[Zolda]

Lachesis asks Spanner why he doesn't just have his Valvaradriver repaired by Kyouka. Spanner answers @ 01:27 that since the Valvaradriver was based on Houtarou's Gotchar Igniter, he can't be his true self and reach his true potential.

In the scene @ 01:38, by using his portion of the Philosopher's Stone inside his body to transmute a bottle of unknown red liquid, Glion creates a clone of Nijigon RCC called Eldragon RCC. He says that he now possesses a replacement of Nijigon's 1% portion of the Stone. Does this mean that Gigist is also able to create a replacement of Nijigon's 1% portion? When does Glion possess this ability? Does he possess this ability only after he absorbed Gaelya's 33%/2 portion or before it, right after he absorbed Germain's 33% portion? Don't know! And, if Glion, now a member of the Unholy Trinity, is able to create a replacement of Nijigon's 1% portion, then does it mean that the Nijigon egg itself (which contains 1% portion of the Philosopher's Stone) was created by the Unholy Trinity? Don't know! Messing up with the internal rules/logic until the very last episode will only make your story convoluted and confuse your viewers.

Rinne is about to henshin @ 03:55, and then she's just realized that her Ring's power is depleted and prevents from transforming. Why is only her Ring that's often depleted during crucial moments? Why aren't Houtarou's, Spanner's, and Minato's Rings depleted and need to be recharged as well? Don't know! This could be another sign that Rinne being a Rider was very likely never planned during the pre-production phase. The conflict between alchemists and Muggles is nice, but it should've been done since a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time ago, not during the last 5 episodes. I think this is another aspect where the memory manipulation spell is the most detrimental to the story. Sawa and her dad, Kajiki, and Seina appear out of nowhere to defend Houtarou et al. Your defenders appear at the crime scene right at the moment when your detractors are attacking you. How convenient! Tacchan the Occult Hunter also appears out of nowhere several moments later to add fuel to the fire. Another convenience! Haha.

Gigist is still attempting to sway Spanner to his side. He mentions Spanner's inability to transform and is trying to spice up his offer by saying that Spanner will have the greatest power if Spanner follows him. Spanner, of course, refuses Gigist's offer and chooses to transform into Valvarad, and is defeated quickly several minutes later.

Houtarou et al manage to hide from the angry Muggles. Houtarou then heads to his mom's shop, and finds Glion already waiting for him there. Glion tells Houtarou that his obsession with gold is because gold will beautifully shine forever. Glion thinks that humans' ephemeral existence is nothing compared to gold's eternal beauty. Glion thinks that humans' lives are pointless and wasted on pointless, foolish things that fade away quickly. Glion mentions @ 08:23 that one paltry, insignificant life has vanished. As Houtarou gets angrier at him, Houtarou's mom arrives and interrupts their argument. Whose life that Glion is referring to? My hypothesis is that it's Houtarou's dad's. Houtarou's dad could've been another victim of Glion's past crimes.

Gigist says @ 11:21 that the homunculi's dreams are fake, phony things. The angry Clotho transforms into KR Dread Type 1, attacks him, and gets teleported to a place that looks like a beach. Spanner transforms into Valvarad and tries to fight Gigist again, and gets defeated quickly again. Gigist says @ 12:28 that he's disappointed in Spanner, then engulfs and burns Spanner in his black flame. While being burnt, Spanner is having the usual internal monologue, and finally finds the resolve to use his black flame power to defeat Gigist. He draws the inspirations from his parents, Kyouka, and even Houtarou to transmute the black flame into his own silver flame and uses it to upgrade his Valvaradriver, reforge the Daiohni and Madwheel RCC's, and transforms into KR Valvarad Kurogane. As expected, KR Valvarad Kurogane manages to defeat Gigist. Like I hypothesized last week here, the black flame power doesn't return to Gigist, but it's transmuted into a white/silver flame power by Spanner. What's stupid here is that Gigist actually upgrades Spanner's black flame power when he burns Spanner with his black flame. Gigist actually transfers his black flame power to Spanner when he burns Spanner. I've been asking myself why Gigist is so fixated on Spanner. Now the answer is clear: Because he needs to burn Spanner with his black flame, which means upgrading Spanner's black flame power and giving a final form to KR Valvarad. So, Gigist is ultimately also defeated by his own stupidity. Yep, all 3 members of the Unholy Trinity (Germain, Gaelya, Gigist) have been defeated by their own God-level stupidity. Glion will very likely meet a similar fate in the final episode next week. I'm curious as to what kind of stupid mistake he'll make. I think it'll have something to do with his inability to understand the power of friendship. The Door of Darkness should be rightly called the Door of Dumbness. Congratulations!

Eldragon then comes to pickup Gigist's portion of the Philosopher's Stone. Eldragon is then chased by Houtarou et al, and is finally caught by Lachesis. Aaaannnddd... A 1000% typical Yuuyaism 101 asspull happens: Lachesis is shot in the back @ 18:33, by Glion who appears out of nowhere. How come Glion, an adult man of that height, in an eye-catching black and gold attire, appears out of nowhere in a close proximity in the middle of an open yard without being noticed by anyone? Has he been there all along or does he simply arrive via teleportation? DON'T KNOW! This laughably, hilariously bad asspull is essentially identical to the one in episode 48 last week when Gigist appeared out of nowhere to snatch 50% of Gaelya' portion from Glion. I understand if this asspull was written by Hiroki Uchida, but this episode was written by Keiichi Hasegawa. Very unfortunate. Another weird thing in this scene is Clotho has magically returned to the crime scene @ 18:39 after having been teleported to a beach by Gigist previously @ 11:51. Funny!

In her dying breath, Lachesis is finally telling Spanner that what she wants to do as a human is being in love with him. Now this is how you write a dying scene. This scene is much better than Lachesis' memory reversal process in episode 45 which was only told via infodump, not shown on screen via a flashback scene. At least, Lachesis' dying scene can be a good antidote to the previous asspull scene.

Glion reveals his endgame by showing off his new Eldoradriver, a retooled version of Dreadriver. By using the Eldragon RCC, he transforms into KR Eldo, which looks like an alternate version of KR Dorado who appeared in Gotchard's summer film 3 weeks ago. He then unveils Minato who is about to be completely turned into a golden statue. What's Glion gonna do to Minato? Is he gonna transmute Minato's alchemy power into the giant Dread Troopers as shown in the preview?

I've just realized that there's a stupid thing in the whole Philosopher's Stone arc: Why doesn't Houtarou/Nijigon absorb Gigist's portion in this episode, or Gaelya's portion in episode 48 last week? Isn't it much better if Houtarou/Nijigon absorb Gigist's/Gaelya's portions, rather than letting them fall into Glion's hands? Why do Houtarou/Nijigon let those portions fall into Glion's hands? Is it simply because the plot needs it to happen to create the plot in episode 50/final? DON'T KNOW!

Next week:

Glion's endgame is in full force. The Dread Troopers will be turned into giant kaiju troopers? The Unholy Trinity will be revived? All 101 Chemies will appear on screen all at once? The only thing that will stop Glion's endgame must be the power of friendship between Houtarou and the Chemies. And what about the Repli Chemies? Doesn't Clotho, the current owner of the Dreadriver, still possess several copies of Repli CC's?

And, yep, like what I've been hypothesizing since several weeks ago, the whole convoluted mystery regarding Houtarou's dad will be resolved in episode 50/final. Is Houtarou's dad alive? Is he really travelling the world? Is he missing? Is he dead? Is he the Alchemist of Dawn? Is he Minato? Is he Fuga? Is he Glion? Is he one of Glion's victims? Is he Gigist? Is he Nijigon? Is he Kajiki? Is he Houtarou's mom? Is he Houtarou himself? DON'T KNOW! I think it's one of the worst examples of untied up loose end I've seen in creative writing. I've always wondered who the heck was the writer who had the idea of obscuring Houtarou's dad's face/identity/whereabouts as a plot point, yet has never had the time to actually develop it. It's already 49(!) episodes, and the mystery surrounding Houtarou's dad is still virtually untouched and undeveloped. The one who resolves it is definitely the one who wrote it in the first place. I think I've found the answer: Hiroki Uchida. Maybe I'm just too stupid and slow-thinking to be a "sophisticated" writer like Hiroki Uchida or Yuuya Takahashi, but I'm not sure how anyone can resolve that. I'm bracing myself for the ultimate, cheapest, laziest "Gotcha!" moment in this story that will appear in the final episode. I'm kinda nervous, but at least I'm prepared. Haha.

Gotchard 01 @ 03.17