Kamen Rider Gotchard Reviews

Kamen Rider Gotchard Episode 20 Review

Last review:

"Who wants to bet that his episode will have his parents, fake or real, die in front of him. Either way, it's time for our polarizing mutt to break and pick himself up."

Present day:

I was way too on the mark: this is depressing! Dramatic! Traumatic! They brought his parents back from the dead, took his memories of them DYING in front of his eyes, and killed them right in front of him as an adult! THEY WENT THERE! Holy hell Spanner needs a freaking hug! I love it! We're all sadists. Didn't Kekara prove that no, making your heroes suffer doesn't automatically make them an ideal protagonist or hero, but their convictions and ability to overcome it will.

Let's start from the beginning. This tension between Lachesis' jealously of Atropos has to be leading somewhere. Given her...rivarly with Spanner fans are enthusiastic about, a disappointment turned opportunity for her to be used a bit more than to commit on Spanner losing his fangs, and being stunned at his blades that were locked deep away hopefully leads to somewhere next week.

But Geats started this debate of final villains and how they really need to be more impactful throughout the series instead of towards the end alone. While Geats being the only Reiwa season I've watched completely thanks to issues that have nothing to do with the show's quality from themselves, I understand where people are coming from, so it's nice Geyron's been so active. It's just a little annoying the Dark Sisters seem to be semi reduced to lackeys despite being generals. Though Atropos and Lachesis have enough depth to carry them so far, and the lengths Geyron will go to might make him one of the more well-received villains if they keep it up with him.

Fun fact, Tamami being out for a high school reunion with her Yo-Yo Research Club is actually a nod to her actress' role as Yoko Gdai in the Sukeban Deka movie, an interesting series about a delinquent helps the police solve crimes with a yo-yo as her weapon of choice.

And if you think that's weird, you're reading a review about a teenager who uses a belt to merge with a grasshopper and a steam engine battling a trio of girl bosses who recruit criminals, trauma victims, and corrupt alchemists to kidnap innocent creatures of potent destruction with his only allies being an introverted orphan with the powers of the sun and unicorn, an aloof jerk who fights with a sword wrench, an introvert that uses an iPad to speak, and a girl who's using a borderline magic club to make money. And that's not even the weirdest sentence made about this franchise.

It's nice to get Spanner's perspective on Hotarou and Rinne, more so Hotarou as someone who finds overly idealistic over considering the price of his actions while Spanner is training out of jealous. He sees him and Hotarou as hard work versus hardly working and filled with talent, combined with the insecurities from both of them surpassing him since the Level X incidents. We knew his jealously was going to be a factor for a while given his drive to receive Fuga's Driver but to see he refuses to take the means to try so despite seeing those efforts with his own eyes.

And confirming Kyoka was there to see Geyron makes complete sense to this investigation. They know he's responsible, they just lack the leverage within the association to do anything about it. 

Apparently Spanner's parents being combat alchemists ran into their blood. It's cool knowing each alchemist has their own combat style. Minato uses his exclusively for weapon or uliity constructions, Geyron's always about projectile spam, Spanner makes something quick and effective, Sabimaru and Regne just throw the kitchen sink, and Hotarou exclusively makes it for his own powerup, which offers enough variety.

And it's sweet his parents attempted to try and fight, though there's questions about how death affects ones ability to transmute abilities, though it would make sense to revive someone without complete access to their abilities so they can't turn on you.

Plus, after seeing Spanner/Supana be aloof at best with rare moments of kindness, it's refreshing to have him happy, smiling, and comfortable with the people who he cares about. Yeah, they're revived from the dead, but let's not act like he's a complete tool:

He gave Hotarou Madwheel briefly to save Rinne, he helped out that woman who was dumped to move forward than consume revenge, he finished Hotarou's food despite claiming it's bad, he helped them grant enough time to come up with a way to save Sabimaru, came in to save them from Clotho and give Houtaro time to set up his finisher,

Side alert, it would be really nice to have a Chemy that heals. Even the Shift Mad Doctor car and Yuri had their limits but these guys get hurt way too much.

And now we get that scene, we've been waiting for all this time. That symbolism of the chains binding him down: mirroring his own failings and inability to grow stronger as Geyron shuts down Fire Gotchard, Spanner's pleas for help, drowning in deaf ears, pleading for even Minato to help as his parents are disintegrated in front of him twice, and the black flames consuming him, it's all presented beautifully. You feel bad, but you can't help but be entertained all the more.

And if you pause, you could see Madwheel sobbing. It's hard to tell if Madwheel was trying to save Spanner by activating Valvarad to hinder the black flames and Geyron's attempts to mutate him, or if that was Geryon's plans and Madwheel was trying to help him resist it. It does show two things, there are Chemies who want to work with Spanner, he's just too blind to see it.

Thought: if you're really disturbed, Valvarad is a Kamen Warrior, not a Rider. Underneath the suit are his bones and muscles connected through implements and motor oil. The wheel Malgam didn't just rip off the helmet, that's a piece of his face and skull while the rest of his body is being morphed into armor. Now that's terrifying.

On the unique side of things, Spanner's now technically the first Malgam character to be an anti-hero and it's not like we've seen traces off before: Wrestler G didn't turn Asahi into a Malgam, Hijiki just wanted to cope with her brother's losses.

Also, on the topic of Kyoka wiping his memories, without context, "well why shouldn't she have just given him therapy." Look, therapy is something everyone should try, it's not an instant win-condition, but it is a tool to help you better yourself. And yes, discussing death with children at young age helps people become more understanding of it and can help to appreciate life instead of seeing their existence as a game they don't have to take seriously.

At the same time, as a child, that pain caused him to protrude spikes emerging from black flames as a result of that potential energy for his alchemy abilities. You can't just put a nine-year-old into a normal therapist with that type of trauma, especially when it's his trigger to become consumed by malice and he can do alchemy without using a ring!

That scar could potentially have crippled her ability to either perform alchemy, and despite probably being at best friends with his parents, she took him in with their injuries, gave him a home, supported his consistent nightmares, taught him chess to control his emotions, raised him to live a life of virtues, all that as a single parent mind you!

Yes, those black flames are his true power, and holding back the truth for so long has consequences, let's just saying known having anecdotal evidence about a child finding out their parent kept their other parent's death a secret in real life, but the important to do then is to accept the reason and live for the parents who would want you to succeed. And chalking these complex emotions to, "oh just give him therapy" is negligent at best and dangerous at worst. Even he says himself he's thankful for what she's done, and she knows he'll come back eventually.

Just give it a week.

Hell, that power could've saved his parents, but he's not in proper control, and he was too young and filled with rage to properly wield it. The black flames are a symbol of trauma and power that needs to be managed by physical and spiritual growth, not just some power up that came out of nowhere. His skills were established earlier on: A-class alchemist, graduate, his last name means black metal, wears black, and is developing a darker mindsight as Rinne grows lighter and Hotarou's colors reflect his adaptability and growth in their Rider forms. But darkness isn't always evil, and this is a franchise about heroes using powers mostly made from evil forces for good.

That's all the thoughts I've got for episode one. Great, had some wonky aspects about it, and yet, was entertained by it. Hoping the issues/criticisms get addressed next episode, and voice your comments below. Thanks for reading.