Houtarou fills Minato-sensei in on what’s happening at the lab. Unfortunately, Minato spills what he thought would be an antifreeze antidote on himself and he ends up frozen as well. He tells Houtarou-tachi to just continue investigating what’s going on.
Arumi through Isaac says that Director Mami is a good person, unlike Supana.
Director Mami wakes up and immediately begs them to protect the lab from Gurion. She explains that they used to work together on the same team. But when he started going off the deep end, she kept her distance from him and created this research facility instead.
She knows Gurion will show himself and target this facility. Kenichi says none of their research has produced results though, so what could he possibly want here.
Just then, Gurion manages to break through one of the facility’s red rope barriers. Supana hurries out to check. Director Mami goes to check on the children.
Kenichi stops Sabimaru from going out. Sabimaru says he can fight a little and has done what he can to help the team. But Kenichi says he can’t do anything and would just hold everyone else back.
At the red rope breach, Gurion shows himself to Supana. Supana vows to drag Gurion back to hell himself. But Gurion summons Germain’s golem which he can now control. Supana henshins and takes it on.
Back inside after Kenichi leaves, Houtarou asks Sabimaru if his brother was the one who created that Chemy. He noticed the Malgam kept going towards Sabimaru trying to say something.
Sabimaru explains that he had been bullied a lot as a kid. Kenichi gave him Isaac to be a sort of comforting charm for him. Though Isaac does not contain a complete soul, it does have a copy of Kenichi whom Sabimaru really looked up to.
One day, Sabimaru drew a turtle and Kenichi added a cannon on top of it. Sabimaru gave it the name KameDoon and said he wished he could talk to him. Kenichi worked to make it a reality so he came up with an experiment to see what they could do. Sabimaru ended up pouring the solutions right onto the drawing before Kenichi was ready. And a reaction occurred, including with Sabimaru’s ring.
Kenichi told Sabimaru that this would be their secret. And since then, Sabimaru has felt Kenichi grow distant. This is why Sabimaru regrets having that experiment in the first place.
Sabimaru just wishes he and his brother would be close and get along again. Houtarou says Sabimaru must get those words out himself, otherwise nothing will change. Sabimaru thanks Houtarou for the encouraging words.
Houtarou heads outside to join Supana by henshining to Rainbow and quickly finishing off the golem.
Back inside, Sabimaru finds his brother and asks him about KameDoon. Kenichi says he has taken responsibility for creating KameDoon. Yet, he has produced nothing since. Sabimaru says that is not true as his research has been groundbreaking. Kenichi doesn’t think that is enough.
Kenichi grabs Isaac and says Sabimaru does not need it anymore. He throws the tablet to the ground. But he suddenly hallucinates Sabimaru berating him about betrayal. Kenichi suffers under the emotional stress.
The real Sabimaru runs to his brother, but Gurion appears. Sabimaru realizes what is happening. Gurion thanks Kenichi for doing good work for him, especially in furthering development on his AI. Gurion had been after Isaac this whole time.
Gurion says he has a gift for them. He activates his gold cube.
Houtarou and Supana hurry back to the lab just as the building is in flames and the scientists and children are evacuating. Gurion steps out and says they are already too late as he has gotten what he came for.
The Malgam leaps out of the building. Sabimaru says his brother has fused with KameDoon.
A little girl tells Director Mami that Arumi is missing. Houtarou tells Supana to look for her.
Sabimaru tries shooting at Gurion, but Gurion instead wants to show off the fruits of his brother’s research. Gurion can now use AI to control a copy of his mind. He manifests a Dreatrooper which triggers the painful memories of Sabimaru’s experience as Dread.
Houtarou tosses Exgotchalibur to Sabimaru which he uses to fight off the Dreatrooper. He does what he can. But Kenichi, fighting through from inside the Malgam, begs his brother to run.
Inside the lab, Arumi is able to send Supana her location using Isaac.
Gurion watches the entire scene and enjoys how fun it is. Director Mami approaches him and he whispers something in her ear before walking away.
Kenichi pleads with Sabimaru to run, but Sabimaru says he will not leave until he saves him. Kenichi says he is an idiot. He has done everything he can to keep Sabimaru away from the Chemies including taking responsibility for everything that’s happened, especially with KameDoon. All in an effort to keep Sabimaru safe from Gurion. He wanted to protect his little brother.
Sabimaru says it is not true that Kenichi is incapable. Both their rings had shined on that day. It was the two of them who created KameDoon together.
The realization opens Kenichi up to be overcome by the Malgam once again.
Sabimaru, however, says he is done with being stepped on all the time. He will not take their beloved Chemy being corrupted without fighting back. And he wishes his brother would come to his senses. Sabimaru wants the cool brother he looked up to to come back.
The Malgam pauses. Houtarou takes this opportunity to use a Rainbow Fever to separate Kenichi from the Malgam and finish it off for good.
Houtarou Gotchas KameDoon and tosses it to Sabimaru, He locks the Card in and slashes at the Dreatrooper to finish it for good.
Afterwards, KameDoon flies away. Kenichi does not understand how that can be possible when it should be incomplete. Houtarou says perhaps KameDoon just wanted them to get along again. Chemies have unlimited potential and they respond to the feelings in your hearts. Which is what KameDoon likely did for the brothers.
Supana walks out of the building carrying Arumi. He says Kenichi’s research allowed him to find Arumi via Isaac being able to ping her location inside.
Arumi says from now on, she sees Supana as a super A-ranked oniisan. Supana says she can think whatever she wants, hiding his smile.
Kenichi asks if Sabimaru will keep using Isaac. Sabimaru says he gave Isaac to him as a charm, so it will always be with him. And doing so will help with his research too. Kenichi decides he will not give up on his research until they can meet KameDoon again. Sabimaru is just happy to be able to have his cool brother back again.
They head back to the Academy and find Minato, Rinne and Renge still frozen. Sabimaru uses Kesuzo Chemy to unfreeze them.
Sabimaru sees his KameDoon drawing now unblacked-out. Renge says they were just curious. But Sabimaru thanks them as he did want to see the drawing once more. Renge says Sabimaru seems to have grown up a bit. Sabimaru says of course, he can’t stay immature like Renge.
Meanwhile, Gurion meets with Atropos and Clotho who present him with his new throne. Gurion hugs Atropos, his “daughter”. She calls him “father” before he shows them his cube now turning into several Drivers.
Gurion declares that the day for the golden utopia draws near.
Episode Thoughts
So much going on! Just one thing after another. Yet, all perfectly intertwined and based off of a strong foundation. See! It is possible!
Gotchard has definitely proven many things are possible. Not the least of which being able to tell a complete, well-developed and well-paced story that is also fun and exciting.
This episode might be one of the best examples of that.
Let me get to the nitpick first. I do think they could’ve done a little bit more to maybe introduce Sabimaru’s past a bit earlier. If even just a passing mention of his family (or lack thereof), something like that. At the same time, we’ve seen his soft-spoken and timid personality all season. We’ve seen him using Isaac all season. And this episode’s revelations connected directly back to Sabimaru’s horrific experience with Dread.
So I am very satisfied with what we have learned about the brothers even if I would have loved to have seen a little more with Sabimaru to lead up to these episodes.
It’s hard not to be affected by the wonderful scenes with the brothers. Definitely some emotional, MaGMCMs there. And especially great performance from Rikiya Tomizono.
Gotchard has done so well to give every single one of the main cast some great material all season long. Giving deserved focus and spotlight to all the supporting characters while still keeping our title hero on that pedestal.
But again, the story with the Tsuruhara brothers came together in such an interesting way. It was something that you might not have expected, but one of those things that absolutely makes sense and fits in well with what has already been established. Those moments where you see a climactic event and can then go back and say “Oh yes, I can see how we got here.”
Any other season, this whole Gurion waiting in the wings for Isaac/AI or Sabimaru suddenly having a brother involved in that plan; it would feel so forced and contrived. But like the reveal of Gurion’s actions in the past with relation to Minato and Supana and Kyoka-san, you believe it. You know it’s not something pulled out of thin air at the last minute. Gotchard has indeed planted those seeds. And those seeds have bloomed some amazing results.
Even Sabimaru’s dynamic with bestie Renge fit in with his story and how it unfolded in these two episodes.
And so with all of that, it’s easy to feel satisfied and fulfilled by a big turning point like this episode was.
Not only that, but this episode also did a lot to show the positive (and also negative) effect Chemies can have on people. Chemies can be inherently good forces. But it’s when they get corrupted that things can go sideways. As with anything in life of course. But depicted so engagingly here on Gotchard.
You even see a little of that dynamic play out with Supana too.
This all just raises my expectations to how this all contributes to the main plot thread of the season and that is of course Houtarou’s ultimate Gotcha. If the show has done this well in weaving everything together for what have been very impactful climaxes, I’m sure they have all their pieces in order for the main event coming up.
Overall, an emotional, dramatic episode that effortlessly put all the pieces together, weaved all the threads together, all the metaphors you could think of. Bringing stories to a climax while also propelling other stories forward. Just magical this season is.
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8 thoughts on “Recap: Kamen Rider Gotchard, Episode 43 – Love, Sorrow, and AI!? The Power to Erase Hate”
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I like that this episode provided a simple yet reasonable answer to how the Dread suit had “sentience” even when its user had been forcibly removed, which was that it was basically forced into “automated mode” in those two instances and unable to really function without a host… until now of course.
At this point, with how “proactive” he’s been since his revival, Gurion really is giving me “Professor Ryoma from Gaim” vibes. In that after returning from a long absence and coming back with a new clothing style, Gurion will most likely serve as the season’s second-to-last primary villain. He’ll probably be defeated by the Riders (or maybe just by Supana alone) with a few episodes to go and/or be killed off permanently by the true Final Boss, Gigist.
And with that ending scene in mind, I’m almost positive that the reason why Atropos is so precious to Gurion is because she was modeled after the appearance of a daughter Gurion used to have. I wonder if the show’s gonna do something with Gurion in a way similar to what was done with other villains from previous Toku seasons. Like Gremlin from Kamen Rider Wizard. Or Basco from Gokaiger. Y’know, where they would lead us into thinking that there’s something “decent” and “human” in Gurion only to eventually subvert things and say “Nope! He’s an unrepentant monster now and forever!”
I’m also quite okay with the season having more “slice of life” episodes instead of “serialized” ones, even late into the season. It’s a refreshing back to basics approach that reminds me of other great seasons like OOO and Fourze. Those seasons were effective in primarily focusing on “slice of life” two-parters while saving the more “serious business” and answers to ongoing mysteries for the endgame. Heck, in Fourze, the main gang didn’t even discover the Big Bad’s true identity and grand plan and motivation until the last four episodes.
Judging from how next episode’s preview shows Gaeliyah finally “making her move,” I assume she’s gonna be the next of the Kings to be “eliminated.” I wonder if, after she’s thoroughly defeated and weakened by the Riders, Gigist is gonna just straight-up rip her fragment of the Philosopher’s Stone right out of her like what Dr. Maki did to Kazari near the end of OOO…. That would be fun. Lol.
And it seems like next episode, and perhaps the rest of the season by extension, is also gonna focus on one of the main themes of this season: alchemy and Chemies being hidden from the public through erasing people’s memories. Something Houtarou’s always been uncomfortable with, since it directly goes against his dream.
Maybe that particular theme will also tie into whatever Gigist’s (who’s pretty much Houtarou’s Evil Counterpart and opposite) motive and grand plan is, which has (probably intentionally) been kept vague and hidden besides Germain saying that he wants to “understand the human heart.” After all, back in episode 36, Gigist remarks that he despises how, in his view, alchemists have become spineless cowards since he was locked away, likely because they choose to remain hidden from the world and not actually do anything “meaningful” with their talents.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if, fitting with the season’s renewed focus on the “memory erasure” that’s been present since day one, it’s eventually revealed that Houtarou has more “erased memories” from his past than previously assumed. Particularly ones that pertain to the specific circumstances behind why his mysterious father has been gone since Houtarou was a kid. Because there’s no way that, with all the mystery surrounding him, his father’s just on an “adventure.”
Re: Gurion’s potential “human” side, that would be a good end for him. They could save the “human” and “decent” story for whatever they might do with Houtarou’s father? I dunno.
I definitely enjoy slice of life on Kamen Rider and Sentai. And they can only work this late in the season with good characters and a strong foundation having already been built. Gotchard has both so that’s really great. And the episodes still contribute to the greater story arc as well.
That’s a good point about the memory erasing. More seeds that have been sprinkled throughout the season most likely to build up to, like you point out, Houtarou regaining those memories for the final shockers of the season. Very exciting!
About Atropos called “daughter” by Geryon, maybe it’s linked with the short moment shared between Geryon and Mami. Anyway, I think the five last episodes will be thrilling.
Very interesting, especially with the revelation that the “dolls” might be modeled after real humans.
Thank god at least one younger brother in kamen rider solved his brother issues with his older brother without any deadly consequences (looking at you Michi and daiji)
Refreshing change! lol
This episode shows why Geryon is without a doubt, one of the best antagonist in Reiwa Kamen Rider
The endgame will solidify Gurion’s place or make it (and the season as a whole) fall apart. hehe