We ride again, true believers! Join Ethan for this week’s Weekly Ride Review featuring fires, batteries, fated meetings and UFOs!
Summary
Picking up right where episode 9 left off (if you need a refresher, check out my review for it here), we see Gotchard fighting the JungleJan Malgam, transforming into Goldmechanichor using GoldDash and Mechanichani. He makes quick work of the Malgam and captures the JungleJan Chemy while Clotho gathers the sample from the exploded Malgam. While everyone waits around for the police to take the passed out escaped convict away, Kajiki runs up upset and explains that his fateful encounter has been cut short. This takes us into the opening.
We rejoin the gang comforting Kajiki about his revelation that it appears Hijiri Himeno already had a boyfriend. Mr. Minato pulls Hotaro and Rinne aside and explains to them that there was someone else Clotho broke out of custody. By looking at the name of the person in question, the pair realise that, actually, Hijiri has a brother. Mr. Minato and Hotaro split up to look for them because odds are high they are also a Malgam. Meanwhile, Rinne, Renge and Sabimaru focus on cheering up Kajiki and keeping him away from danger.
As part of his distraction, Rinne ecstatically takes the terrified Kajiki, Renge and Sabimaru around the haunted house. After this, they sit at a cafe but Kajiki overhears someone’s phone playing a news report about Hijiiri’s brother. Realising she’s in danger, he rushes off with the others not far behind.
We join the siblings in a warehouse where Hijiri is asking her brother if he remembers seeing the hitodama that sparked her love of the supernatural and the kind words he said to her when they saw them. Hijiri says she’s always believed in her brother and that there was no way he could be an arsonist. Conversely, he responds negatively, confirming he 100% did do start the fires. He reveales himself to be the Battery Malgam, made with the Chemy Raidenji, and taunts her by asking if the hitodama she saw were not just things he had set on fire. He blasts lightning around, setting a bunch of fires.
In Japanese folklore, hitodama (Japanese 人魂; meaning “human soul”) are balls of fire that mainly float in the middle of the night. They are said to be “souls of the dead that have separated from their bodies”, which is where their name comes from.
Hitodama, as defined by Wikipedia
Hotaro and Mr. Minato arrive just in time. Hotaro transforms into SteamHopper Form, jumping into save Hijiri, who’s in a shocked silence over all of this. The others arrive and, while Gotchard is fighting the Malgam, they look through their Chemies for one that can help. The group eventually arriving at Flayrose and Hiikescue, who when used by Gotchard lets him turn into his Hiikesurose Form. Gotchard quickly puts out all of the fires and defeats the Malgam but, when he tries to capture Raidenji, it is attracted instead to Hijiri’s malice and she turns into the Battery Malgam herself.
Everyone’s alchemy rings get warped by the heat when blocking the lightning blasts from the Malgam. Hotaro is forced to body block to prevent Hijiri from killing her brother. Gotchard quickly reenters tank stance with Goldmechanichor and he’s able to use this form’s armour and GoldDash’s own lightning resistance to act as a lightning rod. This buys enough time for everyone have their rings fixed and summon the samurai swords from the theme park to redirect the Malgams attacks. This also buys time for Kajiki to reach out to Hijiri and allow Hotaro to land a finisher and capture Raidenji.
As he’s being taken away by the police, Hijiri’s brother remarks that he did actually remember the hitodama. Mr. Minato says he will give Kajiki and Hijiri half and hour before wiping their memories of this incident. During this 30 minutes, the two see a UFO. While they’re celebrating this moment, the UFO disappears along with their memories and the two part as strangers. Standing behind the couple, on the building behind them, was Clotho, who has just completed her mission of capturing the level ten Chemy, UFO-X.
We see Rinne, Hotaro and Kajiki walking together as Kajiki is complaining that he feels like he’s forgetting something important again. Just as he walks, unknowingly, past Hijiri, Hotaro and Rinne sadly remark about the Chemy law and how there’s no exceptions. However, at that moment, Hijiri turns back and calls to Kajiki to ask about the magazine he is holding and the two have a fateful reencounter, bringing this episode to a close.
My Take
GOTCHA! Another week, another review and I’m always happy to get to say that this is another great episode. There is only one complaint I have, and it’s one I’ve been saving since last episode because I wanted to see how this two parter panned out, why did the Jungle Malgam look like that? It looked more like a Malgam of the level ten Chemy, Xeggdrasil, than a jungle. This currently makes it my least favourite Malgam design. But, enough complaining, let’s get into the good stuff. The emotional core of this episode, Kajiki and Hijiri, hit me like a ton of bricks. I was tearing up during his big speech to her. The Battery Malgam’s design having that eye on it was reminiscent of some types of Yokai. That was a neat element to tie things together to love. All in all, a great episode and I can’t wait to see where things go next week!
But what about you? What did you think ? Did you also cry at the parts I did? Did you have any supernatural encounters? Do you also really want UFO-X? Let me know in the comments below. As always this has been Ethan: writer, reviewer and UFO watcher for The Toku Source and I’ll cya next time!
