[Sh Ranger]

Fire Gotchard's finisher with the chains holding him in place reminds me of Hyper Kabuto's Maximum Hyper Cyclone and Rampage Vulcan's Rampage All Blast. Except those finishers used kinetic force for recoil suppression to stop them moving backwards, whereas Fire Gotchard's chains stop him moving forwards until he finishes charging up his booster to peak level. It was pretty bad*ss!

It's also significant as the first power-up to be created from Houtarou's use of alchemy, bringing his alchemist and Kamen Rider roles together and Gotchar Igniting his motivation to become a big shot alchemist, which he put on his career form that his new homeroom teacher asked for.

Huh, turns out I was actually wrong this time about Orange Gotchard being Fuga. Now that I think about the "uh, Rinne?" scene once more following this reveal of future Houtarou, I guess it's the kind of dorky thing that Houtarou might do to try and cover up his identity, to the point of overcompensation. Humorous to know that he's still a lovable goof at 22 years old, even in a dystopian future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

Glion addresses The Sisters as his beloved dolls, probably derisively, which makes Lachesis visibly irritated, and tells them that their jobs are strictly collecting Chemies. It seems like he views The Sisters and his other homunculi as merely his toys (hence why the blank slates that he created them from do look like dolls), tools, or even slaves. He views them as mere objects for his experiments.

Reminds me of Sora referring to Koyomi as a doll, foreshadowing her existence as a vessel for the Philosopher's Stone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

I hypothesized last week here that the past accessed by Timelord's ability was just a passive, non-interactive "recordings" of the past, but as this episode shows it turns out that I was wrong. Timelord's ability can take someone to the actual past. GD warns Houtarou to never physically contact KH, but they touch @ 10:05, and it only causes Timelord to be strained/injured and makes him and Houtarou unable to stay in the past for too long. I thought that it would cause a self-annihilation or some kind of negative effect. Come on Mr. Kamen Writers, I've prepared for something gruesome like in Timecop, haha. Or probably the negative effect will show up in later episodes?

Considering how Ryoutarou and Sougo have been able to interact with themselves across time without self-destruction, I think Orange Gotchard's warning is more likely due to a limitation of alchemy rather than time travel in general. Timelord functions as Houtarou's anchor in the past, so it seems that two Houtarous touching disrupted Timelord's synchronization, forcing him to abort, or time out, when the strain became too much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

Spanner (and Kyouka) are absent in this episode, probably to build up momentum for his big debut as KR Valvarad. I'm curious as to how he or Kyouka will obtain another Gotchar Igniter.

Poor Spanner doesn't even get invited to join the Kitchen Ichinose Alliance (acronym is KIA, which sounds like a bad omen). I guess nobody likes him enough. Of course, the other sempai members are Renge who's lazy and Sabi who has social anxiety, so Houtarou gets elected as leader. Personally, I would've elected Rinne instead, for her discipline and alchemy experience, especially since she's soon to become a Rider as well.