Recap: Kamen Rider Gotchard, Episode 24 – Sudden Turn! Forbidden Steel Rider!

Gurion is thankful for Minato being able to capture Warptera, a Chemy he’s long coveted. Minato says it’s thanks to the replica Unicon Chemy Card he received from him. As Gurion turns his attention to preparing a new Malice Doll, Minato glares at him.

At Kitchen Ichinose, Mama Ichinose swears she had fresh groceries out on the counter. Little does she know, Houtarou’s new Chemy friend Kesuzo had erased them. The others stop Houtarou from spilling the beans to his mother who decides to just go out and buy more.

Turns out earlier, Renge had rubbed Kesuzo too hard as an eraser. So it went on a rampage around the restaurant erasing everything including the fresh groceries and even the data on Sabimaru’s tablet.

Sabimaru had been able to develop a ring charger that could help Rinne not feel so exhausted after a henshin. But now he has to rebuild his data. And to help out, he has Houtarou recount all the previous Gotchard episodes so far. Rinne joins in as well and explains that “Kamen Rider” is the name the Alchemist of Daybreak called themselves 120 years ago. So it is a great honor to be called one now.

They reminisce about all the Chemies they’ve Gotcha’d so far. But also of the difficult times as well.

After Hopper1 and Steamliner are able to find Kasuzo, Rinne captures him in a Card and they resume with the recaps.

Meanwhile back at the Academy, Minato asks where the Sisters are. Gurion says they’re out catching Chemies of course since they’re just dolls following orders. They’re so good, they were able to find Papa Kudoh while he was away, turn humans into Malgams and even completed the Dreadriver.

Gurion asks Minato how he feels about him being back. Minato says he is not the same man he was back then. Lachesis eavesdrops on their convo and wonders what Minato could be planning.

Anyway, Gurion uses Warptera and turns a Malice Doll into Pteranodon Malgam.

Supana and Kyoka-san come to Kitchen Ichinose to tell the others that Minato-sensei is not working for Gurion. They explain that Minato sparing Kyoka’s life is enough evidence that he is just pretending in order to find a way to ultimately defeat Gurion by himself.

Kyoka wants to tell them about The Incident from ten years ago that would explain Minato’s thinking process. But an alchemy-powered folded crane comes flying in revealing a message telling them that they will defeat Gurion at a specific Alchemy Union test site. They know it is from Minato so they hurry over.

Houtarou runs toward Minato-sensei as soon as he sees him. But Pteranodon comes flying out of a wormhole and laughs at them falling into their trap. Pteranodon begins to suck all their Cards into the hole. Houtarou wants to jump in, but Kyoka-san warns the holes are forbidden alchemy and his body would not be able to handle it.

Houtarou does not care. But Hopper1 and Steamliner push Houtarou away. Houtarou picks up the Steamliner Card which gets left behind.

Supana and Rinne asks Minato-sensei if he lied to them. Minato-sensei slaps the Driver on and says he will be taking their remaining Cards. He swipes Steamliner and Unicon Cards and henshins to Dread Type One. Rinne and Supana both henshin as well and they battle.

Gurion laughs that they would even think Minato was on their side. He believes Minato is firmly in his grasp.

Gurion flashes back to earlier when he mentioned the name Suzuya Daiki… a boy Minato apparently killed ten years ago. Gurion taunted him by saying he hopes Houtarou and friends will not suffer the same fate thanks to Minato.

Back to the test site, Sabimaru explains to the others that Pteranodon uses Warptera Chemy which can manifest wormholes. Kyoka-san believes the wormholes lead to Gurion at the Academy.

Houtarou wants to go there. But Steamliner stops him. And they don’t have any other Cards. That means it’s up to Rinne and Supana. Both of them, however, struggle against Minato-sensei. Rinne is able to save Supana from an attack, only for them to get taken by surprise by Pteranodon.

Houtarou tells the others that he doesn’t want to give up on his friends. Especially Hopper1 who has been his friend since he was a little boy as well as Steamliner. He asks Kyoka-san if there’s any way he can fight with Steamliner, even in a forbidden way.

Kyoka-san says there is a forbidden technique that combines a Chemy and a human. Renge and Sabimaru don’t think that’s a good idea since it could cost Houtarou his life. Kyoka-san agrees. However, Houtarou is intent on doing it.

Their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious man.

Back at the battle, Rinne and Supana try delivering uphenshined finishers at Pteranodon. But the wormholes get them again and Pteranodon is able to collect more of their Cards. Minato-sensei approaches them and demands they hand over the rest.

But Houtarou suddenly appears, declaring that he will not allow that to happen. He has a new red ring that facilitates Steamliner upgrading to Tenliner.

Houtarou locks the Card in and henshins to Iron Gotchard.

Episode Thoughts

Phew! They had me in the first half, not gonna lie! Lol I was like “Oh no, a clip show!” Thank goodness the second half of the episode was new story. And exciting story at that!

Really looking forward to learning more about Minato-sensei’s past. Definitely looks like a very emotional and tragic story. And I enjoy well-done dramatic stories of course. But I’m most looking forward to seeing the parallels they might draw between Minato’s former students and his current pupils. It really explains Minato’s determination to carry the burden on his own. And I think that can be a very powerful story.

I’m getting goosebumps just typing it out because it’s such a great feeling to be so excited about potential story. Not only potential story like “I hope X turns out this way.” But story that is already playing out. So even at this point, you can see the seeds that had been planted along the way so far.

Again, the wonderful pace of this season has helped every story beat and every character beat really land so smoothly. Just a great, consistent flow with the season’s narrative. I think this season would be a good binge watch for anyone in the future. But certainly a very exciting and sort of edge-of-your-seat experience having to wait every week!

The fact that the week-long wait ends up being worth it with every episode is, once again, such a great feeling to have!

Minato and Houtarou were definitely the focus of this episode. Minato with his noble determination. And Houtarou with his purehearted, innocent personality; wanting to put himself in harm’s to save the Chemies he considers his friends. Perhaps that’s another parallel to draw too. Minato and Houtarou, both risking so much in order to keep others safe from harm.

And in seeing that play out for both of them, we get to see the other characters’ reactions and interactions with each other as well. Adding tidbits to their characters and thus furthering the cohesive story. Even Lachesis continuing to lurk about and wondering about Minato and being suspicious of Gurion adds a lot to many threads of the story. Not just her own.

Elsewhere, some great action scenes. Nice new suits. But the highlight is definitely the revealing tease of what’s to come next week with Minato’s story. I am so relieved the clip show recap only took up half the episode. But even then, the big moments of the rest of the episode easily pack the welcome punch for this week.

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