[TheJaz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sh Ranger

Alright!
Considering that Houtarou's an alchemist, a talent which requires aptitude in math and science, he has to be more intelligent than Gentarou, who once struggled to figure out the square root of a double digit number while testing the Hand Switch.

Now we don't actually know to what extent Houtarou is an Alchemist yet I want to point out... It's possible he's an Alchemist just in the sense that he uses the RideChemy Cards

The TV-Asahi website says this about him

"By chance, the protagonist, high school student Houtarou Ichinose, gets involved in this incident. He is entrusted with the transformation belt of Kamen Rider Gotchard, the "Gotchard Driver," and assigned the mission to retrieve the unleashed Chemi."

To me this reads as rhe belt system and Chemi being created not by our protagonist but by a third party, and Houtarou getting involved like it says "by chance"

He could be a smart guy still, maybe that's what makes hima good rider candidate. But my current theory is that maybe he's just such a nice well meaning guy that some Chemi just befriend him on sight in the first episode and that's why he's given a belt, maybe he's the first person they find who can befriend Chemi instead of being corrupted by them.