[Zolda]

Germain says @ 01:39 that The Sisters are dolls that were made by dolls, to Atropos' and Clotho's surprise. Gaelya then adds that it was only something they made for fun that ended as a failure. Does this mean that Glion is also a homunculus, or does it only mean that humans were created by the Unholy Trinity? I think the latter is more likely, because it has been hinted for several episodes and also stated by Germain @ 08:24, but if it means the former, then this reveal is too late. Germain then says that he was the one who ate and absorbed Glion. Well, it seems more and more likely that Glion can be resurrected, similar to how Orteca was resurrected because he wasn't actually killed by Gifu. Glion's resurrection method may have something to do with his favorite golden Rubik's cube, which could be some kind of Horcrux in which he stored a part of his soul like I hypothesized here. The Sisters might be Horcruxes as well. It may even be possible for Glion to absorb Germain and the other 2 uber-demons after they re-amalgamate themselves into the uber-demon's original (ultimate?) form. Yep, it seems like once again a mid-level villain will be revived. Sigh... Why can't the dead stay dead? Why is permanent death avoided? Reviving dead characters will only lower the stakes and narrative weight in a story. It will only take away all the suspense. A story with no stakes/suspense = A boring story.

In the scene @ 05:19, an AU top brass commands the AA members to hand all 101 RCC's to the AU as soon as possible. After that, then what would the AU do to them? There's a possibility that someone in the AU's top hierarchy will misuse the Chemies now that they've consolidated all 101 RCC's, and or conspire with the Unholy Trinity all along. Minato should be very suspicious of the AU's top brasses motive by now. And why don't the AU top brasses send several of their enforcers to proactively collect all 101 RCC's from the AA members? They must ensure the AA members' loyalty, or rebellion may occur. Or perhaps they still need Houtarou/Spanner/Rinne to fight as Riders to also protect the top brasses from the Unholy Trinity? And, if all 101 RCC's are collected by the AU, the what would Houtarou/Spanner/Rinne use to transform into Riders? What's the point of handing all 101 RCC's to the AU's top brasses in the first place, unless the aim is to consolidate powers into the hands of the few which can then be misused by corrupt executive(s)? A new conundrum! Haha.

Atropos leaks an important info to Rinne regarding the Unholy Trinity's plan to ambush Fuga's place, with one condition that Rinne must defeat Germain in order to revive Glion. Does defeating Germain will automatically revive Glion? Or is it just Atropos's wishful thinking? Atropos says @ 15:31 that she would change if Rinne is able to defeat Germain and thus enabling Glion to be revived. Will Atropos keep her promise, or is it just a part of her mind games as usual? In the scene @ 15:47 it's shown that the person Atropos pinky swears to is just Rinne, not someone new, let alone her "mom" like I hypothesized last week. The photo was already shown in the episode 40 guide in Kamen Rider Official website, but because I've virtually lost all interest, I didn't even bother to read it before posting. What a dumb mistake, haha.

Clotho ambushes Fuga at his place @ 06:38. It's the same place at the beginning of episode 1. Soooo, Fuga didn't move to a new place and instead is still staying there, even though the enemies have known its location? Even the real Fuga is there, not hiding at a very distant place. It's a very dumb decision by Fuga. Also, weren't the Gigabaham and Kuroana RCC's in Houtarou's possession by the end of episode 39? It seems like Fuga has the ability to instantly summon those RCC's from wherever, whenever he needs them, haha.

Germain's main ability is creating creatures called Golems out of inorganic matters. He also claims as the founder of alchemy @ 09:38. Aren't alchemy powers come from all members of the Unholy Trinity, not just from him? Aaaaaannnnndddd... @ 10:38 Germain mentions the Philosopher's Stone when Houtarou uses his Rainbow power to block the Unholy Trinity's combined attack toward Spanner and Rinne. My hypothesis regarding the existence of powerful objects like philosopher's stone or elixir several aeons ago waaayyy back in episode 1 thread here is proven correct in this episode, although this reveal is too late and too sudden, without any previous hints.

The story should've expanded on these reveals since early in the story a long time ago, not in the last 20% of the story. Another unmistakable sign of a very late and sudden yet crucial reveal is the fact that the detailed information regarding the Philosopher's Stone is not shown or at least elaborated in this episode by any characters, but in the episode 41 guide in the Kamen Rider Official website here. A good story should be self-contained without outside extra information, so this is the exact opposite of the age old narrative principle of "show, don't tell". In that article it's said that each member of the Unholy Trinity was bestowed with 33% of the powers of the Philosopher's Stone, and 1% of it went to Nijigon. Gigist is plotting to reclaim Nijigon so that his share is increased to 34%, thus enabling him to rule over the other 2 members. So, if Gigist has 33% and Nijigon only has 1%, then how come Gigist was defeated by Nijigon/Rainbow Gotchard in episode 39? Fuga says @ 13:01 that the Nijigon egg came to him and he planted it in the Gotchardriver. Did he know that the Nijigon egg contained 1% of the Philosopher's Stone? Did he have complete information about the properties of the Nijigon egg? And the most crucial question is still unanswered: How could the Alchemist of Dawn (who was very likely a mere human) defeat the Unholy Trinity (Gigist/Germain/Gaelya) (very likely a God) in the first place and scraped 1% of their powers to form the Nijigon egg? It seems like this chicken-or-egg logical anomaly will be left unanswered. I'm 80-90% sure the story will show several other sudden reveals, especially the ones regarding Houtarou's manipulated memories, Houtarou's dad, and the circumstances of his disappearance, and the possibility of the connection between Houtarou, his dad, and the Alchemist of Dawn. Well, apparently, someone from the production team read my comments in this forum and take my criticisms quite seriously, albeit it's already too late to fix the story.

The moral of this episode: When you write a story, you should spread hints gradually in early episodes, not showing it in a very sudden manner like in this episode, or worse, with no hint at all like in (God forbid) Geats. There's an age old narrative principle called Chekhov's gun: If you want a gun to be shot in episode 40, then you should show it (or hint at it) since previous episodes as early as possible. And vice versa, if you show or hint at a gun since early in the story, then that gun must be shot in later episodes. So, if you're the writer of a story, then you should ask yourself the same exact questions you would ask if you're an audience of that story. Find and ask as many of those questions as possible, then answer them, and finally, draw the most logical conclusion. If you find the conclusion unsatisfying, whether because it's strayed from your initial plan/expectation, or because the story is getting out of control, etc, then you should eliminate unnecessary elements and streamline your story. Basically, you should conserve and manage the bandwidth of information in your story as effectively and efficiently as possible. If you overload the bandwidth of information in your story, then your story will become very chaotic, out of control, yet very fragile, like (God forbid) Geats' story. If you leave huge empty bandwidth of information in your story, then your story will become hollow, vapid, and lethargic, like Gotchard's story.

Next week:

It's Nijigon's turn for a solo journey to understand the human world.

And is it Germain's turn to get his ass kicked? Maybe! And it seems like Rainbow Gotchard has no limit on how many Gotcharbrothers it can summon. So, maybe the final fight will feature Rainbow Gotchard, Valvarad, Majade, Wind, and the remaining Chemies as Gotcharbrothers, though those without suits will only appear as Wild Forms. CGI-fest galore on the horizon!