.jpg)
Houtarou is so happy Hopper1, Skebows and Antrooper are back. The other Chemies are also excited and also welcome Nijigon as they all shine brightly now thanks to him. Kyoka-san says the rainbow wave from Nijigon must have brought the three of them back to life. And Nijigon seems to be influenced by Houtarou’s carefree attitude.
Supana knows Gigist will be going after Nijigon soon. Houtarou says they still have two Chemies to protect as well. Minato-sensei says he will leave those two remaining Chemies to them.
Sabimaru tells them about the two Chemies; Ancient category Level 3 PakuRaptor and Level 4 Ojilacanth. Renge suggests they compete to see who can catch the two Chemies first. She proposes Nijigon as the prize.
.jpg)
Meanwhile, Gigist rewatches the last episode. Clotho wants him to give her orders because she can’t hold her power in for much longer. Instead, he gives her even more. Atropos butts in and says they should bring back Gurion. But Gigist just tells them to shut their traps. Gigist says he will deal with Houtarou himself.
On the other side of town, Ryo is looking for a strange drooling dinosaur-looking thing. And he finds it when it leaps on his face and shoots slime all over him.
Next morning, Ryo tells them about the giant lizard that had been rampaging in the area and how he found it last night before he was covered in slime. Ryo vows to catch it himself.
They wonder if it is a Chemy. They check the CCTV footage and confirm it is indeed PakuRaptor. The four of them are excited to get this battle started. Houtarou decides to lure it with his dino platter. Sabimaru will use a drone and X-Rex’s stomping sound. Renge and Rinne will use dino costumes.
.jpg)
However, Rinne feels weird pretending to be a dinosaur so she takes the costume off and goes off on her own.
Elsewhere, Atropos mocks Lachesis who is out on grocery run. Atropos mocks her for acting human and reminds her she is only a doll. Atropos says she is open to forgiving her as long as she returns to them.
Lachesis asks what brought about this change of heart. However, Clotho arrives and cannot believe Atropos would do such a thing. She believes Lachesis is here to take everything from here.
Clotho transforms into her armor and attacks Lachesis. But Atropos weighs her down.
.jpg)
Rinne arrives and steps in to protect Lachesis as she is one of them now. Rinne henshins and battles Clotho. Lachesis steps forward and says she will not have her grocery shopping interrupted. She whisks Rinne away.
Over in the park, Houtarou, Renge and Sabimaru are taking a break from searching for PakuRaptor. And it suddenly pops up right in front of them, though it is very fast. They chase after it and head into an abandoned bathhouse where they also find Ojilacanth.
Nijigon says the two of them say this is their home. PakuRaptor had taken all their items to use as it and Ojilacanth watched over each other.
.jpg)
Just then, Hopper1 and Houtarou are taken through a portal where they face Gigist who now has Nijigon in his hand. Gigist says he created the Chemies and will be able to do what he wants with them. Chemies were made to come into contact with malice to become Malgams. That is their nature.
Gigist uses PakuRaptor and Ojilacanth to try and engulf them in Meikoku. Houtarou tells Nijigon to unleash rainbow breath. And it cleanses PakuRaptor and Ojilacanth. Houtarou is able to Gotcha both of them. Gigist cannot believe it as Chemies are supposed to be evil. He does not understand how they can reject evil even when infused with his darkness.
.jpg)
Houtarou explains that he and Nijigon share a Gotcha where they consider Chemies as living beings who they will protect. Gigist does not understand Gotcha or Houtarou at all.
Houtarou calls on all the Chemies for the first time.
.jpg)
With a rainbow breath, the other Chemies are able to lend their power to Nijigon. And together with Houtarou, they henshin to Rainbow Gotchard.
.jpg)
Gigist flips the setting again and takes them inside where he buries Houtarou in roof. But Houtarou is able to get help from his Chemy friends to free him from under the rubble.
AppareBushido and Skebows step forward to combine as well as Mechanichani and GoldDash into Kamen Riders. Together with Houtarou, they give Gigist all they’ve got.
Gigist says he finally understands that they are simply too foolish that they are too dumb to harbor malice. Houtarou says nope, he is a Kamen Rider who protects chemies and is a future big-shot alchemist.
.jpg)
Houtarou and his friends deliver a Rainbow Fever finisher at Gigist.
Right before he explodes, Gigist says he still does not undetrstand Houtarou.
.jpg)
Back at the Academy, they celebrate all Chemies now being safe and sound as well as the defeat of Gigist with a takoyaki party.
Nijigon says he has enough for everyone so no need to fight over who won their bet earlier. Nijigon also compliments Hopper1 for knowing what PakuRaptor wanted earlier.
.jpg)
Kyoka-san thanks Lachesis for buying coriander for her takoyaki. She offers Lachesis some and she likes it. She says she is going to become human. Kyoka asks what made her change her tune. Lachesis says she realized that as a doll, one day, she will…
.jpg)
Atropos has Clotho laying on her lap. She laments Gurion and says none of this would have happened if he were here.
Clotho vows to get Lachesis back to them.
.jpg)
Back at the Academy, Minato and Supana talk about how the Union heads are still passive even after all this. Supana says Gigist might be defeated, but Clotho and Atropos are still out and about.
.jpg)
Minato tells Supana that he has made up his mind that he will change and reform the Union for the next generation. He asks Supana to help him with that goal.
Meanwhile, an explosion at the Door of Darkness!
.jpg)
Episode Thoughts
An interesting episode! It felt both like a breather as well as a climax, if that makes sense. As the preview showed, there’s two more Gigists or Meikoku Kings to pop up. So on one hand this “end” for Gigist could be underwhelming. But also, I think most people understood and took Gigist as not being the Final Boss of the season.
Why I actually like the way they defeated Gigist here is that this episode basically highlighted how he is the complete opposite of Houtarou. If the series’ endgame is essentially to bring about Houtarou’s Gotcha and the peace and unity of humans and Chemies, this episode maybe best exemplifies the challenges he will face on that path.
Houtarou’s view on Chemies as living beings with their own minds and feelings are in direct contrast to how Gigist views them as just mere tools or even toys for his own entertainments. He views Chemies are less than and as just pieces of his dark plans. So Houtarou’s bright personality and hopeful nature will of course clash against that. And of course win against that darkness as well.
Again, this is all probably part of the set-up for the endgame. Which I think is now pretty clearly going to involve Papa Ichinose and the truth about Houtarou’s past. Whether his childhood or birth or origins, etc. So I can only imagine as we get into the 40s (40s already!), Houtarou will be challenged once again like he was two episodes ago. If he fell to despair back then, who knows how much he’ll fall in the coming episodes before triumphantly rising above it and overcoming it in the end.
Should be very exciting to watch. And I think very emotional as well considering the connections not only the characters have formed with each other, but with us the viewer as well.
Elsewhere, the Meikoku Sisters’ story is moving along well too. I like that wherever their story is heading will also play into the final episodes rather than be resolved now and have them flailing around in the last episodes instead. If anything, their story will be directly involved with the endgame too. So that will be nice.
Plus, we still have the issue with the Alchemy Union and their old, outdated ways. I wouldn’t be surprised their shadiness will play into the endgame too. And it will be nice to see Minato and Supanaur work together to bring about their downfall as well.
Still plenty ot story left in the final 11? episodes. And it’s such a great feeling that we’re heading into the 40s and I’m still so fully invested in the season still. That’s definitely not a given every year with Kamen Rider or Sentai for me. lol
I must say, I didn’t anticipate the twist of there being two other Kings locked behind the Door of Darkness besides Gigist.
Also, don’t count Gigist out just yet! Next episode’s preview shows him as alive and well alongside the two new Kings. It seems one of the main issues the Riders will have with defeating the Kings going forward will be y’know… killing them permanently.
To be honest, I’m glad that Gigist will continue to be a nemesis going forward. He’s had a good presence so far and upped the stakes of the story significantly. Plus, I feel he’s far too… important to the characters and setting to be defeated so relatively easily and quickly. After all, he:
1. Created the Chemies, the Riders’ main transformation items of the season.
2. Has a strong personal rivalry with Houtarou that was firmly cemented once Gigist forced him to temporarily kill Hopper1. (If Houtarou actually did become a Malgam after that incident, it would’ve like what happened with Supana, in that Houtarou would be furiously charging at Gigist in a berserk rage and trying to kill him while beating back anybody that tried to get in the way.)
3. Has a link to Supana via them sharing the same power and even seemed to take an interest in him.
4. His voice is used in the DreadDriver to call out its Types and transformations. I’d be very surprised if he himself doesn’t eventually utilize Dread’s Final Form to be able to fight Houtarou as Rainbow Gotchard equally or even slightly surpass him.
And I also wouldn’t be surprised if Gigist continues to be the King that gets the most focus going forward. I mean, they’ve spent all these episodes already having him as the sole threat instead of just introducing all three kings at once. Maybe Gigist will be the last King standing, and he’ll absorb the other two’s powers upon their permanent defeats. That way, all three Kings, in a manner of speaking, will still be the Final Bosses in the end as was promised.
Elsewhere, I also liked Atropos’s subtle development in this episode. Seems like she actually does care about her Sisters deep down after all. It was sad and a bit ironic though that she was still pining for Gurion’s return and naively thinking that he’d somehow fix everything. Even though he would sell all the three of the Sisters for a golden island. Lol. Man, that guy loved gold. It’s still funny to me how he was so proud of his small-minded goal of turning the world to gold, and even Houtarou was dumbfounded that he did all those terrible things for such a petty ambition.
Speaking of Gurion, I’m guessing that he’s gonna return for at least a couple of episodes in the end. Maybe Gigist will bring him back as part of a plan to have Supana accept his “real nature” by offering him a chance at payback. I think Gurion’s return will be needed in order to fully cement Atropos’s inevitable “redemption.” It would certainly be a compelling storyline if Atropos was forced to accept that Gurion cared about no one, not even her, besides himself and be confronted with the reality that she discarded and looked down on the ones who actually cared about her in favor of a selfish lunatic.
They’re definitely doing a lot of foundation laying for the endgame which is so good. It will make the eventual climax that much more impactful when every player in it has a stake in the outcome.
Once again, this show just continues to excell!
Yes!