanding the details and mechanics of the season’s many moving parts.

First with the Story of the Week/MOTW, it was a nice story for Ryo. I really was sad when Minato-sensei confirmed he had to erase Ryo and Hijiri’s memories. And also that scene where Ryo reads Hijiri’s article to her. Really awesome. But that last scene with them meeting once again on their own, basically destiny!, was really a wonderful way to end the episode. The show certainly could’ve just left it with a bittersweet ending. Or worse, cheat Ryo out of his own happiness and keep him as some comic relief side character. But nope! They gave him a nice and hopeful ending.

Hijiri’s story with her brother was also really good. The show certainly skimmed what could’ve been an even deeper story. Even as just guests for this two-parter. But what they were able to do with these two episodes was still very good. You can very much understand both of their feelings. Really amazing how the show was able to introduce two fully-formed and relatable characters in such a short amount of time.

But again, perfect examples of how Chemyieses can have negative effects on people. Especially after the two examples with Wrestler-G and Saboneedle having positive relationships with humans, being able to see the opposite really helps us understand the kinds of stakes that are present for our heroes moving forward.

And of course especially as the Sisters are moving closer and closer to whatever the hell they’re doing lol It’s actually a really important piece to have an understanding of what our hero friends are up against, even this early on.

Speaking of, it was so awesome seeing everyone involved today. I loved seeing Rinne, Minato-sensei, Renge and Sabimaru especially standing together and using their alchemy to help in any way they can.

The scene in the refinery too with Renge remembering the perfect Chemy for the situation again reminds me how much I appreciate the show making her and Sabimaru actually friends with Houtarou and Rinne instead of the typical cold rivals or something like that. If you know what I mean. It’s just a lot of great positivity. Which suits Houtarou as our title hero of course. And once again, I think will help lull us into a false sense of security once things get heavier and darker later on.

Overall, a wonderful and exciting trip to Kyoto for our alchemist friends. And Gotchard continues being a wonderful and exciting season!

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