Recap: Kamen Rider Gotchard, Episode 30 – A Rival Arrives!? Gotcha and Juliet

It is the first day of the new school year. Houtarou is excited to be a senior now. And he is also excited to be in the same class with Rinne again. Houtarou teases Ryo who is also with them again.

Minato-sensei is still their homeroom teacher and he comes in to introduce a new transfer student, Tsukumo Seina. Turns out she and Houtarou grew up together and she says them meeting each other again is fate. That doesn’t sit too well with Rinne.

Later on the roof, Ryo tells Houtarou about having kept in touch with Hijiri-san since they met in Kyoto. Houtarou is happy his bro has a girlfriend. Ryo wants Houtarou to have some experience too, so he hopes Houtarou falls in love soon.

Rinne is about to join them. But Seina gets to them first and starts acting cute. This still doesn’t sit too well with Rinne.

Meanwhile, Atropos watches a replay of Gurion’s demise. The Malice Dolls feel the resentment he’s left behind and Atropos agrees. She uses the cube to combine four dolls to bring about a hooded figure which she then infuses with a Chemy Card to turn into a Malgam. She vows revenge on the people who took the man she cares for the most.

Back at school, Houtarou and Rinne are enjoying Comedy Club members Suzuki and Takahashi performing for the students on Club Day. Seina watches them having fun together and seems quite upset to see it.

Next up to present to the school is Mikuriya Tsukuru from the Drama Club. He invites everyone to join, but then suddenly gets on his knees to beg. Houtarou, Rinne and Ryo go to check on Tsukuru after the presentation to see if he’s doing okay.

Tsukuru explains that it was always his dream since middle school to stage Romeo and Juliet one day. But all the other Drama Club members quit, leaving only him. And if he is unable to recruit five more members, the school will disband the club. Tsukuru is unsure how to recruit enough people.

Houtarou says he will help find those five new members so Tsukuru can stage Romeo and Juliet. Tsukuru thinks Houtarou should play Romeo. After some initial hesitation, Houtarou agrees to do it.

Ryo says it’s either him or Rinne as Juliet then. Seina comes in though and says she’ll do it. She takes hold of Houtarou’s arm, though Ryo insists he should be Juliet. Rinne is not happy.

Over at the Academy, Minato-sensei comes across Kyoka and Lachesis in the classroom. Kyoka says she hired Lachesis as her assistant. Minato thanks Lachesis for opening the gate to the Ouroboros Realm. Lachesis says she should be the one thanking them for defeating Gurion.

Just then, Clotho barges into the classroom begging Lachesis to return to them. Lachesis refuses, saying she has not forgotten how Atropos almost killed her. She knows Atropos would never forgive her for being a traitor too.

Lachesis tries to tell Clotho that Atropos is not the same as them. Clotho thinks Minato and Kyoka has poisoned Lachesis’ mind. Clotho henshins to Dread Type 3.

Just then Supana arrives and says he will not stand for his mentors being threatened. He henshins and battles Clotho down in the garage. Clotho is sure this armor worn by Gurion will not be defeated. But the suit shortcircuits and that provides Supana an opening to overpower her.
Transforming into Dread will take a toll on anyone who uses it, Minato says.

Clotho refuses to give up. Supana is able to force Clotho to dehenshin. But Lachesis suddenly stops forward and asks Supana to stop calling them freaks. Minato uses alchemy to create a fog of smoke to whisk them all, except Clotho, away.

At Kitchen Ichinose, Houtarou, Rinne and Ryo approach Sabimaru and Renge about joining them in the Drama Club. Minato-sensei already gave them permission to join even though they are not in high school anymore.

Sabimaru and Renge are not familiar with Romeo and Juliet so Tsukuru explains the story to them. Sabimaru, Renge and Ryo all cry at how emotional the story is.

Mama Ichinose serves them some drinks and Houtarou promises he’ll do his best as Romeo. Mama Ichinose assumes Rinne is Juliet. But Seina barges in to stake her claim as Juliet. Mama Ichinose recognizes Seina as she and Houtarou used to play a lot together as kids. Seina even says Mama Ichinose promised she and Houtarou would get married one day. Houtarou says they were just kids then, but Seina jokes that she hasn’t changed her mind.

Renge is annoyed that even she would lose to a girl like Seina. Sabimaru sees Ichinose and Tsukumo are 1 and 99 which together becomes 100, a perfect round number match

Seina suggests she and Houtarou do a kissing scene. The idea sends a shiver down Rinne’s spine. Houtarou thinks that would so embarrassing and they tease each other. Rinne runs out.

Rinne goes to the park and sits on the swing, holding her heart. Just then Seina arrives and asks if she and Houtarou are dating. Seina wants to clear some things up. She noticed Houtarou and Rinne wear the same rings. She confirmed with their classmates that they hang around each other all the time.

Rinne says there is nothing going on between her and Houtarou. Seina is glad to hear that and says she can now freely go after Houtarou.

Just then, Atropos approaches and teases Rinne saying she thought she’d have more confidence now. But instead, Rinne is back to her pathetic self. All alone.

The Malgam appears, vowing to avenge Gurion. Rinne tells Seina to run for safety. But Atropos chains her up and says Rinne asked her to do it because she’s in her way. Seina says she knew Rinne is jealous. “I hate you” Seina yells.

The Malgam freezes Seina. Atropos says this is all Rinne’s fault so she must die.
The Malgam charges toward Rinne, but she henshins and they battle.

Rinne gets tripped up though as Seina’s words echo through her mind. Atropos mocks Rinne for being all over the place in this battle.

Houtarou comes running up and he henshins to help his girl. He first makes sure Rinne is okay. But Rinne then points to Seina.

Houtarou and Rinne seem to be no match for the Malgam. Rinne is forced to dehenshin and she blames herself for all this mess. Atropos says it’s time to avenge her dear father Gurion. Rinne is taken aback by this revelation.

Houtarou shields Rinne from the Malgam’s freeze. Atropos says Rinne’s heart is weak and that she only pretended to be strong. That’s why everyone around her will die.

Rinne starts to think she really is too weak.

Episode Thoughts

How horrible a person am I that I was actually quite happy that Atropos and the Malgam froze Seina like that. Lolol I’m never a fan of these annoying interlopers who randomly pop up and try to squeeze themselves into our friend group that we’ve formed with our main characters. Like, no sir/ma’am, you are not welcome with us cool kids. lololol

Anyway, hopefully Seina transfers out of the school next week because she doesn’t want to get frozen again or because she selflessly gives up Houtarou to Rinne lolol

Speaking of, jealousRinne is actually not something I thought we’d see. But I was quite impressed how the show was able to tie that in to her lack of self confidence. And in furthering the seeds of self-doubt that Atropos continues to plant in Rinne. It definitely continues to be a very interesting part of Rinne’s story. I have to assume there’s something big relating to Rinne to have Atropos be so fixated on her.

And not just because they are kindred spirits or there’s jealousy from Atropos toward Rinne or something like that. Instead, Rinne might be a harbinger of doom or something. Or if we’re going along with the Romeo and Juliet theme, perhaps Rinne is also a child of Gurion or whatever. And Papa Kudo somehow is the rival or enemy of the mysterious Papa Ichinose.

Thus we get our Romeo and Juliet situation. But of course in the end, Houtaoru is able to bring about the peaceful human-Chemy world of co-existence and he and Rinne can be free to live happily ever after lolol

We’ll see. But Gotchard continues to do very well in maintaining a steady pace and momentum. Not just overall, but also in the actual plot and narrative. It is very refreshing how it feels like every episode really builds upon the previous ones. Instead of having random plot pop in and out whenever the show feels like it.

Moving on to our other Romeo and Juliet situation, that is Minato and Lachesis… lol just kidding. But the episode also did a good job of furthering the mystery behind Lachesis’ true motives as well. And that is without even really revealing anything significant. Just continuing to flesh out the dynamics between the characters. Like Lachesis with Kyoka and Minato. Or Lachesis and her back and forth with Clotho. Good stuff in their chunk of the episode too.

And I loved the action scenes in the garage between Lachesis and Supanaur. Really great action.

Meanwhile, when I saw a photo of our Donbro friends Hirofumi Suzuki and Shinnosuke Takahashi posted by one of the official Toei accounts on Twitter, I thought it was for a Donbros thing. I didn’t realize they were popping up on Gotchard lol So I was very surprised! It was a fun cameo.

Anyway, overall, this was another great episode. Powered mainly by the Rinne-focus. I know there will be some good growth for Rinne. Maybe a new toy too?

But I’m looking forward to how they will resolve (or not) Rinne’s apparent feelings in the next episode. And I’m curious how, if at all, they show Houtarou responding to Rinne’s feelings too. It seems quite obvious he has zero feelings for Seina. But his friendly personality would never let him express that out loud lol But we’ll see! For all we know Rinne doesn’t like Houtarou like that either. Even though that is the obvious interpretation of her jealousy. But it’s all part of the fun of Gotchard. And I’m happy to tune in to it every week!

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