[Daikaijuman54]

Hey, hey, hey, I'm back! Life is not fun, work is pain, and Gotchard? Well...

I'm kind of on the fence with this one.

Now, I know there's a LOT of debate on whether this show was good or not (and honestly, I kind of refrained from reviewing partly because I was busy/stressed, or I was worried about being "that" guy), but let me just take things from the beginning (I don't usually like long posts, but here goes): From first impressions, I loved Gotchard's suits, probably among my favorite designs (at least from Reiwa), the show's more simple "go catch some card monsters" premise was endearing, BUT it still had a lot of problems from some recent Kamen Rider Shows, namely the rapid introduction of new suits/forms almost constantly until the power-ups caused them to slow down (somewhat), now they DID what I consider one of my favorite things in this show, the Rainbow Gotchard Clones to use the old suits. That is probably my favorite Final Form Gimmick so far.

Moving to the side characters, I actually liked Rinne. Sure, I'll admit, she seemed kind of meh at the start, but she grew on me and Majade is probably my favorite female Rider design (the final form took some getting used to, but the Kamina Shades were already a win), neat how she was the Official Secondary, which I liked, since Spanner/Valvaraad, while he did feel like Secondary Rider material, I always felt he felt like a slightly lesser version of Hiro/Brave from Ex-Aid (the fact his catchphrase is kind of similar didn't help), and I think his Rider form's visor was hit-or-miss to me a lot (Silver Valvaraad probably highlighted that his bolt-on left side makes his head look comically big, but I appreciated how it used base Valvaraad's head for the right side with the tracker D-Gazer over it).

Renge really shined for her centered episode, but Sabimaru had some more genuinely good moments, from the introduction of Dread and the one with his brother and their Chemy. Kajiki was another I felt also had some great moments, with the romance having actually still played a role again and not just randomly say "oh, it didn't work out" was nice to see. Minato was pretty good, the whole "losing sight of his goal because he was scared of Geryon" wasn't the best reasoning, but I'll admit it still played a role (even if him turning into gold in the finale looked laughable). Kyoka "Coriander Enjoyer" was a decent support, even if she kind of fades into the background (like Spanner's relevancy). The Alchemist's Guild was severely underutilized, probably worse than the Sword of Logos from Saber, being a big important organization that ultimately just exists, which I suppose at least they didn't do another "actually we're evil and we were helping the bad guys all along!" like FENIX, ZAIA, and the aforementioned Sword of Logos.

The Villains: The sisters started out as decent antagonists, but they probably got sidelined the hardest (I'll get there), which as individuals, I though Lachesis was the best among them and Clotho probably taking the short end, because BOY, was she benched! Nothing on her Human model OR the fact she got a Hybrid Form that just happens and is quickly abandoned. Atropos, while I do admit, the whole "make the heroine and female villain bond" is kind of getting old, I appreciate that this one had at least some purpose given that she's modeled after Rinne, kind of wish she had more of a presence since she seemed like she'd be an interesting change of pace as an antagonist (a creepy little girl seemed like a fun idea for an antagonist to me initially). Geryon... He's got a Monocle. Best Villain. 10/10. Gold Stars all around! Okay, jokes over. In all seriousness, I appreciate that we had another glorious irredeemable scumbag as a villains (after Orteca from Revice), but I don't think he's topping Storius or Regard. The Three Abyssalis Kings, now here's where I think Geryon worked, the idea that the main big-bad is the guy taken out midseason and he just swoops in after these three come in is a nice twist (if that's what you want to call it) but I thought Gigist was the best of them, since Gaelliah and Germain didn't add much other than "oh yeah, there's three of them."

Before I discuss the finale, I'd like to say, while I enjoyed Legend and his portions, but I think they should have been their own thing instead of shoehorning him into the main show, since it didn't contribute much to the main plot other than reveal the Philosopher Stone in Hotarou, and boy, does everything feel last minute!

So, as stated with the Sisters, this show just tossed everything into the last episode (heck, I couldn't believe the show was ending a few weeks ago, and that Majade and Valvaraad got last minute Final Forms and there felt like so much that should have been done more with (seriously, why is the dad still hidden, I was half assuming he'd be the most important character or the bloody twist villain or reincarnates as Nijigon), and everything just kind of... happens? now, I get it, there's a lot about Ichinose's ability to create his own solutions (remember that initiation test from the beginning?) but this just felt wildly out of left field and is kind of a mess. Also, looks like we're back to the "Reiwa Upgraded Initial Forms" again (not that I ever had a problem with that, mind you).

Final thoughts: It started out as an endearing comfort show that I could sit back and enjoy without having to compare it to Geats or whatever, but it just ended up being a mess, like if we reversed Saber and the horribly rushed beginning was the end of the show. I don't dislike Gotchard (yeah, I'm saying it), I had a lot I enjoyed, and even if this sounds dumb, it helped me get past my dad's passing which did make me feel emotional at times while watching, I'm grateful for those little moments that helped me stand up again. It's not a great show, nor do I want it to be. It didn't frustrate me like Revice, but I'm not going to let my biases dictate that, so here's my ranking:

1)Geats
2)Saber
3)Zero-One
4)Revice
Outlier) Gotchard

I honestly can't bring myself to put it over Revice, regardless of how I feel of either series, I will love the things I enjoyed of Gotchard and I will continue to be dissatisfied with its execution, but I don't think I particularly care where to rank this. It had some fun moments, great suits, and good action, but I will fully acknowledge this show ain't perfect and this will be another "I like Wizard" or "Zi-O wasn't that bad" upon my reputation, which I'm fine with.

Now we can eat candy with Gavv!