Welcome, Riders to another Weekly Ride Review with Ethan! This week sees a new “wind” blow over an “X”treme Earth. Sorry, I don’t mean to “dragon” with these puns. I “Gaia” get on with the review…
Recap
We open with Lachesis’ attempt to kill Mr. Minato and by that I mean she doesn’t, instead begging for him to help save her as well because she’s terrified of Geryon. Atropos and Clotho reveal they were listening in and go to kill both Lachesis and Minato with Atropos turning into Dread. Spanner then shows up, saving them both by creating a window for them to escape.
Back at base, Geryon says their new thing takes priority over killing the two traitors and then reveals the last two Level X Chemies are all he needs, other than Hotaro’s Gotchardriver, to achieve his plans. Subjugating the unsubjugateable Dragonalos, the Level X of the Fantastic category, and turning it into a Malgam, he tasks them with getting the Level X cosmic Chemy, Gaiard.
We then see Spanner and Kyoka having a meal out, where Kyoka basically tells Spanner to stop the Dragonalos Malgam as she’s aware that Geryon needs them. She adds Spanner should leave Minato to her. She also lets the Gotchard gang know and gives them the information she gave Spanner on where to find Gaiard.
At the environmental museum where Gaiard is, it’s instantly subjugated by the Malgam. Everyone then shows up and are beaten up by the Malgam in succession. Before it is able to take Hotaro’s Driver, Rinne’s father shows up, transforming into Kamen Rider Wind. He uses the Gigabaham and Kuroana Chemy Cards to turn into the BlackBahamut form with an Alchemist Driver, serving as his base form. I’m sure Rinne will use these down the line herself.
Rinne’s father makes short work of the Malgam but Geryon surprises him and stabs him though the back, taking his Chemies as well as the two Level Xs. The episode ends with Rinne’s dad tearfully promising to see her again in the future. He also tells the gang he believes in them and that Tenliner can take them to the ouroboros realm where Geryon is and as the gang do just that, Minato watches from afar. Fuuga’s body double, made from alchemy, disappears. This is likely how he avoided dying in episode one.
The Bad
From my tone in the recap, I’m willing to bet you can imagine what I’m about to whine about here. “The Level X Chemies cannot be subjugated” was a rule that we spent multiple episodes establishing; the whole arc with UFO-X (and I’m sure it will come up in the Gotchard crossover movie with Geats) further built it up. Level Xs can not be forcibly captured. This is ignored, even lampshaded by Geryon as he forcibly captures Dragonalos. We find out in some exposition from the Dragonalos Malgam that Dragonalos and Gaiard are the first Chemies and that they are so powerful the ranking system was made because of them. This means they should be the least subjugatable of the Level Xs! So, I have to ask… Are they jobbing out these two Level Xs? Bigging them up so we know Geryon is so much more powerful than everyone with his Alchemy? Because, if that’s it, Daybreak already gave us a good idea of how powerful he is. We know he’s powerful enough to end the world. This just felt like a lazy way to work in the two Chemies that will likely be used for Rinne’s final form, if her version of BlackBahamut isn’t it.
The Good
BlackBahamut is extremely cool. Blocking with black holes is awesome and it’s just a beautiful suit. Additionally, despite my complaining, the episode does a good job of raising stakes for a Gotchard’s next big form debut next week.
The Conclusion
All my complaining aside, this episode was alright, mainly serving as set up for next week’s and to let Kanji Ishimaru, who plays Rinne’s Dad, leave the show again likely because he has other commitments. The door is open to return in the future, though. That emotional moment, by the way, A+ acting from Reiyo Matsumoto; she really did a great job of selling the emotion of that goodbye, for me. Next week’s episode looks exciting and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
What did you think of the episode? Did you enjoy it? Do you agree with me about the Level Xs? Do you think Kamen Rider Wind is cool? Are you hyped for next week’s form debut? As always, I’ve been Ethan: Writer, reviewer and a black hole themed Kamen Rider for The Toku Source. See you next time!
