So! 5 Episodes in on Gotchard (I didn't have time to review them separate) and honestly, I'm kind of into having a nice fun show instead of a more serialized season we've had so far in Reiwa (whether it remains that way is yet to be seen).

So, first off: Gotchard's music is quite catchy and I like it. The opening might even be my favorite of the Reiwa shows so far, though it kind of reminds me of a Sentai Opening in a way. I don't know why, maybe it's because it sounds more fun and energetic than what we've had so far, and yes, I'm aware Saber's was the same way, but I think it had some underlying tones in it that made it seem like it'd have much darker moments.

Next: as I said when we first saw the suits, I love them! Gotchard is definitely one I loved instantly with the Steam Train/Grasshopper motif and of course I'm a sucker for scarves, it really does feel like an Anniversary suit in a way (which fits since Shin Kamen Rider came out this year and that was another 50th Anniversary project, so it wouldn't surprise me if Gotchard is another semi-Anniversary project), though it's definitely glossy like Revi's suit, which I think works better with this one since it's got a machine built into it. I also just adore the combination theme, which reminds me of Build, and while I don't think they're all meant to reference Riders, I can see some inspirations which fit Revice's way of adding them into the designs.

Valvarad's form is neat, nice to see a non-Rider suit form. The Maglams are interesting in how they are an amalgam (yes, I knew the joke was intentional on Toei's part), but the fact that they have static limbs connected to them is a neat detail that helps them stand out compared most Rider Monsters.

Third: as said before, I'm fine with a lighter show that's more fun, in fact I'd be glad if that's what this whole season ends up being! Sure, there's a lot of setup and track record of how some things might go down, but I don't mind it at all. So long as it keeps being enjoyable and doesn't rush the story (looking at you, early Saber), drag out less than stellar executions (looking at you, Revice), or something affects the production (looking at you, Unspecified Virus of Unknown Origin interfering with Zero-One), I think this will be a fun season.

I know I'm saying fun a lot, but I'm honestly enjoying Gotchard's first impressions. Sure, I can already make guesses like "the Alchemist Higher Ups might be evil" or something, but for now, I'll stick with it!

I do agree with law not being the be all end all of good (and I'm just talking about how in general fanbase do view being lawful as being the most good in general), but you're just having bleak view on chaotic ones (and Takumi being a loner isn't even an example). Didn't you talk about Franklin's philosophy of preserving freedom (with you complaining that it's something need to be advocated in Revice)?

Chaotic good isn't about constantly breaking the law, they focus very strongly on individual rights and freedoms, and will strongly resist any form of oppression of themselves or anyone else. They don't value law not because they're apathetic to others' fates like you're implying (e.g. what others feel about them, which seem as in not giving a f*ck, when this sounds like they very much give a f*ck about others but with different approach), but because they value their own consciences (rather than duty) as a guide for good and when the law restricts their and other people's freedom.

Neutral good use whatever means to promote the most good, either tearing down a code of laws, following a code of laws, creating an orderly society, causing the breakdown of harmful kinds of order, or staying away from society altogether. Their only goal is to do good, full stop.

While too much of an either may be bad, the best solutions are not always the exact middle between two extremes. It's a fallacy called Golden Mean.

How do I fall behind to you and others in my posts....

But even Franklin used lawful means to pursue his chaotic ideals of freedom. He understood the importance of maintaining a reputation for credibility and affability to bolster his debates, which is something that Ikki and Sakura lacked when preaching the same ideals to Daiji. The smartest person in the room listens patiently, but the Igarashi siblings only speak loudly.

I'd still call Takumi chaotic good, as another example would be the deal he made with Murakami to revive Mari in exchange for joining Lucky Clover, which he betrayed. However, Murakami had previously betrayed his deal with Kusaka (who betrays everybody) after he was tasked with joining Lucky Clover, so there's chaos on both sides which justiFaiz chaotic means, same as mutually condoned stealing in OOO.

What I meant is that chaotic good types can be super efficient at preserving freedom, but their actions may inadvertently make it easier for chaotic evil to thrive, which they'll have to take care of later. However, like you said, sometimes neutrality is impossible and either chaos or law must win, so I admit the fault with neutral good types is that they take longer to make a decision than their lawful and chaotic counterparts. Like Wataru's half-and-half nature and lack of confidence making him conflicted between Fangire law and human law, until he eventually settled on his own chaotic ideals of co-existence (Kiva Emperor is a literal Golden Mean). Depends on the situation, I guess. Ultimately, good is good, so I can't claim that any philosophy of good is "better", only which one I prefer.

It could be a nickname due to the fact that he made the Valvarad suit himself. But if a mid-level alchemist like Spanner can use alchemy to make his own battle suit, then could there be other alchemists that wear their own man-made suits similar to Valvarad?

So far, Spanner's characterization is a combination of Keisuke Nago's snobby elitism and Kusaka's hubris and creepy infatuation, although his infatuation for Rinne is not necessarily romantic. It'd be quite predictable if it were romantic.

Sabimaru isn't as straight as Keitarou is. He's at least as eccentric as Renge is. Or maybe Keitarou is more eccentric than I thought he was?

As far as I know, Keiichi Hasegawa tends to prefer intrapersonal drama to interpersonal drama, so we probably won't get a Kiba or a Yuka in Gotchard.

The 9th category is not astrology, but astronomy. The mythology/10th category cards that they're paired with are exactly 10 numbers higher than its number. For example, astronomy card #81 is paired with mythology card #91, #82 with #92, etc.

Astronomy is the study of celestial bodies, which are things in the heavens/sky. The kanji for the heavens/sky is, surprise surprise: 天 (ten). That's the pun at work here. So yeah, it's another form of rule of ten. Mythology also often has religious overtones.

So, 36 base forms + 10 astrology/mythology base forms + 3 super forms + 1 final form = 50 forms. Still way too many forms. I also think it'd be really underwhelming if level 10 cards for category 1-8 don't grant actual forms.

I think it'd be better if some of those 46 base forms are allocated to Spanner and the 3rd/4th/5th Rider and can only be used by them. It will take away much of the burden of mediocrity from Houtarou.

Yeah. It only looks like hypocrisy because she doesn't know the whole picture. I don't think she actually resents him, because she still doesn't know his actual reasoning for breaking the rules. She was probably shocked, confused, and disappointed. Now, if it was already proven that he did it out of malice, then she deserves to resent him.

There are times and situations when rules must be broken, and it can only be done in very very very rare, highly consequential cases, and it must also be done with the very highest level of prudence and ethical standard. There are rare times when fire must be fought with fire, or violence must be fought with violence.

Be careful. Good is not equal.

Some people choose to sacrifice liberty to achieve petty goodness.
- "Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Benjamin Franklin)
- "He who gives his freedom for safety gets none of them." (Thomas Jefferson)

Tyrants mask their tyranny as something that benefit their victims.
- "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." (C.S. Lewis)

Quote #3 is the reason why Ace Ukiyo is the worst character in the history of this franchise. He's the perfect antithesis of heroism.

Several additional points:

- I've just realized that there's quite a big logical leap in episode 2 @ 04:42 when Rinne immediately assumed that the one who gave the Gotchardriver to Houtarou was Fuga. How could she assume that the one who stole the RCC's from the Academy 10 years ago and the one who gave the Gotchardriver to Houtarou were the same person? He could've been someone else entirely. Fuga could've had one or several accomplices, or he could have given the RCC's to someone else first, or even had the RCC's stolen from him. Even if in later episodes it will be proven that the Academy found out that Fuga was the sole culprit of the RCC theft without any accomplices, no one could've known what happened to him after he vanished. 10 years is a very long period where anything could've happened to Fuga. He could've then begun working with someone else entirely unknown to the Academy, and that someone could've betrayed him and taken the RCC's from him, and the Gotchardriver was acquired by a second different person without any connection to Fuga, etc.

I don't understand Rinne's logic in automatically assuming that the one who stole the RCC's was the same person who acquired the Gotchardriver and later gave it to Houtarou. There are too many different possibilities, yet Rinne could immediately know the truth and pinpoint it with total accuracy and conviction without a shadow doubt. Even Minato seemed to have the same conclusion, unless he's a double agent who has been informed with the truth all along.

- It would've been better if the writers revealed the most minimum amount of information in episode 2. They should've kept Rinne in doubt and only referred to the RCC theft as incident, without hinting that the traitor was Fuga. They should've let Lachesis do the reveal in this episode. It would've been far more impactful, because the reveal would've made Lachesis seem crueler and more sadistic as someone who prefers to break her enemies by mental and psychological torture, and more importantly, it would've shocked both Houtarou and Rinne. Houtarou would've been shocked by the fact that the traitor was the man who gave him the Gotchardriver and that he's Rinne's dad. Rinne would've also been shocked to learn that her dad was the man who gave Houtarou the Gotchardriver and that he was already dead. Now that's one super impactful, dramatic reveal.

- I said earlier in this thread that Houtarou's dad is just a red-herring, but I think there's another possibility. I think that Houtarou's dad is probably not an adventurer, but is (or was) actually an alchemist. He could've been "memory-holed" or "erased" from existence due to an unknown circumstance that probably had something to do with the alchemy world, the Ouroboros, the Gotchardriver, or something similar. His situation is probably similar to old Yuuto's one from Den-O. He even could've been dead all along, and Houtarou and his mom have been totally oblivious because they had been Neuralyzed way before the story started. They are probably intended to be just several of the many pawns of the grand plan of the main villain, until Fuga gave Houtarou the Gotchardriver and thus unknowingly help him break the chain of illusion and manipulation. This unpredictable, unplanned action that somehow helped contribute to the defeat of the main villain could be an interesting potential plot.

This is a highly probable hypothesis, because there's nothing that can prevent an alchemist from using the Neuralyzer spell on another alchemist. An alchemist can probably not tell whether someone (or even himself) have been Neuralyzed. What if someone who you Neuralyzed Neuralyze you, without him knowing that you Neuralyzed him, or without you knowing/remembering that you Neuralyzed him? The resulting information asymmetry could be very chaotic and unpredictable. If it's indeed the case, then I think it could lead to a very interesting ambiguous, Machiavellianistic game of manipulation, kinda like the film Total Recall (1990) turned up to 11.

Also, if there's a Neuralyzer spell, then could there be a De-Neuralyzer spell, like in MIB?

It feels strange to me, but yeah, having finished this episode, I'm on the verge of nope'ing entirely out of this series. It's trying so hard to be "Cardcaptor Pokemon," but it's not succeeding at much. It seems like it want to hit the Pokemon "I connect with my battle pets emotionally" thing going for it, and I'm just not buying what they're selling. I haven't disliked a Rider lead this much in, um, ever. I don't know whether the blame the actor or director for our hero's inane, constant shouting. The only thing that's been at all interesting has been the non-Rider magic. It seems like Rinna actually gets to do things sometimes, which is nice.

Although I wonder whether Geats raised my expectations for Rider a bit too high, but I seem to recall most Rider series left me at least a little curious as to where their plots were going by the time I watched their fourth episode. With Gotchard, there's just nothing.

Director / producer 100%. No actor does this on their own, and all the other characters also being one-dimensional caricatures does suggest that good actors are being forced to do dumb acting.

But Houtarou really is terrible. Dumb shouting, stupid verbal gimmick phrase, boring and bland. Easily the worst we had since Zi-O, but I think I actually prefer Sougo.

Yeah it is. I caught myself thinking a few times that the show would be better if Rinne is the lead and Kamen Rider is the secondary hero.

Then again, they do next to nothing to actually put the alchemy theme to good use. Houtarou is a student for how many episodes now? Did he even have one single class, one single lecture? Or is the school just permanently on monster hunting trips now?

Geats was very good. But I have witnessed enough good shows ending to say: It is never the fault of the previous show being too good in comparison.

The current show really is just that bad.

Here come the Geats apologists (cultists?) defending the indefensible and bashing any series that aren't Geats.

“It's easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they have been fooled.”
– Mark Twain.