[Sh Ranger]

Finally, a Spanner focus episode that reveals how he became the edgy guy. Since Episode 6, I predicted that he had been subjected to the memory loss spell, when he asked Bolt who he was. Turns out that was partially true, except Kyoka was the one who erased his memories, specifically of Geryon murdering his parents. However, it's shown that while memories can be erased, strong emotions cannot, presumably another limitation of alchemy compared to how memory loss works in Kamen Rider Geats. This was foreshadowed in Episode 1 with Houtarou's vague warm fuzzy feelings upon re-meeting Hopper1 and now we see that Spanner suffered from painful nightmares. Even X-Rex's memory reading ability shows that the "erased" memories are still preserved deep in people's minds.

With Tamami's actress getting caught up in her husband's legal problems, this high school yo-yo club reunion must be the show's way of writing her out for now, while also being a clever reference to her previous Tokusatsu role. Isaac claims this is a niche hobby, which makes me wonder if Isaac even has any hobbies or interests outside of alchemy.

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Originally Posted by Zolda

Lachesis continues her display of jealousy of Atropos constantly receiving Glion's favor. Or perhaps it's not jealousy toward Atropos, but resentment toward Glion? Clotho is absent in this episode.

As expected, Lachesis also comments on Spanner's situation, lamenting how pathetic he has become now. Perhaps Lachesis' envy towards her older sisters parallels Spanner's envy towards Houtarou and Rinne. Looks like Lachesis is anxious about ending up in Spanner's position here, as an unfunny joke.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

It seems like golden is Glion's signature color. The word 金/kin (gold) is homophonous to the word 禁/kin (forbidden). His golden rubik cube is the symbol of his obsession with the dark arts of forbidden alchemy such as dimension-bending/space-retransmutation, the creation of homunculi, and probably several other nasty tricks. I hope he can also create a Horcrux like Voldemort could, haha.

Nice observation! 金 is also part of 黄金術/renkinjutsu, the Japanese word for alchemy, with transmutation to gold being a common goal of the practice and one of Geryon's catchphrases along with "chemistry".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

This also explains why his best match RCC's (Machwheel & Daiohni) don't amount to 10, but 12, and both use number 6 to symbolize his power of darkness (and also to symbolize the number of sides in a bolt). As Glion states @ 14:37, it seems like he's been planning to ultimately claim Spanner's black flame power as his own. And what does Angel Malgam mean when he says @ 21:46 that Spanner is destined to be Glion's servant?

Symbolically, I suppose Daiohni could represent Spanner's untamed power, as controlling dangerous emotions like hatred and jealousy was one of the morals of Kamen Rider Hibiki, whose eponymous Oni henshined with purple fire. To balance this, Machwheel could represent Spanner's Showa style virtues, to accept the power of evil and use it to do good. Alternatively, he is not only a practitioner of alchemy, but also of Rin Jyuken. Surprisingly, he was able to become a Golden Malgam, being the first human to do this after Geryon's dolls, showing that their power is on a comparable level.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zolda

What's kinda disappointing in this episode is that both KR Fire Gotchard and KR Majade who very recently debuted in episode 18 and 19 respectively are already overpowered by the Angel Malgam.

Yeah, weird how Majade could handle a Golden Level 6 Malgam by herself, while a Golden Level 4 wipes the floor with her and Fire Gotchard together. I enjoyed seeing Houtarou and Rinne henshin together for the first time for sure, but I think maybe there should've been another episode between this and the previous one to better show off their new teamwork.