Welcome, Riders, to another Weekly Ride Review with Ethan. Join them for another episode of Kamen Rider Gotchard where, this time, we see if Zukyunhearts is light, Rinne debuts a new form and… I don’t think Spanner likes vampires!
Recap
This week’s episode starts off right where the last one left off with everyone fighting the Mantis Sabertooth Tiger Chimera Malgam form of Clotho who, when Hotaro goes to use Fire Gotchard’s finisher, jumps out of the way. Spanner decides to leave Zukyumpire to them and leaves the episode.
Renge, during all of this, listened to the story of Yua, the person who’s been with Zukyumpire the longest. Shortly after Yua was dumped by her boyfriend, a malnourished Zukyumpire appeared before her and cheered her up. She, in turn, encouraged him to try and “save the world” and make everyone happy.
The Gotchard gang and Yua confront Zukyumpire on the rooftop and explain to him that everytime he ‘Zukyuns’ someone drains their life energy and that Yua is almost tapped out. Zukyumpire had no idea this was happening and the shock causes a split in kingdom hearts… I mean his charged up Zukyun!
This is until Clotho reappears, restrains him and forces him to keep charging it. Rinne transforms into Mooncerberus using the Yoacerberus and Neminemoon Chemies and proceeds to use Clotho like an NPC practicing fighting game combos.
Meanwhile, Hotaro transforms into Super Gothard X-Rex and gives Zukyumpire a pep talk to give him strength enough to break out of the restraints. He then willingly lets Hotaro capture him and is used for a Zukyun slash finisher on Cloth. This move charms Sabeliger and Kamantis, freezing Clotho for Hotaro and Rinne to hit her with the Fire Gotchard/Mooncerberus double Rider Kick.
The episode ends with Zukyumpire returning the energy and, after checking on Kamantis, Hotaro welcomes Zukyumpire to the team, who’s happy to share his power with his new friends. Rinne welcomes Sabeliger to her collection. We finish things seeing Yua reject the advances of the boyfriend that dumped her. You go, girl! The episode ends with Geryon saying some threatening things and Minato receiving a power up, the, supposedly irreplaceable, replica Unicorn Chemy.
The Bad?
Honestly, this week, the most I can really say is it would have been nice if Yua had been introduced last week, might have made her story feel more impactful.
The Good?
You know when the bad selection is only a sentence long and I’ve made more than one edit based on the episode that I liked it. I enjoyed everything with Zukyumpire’s well intentioned but, ultimately, harmful attempt to make everyone happy, and how that played out with Yua, Rinne’s new form and the awesome combo she did (her finisher that reminded me of a fighting game character), Sabi being happy Renge is back alright; everything was just really solid.
The Conclusion
Overall, this was a very solid two parter. The scene with Geryon, combined with the next episode preview, gives the whole thing a strong “calm before the storm” energy that’s all very exciting. By the way, if you would like a little extra information on the upcoming Gotchard form, I wrote an article going over it and what we know about the forms coming afterwards, which you can find here. Another great week of Gotchard and what seems to be another one on the horizon. Great stuff.
What do you think? Did Yua and Zukyumpire’s story Zukyun your heart? Did you like the edits I made? Should I do more for future reviews? As always, I’ve been Ethan: writer, reviewer and “I’m not going to sugar coat it” for The Toku source. Cya next time.
