[Zolda]

The berserker Clotho is beating Spanner into a pulp and it seems like there's no chance for Spanner to win the fight. Gigist then appears and restrains Clotho, and is reattempting to sway Spanner to his side by telling him that he doesn't know how to use his black flame power. Gigist offers a proposal that he'll teach Spanner how to properly use and control his power. Spanner, of course, refuses this unfunny joke. If Spanner keeps refusing Gigist's offer, then it's very likely that he'll be ultimately forced to use his black flame power in a berserker/uncontrolled state, which could grant KR Valvarad's final/berserker form. Gigist counters Spanner's refusal by challenging him to see whether he could defeat Germain with his current ability. Gigist reveals that since the Unholy Trinity is trinity (duh), if Germain is defeated, then his power will be absorbed by Gigist. This is a weird reasoning by Gigist. How can he be so sure of that? Why isn't it absorbed by Gaelya instead? Why isn't it distributed evenly to both Gigist and Gaelya, and maybe to Nijigon as well? Why was the uber-demon's power split into 3 members in the first place? Was it split when the uber-demon was defeated by the Alchemist of Dawn (which was why the uber-demon was portrayed as a single entity in the alchemists' folklore, not as a trinity), or was it already like that since the beginning of time? Man, this feels more and more like a retcon. Sigh. And I'll reiterate the point I made in previous threads for the umpteenth time:
"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."

Lachesis holding Spanner's jacket @ 03:42 could be the sign that my girlfriend's dream of shipping Lachesis and Spanner will very likely come true, haha.

Kajiki thinks that Nijigon could be an invasive species from space or a genetically engineered organism @ 11:46, haha.

As expected, Germain does get his ass kicked in this episode. In the scene @ 21:19, Atropos put Glion's golden Rubik's cube inside Germain's golden sphere, aaaaannnnnddddd... Glion is instantly resurrected after taking over Germain's body. So, Glion now possesses 33% of the total powers of the uber-demon. My hypotheses in episode 37 and 38 threads here and here regarding Glion's resurrection are proven to be correct. My hypothesis in episode 27 thread here regarding Glion's resurrection method having 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, is also proven to be correct. Once again, this proves that Gotchard's main villains (Gigist/Germain/Gaelya aka the Unholy Trinity) is basically Gifu v2.0. Orteca with Gifu Stamp was far more dangerous (because he could create Gifftarians which killed their human hosts permanently) than Gifu (who supposedly ate Orteca alive but as it turned out actually only imprisoned him inside a pocket dimension). Similarly, Glion with his mere alchemical powers could kill Spanner's parents, Suzuya (Minato's friend) and other alchemists, and commit other atrocities, making him much more dangerous than Germain who is supposed to be an uber-demon-God and supposedly ate Glion alive but as it turns out actually only kidnapped and trapped him inside his body. Gaelya and Gigist could very likely meet similar fates as Germain's as shown in today's episode. And of course, Atropos doesn't keep her promise. Surprise, surprise, Rinne!

The reveal regarding Glion's resurrection in this episode clearly explains the (faulty) reasoning behind Fuga's dumb decision in episode 40 like I mentioned here. In episode 40, Atropos leaked a crucial intel 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. If Fuga had moved to a new, safer place far far away from the location shown in the beginning of episode 1, then Atropos would've had nothing of value to offer to Rinne. If Fuga had actually moved to a new location, and the Unholy Trinity somehow found out about it without telling Atropos, then Atropos was totally screwed because her deal with Rinne solely rely on her leaking a crucial intel to Rinne so that Rinne et al could help Fuga at the right moment and protect him from the Unholy Trinity's ambush.

The flow of reasoning in episode 40 was like this:
-> Fuga did the stupidest thing by having not moved to a new, safer location, and instead, having stayed at the exact same location as the one shown in the beginning of episode 1.
-> Atropos had already known Fuga's old location.
-> Atropos had a crucial intel and thus a much higher bargaining position in her deal with Rinne.
-> Atropos leaked the Unholy Trinity's plan to ambush Fuga there to Rinne.
-> Rinne et al arrived at Fuga's location at the right moment and succeeded to protect him from the Unholy Trinity's ambush. Fuga was alive.
-> Rinne fulfills her part of the deal by defeating Germain as shown in episode 41.
-> Atropos puts Glion's Rubik's cube inside Germain's golden sphere.
-> Glion is revived.
-> Atropos' plan succeed.

If, instead of the above, the flow of reasoning in episode 40 was like this:
-> Fuga did the smartest thing by having already moved to a new, safer location, different from the one shown in the beginning of episode 1.
-> Atropos had not known about Fuga's new location.
-> Atropos had no crucial intel and thus a very low bargaining position in her deal with Rinne.
-> Atropos might only be able to leak the Unholy Trinity's plan to ambush Fuga to Rinne, but not the location because she didn't know it.
-> Rinne et al might not arrive at Fuga's location at the right moment and might've failed to protect him from the Unholy Trinity's ambush. Fuga might've been dead.
-> Rinne doesn't fulfill her part of the deal in episode 41 because Fuga might've been dead in episode 40, but Germain can still be defeated.
-> Atropos may or may not be able to put Glion's Rubik's cube inside Germain's golden sphere.
-> Glion may or may not be revived.
-> Atropos' plan may or may not fail.

TL, DR:
Fuga must do the stupidest thing from episode 1 to 40 so that Glion can be resurrected in episode 41. What a great way to ruin Fuga's character. With or without Atropos-Rinne deal, the Unholy Trinity might still be able to find Fuga's new location, Germain may still be defeated, and Atropos may still be able to put Glion's Rubik's cube inside Germain's golden sphere. So, there's no reason to make the plot convoluted by making Fuga did the stupidest thing that ruined his character. Someone would then say, "But at least Fuga was still alive." Yes, alive and got his character ruined. *facepalm

Next week:

The appearance of the rumored 102nd Chemy? I mentioned about the 102nd Chemy in the episode 29 thread here and episode 31 thread here and its connection to KR Gotchard's berserker form, although I was very likely wrong, because it seems like it's KR Valvarad who will get a berserker form. Anyway, there's a suspicion that Glion could be involved in its creation. Sabimaru's older brother (who has a Ring with green gem, similar to Spanner's) is very likely also involved in some way. From the preview, it seems like the 102nd Chemy is a shapeshifting creature that has several different forms, and maybe also abilities. It's very likely a Malgam, but not the result of organic amalgamation of a specific Chemy and a human/homunculus host, but the forced, synthetic amalgamation of several Chemies at once. It's basically an artificial, chimera Malgam-Chemy that is created by manipulating and mixing the genetic blueprints of several Chemies. It does fit Glion's proclivity for creating freaks of nature. A new Rider who will use the 102nd Chemy's power could also appear, similar to KR Juuga who used Juuga Vistamp, a Vistamp powered by a chimera demon. Perhaps the creation of the ultimate, chimera Chemy is the true aim of the Chemy hunting game in the first place? This is exactly the kind of concept of alchemy I've been dearly waiting since episode 1. If my hypothesis is correct, then this is a very interesting concept, but maaannn, revealing it during the last 20% of your story is just too late. What have you been doing, Gotchard writers?

I may be wrong, but I get the feeling that the sudden appearance of several alchemists doing alchemy experiments at an alchemy lab in episode 42 could be the writers' way of responding to my criticisms in this forum. They're probably like, "Let's make a scene showing several alchemists doing proper alchemy experiments in a laboratory setting. That will make Gotchard an official story with proper alchemy setting. That will definitely silence that schmuck Zolda over at Tokunation!" Haha.

Hiroki Uchida is back to writing duty. I'm 80-90% sure the story will show several new sudden reveals aka cheap "Gotcha!" moments, 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. I think these reveals will likely appear between episodes 42 to 45. I'm bracing myself for the cheap "Gotcha!" moments.

Speaking of writing duty, where is Keiichi Hasegawa? It seems like he's MIA. He's said to be the main writer, but so far his contribution is lacking in importance, compared to Hiroki Uchida's, for example in KR Gotchard Daybreak episodes and KR Legend episodes. It feels like Hasegawa's freedom of creativity is deliberately limited by the producers in favor of Uchida's. Contrary to what the synopsis stated, 41 episodes later Uchida feels more like the main writer of this show. Well, perhaps Hasegawa will return in the last 4 or 5 episodes to clean up the mess created by Hiroki Uchida and Akiko Inoue. I'm not really sure how he will do that. Good luck, sir. A friend of mine even suggested another possibility: Hasegawa's last contribution was episode 31 aka the Romeo & Juliet filler episodes, and all the remaining episodes from 42 to 48(?) will be written by Uchida.