In an emotional Weekly Ride Review with Ethan, Hotaro, shaken by Gigist’s moves last week, needs cheering up and there’s only one Chemy for the job. Go, go Hopper1!
Recap
We are going to take the recap a little differently this week, going more plot line by plot line and then recapping the end of the episode where they all converge. I just feel like this will make things simpler.
Hopper1
Seeing Hotaro devastated by what happened to Skebows last week, Hopper1 runs away to search for the yellow flowers from the legend of the Alchemist of daybreak that, when turned into a spice, can make anyone happy. Eventually, Hopper1 makes their way to the gang (minus Hotaro) as they battle with the Antropper Abyss Malgam. Spanner and Minato arrive to finish off the Malgam because everyone else is hesitating because they don’t want to lose Antrooper too. Once the deed is done, though, Hopper1 makes their way over to everyone to share the flowers they found to cheer up Hotaro…
The Gotchard Gang
After rushing Skebows to be looked at by Kyoka, she confirms what we all realised: The Abyss Malgam can’t be defeated without losing the Chemy. Hotaro is distraught and heads home. At home, Hotaro’s mother makes him he special pancakes and reminds him he has other things to protect even if he loses some others. Realising Hopper1 is missing, Hotaro goes in search and finds Rinne, Renge and Sabi trying to fight the Antrooper Abyss Malgam that attacked during his absence. He transforms into LightningJungle form but can’t bring himself to attack. It’s at this point that Spanner defeats the Malgam and captures Antrooper in a card just as it turns black and white (and totally not because they don’t have a prop for a tone of Ants like Skebows). Everyone turns to see Hopper1 arriving carrying some flowers…
Abyssal King / The End of the Episode
As Hopper1 gleefully arrives with flowers, Gigist and the Abyssal Sisters appear before them to enact the King’s plan to turn Hotaro into an Abyssal Malgam and get control of the Chemy within him. To this end, he turns Hopper1 into the Hopper Abyss Malgam, which Hotaro is forced to put down after it almost attacks a child. Realising why Hopper1 ran away, the darkness almost consumes Hotaro but it is stopped by the mysterious Rainbow Chemy, encasing Hotaro in a plain white egg. The egg teleports away, leaving everyone else in shock. Within the egg, a grief stricken Hotaro hears a voice and sees a blue egg with familiar orange arrows. Outside the egg, rain begins to fall heavily.
The Bad
My only real issue with the episode is that you could kinda see where it was going when Hopper1 ran away, detracting from the overall endings impact, somewhat. Not as bad as seeing spoilers for that event the very moment I opened social media but, honestly, neither of these are things I can really hold against the episode.
The Good / The Conclusion
The emotional core of this episode was very strong and seeing Hopper1 moving around town was cute as heck. It also sets up the epic comeback for Rainbow Gotchard’s debut (what a way to start off Pride Month) and I can’t wait for it next week. All in all very solid stuff.
What do you think? Come on, be honest, did you cry? Are you excited to see Rainbow Gotchard next week? As always I’ve been Ethan: Writer, reviewer and the thing that lies at the end of the rainbow for The Toku Source and I’ll see y’all next time!
