Recap: Kamen Rider Gotchard, Episode 44 – When Deep Memories Open Up

When Gurion visits Gaelijah, she tells him that he is a fool deluded by his gold dreams. And that makes it impossible for someone like him to see the world as it should rightfully be. Gurion challenges her to show him this rightful world and how it could possibly compare to his.

After he leaves, Gaelijah says his destiny is in her hands.

Over at the Academy, Houtarou comes running into the classroom after having overslept. Kyoka is giving everyone an update on the Lachesis Humanization Project. During a recent trip to a summer festival with Renge and Sabimaru, a smile slowly appeared on Lachesis’ face as she was able to learn the emotion of joy.

Kyoka-san hopes to next work on the retransmutation of living tissue with Papa Kudo, especially since not many alchemists understand forbidden alchemy. Rinne is on her way here with the materials they can study.

But on the way, Rinne is confronted by Clotho who demands they hand Lachesis back over to them. Rinne says Lachesis wants Clotho to return to her old self. But Clotho refuses to listen to anything Rinne says.

Rinne henshins and they battle. But Gaelijah appears. She says Rinne is an interesting girl, but she turns to Clotho and says she will grant her wish. Atropos lurks about nearby as Gaelijah whisks Clotho away.

Back at the Academy, Kyoka says she has found human essence in Lachesis, meaning she was probably modeled after a human. Kyoka-san hopes to use alchemy to transmute and recover those memories.

Minato-sensei explains that contrary to what they think, they do not erase people’s memories. Instead, they basically overwrite their memories to cover up their Chemy encounters.

Sabimaru points out to Houtarou that all those people might get their memories back. Houtarou, however, is focused on Ryo in the photos looking sad during the course of the day. The complete opposite of Lachesis’ growing smile. Houtarou decides to hurry out to see what’s wrong with Ryo who has been down lately.

Elsewhere, Atropos again lurks around the corner as Gaelijah offers to give Clotho what she wants. However, more power won’t be enough. Gaelijah resets Clotho to her factory settings and Clotho is shocked to find her chest pain is gone.

Gaelijah says she can see the future and if Clotho follows her, her wish can be granted. Atropos steps out and asks what Gaelijah will do to Clotho. Gaelijah asks if Atropos will come with, but she just walks away instead.

On the other side of town, Houtarou finds Ryo on a bridge. Ryo cries in his arms.

Down in Kyoto, Himeno Hijiri heads to visit her brother in prison, but he has refused visitation. Though he does have a letter for her, telling her to forget about him and just live her own life.

Ryo tells Houtarou, Renge and Sabimaru about inviting Hijiri to summer festival, but she turned him down, said it would only just be painful and bid him goodbye.

Houtarou tells Ryo not to give up. Renge wonders if Hijiri is thinking about her brother in prison. Sabimaru stops Renge before she says anymore, considering Ryo has no memory of that entire incident.

Just then, Hopper1 and Nijigon pop up and Ryo is shocked to see them. As Houtarou tries to carry them away, Ryo begins to remember many moments which Minato should have overwritten. His heard hurts and tries to run out of the restaurant only to have Minato pop up at the door to overwrite his memory.

Back at the warehouse, Clotho breaks Kariya Mamoru out of prison and brings him to Gaelijah who says he is the perfect specimen for her plan. She quickly engulfs him in Meikoku and he turns back into Submarine Malgam.

Atropos reports to Papa Gurion about what is happening with Clotho and Gaelijah. He tells her not to be so anxious and to just enjoy the relative tranquility for now as father and daughter.

At the classroom, Minato says it might be dangerous if they continue to overwrite Ryo’s memories. Houtarou wonders if they should just restore his memories instead. If Ryo can remember all his memories, he will be able to move on.

Supana reminds him that Chemy Law exists for a reason and to maintain the natural order. So it cannot be twisted for personal reasons. Supana suggests a complete erasure for Ryo, but Minato says that carries its own risk.

Supana adds that the KameDoon incident proved that Chemys are dangerous, justifying the laws. Houtarou still believes in the potential of humans and Chemies.

Supana doesn’t want to hear any more so he heads over to Kyoka’s lab.

Minato says neither Houtarou and Supana are wrong, which is why this is such a complicated matter.

Just then, the alarm sounds.

Back in Kyoto, Hijiri emotionally recalls resigning from her job at the haunted house after people started gossiping and becoming weary of her having a prisoner brother. She cries as she holds an issue of Chojo Wakusei. She is about to throw it in the garbage can so she can forget about Ryo. But as she hesitates, she suddenly gets a flood of memories.

Back in Tokyo, Houtarou and Rinne respond to the disturbance and encounter Clotho. She says humans who were Malgams before still have the essence of Chemies inside them. So Gaelijah can just reactivate the malice inside of them, which is what she did with Submarine Malgam.

Houtarou says Clotho had changed, so why is she like this now.

Houtarou and Rinne both henshin. Rinne takes on the Malgam while Houtarou faces the golem. Ryo walks by and sees the commotion, but it again triggers his memories. He collapses from the stress of his mind.

Rinne tosses Houtarou a Card and is able to summon VenomMariner. Together, they fight off Submarine Malgam in the underground water before driving him back above ground.

Houtarou leaves the Malgam to Rinne as he refocuses on the golem. Both Houtarou and Rinne quickly finish them off.

Kariya Mamoru is released from the Malgam, but Clotho says the true terror is about to begin. She leaves.

Minato-sensei arrives and Houtarou asks if they will erase Ryo’s memories.

Back at the Academy, Kyoka notices Lachesis seems to not be in a good mood. Lachesis says she is afraid of her memories. Looking at everything she’s done so far, her human models might not be a great person either. Supana comes in and says that might not be the case. Her always being honest with herself is a good trait that she should maintain.

Kyoka-san says it is up to Lachesis if she wants to continue the experiment.

Over in the classroom, Ryo wakes up and is shocked after they tell him where he is and who they are. The Chemies fly around to introduces themselves to Ryo. And this causes more memories to return to him.

Houtarou says Ryo saved Hijiri and they start to think about that possibly being why she is in pain now and asked to break up with Ryo.

Minato comes in to alert everyone that another Malgam who has broken out of prison has appeared. This time, it is Jungle Malgam.

Suddenly, Ryo gets a text message from Hijiri who apologizes for the other day. But that she is on a train to Tokyo so they can immediately meet.

Minato warns that she was a Malgam once, so Clotho could after after.

The others join Ryo as they try to look for her in the large park. Ryo ends up finding her first. But prisoner Yabuki Kyoichi grabs her from behind with a knife. He transforms into Jungle Malgam, causing Hijiri to faint.

Houtarou and Rinne arrive and henshin.

Episode Thoughts

Gotchard should be the gold standard in how to effectively craft a multi-faceted, well-paced and satisfying story in Toei toku. Both Kamen Rider and Super Sentai can struggle with how to tell a year-long, 50 episode story. But Gotchard seems to have found the right recipe and it has been paying off multiple times this season.

This season has really felt like you are taking successive steps toward what is essentially our endgame for the year. You’re not missing steps, you’re not leaping over whole flights of stairs or whatever metaphor you want to use. Here’s another metaphor. The season has progressed in a way where everything is able to be tightly woven together into one beautiful quilt. You don’t have missing squares on that quilt. You don’t have big holes in the middle of it. But you’re carefully and mindfully sewing each necessary piece together.

So this story of Ryo and Hijiri fits perfectly with this new development regarding the idea of Gaelijah reactivating Malgams in people. Which then in turn touches upon another one of the many challenges in Houtarou’s human-chemy utopia. Just like how Sabimaru and his brother’s story did too.

The Meikoku Sister dolls being based on human models to the idea of memories being implanted or removed or overwritten or returning; this all definitely feels like set-up and build-up to the endgame regarding Houtarou.

Using Ryo and Hijiri’s story to depict and explore this aspect of the Chemy world (along with Kyoka’s experimenting with Lachesis and her potential human memories) definitely feel like a climactic conclusion to this plot thread from the season. But again, it will certainly play into Houtarou’s own climax in the end as well.

This episode is yet another strong example of the season’s great use of character-driven story to further the overall plot. With six episodes left, we can be sure that they will be packed with good stuff. And again, when you care about these characters and are engaged with the actual story, it results in a fun journey each week and ultimately a satisfying experience.

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