[Zolda]

Sabimaru says @ 00:33 that dimension-bending/space-retransmutation is a forbidden alchemy. So, it seems like there are forbidden aspects of universe/nature that must not be violated with alchemy. Several things in nature are forbidden to be tampered with. Space is one of those forbidden aspects. Several other forbidden aspects, I suspect, are time, birth, and death. Will a divinely powerful, fate-manipulating object in the vein of Philosopher's Stone/elixir like I mentioned here eventually appear? And, as I suspected, Shiori's rotten left hand is not only caused by the overuse of her dimension-bending ability, but rather by the mere use of it, no matter how much, as pointed out by Isaac @ 00:39. Shiori's response to it kinda creeps me out, haha. It seems like the members of Atropos' death cult do have a nihilistic tendency. Shiori echoing Licht's view of Chemies as tools could be a setup for a red herring to make Licht look like he's a part of Shiori's death cult. The vertical kabe-don scene @ 01:17 makes me chuckle for a moment, haha.

Rinne suspects that Shiori may be brainwashed by Atropos, but her suspicion is immediately dismissed by Shiori herself who says that her betrayal is because she worships The Sisters. It seems like Shiori's death club is some kind of The Sisters' fan club. This death club is similar to the Siths in Star Wars or the Death Eaters in Harry Potter. They're groups formed by practitioners of dark arts of their respective fields. Shiori says @ 04:23 that what The Sisters have been doing is a beautiful thing that will open the door of darkness to change the world. As I have stated several times, it seems like The Sisters' final goal is bringing a new natural order, very possibly one where humans transcend death, and not only blur but also destroy the boundary between life and death altogether. Although, personally, Shiori's own goal seems to be more motivated by lust for power than the desire to transcend death.

She mentions an event 10 years ago where the people she calls hard-headed idiots screwed up a once-in-a-lifetime chance to grasp the truth about alchemy. Who were these "hard-headed idiots"? I think they were the AU's top brasses who managed to collect all 101 Chemies. And what does she mean by this "once-in-a-lifetime chance to grasp the truth about alchemy"? Is she referring to the RCC theft by Fuga? Or is she referring to the Gotchardriver? I doubt it, because the Gotchardriver was only recently finished. It seems like one or several people had almost successfully executed the grand plan of opening the door of darkness in the past. It seems like there was another tool that was the Gotchardriver's predecessor that when combined with the 101 RCC's also had the ability to "grasp the truth about alchemy", very likely referring to the ability to access the power of the Ouroboros. After that squandered attempt 10 years ago, that tool was probably lost, hidden, damaged, or destroyed by a sabotageur, very likely Fuga, whose motivations and goals are also still mysterious. Is this tool the main villain's Driver, similar to the Evol Driver/Ark Driver/Zillion Driver?

Shiori has finally got her starstruck moment @ 05:50 when The Sisters appear before her... And gets vaporized by Atropos not long after that. Atropos retires her from duty because she dislikes her indiscreet method, also probably because her jig is up. Also, if this is Shiori's first moment of seeing The Sisters, then it means that there's at least one other spy that acts as an intermediary between Shiori and The Sisters. Who is it? Is it Minato who uses his real identity? Is it Renge? Is it Licht? Or is it another offscreen character that has also been active behind the screen? Unlike the Kamen Rider Club, the AU/AA is a big organization, similar to Sword of Logos, so this is very likely the case. I thought it was Shiori who would conveniently use her dimension-bending power to put the new Driver onto Sabimaru, but she is killed before the Driver even appears on screen. So, I was wrong on that. Haha. Oh, and I notice that Shiori's Ring has red gem, so her rank is likely similar to Minato's.

Atropos says @ 06:59 that human lives and friendship are weakness. She seems to be a Machiavellianist who sees friendship as merely another form of tools that can be discarded when it's no longer useful to her. I wonder if she and the two other Sisters will betray each other. It'd be very interesting if it actually happens.

My hypothesis in episode 11's thread last week is mostly proven to be correct in this episode. The user of the Dreadriver, the new Driver created by Atropos is Sabimaru. I thought that it was Shiori who would put the Dreadriver onto Sabimaru, but it turned out that they only need Clotho's muscle. Sabimaru is chosen to be the user of Dreadriver due to his extensive knowledge of alchemy. Fittingly, the Dreadriver plays a creaking door sound effect when the lever is pulled. The piano standby music is also equally creepy.

I hypothesized last week that Sabimaru was gonna transform using the Jamata no Orochi RCC (Occult 8) due to the hydra motif on his helmet (which I can't un-see, haha), but I was wrong. It turned out that he transforms using the Steam Liner Repli Chemy Card, a whole new (!) group of Chemy Cards that are said to be the negative copies of the Ride Chemy Cards created from the huge stock of Blank RCC's stolen by Shiori from inside AU/AA's vault, hence the inverted color scheme and the dark aura. Yep, as Atropos herself says herself @ 11:22, it turned out that RCC's can be copied into Blank RCC's as I suspected here. Both their names start with the letter R. How am I supposed to abbreviate the phrase Repli Chemy Card? Haha. There you go, collectors. A whole another group of 101 (!) cards to collect.

Dread transforms using (Repli) Steam Liner as his default form, but I still can't see where the steam train motif on his suit is. All I see are skeleton... And hydra, haha. Dread looks great, though. I'll definitely preorder the SHF. The Dreadriver's Drain function seems similar to the one on Gotcharge Gun where the user can fuse the power of several RCC's, although Dread can generate new weapons from the almost infinite combination of RCC's, not only energy attacks. Oh, and the Dreadriver can fuse more than 2 RCC's simultaneously, when the Gotchardriver can only fuse 2 RCC's at the same time. As shown @ 17:56, it seems like Dread is controlled by Atropos.

Sabimaru was spied on by Shiori, apparently through Isaac. Does this mean that Isaac is a spying program/device? This is quite satirical because the majority of the so-called smart devices today are actually spying on its users in real life. And wasn't Isaac created and programmed by Sabimaru himself? If Isaac's behavior is intended to deceive the AA/AU members, then it must've been programmed that way by Sabimaru. It's also shown @ 12:43 that Sabimaru is still connected to Isaac eventhough he's already transformed into Dread. If so, then what exactly is Isaac?

Spanner attempts to fight Dread using his usual elitist, Chemies-are-merely-tools philosophy... And proceeds to get immediately defeated by Dread/Sabimaru, who has extensive, deep knowledge about Chemies. It seems like he'll be forced to up his game and change his view of the Chemies. His change of view will probably coincide with him getting his Rider form and a new Driver (yay!).

In the midst of the crisis, the white version of X Gotchalibur suddenly appears out of nowhere, apparently sent by UFO-X that comes and goes as it pleases, as usual. Haha. It looks like it's gonna be this season's Kougouken Saikou aka the sword of light that can fight Dread's power of darkness on equal level. And as always, Houtarou gives it a name on the spot, like what he did when he transforms using the Gotchardriver for the first time. I like the shape and the color of X Gotchalibur.

Minato has a crucial trick up his sleeve: Escape teleportation spell. He states @ 21:07 that this problem is beyond the students' ability. He's planning to report it to the top brasses, although he himself is not sure whether it's a fruitful effort or not. Does this mean that Minato has known (or at least suspected) that there's something fishy with the top brasses at AU? Does this mean that more top brasses will appear, probably with their own Drivers and Rider forms, like the Genesis Riders and Laser Raise Riser Riders? Yay, more new Drivers!

The voice @ 21:28 is actually Houtarou's, not Sabimaru's. I got fooled on that one, haha. Spanner, as usual, frankly points out the possibility that he, Houtarou, Rinne, and Renge could've died during the crisis a few moments ago. He shows how the students' naive ideals, dreams, and shallow optimism clash with the harsh reality of being alchemists, which is actually closer to being knights of Sword of Logos than Pokemon trainers, haha. He also mentions that many alchemists have died when performing their duty of protecting the natural order of the world. This could be a foreshadowing of a big reveal of the AU/AA's past and the root of their conflict with (or even connection to) The Sisters' death club. Like I stated here, they were probably once allies.

It's revealed at the end of this episode that Licht has been watching the whole crisis unfold from afar. Although it seems like he's grading Houtarou's performance as a Rider, it's still unclear what his true motivation is. He could be another spy from The Sisters' death club, or a mid-level manipulator sent by Glion himself, or a potential mentor, etc. I hope he doesn't end up as the new Akaishit, haha.

Next week, Sabimaru will debut as Atropos puppet in civilian form, although he doesn't change his attire to match The Sisters'. Atropos says that when someone transforms into Dread, his life is over. Does this mean that Sabimaru will be a permanently brainwashed puppet controlled by Atropos? I doubt it. Kajiki will finally manage to channel his UFO-ria to summon UFO-X with Houtarou and the others. Houtarou will attach the X Gotchalibur to the Gotchardriver and access Super Gotchard's first Level 10 form, Cross UFO-X. I'm fine with the goofy armors. It's the undersuit's color scheme that I dislike. I hope DreadSabi can still kick Houtarou's and Spanner's butt next week. Oh, and Minato's attire will look a bit tidier than usual, haha.