Gotcha! Hopper1!
- Original Airdate: September 3, 2023
Written by: Keiichi Hasegawa, Hiroki Uchida
Directed by: Ryuta Tasaki
Summary
Meet Houtarou Ichinose, your average high-school student. Like most of his peers, he's in search of his own "Gotcha" (i.e., what he wants to do with his life). Unlike them, however, he is still undecided on his future, including the career path he aims to walk on, earning himself the mockery of his classmate Rinne Kudo.
One day, Houtarou encounters a strange grasshopper and a sentient cartoonish steam locomotive, who transport him to an otherworldly land. There, he meets a stranger who bestows upon the young student a Driver, saying it is the key to the lad's hope for the future. Now, Houtarou must learn the ropes of using this new Driver to save the day as a Kamen Rider, and begin his journey to decide his own path for the future.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch:
- Houtarou enters a dark room, where he sees a massive shadow about to pounce on him... which is revealed to be that of the small Hopper1.
- There's a photo of the Ichinose family with the image of Houtarou's father blocked off, and there was an old man who was sent into the Ouroboros World. Turns out the man is a father...but it's Rinne's.
- Big Shadow, Little Creature: Hotaro enters a warehouse and sees a large shadow...from Hopper1.
- The Chooser of the One: Fuga entrusts Hopper1 and Steamliner with seeking out the chosen wielder of the Driver. They then proceed to converge on Houtarou and bring him to Fuga who explains things.
- For Hopper1, Houtarou entered the abandoned warehouse out of curiosity and confronted it despite the looming shadow and his friend's rumors of a giant monster.
- For Steamliner, Houtarou was chosen for how he prioritized saving Rinne from danger.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: When he learns that Hopper and Steamliner were chasing him because he was a chosen one, Houtarou states that the two could've told him sooner.
- Delayed Reaction: A subway station announcer casually announces the arrival of a train, only to realise to his shock that what was coming wasn't a subway car.Announcer: Train approaching Line 2 — wait, is that a steam locomotive!?
- Food Porn: The first scene after the prologue is centered around the Ichinose restaurant and Houtaro's bento.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Fuga sacrifices himself to ensure Hotaro and the Gotchard Driver are in good hands.
- I Call It "Vera": Having found his "Gotcha" — that being to protect the Driver that Fuga entrusted to him, Houtarou dubs said Driver the "GotcharDriver".
- Instant Expert: Zigzagged. While Fuga provides Hotaro with the knowledge of how to use the Driver, Houtarou still has to figure out how to use it in the heat of battle.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Minato erases Ryo’s memory of ever seeing the Chemy.
- Leeroy Jenkins: Upon seeing Steamliner charging towards her and Houtarou, Rinne decides to confront it. Let's repeat that Rinne wants to stop a sentient steam train.
- Ouroboros: This symbol is found in the aptly-named "Ouroboros World".
- Plot-Based Photograph Obfuscation: A photo of the Ichinose family has the image of Houtarou's father obscured by a business card.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: In his Establishing Character Moment, Hotarou sings Misato Watanabe's "My Revolution".
- Tastes Like Friendship: Hotaro feeds Hopper1 some of his leftover bento.
- Theme Song Power Up: "CHEMY×STORY" plays after Houtarou gets used to his new role as Kamen Rider Gotchard and fights against Clotho.
- Title-Only Opening: As per series tradition, the series opens with a cut to the title after The Teaser.
- The Unreveal: All 101 cards are shown in the Ouroboros World......except the first two rows of them are obscured in bright light.
- You're Insane!: Houtarou's reaction to Rinne's idea to use her alchemy to combat a steamliner.
Titular Chemy: Hopper1
Cards used:
Gotchard: Hopper1 + Steamliner = SteamHopper
Chemies recovered:
Gotchard: Kamantis
