Kamen Rider Gotchard Reviews

Gotchard Episode 33 Review

Fun fact, for the dark riders, they contacted their past actors to help them make deviations of the characters henshin they are resembling, and even make deviations of their respective catchphrases. Mimei doesn't get one because Glare didn't really have one under Girori's usage: didn't really fit that character but Tasogere uses Eternal's "now have a little taste of hell," and Saigetsu uses King's "It's extinction time."

Lachesis becoming Valvarad is cool, she's kissed before in fights, but using it to transform into Valvarad Warrior is a good fit. The green lines are cool, wonder if they were a nod to her using more Green and Plant Chemies in the past: and it's cool she had leftover Repli-Chemy cards.

One thing that might piss off some people is Gotchard fighting them in his base form and then uses it later but in his defense, fighting an opponent you don't know that much about doesn't give you a set idea on what their power is, and once you know, then you can use the later forms. It can be annoying to some but in this case, it doesn't bug me too much.

Will say the range between the actor does going from a everyday mystery buff in high school Kajiki to the elegant Butler is a cool thing to do.

While cool to see X-Rex, Gotchard's more aggressive form take on the brutality of Dark Kiva and Eternal, Houtarou vs Tasogare actually gives Houtaro a good character beat, Hundred's Kamen Riders are stealing, well borrowing the powers of Kamen Riders from other worlds, and ties into a problem often coined in fandom spaces as dangling keys:trying to entertain the audience with familiar elements like jokes, past references, or nods that aren't new or come off uninspired, and this episode had people criticize this episode for doing that with it's past nods and references. Houtarou's response honestly puts a statement like that into question. While it's a cool nod to the older fans, Gotchard's characters have built up and struggled their their fights with their Chemies to get the power that they have, so they arent' going to lose to pale imitations of people just using past. The Chemies aren't tools, but how you raise and nurture them decide who they can help, who's hatred they'll feed in, just like Rider powers our. They can be used by good people, as well as bad, and it felt the message was not to dissuade the past in the present, while carrying on their ideals.

We even see Houtarou using FireGotchard with Ant Wrestler, a Chemy he had an whole episode.

For example: Mimei actually uses Glare's control effectively, taking control of another character to harm their allies, and it was a big deal in Geats because it eliminated Ace from the Desire Grand Prix at the series, and it lead to him nearly dying in a "taking you with me," and Mimei's attempts to do that was almost replicated, but Lachesis interferes, Valvarad decides not to let that shock interfere, and then of all people, Clotho activates her Abyss Gear and fights all four Riders at once before freeing Rinne. The new characters aren't just here to make the audience go "look at this from the past," they have their own stories and arcs to pursue: the Double Riders finishing off with a join Valvara/d Rider Kick Break and Crush: two people who used to hate each other, now begrudging allies on the battlefield. Even though it was a wasted opportunity to have Spanner slowly come to appreciate her involvement in the fight.

And it's a sweet continuation of Clotho's power: she got it from her desire to protect Lachesis, so for now, why would she hurt her sister. It sucks Majade has to take the L, but it's a good debut for the type of power Clotho can possess and it shows the fun in having three factions of opponents all with their own intentions.

Oh hey, it's Zein from Kamen Rider Outsiders: long story short, he's one of those "must eradicate all forms of evil, even if that evil isn't that bad or the situation is more complex AI" that a suicide squad esque type of Kamen Riders from the past have to deal with, minispecial. Don't know if he'll show up again in the series or if it was a promotion, but Outsiders ties into the main universe, but it is funny he calls her a fraud: cuz yeah, Hundred's a bunch of copycats.

What's really appealing towards Iron Gotchard's defeat and Kajiki finding out Houtarou's identity again is the crowd behind him and Houtaro running to get the innocent girl out of the way. Kamen Riders don't inherently fight for justice, but at the end of the day, they fight for human lives: the speech Houtarou gives about small life not being true: that human, Chemy, no life is worth not protecting. Everyone behind him matters in some way or form, Kamen Riders are what give the people hope in the world against evil, like Superman. And the cheers of the people, picking him back up are representative of what Kamen Riders truly are: those using powers potentially for evil to cherish all lives. It's why using Platinum works better now than in the beginning: that's a form made by Houtarou's connections built off two creators and the guidance of his human allies motivating the others to work with him.

Plus there's a great nod with the final clash, Eternal uses the Zone Memory to activate the Maximum Drive and Eternal by using all 26 Memories for Eternal's finishing move used in the past, Gotchard uses TWENTY SIX Chemies whose names begin with A to Z into one massive Rider Kick. He won't lose to someone whose power is stolen from others.

Also fun fact, they didn't have a direct Chemy whose first letter began with Q, so they went with the one with the closest sound: Hiikescue,

Kaguya showing up to destroy the Aurora Curtain and debuting his main forms, cycling through the first 10 Heisei Riders and using the superweapon that was sent to Gotcahrd's word last episode, a Chemy Card to transform him into Legendary Legend...yeah the name is a lot, but for a gorgeous end to the episode, it's a fun way to end a fun episode.Overall, it's a good episode that doesn't use nostalgia bait, but respects the past while continuing to move the story forward just having heart in an action focused episode.