Recap: Kamen Rider Gotchard, Episode 49 – Metal Warrior! The Silver Valvarad

As he has trouble making the right adjustments to his Driver, Supana can’t help but think of Gigist’s words about the black flames inside him.

Just then, Supana senses someone approaching. But it is only Lachesis. She had been searching everywhere for him based on Kyoka-san’s list of potential places he might be.

Lachesis suggests Supana just let Kyoka-san make a new Driver for him. But he says that because it is based on Houtarou’s Igniter, it doesn’t have the power to make use of his full potential.

Meanwhile, a straggler Malgam is terrorizing the citizens of Tokyo. Houtarou-tachi hurry over. With Rinne still out of power, Houtarou henshins to Rainbow to fight it off himself. A crowd of people watches the battle as Houtarou feels something is off. Still, he is able to defeat the Malgam.

Houtarou dehenshins and runs over to a frightened little girl. But her mother grabs her and tells Houtarou to stay away from her. She does not trust alchemists and Kamen Riders.

The mob of people blame them for the danger they are being subjected to and yell at them to get rid of the Chemies.

Suddenly, Manabe-san and Sawa emerge to defend the Chemies, saying they were saved by them and that there is no reason to be afraid of them. Ryo and Seina walk up to defend Houtarou-tachi as heroes for risking their lives even when they’re just high schoolers. They beg the mob to put their trust in Houtarou-tachi.

But Tatchan inserts himself in the conversation to reiterate that Chemies are dangerous and Kamen Riders are their enemies. He leads the mob to chase after the Gang who have to run off to safety.

Back at Papa Kudoh’s lab, Supana asks Lachesis how her human evolution is moving along. She says that she is in the final stages now. Supana tells her to stop wasting her time here and to just focus on that.

Just then, Gigist appears to remind Supana that if he comes with, he can help him attain the ultimate power. Supana reiterates that he does not need Gigist’s power. Supana henshins.

They take their battle to the stadium. But Gigist is able to force Supana to dehenshin. Lachesis steps forward and prepares to henshin. But Gigist shoots at her hand. Supana summons MadWheel to whisk them to safety.

While hiding from the mob, the others urge Houtarou to go check on his home. But when he gets there, he finds Gurion instead of his mother. Gurion says he’s been waiting for him. Houtarou fears Gurion has done something to Mama Ichinose, but Gurion shushes him.

Gurion says Houtarou belittled his dream of a golden world even when humans love gold. And that is because gold is eternal while human life itself futile. Houtarou insists all life has value.

That’s why, Gurion says, he found a life Houtarou values very much and snuffed it out. Houtarou thinks Gurion has murdered his mother. But just then, Mama Ichinose comes walking through the front door.

Mama Ichinose thinks Gurion is a customer. Gurion says Houtarou has done a lot for him and excuses himself as he leaves.

Having noticed the tense atmosphere earlier, Mama Ichinose asks Houtarou if Gurion is related to the thing he is passionate about. Before Houtarou can explain any more, Rinne calls to tell him about Supana and Lachesis.

Houtarou excuses himself and promises to tell Mama Ichinose everything soon. Mama Ichinose says she’ll be waiting for him.

Supana is wrapping up Lachesis’ wound. Lachesis says that her bleeding must be a sign of her being close to becoming human. Supana asks what she would like to do when she is fully human.

Lachesis says he’ll just have to find out. She’s always been happy with just going with the flow, but now she wants to help her sisters become human too.

Clotho appears and says it is too late because Atropos is dead. Clotho says all she wanted was for the three of them to be together again.

Just then, Gigist pops in and says while he empathizes with them, their doll dreams are just pale imitations. An enraged Clotho henshins and takes him on.

But Clotho is no match for Gigist’s power. He sends her away.

Lachesis prepares to henshin as well, but Supana stops her. He henshins instead and says he will fight for both of them since Lachesis is still on her way to becoming human.

Supana gives all he’s got. But Gigist easily forces him to dehenshin. He then sends flames at Supana, telling him to burn.

Lachesis begs Supana to stay with her. Supana falls to his knees and finds himself in the darkness

Supana laments that even when he gained control of his black flames, he still regarded it as evil. Especially when they were the ones responsible for his parents’ suffering and hurting Kyoka-san. So when he found out the power came from Gigist, he thought that he’d be proven right. That’s why he decided to use the power to end Gigist and himself if it meant he could keep everyone safe.

Suddenly, Houtarou’s words begin to replay in his mind. Supana understands Houtarou’s Gotcha, even if their roads don’t always converge.

Houtarou, Rinne, Sabimaru, Renge and Kyoka-san come running just as Supana frees himself from Gigist’s flames.

Supana looks at Kyoka-san and nods with a smile. She nods back.

Supana recalls Gigist saying that the brighter the light, the darker the abyss. But that also means the darker the abyss, the light that shines above it will be stronger, bolder and brighter.

Suddenly, Supana’s dark blames turn a bright silver. He draws upon the light his parents, Kyoka-san and Houtarou have all entrusted him with.

With a new Driver and DaiOhni and MachWheel, Supana henshins to Kamen Rider Valvarad Kurogane.

Houtarou wants to henshin too. But Supana says he will handle Gigist himself because that is his path forward.

Gigist is shocked when his attacks don’t seem to affect Supana at all. They battle, but Gigist is no match for Supana’s bright power.

Gigist believes this is the evolution of the black flames. As Supana delivers an Over Valvara Burst finisher, Gigist marvels at the beautiful silver flames. As the biggest purveyor of alchemy, Gigist congratulates Supana on his evolution. “You have become my worthy successor,” Gigist says as he explodes.

Supana dehenshins. As Clotho manages to return, Houtarou and the others run over to cheer Supana on his awesome moment.

Supana looks over to Lachesis and they share a smile.

Out of nowhere, a dark version of Nijigon comes flying in and retrieves the Stone from Gigist’s remains. Houtarou, Rinne, Sabimaru and Renge try to catch it. But Lachesis is the one who is able to grab it.

Lachesis excitedly holds it up, but she suddenly gets shot from behind.

The dark dragon flies back to Gurion who declares the defective doll has been disposed of. He says he will allow them to decide what to do with the doll’s remains.

Supana runs over to Lachesis who sheds tears as she looks at her sister. An enraged Supana runs toward Gurion. But Gurion shoots at him, bragging about now being in possession of their Philosopher’s Stone. Now it is time for his golden chemistry bring about his El Dorado.

Gurion leaves. Supana sets off to follow, but Lachesis calls to him. He takes her in his arms.

Lachesis says perhaps it’s time to answer Supana’s question. What she wanted to do as a human was to fall in love.

Lachesis thinks about her dream of being happy with Supana.

A dream that now seems impossible. Lachesis takes her last breath.

Everyone watches in shock and sorrow.

Supana puts Lachesis’ veil over her face and carries her away.

You are not a doll, Supana says. “You are one of us. You are a human being.”

Next day, Houtarou, Rinne, Supana, Sabimaru, Renge and Kyoka-san run to find Gurion on a rooftop. He shows them the ElDoraDriver and henshins.

To commemorate this moment, he unveils a new monument. And to everyone’s shock, it is Minato-sensei almost fully turned into gold.

Episode Thoughts

So let me start off by saying that I was definitely prepared for what was to come from this episode because just minutes after the episode first aired, Alisa Sakamaki tweeted this:
https://x.com/alisa2525_10923/status/1824966091455840721
And I had no chance to avoid it. lololol So I already knew what was coming.

Had I not, I would probably be a blubbering mess right now. But that doesn’t mean tears were not shed while watching this episode. Because they definitely were! huhu

The first MaGMCM for me this episode was when Manabe-san and Sawa popped out to defend the AA Gang. And then Ryo came along with Seina. And I really didn’t even like Seina that much during the Romeo & Juliet episodes. But the show used all four of them perfectly in this moment. The same way that they have been able to use Asahi-san and all the other people who have been touched by Houtarou and the Gang and by the Chemies as well.

This all helps to support Houtarou’s Gotcha and the idea of coming together and lifting each other up, whether human or Chemy. That every life holds value.

And of course, what subplot better to serve as the penultimate episode focus than Supana’s climax and in turn Lachesis’ as well.

We’ve seen Supanar’s growth and development through the season. Him being able to overcome the pain and tragedy of his past. Being able to move forward thanks to the positive influence of his new friends, most especially Houtarou. And drawing upon his pain to find courage and strength.

All of this then helping to drive Lachesis forward too.

Now I’m not going to say Gotchard has been perfect. It has done a lot of things so well. Definitely so much more than the recent Kamen Rider seasons. But of course there’s plenty of things I would have loved to have seen the season go deeper into or spend more time on.

One of those things is probably doing more with the Meikoku Sisters and finding their purpose in their doll-turned-human lives. That said, this season has done better with the idea of “What it means to be human?” than some other Kamen Rider and Sentai seasons who have that as a more central theme than Gotchard did.

But the way Gotchard has been able to so tightly weave together all the different threads during this season has really bore the delicious and satisfying fruit that we are enjoying now.

One of the things this season has touched upon is how the best of intentions and ideals can get tarnished by malice and darkness. Just like with the Chemies.

That’s why this penultimate episode focusing mainly on Spanner and Lachesis’s growth works so well. For Lachesis, she is sort of the example of what Atropos and Clotho could have become had they not been blinded and corrupted by the darkness (or the gold, in Atropos’ case lol) She is someone who has been used as a pawn. Tossed around like a rag doll, literally. But when she was able to “see the light,” so to speak, her eyes were opened to something more. And that’s what happened to Atropos and Clotho too, only a bit too late for older sister. Though we’ll see how it goes for Clotho next week.

With Supanar, the pain he’s suffered and the evil that caused it prevented him from being able to grab onto something more positive. Kyoka-san has kept him going all these years. And his new relationships and friendships are what helped him to finally dig deep to find that strength and power he always had.

I think this episode was also a great climax to the contrast between Houtarou and Spanna all season. Houtarou was this naïve, happy-go-lucky, but positive guy with a simple Gotcha. Supanaur was someone who has gone through a lot and knows the dangers and threats of what’s out. A clashing of ideals. But now that they’ve learned from each other and helped lift each other up, of course that results in the strongest power ever.

A very familiar and well-trodden path for many Toei toku. But done so very well here on Gotchard. A very exciting and well-earned debut for Valvarad Kurogane.

Now! To get to the other big MaGMCMs. First of course Supannar’s reflections in the dark leading to his bright light. Very powerful moment!

And then of course, like I said, I already braced myself for Lachesis dying thanks to the tweets from both Alisa Sakamaki and the official Gotchard account. Every time Lachesis stepped forward to shield Spana, I was like “Oh my goodness, this is it!” lol Little did I know that those were all just ploys to set up Gurion shooting Lachesis in the back!

I knew it was coming, yet my jaw (and the tears!) still dropped to the floor right then.

Though I must point out she did not dissolve into shimmering sparkles like the usual final deaths of Toei toku characters. So I’ll hold on to my 0.01% hope for a happy ending lolololol And yes, I know Gurion mentioned how, out of the kindness of his heart, allowed them to mourn and bury her physical body. Lol Thanks Gurion. Lol

Anyway. My hopeless romantic self enjoys the crumbs of romance Toei toku gives us. And they were able to use the potential romance between Supana and Lachesis to further their characters’ development and the story. It wasn’t just to be cute or whatever. (Even though they were definitely cute lolol) But it was a substantive part of their stories and for the season as a whole too.

Now for a split second, when Houtarou and Gurion were in the restaurant, I thought Mama Ichinose was going to come in and be like “Oh my goodness, your dad’s home!” lololol Thankfully, that was not the case. Lol I think the show has just dropped that plot point at this point. Though who knows what might happen next week. I don’t really think it’s too important for the endgame of regular series. Perhaps it provides plot for a future movie or TTFC special.

But with Gurion the last Bad standing, I think he does serve as the perfect opposite of Houtarou. So their final battle should be quite satisfying.

#ProtectMamaIchinose!

Overall, this was a great episode. The perfect episode to lead-in to the finale with. Emotional and exciting. It really worked so well. And as has been the case for the season, the pieces just all come together in the right way to result in something really enjoyable and satisfying.

Even with one episode left, I can already say that Gotchard will end up as one of my favorite Kamen Rider seasons in the 13 years I’ve been watching this franchise. Maybe not enough to dethrone my top 2. But definitely up there.

So next week will be a bittersweet experience. But I’m excited for it!