Recap: Kamen Rider Gotchard, Episode 12 – Runaway Liner! Dark Rider!

Sabimaru realizes Harima has used forbidden alchemy which could end up destroying her arm. She likes it though. But she is shocked when Houtarou shows he can understand the hearts of Chemies. Houtarou repeats that Chemys have pure hearts that are only corrupted by human malice.

Harima laughs that Kugimiya was right about Houtarou’s meaningless care for the Chemies. She transforms into a Malgam and whips Houtarou to the ground in order to grab the Hopper1, AppareBushido and SaboNeedle Cards from his Driver. She mocks him by threatening to have Houtarou battle one of his Chemy friends.

Sabimaru tries to use alchemy to counter Harima, but she just sends it right back at him. She mocks his amateur alchemy. Houtarou and the three Chemies take the opportunity to catch Harima by surprise. Houtarou commends his friends for the quick moves.

Just then, Harima gets shot by Supana as he, Rinne, Renge and Minato-sensei arrive on the scene. Minato-sensei asks why an investigator of the Alchemy Association would hand over blank Cards to the Meikoku Sisters. Rinne remembers seeing Atropos mind control people and asks if Harima is the same. Harima laughs and says she simply admires the Sisters and did all of this of her own volition.

Supanner asks why she would do such an absurd thing. Harima says she supports the Sisters’ beautiful goal of opening the Door of Darkness to bring about change in the world. Minato-sensei says they aim to destroy this world. But Harima says they don’t get it. Just like the “stubborn idiots” ten years ago who missed the rare opportunity to grasp the wonderous truth about alchemy. But now is different.

Houtarou says he doesn’t understand what the hell she’s talking about. But what he does know is that they are hurting Chemies and he will never stand for it.

Harima uses forbidden alchemy to grab Houtarou by the neck and raise him off the ground. Minato-sensei and the others use their alchemy to stop her, but she just swats their power right back at them. That’s what forbidden alchemy can do and she anticipates even greater power once the Door of Darkness is opened.

Suddenly, the Sisters arrive and Atropos tells Harima to stop cackling. Harima is honored to be in their presence. But Atropos says Harima must know her place. With a wave of her hand, Atropos has Harima disintegrate into oblivion and says she has already fulfilled her purpose. Harima refuses to believe it and cries out as she disappears.

Houtarou falls to the ground and Rinne and Ringe run over to check on him. Rinne and Atropos glare at each other as Houtarou screams at how the Sisters would disregard human life so flippantly that they would do such a thing to one of their own. Atropos says their vague belief and reliance in camaraderie is their weakness. What do they think they would do when they lose it?

Just then, Lachesis charges at Spanner while Clotho grabs Sabimaru. Clotho says, thanks to Harima’s surveillance, Sabimaru is the chosen one to be their guinea pig. She slaps the Dread Driver onto Sabimaru and Atropos uses her mind control to force him to henshin to Kamen Rider Dread.

Spanner henshins to try and battle Dread. But this dark Rider’s power is too much for Supana to handle and he is forced to dehenshin as he gets slammed to the ground.

Rinne remembers Atropos’ words to her about everything that will happen is all her doing.

Atropos says it is Houtarou’s turn to battle the dark Rider. Houtarou vows to save Sabimaru-senpai and he henshins. But SabiDread is able to use the exact same Chemy Cards that Houtarou has. The Sisters have been making copies all along.

Houtarou is unable to counter SabiDread’s powers as every Chemy combo he uses, SabiDread is able to predict.

Minato-sensei and Renge realize the dark Rider is using Sabimaru’s knowledge of Chemies to allow him to use each to their full potential. Just then, she hears Sabimaru speaking through Isaac, saying he does not want to fight Houtarou nor use Chemy powers in this evil way. Sabimaru begs them to help him.

Renge turns to Atropos and tries to use alchemy, but again, Atropos just waves the attack away. Atropos says maybe Renge should be the next one she eliminates.

Kamen Rider Dead drains Houtarou of energy and turns to Renge, knocking her down.

Clotho takes on Minao-sensei, but she grabs his hand and impales him into a wooden post so she can beat him down.

Lachesis grabs and fights Rinne. Supana stumbles over to block Lachesis from slicing her in half. Lachesis laughs, calls him a dog and shoves him aside. She throws Rinne to the ground.

Houtarou gets himself up, determined to protect his friends. He locks in Hopper1 and SteamLiner and flies toward Kamen Rider Dread. But Dread reveals Sabimaru’s face and Houtarou sees a tear roll down. Houtarou stops himself from hitting Sabimaru. But that gives Dread the opportunity to knock him to the ground and deliver a Blood Sacrifice finisher at him, slapping Houtarou to the ground and forcing him to dehenshin.

Kamen Rider Dread begins beating Houtarou. Rinne breaks free of Lachesis and tries to run over, saying Houtarou will be killed. But Lachesis knocks her off her feet, grabs her face and says to burn the image of Houtarou’s death in her eyes.

Renge speaks to Sabimaru via Isaac, asking him to hold on and stray strong. Atropos says it’s no use. But Renge calling out for Sabi causes Kamen Rider Dread to hold back his punch. Sabimaru seems to be fighting back against Dread’s control.

Houtarou gets up and grabs Dread’s legs, calling for Sabimaru-senpai and vowing to save him so they can go search for Chemies together.

Atropos yawns at the sight and activates control over Sabimaru to get him to deliver the final blow to Houtarou. But Sabimaru is able to overcome it just enough to hold the punch back.

Just then, a bright light appears in the sky. UFO-X appears. Houtarou reaches into the light and pulls out a white sword. Clotho and Lachesis are shocked. But a calm Atropos orders Dread to finish Houtarou off. Dread charges toward Houtarou, but Houtarou has a vision and now knows what this sword is capable of.

Houtarou henshins and the sword fills with color as Exgotchalibur. The sword has enough power to knock Kamen Rider Dread back and offline.

Lachesis and Clotho charge toward Houtarou, but he is able to use the sword to push them back. Houtarou turns his attention to Atropos, but the power runs out and he is forced to dehenshin.

Minato-sensei pulls his hand off of the burning laser stake and sends a wave across the field to whisk everyone to safety. Houtarou thanks UFO-X as it flies into a portal.

Atropos says they have just delayed their destruction. Kugimiya watches from a nearby stairwell and wonders if Houtarou will be the one who can utilize a Level 10 Chemy.

Back at the Academy, Minato-sensei says this is not something for them students to face. So he goes to the higher ups even if the situation feels hopeless either way.

A traumatized Houtarou blames himself for not being strong enough. Spanner mocks Houtarou and Rinne and Renge come to Houtarou’s defense. But Supana reminds them Houtarou failed and they all could’ve died today. This is the very reason alchemists have risked and lost their lives to maintain the natural order. A fact they have been blinded to thanks to Houtarou’s fanciful philosophy toward Chemies.

Supanner leaves and Houtarou says today is the first time he realized they could’ve died doing this. But he will not give up and vows to find a way to allow everyone be able to smile again. And to save Sabimaru-senpai.

Episode Thoughts

WOWOWOWOWOWWOWOWOW.

But first, NOOOOOO! I was spoiled about Sabimaru being Kamen Rider Dread in the middle of last week and I was so upset and annoyed. Like, NOOOO! I wish I could’ve been shocked by that when I watched the episode.

BUT! Little did I know, this episode would have even more shocking things to absorb than that!

Seriously, WOWOW! I knew the season would pull the rug out from under us and throw us all for a dark loop at some point. I just wasn’t expecting it at Episode 12. And speaking of, it’s only Episode 12 and this season has already made me cry several times so far! That gives me a great feeling about the rest of the season! Hehe.

This episode was absolutely amazing. Just dramatic and emotional. And violent! They literally did not pull any punches with this one. And I think it works so well because of the previous 11 episodes. Like I’ve been saying, those episodes really did a great job of establishing these characters and their relationships. And that all helped to lay the emotional foundation for the chaos of this episode.

Aside from Houtarou getting a literal slap… er, punch (several) to the face about this whole world he’s found himself in, everyone (us included!) also got a big wake up call that things are getting serious. It’s not all fun and games and card catching and Kyoto trips and high school shenanigans. It’s life and death. And it’s only the beginning.

The sheer terror on their faces as poor Sabimaru had to suffer was just gut wrenching. Sabimaru begging for help through Isaac had me tearing up. Then Houtarou calling for Sabimaru with the flashbacks to their happy memories while the piano version of the theme song is playing… whew, that is when the tears really started gushing down my face. Of anyone who could have been forced to become Dread, Sabimaru was definitely the best character for it. His quiet, shy personality being such a contrast to the deadly nature of Dread was amazing. And you wouldn’t have gotten the kind of reaction from the others I think with anyone else.

The scenes where the Sisters were just ravaging our Alchemy Academy friends! Minato-sensei getting his hand impaled! Lachesis getting on top of Rinne and holding her face to force her to watch Houtarou dying. Renge just feeling helpless seeing her not-twin suffer. It was an absolute relentless assault on our emotions. One punch after another from the very first minute all the way to the end.

Then the moment where Dread is about to beat Houtarou to death. Like, WTF! Hello?!?!? Even Supanner was horrified at the thought.

My goodness! I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed such a brutal episode of either Kamen Rider or Sentai as this in a long time. At least, maybe not in a way where I actually cared about the involved characters like this. I felt for our AA friends. And the way they have endeared themselves so quickly in such a short amount of time really made this episode so effective.

Meanwhile, if it wasn’t clear in previous episodes, this week definitely made it clear that the Meikoku Sisters are not messing around. And that they are actually downright evil, nasty beings who revel in murdering humans and Chemys alike. All for their twisted goals. I mean, them killing Harima was already cold and ruthless enough. But the way they acted the rest of the episode was absolutely chilling. And definitely did a lot to kind of focus the threat and danger that is present for our friends. Even if the Sisters don’t end as the main villains or Final Boss or whatever.

Also, Atropos yawning at Houtarou while he was crying for Sabimaru made me want to punch her. lol Like, not the kid of course. But the old hag in the body of the kid. Lololol

But overall, what an amazing and exciting episode. All the emotions and excitement and the feels were delivered by this episode. And it such an amazing feeling to have while watching Kamen Rider after a while!

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