With Kamen Rider Geats over, we move onto new horizons with the first episode of the Reiwa Era’s fifth rider, Kamen Rider Gotchard!
Episode Summary
The show gives us an energetic start with a mystery man fighting three mystery women. It becomes clear that they’re all fighting pretty weirdly – with the power of Alchemy on both sides. The man uses spirits from the cards he holds – the Chemies – and escapes to a place called the “Ouroboros Zone,” where he stands, pondering his cards.
Then, we’re introduced to Hotaro, our main character for the season. He;s a sweet boy who seems to be into cooking, trying to find a meal that’ll make him go “Gotcha!” or, to better explain it, he’s trying to find something that’ll ignite some sort of passion in him. As he gets to school, developed further as his teacher chews him out for not filling in his choice of career.
Kudoh, another student, passes Hotaro and bumps into him. Kudoh seems to be dead set on a career that’s already been decided for her, which Hotaro can’t really grasp. Whilst the two are in class, Kudoh subtly makes fun of Hotaro. After school, Hotaro follows Kudoh to give her a piece of his mind but, instead, sees her literally walking into the wall. Before he can investigate, a door opens curiously behind Hotaro, and he goes inside.
In a scary supply closet area, Hotaro discovers Hopper1, a Chemy. Meanwhile, his partner, Steamliner, is rampaging in the subway tunnels. As Hotaro takes Hopper1 to the park, there’s a communication barrier between the two that frustrates both. Though, as Kudoh confronts him about having Hopper1, Steamliner enters the scene and shenanigans ensue. As Hotaro tries to save Kudoh, Hotaro accidentally boards Steamliner.
After more tomfoolery, Hotaro ends up at the Ouroboros Zone and meets the mystery man from the beginning of the episode. He says that if Hotaro is here, then Hopper1 and Steamliner like him. Suddenly, they’re attacked by the same three women as before. The mystery man entrusts Hotaro with a driver and sends him back to the real world. The three mystery women use their powers to free all the Chemies.
Back in the real world, the Chemies are released and are causing mayhem all over the city. Yet another mystery man arrives at the scene, holding a blank Chemy card. The three women confront Hotaro and Kudoh, and one of them – Clotho – decides to fight Hotaro and Kudoh herself. She bonds with the Kamakiri Chemy and becomes a monster of the week. Hotaro runs, at first, but decides to fight, transforming into Kamen Rider Gotchard!
We get a cool fight scene after some CGI hijinks and, eventually, Hotaro overpowers Clotho. Hotaro gets a blank card and the Kamakiri Chemy bonds with it, freeing it from Clotho’s grasp. After the fight, the second mystery man wipes the town’s memories. It turns out to be Hotaro’s teacher. Kudoh and the teacher introduce Hotaro to the world of alchemy, ending the episode there.
Thoughts
Ethan’s Take
This sure was a promising start to the season! The setup and focus on Hotaro does a great job of making us like him. The Chemys are cute and fun. I enjoyed the introduction to Alchemy and the demonstrations of what it can do, from transmuting objects to wiping memory. The memory wiping does make me worry a little the series is just going to use alchemy as another word for magic when, as far as I know, it’s an ancient type of natural philosophy that could be described as proto science more than anything.
The action was great and the choreography was fast paced and energetic. The only part I really have any criticism would be the shot just after Hotaro transforms into Gotchard and goes in for the attack on our first monster of the week. While it was a very nice shot with the camera movement there was a notable drop in video quality and I don’t think that it looked great. Aside from the drop in video quality the shot looked cool and added to the energy off the fight. I also liked how the first gave the CGI form for Steamhopper a good focus and everyone’s confusion over if that was what a Kamen Rider is supposed to look like. I also enjoy how the Alchemy theme is present in the henshin sequence.
I’m very much looking forward to episode two, getting to see the alchemy school and really just building out the world. Since the first episode made a good start on that, I think the premiere did its job nicely. Other than the few minor criticisms I’ve mentioned, I will say this episode has not sold me on this season’s evil trio. There’s not really enough there for me to form an opinion deeper then “they sure are the bad guys, I wish the elder sister wouldn’t take the form of a child!” Still, even with that in mind, I liked this episode.
Danno’s Impression
I liked this episode. It was pretty standard but it reminded me a lot of early Heisei Phase 2 seasons like W and OOO. What it does do with the standard is pretty fun, though, introducing us to the Alchemy theme right out of the gate.
Most of my complaints come from a writing perspective. As folks may know, I’m a screenwriter, but I’ve also been a fan of Kamen Rider for a long time. My main complaint is that this episode is very standard. While it’s a breath of fresh air compared to how Geats handled everything, I still want a little bit more.
One other complaint comes from the dialogue choice for the Chemies. If I wanted to watch Pokemon, I’d watch Pokemon. Lovekov at least had more dialogue than “Kovukovu” and “Lovulovu.” Guys, come on.
Though, all in all, I am looking forward to seeing how this first arc goes.
Come back each week for a new edition of The Weekly Ride Review as Ethan and Danno take your through Kamen Rider Gotchard from start to finish.
Did you enjoy the Kamen Rider Gotchard premiere? Has the premise of the season ‘gotcha?’ Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
Did you notice that the 3 evil women are named after the 3 Fate Sisters from Greek Mythology?
Here is a description:
The Fates, also called the Moirai, were three figures in Greek mythology who represented half of Zeus’s six children with Themis, the goddess of justice. (The other three were collectively known as the Horai, or the Hours.) Their names were Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, and like their Disney counterparts, they were in charge of human destiny via balls of thread that determined how long a human would live. Clotho’s task was to spin the thread, determining who would be born and when; Lachesis measured the thread according to how long that new person would live; and Atropos, the oldest, was responsible for cutting it when the time came. She also selected the manner in which the person died.
i didnt catch that, very cool !