All Aboard Riders for another Weekly Ride Review with Ethan, this week we have , a new type of Dread, and a new Gotchard. Apologies, it seems like Kesuzo erased some of this reviews introduction!
Episode 24
Recap
A good chunk of episode 24 was a clip show, with the framing device being that Kesuzo, the eraser Chemy, erased the data Sabi was working on so everyone recounts moments form the series up until Minato betrays them all. Meanwhile, Minato and Geryon are discussing the next stages on their plan now they have Warptera which, of course, they use to make a gold Malgam out off.
Back to the clip show, the gang are interrupted by Spanner and Professor Kyoka who explain that, since Minato didn’t kill Kyoka, he’s probably not evil but, rather, undercover trying to take Geryon down in his own way. This also foreshadowed the Minato backstory we will be getting next episode. A note from Minato arrives, telling everyone to meet up at a location and they will take Geryon down together.
They are all jumped, almost immediately, by the Pterodactyl Malgam. As he warps about, they lose almost all of their Chemies. Hotaro is down to only Steamliner after Hopper1 sacrifices themself to stop Hotaro from diving in after them. Rinne and Spanner are left with four Chemies between them, which they use to transform and do battle with the Pterodactyl Malgam and a powered up Minato, who transforms into Kamen Rider Dread: Type One with the Unicorn replica Chemy Card.
Meanwhile, Hotaro, Renge, Sabi and Professor Kyoka escape to a safe distance. Hotaro asks if there’s any way for him to transform with only Steamliner, which Kyoka says there’s only one way: using forbidden alchemy. She adds that this isn’t really an option because it will put a lot of strain on his body. As Kyoka rejects the idea, someone arrives. We then flip back to Rinne and Spanner’s battle just as they switch to their other forms and almost instantly lose them, too. Left with only their base form Chemies, they are saved by Hotaro, who arrives with a gold and red alchemy ring and trains-forms (not sorry) into a new form. The episode ends with him loudly declaring his name: Iron Gotchard.
The Bad?
Well, the obvious thing to say would be “the clip heavy part wah wah.” It’s likely they did it like that because they wanted to remind everyone watching about forbidden Alchemy and because the current Super Sentai, Ohsama Sentai KingOver (not sorry about that pun either) is finishing up. They probably wanted to let it have more breathing space by having a lighter episode that also sets up for bigger things next week.
The Good?
Why is it that the stepping stone forms are my favourite? Iron Gotchard is such a good looking suit. It will be a shame that we are unlikely to see it, post platinum debut. That said, there were a few other really neat things that we learned this episode. For instance, during the initial clip show segment, Hotaro finally asked what a Kamen Rider is. In respinse, Rinne looked she’d been shot but explained that, in the world of Alchemy, it’s an extremely honoured title. It’s what the legendary Alchemists, from the stories that Rinne grew up being read, called themselves 120 years ago. This is a plot point that I honestly expect to mainly come into play during the one of the Gotchard movies, as there’s a fairly high chance one of them will involve meeting them.
The Conclusion
It’s pretty obvious this episode was to set up a few important things: Geryon getting all the Chemies so they can reuse past Malgam in future episodes, the thing that happened ten years ago with Minato that lead to him joining Geryon now, and Rinne’s father showing back up (thanks episode preview for spoiling that) to aid Hotaro. All of these are interesting plot points that I can’t wait to see explored in future episodes. While the episode may not be the most mindblowing, it does exactly what it clearly set out to do and that’s set things up.
Episode 25
Recap
The episode opens with Iron Gotchard quickly dispatching the Pterodactyl Malgam before the transformation puts too much strain on Hotaro’s body. He almost collapses but is caught by Rinne’s father, who creates cover for them to all retreat back to base. After the intro, Professor Kyoka and Rinne’s father, Fuuga, explain why Minato is with Geryon and pay off the flashback from last episode.
Ten years ago, Geryon was a teacher at the Alchemist Academy and, during his big attack, he killed Minato’s junior because Minato dare to side against him, as well as forcing the remaining students to kill each other.
Fuuga then gives everyone the location of an old abandoned entrance they can use to sneak into the Alchemist Academy. Everyone leaves to go rescue the Chemies, with Fuuga staying to look after the still resting Hotaro. Minato is there to greet them at the entrance. As Minato, Spanner and Rinne start to fight Clotho arrives and transforms into the Gorilla Rafflesia Chimera Malgam.
Hotaro arrives, transforming into Iron Gotchard, and fights Minato while everyone else fights Clotho. During the battle, everyone makes an impassioned plea to Minato for him to come back to them, to be their teacher again and have faith in them again. Minato loses, limping off, and Clotho snags the Dread Driver, returning it to Geryon. The episode ends with Geryon giving orders for Lachesis to kill Minato.
The Bad?
Honestly, when Minato’s junior died, I was disappointed; mainly because of the way he died. Geryon just threw him really hard on the ceiling then the wall. For something that’s so traumatic Minato would side with Geryon to keep the Gotchard gang from fighting him, it was a little underwhelming. Sure, seeing your best friend die in front of you is traumatic but, after all the build up, I was expecting a little more from it. The “everyone else that was there at the time being made to kill each other” part does make up for it but a lot of focus is put on Minato and his junior, so the traumatic punch really needed to be from his death.
The other thing I didn’t really care for was the fact we also got a flashback to Hotaro transmuting his being into Steamliner to evolve it to Tenliner. My issue with this is I don’t think we really needed to see it. Everyone reacting to the scene mentioned it was an ancient form of alchemy. It just felt like a lesser version of the scene where Hotaro makes the GotcharIgniter.
The Good?
All of the technical aspects, the cinematography, the acting, etc is still very much on point. The fights, Rinne reuniting with Fuuga, everybody’s impassioned speech to Minato, all really worked well. It’s cool to have Fuuga seemingly joining the main cast now. I also loved seeing Iron Gotchard in action. Again, why must all the stepping stone forms be so cool?!
The Conclusion
While it’s clear I didn’t love this episode – not that I hated it or anything – I’m just kinda whelmed by it. It’s not bad by any means, just… alright. A lot of it, admittedly, was my own expectations of Minato’s backstory setup and how it was teased for a number of episodes. Maybe it was wrong for me to expect something more, like Geryon mind controlling Minato’s junior and making him attack Minato and have to kill him in self defence. While something on the level of this would, in my opinion, make the moment hit harder, leaving it at “he saw his friend die in his arms while his classmates were all killing each other” is probably the most traumatic this Saturday morning show aimed at kids can really get. On to more interesting things, the long awaited Academy raid is next week and Fuuga transforming? Hype as heck for that, honestly.
But what do you think about the episode? Are you also hyped to see Fuuga Transform and the long awaited Academy raid? As always I’ve been Ethan: Writer, reviewer and Tenliner’s conductor for The Toku Source and I’ll see you next time for more Gotchard!
I actually found the way Minato’s junior died more impactful because of how he died. Not sacrificing himself or even saying goodbye, just this amazing persons life over in an instant before Minato’s very eyes. It felt a lot more impactful than a lot of other deaths in the series just because of how meaningless it was.