[Sh Ranger]

I just watched Future Daybreak in preparation for Gozyuger tomorrow.

So turns out that Orange Gotchard, now revealed to be called Gotchard Daybreak, came from 20 years in the future, which I guess means Geryon ruined the world 5 years after the divergence and this movie takes place 15 years after that. No wonder this Houtarou looked too old to be 22, he's actually 37. I once thought ISSA was a pretty good cast for SOUGO, but now I'm even more impressed with DAIGO (so many CAPS) cast for Houtarou. He looks and sounds almost identical to Motojima Junsei, which makes it all the more uncanny seeing a Houtarou who's lost his Gotcha and love of Chemies.

Geryon's victory at the divergence point ironically makes it harder for him to get what he wants. If I understood correctly, it took him 5 years to ruin the world and kill Houtarou's friends and another 15 years after that, he still didn't have his world of gold and he ultimately got usurped as the final boss by the Complete Dark King. Of course, that future is worse for pretty much everybody else as well, except for Clotho and Atropos. Sucks for all you Lachesis fans out there, she dies in both timelines.

While I was wrong about Rinne becoming Nijigon, turns out she did become a Chemy in this timeline, merging with The Sun at the time of her death. But Houtarou becoming distant with the Chemies prevented him from hearing her, until our Houtarou renewed his Gotcha. This leads to an awesome emotional moment in the climax where Gotchard Daybreak performs a Gotcha-N-Go with SteamHopper enhanced by The Sun, essentially making this a Gotcha-N-Go between Houtarou and Rinne as Shining Daybreak. For emphasis, our Houtarou and Rinne fought alongside them as Miracle Gotchard and Majade to defeat the Complete Dark King!

Overall, I thought this was the best summer movie of Reiwa Rider! It has all the themes of hope, friendship and love that you could want from a Gotchard movie. Even though Daybreak's world lies in ruin, the threat has finally been taken care of and Houtarou has found the hope to rebuild it and honor his fallen friends, with the help of his Chemies. To become a real daybreak for the future's dawn! His legacy lives on in the main timeline as well, creating a world where Houtarou can live happily with all his friends and that Houtarou was the one who gave hope to the future Houtarou. If you change the past, you change the future. And if you change the future, you change the past. Connections go beyond linearity. That's the power of Gotcha!