Fine episode but felt like an old 2 parter crammed into 1. Everything could've done with more time to breathe. Actually having to build trust with a chemy was good, just I hope it isn't the same thing each week. We're out the crater ep1 created but still not convinced they can stretch this to 50 episodes. At least inserts that stick around are back.
I think they decided cause he can't act then just shout and be excited. It sort of worked but will get old fairly fast. Either things need to get funnier or the plot and characters really pick up.
I think this plot line divided in two would have been boring. It’s not a lot happening in the first place so it’s probably for the best to just keep it as one
>. It’s not a lot happening in the first place
Well that's cause it is so stripped down. You could take each bit and expand it to something more interesting. Longer in alchemy class establishing characters and making it feel more like a real thing. A whole Subpedo secondary plot instead of seeming like they forgot it till the last minute. Have Ichinose try a few things and not randomly turn up at some sort of dojo. Maybe give mushroom man a bit of backstory. If they aren't telling good episodic stories, and also not doing a heavy plot focus. The show is gonna feel pretty directionless.
>Fine episode but felt like an old 2 parter crammed into 1.
I think the main issue is that they introduced stuff even quicker than episode 1. We have the Bushido plotline, two Malgums, two new characters on the protagonist side, backstory on Rinne, a new form, and Spanner not only fighting Hotaro for his ideals but also yelling his own.
What are your impressions on Gotchard's rival from this episode?
He feels like if you took Kaito, Ren, first half Alain, and Nago minus the buttons and threw them into a blender. The whole >Walk into building. >Grandstand. >Beat the crap out of Hotaro. >Bad guy monologue. >Have an argument between Hotaro about your ideals. >Hotaro nearly despairs. >Protects Hopper-chan. >Beats him. >Befriends Apparebushido at the end of it. >All within the span of like a minute and a half.
was pretty funny though.
God damn Houtarou is such a charisma black hole. Previous Riders were not this bad.
I still don't get how a little girl has better acting. She seems like a prodigy in comparison to the main guy and girl
What are your impressions on Gotchard's rival from this episode?
I like him and the suit
I sure hope they don't frick him over!
I bet the SHF will have a boring clean look
Fine episode but felt like an old 2 parter crammed into 1. Everything could've done with more time to breathe. Actually having to build trust with a chemy was good, just I hope it isn't the same thing each week. We're out the crater ep1 created but still not convinced they can stretch this to 50 episodes. At least inserts that stick around are back.
I think they decided cause he can't act then just shout and be excited. It sort of worked but will get old fairly fast. Either things need to get funnier or the plot and characters really pick up.
I think this plot line divided in two would have been boring. It’s not a lot happening in the first place so it’s probably for the best to just keep it as one
>. It’s not a lot happening in the first place
Well that's cause it is so stripped down. You could take each bit and expand it to something more interesting. Longer in alchemy class establishing characters and making it feel more like a real thing. A whole Subpedo secondary plot instead of seeming like they forgot it till the last minute. Have Ichinose try a few things and not randomly turn up at some sort of dojo. Maybe give mushroom man a bit of backstory. If they aren't telling good episodic stories, and also not doing a heavy plot focus. The show is gonna feel pretty directionless.
This feels like the beginning of Ghost to me where they speed run collecting all of the things and then plot starts something else
>he thinks Geats ep 35 was any better than Gotchard
Spanner's first scene ended with him getting headbutted in the balls and he's STILL less of a joke than Keiwa
God damn Houtarou is such a charisma black hole. Previous Riders were not this bad.
I honestly think he got better in comparison with the first 2 eps, so I'm sure he will be fine come the Q3. Rinne, well, she's still a plank with legs, she can't show some expression to save her life, even her crying scene in the pv looked forced as frick, it's amazing how a 7yo kid mogs her with only 15 seconds of screentime.
It's being established there was no audition for the actor. Rather it seems likely there was probably backroom lobbying by the talent agencies. Likely the same situation for Rinne. So you have got two duds as the main characters
>You now remember Ore wa Tenkuji Takeru
It's the problem with casting young actor without enough experience. Nishime at least improved by the Ganmaizer arc though the story took a nosedive in quality there anyway.
I like that all of Gotchard's finishers seem to have him start the attack in his wild form and finish it in his normal form. It's a pretty neat gimmick.
The hair looking like a mushroom is a neat touch. But if every victim of the week is just a psycho waiting for a chemie to fuse with, the conflict with Valvarad better be good.
I'm not in love with the actor but Houtarou's writing is already losing me with the junk about how humans and Chemies can be friends. The kitschiness where it's trying to be cute without really feeling like it earned its sentimentality is reminding me a lot of something like Ghost. It's funny too, I was rewatching Fourze with a friend and the contrast between it and Gotchard is like night and day.
The reason Fourze works and this doesn't is because Fourze was trying to befriend actual human characters with understandable dramatic arcs and motivations, not sub-verbal Pokemon that live in the CG dimension. Hopper-1 is cute as a mascot but if all we have to go off of for these apparently-pivotal relationships is Hotarou's forced genki autistic screeching it's never going to land.
I think this could still work if it was just subtler about it. Fourze had Gentaro shout about befriending people but when it came down to their issues he felt earnest in tackling them, the series showed us that. Houtarou wanting to befriend the chemies couldve been handled in a way that makes the audience feel less stupid - maybe if he were a quieter character who was shown trying to appeal to them in the middle of class while the other students wondered what he was doing. Instead we get him literally shouting constantly about wanting to befriend them and the other characters going "uhh Chemies are tools/artificial lifeforms tho don't you know lol?" just in case you don't grasp these very simple ideas. It feels like it doesn't respect your intelligence at all in the same way Ghost didn't, slamming you over the heat with the main character's altruism in place of a believable personality, and having him say everything virtuous out loud instead of letting his actions speak and his personality naturally inform them. It genuinely feels like a parody.
The most annoying thing is this still could have worked if the cards were at least like Digimon and could speak, or two people had to figure out what the cards wanted, but instead they chose the option that allows for the least amount of characterization possible.
I think this could still work if it was just subtler about it. Fourze had Gentaro shout about befriending people but when it came down to their issues he felt earnest in tackling them, the series showed us that. Houtarou wanting to befriend the chemies couldve been handled in a way that makes the audience feel less stupid - maybe if he were a quieter character who was shown trying to appeal to them in the middle of class while the other students wondered what he was doing. Instead we get him literally shouting constantly about wanting to befriend them and the other characters going "uhh Chemies are tools/artificial lifeforms tho don't you know lol?" just in case you don't grasp these very simple ideas. It feels like it doesn't respect your intelligence at all in the same way Ghost didn't, slamming you over the heat with the main character's altruism in place of a believable personality, and having him say everything virtuous out loud instead of letting his actions speak and his personality naturally inform them. It genuinely feels like a parody.
>It genuinely feels like a parody.
I was thinking of Shinobi during the entire kendo scene.
Delicious Party Precure had similar episodes with the characters getting all emotional over random fairies saying their names like Pokemon being in danger, I remember making a point about how Heartcatch was better because it made a point about human problems instead.
But those fairies in danger actually had consequences for people even if it was something silly like making food taste bad.
I still don't really understand why Hotarou obsesses over Chemies so much
>even if it was something silly like making food taste bad.
and that was the least horrible of those consequences. later we had.
>the good memories related to said food are removed from people. >the food becomes blocky and literally unedible (at least previously people COULD still be able to eat it despite the corrupted flavor).
and of course... >remove EVERY SINGLE THING related to the food from existence. ingredients, how to make, memories, everything.
any of those scenarios would end with the potential extinction of the human race due to hunger and famine. DP being a little girl show was not gonna touch those potential issues, but they ARE there.
back to gotchard, as for why Hotarou wants to care for the chemmies? Hotarou did mentioned in Ep. 1 that he has no idea about what could his future be, he has no idea what to do with his life outside helping his mom with the diner, discovering about the world of alchemists and the chemmies gave him the chance to find that purpose he has longed for.
of course anyone would think 'its selfish', but it if actually helps people and can create a better world, whats the issue?
>Nothing has ever really excited him or given him his Gotcha >Suddenly he comes to know that alchemists exist, run an academy in his high school, and that Pokemon like creatures called Chemy exist which he can suddenly use to turn into a superhero because a train Chemy took him to the Ouroborus Plains where a dude gave him the belt
I'd say there's probably a couple reasons why he's so obsessed with his current life turn right now.
Delicious Party at least bothered to give us human connection alongside the food fairies, Yui and Rosemary became friends by this point whereas in this episode Hotarou just screams at people about cards. The food fairies weren't the primary focus of any of the first three DP episodes (all of them were about the cast bonding at this point) while Hotarou doesn't have any interests beyond the chemies.
I think this could still work if it was just subtler about it. Fourze had Gentaro shout about befriending people but when it came down to their issues he felt earnest in tackling them, the series showed us that. Houtarou wanting to befriend the chemies couldve been handled in a way that makes the audience feel less stupid - maybe if he were a quieter character who was shown trying to appeal to them in the middle of class while the other students wondered what he was doing. Instead we get him literally shouting constantly about wanting to befriend them and the other characters going "uhh Chemies are tools/artificial lifeforms tho don't you know lol?" just in case you don't grasp these very simple ideas. It feels like it doesn't respect your intelligence at all in the same way Ghost didn't, slamming you over the heat with the main character's altruism in place of a believable personality, and having him say everything virtuous out loud instead of letting his actions speak and his personality naturally inform them. It genuinely feels like a parody.
I said this last week, there needed to be an arc with Houtarou becoming fixated with befriending the chemies. Having him act like this from the start with such little hesitancy was a bad idea.
Yea, I got reminded of Ghost half-way while I was watching this. The biggest issue I can see is that I can get behind Takeru but Houtaru just feels very lame to me.
Takeru has a pretty solid motivation and more than anything a good connection with his supporting cast early in. Houtaro just feels empty so far. People are making the fourze comparisons with him but I think the big difference between the two shows that alot of people arent pointing out is simply, Fourze was funny, Gotchard isnt. When Gentarou does some crazy friendship bit theres a level of absurdity to it all with some great punchlines and bits, Houtaro is kind of just saying words of no substance and its not entertaining at all.
The biggest issue is that Hotarou just likes Chemmies instantly. I know it’s a trope on all card media, but even stuff like Yu Gi Oh and Digimon have the characters have actual reasons to love their marketable friends. Hotarou just likes them I guess because he’s the “chosen one” and possible descendant of the legendary alchemist.
His school friend has more motivation to like Chemmies because he’s into the paranatural, they should have given that to Hotarou so he has an excuse.
I don’t get why in early episodes they can use bikes but then just stop. Clearly they know how to circumvent the bike laws for a bit, so just keep doing that
Frankly gridman and Dynazenon were heavily carried by everything that wasnt the writing. Hiow absolutely nothing the main character of gridman was was the huge red flag for how this show was gonna turn out that show was only popular cause people thought the girls were hot.
I was hoping they'd lean more into the character interactions, but even something with obvious silly potential like this falls flat because Houtarou goes into "B-BUT CHEMIES ARE FRIENDS" mode.
Yo, Ei, if you read this do me a favor and bring Hotaro's voice down 5-10 decibels on the next episode. Thanks senpai.
I'm gonna give this until episode 8 to see if it gets better at all. Hopefully they lean more in to the supporting cast while Hotaro and Kudoh learn how to emote. I really need to see more of these two. .
Fun episode. Hopper1 acting like Houtarou's pet cat is cute.
Apparebushido had a good intro fight, Valvarad/Spanner going full rival mode, the city Gotchard takes place in seemingly holding the absolute malice-filled dregs of society within, Renge and Sabimaru being a good manzai team.
I'm shocked that none of the other alchemist students told Hotarou to shut the frick up and stop shouting all the time, what an insufferable classmate to have
Man I just really hope the actors improve. The two really stuck out like a sore thumb. I wonder if it's just them lacking the acting chops or direction is also part of it?
https://desuarchive.org/m/thread/21142450/#q21142450
https://desuarchive.org/m/thread/21127039/#q21127039
https://desuarchive.org/m/thread/21110504/#q21110504
The ep threads up to the episode 3 point
Some justicegays were complaining about it being mean-spirited and not a hero show deserving the title of Kamen Rider (so basically what Kamen Rider purists were saying in 2002).
Geats certainly had more to digest so discussion seemed more varied, Gotchard is downsizing the cast, seems lower-scale and the MC is rather simple so people are hitting that same key more often.
I mean yeah, if you suddenly found out that sentient friendly creatures existed like this then I think you'd very much want to learn all about them and be friends with them. I mean Hopper1 is already his Pikachu.
His character is basically that he was aimless and then saw becoming a rider as a chance to devote himself to something. I guess it's kind of weird since generally this character type is portrayed in a negative way in Rider, but here it's clearly meant to be a positive direction for him.
It's not that far-fetched. Takumi in Faiz had no dreams or goal before becoming a Kamen Rider. After that, he decided to devote himself to protecting people's dreams.
The biggest issue is that Hotarou just likes Chemmies instantly. I know it’s a trope on all card media, but even stuff like Yu Gi Oh and Digimon have the characters have actual reasons to love their marketable friends. Hotarou just likes them I guess because he’s the “chosen one” and possible descendant of the legendary alchemist.
His school friend has more motivation to like Chemmies because he’s into the paranatural, they should have given that to Hotarou so he has an excuse.
I think the deal is the Hotarou's appeal is that he's pure-hearted and has a desire to befriend and protect all Chemmies. While him being obsessed with the occult at the start would be a more interesting way to make him invested in Chemmies, I think the idea is that Hotarou isn't filled with malice or negative desires that could corrupt the Chemmies themselves. I feel like his school friend will get turned into a MoTW at some point due to his obsession being taken in a negative direction.
Takumi as an example doesn't really work because Takumi didn't exactly jump at the chance, a big part of Faiz is how difficult it is for him to fully commit even after the "I don't have a dream" speech.
I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about Spanner as a character given his stance is shown to be demonstrably wrong before he even shows up. It kind of makes him out to be a bit of a moron.
At least they're trying to give him a reason to clash with the protag other than being a moron who hates him for something that's not his fault, like the last purple rival (not)secondary rider.
I'm just not feeling it. The acting is horrendous and the whole "befriend the jpegs" angle rings hollow when they're just discount Pokemon with no actual personality besides a one note thing.
I do a toku stream with some friends and we are caught up with KingOhger and on 35 of Geats, the tonal whiplash ending the set with Gotchard is pretty abrupt, like even if it was us doing this and KingOhger we would feel like this is too big a swing in mood.
Gotchard is very back to basics so far and is missing literally all of the dramatic stakes and intrigue. Like what am I supposed to care about? I was hoping for a Kudoh/Ichinose tension about how he saw her dad die but the preview seems to make it out that she won't accept that, so we are stuck with low rent Cardcaptors, which feels very poorly established outside of get these rando card monsters off the street, who owns em is barely important at all.
I plan on giving it till Christmas, but honestly with how the pacing is going I expect him to dump it in a single rant about how Chemies killed his family, because we have zero other antagonists outside of him and the three sisters.
I think most people's actual issue with it is how early heisei phase 2 it feels but the formulation and structure isn't much like it
>how early heisei phase 2 it feels
I agree with you there, it feels like they want to pretend that they did the work of laying out why the Chemies are important, why the sisters wanted to unseal them and now we are in the gotta catch em all phase, but without that set dressing we have no pressure to catch em at all. Mmrrwv
>because we have zero other antagonists outside of him and the three sisters
Anon, we're only 3 episodes in.
>it feels like they want to pretend that they did the work of laying out why the Chemies are important, why the sisters wanted to unseal them
You're delusional, these are mysteries so far. What we do know anda hace seen is that the Chemys are dangerous if left unchecked, and that somewhat justifies Spanner's posture.
>zero other antagonists outside of him and the three sisters.
So 4? That's basically the standard starting number of most shows W-onward, and Phase 1 didn't even get that many most the time.
Unless you mean the MoTW barely count as antagonists in their own right like they did in previous shows, then I agree.
but the same thing works for me, it has higher tension than most early heisei phase 2 episodes. it doesn't sit right both with people who like more high stakes shows or those who love shows like W or fourze, but it's a formula I like and hope it simmers into a more harmonious mix in the coming episodes.
this or people just don't like houtaro which I do
That is fair, I suppose treating this more like Den-O is a better mindset to have then it just boils down to me not enjoying what Ichinose has given us so far. I did like the bit where he almost died and had a bit of growth but only time will tell if it gets somewhere interesting for me.
>it has higher tension than most early heisei phase 2 episodes
Does it? Shotarou punched Phillip in the face over how to handle his childhood friend being a murderer in episode 2, Ankh wanted Eiji to kill a civilian in episode 3, and Shun beat up Gentarou behind the school while holding Yuki hostage in episode 1. The only thing close to an interpersonal conflict in Gotchard's cast is over how they use their Pokemon.
This is a problem I've had with most of Reiwa. Most of the drama stems from the big central premise instead of any meaningful interpersonal relationships between the characters. Unironically I think the closest it's gotten to the Heisei style is early Revice and the Kagerou arc.
8 months ago
Anonymous
>Most of the drama stems from the big central premise instead of any meaningful interpersonal relationships between the characters
01's wolf rider whose name I forgot? Saber? Revice family drama? Geats?
>only thing close to an interpersonal conflict in Gotchard's cast is over how they use their Pokemon
pretty disingenuous way of reading it
8 months ago
Anonymous
The conflict examples in W-Fourze all still have weight if you removed the fantastical elements from these shows. W and OOO are arguments over whether criminal lives are forfeit, Fourze's wasn't reliant on supernatural elements to begin with. But with Gotchard now there is no reason for Hotarou and Valvarad to be fighting. The fight only exists in a world where Riders and magic talking cards exist, it isn't based on humanity or reality. There is nothing beneath the surface.
But sure, let's ignore that because even ignoring that there's less tension. For another comparison look at how these scenes end. Shotarou hits Phillip and declares their partnership over. Gotou breaks the argument up, but gets into another one with the constantly hostile Ankh and threatens him at gunpoint. The Orion Zodiart scares the football team away, with episode 2 revealing it was intentional and due to Shun's poor treatment of him. Hotarou's fight ends in a headbutt and with the cards immediately rewarding him. How is this more tense? There is no objective answer on whether to spare an actively dangerous criminal, Gentarou has still made an enemy of the popular kids, but Hotarou won his conflict immediately as the cards are sentient and visibly need to be won over emotionally. No, it does not have higher tension than early phase 2 did and I'm not even going beyond three episodes for any of them.
>The only thing close to an interpersonal conflict in Gotchard's cast is over how they use their Pokemon >but Hotarou won his conflict immediately as the cards are sentient and visibly need to be won over emotionally
Look, you disingenuous b***h, the only thing Houtarou won over in this episode was AppareBushido due to showing some conviction. Spanner's still a jerk who thinks Houtarou's unfit to be a Rider and who made a valid point about Chemys that hasn't been properly addressed yet, and then there's the emotional aspect of Rinne being hurt by Houtarou's eagerness to become someone in life because it reminds her of the father that abandoned her. And next episode seems to address her father's apparent death.
>he thinks Geats ep 35 was any better than Gotchard
Spanner's first scene ended with him getting headbutted in the balls and he's STILL less of a joke than Keiwa
I hope that they don't go for the "serious girl that eventually accepts the hyper protagonist's way of thinking" for Rinne. It'd be interesting if she actually falls apart from Houtarou and turns into a rival or something and Houtarou realizes that he has to tone down his childishness to be able to get to her.
Because only edgy morons think that the joyful guy who's doing nothing wrong is the one who has to change his demeanor instead of the stand-offish mean b***h.
Watching build for the first time now and nearing the end, the series was almost perfect for me all the way until the Mad Rouge henshin and I feel like these last few episodes so far have been really off and its getting tiresome seeing stalk/evolt show up, spar with build, and leave. It's happened almost every episode now.
Also build genius just kinda appeared out of nowhere, kind of unsatisfying first henshin. I like the way he fights though and the suit is cool
Valvarad's Debut
Good debut
shit debut of a shit character. common notrider vulva has doomed gotchard
First for Valvarad > Tycuck
>Tychad>Valvarad
Ftfy
>common notrider vulvabad
>better than anyome
Lmao delusional vulvatard
Hotaro is just insufferable.
Fine episode but felt like an old 2 parter crammed into 1. Everything could've done with more time to breathe. Actually having to build trust with a chemy was good, just I hope it isn't the same thing each week. We're out the crater ep1 created but still not convinced they can stretch this to 50 episodes. At least inserts that stick around are back.
I think they decided cause he can't act then just shout and be excited. It sort of worked but will get old fairly fast. Either things need to get funnier or the plot and characters really pick up.
I think this plot line divided in two would have been boring. It’s not a lot happening in the first place so it’s probably for the best to just keep it as one
>. It’s not a lot happening in the first place
Well that's cause it is so stripped down. You could take each bit and expand it to something more interesting. Longer in alchemy class establishing characters and making it feel more like a real thing. A whole Subpedo secondary plot instead of seeming like they forgot it till the last minute. Have Ichinose try a few things and not randomly turn up at some sort of dojo. Maybe give mushroom man a bit of backstory. If they aren't telling good episodic stories, and also not doing a heavy plot focus. The show is gonna feel pretty directionless.
Sound:
>Fine episode but felt like an old 2 parter crammed into 1.
I think the main issue is that they introduced stuff even quicker than episode 1. We have the Bushido plotline, two Malgums, two new characters on the protagonist side, backstory on Rinne, a new form, and Spanner not only fighting Hotaro for his ideals but also yelling his own.
He feels like if you took Kaito, Ren, first half Alain, and Nago minus the buttons and threw them into a blender. The whole
>Walk into building.
>Grandstand.
>Beat the crap out of Hotaro.
>Bad guy monologue.
>Have an argument between Hotaro about your ideals.
>Hotaro nearly despairs.
>Protects Hopper-chan.
>Beats him.
>Befriends Apparebushido at the end of it.
>All within the span of like a minute and a half.
was pretty funny though.
Ronin warriors form
The old 2 parters are dead. That is why it's one episode
I still don't get how a little girl has better acting. She seems like a prodigy in comparison to the main guy and girl
I like him and the suit
I sure hope they don't frick him over!
I bet the SHF will have a boring clean look
This feels like the beginning of Ghost to me where they speed run collecting all of the things and then plot starts something else
Without Yuya Takahashi, maybe Valvarad won't suffer the same fate as Keiwa.
Yeah without him we don't have to worry about him being memorable.
Keiwa's memorable for being shit, Takahashigay.
Keiwa is not shit
Frick off.
I honestly think he got better in comparison with the first 2 eps, so I'm sure he will be fine come the Q3. Rinne, well, she's still a plank with legs, she can't show some expression to save her life, even her crying scene in the pv looked forced as frick, it's amazing how a 7yo kid mogs her with only 15 seconds of screentime.
Hotaro has made me miss Ace
Even Aruto was less insufferable than Hotaro
Glad that they don’t gimp out on Customs. I thought they were reusing old stuff again.
Reusing old stuff is the smart and better choice
The customs are still lame
God damn Houtarou is such a charisma black hole. Previous Riders were not this bad.
He reminds me of Ninninger's Takaharu.
That's a good thing
It's being established there was no audition for the actor. Rather it seems likely there was probably backroom lobbying by the talent agencies. Likely the same situation for Rinne. So you have got two duds as the main characters
No? All of the main actors/ actresses in Gotchard describe the audition process and their reactions upon receiving the news in the interview videos.
>You now remember Ore wa Tenkuji Takeru
It's the problem with casting young actor without enough experience. Nishime at least improved by the Ganmaizer arc though the story took a nosedive in quality there anyway.
Ore wa Tenkuji Takeru
I know right, even Ikki is less of a charisma black hole than Houtarou
Would you try it?
I thought the joke would be that he can’t make a good one but he didn’t even try this one
That's right
I'll try it
I mean hey, why not, at least it looks edible. Even if the fried part tastes like shit, the rice should be good enough by itself.
No
I see the comparisons between the Malgam and the Donbrothers villains now. They’re really just mental breakdowns turned into kaijins.
Good analogy
What are your impressions on Gotchard's rival from this episode?
I don't really see any interesting character development twist coming his way but I like the way he's introduced by beating the shit out of houtaro
A fake memories twist will make him interesting
Original Customs/ 10
>no form changes
OH NONONONONO
He's cool. He gives me Heisei Secondary vibes like Ixa or Accel.
Good if fairly standard. I like that he is antagonistic, but not pointlessly evil and on the bad guy team for a really weak reason.
I wish these uniforms weren't baby blue
The blue looks fine
Nice that we're getting an butthole secondary again even if he'll probably soften up by Q2.
Who was the last butthole number 2, Geiz and Vulcan?
yeah
Unless you count Kagerou
I like that all of Gotchard's finishers seem to have him start the attack in his wild form and finish it in his normal form. It's a pretty neat gimmick.
I hope the upgrades keep the gimmick
I like this more than fourze already
Me too
Valvarad reminds me of Kiva's secondary rider, and that's a good thing.
Great comparison.
Off to to a good start for Valvarad
Crazy good episode this week
You cannot be serious
It's as crazy good as Geats
Moe's not looking too well these days.
The hair looking like a mushroom is a neat touch. But if every victim of the week is just a psycho waiting for a chemie to fuse with, the conflict with Valvarad better be good.
I imagine they’ll pull a Fourze and have someone from the main cast become a Malgam. And for sure Houtaro’s friend will end up as one.
>And for sure Houtaro’s friend will end up as one.
This is gonna be amazing
I'm not in love with the actor but Houtarou's writing is already losing me with the junk about how humans and Chemies can be friends. The kitschiness where it's trying to be cute without really feeling like it earned its sentimentality is reminding me a lot of something like Ghost. It's funny too, I was rewatching Fourze with a friend and the contrast between it and Gotchard is like night and day.
The reason Fourze works and this doesn't is because Fourze was trying to befriend actual human characters with understandable dramatic arcs and motivations, not sub-verbal Pokemon that live in the CG dimension. Hopper-1 is cute as a mascot but if all we have to go off of for these apparently-pivotal relationships is Hotarou's forced genki autistic screeching it's never going to land.
I think this could still work if it was just subtler about it. Fourze had Gentaro shout about befriending people but when it came down to their issues he felt earnest in tackling them, the series showed us that. Houtarou wanting to befriend the chemies couldve been handled in a way that makes the audience feel less stupid - maybe if he were a quieter character who was shown trying to appeal to them in the middle of class while the other students wondered what he was doing. Instead we get him literally shouting constantly about wanting to befriend them and the other characters going "uhh Chemies are tools/artificial lifeforms tho don't you know lol?" just in case you don't grasp these very simple ideas. It feels like it doesn't respect your intelligence at all in the same way Ghost didn't, slamming you over the heat with the main character's altruism in place of a believable personality, and having him say everything virtuous out loud instead of letting his actions speak and his personality naturally inform them. It genuinely feels like a parody.
The most annoying thing is this still could have worked if the cards were at least like Digimon and could speak, or two people had to figure out what the cards wanted, but instead they chose the option that allows for the least amount of characterization possible.
>It genuinely feels like a parody.
I was thinking of Shinobi during the entire kendo scene.
Delicious Party Precure had similar episodes with the characters getting all emotional over random fairies saying their names like Pokemon being in danger, I remember making a point about how Heartcatch was better because it made a point about human problems instead.
But those fairies in danger actually had consequences for people even if it was something silly like making food taste bad.
I still don't really understand why Hotarou obsesses over Chemies so much
>even if it was something silly like making food taste bad.
and that was the least horrible of those consequences. later we had.
>the good memories related to said food are removed from people.
>the food becomes blocky and literally unedible (at least previously people COULD still be able to eat it despite the corrupted flavor).
and of course...
>remove EVERY SINGLE THING related to the food from existence. ingredients, how to make, memories, everything.
any of those scenarios would end with the potential extinction of the human race due to hunger and famine. DP being a little girl show was not gonna touch those potential issues, but they ARE there.
back to gotchard, as for why Hotarou wants to care for the chemmies? Hotarou did mentioned in Ep. 1 that he has no idea about what could his future be, he has no idea what to do with his life outside helping his mom with the diner, discovering about the world of alchemists and the chemmies gave him the chance to find that purpose he has longed for.
of course anyone would think 'its selfish', but it if actually helps people and can create a better world, whats the issue?
yeah but he emphasizes befriending Chemmies more than helping people so it's kinda weird
>Nothing has ever really excited him or given him his Gotcha
>Suddenly he comes to know that alchemists exist, run an academy in his high school, and that Pokemon like creatures called Chemy exist which he can suddenly use to turn into a superhero because a train Chemy took him to the Ouroborus Plains where a dude gave him the belt
I'd say there's probably a couple reasons why he's so obsessed with his current life turn right now.
Delicious Party at least bothered to give us human connection alongside the food fairies, Yui and Rosemary became friends by this point whereas in this episode Hotarou just screams at people about cards. The food fairies weren't the primary focus of any of the first three DP episodes (all of them were about the cast bonding at this point) while Hotarou doesn't have any interests beyond the chemies.
>while Hotarou doesn't have any interests beyond the chemies
Bento, you shit for brains moron.
I'm talking about in terms of human connection, you mongoloid. Learn to read.
Headcanon
I said this last week, there needed to be an arc with Houtarou becoming fixated with befriending the chemies. Having him act like this from the start with such little hesitancy was a bad idea.
Yea, I got reminded of Ghost half-way while I was watching this. The biggest issue I can see is that I can get behind Takeru but Houtaru just feels very lame to me.
Takeru has a pretty solid motivation and more than anything a good connection with his supporting cast early in. Houtaro just feels empty so far. People are making the fourze comparisons with him but I think the big difference between the two shows that alot of people arent pointing out is simply, Fourze was funny, Gotchard isnt. When Gentarou does some crazy friendship bit theres a level of absurdity to it all with some great punchlines and bits, Houtaro is kind of just saying words of no substance and its not entertaining at all.
The biggest issue is that Hotarou just likes Chemmies instantly. I know it’s a trope on all card media, but even stuff like Yu Gi Oh and Digimon have the characters have actual reasons to love their marketable friends. Hotarou just likes them I guess because he’s the “chosen one” and possible descendant of the legendary alchemist.
His school friend has more motivation to like Chemmies because he’s into the paranatural, they should have given that to Hotarou so he has an excuse.
>His school friend has more motivation to like Chemmies because he’s into the paranatural, they should have given that to Hotarou so he has an excuse.
An occult nerd rider would've been rather novel
>3 episodes in and the episode thread is already this dead
uh oh not a good look
Gotchard is gotchdead
Most of the Geats newbies fricked off
But Gotchard has Rinne who is far better than Neon and Tsumuri
I'll miss them
Sound:
I keep on seeing Gaim every time I look at this form.
Sound:
He is pretty much using a much worse Sonic Arrow with three times the charge time.
I like how Gotchard’s core turns into wind.
Thanks for the webms
Gaim and Don Momotaro's love child
Sound:
Cringe transformation
Sound:
I don’t get why in early episodes they can use bikes but then just stop. Clearly they know how to circumvent the bike laws for a bit, so just keep doing that
It's sucks that such great designs are being wasted on such a phoned in plot.
>"I became a Kamen Rider to befriend the chemies/fight for a world where they're equal"
No you fricking didn't. You were kidnapped and had the plot device shoved onto your waist.
I had hopes considering one of the writers was the guy who did Gridman/Dynazenon but this has been shit so far.
Frankly gridman and Dynazenon were heavily carried by everything that wasnt the writing. Hiow absolutely nothing the main character of gridman was was the huge red flag for how this show was gonna turn out that show was only popular cause people thought the girls were hot.
The main character of Gridman was Gridman… no anon Yuta was not the main character
>taking off the socks too
Not very hygienic, aren't the shoes enough?
You do kendo barefoot.
Touche.
>that person in the card shop that trades a shivan dragon for your dual land
I was hoping they'd lean more into the character interactions, but even something with obvious silly potential like this falls flat because Houtarou goes into "B-BUT CHEMIES ARE FRIENDS" mode.
Yo, Ei, if you read this do me a favor and bring Hotaro's voice down 5-10 decibels on the next episode. Thanks senpai.
I'm gonna give this until episode 8 to see if it gets better at all. Hopefully they lean more in to the supporting cast while Hotaro and Kudoh learn how to emote. I really need to see more of these two. .
He'll do the opposite
I want to see more of tablet man
he's cute
Fun episode. Hopper1 acting like Houtarou's pet cat is cute.
Apparebushido had a good intro fight, Valvarad/Spanner going full rival mode, the city Gotchard takes place in seemingly holding the absolute malice-filled dregs of society within, Renge and Sabimaru being a good manzai team.
would be funny if they left incel bastard to starve to death
I'm shocked that none of the other alchemist students told Hotarou to shut the frick up and stop shouting all the time, what an insufferable classmate to have
They don't have the guts to tell him
Man I just really hope the actors improve. The two really stuck out like a sore thumb. I wonder if it's just them lacking the acting chops or direction is also part of it?
Both
How does combining a samurai and a skate board result in a bow
I'd say it's just 100% samurai without the skateboard factoring in at all
It's just the samurai.
it's a joke about how Sukeboo sounds like Bow, and Samurai used bows as weapons
Thanks
When I signed up for a show about robots I didn't think I'd get the /LULZ/ kind.
did Geats have people constantly whining about how they don't like the show
https://desuarchive.org/m/thread/21142450/#q21142450
https://desuarchive.org/m/thread/21127039/#q21127039
https://desuarchive.org/m/thread/21110504/#q21110504
The ep threads up to the episode 3 point
Some justicegays were complaining about it being mean-spirited and not a hero show deserving the title of Kamen Rider (so basically what Kamen Rider purists were saying in 2002).
Geats certainly had more to digest so discussion seemed more varied, Gotchard is downsizing the cast, seems lower-scale and the MC is rather simple so people are hitting that same key more often.
Geatsgays are shitting up the threads with their trademark cynicism
I thought Geatsfans only post in the Gotchard threads whenever they see Geats being insulted.
I remember a lot of leftover re-litigation of Revice
Geats was also flawed as frick, people just gave it a pass because the concept was more interesting than this one
oh, so Gotchard's good now
Gotchard is always good
>offer to sell you one of a kind card
>doesn't take the deal
Frick scalpers.
He's an ideal candidate for this sort of story.
I liked but him shouting this episode felt very out of character at the beginning. It's weird cause they sort of acknowledge it.
It's way too early for him to have that type of crisis
WHAT IS THIS FORM
armor stand on a skateboard
These feel like Saint Seiya armors, even the way they go into the body during the henshin feels like Saint Seiya.
That is why I love them
I get why I love his suit design so much now
MOERO
ORE NO CHEMY YO!
HOPPER
Perfection
You guys are knocking Hotarou for wanting to be friends with the Chemies, but the guy who introduced him to Alchemy already treated them as Sentient.
Hotaro was already biased and you would be too if you were introduced to Chemies that way.
I mean yeah, if you suddenly found out that sentient friendly creatures existed like this then I think you'd very much want to learn all about them and be friends with them. I mean Hopper1 is already his Pikachu.
tbh I'm already that way with cats
anyone saying they wouldn't like hotarou in that situation is a contrarian edgelord
STOP BEING AN IDIOT, CATS ARE JUST TOOLS!
Cats are not weapons of war.
Stop shaking that cat Sento.
>sento violently shakes hopper
>hopper screaming in horror
>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I'll continue to shake the cat
How are you feeling about the series so far?
https://strawpoll.com/ajnEOkw7kZW
Relatable
Talk about battered woman syndrome.
the only way this character makes sense is if he's intentionally written to be an autist hyperfixating
His character is basically that he was aimless and then saw becoming a rider as a chance to devote himself to something. I guess it's kind of weird since generally this character type is portrayed in a negative way in Rider, but here it's clearly meant to be a positive direction for him.
It's not that far-fetched. Takumi in Faiz had no dreams or goal before becoming a Kamen Rider. After that, he decided to devote himself to protecting people's dreams.
I think the deal is the Hotarou's appeal is that he's pure-hearted and has a desire to befriend and protect all Chemmies. While him being obsessed with the occult at the start would be a more interesting way to make him invested in Chemmies, I think the idea is that Hotarou isn't filled with malice or negative desires that could corrupt the Chemmies themselves. I feel like his school friend will get turned into a MoTW at some point due to his obsession being taken in a negative direction.
Takumi as an example doesn't really work because Takumi didn't exactly jump at the chance, a big part of Faiz is how difficult it is for him to fully commit even after the "I don't have a dream" speech.
Ok, Geatsgay.
Geatsgays hate Gotchard?
Of course.
What do they hate about Gotchard?
Frick off
Found the Geatsgay.
You're not funny
I'm not trying to be, Geatsgay.
Kys
This episode was basic but fun in my opinion, which is a huge improvement over the embarrassingly bad first episode
Not hard to do
"Apparently" she says over someone who she obviously hangs out with a lot
Different rings are for different tiers of alchemy proficiency right?
Yes
Gotchard's far from perfect but it's fun and feels like I'm watching Kamen Rider, which is more than I could say about Geats.
Houtaro a cute
I want to see him hurt and distressed alot which is why this episode was so good
I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about Spanner as a character given his stance is shown to be demonstrably wrong before he even shows up. It kind of makes him out to be a bit of a moron.
common notrider vulvabad is a shit character, that's what you should think of him
Holy shit are you the actual vulva guy? I thought you died!
i never died
Oh no, a new year of vulvaposting
He's the best part of the series at the moment
At least they're trying to give him a reason to clash with the protag other than being a moron who hates him for something that's not his fault, like the last purple rival (not)secondary rider.
Bad episode
I'm just not feeling it. The acting is horrendous and the whole "befriend the jpegs" angle rings hollow when they're just discount Pokemon with no actual personality besides a one note thing.
I miss Geats
I can fix them
You can't fix them
They forgot Gutshovel
Poor Gutsshovel
*Gutshovel
I love how the Chemy powers are used, even the wild forms don't bother me much.
Hotaro has had at least four of the close-ups that reveal a lot of his character and people still think he's some blissful idiot
They don't watch shows they only shitpost
Holy fricking shit Gotchard is so BORING. It's not even bad or terrible it's just boring as shit.
this but geats
Geats was fun
There's a difference between boring and bad?
Yes.
I do a toku stream with some friends and we are caught up with KingOhger and on 35 of Geats, the tonal whiplash ending the set with Gotchard is pretty abrupt, like even if it was us doing this and KingOhger we would feel like this is too big a swing in mood.
Gotchard is very back to basics so far and is missing literally all of the dramatic stakes and intrigue. Like what am I supposed to care about? I was hoping for a Kudoh/Ichinose tension about how he saw her dad die but the preview seems to make it out that she won't accept that, so we are stuck with low rent Cardcaptors, which feels very poorly established outside of get these rando card monsters off the street, who owns em is barely important at all.
homie at least wait to hear Valvarad's backstory.
I plan on giving it till Christmas, but honestly with how the pacing is going I expect him to dump it in a single rant about how Chemies killed his family, because we have zero other antagonists outside of him and the three sisters.
>how early heisei phase 2 it feels
I agree with you there, it feels like they want to pretend that they did the work of laying out why the Chemies are important, why the sisters wanted to unseal them and now we are in the gotta catch em all phase, but without that set dressing we have no pressure to catch em at all. Mmrrwv
>because we have zero other antagonists outside of him and the three sisters
Anon, we're only 3 episodes in.
>it feels like they want to pretend that they did the work of laying out why the Chemies are important, why the sisters wanted to unseal them
You're delusional, these are mysteries so far. What we do know anda hace seen is that the Chemys are dangerous if left unchecked, and that somewhat justifies Spanner's posture.
>zero other antagonists outside of him and the three sisters.
So 4? That's basically the standard starting number of most shows W-onward, and Phase 1 didn't even get that many most the time.
Unless you mean the MoTW barely count as antagonists in their own right like they did in previous shows, then I agree.
but the same thing works for me, it has higher tension than most early heisei phase 2 episodes. it doesn't sit right both with people who like more high stakes shows or those who love shows like W or fourze, but it's a formula I like and hope it simmers into a more harmonious mix in the coming episodes.
this or people just don't like houtaro which I do
>people just don't like Houtaro, which I do
That is fair, I suppose treating this more like Den-O is a better mindset to have then it just boils down to me not enjoying what Ichinose has given us so far. I did like the bit where he almost died and had a bit of growth but only time will tell if it gets somewhere interesting for me.
>it has higher tension than most early heisei phase 2 episodes
Does it? Shotarou punched Phillip in the face over how to handle his childhood friend being a murderer in episode 2, Ankh wanted Eiji to kill a civilian in episode 3, and Shun beat up Gentarou behind the school while holding Yuki hostage in episode 1. The only thing close to an interpersonal conflict in Gotchard's cast is over how they use their Pokemon.
This is a problem I've had with most of Reiwa. Most of the drama stems from the big central premise instead of any meaningful interpersonal relationships between the characters. Unironically I think the closest it's gotten to the Heisei style is early Revice and the Kagerou arc.
>Most of the drama stems from the big central premise instead of any meaningful interpersonal relationships between the characters
01's wolf rider whose name I forgot? Saber? Revice family drama? Geats?
>only thing close to an interpersonal conflict in Gotchard's cast is over how they use their Pokemon
pretty disingenuous way of reading it
The conflict examples in W-Fourze all still have weight if you removed the fantastical elements from these shows. W and OOO are arguments over whether criminal lives are forfeit, Fourze's wasn't reliant on supernatural elements to begin with. But with Gotchard now there is no reason for Hotarou and Valvarad to be fighting. The fight only exists in a world where Riders and magic talking cards exist, it isn't based on humanity or reality. There is nothing beneath the surface.
But sure, let's ignore that because even ignoring that there's less tension. For another comparison look at how these scenes end. Shotarou hits Phillip and declares their partnership over. Gotou breaks the argument up, but gets into another one with the constantly hostile Ankh and threatens him at gunpoint. The Orion Zodiart scares the football team away, with episode 2 revealing it was intentional and due to Shun's poor treatment of him. Hotarou's fight ends in a headbutt and with the cards immediately rewarding him. How is this more tense? There is no objective answer on whether to spare an actively dangerous criminal, Gentarou has still made an enemy of the popular kids, but Hotarou won his conflict immediately as the cards are sentient and visibly need to be won over emotionally. No, it does not have higher tension than early phase 2 did and I'm not even going beyond three episodes for any of them.
>The only thing close to an interpersonal conflict in Gotchard's cast is over how they use their Pokemon
>but Hotarou won his conflict immediately as the cards are sentient and visibly need to be won over emotionally
Look, you disingenuous b***h, the only thing Houtarou won over in this episode was AppareBushido due to showing some conviction. Spanner's still a jerk who thinks Houtarou's unfit to be a Rider and who made a valid point about Chemys that hasn't been properly addressed yet, and then there's the emotional aspect of Rinne being hurt by Houtarou's eagerness to become someone in life because it reminds her of the father that abandoned her. And next episode seems to address her father's apparent death.
I think most people's actual issue with it is how early heisei phase 2 it feels but the formulation and structure isn't much like it
We're all trans btw
>he thinks Geats ep 35 was any better than Gotchard
Spanner's first scene ended with him getting headbutted in the balls and he's STILL less of a joke than Keiwa
Spanner in 32 more episodes will be a bigger joke than Keiwa
KEIWA NO
Keiwa yes
Caring about the Chemies
I hope that they don't go for the "serious girl that eventually accepts the hyper protagonist's way of thinking" for Rinne. It'd be interesting if she actually falls apart from Houtarou and turns into a rival or something and Houtarou realizes that he has to tone down his childishness to be able to get to her.
You sound like a cynical, joyless homosexual.
Why would you want to follow the exact same story beat every other "tough, by the book" female character does?
Because only edgy morons think that the joyful guy who's doing nothing wrong is the one who has to change his demeanor instead of the stand-offish mean b***h.
Based.
Watching build for the first time now and nearing the end, the series was almost perfect for me all the way until the Mad Rouge henshin and I feel like these last few episodes so far have been really off and its getting tiresome seeing stalk/evolt show up, spar with build, and leave. It's happened almost every episode now.
Also build genius just kinda appeared out of nowhere, kind of unsatisfying first henshin. I like the way he fights though and the suit is cool
Hi Buildanon
What's he humming at the start?
the face of autism
/ourguy/
He's replaced Ryotaro as the ugliest MC
Come on, Ryotaro isn't ugly
https://twitter.com/tokusatsu_fc/status/1705168860012536016
This must be the worst first three episodes run since forever. It's borderline unwatchable, and not sure about the borderline part.
Zi-O's were worse
Ghost and Saber were worse, and I like those seasons. Even Ghost for the most part.
Especially Saber's.
Agreed
Disagreed
First three episodes seem like standard Kamen Rider stuff
Stop bumping the thread
let it die
You're not the boss of me
https://twitter.com/Gotcha_toei/status/1705513618891292888
However you feel about gotchard the quality of the 4th episode will be the deciding factor for a lot of people.
I give it the 2nd quarter like the previous shows
I love Kamen Rider!
why is he flitring with the 15 year old?